Philadelphia faith leaders speak about death of Tyre Nichols
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For those officials who have seen the body camera video involving the now deadly confrontation between five Memphis police officers and Tyre Nichols, the words that have been used were "heinous," "awful" and even "inhumane."
Ahead of the video's release Friday evening, CBS Philadelphia sat down with community leaders in Philadelphia who are bracing for what they and the public will soon see.
"I'm disgusted, disappointed, disgusted, not really surprised," Pastor Carl Day said.
Day, of Culture Changing Christians, is also a community activist. He's been at the forefront of calling for police reform locally and saw firsthand a city hurting, rioting and deeply divided by the George Floyd case two years ago.
Day is urging community members who will see this latest video from Memphis to take a measured approach before acting in any way.
"I think that what we'll see is a further divide. I don't necessarily believe that being outraged or rioting is going to change or impact much. I think it's the time for us to be strategic. The whole police culture truly needs to be changed," Day said.
"We live in a world where injustice still happens, but we do need to act as citizens in this moment," Rev. Alan Waller said.
Waller leads the 14,000-member congregation at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. He has peacefully marched and called for change in police brutality cases. He's anticipating a wave of emotions to surface at the sight of another alleged case of excessive force, but he's calling for the system he's fought so hard to change to run its course.
"We should expect to be appalled, but our first reaction must be to let the system that we have worked so hard to reform work itself," Waller said.
Local clergy members say they will continue working with city and state officials to promote productive change in community and police relations.
