Death of Tyre Nichols

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and of course our esteemed colleagues who are leading this Special Order, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey). This is extremely important work in terms of communicating to our constituents.

Mr. Speaker, I am standing here on this February evening feeling like this is not just Black History Month, but this is like Groundhog Day. The death of Tyre Nichols is yet another preventable death, a homicide committed by those who are hired to protect us, those who are hired to protect and serve as a mission.

This is not an issue that can be resolved through just hiring more diverse officers or merely providing more training. It really requires us to take a deep dive and look at the role that law enforcement plays in our communities, the relationship that law enforcement has with our communities, and get a better understanding of what those needs are and how those needs are not being met.

That is why the Congressional Black Caucus in both the House and the Senate have introduced the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, because we recognize the familiar fact patterns. Although Tyre Nichols is one of the most recent incidents, it is the same fact pattern. Pretextual stuff.

We have no idea at this point why Tyre Nichols was stopped. That there is bias in these stops, bias against a man of color, excessive force, failure to exercise deescalation strategies, and of course qualified immunity, really creating no incentive for police officers to exercise good judgment and to use legal police tactics.

This problem, there are a lot of famous people who have been subjected to this police brutality. We have heard some of those names tonight, but I just want to talk about my district. I want to talk about my community in Wisconsin. We have seen this devastation firsthand.

Since 2013, 149 people in Wisconsin have been killed by violence, with nearly all of them being shot by police officers. It is a systemic issue when it comes to police departments. People who face mental health crises, traffic violations, or nonviolent offense should not be given the death penalty.

People who face mental health crises, traffic violations, or nonviolent offenses should not be given the death penalty, those like Joel Acevedo, who was murdered by an officer; 17-year-old Alvin Cole, who was shot by police after leaving the mall; 18-year-old Ty'Rese West, who was killed after police stopped him for not having a light on his bicycle; 19-year-old Terry Williams, who was shot eight times after a traffic stop; 22-year-old Adam Trammell, who was killed in his home by police who tasered him 18 times--18 times--while he was in the shower; and 23-year-old Sylville Smith, who was shot by police even after the police saw him throw his weapon away.

How about 25-year-old Jay Anderson, Jr., who was sitting in a parked car and was shot five times in the head?

Dontre Hamilton is a person that I actually don't understand why he is dead. He would have turned 40 years old on January 20. Nine years ago, Dontre Hamilton was shot 14 times. What was his crime? He was asleep on a public Milwaukee County park bench, unarmed. One group of cops came by, did a wellness check, saw that he was fine. Another cop came by, beat him with his baton, and when Dontre disarmed him, when 140-pound Dontre Hamilton disarmed the cop, he was shot 14 times. That police officer retired with his pension and his disability benefits for having PTSD for killing Dontre Hamilton.

Guess what? Beyond those who are killed by the police, we have others who have survived their violent encounters with those entrusted with public safety, but they are, nonetheless, scarred--like Jacob Blake in Kenosha or my guest tomorrow for the State of the Union Address, NBA basketball player Sterling Brown.

Sterling Brown was an arrogant Black man, I guess, who parked in a handicapped spot about 2 o'clock in the morning to go into Walgreens to get some medication. When he came back out, the police saw his fancy car there--very consistent with his status as a high-paid individual-- and asked him why he was parked at 2 a.m. in an empty parking lot in a handicapped spot. What did Sterling Brown say? Officer, just give me a ticket.

That led to him being tased and guns drawn on him. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taxpayers had to pay for the insult of this driving while Black in a fancy car, this uppity Negro. There was no deescalation of police.

This is why the Congressional Black Caucus will consistently come to this well, Mr. Speaker, and insist that we look at elements of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

I will tell you, being Black is not a crime, and therefore, it should not be a death sentence.

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