President Joe Biden will deliver on Tuesday (February 7) his second State of the Union address in which he is expected to speak on issues affecting Black America.
The primetime address will be televised for millions of Americans to watch as Biden speaks before the new 118th Congress, cabinet members, and guests including the parents of Tyre Nichols, who was killed earlier this month at the hands of Memphis police, per theGrio.
With RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, and stepfather Rodney Wells in the audience, Biden is expected to focus heavily on the issue of policing in America. The president will likely urge Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which gained renewed attention after the video release of Nichols’ fatal beating by Memphis officers.
Abortion rights are also expected to be at the forefront of Biden’s address after the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, the decades-old landmark case protecting the federal right to an abortion. Access to abortion and reproductive care are issues disproportionately affecting Black women.
Biden will likely address national security in the wake of the U.S. shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that flew above the country this week. Relations with Russia are expected to be addressed in the fallout of the war waged against Ukraine.
The nation’s financial outlook also looms over Biden’s presidency, making it a likely topic for Tuesday’s address. An ongoing debate in Congress on whether to raise the debt ceiling could soon impact the pocketbooks of all Americans.
In the wake of Nichols’ death, presidential speechwriter Terry Edmonds told theGrio that Biden will need to assert himself as the “healer in chief” as frustration grows in Black communities over policing.
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