Harford and Cecil residents call for action, change during Tyre Nichols memorial in Aberdeen

Maria Morales, The Aegis, Bel Air, Md.
·2 min read
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Feb. 22—Social justice organizations in Harford and Cecil counties called for action and change during a Tyre Nichols memorial rally in Aberdeen on Saturday.

The event was designed to commemorate Nichols' life and denounce police brutality, according to the Harford NAACP, which organized the event along with Harco for Social Justice and Cecil Solidarity.

Nichols died three days after being stopped and beaten by several officers from the Memphis Police Department near this mother's home. Five officers face murder and other charges in the January incident. Similar rallies and memorials in Nichols' memory have been held around the country.

Civil rights attorney Malcolm Ruff of Murphy, Falcon, Murphy in Baltimore was the keynote speaker. Ruff led the small crowd that gathered at Festival Park in a chant of "No justice, no peace, no racist police," before delivering his speech.

Ruff said his family has owned a small farm in Harford County for a century, where he spent his summers growing up. "So, I am one with you all and I stand with you," he said.

Ruff spoke the names of African Americans who have died nationally after encounters with police, from Sandra Bland to Nichols. Bland was found hanged in a jail cell in Texas in 2015, three days after she was arrested during a traffic stop.

"I fully and utterly appreciate the spirit of why we are here today, and why you all are showing up and standing up for the life of Tyre Nichols but also for the other people ... the spirit and the power of the people who had to die at the hands of the police just for us to stand up and for people to realize how insidious police violence is," Ruff said.

Then he read a list of names of Black Marylanders who have died at the hands of police, including Korryn Gaines, who was fatally shot in 2016 after a standoff with Baltimore County police, and William Green, who was shot and killed by a Prince George's County police officer while he sat handcuffed in a patrol car in 2020. Ruff's law firm has represented some of the families he mentioned.

"The thin blue line is no respecter of race," Ruff said. "It never has, and it never will be. [The police system] was founded in the spirit of white supremacy. We must tear it down."

Ruff suggested that police agencies should clean house, similar to what the city of Camden, New Jersey, did when it disbanded its police force in 2012 and created a new police department in partnership with Camden County.

"Fire the entire force and bring back the people that actually have the ability and the mindset to police our streets with the care, love and respect that everybody in our communities deserve," Ruff said.