The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“DEATH OF TYRE NICHOLS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the in the House section section on pages H699-H705 on Feb. 6.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DEATH OF TYRE NICHOLS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. D'Esposito). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor I rise today to coanchor this CBC Special Order hour with Chairman Horsford, the chairman of the CBC, and Ms. Kamlager-Dove of California.
For the next 60 minutes, we have a chance to speak directly to the American people on issues of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, and all Americans.
Today, we will be speaking on the death of Tyre Nichols.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today--after the horrifying murder of yet another young, Black man at the hands of police--outraged because nothing has worked.
``They need more police training,'' we said.
But so-called elite squads like SCORPION already require extra training over and above the basics.
``They need more diversity,'' we said.
But every single one of the five officers we saw mercilessly beat an unarmed and compliant Tyre Nichols was Black, just like him.
``They need more accountability,'' we said.
But even the advent of body cameras hasn't stopped officers from pummeling our sons--and sometimes our daughters--to death over mere traffic infractions.
Just throw in a few shouts of: ``Stop resisting'' to try and fool our eyes from believing what we are clearly seeing.
We tried all those things--more training, more diversity, and more accountability--and yet Tyre Nichols is dead. He was dragged out of his car and attacked by a swarm of men twice his size, exhausting themselves and then coming back to beat him again.
Reforming these so-called elite squads is not enough. It is time to end them altogether.
These units often attract and recruit young, aggressive officers drawn to the prospect of less supervision. They slap an intimidating name on the team, like SCORPION or STRESS or CRASH--which in the nineties stood for Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums--because these units aren't about forging bonds with the communities they serve. They are about instilling fear.
They descend on low-income, usually minority neighborhoods looking to make pretextual stops in search of drugs or guns. That is not a secret. It is a tactic sanctioned by the Supreme Court itself. An officer can stop anyone for whatever reason he wants. He doesn't even need to know which law he suspects you of breaking, Mr. Speaker, so long as he can develop a reason after the fact--reasons that are often minor, trivial, and unrelated. Things like a busted taillight or partially obscured traffic tag are sufficient for these stops.
This is formal policy in police departments across the country. For example, the New York City Police Department admittedly trained its officers to ``stop and question first, develop reasonable suspicion later.''
What results is a constant state of alert. Black and Brown males worry about being pulled over for a minor traffic stop that can spiral out of control. Police officers worry because they are understandably taught that there is nothing more dangerous than to walk up to a stranger's driver-side window at night. Both sides of the confrontation are on edge.
And for what?
So that an officer can peek inside the car for contraband and ask for so-called consent to search the car, despite many drivers feeling like they can't say no.
These pretextual traffic stops aren't bearing much fruit. A study found that stop-and-frisk searches in New York City produced drugs or guns in less than 2 percent of the cases. What it does is breed contempt between the police and the people they are sworn to protect. African Americans are five times more likely to have their vehicles searched, and a Black man has to hit the age of 50 before his chance of being pulled over lowers to that of a young White man.
As the father of five Black sons, I am all too familiar with the talk parents are duty bound to give their Black and Brown children about how to deescalate interactions with the police.
As a former prosecutor, I saw firsthand how communities can be ravaged by fear in the face of violent crime and threats to public safety. Those communities should not also be afraid of the men and women in uniform whose job it is to defend them. Police can't investigate crime if victims and witnesses don't trust them enough to come forward. These squads running roughshod on our streets are contributing to a breakdown in that trust. It isn't leading to better results, but it is contributing to the unjustified killing of our kids.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis did the right thing by shutting down the SCORPION unit. But we must not wait until the next murder of an innocent man gets national attention before we shut down these roving elite squads across the country.
Professor Christy E. Lopez, the co-chair of the D.C. Police Reform Commission, made the case brilliantly in a recent Washington Post editorial titled: ``Cities should get rid of their toxic crime-
suppression units.''
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this article by Christy E. Lopez.
Cities Should get rid of Their Toxic Crime-Suppression Units
(By Christy E. Lopez)
Last week, after five Memphis police officers were charged with murdering their son, Tyre Nichols's family called for the dissolution of Scorpion, the specialized policing unit to which those officers were assigned. On Saturday, Memphis made the right decision and announced it would shut the unit down.
Now, other cities should follow Memphis's lead and disband their own analogous--and outdated--units.
In my decades investigating law enforcement agencies, and studying what makes them prone to causing unnecessary harm, I have consistently found that units such as Scorpion are a key factor. And they are not unusual. Most mid-size to large cities have a unit--or several--akin to Scorpion, focused on areas considered to be crime ``hot spots'' or on a particular task such as seizing drugs or guns.
These teams have various names orbiting around buzzwords like ``crime suppression'' or ``violence reduction.'' In the communities they police, they're often just called ``jump outs.'' Regardless of the name, they are all under official direction--pressure, even--to aggressively police areas deemed high-crime, nearly always majority Black or Latino, often using traffic and pedestrian stops as an excuse to search people and their belongings in the hopes of finding guns or other contraband.
It's possible that Scorpion was a particularly bad specimen of this family of aggressive policing units: As one police chief noted, the name ``speaks volumes about the mission of the unit and the mentality of the officers.'' That
``Scorpion'' was an acronym for ``Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods'' is a mockery of genuine concern for community well-being.
But this tolerance for inflicting community pain in the name of community protection is a thread that runs through these teams going back decades. In the 1990s, the Los Angeles Police Department's ``special investigations section'' was an ``elite'' unit known both for the extraordinary number of people it killed in shootouts and for its practice of allowing community members to be victimized so it could make better arrests. During a Justice Department investigation of the New Orleans Police Department in 2010, a police official told investigators that the community viewed street crime ``task forces'' as ``jump out boys, dirty cops, the ones who are going to be brutal.'' These task forces finally were ended in 2020 after the federal monitor showed they operated with little supervision, made stops with
``questionable legal basis,'' didn't document their work and endangered citizens.
An investigation of the Baltimore Police Department's notoriously corrupt and violent Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) found that although created in 2007, its abusive tactics had roots dating back to at least 1999. Yet the GTTF was not disbanded until eight of its officers were indicted in 2017.
In Washington, the D.C. Police Reform Commission (which I co-chaired) recommended in 2021 that the Metropolitan Police Department suspend its crime-suppression teams and gun recovery unit until it could provide data showing its effectiveness. The department has not done so, although late last year, it suspended one crime-suppression team after seven of its officers were put under investigation. A month ago, a former officer from another team was convicted of second-degree murder for a 2020 car chase that killed Karon Hylton-Brown (another unit officer was found guilty of obstructing justice).
These units can't be fixed. Their problems go beyond issues with selection, training or supervision. The premise on which they are based ensures they will fail communities. Everything we know teaches us that, to be effective, policing must center community well-being and fair treatment. But these units are focused on stats: arrests made, guns and drugs recovered, even overtime hours worked. This incentivizes policing that takes full advantage (and then some) of the broad discretion under law--including pretext stops and discretion to jail that is broader than a judge's--to detain and search people based on little more than a hunch, a profile or where they live. It's an approach that has been shown time and again to be inefficient, alienating and confrontation-provoking, even as its impact on crime is uncertain.
I have talked with many police officers who are ambivalent about--or even resentful of--these units, which generally do not respond to calls for service. This leaves regular patrol officers to pick up the slack--and often, the pieces of community relationship broken by interactions with the specialized units. These patrol officers live the mixed messages given by police and city leadership: They are sternly admonished to build trust and take action only where public safety requires, even as they see leadership encouraging (and promoting) members of crime-suppression teams. They watch as the relationships they built with community members go unnoticed and the latest gun and drug bust earns a commendation. Heavily policed communities will tell you exactly how this contradiction plays out: ``The police are everywhere,'' I often have been told, ``until you need them.''
Suppression units also become petri dishes for cultures of impunity. As long as they ``produce,'' making arrests and bringing in contraband, chiefs can ward off unrealistic expectations that policing solve social problems. But facilitating this kind of ``production'' has always, in my experience, gone hand-in-hand with indulging lax adherence to law and policy, discounting or glossing over misconduct complaints and generous overtime approval.
These units reflect and reinforce the worst aspects of warrior policing. The cost-benefit analysis makes no sense once you recognize that we have underestimated their harms, and the benefits they offer could be better achieved through services that respond more directly to community needs and work to reduce the root causes of crime.
Disbanding Scorpion was likely a little too little, and certainly a little too late. Other communities should not wait for an act of searing violence before rethinking this approach. It's time to recognize the harm these units cause-- and put an end to them and the approach to policing they embody.
Mr. IVEY. Finally, I think the time has come to end pretextual stops completely because they are just racial profiling hiding behind legalese and little more than a subtle way to circumvent the constitutional rights of Black and Brown males.
Pretext stops allow police to stop cars even though they lack even reasonable suspicion to think that an actual crime is, has been, or is about to be committed.
They allow police to pressure drivers into a so-called consensual search so that they can avoid the need to obtain a warrant to search the car. As we have seen yet again, these pretextual stops frequently escalate into young men being killed or seriously injured not because they broke the law but because they have been targeted for aggressive police tactics that aren't directed at other communities.
So, Mr. Speaker, I urge President Biden to use his executive authority to put an end to this practice at the Federal level, and I urge State and local officials--mayors, police chiefs, and county executives--to put an end to this practice all over the country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove).
Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to coanchor this CBC Special Order hour. It is the first of the 118th Congress and my first in this body.
We have a problem, America, a big problem. The problem is the rampant disregard for Black life at the hands of law enforcement.
For too many years now we have seen snuff videos--death at the hands of police--of our Black men and women and our Black boys and girls. These videos become dissected, the victim in death is persecuted as a way to justify excessive force, and it goes on and on and on.
The more this happens, the more desensitized we become, and as a culture, we enter into a culture of deflection: deflecting accountability, deflecting truth, and deflecting uncomfortable conversations about the value of Black life.
Why are we always looking for the perfect victim in these circumstances?
If they were perfect--if any of us were--they wouldn't be victims. They also probably wouldn't be victims if they weren't Black.
We certainly spend a lot of time victim blaming, deflecting, and not talking about the kind of public safety all of us should have and how we reimagine it in a way that makes it safe for everyone.
It is sad to say but police shootings in Black communities have become as American as baseball. In baseball, Mr. Speaker, you have something called balk. Pitchers commit balks, and the lower the balk number, the better your success.
In law enforcement we also have something called BALKS, although it means something different. B, background; A, age; L, lethal force; K, knowledge, S, seriousness of a crime. Once again, the lower the number of deaths, the higher the use of BALKS, something American, something we should be discussing.
How can we incorporate BALKS more deeply into our public safety system so that all lives can be saved?
What we are seeing with these shootings is un-American. I would also argue that it is unconstitutional because shootings like this are equivalent to summary executions. Law enforcement has become judge, jury, and executioner. Meanwhile, the 14th Amendment declares that we all have a right to due process. But these shootings have stolen due process from so many men and women in our Black communities.
These videos, once again, that we see, the images as horrific as they are, have become symbols of today and what Black America has to experience. The symbols of today become the reality of tomorrow, and the recordings of these shootings are important because they keep us honest. But they also become symbols of police brutality and police violence. We have gotten used to these symbols, and that is a problem.
This is Black History Month, but, Mr. Speaker, you would be flawed in thinking that the issue of police shootings and police violence is a Black issue, or that it is not an issue because it is not happening in your community. It is an American issue, and it must be addressed.
I think we should be talking more deeply about the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and how we reimagine law enforcement. When law enforcement officers are trained to understand and take all of these pieces into account, we see much better outcomes of police interaction.
Once again, I would just like to share some of the symbols that are propelling us towards the values of tomorrow. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile--we must carry their memories with us as we fight to address the epidemic of police violence.
We have an obligation to the family of Tyre Nichols who was beaten to death in Memphis, to the family of Takar Smith who was shot seven times by the LAPD while on his knees, to the family of Oscar Leon Sanchez cornered and shot while suffering a mental health crisis, to the family of Anthony Lowe shot in the back multiple times by LAPD--I might add a double amputee and someone living in a wheelchair--and to the family of Keenan Anderson tased to death during a routine traffic stop.
I am honored that Dominique Hamilton, Keenan's fiancee, will join me tomorrow for the 2023 State of the Union Address. As one of the far too many people impacted by police brutality in 2023 alone, her bravery shines through.
I hope that we can all take inspiration from her and all of the families of those killed at the hands of police this year. We must do more to hold our law enforcement officers accountable and stop this epidemic of State-sanctioned murder.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the distinguished gentleman from the great State of Maryland, Congressman Ivey, and the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove), for leading such an important Special Order. Let me also thank Chairman Horsford for immediately capturing the pain and sentiment of the American people.
When I say that, I am speaking of all the American people, Mr. Speaker, because I believe more than any part of our constitutional rights, the right to be free and safe in this Nation is one that Americans crave. For no matter whether they are in the beauty of Utah, in the richness of Mississippi, in the smart and urban life of New York, or in the beauty of the West Coast, Republican or Democrat, Independent and any other affiliation, we are concerned about safety.
The reason is because safety involves the coming and going of our family members and our children. For any of us who have ever been parents, we have always had a little trepidation when that little one leaves home for the first time to go to pre-K or kindergarten that they would be safe.
We are appalled at the unsafe conditions that we face in our schools today: Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Santa Fe, and beyond. We know that violence permeated those safe spaces.
At the same time I think, as I thank the Congressional Black Caucus for its recognition, that as it speaks here on the floor today it is embracing an American issue: public safety.
I will be looking for Republicans who are going to admit that even as we want those who protect and serve to go home to their families, we cannot deny American mothers and fathers the right to expect their young people to come home.
We can walk, if I might say, and chew gum at the same time. We can uplift the urgency of the importance of law enforcement at all levels: first responders, EMTs, and firefighters, as I do, as a member of the Fire Services Caucus, former chair of the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee and now ranking member. We have worked in the House Judiciary Committee and worked with the Congressional Black Caucus on major legislation that deals with answering all of these concerns.
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Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss to think that there are not Republicans who will not join us in this whole idea of crafting a 21st century approach to police-community relations.
There is no one that could in any way accept the murder of a man on the streets in video, as was my constituent's brother. Philonise Floyd is here, and he will join me at the State of the Union. His brother, George Floyd, big George, who grew up in Cuney Homes, was everybody's friend. Their mother and their family was everybody's family. They opened their doors to children who may not have a good hot meal, and they gave it to them.
However, like every American who leaves their hometown and looks for a greener space, as what he looked for in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he found a deadly end. No one could accept that. The reason, Mr. Speaker, that I know that is because the people who took to the streets nonviolently and walked shoulder to shoulder with us were from all walks of life.
Out of that was crafted a combination of Republican-supported ideas, things that were embraced in the Trump executive order, now embraced in the Biden executive order dealing with a reconstruct of police-
community relationships, which would include the idea of making sure that random stops that caught Tyre Nichols in the throngs of violence, that lasted for an hour on videotape; or the tragedy of Breonna Taylor; or the tragedy of Eric Garner; or the tragedy in the early stages under color of law, Trayvon Martin, by someone who was supposed to be a civil patrol, and a young boy lost his life; or the young boy in Cleveland, Ohio, who lost his life at age 12 or 13 years old; or the cafeteria worker who lost his life; or Pam Turner, who lost her life; or Sandra Bland, who lost her life.
We can construct under the Constitution a reasonable response to traffic stops included in the early premise of legislation. We can deal with the right way to, in essence, address a human being, and chokeholds when you are not in danger basically are without place. No knocks that come to, in essence, a wrong person's home or someone entering the wrong home. All of that is reasonable to deal with in a new construct of which we hope the President of the United States will join us in a bipartisan, bicameral effort.
That would include training and accountability as well. It would include dealing with mental health concerns or violence intervention as well as the necessity of wearing body cams, which were the element of truth and have been.
I was very proud in the small cities that I represent, Mr. Speaker, to be able to provide grant money for our cities to get body cams, small cities that don't have it. Just think if we passed legislation that allows all departments to seek body cams for truth for all that are involved.
I rise today to capture the essence of the importance of this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order because it is laying the footprints for the day tomorrow, as the President speaks to the Nation on many issues.
There is no doubt, as someone who went to the funeral of Tyre Nichols as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, to be able to say that we can do this together.
Public safety is an American issue. It is an American families' issue. It is the issue of those who are entrusted to protect and serve. It is the issue of local government, State government. It is the issue of moms and dads. It is the issue of teenagers and young families and senior citizens. It does not leave one person untouched.
I believe that the work that was done in the last years with legislation that carried the name of George Floyd has the ability to embrace a wide perspective of diversity and new changes and inspiration and, of course, working as one would with all persons concerned and even respecting the other body.
The Congressional Black Caucus has taken up the light, and I am grateful for that leadership. I look forward that we continue to work because we are not a nation of laws and values if we do not adhere as a nation to the belief that every person deserves the dignity of their humanity and does not deserve, under the Constitution, to be denied their equal protection of the law, their due process in the workings between law and community.
I thank my very important coleaders of this Special Order. I wish them well. I know that they will be a dynamic team. I had the privilege of doing this in the last session. I can tell you, you will have a moment of joy every time you rise on this floor and are joined by the esteemed members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Each and every one of them have their own special story. We do make a difference. We can change lives, and we can change laws.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman for her powerful and extemporaneous comments. I think it is a representation of the powerful leadership she has provided over the years and will continue to provide in the future.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), my colleague, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to join my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus on the floor tonight for what is the first Special Order hour of the 118th Congress.
I first acknowledge our chairs for Special Orders this evening, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey) and the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Kamlager-Dove).
This hour provides all of us as members an important opportunity to come to the floor to discuss issues vital to Black Americans. We will use that time to do just that tonight.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, during the State of the Union, it is my hope that President Biden will be able to put a personal touch on the story of Tyre Nichols.
The brutal beating of Tyre Nichols resulted in his death, and it is a reminder that we have a long way to go in solving systemic police violence in America. We and his parents want America to know who Tyre was. Tyre was a son. He was a father. He loved skateboarding and sunsets. He enjoyed photography. He had a purpose and a passion and a lifelong opportunity ahead of him, but that was taken.
Now, no one in our Nation should fear interacting with the police in any of our communities. Sadly, many Black and Brown people do every single day.
I want to be absolutely clear: We all want to be safe, and we want our communities to be safe. We don't want to end policing. We want to stop bad policing. All of us should agree that bad policing has no place in any community in America. That is why we need to address the public health epidemic of public safety that disproportionately affects our communities.
I want to commend our colleague, Senator Tim Scott, Republican from South Carolina, who issued this statement: ``We have been here too many times before, and we cannot continue down this path. This man was beaten by the power of the state,'' by men entrusted with protecting his safety. ``We must unite against this blatant disregard for human life, especially from those we trust with immense power and responsibility'' for our communities.
Mr. Speaker, Democrats and some Republicans agree, this is an important issue that must be addressed. Something must change to prevent further unnecessary deaths.
In the coming weeks, my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and I are engaging with leaders in our community and right here in the U.S. Capitol. We are working with the President, the Vice President, the Senate, and our House colleagues on the issue of public safety, policing, and justice, which is what we need action on now.
For every mom, dad, son, and daughter, it is imperative that we tackle this issue with legislative solutions, executive actions, and community-based results. That is how we put an end to the pattern of Black lives being taken at the hands of law enforcement, whether it is during a traffic stop, walking in a park, or sleeping in their home.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues who are here on the floor with us tonight, and I thank Representatives Ivey and Kamlager-Dove for leading on this effort of the Special Order tonight and for the work that we will continue to do in the days, weeks, and months to come.
Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Mr. Speaker, I thank our chair for his commitment and strength on this issue.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).
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.
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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.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for that powerful statement.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson), my colleague, the Representative from the Fourth District of Georgia.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for hosting this Special Order hour on behalf of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus under the leadership of Chairman Steve Horsford.
Tonight, we are here to talk about a plague on America. It has to do with police violence toward Black people in this country. I am not talking about just White police officers but Black officers, also.
We saw it with Tyre Nichols, where a group of five so-called elite crime suppression unit officers, who travel in unmarked cars and in plainclothes, were out looking for crime. They jump out on folks. They jumped out on Tyre Nichols.
Tyre Nichols was on his way over to his mother's house for dinner, but he never made it. You all saw it on TV, where he was pulled over. The police were going at 100 miles an hour on him: Get out of the car. Get out of the car.
They had guns drawn: Get on your stomach.
He complied.
Because of the culture of policing with these crime suppression units and other units of police agencies across the country, he was frightened--I was frightened--and he ran.
He almost made it to his mother's house, but they caught up with him, and the rest you saw with your own eyes. You can believe your lying eyes about what you saw: a horrific beating.
You also could hear what was happening in the background as the officers were talking to each other, planning on how they were going to adjust their reports to all be consistent about this guy being on drugs: He must have been on this, that, and the other. He wouldn't comply. He wouldn't put his hands behind him.
Just talking to each other throughout the whole thing.
This is a part of a culture, and it is something that has to be rooted out. It is happening all over the country.
In my neck of the woods, in DeKalb County, in March 2015, Air Force veteran Anthony Hill was fatally shot.
Anthony had been to Afghanistan. His mother didn't want him to go, but he went to serve his country. When he came back, he was different. He suffered from mental illness, bipolar.
In March 2015, shortly after the situation with Michael Brown in Ferguson, Anthony Hill is out in his apartment complex running around naked as a jaybird, swinging from canopies, knocking on doors. The neighbors knew him. They called the police. They called 911. They wanted some help to come for him. Instead, a police officer showed up.
When Anthony Hill did not stop coming toward the officer, he didn't tase him. He didn't hit him with his nightstick. The officer pulled out his 9-millimeter and shot Anthony twice and killed him.
Anthony was his mother's only son, her youngest child. He killed him. He was naked as a jaybird. Then, he said in his report that the guy came at him and hit him, and that is why he fired.
The jury found otherwise. The officer was indicted for murder, but the jury didn't convict him for murder. They convicted him for aggravated assault and for lying, filing a false statement about what happened.
It took the jury 6 days to get to the point where they could convict him of anything. He was looking at 30 years at that point, but the judge had mercy on him and gave him 20 to do 12 for taking a man's life.
That is how it goes throughout America. Everybody has sympathy. I have abundant sympathy. I love my men and women in blue, but the culture in policing has to change.
We saw why it needs to change with Tyre Nichols. My colleagues are going to speak about other examples of why it needs to change. I have given you mine.
I have taken enough of your time, but I will just leave you with this: We need to make police reform a priority. It is time to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. We did it in the House two or three times last session. It went to the Senate, and it couldn't get across the finish line. We need the Senate to abandon the filibuster rule.
Let's get some legislation passed. Let's get voting rights passed. Let's get police reform passed.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland has 18 minutes remaining.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Horsford for bringing forth this Special Order hour and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ivey) for hosting this Special Order hour.
This Special Order hour focuses on the problem of police brutality, especially in Black and Brown communities. I welcome the opportunity to raise awareness for an issue that is so close to so many in my community.
To the family of Tyre Nichols, I once again send my heartfelt condolences for your tragic loss in the wake of the release of that horrifying footage that the world watched of, yet again, another despicable display of police brutality in this country.
Our cities and streets have been plagued for decades by this senseless and unnecessary use of force by sworn officers of the law. It has permeated facets of Black and Brown lives.
In the last 10 years alone, my State of New Jersey has been home to 109 excessive force lawsuits against officers and police departments since 2012. Because of that number, I could not give you the names that were involved in these situations--as I said, 109.
The profession of policing should not be costing States and local taxpayers millions of dollars each year in settlements for wrongful acts caused by those entrusted to protect and serve.
I voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which was legislation that would end racial profiling in law enforcement, ban choke holds and no-knock warrants, and establish a Federal standard for policing in and against African-American communities.
The calling card for such a bill came after thousands of Americans took to the streets in the summer of 2020 to protest the brutal murders from policing violence of George Floyd and other African Americans.
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For too long, many Americans were considered dangerous and violent simply because of the color of their skin.
We have been witness for some time now that police officers have been allowed to violate the sanctity and privacy of African Americans while in their cars, homes, or even standing on the sidewalk.
The time is now for us to create a nationwide standard for police conduct to stop police brutality against African Americans and other minorities.
This is a day we have been waiting for in the Black community for a long time. I am hopeful that we can work together in a constructive manner with my colleagues across the aisle and get this done.
I am honored to be a part of the Congressional Black Caucus that has been a conscience and a voice for the American people and the conscience of this body as it continues to talk about righteousness in this Nation.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for those powerful comments.
Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland has 12 minutes remaining.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina
(Ms. Adams).
Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Horsford and the coanchors for this evening, the gentleman from Maryland and the gentlewoman from California.
I do rise today to lend my testimony to the conversation about police reform, safe communities, and the value of Black lives.
The brutal beating and the death of Tyre Nichols is a reminder that we do, indeed, have a long way to go to solve the structural racism and the systemic police violence in America.
Tyre was a son. He was a father. I am a mother and a grandmother of sons and daughters. He had a passion for skateboarding and photography, a young person with purpose, potential, and his life was ahead of him.
The Congressional Black Caucus has always been the conscience of the Congress, and that is why we are pushing for reforms to our justice system, specifically regarding the actions and the conduct of law enforcement because no one in this Nation should fear interacting with police officers in their communities, but many Black and Brown people do each and every day. Everybody wants to be safe, and we want safer communities.
Tyre Nichols should still be alive today. That is why we must address the public health epidemic of police violence that disproportionately affects our communities.
Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, in his quote was absolutely right:
We have got to unite against this blatant disregard, he said, for human life, especially from those who have been entrusted with immense power and responsibility for our communities.
We are keenly aware that the police are asked to handle situations sometimes that they simply aren't trained for or equipped to handle. But like many CBC members, I've been there when a police beating or shooting rocked our communities.
In my home of Charlotte, North Carolina, Keith Lamont Scott was having a mental health crisis when he was shot and killed by police, leading to the first major protest and demonstration for Black lives in our community.
That doesn't absolve the officers involved of responsibility, but what it does mean is that with better training and a different approach to policing, Keith Lamont Scott could be alive today, and he should be.
Another man, Justin Carr, lost his life during the protests. Keith Lamont Scott and Justin Carr should both still be alive today.
Something has got to change to prevent further unnecessary deaths, and that is why the CBC and I have consistently supported the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and other necessary reforms.
Police culture needs to change, and it needs to change right now. That is why the CBC is actively engaging all relevant stakeholders with the aim of developing a legislative solution that can pass Congress and ensure meaningful police accountability reforms.
For every mom and dad and son and daughter, and for every Black person, it is imperative that we deal with this issue and form some legislative solutions and some executive actions and community-based results.
That is how we can put an end to this pattern of Black lives being taken at the hands of law enforcement.
I leave you with the words of Zianna Oliphant, who was 9 years old when she addressed the Charlotte City Council in the wake of the Keith Lamont Scott protests in 2016.
She said: ``I feel like that we are treated differently than other people. I don't like how we're treated. Just because of our color. . .
.
``We are Black people, and we shouldn't have to feel like this. We shouldn't have to protest because y'all are treating us wrong. We do this because we need to and have rights.
``I was born and raised in Charlotte. I've never felt this way until now. I can't stand how we're treated. It's a shame that our fathers and mothers are killed, and we can't even see them anymore.''
Mr. Speaker, 9 years old, this young lady was. The truth is clear. Children can even see it. I hope as the CBC continues its work, more of our colleagues will see the truth as well.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland has 7\1/2\ minutes remaining.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bowman).
Mr. BOWMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the CBC for putting together this Special Order hour.
I just want to start out by saying this is not just a CBC issue. We need the Tri-Caucus to be involved in this issue, and we need the Tri-
Caucus to be speaking out on this issue.
We also need action and courage from the Senate in terms of stopping the unnecessary killing of Black people throughout our country.
Tyre Nichols should be alive. Trayvon Martin should be alive. Breonna Taylor should be alive. Atatiana Jefferson, Freddie Gray, Laquan McDonald--they all should be alive. Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, on and on and on and on.
Police brutality in our country is a disease that needs to be cured. It is rooted in historical racism and systematic oppression in our country.
This has to stop. Federal legislation needs to be implemented to stop it.
One of the things we are asking for is simple accountability; that is all. We support law enforcement when they are doing the right thing, but when they commit a crime, they should be held accountable. They are not above the law.
What is really painful is taxpayer money pays the salary of law enforcement.
Taxpayer money pays the pensions of law enforcement.
Taxpayer money pays for the settlements when law enforcement is sued in court.
Taxpayer money pays for the lawyers.
Cities go into debt using bonds to pay settlement claims. There is a billion-dollar industry of police brutality that comes out of the pockets of taxpayers.
If we are going to reach the ideals of our democracy and our Constitution, we need to stop the unnecessary killing of Black people in our country.
I will close with this: It is not just policing; it is the overall system of mass incarceration. We incarcerate more, and there are disproportionately more Black and Brown people in our country.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick).
Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today and say a special thank you to the Congressional Black Caucus, Chairman Horsford, and also my colleagues for having this Special Order hour.
Mr. Speaker, my heart is broken for the family of Tyre Nichols, another Black man who lost his life to senseless police overreach and violence.
The horrifying footage of his untimely death displays why the United States must pass comprehensive police reform and public safety legislation.
Tyre Nichols' murder occurred in Memphis, the city where Dr. King lost his life fighting for a dream that we still are reaching for today.
Our country must reckon with the longstanding and fraught legacy of racism and violence against Black people.
Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and so many more Black men, women, and children should be alive today. Their deaths were preventable.
Black Americans constantly find themselves trapped in an endless cycle of grief. Mr. Speaker, 3 decades after the heinous beating of Rodney King, Black communities continue to bear the deadly consequence of a culture of policing that allows law enforcement officials to dehumanize, debase, and victimize individuals without consequences.
As a mother of two Black children, it is heartbreaking to shoulder your kids with the responsibility of a double-consciousness of how you as a parent see them, but also as the whole world sees them.
Our Black children go from being viewed as innocent to future convicts in the eyes of society and in the eyes of those who are charged with the responsibility of protecting them.
It is terrifying to not know if your child will return home after they step out that door. Mothers and fathers planning their children's funerals cannot become a standard in our great Nation. It is simply unacceptable.
In the 117th Congress, House Democrats introduced a George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House but failed in the Senate, ultimately failing all Black families.
In a humanitarian call for action, I urge the House to pass public safety legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I end by saying their names: Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and so many more Black women, men, and children would be alive today.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Sykes).
Mrs. SYKES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today during the first Congressional Black Caucus Special Order of the year to stand in solidarity with the families and loved ones in support of the safety and security of American citizens.
Tomorrow, during the State of the Union, I will be joined by Ms. Pamela Walker, a police accountability advocate and mother of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old unarmed Black man from Akron, Ohio, who was fatally shot 46 times by police in June of 2022.
Jayland Walker was just 25 years old. He was a kind, quiet, and thoughtful young family man who regularly spent time with his mother, grandmother, and sister.
He was just beginning to live his life with aspirations of starting his own business or becoming a professional wrestler.
His mother described him as the son that every mother dreams of, talked about how proud she was to be his mother.
Ms. Walker is coming to the Capitol in honor of her son, demanding accountability, public safety, and change so that her son will not have died in vain or anyone else's son. No mother should ever have to go through what Ms. Walker experienced.
Despite her unimaginable grief, she has displayed unwavering strength, dignity, and perseverance.
Mr. Speaker, we must reexamine our institutions, how they operate and are governed, without the polarizing rhetoric that only leads to division and not solutions because the longer we are divided and legislation is not passed, the more lives hang in the balance, and public safety and security is too important to play with.
We need to create a level of trust where our law enforcement officers feel like they are a part of the community, and we must also take steps to improve police accountability.
There is still much work to be done to restore trust between the police and the communities they serve. That is why I felt it was important to have Ms. Walker join me tomorrow.
Let her presence signify that enough is enough. We, as a Nation, have reached an inflection point because too many lives have been lost.
I join my colleagues in calling for robust reexamination of our policing system, wholesale public safety policies, and bipartisan national solutions to this issue before more lives are lost.
Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Representative Kamlager-Dove and the Congressional Black Caucus, we thank the Speaker for this opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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