Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the funeral of a Memphis man allegedly killed by police, urged Congress on Wednesday to pass sweeping police reforms.
Harris issued the call as she delivered remarks at a service for Tyre Nichols, a black man who video allegedly shows was brutally beaten to death by police officers in the Tennessee city last month. Five black officers were fired and subsequently charged with second-degree murder. Harris spoke in favor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House in March 2021, but failed to clear the Senate.
“As vice president of the United States, we demand that Congress pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” Harris said, promising that President Joe Biden will sign the bill if it lands on his desk. “We should not delay and we will not be denied. It is nonnegotiable.”
While speaking at Tyre Nichols’ funeral, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
"We will not be denied. It is nonnegotiable." https://t.co/iYQlsBAkAj pic.twitter.com/grrEFE2LIj
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 1, 2023
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act aims to ban chokeholds, restrict no-knock entries, and overhaul qualified immunity, among other things. It is named after George Floyd, who died in May 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his upper back for several minutes during an arrest.
While bystander video of Floyd’s arrest led to a summer of protests and riots across the country, it was body camera and surveillance video of Memphis officers punching and kicking Nichols that led to a fresh outcry over police brutality. The beating stemmed from an attempted arrest over what was initially described as a traffic stop for suspected reckless driving. Nichols was initially subdued, but then fled before being recaptured minutes later, then allegedly kicked and punched multiple times.
Although the officers charged in Nichols’ death were all black, activists have taken to blaming “systematic racism.”
Democrats in Congress, including those in the Congressional Black Caucus, have begun a renewed push to convince the White House to take the lead in seeking police reform on the federal level. While there has been bipartisan support for changes, particularly in talks led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), it remains to be seen how far Congress will go now with the new Republican majority in the House.
"This violent act was not in pursuit of public safety," Vice President Kamala Harris says at Tyre Nichols' funeral.
"Was he not also entitled to the right to be safe?" Harris says. "Tyre Nichols should've been safe." pic.twitter.com/A827Ja1K5T
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 1, 2023
Harris was joined by Rev. Al Sharpton and others at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church for Nichols’ funeral.
“This violent act was not in pursuit of public safety. It was not in the interest of keeping the public safe, because one must ask, was not it in the interest of keeping the public safe that Tyre Nichols would be with us today?” Harris said. “Was he not also entitled to the right to be safe?”