The Carl Stokes Brigade, a civil rights organization named after Cleveland’s first Black mayor, held a rally in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood Wednesday evening to offer support to those grieving after the killing of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police.
“It’s so hurtful to see this continuous problem happen over and over again,” Carl Stokes Brigade President Delores Gray said to crowd of about 40 people.
Gray wanted the rally to get women – especially mothers – organized to protest police brutality. Gray’s only child died in 2019. Although her daughter wasn’t killed by police, Gray said she relates to RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, who can be heard calling out for his mother in the video that captured his brutal beating by five Memphis police officers.
“I understand how any mother feels that loses a child,” Gray said. “To hear your child call out your name and then you can’t do anything about it, it’s the most hurtful pain ever.”
Among those speaking at the rally was activist and mother Donna Walker-Brown who chanted the word, “Momma,” to replicate the cries of Tyre Nichols.
“When you hear somebody saying, ‘Momma. Momma,’ they ain’t saying it because they’re playing. They’re distressed. And when they’re calling for a momma, they don’t care whether it’s their momma or who momma, just show up, momma,” Walker-Brown said.
Gray said the City of Cleveland needs more police reform measures after seeing the video of Tyre Nichols’ killing. She particularly wants to see frequent psychological exams for all police officers.
“When you see that video and you see the rage that these men have, there’s something psychological going on. There’s some sort of mental thing happening,” Gray said.
Gray said that police brutality is an issue that targets Black people, regardless of the race of officers involved. The five officers that beat Nichols to death are all Black.
“It’s about the power that they are given. It’s almost like the feel invincible,” Gray said. “With them having that power, they can do whatever they want if they’re not stable mentally.”
Gray says she’ll deliver a list of police reforms to city officials later this month.
Other local civil rights organizations helped put together the rally in addition to the Carl Stokes Brigade, including Black Women’s Army and Black On Black Crime Inc., whose headquarters hosted the rally.
