Omega Psi Phi Revokes Membership of 3 Officers Charged in Tyre Nichols Beating
Three of the five officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols were members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. And the renowned Black Greek organization revoked the former officers’ membership after their horrid actions were displayed in front of the country in the body camera footage, per NBC.
The organization issued a statement last week ahead of Nichols’ funeral announcing Tadarrius Bean (Nu Mu Mu chapter), Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. (Sigma Lambda Lambda chapter) had their memberships revoked “effective immediately” upon learning of their role in the alleged murder. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Bean was chapter president at the University of Mississippi.
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Some online speculators associated the former officers’ Greek affiliation to their violent actions, ultimately stirring a debate about whether the beating reflected the behavior of organization as a whole. One Twitter user said after making a Facebook post about their membership, he was demanded by other members to take the post down.
People had mixed feelings about it.
“Those Que’s in the picture may have loyalty towards one another. But what they’re accused of is no reflection of what [their] Fraternity stands for,” tweeted one user.
“It’s all good when these organizations are viewed as positive influences in our communities, but there is a very dark side to these groups. Pledging has lead to numerous injuries, deaths, and acquired many lawsuits. They need to take the hit on this one,” tweeted another.
The general consensus was that the organization needed to address the situation, which they did, and offer their condolences to Nichols’ family. It’s not like they knew these three would become troublemakers along the line.
Read their official statement from the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. website:
We have since learned that three of the former Memphis police officers involved in the horrific incident were members of our organization. That is devastating! Effective immediately, the Fraternity has revoked the membership of the three former Memphis police officers and all related privileges they may have enjoyed as members of our Fraternity.
As we did in our earlier statement, we strongly condemn the conduct of the former Memphis police officers involved in the incident, including the three former members of our organization. The brutality shown in the video not only violated our moral sensibilities but also transgressed our Fraternal and established Code of Conduct. We have the utmost confidence in the judicial process and fervently pray that the Nichols family will obtain justice.
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