On February 7, 2023, Niko Bass, contributor for the Echo and on-air personality at WXCI 91.7 FM radio station, attended the State of the Union address in Washington D.C. at the invitation of Congresswoman Hayes. Reflecting on the experience, Niko has offered the following firsthand account.

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Stepping out of Union Station in Washington, DC, I was met with a stunning image of our nation’s capitol. It was as if I leapt into the old, outdated civics textbooks from High School.

The US Capitol, in all its wonder, is extremely photogenic.

America is a country that worships the ghosts of our founders, and its heart embodies this. It is impossible not to think of our founding fathers; of the spirits that walk along the same trails we are, that maybe they’re walking alongside with us. In DC, you can’t help but feel personally connected to “We the people,”

But once I began walking around the city, I began to question just who qualifies as ‘we’ in “We the People.”

This is a debate that’s raged across the country since its founding. We have multiple amendments to our constitution to explicitly state who is to be considered when Americans say “we.”

Who exactly is entitled to these “certain unalienable rights?” In American philosophy, theoretically, this means everyone. The “we” is everyone inside the American borders, from sea to shining sea. In practice, it has been a long, often violent, debate that has claimed countless lives across generations. Walking into the gallery to watch President Biden give the State of the Union, I was eager to see what his answer was.

I would very much like to sit here and tell you that the State of the Union was enthralling, and that my eyes were glued to President Biden as he gave the most dazzling speech I have ever seen. But if I said that I would lose every ounce of journalistic integrity very early in my career. In truth, it was boring. The reason I was “glued” to the President is because I wasn’t allowed to have my phone.

Or any recording device.

Or a notebook.

Or the key fob for my 2012 Volkswagen Jetta… which was still in Connecticut.

When being searched for these items that may “endanger national security”, the metal detector was set off by my chest binder due to the metal clasp that make it, you know, bind. This resulted in me having to get an invasive search on my chest, a situation that humiliated me and flustered the security agent. This is something all too familiar for transgender individuals: to go through security checkpoints is to be publicly outed and exposed. Despite being in layered long sleeves and long dress pants, I felt naked; almost like I was laid bare out on the autopsy table, waiting for the secrets of my body to be loudly announced to anyone nearby.

The US Capitol is not the safest place to be outed as transgender. It’s certainly no San Fransisco or New York City. I learned this when I found my seat right behind the House Republican caucus, due to gallery seating being arranged not by party, but by seniority. It was from there I watched up close as lawmakers who actively condemn me and my queer siblings’ existence walk in and sit down in front of me.

To see these people, however far away, in flesh and blood is an existential experience. There was a very primal, animalistic emotion that envelops you when you are no longer separated by a screen, and are directly confronted with the extremely powerful figureheads who have denounced people like you as groomers, unnatural, sick, disease-ridden, and in desperate need of unwanted “help.” It’s a mix of fear and rage – like a stray dog backed into the corner growling but not biting.

The State of the Union started eventually. Only after a long procession and rituals from the colonial time did President Biden actually begin his speech. There’s sort of a rhythmic motion to standing up, clapping when President Biden says anything, and sitting down, waiting to stand up and clap again. Congresswoman Hayes described it as being “in Catholic Church,” which is rather fitting. There’s something undeniably old fashioned about the whole thing, and you eventually stand up because everyone else is standing up. There were some moments, though, where I wish I had stopped and listened.

President Biden spoke about an unusually wide variety of topics for a State of the Union. I’ll be zooming in on President Biden’s remarks regarding police brutality.

This particular State of the Union stood out in many ways, and one that won the applause of many congressional democrats, was the comments addressing police brutality.

President Biden took the standard Democratic approach to police brutality; give them more funding, more training, etc. To give credit where credit is due, he explicitly said to hold police accountable when they violate public trust. He referred to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, previously passed by the House and stalled in the Senate, and referred to executive actions he has taken, banning choke holds on a federal level. I didn’t feel bad about standing up and applauding, especially with Tyre Nichols’ parents sitting not too far from me.

However, hindsight is always 20/20. Coming to the US Capitol from Connecticut, I was warned by Congresswoman Hayes’ staffer that many roads will be blocked off entirely for both vehicles and pedestrians alike. At every barricade, there was a squad car with at least two cops inside and outside of the vehicle. At best, this uptick in security is an inconvenience and a traffic jammer. At its worse, it’s a direct threat to black and brown lives.

This uptick in security was, obviously, due to the events of January 6th insurrection. I would violate  journalistic ethics if I said I wasn’t afraid of history repeating itself that night. However, the police presents did nothing but heighten the anxiety. At this point it is worth mentioning that several January 6th insurrectionists have claimed in court that were let in by the police.

The day of the State of the Union, police presence was increased tenfold. I made the choice to walk to the Air and Space Museum, and noticed that the police weren’t in areas where the insurrectionists were, or where they would have been. The uptick was in low income areas, where unhoused people set up their tents, and in areas with a dense black and brown population. The police, who were tasked with defending the Capitol, were graciously handing out parking tickets, or on their phones.

The events of January 6th were horrifying. They were sickening and a stain on this country’s history. However, many politicians, on both sides, now seem to be evoking the fear of this horrible event in order to sustain and intensify police presence in communities that are actively being terrorized by the police, while simultaneously paying homage to holding police accountable.

If there is anything to take from this; the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that actions speak louder than words.

In using Tyre Nichols’ name, as well as his family’s, I wish to add a link to the official gofundme for the Tyre Nichols Memorial fund, ran by his mother RowVaughn Wells.