[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 31, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TYRE NICHOLS' DEATH SHOULD BE A CATALYST FOR CHANGE
(Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
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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