President Biden introduces Tyre Nichols' parents during State of the Union, Nichols Black and beat to death by 5 since fired and indicted Memphis cops...By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

The parents of Memphis police killing victim Tyre Nichols were among the special guests invited by President Joe Biden to hear his State of the Union address to a joint chamber of Congress on Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

President Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C. before a joint chamber of Congress where he called for police reforms and accountability following the police killing death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee last month

Tyre Nichols

The five fired Memphis cops who face second degree murder and other charges for beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to death during a traffic stop on Jan 7, 2023

Video: President Joe Biden honors the parents of Memphis police killing victim Tyre Nichols during his second State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com  

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor -in-chief, and a political and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio

Washington D.C.-The parents of Tyre Nichols were among the guests of President Joe Biden for his second State of the Union address on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. before a joint chamber of Congress, Nichols the 29-year-old Black man whom Memphis police unmercifully beat to death during a traffic stop early last month. 

Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, and stepfather, Rodney Wells, stood as Mr. Biden mentioned them during his address, touching comments where the president spoke out against police brutality and excessive force and called for police accountability.

"As many of you personally know, there are no words to describe the heartache of losing a child, but imagine, imagine if you lost that child at the hands of the law," Biden said. "Public safety depends on public trust but too often that trust is violated."

A Democratic president who served as vice president under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, Biden went on to say that "most of us in here have never had to have the talk, the talk that Brown and Black parents have had to have with their children. When police officers or police departments violate the public trust, they must be held accountable."

The father of a four-year-old boy, Nichols was stomped to death by five Black Memphis cops on Jan 7 during a traffic stop. A police video of the incident that city officials subsequently made public reveals that they beat him for about three minutes, punching and kicking him in the head and striking him on the back with a baton while he was restrained and crying out for his mother. All five police officers have been fired and indicted on a host of criminal charges, including second degree murder. They were part of an elite special forces team called "The Scorpions," which has since been disbanded A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, who is White, was later fired for his role relative to the tragic killing that drew nationwide protests and calls for police reforms.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.