Photo: Wikimedia Commons
WASHINGTON –Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) issued the following statement in honor of Tyre Nichols on the day of his funeral:
“My heart, like much of our nation’s, aches as another of our sons, Tyre Nichols, is laid to rest today. Though this pain is sadly familiar, it hurts no less. In fact, as our repeated calls for justice continue to fall on deaf ears as yet another young man is senselessly murdered, the salt consistently poured into the open wounds the Black community makes it only hurt more as time goes on.
“Today we grieve as one. Each of us united in a shared feeling anguish, fear, and anger. Each of us knowing that there is absolutely no excuse – that Tyre should be with us today. But in one aspect, the grief I feel is unique. The grief I feel is coupled with the ability to do something about it.
“As a Member of the United States Congress, I will not rest until we, at long last, take action to make certain that heinous acts like the one we mourn today are so rare that they command not just the grief, but the shock and outrage of the nation.
“We must hold bad policing accountable. We need to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act once it is reintroduced in the 118th Congress, and I will not stop working until it is passed, or until it is safe for people who look like me to move freely I our own communities.
“The grieving families laying Tyre to rest today deserve better. All those who grieve alongside them, and who have been failed for far too long, deserve better.
“Because for too long, they have been failed by those in Congress, who, even to the present day, seek to muddle accountability by trafficking in false equivalences and outright conspiracies. Those who, to my face, disparage the significance of this moment.
“I am proud of my fight to challenge the House GOP to reinstate House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, but my fight will not end there. I will do everything in my power to reimagine justice in the United States in this innocent young man’s honor. Rest in Power, Tyre.”
