- Tire Nichols’ parents are invited to the President’s State of the Union speech next week.
- Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford, Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, presented the invitation.
- Horsford said on MSNBC on Sunday that he wants to push for reforms of the criminal justice system.
The parents of Tire Nichols, who died earlier this month after being beaten by Memphis police officers, have been invited to next week’s State of the Union address.
Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, presented the invitation to Nichols’ grieving parents. Speaking to PoliticsNation on MSNBC, Horsford said he spoke to the man’s family “to first offer them our condolences, to let them know we stand by them, to ask them what they think about us at this moment.” want”.
Horsford went on to say, both in the MSNBC appearance and in a statement released through the caucus, that he would call on President Joe Biden to meet with the family and push ahead with national reforms of the criminal justice system.
“Everyone should agree that the people of our communities should be safe and law enforcement has a duty to do their job,” Horsford told host Rev. Al Sharpton in his interview with PoliticsNation.
Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, Nichols’ mother and stepfather, did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Representatives for Rep. Horsford did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The address will take place on Tuesday, February 7th. Reuters reported that the war in Ukraine is expected to be a predominant theme in the annual speech, but Nichols’ death has reignited national protests and political talks about police accountability and reform that could also be highlighted.
“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply saddened to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in the death of Tire Nichols,” Biden said in one expression On Friday night, he called for a “real and lasting change” in the use of violent policies and described Nichols’ death as “another painful reminder of the deep fear and trauma, pain and exhaustion that black and brown Americans experience every day.”