♪ amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> earlier today, the grand jury returned indictments against five former metro police officers regarding the death of tyre nichols. amy: five former memphis police officers have been arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping for fatally beating 29-year-old tyre nichols after a traffic stop.

memphis is now bracing for mass protests. the city prepares to publicly release body cam footage of the attack. >> what i saw in the video was horrific. no father, mother should have to witness what i saw today. amy: we must beat with a member of the black lives matter memphis as well as attorney ben crump, representing the nichols family. we will also speak about the killing of keenan anderson in los angeles after a traffic stop, and crown's possible lawsuit against the state of florida for banning an ap african-american studies course. >> will we let governor desantis or anybody exterminate lack history in the classrooms across america? amy: plus, we speak to the longtime labor organizer, author of the new book "the great escape," a true story of forced

labor and immigrant dreams in america. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in tennessee, five former memphis police officers have been indicted on murder and kidnapping charges over the killing of tyre nichols. the 29-year-old african-american man died of kidney failure and cardiac arrest on january 10, three days after his violent arrest following a traffic stop. shelby county district attorney steve mulroy spoke at a news conference on thursday. >> here are the charges. second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping involving the possession of a weapon,

official misconduct through unauthorized exercise of power, official misconduct for failure to act when there is a duty imposed by law, and official oppression. while each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question, the actions of all of them resulted in the death of tyre nichols, and they are all responsible. amy: the five fired police officers were booked into the shelby county jail on thursday. their lawyers say at least three of them plan to post bail. all five are african-american, as was tyre nichols. the x officers arrests came as memphis city officials said they will release nearly an hour of poce body-camera video on this evening showing how , officers pepper-sprayed, tased, restrained, kicked, and beat tyre nichols for three minutes. david rausch, the director of the tennessee bureau of investigation said he was "sickened" by what he saw in the

video. >> in a word, absolutely appalling. let me be clear. what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing. this was wrong. this was criminal. amy: ahead of the video's release today at 6:00 memphis time, the memphis poli departnt has activated its entire force in anticipation of weekend protests. president biden released a statement reading, “i join tyre's family in calling for peaceful protest. outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.” after headlines, we'll speak with ben crump, attorney for tyre nichols' family. as well as a member of black lives matter memphis. in georgia, republican gov. brian kemp on thursday declared a state of emergency in response to mass protests that erupted in response to the police killing of environmental defender manuel

teran in atlanta last week. the declaration gives kemp the power to deploy up to 1,000 national guard troops over the next 15 days to quell the mobilizations. teran, who went by the name tortuguita, was shot dead by a swat team january 18 as officers violently raided an encampment of protesters opposed to “cop city," a proposed $90 million police training facility in a public forest in atlanta. the atlanta community press collective tweeted, "the true emergency, however, is that law enforcement agencies across the country are killing people every day. kemp's declaration of a state of emergency isn't about property damage at saturday's protests at all. it's about police murdering #tyrenichols and tortuguita within two weeks of each other. they're trying to instill fear in anyone who stands up against police brutality."

in haiti, police officers blocked streets in the capital port-au-prince thursday, burning tires and damaging vehicles, before descending on the main airport to protest the recent killing of 14 officers by armed gangs. over 100 officers in plain clothes took part in the protest. local media report a small group was able to break through the gates of prime minister ariel henry's home but then re-routed to the airport where henry was returning from the community of latin american and caribbean states, or celac, summit in argentina. this is a protester. >> we are going to attack the ministers, the directors general. the children have to go to school for this revolution to take place. there has to be a bloodbath. all of these police are killed and the prime minister has not paid tribute to them. amy: according to some reports armed gangs now control some 60% , of port-au-prince.

an estimated 78 police officers have been killed since henry came to power in 2021. following the assassination of haiti's former president. israeli air attacks hit the occupied gaza strip overnight, as tensions mount one day after israeli forces killed nine palestinians in a raid in the jenin refugee camp in the occupied west bank. israel's air strikes came down on the besieged strip after a handful of rockets were fired from ga, some of whichere intercepted by israel's u.s.-made iron dome defense system. the palestinian authority said it was ending security coordination with israel following the attack, while the un security council is holding an emergency meeting today amid fears of another war. thousands of people flooded the streets of jenin thursday to mourn the nine people killed. in gaza, palestinians protested the deadly attack.

>> i want to send a message to the jewish occupiers. gaza stands with jenin over the ceh. -- the seige. amy: israel has killed at least 29 palestinians, including five children, since the start of the year. the violence comes as u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is headed to egypt, israel, and thoccupied west bank for a three-day visit this weekend. here in the united states, dozens of democratic congressmembers are urging president biden to reverse the expansion of title 42, a trump-era pandemic policy that's been used to block over 2 million migrants from seeking asylum at the u.s.-mexico border. in a letter to biden, the 77 house democrats also denounced the administration's proposal to enact a new rule that would allow immigration officials to deny asylum claims of people who don't first seek refuge in a country they pass through on their way to the u.s. southern border. earlier this month, the biden administration expanded title 42 to begin expelling haitian,

nicaraguan, and cuban asylum seekers. congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez called out biden at a news conference thursday. >> we had aspired to be an example to uphold international law. instead, this administration is making it effectively impossible to seek refuge at our border. the courts rightly rejected the trump administration's attempt to categorically and asylum. president biden julissa to the courts and human rights activists and reverse course. amy: a damning new report by "the new york times" reveals how former president trump's efforts to prove he was the victim of a witch-hunt in the fbi's russia probe, instead led to a criminal probe into trump's possible financial crimes. details of that probe remain unknown and special counsel john durham, who was appointed by attorney general bill barr to look into the origins of the

trump-russia investigation, did not uncover any major conspiracies against trump. but barr repeatedly pressured durham to uncover flaws in the russia investigation, and durham relied on questionable information in pursuit of an outcome favorable to trump and his narrative of a "hoax." this included suspicious russian intelligence claims, which were used to gain access to the emails of an executive at george soros' open society foundation. durham obtained the emails even after a federal judge denied his request to subpoena them. john durham is currently working on the final report of the trump-russia investigation. chevron has announced plans to repurchase $75 billion dollars in its own stock, angering consumer advocates who accuse the oil giant of price gouging even as it helps to accelerate the climate crisis. the stock buyback came as chevron reported record profits in 2022, after russia's invasion of ukraine helped drive up the cost of fuel.

this week, senate democrats reintroduced the fair and transparent gas prices act, which would crack down on unfair practices by fossil fuel companies. in the netherlands, police arrested six climate activists in their homes, thursday, and charged them with incitement over their roles in planning nonviolent civil disobedience actions. their arrests came ahead of saturday's planned peaceful blockade of a highway next to the dutch parliament in the hague. the group extinction rebellion is demanding an immediate end to $19 billion in annual fossil fuel subsidies. in more climate news, over 450 environmental and human rights groups have condemned the appointment of an oil company executive to lead cop28 united nations climate talks in the united arab emirates later this year. sultan ahmed al jaber heads the abu dhabi national oil company. members of the kick big polluters out network write in an open letter to top un

officials, "there is no honor in appointing a fossil fuel executive who profits immensely off of fueling the climate crisis to oversee the global response to climate change. that such a move could ever be seen to be legitimate amidst an intensifying climate crisis where millions of lives and ecosystems are on the line exemplifies just how insidious big polluters' stranglehold over climate policy is. the international criminal court said it will resume its investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed as part of philippines former president rodrigo duterte's brutal war on drugs. the probe was suspended in november 2021 after philippines officials said they were conducting their own review of the crimes. the icc accused authorities of failing to take meaningful steps

to investigate or prosecute the killings. a united nations report found at least 8,600 people had been killed in the drug war unleashed by duterte, with some estimates suggesting the true toll could be three times higher. police often falsified evidence to justify the unlawful killings. in california, the6-year-old farmworker charged with killing seven co-workers monday at two mushroom farms told a bay area tv station he "wasn't in his right mind" on the day of the shootings. in a jailhouse interview with kntv, chunli zhao said he was bullieand forced to work long hours on the farms and that his complaints went ignored. the farm where zhao killed four of his victims had a separate shooting last summer. in that altercation, one manager was charged with attempting to murder another manager, after he fired a bullet into the man's trailer. e bullet went on to strike the mobile home of one of the workers who was killed in on

days mass shooting. in washington, d.c., president biden repeated his call for congress to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons and warned against rising anti-asian hate. biden's remarks came at a white house reception for the lunar new year, just days after 11 people were killed at a lunar new year celebration ithe majority-asian l.a. suburb of monterey park. president biden: silence is complicity. we cannot be silent. i will not be silent. one more thing. we are going to ban assault weapons again in the biden administration. amy: according to the gun violence archive, there have been 40 mass shootings across the u.s. so far in 2023. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up, we go to memphis, where five former police

officer's have been arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping for fatally beating 29-year-old tyre nichols after a traffic stop. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in memphis, tennessee. on thursday, five former police officers who were arrested with murder and charged with kidnapping in the fatal beating of tyre nichols, a 29-year-old african american man. nichols died on january 10 of kidney failure and cardiac arrest, three days after his violent arrest following a traffic stop. his family shared a shocking photo of diarrhea from his hospital bed shortly before he died. he was violently bruised and on

a breathing tube. earlier today, memphis's police chf cj dav tolcnn th she has seeno eviden police en had a letimate rson to sp nichs's hicle. thursdanight, te nicho' a cdlelig vigil w held in memphis. justice for tyre. amy: tyre nichols was a father of a young son, an amateur photographer, and a longtime skateboarder. he had worked at fedex for the past nine months. on thursday, shelby county district attorney steve mulroy outlined the charges against the five police officers. >> second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily injury. aggravated kidnapping involving the possession of a weapon. official misconduct through unauthorized exercise of power. official misconduct, failure to

act when there is a duty imposed by law. and official oppression. while each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question , the actions of all of them resulted in the death of tyre nichols, and they are all responsible. amy: all five officers charged are african-american. they were all part of what's known as the scorpion unit, which stands for street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhoods. the five officers were all fired earlier this month after tyre nichols' death. bill was sent between 200 $50,000 and 300 $50,000 for all five. two memphis firefighters have also been relieved of duty while an internal investigate takes place. memphis and other cities are now bracing for mass protests over

the police killing of tyre nichols. memphis is expected to release police bodycam video at 6:00 memphis time that shows the five officers pepper-spraying, tasing, restraining, kicking, and beating nichols for three minutes. david rausch, the director of the tennessee bureau of investigation, said the video is "absolutely appalling." >> am sickened by what i saw. and what we have learned through our extensive and thorough investigation. i have seen the video. as he stated, you will, too. in a word, it is absolutely appalling. let me be clear. what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing. this was wrong. this was criminal. amy: earlier in the week,

antonio romanucci, an attorney for tyre's nichols family, described what he saw in the video. as he spoke, tyre's mother began sobbing. >> he was defenseless the entire time. he was a human pinata for those police officers. it was an unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes. >> oh my god. >> that is what we saw in the video. amy: ben crump, another attorney for tyre's nichols family, said tyre was calling out for his mom during the police beating. >> the last words the video,

only about 80 to 100 yards from this house, and he calls for his mother. three times. mom. where is the humanity? where is the humanity? amy: he had his arm around tyre nichols' mom, rowvaughn wells, who also spoke at the press conference. >> i know every mom says that their son was good. but my son actually was a good boy. i don't know anything right now. i just know that my son tyre is not here with me anymore. she will never walk through that door again. you will never come in and say,

hello, parents. that is what he would do. he would come in and say, hello, parents. amy: we go to memphis, joined by amber sherman, a community organizer and black lives matter memphis chter member. amber is the host and creator of the podcast “the law according to amber.” thank you so much for joining us in these deeply horrifying times, especially in memphis right now. you were there last night at the protest. can you first respond to how you found out what happened, and what your reaction is, what you are calling for? >> thank you for having me. i found out what happened to tyre from other organizers. honestly, i feel like it does not even reach mainstream media often times. tyre's untimely dea was the

fourth time that someone had been murdered byolice since december. we are definitely not used to experiencing that kind of violence. i was horrified to hear that five people were involved in literally beating somebody to death. it is extremely disgusting but also not a surprise considering the way that police eat the people of memphis. we a extreme over policed. every experience that my friends have had and other folks are violent. they immediately approach the situation with violence. they don't give us the respect that we give them. it is always how you are a criminal, how can we put you in your place? amy: i wonder if you can tell us than about the response of memphis officials. for example, the police chief an african-american woman, has been there for about a year and a

half, cj davis, said that what she saw was heinous, reckless, inhumane, and horrific. interestingly, in an interview that she did today, although she could not see it on bodycam footage, the reason for the traffic stop -- they claimed he was driving recklessly. she said when she looked at all the video around, she could not even see that. what do you think of, not only the police chief, but all of these officials from the tennessee bureau of investigation, saying this was criminal, heinous, inhumane. is that consistent with your experience with how they deal with issues of police brutality inhe community? >> yes. like folks have been saying the past few years, this experience

among black people is not abnormal it is just being caught on camera. we have experienced this kind of violence over and over again in our communities. their cute statement don't mean anything to me. if the scorpion unit doesn't exist, another task unit exists. she can keep the cute statements. it does nothing for us. amy: you talked about the scorpion unit. if you could explain what that is, just set up in the last two years, and also talk about your confrontation with the memphis mayor strickland a few days ago. >> the scorpion unit is another task force unit we have here. memphis has several task force unit from the multi-gang unit, organized crime unit, and now this scorpion unit, which is just another organized crime task force. the goal is they would flood

high crime areas with officers, the scorpion unit has teams of eight people, so they would flood these areas with officers, and that is supposed to deter the crime. that is not what is happening. what's been happening this entire time, they are scaring citizens, assaulting people, and murdering them. i approached the mayor because he has the power to make those decisions around policy for the police department, or to push people to make those changes. it is deplorable for them to hold an award ceremony in honor of mlk day, when he would have been calling for justice for tyre. we would not be holding cute events, serving lobster and wall, giving out awards. that is not what he stood for. this is a common pattern with the mayor. he ignores things that should not be ignored, and until people run up to him with a camera in

his face and interrogate him to how he should be responding to incidents, he doesn't do anything. even now he doesn't do anything. he has put out cute statements but has not done anything, just like the police chief. amy: talk about these five police officers. a 2016 lawsuit says one of them and accused in tyre's beating allegedly assaulted a prisoner. what do you know about their records? >> we don't have sufficient information around their records. we have been asking for those files to be released, will continue to ask for those files to be released, but what i can say is that the behavior of those officers is not abnormal. it is disgusting that we as citizens of a majority black city, have these police officers intruding on our everyday lives, and we cannot get the basic things we have been asking for,

but we can get more police officers. the mayor has put for limiting residency requirements with the farther away can become officers. they have offered bonuses. they have not actually addressed any other reasons why we have higher crime rates than certain areas. amy: the information we have on the 2016 lawsuit says one of the optical -- officers accused in tyre's murder allegedly assaulted a prisoner. officer demetrius haley was one of three corrections officers reportedly involved in the assault of prisoner cordarlrius sledge in shelby county, an assault that left sledge unconscious. sledge later filed a lawsuit, but a judge dismissed it in 2018, saying sledge did not properly serve one of the defendants with a summons. >> iid hear about that lawsuit, and i would not be surprised considering the way

the attention center and the prison operates. we have critiqued them on that several times. he has continued to ignore. we raise concerns about how people are being treated in the jail and prisons, and he ignores those calls as well. i would not be surprised if somebody was experiencing that kind of violence. amy: you are wearing a shirt that says "humanize being black." i cannot see the second line. talk about your plans for protest now. you were at the vigil last night. tyre's mother calling for peace tonight. your response to all of this? >> the shirt says " humanize being black" over and over again. i think it is interesting when people call for peace from us, when the only ones that are being violent are the police.

we have never had protest that were not peaceful in the yrs that i've been organizing. they have always been peaceful. the police escalate things. they are the reason we are in the street in the first place. i always implore people, especially businesses who push the fear mongering by closing businesses early, police who flood areas on horses, putting up gates and things like that, to actually hone in on who is the real violent person here. five officers beat someone to death. asking us to remain peaceful when the city and the city's public employees are not peaceful to us, is, one, unrealistic, and two, not true. we have not had protest that were not peaceful. amy: kcra in sacramento spoke to nichols' sister keyana dixon and brother jamal dupree after they learned from family members what the police body camera video showed.

>> for this to happen to him in this way, the pain is just -- i have no words. >> listening to how my stepfather played it out, it was horrif. out of all five officers, nobody decided to say, hey, this is not cool, let's back up. amy: talk about what is going to happen tonight. the police body camera will be released at 6:00 at this time, 7:00 eastern time. what do you understand you will see? what did it take to get this video released? >> it definitely took a lot of on the ground organizing, pressuring. i believe that if we did not

have the protest on saturday a week ago, if we had not shown up in city hall on mlk day, showing up at the das office, if we had not continued to show up and pull it to people that were not responding to us, we would not be getting the video footage. to be clear, i don't need to see the video to know that tyre was murdered. i don't ever encourage people to experience that kind of trauma over and over again by watching those videos. i tell people, anything that happens tonight will be in response to the family demands, which have not been answered. they quietly fire people that they will not name, but we want to continue to uplift those demands, and we don't need a video to see that. i saw the picture of tyre in the hospital. that is enough. amy: i want to go back to the shelby county district attorney

describing the traffic stop that led up to his death. >> we will not comment on the process or legality of the traffic stop that there was a traffic stop, initial altercation between the officers and mr. nichols. pepper spray was deployed. mr. nichols fled on foot. there was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by mr. nichols. after some period of time, waiting around after, he was taken away by ambulance. beyond that, i don't think we should go into further details. >> did the police delay calling the ambulance? >> there was an elapsed period of time, but if you wash the video, you can make that judgment for yourself. amy: we want to thank you, amber

sherman, member of the black lives matter memphis chapter. the host of the podcast "the law according to amber." we will keep people updated at democracynow.org on what happens this weekend. thank you so much. when we come back, we are joined by ben crump, one of the lawyers for the family of tyre nichols. he is in memphis. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue today's show in this, tennessee. on thursday, five fired police officers have been arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping in the fatal beating of tyre nichols. a 29-year-old african-american man who weighed barely 150 pounds. he died on january 10 of kidney failure and cardiac arrest, three days after his violent arrest following a traffic stop just blocks from his home. his family shared a shocking photo of tyre from his hospital bed shortly before he died.

he was violently bruised and on a breathing tube. the family wanted everyone to see that photograph. earlier today, the memphis police chief, cj davis, told cnn that she actually did not see evidence police had a legitimate reason to stop nichols' car. he was the father of a young son, amateur photographer, longtime skateboarder, and worked at fedex for the past nine months. we are joined now by tyre's mother, father, as well as the torney ben crump. our deepest condolences to you. rowvaughn, we have seen you be a part of these conferences.

i cannot even imagine what this is like to watch the video of your son, his last words crying out for you. >> actually, i have not seen the video. i saw what the police officer is due to my son when i saw him in the hospital. i don't need to see them do it. i saw the end result. >> mr. wells saw the video. ms. wells could not. after the first moment, she left the room. she could not take it because that was her baby. amy: rodney wells, if you could tell us what you saw. this is what the world will see today at 6:00 memphis time, this video. i am so sorry that you had to witness this, of course, not as sorry for what it actually shows

have death of your son. >> what i saw was the police brutalizing my son. they did not have to do that. he did not deserve that. he was a very, very good kid. i did not understand why they had to beat him the way that they did. it was just very horrific. i am glad that my wife didn't see it because she didn't deserve to see that either. it was just traveling amy: tyre was just a few blocks from his home? >> no, just a few houses. >> he was about 80 feet from his house. it makes sense why his last words on this earth is yelling out for his mother, got wrenching cries for his mother.

amy: when did you learn what happened, rowvaughn wells? because he was so close to the home. >> police officers came to the door and asked if i knew my son. do you know tyre nichols? i said yes. they said that he was arrested r a dui. that is confusing because my son does not drink like that. they proceeded to tell me that he was being attended to by paramedics because they had to taze and pepper spray him. i asked where my son was. they said he was nearby. at the time, i did not know where this had all transpired

until further reports came out. once we left the house, my husband and i went to see if we could find our s, and we found his car a couple blocks away with the undercover police officers there. we got a call from the physician telling me to come to the hospital. >> about 4:00 in the morning. >> yes. about 4:00 in the morning, i got a call from the physician telling me to get to the hospital quickly. my son went into cardiac arrest and his kidneys were failing. i did not understand that because they only told me he was

pepper sprayed and tazed. but when we got to the hospital, the picture that everybody sees, that is what we saw. amy: tell us about tyre, rowvaughn wells, and rodney wells, please join in. first, just a physical description. how much did he way? -- weigh? >> tyre was 6'3", about 150 pounds. tyre has crohn's disease, and he manages that with his diet, so he does not eat as much as normal people. he is fairly light. that is why this is so troubling to me because you had five

officers' combined weight of over 1000 pounds beating up on a young man who is only 150. how did they fear for their lives in order for this to happen? i am still trying to understand that. >> and let me make it clear, amy. what we have seen transpired with these charges being levied so quickly showed now be the blueprint of what happens when you see police officers commit crimes on video against citizens. we saw the memphis police department, district attorney terminate these five black officers and charge them with less than 20 days.

when we think about all of these other cases, they cannot have this excuse now, and say we need six months, we need a year, when you have evidence on video of the crime. it should be equal justice, that we have swift justice, not just when it is five black officers, when it is any officer engaging in excessive force against citizens, unarmed citizens. amy: the police officers can get out on bond. i think three of them will have to raise 250 thousand dollars, the others, $350,000. rowvaughn, rodney, your response

to them being free? >> they are innocent until proven guilty. amy: what do you understand, ben crump? you described he was beaten. did you yourself see the video? >> yes, i did. amy: what happens at the end? >> tragically, the video will remind many people of rodney king. unke rney king, rowvaughn and rodney's son does not survive. at the end of the video, calling out for his mother, his last words on this earth, they have them sat up and cuffed against the police car. then you see his body fall to the right side. after a minute or so, they sit him back upright and you see his

body fall tohe left side. then they put him back upright, and he falls on the ground, moaning. it is obvious he is in distress. what you want is for them to display an ounce of humanity, try toender aid to this human being that is in stress, but you don't see that. top of all of the escalation that we saw earlier in the video where they used profane language against him, punching him and kicking him, you are saying, when is somebody going to display hanity? that is what is troubling because you don't see it on that video even as he is going in and out of consciousness, and cuffed, on the ground against the police car. amy: two fire department

employees have also been relieved of duties. thec fiveops have been fired and jailed. do you know what role they played? >> based on what we saw, these fire department officials came on the scene, and for several minutesthey are to standing around talking while tyre is in obvious distress. you can see, he needs medical attention, and nobody is trying to render aid. that is why i believe these fire department officials are also being investigated in this matter. they did not do what they were supposed to do in the sense they

were supposed to be first responders that responded first to a person's health and welfare. amy: rowvaughn and rodney wells, you were with your son in the hospital as he hovered between life and death for three days, died on january 10. this is two weeks later. rowvaughn, you have said the police tried to cover this up. can you explain how you feel they did this? >> i will just say this. from the initial time they came to my door, things they were saying, and that the information that i'm receiving, i feel like they try to start covering it up wh they came to my door. that is just from the information that i'm receiving right now, the initial contact with the police when they came to my door.

amy: tyre has a four-year-old son. tell us more about who he was, his skateboarding prowess, working at fedex, coming home each day to eat lunch with you. tell us how you want us to remember him. >> tyre was different. tyre did not folw everyone. he was his own leader. he had a beautiful soul, and he touched everyone. the boy smiled l the time. he loved his mother's cooking, he loved his son. that is what he came to memphis in the first place, to be with his mom, build a better life for

him and his son. but memphis took my son away from me. amy: tyre had a tattoo of you on his arm? >> yes, my name, a tattoo of my name on his arm. amy: when this video is released, it will be shown. i'm asking her two of you now, rodney and rowvaughn, do you want us to show the video of the beating of your son? >> yes, we want to show it, but out of respect, we want protesters to do it peacefully. we don't need riots or looti. that will not bring our son back, that is nowhat he stood for. he was a peaceful person, we are a peaceful family. if you want to protest, just protest peacefully.

we do not need no uproar, looting, burning. don't destroy your own city, that is not what we are about, what our son was about. amy: will you be a part of the vigils and protests? >> yes. >> they are standing with the community because the community stands with them. amy: what is your message to the local officials? many of them, including the police chief, cj davis, an african-american woman, sa that what took place was heinous. she also set up the scorpion unit of which of these five officers were a part, she says, to deal with violence in the communities. your message to them right now, and to president biden, as well, who also spoke about the killing of tyre nichols? >> we say thank you to the

police chief davis. when she first encountered the family, she told ms. wells and mr. wells that she was not just engaging them as a chief, but as a mother of black children, and that her heart breaks for them. she was not proud of anything that you saw in the video by these officers. we are thankful to them. we thank president biden for his comments, that this family deserves justice, just as all americans do. we are very grateful to everybody who has demonstrated the respect and dignity for tyre nichols' life that those police officers did not do on january 7.

we thank you for covering this important matter. we are going to let the family continue to prepare for the day. amy: rowvaughn, rodney wells, deepest condolences. ben, if you have a minute, i want to ask you about another case that you are unbelievably dealing with, keenan anderson, also stopped in a traffic stop in los angeles. >> yes, it seems to be, no matterhere a person of col, that they do theost. he is handcuffed and they still tase him six or seven times within 42 second, we believe causing his heart to be electrocuted. he was a 31-year-old teacher. it is so heartbreaking, all of these tragedies. you have some minority officers

involved in that tragedy in los angeles which underscores what i have said recently, dealing with these officers who killed tyre nichols who are all african-american. what i have learned in my almost 25 years of doing civil rights law all across america, that it is not the race of the police officers that are the determining factor whether they will engage excessive use of force, but it is the race of the citizen, and often times it is black and brown citizens who get the brunt of police brutality. we don't see videos of our white brothers and sisters who are unarmed being levied with this type of excessive force that you will see from rowvaughn and rodney's son.

you don't have this type of brutality. you will see with keenan anderson in los angeles, for a traffic interaction, where they end up dead. you just don't see that in america. this is a blueprint, amy goodman. what we have done in memphis with termination of these five black officers, charging them in less than 20 days based on the crime they witnessed on the video, it should happen everywhere for all of these cases that we talk so much about, whether it is botham jean in dallas, texas, tulsa, oklahoma, philando castile in minneapolis, minnesota, whether it is pamela turner in houston, texas. all of them deserve swift

justice. it should not matter if the officers are white or black. we saw how swiftly justice can happen because of ho they charged these officers. amy: i'm just wondering, rowvaughn, if you want to see memphis officials marching with you. the police chief, the mayor, the fbi, justice department, if you want to see president biden marching with you. >> we want everybody standing up for justice. thank you. amy: thank you so much. one last question, because you may be bringing a lawsuit in florida around black studies ap courses being banned by governor desantis, one of the issues he raises is that issues like police brutality cast aspersions

on police. that he does not want to see a black lives matter subjects raised in high schools. you held a news conference in your hometown of tallahassee. good you talk about how that links into this larger story? >> it has a profound effect on poce interaction with citizens from the black community. we have to talk about the history of america, all the history. we cannot have them do a water down version of history. our children, black children, white children, hispanic children, everybody needs to learn all history and learn the value in our history and culture, especially african-american history. that is why we gave notice of intent to sue governor ron desantis of florida if you tries

to prohibit african-american advanced placement courses being taught in the state of florida. because our children have to understand from the beginning thatlack history is american history. the great negro educator carter winston known as theather of blac history says that if a race has no history, if a race has no traditions that are respecteand taught to the youth, then that race becomes a negligible thought in the world that can be eliminated from the world. and we but not that governor ron desantis or anybody eliminate our black history and culture fr being tght in the schools in florida or anywhere in

america, because our black history matters. amy: ben crump, thank you so much for being with us. rowvaughn and rodney wells, our deepest condolences.