Tribute to police brutality to be visible at State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — The toll of police brutality in America will be painfully displayed Tuesday night when family members of black men and women killed in custody sit alongside lawmakers in the House of Representatives to hear the President’s State of the Union address.

Mothers, fathers and family members of victims of police violence have been invited as guests of the Congressional Black Caucus and the First Lady to put pressure on Washington to address the issue of policing.

“It may have been Tire Nichols yesterday, but it could have been any of us today and tomorrow,” Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., who chairs the Black Caucus, said during a Tuesday news conference about the latest victim Morgen.

A video released earlier this month showed the violent encounter between Nichols and Memphis, Tennessee, police officers on Jan. 7, who brutally beat the 29-year-old black FedEx worker for three minutes while shouting profanities at him. Nichols was hospitalized and died days later. Five police officers, also black, were fired and charged with second-degree murder and two others received disciplinary action.

Days after the video was released, Horsford reached out to Nichols’ parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, to invite them to the State of the Union address. The Nevada Democrat said it was important that the couple witnessed the president’s speech as he laid out the important issues facing Americans.

“Being in the State of the Union room is an experience that I hope will bring some comfort and most importantly hope to Tyre Nichols’ parents,” Horsford said. “You deserve to hear a commitment to real action to end this national scourge of needless law enforcement deaths.”

Included are Eric Garner’s mother and George Floyd’s brother.

The visible reminder of police brutality comes amid reignited negotiations between lawmakers to draft a modest proposal for police reform that could pass in a newly GOP-controlled House.

Discussions at the last Congress focused on writing compromise legislation that would limit law enforcement’s use of force and make them more accountable for abuses. But negotiations stalled over Democrats’ demands for civil penalties for individual police officers accused of abuse.

Black Caucus members went to the White House last week for a three-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and left the White House with an agreement on the way forward at both the legislative and executive levels.

On Tuesday night, Biden is expected to ask Congress to pass the Floyd-named bill, which passed in the last session of the House but failed to overcome a GOP filibuster in the Senate.

Meanwhile, proponents have urged the White House to be clearer about what has historically hampered progress on police reform even when Democrats controlled Congress.

Horsford and Sen. Cory Booker, DN.J., the two men leading negotiations in each chamber, said Democrats cannot move forward alone this time, but need the approval of Republicans and law enforcement groups to persist, meaningful reform.

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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Farnoush Amiri, The Associated Press

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