Al Sharpton claims if Tyre Nichols had been White, police 'wouldn’t have beat him like that'

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Al Sharpton at Tyre Nichols' funeral: Police would not have been so rough if he 'had been White'

Reverend Al Sharpton spoke about race and policing during his eulogy of Tyre Nichols.

MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton claimed at the funeral of Tyre Nichols Wednesday that if he had been White, police "wouldn’t have beat him like that that night."

Sharpton delivered the eulogy for Nichols, a young Black man who had been infamously beaten by police officers during a traffic stop. Officials released footage Friday showing Nichols' beating by five Memphis, Tennessee, police officers, all of whom were also Black. Nichols died at the hospital three days after his arrest.

Sharpton made his eulogy an indictment of race, despite the fact that all involved were Black.

"’Well, Reverend Al, you don’t understand: how are they going to keep crime down in the Black community and, at the same time not be tough and rough?’" Sharpton imagined being asked. He then answered, "Well, the same way they do it on the White side of Memphis and keep the crime down, without being rough and tough."

Reverend and MSNBC host Al Sharpton speaks at the funeral of Tyre Nichols.

FORMER MEMPHIS COP CHARGED IN TYRE NICHOLS' DEATH ALLEGEDLY BEAT UP INMATE IN 2015 

He condemned the local police, claiming they engage in different behavior in different areas.

"How do you have the same department and keep crime down on one side of town without beating folk to death, but you can’t do it on the other side of town unless you feel that you can get away with it there?" he asked.

He then offered his take on the beating being racial, saying, "I can’t speak for everybody in Memphis, I can’t speak for everybody gathering, but for me, I believe if that man had been White, you wouldn’t have beat him like that that night."

RowVaughn Wells and her husband Rodney Wells arrive for the funeral service for her son Tyre Nichols at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Andrew Nelles/Pool via Reuters)

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Sharpton also spoke at a recent rally where he warned against violent rioting, saying he and others will "do it nonviolently as we always have done," and claimed police, on the other hand, "want violence."

He slammed the officers involved in beating Nichols as a "disgrace to our race," and asked, "Did you think because you was Black, we wouldn’t say nothing? Did you think you would hide behind your Blackness? I want to say it loud and clear that we will fight Black cops, White cops, any color cops that commit crimes against us."

Police officers take a demonstrator, who smashed the window of a police car, into custody during the protest against the police assault of Tyre Nichols at Times Square in New York City on Jan. 27, 2023. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)