Tyre Nichols' Death Should Be A Catalyst for Change

Floor Speech

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Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, like many of us, I spent the weekend thinking about the savage beating and murder of Tyre Nichols at the hands of five Memphis police officers.

Sworn to protect and serve, they did neither.

Had they honored their duty, Mr. Nichols would be alive with his 4- year-old son, family, and friends.

I am a mother to a 29-year-old son, the same age Tyre was. I have not worried that my sons could die at the hands of police at a traffic stop; a privilege of White mothers denied to mothers whose children are Black.

Black Americans are killed at a rate twice as high as White Americans. A 2019 report found that 1 in every 1,000 Black men between the ages of 20 and 35 can expect to be killed by law enforcement.

We must do more to ensure all of our communities are safe. Pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and find ways to reverse a police culture that sees Black Americans as a threat.

We can respect police officers as we require reform of practices rooted in hatred and violence. Black Americans have waited long enough. We must act.

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