Want to go now to
Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
She is joined by her guest for tonight's
State of the Union.
Andre Lock Senior is.
22 year old
son Amir was shot and killed last year
while police executed a no knock warrant
in Minneapolis.
And Congresswoman Omar is introducing
legislation named after Amir
Lock to end the use of no knock warrants.
I appreciate both of you being with me
very much.
And Congresswoman,
I'd like to begin with you
and the overall
framing of this speech
such that we understand it.
You just heard Phil Mattingly's reporting
the President Biden
is going to make the case tonight
for bipartisanship.
Some of his words
will include this phrase.
There is no reason
we can't work to together
and that his vision for the country
is to unite it.
Of course,
he's talking to a room with the Speaker
McCarthy behind him.
Some of the Republicans in that room
are the very ones
who just kicked you off the House.
Foreign Affairs Committee.
Is he right to work
with those Republicans,
including Speaker Kevin McCarthy?
So, you know, the president
has always been understood
as someone
who can unite a divided country.
That's one of the reasons
people voted for him.
You know, instead of voting for Trump,
I think it's really important
for there to be few people
that we identify
that we can work
with in a bipartisan manner.
If you remember many
of the pieces of legislation
that we've moved
in, a slim majority
last in the last Congress,
a lot of them had bipartisanship
support, whether it was the bipartisan
gun bill, whether it was
the infrastructure legislation.
There was just
there were a lot of moments
where we had that.
And I think the president asking for that
moving forward.
It's going to be really important
for anything to get done in the House.
And of course, he is going to be talking
about police reform as well.
And I want to get to that.
But an email just came out
that I want to give you a chance
to respond to
because your Republican colleagues
are fundraising
off your removal
from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Republican Congressman, Brian
Mast of Florida just sent out an email
with the subject line,
We just banned Ilhan Omar
and the email says
she is a rabid anti-Semite
whose position on the Foreign Affairs
Committee was a massive liability
for our country's national security.
Congresswoman, he's
fundraising off of that.
He's calling you a rabid anti-Semite.
I wanted to give you a chance
to respond to that.
Not only
is this a truly bigoted
act and speech,
it is really important for us to remember
just how partizan this vote was.
You know,
many of my colleagues
talked about how this was an attack.
I've talked about
how their bigoted actions were rooted
in the fact
that they didn't want a Muslim person,
someone who was an immigrant from Africa
and someone who was a refugee
being a voice on
on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
This is a new McCarthyism.
I think it's beneath them
to to be doing this,
especially the speaker
denigrates his leadership
by raising money off
of committee assignments.
But what can we expect?
This is the Republican Party
that is now run by conspiracy theorists.
He went on folks
and folks who would rather run a circus
than a house.
The president will also address
police reform.
And Andre,
your son was killed by officers
executing a no knock warrant,
which was not related to your son.
He was an illegal possession of a gun
Officer said they considered
that a threat.
Prosecutors said
there wasn't
enough evidence
to justify charges
against any of those officers.
Now, of course, you're there tonight.
With Congresswoman Omar
because she is putting forth
legislation named after your son,
which would end no knock warrants.
When you look at Congress
and you look at the division there,
do you have hope that this legislation
will pass?
I do.
I have hope, and I
believe that it will pass.
And I actually I know that it's times
that if everything happens in seasons,
it is time for something
to happen at this point,
because no knock warrants are a high risk
so predominantly black and brown people.
And we're continuing to lose our lives
for something that shouldn't be.
So I truly believe that
by this bill being passed,
the mere fact that we know
that that it will save
not only civilian lives,
but also save police lives as well.
And Andre,
what do you want to hear
from the president tonight?
Well, that is a
will for
our first officer honor to be here.
Congresswoman, thank you for inviting me
as a representation for my family,
the large family that was family
and also standing in the gaps
for Amir's mother,
Karen Wills, and the Morgan family.
I hope to hear the president
stand strong on all reform
and I really don't know how to
I really don't know how to answer that
because, you know, it's
I expect a lot of things, you know, but
but mostly I'm hoping to see the no knock
bill possibly passed by Congress.
You know,
I was going to say
you know,
Andrea and I
were talking about this earlier.
I think what we want to mostly hear
and what we've heard
from a lot of the families is they
they want to hear a speech
that's aspirational,
that's asking of Congress
to act around accountability reform,
one that will guarantee justice
and certainly make sure what
a new locked family has
experienced is never experienced
by other families across this country.
But we also think that the president
still might have tools within his toolbox
when it comes to executive order.
So we're hoping to hear
what more can he do in regards to that.
But most of all,
we obviously also want to hear
holistically what the vision is for
for the country.
And and we want it to be rooted
in justice. Yes.
Thank you both so very much.
I appreciate it.