WEBVTT 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:19.220 From New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, 00:00:19.740 --> 00:00:21.440 this is Democracy Now! 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:29.510 My sister, she — she wanted to see her daughter grow up, 00:00:30.590 --> 00:00:33.290 and be there for her and encourage her. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:37.420 [After] New York and New Jersey, 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:40.930 the next highest number of coronavirus infections 00:00:40.930 --> 00:00:44.850 per capita in the United States is in the Navajo Nation, 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:47.870 the largest Indigenous reservation in the country. 00:00:48.470 --> 00:00:53.370 We’ll speak with the partner of a woman who died of the virus. 00:00:53.370 --> 00:00:56.120 Twenty-eight-year-old Valentina Blackhorse, 00:00:56.120 --> 00:01:00.230 a beloved community leader who promoted Navajo culture, 00:01:00.230 --> 00:01:02.630 left behind a daughter named Poet. 00:01:03.410 --> 00:01:06.010 We’ll also get an update from a Navajo doctor 00:01:06.010 --> 00:01:09.390 in Winslow, Arizona, and go to Gallup, New Mexico, 00:01:09.390 --> 00:01:12.830 to speak with the head of a contingent of volunteer doctors 00:01:12.830 --> 00:01:14.760 with the HEAL Initiative. 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.560 Then we go to a prison in Ohio, 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:19.600 where one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks 00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:20.860 in the United States 00:01:20.860 --> 00:01:23.970 has killed at least 11 prisoners and one staff member. 00:01:24.660 --> 00:01:28.610 Eighty percent of prisoners and half the prison staff 00:01:28.610 --> 00:01:30.990 at Marion Correctional Institution 00:01:30.990 --> 00:01:34.770 have tested positive for COVID-19 in April, 00:01:34.770 --> 00:01:38.140 making it the largest virus hot spot in the country. 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:40.250 I’m in Marion Correctional, 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:43.150 where the coronavirus is just spreading like wildfire. 00:01:43.150 --> 00:01:46.770 Out of 2,500 people, they say 1,300 people got it. 00:01:46.770 --> 00:01:48.470 You know, that’s a scary thought. 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:52.410 I might not make it home to my children, you know. 00:01:52.410 --> 00:01:54.220 I just wanted to speak up for what I believe in, 00:01:54.220 --> 00:01:56.120 and hopefully that this will make a difference 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:57.540 and it reaches the right hands 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.100 and, you know, we get some kind of relief. 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:02.399 All I can ask is just keep us in your prayers. 00:02:03.510 --> 00:02:05.120 We’ll speak with the co-founder 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:07.370 of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support, 00:02:07.370 --> 00:02:10.290 whose husband James is incarcerated at Marion, 00:02:10.290 --> 00:02:11.830 and look at the coronavirus 00:02:11.830 --> 00:02:14.040 and case for abolition with professor 00:02:14.040 --> 00:02:16.680 Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Change 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:19.960 Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition. 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:21.660 All that and more, coming up. 00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:29.310 Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:02:29.310 --> 00:02:32.270 The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. 00:02:32.270 --> 00:02:34.970 The official coronavirus death toll worldwide 00:02:34.970 --> 00:02:36.870 has topped a quarter of a million, 00:02:36.870 --> 00:02:40.240 with over 3.6 million confirmed cases. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:44.600 The official U.S. death toll is expected to top 70,000 today, 00:02:44.600 --> 00:02:48.090 but that is widely believed to be an undercount. 00:02:48.090 --> 00:02:51.240 A pair of studies predict the COVID-19 outbreak 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:54.630 is set to become far deadlier in the United States. 00:02:54.630 --> 00:02:56.890 A draft Federal Emergency Management 00:02:56.890 --> 00:02:58.590 Agency report forecasts 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:01.140 that daily coronavirus deaths in the United States 00:03:01.140 --> 00:03:04.590 would rise to 3,000 people a day by June 1 — 00:03:05.370 --> 00:03:08.360 that’s a 70% increase over the current figure. 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:12.770 Separately, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 00:03:12.770 --> 00:03:15.700 at the University of Washington estimates the U.S. death toll 00:03:15.700 --> 00:03:21.190 will reach around 135,000 by August in the United States — 00:03:21.190 --> 00:03:24.550 more than double the institute’s previous forecast. 00:03:24.550 --> 00:03:28.650 Despite the worsening outbreak, many states are continuing 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:30.290 to lift restrictions this week, 00:03:30.290 --> 00:03:33.200 including Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:35.030 gave the green light for state parks, 00:03:35.030 --> 00:03:37.390 nonessential businesses, and restaurants to reopen 00:03:37.390 --> 00:03:39.980 across most of the state at reduced capacity. 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:46.010 On Monday, Miami Beach had to close a popular park — 00:03:46.010 --> 00:03:48.290 just five days after reopening it — 00:03:48.290 --> 00:03:52.000 after thousands failed to adhere to new rules requiring 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.390 social distancing and wearing a face mask. 00:03:55.390 --> 00:03:57.360 In California, Governor Gavin Newsom 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.760 said Monday some manufacturing and retail businesses — 00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:03.710 including bookstores, clothing and sporting goods stores, 00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:06.880 and florists — would be allowed to reopen Friday. 00:04:06.880 --> 00:04:09.110 Businesses will have to abide by certain rules, 00:04:09.110 --> 00:04:12.640 including social distancing and offering curbside pickup. 00:04:12.640 --> 00:04:13.960 Gov. Gavin Newsom: 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:18.110 "The data says it can happen, but we recognize, 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:21.660 as we begin to modify, behavior is modified, 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:24.270 and possible community spread may occur. 00:04:24.270 --> 00:04:27.690 If that’s the case and we do not have the capacity to control 00:04:27.690 --> 00:04:30.250 that spread, to trace that spread, 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:33.030 to track that spread, to isolate individuals 00:04:33.030 --> 00:04:35.660 that may have been in contact with COVID-19, 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:38.350 we will have to make modifications anew." 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:42.220 China is fighting back on unsubstantiated claims 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:45.540 by the Trump administration that the coronavirus was man-made 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:47.760 and originated in a lab in Wuhan. 00:04:47.760 --> 00:04:51.160 Chinese state media has accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:52.460 of outright lying, 00:04:52.460 --> 00:04:55.330 calling on him to present evidence of his claims. 00:04:55.330 --> 00:04:56.710 The World Health Organization, 00:04:56.710 --> 00:04:59.700 U.S. intelligence agencies and most scientists — 00:04:59.700 --> 00:05:02.370 including Trump’s top coronavirus expert, 00:05:02.370 --> 00:05:03.960 Dr. Anthony Fauci 00:05:03.960 --> 00:05:06.400 — have said they believe the outbreak started in nature, 00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:09.740 most likely through animal-to-human transmission. 00:05:10.290 --> 00:05:13.060 Reports emerged Monday that further intelligence 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:15.180 shared with the Five Eyes alliance — 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:18.520 the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — 00:05:18.520 --> 00:05:20.340 indicates it is "highly unlikely" 00:05:20.340 --> 00:05:23.690 that COVID-19 started inside a laboratory. 00:05:24.260 --> 00:05:26.200 In New York, a report alleges the Metropolitan 00:05:26.200 --> 00:05:28.440 Detention Center in Brooklyn 00:05:28.440 --> 00:05:30.430 is destroying prisoners’ medical records 00:05:30.430 --> 00:05:32.650 in an attempt to obscure the real number of people 00:05:32.650 --> 00:05:34.900 testing positive for the coronavirus 00:05:34.900 --> 00:05:37.070 and to avoid providing them medical care. 00:05:37.070 --> 00:05:39.870 The report was written by the former medical director 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:41.120 of New York City’s jails 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.000 as part of a class-action lawsuit led by prisoners at MDC. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.830 This comes as attorneys with the Federal Defenders of New York 00:05:47.830 --> 00:05:51.860 say MDC staff is blocking quarantined prisoners 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:56.010 from speaking to their lawyers during the COVID-19 lockdown. 00:05:56.820 --> 00:05:59.540 The clothing retailer J. Crew has filed for bankruptcy 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:01.920 after the coronavirus pandemic forced the company 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:03.820 to close stores across the country. 00:06:03.820 --> 00:06:06.090 The company expects to stay in business. 00:06:06.090 --> 00:06:10.250 Student loan holders are suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:12.220 The Education Department is being accused 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:14.940 of continuing to garnish the wages of federal student 00:06:14.940 --> 00:06:17.710 loan borrowers who fall behind on payments 00:06:17.710 --> 00:06:21.320 despite a new law prohibiting this during the pandemic. 00:06:22.230 --> 00:06:24.200 World leaders, wealthy individuals, 00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:26.530 and organizations joined an effort spearheaded 00:06:26.530 --> 00:06:29.190 by the European Union Monday to raise $8 billion 00:06:29.740 --> 00:06:31.930 for the development of a vaccine and treatments 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:33.380 for the coronavirus. 00:06:33.380 --> 00:06:36.460 The European Union and Norway each pledged $1 billion. 00:06:37.030 --> 00:06:39.650 Canada pledged $850 million. 00:06:39.650 --> 00:06:41.910 The United States pledged nothing 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:44.400 and refused to take part in the fundraising effort. 00:06:44.400 --> 00:06:47.450 This is European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 00:06:47.450 --> 00:06:48.650 Ursula von der Leyen: 00:06:48.650 --> 00:06:51.550 "At a time when we are sitting further apart than usual, 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:53.720 the world has shown it is 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:56.710 standing closer together than ever before. 00:06:57.690 --> 00:07:00.010 And in the space of just a few hours, 00:07:00.010 --> 00:07:06.720 we have collectively pledged 7.4 billion euros 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.520 for vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. 00:07:10.030 --> 00:07:12.380 And all this money will help kickstart 00:07:12.380 --> 00:07:14.420 unprecedented global cooperation." 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.790 The United Nations said the success of the initiative 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:24.620 would be measured by the equal distribution of any treatment. 00:07:24.620 --> 00:07:27.500 In Russia, questions abound after three healthcare workers 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:31.300 have mysteriously fallen from hospital windows 00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:32.760 over the past two weeks. 00:07:32.760 --> 00:07:35.000 Two of them have died, while one is hospitalized. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.680 The hospitalized doctor previously posted a video 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.700 on social media calling out the lack of medical equipment 00:07:40.700 --> 00:07:42.670 and the fact he had to keep working 00:07:42.670 --> 00:07:46.010 despite testing positive for COVID-19. 00:07:46.010 --> 00:07:49.090 Russian authorities say they are investigating all three cases. 00:07:49.090 --> 00:07:51.470 Coronavirus cases continue to surge in Russia, 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:54.820 with over 155,000 confirmed infections 00:07:54.820 --> 00:07:58.330 and over 1,400 reported deaths. 00:07:58.850 --> 00:08:01.220 In Britain, the Office for National Statistics 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:03.860 said the nation’s death toll has topped 32,000 00:08:03.860 --> 00:08:06.870 to become the highest in Europe and second in the world 00:08:06.870 --> 00:08:09.620 only to the United States, according to that figure. 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:12.040 Meanwhile, a French hospital says they treated 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:15.750 a COVID-19 patient as early as December — 00:08:15.750 --> 00:08:19.380 a month before the government confirmed its first cases. 00:08:20.260 --> 00:08:23.380 Venezuela has announced it has detained two former U.S. 00:08:23.380 --> 00:08:27.350 Special Forces soldiers who took part in a failed armed incursion 00:08:27.350 --> 00:08:29.700 aimed at toppling the government. 00:08:29.700 --> 00:08:31.570 On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolás 00:08:31.570 --> 00:08:34.600 Maduro showed U.S. passports for the two men, 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:36.050 identified as Airan 00:08:36.050 --> 00:08:38.290 Berry and Luke Denman. A former Green 00:08:38.290 --> 00:08:41.140 Beret named Jordan Goudreau has acknowledged 00:08:41.140 --> 00:08:44.750 the men were working with him in an attempt to detain Maduro. 00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:48.440 On Monday, Maduro accused the U.S. of being behind the plot. 00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:51.690 President Nicolás Maduro: 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:53.370 "Mike Pompeo was betting on this attack 00:08:53.370 --> 00:08:55.820 and believed that this attack would end the revolution, 00:08:55.820 --> 00:08:59.270 end the constitution, overthrow the government and kill me. 00:08:59.270 --> 00:09:00.970 God save us and protect us." 00:09:01.550 --> 00:09:03.760 In Colombia, an investigative report alleges 00:09:03.760 --> 00:09:05.820 Colombian military intelligence officials 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:08.380 carried out a massive surveillance operation 00:09:08.380 --> 00:09:12.030 targeting over 130 individuals, including politicians, 00:09:12.030 --> 00:09:13.810 union leaders and more than two dozen 00:09:13.810 --> 00:09:15.900 Colombian and international journalists, 00:09:15.900 --> 00:09:18.190 including reporters working at The New York Times 00:09:18.190 --> 00:09:19.560 and The Wall Street Journal. 00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:22.710 The military reportedly has a database with personal data, 00:09:22.710 --> 00:09:25.460 including home addresses, phone numbers and information 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:27.360 on family members and colleagues. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:29.300 Press freedom groups are demanding right-wing 00:09:29.300 --> 00:09:33.050 Colombian President Iván Duque investigate the allegations. 00:09:33.050 --> 00:09:34.820 Reuters reports the Colombian Defense 00:09:34.820 --> 00:09:36.060 Ministry on Friday 00:09:36.060 --> 00:09:39.110 announced the ouster of 11 unnamed military officials, 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:41.290 and the resignation of a military general, 00:09:41.290 --> 00:09:43.220 linked to the scandal. 00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:46.140 Sudan has outlawed female genital mutilation. 00:09:46.140 --> 00:09:49.270 The U.N. estimates nearly nine out of 10 women and girls in 00:09:49.270 --> 00:09:51.370 Sudan have undergone the practice. 00:09:51.370 --> 00:09:54.040 A recent report estimates female genital mutilation 00:09:54.040 --> 00:09:57.060 is being regularly practiced in over 90 countries. 00:09:57.060 --> 00:10:00.010 Women’s and children’s rights advocates celebrated the move 00:10:00.010 --> 00:10:03.450 but warned much work would be needed to ensure 00:10:03.450 --> 00:10:05.790 the law would be properly implemented. 00:10:06.680 --> 00:10:09.330 Back in the United States, the secretary of the U.S. Senate 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:12.110 rejected a request from Joe Biden to search for 00:10:12.110 --> 00:10:14.860 and release any possible records of a complaint by Tara 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:18.840 Reade following an alleged sexual assault in 1993. 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:20.790 Tara Reade recently publicly accused 00:10:20.790 --> 00:10:23.040 Joe Biden of the assault, which she says happened 00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:25.620 when she worked in then-Senator Biden’s office. 00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:27.410 Joe Biden has denied the allegation. 00:10:27.410 --> 00:10:29.040 Reade said she made complaints about 00:10:29.040 --> 00:10:30.630 Biden’s inappropriate behavior 00:10:30.630 --> 00:10:33.030 but did not bring up the sexual assault. 00:10:33.030 --> 00:10:35.100 Reporters have called for Biden’s senatorial 00:10:35.100 --> 00:10:37.580 records at the University of Delaware to be searched, 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:40.130 but Biden has refused to make such a request, 00:10:40.130 --> 00:10:42.130 and the papers are sealed to the public. 00:10:43.640 --> 00:10:46.990 A top engineer and vice president at Amazon 00:10:46.990 --> 00:10:49.620 has resigned to protest the company’s recent 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:51.970 firing of whistleblowers and warehouse workers 00:10:51.970 --> 00:10:54.460 who demonstrated against unsafe working conditions 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:55.800 during the pandemic. 00:10:55.800 --> 00:10:58.910 Tim Bray described in a blog post what he called 00:10:58.910 --> 00:11:02.260 a "vein of toxicity running through the company culture." 00:11:02.260 --> 00:11:03.580 He went on to write, 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:07.590 "I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison." 00:11:07.590 --> 00:11:08.860 In Washington state, 00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:12.820 King County reached a $2.25 million settlement 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:15.470 and apologized Monday for the fatal shooting of a 00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:19.520 Black teenage boy by sheriff’s deputies in 2017. 00:11:19.520 --> 00:11:22.130 Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens was 17 years old 00:11:22.130 --> 00:11:24.520 when he was killed during a failed sting operation 00:11:24.520 --> 00:11:27.430 that falsely targeted one of his friends. 00:11:28.640 --> 00:11:31.400 Labor scholar and Puerto Rican independence activist 00:11:31.400 --> 00:11:33.140 José Soler has died. 00:11:33.140 --> 00:11:35.980 For over 20 years, Soler was director of the UMass 00:11:35.980 --> 00:11:38.070 Dartmouth Labor Education Center, 00:11:38.070 --> 00:11:40.990 and most recently co-head of the New Bedford Coalition to Save 00:11:40.990 --> 00:11:43.750 Our Schools, which fought charter school expansion. 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:46.160 Soler emerged in the social justice world 00:11:46.160 --> 00:11:48.380 as a leader in the Chicano rights organization 00:11:48.380 --> 00:11:51.200 the Brown Berets. He advocated for human rights 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.850 and the independence of Puerto Rico since the 1970s. 00:11:53.850 --> 00:11:55.060 Throughout his life, 00:11:55.060 --> 00:11:57.970 Soler continued to work in the labor rights movement. 00:11:57.970 --> 00:12:00.050 He was a union organizer with UAW 00:12:00.050 --> 00:12:02.870 District 65 and a labor journalist. 00:12:02.870 --> 00:12:05.770 José Soler was 75 years old. 00:12:06.390 --> 00:12:09.270 The 2020 Pulitzer winners were announced Monday. 00:12:09.270 --> 00:12:11.990 Among the recipients, Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York 00:12:11.990 --> 00:12:14.730 Times for her essay as part of the 1619 00:12:14.730 --> 00:12:17.970 Project, which reexamines the legacy of slavery. 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:20.200 Staff of The Baltimore Sun won for local reporting, 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:21.490 and the Anchorage Daily 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:24.090 News was awarded the public service prize 00:12:24.090 --> 00:12:25.730 for its series with ProPublica 00:12:25.730 --> 00:12:28.730 about law enforcement and sexual crimes in Alaska. 00:12:28.730 --> 00:12:30.510 Brian Rosenthal won for his New York 00:12:30.510 --> 00:12:33.450 Times exposé of New York’s taxi industry crisis 00:12:33.450 --> 00:12:36.640 and the predatory lending that led to it. Yale professor 00:12:36.640 --> 00:12:39.980 Greg Grandin won the Pulitzer for nonfiction for his book 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:41.190 "The End of the Myth: 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:44.520 From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America." 00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:46.890 The book "Solitary" by Albert Woodfox, 00:12:46.890 --> 00:12:48.160 with Leslie George, 00:12:48.160 --> 00:12:50.220 was a finalist in the same category of 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:51.520 "general nonfiction." 00:12:51.520 --> 00:12:54.210 "Solitary" is a memoir by Woodfox, 00:12:54.210 --> 00:12:56.930 who served the longest time in solitary confinement 00:12:56.930 --> 00:12:59.530 of any prisoner in the United States. 00:12:59.530 --> 00:13:02.680 "Ear Hustle," a podcast out of San Quentin State Prison, 00:13:02.680 --> 00:13:05.100 was a finalist for the first Pulitzer Prize 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:06.780 in Audio Reporting. And Ida B. 00:13:06.780 --> 00:13:09.570 Wells received a posthumous special citation 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:12.430 for "her outstanding and courageous reporting 00:13:12.430 --> 00:13:14.310 on the horrific and vicious violence 00:13:14.310 --> 00:13:17.800 against African Americans during the era of lynching." 00:13:18.400 --> 00:13:20.490 You can see our interviews with many of the winners 00:13:20.490 --> 00:13:22.520 and finalists of this year’s Pulitzer Prize, 00:13:22.520 --> 00:13:24.650 including Greg Grandin, Albert Woodfox 00:13:24.650 --> 00:13:28.510 and Brian Rosenthal, at democracynow.org. 00:13:28.510 --> 00:13:30.770 And those are some of the headlines this is Democracy 00:13:30.770 --> 00:13:34.990 Now, Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. 00:13:34.990 --> 00:13:36.690 I’m Amy Goodman. 00:13:47.430 --> 00:13:57.540 AMY GOODMAN: New York has the most documented cases 00:13:57.540 --> 00:14:01.950 of COVID-19 in the country, followed by New Jersey, 00:14:01.950 --> 00:14:04.720 but we begin today’s show in the place 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:09.030 with the third-highest number of coronavirus infections 00:14:09.030 --> 00:14:12.700 in the United States per capita: the Navajo Nation. 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:16.480 With a population of some 350,000 in territory 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.000 that spreads over 27,000 square miles, 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.000 the Navajo Nation is the largest 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.120 Native American reservation in the country. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:27.370 The rural community is reported having nearly 2,300 known cases 00:14:27.370 --> 00:14:30.830 of COVID-19 and 73 deaths as of Sunday. 00:14:30.830 --> 00:14:33.560 One of those to die from the coronavirus 00:14:33.560 --> 00:14:36.700 is a 28-year-old woman, Valentina Blackhorse, 00:14:36.700 --> 00:14:40.090 a beloved community leader who won multiple pageants, 00:14:40.090 --> 00:14:42.570 promoted Navajo culture and education. 00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:45.890 She leaves behind a daughter named Poet. 00:14:45.890 --> 00:14:47.780 Her sister, Vanielle Blackhorse, 00:14:47.780 --> 00:14:50.880 says Valentina had hoped to enter politics in the future. 00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:54.560 She spoke to New Mexico’s KRQE. 00:14:56.350 --> 00:14:58.050 VANIELLE BLACKHORSE: My sister, she — 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:03.520 she wanted to see her daughter grow up, 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:07.060 and be there for her and encourage her, 00:15:08.530 --> 00:15:12.960 and, you know, encourage her to run in pageants, 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.660 just like she did. 00:15:16.800 --> 00:15:19.110 AMY GOODMAN: Valentina Blackhorse may have contracted 00:15:19.110 --> 00:15:21.180 the virus while caring for her partner, 00:15:21.180 --> 00:15:23.620 Robby Jones, a detention officer 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:25.480 for the Navajo Department of Corrections, 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:27.850 who says he could have been exposed at work. 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:30.430 Valentina died on April 23rd, 00:15:30.430 --> 00:15:32.930 just one day after her coronavirus test 00:15:32.930 --> 00:15:34.420 came back positive. 00:15:34.420 --> 00:15:37.550 Well, for more, we’re joined now by Robby Jones. 00:15:37.550 --> 00:15:40.880 Robby, to begin with, our deepest condolences 00:15:40.880 --> 00:15:42.880 for the loss of your partner, Valentina. 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:47.360 ROBBY JONES: Thank you. Thank you about that. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.890 AMY GOODMAN: I know you are just still reeling, 00:15:49.890 --> 00:15:51.250 for you and your daughter, 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:53.380 your family, your whole community. 00:15:53.380 --> 00:15:55.600 Can you tell us a little about Valentina? 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:01.290 ROBBY JONES: Valentina, she — 00:16:01.290 --> 00:16:04.650 you can say she really loved her immediate family — 00:16:04.650 --> 00:16:08.640 her parents, her sisters, her nieces and nephews. 00:16:08.640 --> 00:16:12.200 She loved her elderly. She loved children. 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:22.420 She was a kind and hard-working lady, and she was warmhearted. 00:16:24.490 --> 00:16:25.760 One thing she would do, 00:16:25.760 --> 00:16:28.780 she would do anything for her immediate family. 00:16:29.540 --> 00:16:33.680 She always tried to take care of them as much as she could. 00:16:39.750 --> 00:16:43.170 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Robby, could you talk a little bit 00:16:43.170 --> 00:16:48.500 about her involvement in the community, the issues 00:16:48.500 --> 00:16:52.990 and the concerns that she had about the Navajo community? 00:16:53.700 --> 00:16:54.980 ROBBY JONES: OK. 00:16:54.980 --> 00:16:58.370 For that, she was barely getting into that. 00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:01.250 She always wanted to help out the community. 00:17:03.470 --> 00:17:06.310 Where she worked at was Department 00:17:06.310 --> 00:17:10.040 of Community Development, where she was beginning to learn 00:17:10.040 --> 00:17:14.900 how the Navajo Nation would work and how the chapter houses 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:16.720 in each part of the Navajo Nation, 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:18.690 how they would provide for the community. 00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:20.390 So, she was slowly learning 00:17:20.990 --> 00:17:25.480 how to be involved in that type of work. 00:17:26.580 --> 00:17:29.390 So, she was slowly getting there. 00:17:29.390 --> 00:17:31.000 So she was just an office specialist, 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:33.940 but then she was — at that time, she was learning a lot. 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:39.360 And she really wanted to put herself in the community. 00:17:39.360 --> 00:17:41.790 I’m pretty sure if she was still here, 00:17:41.790 --> 00:17:45.960 she would have applied for a different — 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:49.340 not a different job, but then she would accede 00:17:49.340 --> 00:17:52.340 into something more that would help her community. 00:17:52.340 --> 00:17:54.040 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And — 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:58.650 ROBBY JONES: But then, as — I’m sorry. Go ahead. 00:17:58.650 --> 00:18:01.310 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And when she became ill, 00:18:01.310 --> 00:18:03.710 could you talk a little bit about the experience 00:18:04.370 --> 00:18:06.340 that she had there, in terms — 00:18:06.340 --> 00:18:11.460 because, obviously, she died quickly after testing positive, 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.570 within a day of being tested positive. 00:18:13.570 --> 00:18:15.150 Could you talk about her experience from the time 00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:16.480 she got ill 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.230 ’til the time she sought treatment? 00:18:18.910 --> 00:18:20.400 ROBBY JONES: OK. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:24.460 When she first got sick, it was basically a week. 00:18:26.670 --> 00:18:29.990 She started showing symptoms of being — 00:18:29.990 --> 00:18:33.800 shortness of breath, body aches, loss of taste and smell. 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:37.130 During that time, when she was taking care of me, 00:18:37.930 --> 00:18:39.490 I guess she contracted it. 00:18:39.490 --> 00:18:44.740 So, like, I did — a little week, over — by the time 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:46.080 I started feeling better, 00:18:46.080 --> 00:18:48.129 and that’s when she started feeling sick. 00:18:48.710 --> 00:18:52.870 And I took advantage of me recovering to take care of her. 00:18:55.130 --> 00:19:00.200 We, her parents and I, advised her to go to the clinic, 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:01.920 but then she was afraid to go to the clinic. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:03.970 She didn’t want to get admitted. 00:19:03.970 --> 00:19:07.040 So, one day, she just felt horrible. 00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:08.590 She wasn’t feeling too good. 00:19:08.590 --> 00:19:13.110 So, probably the first day she got sick, four days after, 00:19:13.110 --> 00:19:15.800 that’s when I took her to our nearest clinic. 00:19:15.800 --> 00:19:17.570 And that’s when they tested her. 00:19:17.570 --> 00:19:21.020 So, and then, the next four days later, 00:19:21.020 --> 00:19:25.930 that’s when she tested positive for the COVID-19. 00:19:27.280 --> 00:19:29.530 AMY GOODMAN: She was brought to the Kayenta clinic — 00:19:29.530 --> 00:19:30.860 is that right, Robby? 00:19:30.860 --> 00:19:34.550 And they had hoped to bring her to the hospital in Flagstaff, 00:19:34.550 --> 00:19:36.850 but she passed away before in the clinic? 00:19:38.100 --> 00:19:39.800 ROBBY JONES: Yes. 00:19:40.330 --> 00:19:41.570 AMY GOODMAN: And, Robby, 00:19:41.570 --> 00:19:44.990 do you think you contracted coronavirus, 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:47.740 the coronavirus, from your work in the detention center? 00:19:47.740 --> 00:19:49.440 Where do you work? 00:19:50.320 --> 00:19:51.710 ROBBY JONES: I believe so. 00:19:51.710 --> 00:19:55.110 I believe one of my co-workers, he had — 00:19:57.270 --> 00:20:00.560 he tested positive for COVID-19. At that time, 00:20:00.560 --> 00:20:05.650 we didn’t know that he went to get tested again, 00:20:06.320 --> 00:20:08.440 and this time it came out positive. 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:10.940 So, a few days later, that’s when we were notified 00:20:11.500 --> 00:20:13.990 that he was tested positive for the virus. 00:20:17.820 --> 00:20:19.540 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And your daughter, Poet, 00:20:21.800 --> 00:20:23.330 has she been, obviously, 00:20:23.330 --> 00:20:25.130 informed of what happened with her mother? 00:20:25.130 --> 00:20:27.990 Have you been able to be with her at all, 00:20:27.990 --> 00:20:30.550 or are you still self-isolating? 00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:34.980 ROBBY JONES: I haven’t been with her close to a month. 00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:39.480 Since my first sign of COVID-19, I told Valentina 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:43.880 to drop off our baby with her parents’ house. 00:20:45.310 --> 00:20:48.250 So it’s been almost a month I haven’t seen our daughter. 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:50.620 And our daughter is only 1 year old. 00:20:51.210 --> 00:20:54.290 I haven’t actually spoke with her yet. 00:20:54.820 --> 00:20:56.360 AMY GOODMAN: Were you given the proper equipment, 00:20:56.360 --> 00:20:58.880 protective gear, Robby, at work? 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.420 ROBBY JONES: During that time, 00:21:03.950 --> 00:21:06.270 the only thing that we didn’t have were masks. 00:21:07.210 --> 00:21:09.920 It was during that time where the whole United States 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:13.180 had a huge shortage on the protection gear. 00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:14.920 So we had gloves. 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:19.240 We had cleaning supplies to clean around the area. 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:21.890 But the only thing we were vulnerable to was, 00:21:22.600 --> 00:21:27.220 I guess, when people cough. So, we didn’t have masks at all. 00:21:27.840 --> 00:21:30.120 AMY GOODMAN: Robby, Valentina was trying 00:21:30.120 --> 00:21:33.780 to promote COVID awareness in the Navajo Nation, 00:21:33.780 --> 00:21:37.250 among the many things she did about promoting Navajo culture, 00:21:37.250 --> 00:21:40.000 since you are a hot spot in the United States, 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.920 one of the worst affected per capita, the Navajo Nation? 00:21:45.890 --> 00:21:49.990 ROBBY JONES: Yes, especially with her immediate family. 00:21:49.990 --> 00:21:53.450 You know, she would always tell us to wear a mask, 00:21:53.450 --> 00:21:55.270 wear gloves, make sure to disinfect 00:21:55.270 --> 00:21:58.200 everything, because she was pretty afraid. 00:22:02.810 --> 00:22:07.400 Even before the Navajo Nation got hit hard, 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:09.260 she was pretty aware, 00:22:09.260 --> 00:22:11.870 and she just wanted her family to be safe. 00:22:14.770 --> 00:22:16.140 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how would you like the world 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:19.060 and the community to remember Valentina? 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:33.810 ROBBY JONES: I would say she was a kindhearted person. 00:22:35.010 --> 00:22:37.250 She would put others before herself. 00:22:39.120 --> 00:22:42.180 If she knew someone needed help, she would help them. 00:22:45.660 --> 00:22:48.660 I know that she loved her elders and she loved her children, 00:22:50.070 --> 00:22:52.130 or the children in general, 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.850 especially the people who are in need. 00:23:00.340 --> 00:23:02.290 AMY GOODMAN: Robby, 00:23:02.290 --> 00:23:04.580 we want to thank you so much for being with us. 00:23:04.580 --> 00:23:07.900 Robby Jones, Valentina Blackhorse’s partner. 00:23:07.900 --> 00:23:10.640 Again, our deepest condolences. 00:23:11.620 --> 00:23:14.550 Robby Jones, speaking to us from the Navajo Nation, 00:23:14.550 --> 00:23:16.740 where he is a detention officer. 00:23:16.740 --> 00:23:20.460 When we come back, we’re going to speak with two doctors 00:23:20.460 --> 00:23:22.310 who have been working on the reservation, 00:23:22.310 --> 00:23:24.690 the largest in the country, 00:23:24.690 --> 00:23:29.360 the most significant hot spot in this country per capita, 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:33.360 third in the United States with coronavirus infection, 00:23:33.360 --> 00:23:36.370 after New York and New Jersey. This is Democracy Now! 00:23:36.370 --> 00:23:38.250 We’ll be back with them in a moment. 00:23:38.250 --> 00:24:41.260 [break] AMY GOODMAN: "A Woman’s Journey" 00:24:41.260 --> 00:24:42.570 by Radmilla Cody. 00:24:42.570 --> 00:24:43.770 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, 00:24:43.770 --> 00:24:47.170 democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. 00:24:47.740 --> 00:24:51.820 I’m Amy Goodman in New York, the epicenter of the pandemic. 00:24:51.820 --> 00:24:53.860 Juan González is in New Jersey. 00:24:53.860 --> 00:24:57.240 It’s number two for coronavirus infections. 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.070 And now we’re going to number three, per capita, 00:25:00.070 --> 00:25:01.320 Navajo Nation, 00:25:01.320 --> 00:25:04.100 as we continue to look at how the Navajo Nation 00:25:04.100 --> 00:25:07.070 has been so hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, 00:25:07.070 --> 00:25:10.350 highest number of coronavirus infections per capita 00:25:10.350 --> 00:25:13.020 in the United States following New York and New Jersey. 00:25:13.020 --> 00:25:17.090 The rural community has reported having nearly 2,300 known cases 00:25:17.090 --> 00:25:20.180 of COVID-19, 73 deaths as of Sunday. 00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:23.340 The Navajo Nation is the largest Indigenous reservation 00:25:23.340 --> 00:25:27.150 in the United States with a population of some 350,000, 00:25:27.150 --> 00:25:31.240 a territory that spreads over 27,000 square miles. 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:35.290 As we turn now to two doctors who know this land well, 00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:39.130 on the ground treating patients. 00:25:39.130 --> 00:25:41.420 Joining us from Gallup, New Mexico, 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:45.290 Dr. Sriram Shamasunder is a leading medical volunteer — 00:25:46.190 --> 00:25:49.940 he’s leading a medical volunteer group of 21 nurses and doctors 00:25:49.940 --> 00:25:52.070 from University of California, San Francisco, 00:25:52.070 --> 00:25:54.560 where he’s an associate professor of medicine, 00:25:54.560 --> 00:25:57.020 to the Native American reservation near Gallup. 00:25:57.020 --> 00:25:59.450 He’s the co-founder of the HEAL Initiative, 00:25:59.450 --> 00:26:02.270 which has worked across nine countries, 00:26:02.270 --> 00:26:03.870 including Navajo Nation, 00:26:03.870 --> 00:26:07.700 since 2015, promoting health equity. 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:10.670 And joining us from Winslow, Arizona, Dr. Michelle Tom, 00:26:10.670 --> 00:26:13.410 member of the Navajo Nation, family physician, 00:26:13.410 --> 00:26:15.230 treating COVID-19 patients 00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:17.480 at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:19.130 and Little Colorado Medical Center 00:26:19.130 --> 00:26:22.230 in northern Arizona near the Navajo reservation. 00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:25.590 She was a basketball star in college 00:26:25.590 --> 00:26:27.060 at Arizona State University. 00:26:27.060 --> 00:26:29.980 We welcome you both, Doctors, to Democracy Now! 00:26:29.980 --> 00:26:31.980 Dr. Tom, let’s begin with you. 00:26:32.580 --> 00:26:35.770 You work in the clinic where you were born. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:40.260 As you listen to Valentina’s story, 00:26:40.260 --> 00:26:43.600 a 28-year-old Navajo woman who suddenly died 00:26:43.600 --> 00:26:47.820 after being diagnosed with COVID-19, your response? 00:26:47.820 --> 00:26:49.370 Can you put it in the context 00:26:49.370 --> 00:26:52.470 of what’s happening right now in the Navajo Nation? 00:26:55.910 --> 00:26:57.570 DR. MICHELLE TOM: It just kind of is a reflection 00:26:57.570 --> 00:26:59.570 of what we’re going through as a people, 00:27:00.290 --> 00:27:04.800 and it correlates with what this virus can do to our young 00:27:05.390 --> 00:27:07.140 and someone who was very motivated, 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:09.940 loved our culture, spread our culture, 00:27:09.940 --> 00:27:12.280 our rich and strong, and our language. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:15.760 And that’s what we’re trying to fight for. 00:27:15.760 --> 00:27:20.100 You know, there’s not many who really promote 00:27:20.100 --> 00:27:21.690 really great things, 00:27:21.690 --> 00:27:24.130 who is a young person, and she was one of them. 00:27:24.130 --> 00:27:26.870 And she was going to lead our next generation. 00:27:26.870 --> 00:27:30.720 And so, it was a hard loss of our community. 00:27:32.600 --> 00:27:34.260 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dr. Tom, 00:27:34.260 --> 00:27:37.850 why do you think there has been such a devastation 00:27:37.850 --> 00:27:41.420 in terms of COVID-19 throughout the Native population, 00:27:41.420 --> 00:27:44.090 especially in Navajo Country? 00:27:45.360 --> 00:27:46.670 DR. MICHELLE TOM: I think the spread — 00:27:46.670 --> 00:27:49.300 we’re a very matriarchal society, 00:27:49.300 --> 00:27:52.830 and we have a connection to the land and to our community. 00:27:53.370 --> 00:27:55.810 And so, we really concentrate on the community. 00:27:55.810 --> 00:27:57.510 And when someone is sick, 00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:00.600 we tend to be there for one another. 00:28:00.600 --> 00:28:02.860 And we live in multigenerational homes. 00:28:03.390 --> 00:28:06.510 So, the contact of that and the spread 00:28:07.580 --> 00:28:09.770 is obviously more than we wanted, 00:28:09.770 --> 00:28:11.120 but that was just part of our culture, 00:28:11.120 --> 00:28:12.380 is to help one another 00:28:12.380 --> 00:28:14.929 and to visit one another and encourage one another. 00:28:15.540 --> 00:28:18.080 And being with a very strong family 00:28:18.080 --> 00:28:20.080 and all these strong ties, 00:28:20.080 --> 00:28:22.560 that was probably — you know, it’s multifactorial, 00:28:22.560 --> 00:28:24.260 but that was one of the reasons. 00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:28.270 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what about the external conditions 00:28:28.270 --> 00:28:30.560 confronted day to day? 00:28:30.560 --> 00:28:33.390 For instance, as much as 40% of people 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:38.630 in the Navajo reservation do not have running water, 00:28:38.630 --> 00:28:41.670 how that affects their ability to combat this disease? 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:44.100 DR. MICHELLE TOM: Oh, absolutely. 00:28:44.100 --> 00:28:47.050 And that’s from a long state of histories with treaties 00:28:47.050 --> 00:28:49.099 and our relationship with the government. 00:28:49.780 --> 00:28:52.520 We’ve had — set aside for certain things like that, 00:28:52.520 --> 00:28:56.560 and our infrastructure for water has never been at the capacity 00:28:56.560 --> 00:28:59.710 where we can provide water for everyone on the reservation. 00:29:00.260 --> 00:29:03.970 So, you’re telling people to wash your hands for 20 seconds, 00:29:03.970 --> 00:29:07.250 and yet people are trying just to get water just to drink 00:29:07.250 --> 00:29:09.320 and just to cook with. 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:14.450 And we know that water is part of a healthy body. 00:29:15.010 --> 00:29:18.320 You know, so, when you’re trying to have people 00:29:18.320 --> 00:29:20.390 wash things all the time, 00:29:20.390 --> 00:29:22.939 we are struggling with just clean water in general. 00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:25.600 AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Dr. Sriram Shamasunder 00:29:25.600 --> 00:29:26.870 into the conversation. 00:29:26.870 --> 00:29:30.500 You’re leading this group of volunteer doctors and nurses 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:33.090 from San Francisco to Navajo Nation. 00:29:33.090 --> 00:29:36.970 You’re in Gallup, that is put under lockdown right now 00:29:36.970 --> 00:29:40.430 by the governor because of this massive outbreak. 00:29:40.430 --> 00:29:44.340 You’ve described treating four generations of one family. 00:29:44.340 --> 00:29:47.340 Talk about your work that you’ve been doing there for years. 00:29:48.290 --> 00:29:49.500 DR. SRIRAM SHAMASUNDER: Yes. 00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:52.690 So, I helped co-found the HEAL Initiative, 00:29:52.690 --> 00:29:56.560 which is a global health immersive fellowship that trains 00:29:56.560 --> 00:29:59.240 and transforms frontline health professionals 00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:03.890 to make serving the underserved a lifelong choice. 00:30:03.890 --> 00:30:06.210 And so, over the last five years, 00:30:06.210 --> 00:30:09.580 we’ve had 150 frontline health professionals 00:30:09.580 --> 00:30:11.870 come through our program. 00:30:11.870 --> 00:30:14.820 And half of them are U.S. doctors or nurses, 00:30:14.820 --> 00:30:19.860 and the other half are either Navajo or from countries 00:30:19.860 --> 00:30:23.040 such as Haiti or Mexico or Malawi or India. 00:30:23.040 --> 00:30:26.750 And so it’s this really diverse community of frontline workers 00:30:26.750 --> 00:30:30.470 that are trying to get better at serving underserved populations. 00:30:30.470 --> 00:30:34.500 And we worked in Navajo Nation for the last five years, 00:30:35.170 --> 00:30:38.070 since 2015, and had partnerships. 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:40.930 And I think it’s important to know 00:30:40.930 --> 00:30:45.970 that before COVID-19, Indian Health Service, 00:30:45.970 --> 00:30:48.910 Navajo population, what we’re seeing right now 00:30:48.910 --> 00:30:53.190 is this trajectory of an underfunded health system, 00:30:53.190 --> 00:30:57.840 where IHS is funded one-third the rate per capita 00:30:57.840 --> 00:31:00.070 as the VA or Medicare. 00:31:00.070 --> 00:31:05.170 And the level of inequity that you’re seeing 00:31:05.170 --> 00:31:07.710 and the COVID cases that you’re seeing in Gallup, 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:12.250 as well as Chinle, it’s part of this pattern. 00:31:12.250 --> 00:31:14.330 You know, in Michigan and Chicago, 00:31:14.330 --> 00:31:18.150 we know that in Michigan, 14% of the population are Black folks, 00:31:18.150 --> 00:31:22.620 and yet 40% of the deaths are Black people. 00:31:22.620 --> 00:31:25.600 And in Navajo Nation and in New Mexico, 00:31:25.600 --> 00:31:29.320 11% of the population is Native American, 00:31:29.320 --> 00:31:32.970 but you see almost a third of the cases, 00:31:32.970 --> 00:31:35.060 of COVID cases, being Native American. 00:31:35.060 --> 00:31:36.560 And I think in — 00:31:36.560 --> 00:31:39.730 I’ve been practicing both in Gallup, New Mexico, 00:31:39.730 --> 00:31:43.370 with our team of volunteers, as well as Chinle, Arizona. 00:31:43.370 --> 00:31:47.370 In Gallup, I think what’s amazing 00:31:47.370 --> 00:31:51.330 is that I am running a sprint, but my colleagues, like Dr. Tom, 00:31:51.330 --> 00:31:53.470 have really been running this marathon 00:31:53.470 --> 00:31:54.770 for a long period of time. 00:31:54.770 --> 00:31:58.270 And so, in Gallup, they’ve done an amazing job. 00:31:58.270 --> 00:32:00.850 I think you’ve have seen this incredible local leadership, 00:32:00.850 --> 00:32:06.260 where they’ve been able to put 125 unsheltered people, 00:32:06.260 --> 00:32:08.590 community members, into motel rooms 00:32:08.590 --> 00:32:11.430 and have a collaboration to take care of them, 00:32:11.430 --> 00:32:13.830 as well as stop community spread. 00:32:13.830 --> 00:32:16.840 And in Chinle, Arizona, this last weekend, 00:32:16.840 --> 00:32:20.340 I was taking care of patients. And like you mentioned, 00:32:20.340 --> 00:32:23.630 Amy, there’s been four generations — 00:32:23.630 --> 00:32:25.700 a great-grandmother, a grandmother, 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:27.930 a mother and daughter — that were all hospitalized. 00:32:27.930 --> 00:32:31.090 And I think that this is what the Navajo — 00:32:31.090 --> 00:32:32.930 my Navajo colleagues have been dealing with 00:32:32.930 --> 00:32:37.070 for the last six weeks. And the surge is upon us, 00:32:37.070 --> 00:32:41.710 where, taking care of a grandmother this last weekend, 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:46.750 we’re always deciding whether these facilities can manage. 00:32:46.750 --> 00:32:48.240 And it’s such a humbling disease, 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:51.080 because a lot of the facilities that we’re in, 00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:53.090 once you intubate the patient, 00:32:53.090 --> 00:32:56.160 you have to transfer them to Phoenix or Albuquerque. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:59.700 And so, all the providers are trying to learn 00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:01.320 what is the trajectory, 00:33:01.320 --> 00:33:04.050 because every time you intubate a patient, 00:33:04.050 --> 00:33:05.430 it’s just one more level 00:33:05.430 --> 00:33:07.830 beyond what we deal with in San Francisco, 00:33:07.830 --> 00:33:13.470 because the Navajo people, where the land is so sacred, 00:33:13.470 --> 00:33:16.960 they are going to wake up isolated in another city, 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:19.680 such as Phoenix or Albuquerque. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.110 And I think that that is humbling. 00:33:22.110 --> 00:33:24.460 So, the providers, the Navajo providers, 00:33:24.460 --> 00:33:26.860 are trying to see how much can they take care 00:33:26.860 --> 00:33:28.460 of their patients in their facilities, 00:33:28.460 --> 00:33:31.470 and when is it not safe anymore 00:33:31.470 --> 00:33:34.019 and they’re going to have to transfer patients out. 00:33:35.690 --> 00:33:36.920 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Dr. Shamasunder, 00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:40.260 I wanted to ask you about the extraordinary mobilization 00:33:40.260 --> 00:33:45.370 of the tribal authorities to combat COVID-19, 00:33:45.370 --> 00:33:48.520 and also how the government of New Mexico, 00:33:48.520 --> 00:33:50.410 the state government, has responded. 00:33:50.410 --> 00:33:53.450 Obviously, there was a lot of reports about the state 00:33:53.450 --> 00:33:58.620 invoking the Riot Control Act and sealing off Gallup. 00:33:58.620 --> 00:34:00.940 Could you talk about both, the state response 00:34:01.560 --> 00:34:03.400 and the tribal government response, 00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:04.820 especially in view of what we’ve been 00:34:04.820 --> 00:34:07.660 seeing of the relative inaction 00:34:07.660 --> 00:34:10.300 at the federal level on this disease? 00:34:11.240 --> 00:34:12.480 DR. SRIRAM SHAMASUNDER: Yeah. 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.500 I think that the incredible resourcefulness 00:34:15.500 --> 00:34:17.640 and resilience of the Navajo people 00:34:17.640 --> 00:34:21.510 is totally apparent when we come here. 00:34:21.510 --> 00:34:24.780 We actually met with President Nez, 00:34:24.780 --> 00:34:27.200 the Navajo president, when we arrived. 00:34:27.200 --> 00:34:29.300 And he’s really been on the forefront 00:34:30.560 --> 00:34:33.050 of having people shelter in place. 00:34:33.050 --> 00:34:36.900 And really, you know, like Dr. Tom was saying, 00:34:36.900 --> 00:34:39.250 when you’re trying to shelter in place 00:34:39.250 --> 00:34:41.860 and you live with eight or 10 people 00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:45.100 and this expansive definition of family 00:34:45.100 --> 00:34:46.950 where the community is so connected, 00:34:47.570 --> 00:34:49.290 you’re going to have community spread. 00:34:49.290 --> 00:34:52.090 And so, the outbreak, I think, in Navajo Nation 00:34:52.090 --> 00:34:53.790 is not a lack of leadership. 00:34:53.790 --> 00:34:56.510 I think President Nez has been incredible 00:34:56.510 --> 00:34:59.360 at having these weekend lockdowns, 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:03.790 which is extremely difficult for the Navajo people, 00:35:03.790 --> 00:35:08.630 and is really leading with wearing masks in public, 00:35:08.630 --> 00:35:11.330 and so doing all the right things, 00:35:11.330 --> 00:35:14.030 I think, from the national sovereign level. 00:35:14.030 --> 00:35:16.110 And he’s been very vocal to say 00:35:16.110 --> 00:35:19.560 that the federal response has been extremely slow. 00:35:19.560 --> 00:35:22.730 And that’s what I’ve seen in Chinle, Arizona. 00:35:22.730 --> 00:35:26.180 We have HEAL fellows that are behavioral health coaches, 00:35:26.180 --> 00:35:27.630 that are not — 00:35:27.630 --> 00:35:31.100 are usually not taking care of COVID patients at this time, 00:35:31.100 --> 00:35:33.750 so they’ve taken over the cafeteria 00:35:33.750 --> 00:35:37.560 and are making PPE and sewing PPE, 00:35:37.560 --> 00:35:40.680 and so the whole cafeteria has folks sewing PPE. 00:35:40.680 --> 00:35:45.330 So, I think you see, from the top of the Navajo leadership 00:35:45.330 --> 00:35:49.400 to the citizens and health professionals, 00:35:49.400 --> 00:35:52.850 really leading an incredible response. 00:35:52.850 --> 00:35:56.470 And the federal government has just been incredibly slow. 00:35:56.470 --> 00:35:59.170 And then, obviously, Gallup is a border town, 00:35:59.170 --> 00:36:04.960 which is not under jurisdiction of the Navajo government, 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:08.650 but it is an area where a lot of Navajo 00:36:09.300 --> 00:36:11.660 people come to get groceries, 00:36:11.660 --> 00:36:13.860 come into town, and there’s a lot of activity. 00:36:13.860 --> 00:36:18.520 And it’s the second-highest caseload of new cases 00:36:18.520 --> 00:36:19.990 in the country in the last two weeks. 00:36:19.990 --> 00:36:21.190 And, you know, I’m here. 00:36:21.190 --> 00:36:23.460 I’m going to go on shift later today. 00:36:23.460 --> 00:36:27.230 And the Gallup providers have just said — earlier, 00:36:27.230 --> 00:36:30.550 last week, they said, you know, "I don’t think we need you." 00:36:30.550 --> 00:36:33.600 And this week, they’re saying, "We’re getting exhausted. 00:36:34.630 --> 00:36:37.140 The surge is just coming and coming, 00:36:37.140 --> 00:36:38.570 and there’s more and more patients. 00:36:38.570 --> 00:36:41.800 And we need you to help out and do some shifts." 00:36:42.690 --> 00:36:46.360 And I think the New Mexican government has been strong 00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:49.150 and really almost following the lead 00:36:49.150 --> 00:36:51.770 that the Navajo president has put in place. 00:36:53.960 --> 00:36:55.560 AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Dr. Michelle Tom, 00:36:55.560 --> 00:36:56.810 we have 30 seconds. 00:36:56.810 --> 00:37:01.140 What you feel the rest of the country should understand, 00:37:01.140 --> 00:37:05.460 especially with compromised healthcare, in general, 00:37:05.460 --> 00:37:10.420 in the area, due to poverty, due to uranium mining 00:37:10.420 --> 00:37:13.680 and how that compromises the health of so many people? 00:37:15.270 --> 00:37:17.980 DR. MICHELLE TOM: Yes, it’s just access, just funding. 00:37:17.980 --> 00:37:21.100 And it’s kind of made our work harder. 00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:26.330 But like Dr. Sri said, we’re coming together as community. 00:37:26.330 --> 00:37:27.630 I’m proud of our nation. 00:37:27.630 --> 00:37:29.830 I’m proud of the facilities I work for. 00:37:29.830 --> 00:37:33.240 And yeah, just getting the public health notice out there, 00:37:33.240 --> 00:37:34.470 of just wash your hands, 00:37:34.470 --> 00:37:36.630 social distancing, maybe hand sanitizer, 00:37:37.310 --> 00:37:40.050 and really just listening to our leaders right now, 00:37:40.050 --> 00:37:41.790 and healthcare professionals. So, you know — 00:37:41.790 --> 00:37:44.320 AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much, Dr. Michelle Tom — 00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:45.680 DR. MICHELLE TOM: Thank you. 00:37:45.680 --> 00:37:47.890 AMY GOODMAN: — speaking to us from Winslow, Arizona, 00:37:47.890 --> 00:37:49.640 Navajo Nation family physician, 00:37:49.640 --> 00:37:52.800 one of the few Navajo doctors on the reservation. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:56.210 And Dr. Sriram Shamasunder, associate professor of medicine 00:37:56.210 --> 00:37:58.680 at University of California, San Francisco, 00:37:58.680 --> 00:38:03.890 has led a group of doctors and nurses to Navajo Nation, 00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:08.550 has been doing that since 2015, and in Gallup, New Mexico, 00:38:08.550 --> 00:38:11.180 right now, which is under lockdown. 00:38:11.180 --> 00:38:13.710 When we come back, the pandemic in prisons. 00:38:13.710 --> 00:38:15.190 We go to one prison in Ohio 00:38:15.190 --> 00:38:18.520 where 80% of the prisoners have tested positive, 00:38:18.520 --> 00:38:21.360 half the staff. We’ll go to Marion. 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:24.470 And we’ll talk about prison abolition. 00:38:24.470 --> 00:38:25.800 Stay with us. 00:38:25.800 --> 00:40:00.620 [break] AMY GOODMAN: That’s the audio 00:40:00.620 --> 00:40:03.010 premiere of Steve Earle’s new song, 00:40:03.010 --> 00:40:06.650 "Union, God, and Country," from his latest album, 00:40:06.650 --> 00:40:10.730 Ghosts of West Virginia, that will be released May 22nd 00:40:10.730 --> 00:40:14.040 and centers on the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion 00:40:14.040 --> 00:40:17.300 that killed 29 men in that state in 2010, 00:40:17.300 --> 00:40:19.790 making it one of the worst mining disasters 00:40:19.790 --> 00:40:22.280 in American history. Steve Earle says, quote, 00:40:22.280 --> 00:40:24.940 "West Virginia was the most unionized place in America 00:40:24.940 --> 00:40:26.210 until very recently. 00:40:26.210 --> 00:40:28.660 Upper Big Branch was the first non-union mine 00:40:28.660 --> 00:40:29.930 on that mountain — 00:40:29.930 --> 00:40:32.330 and it blew up and killed 29 men. 00:40:32.330 --> 00:40:35.230 This is a song about better days," he said. 00:40:35.980 --> 00:40:38.970 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:40:38.970 --> 00:40:40.270 The Quarantine Report. 00:40:40.270 --> 00:40:41.950 I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, 00:40:41.950 --> 00:40:44.280 as we turn now to a prison in Ohio 00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:46.560 where one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks 00:40:46.560 --> 00:40:48.900 in the U.S. has killed at least 11 prisoners 00:40:48.900 --> 00:40:52.570 and one staff member. Eighty percent of the prisoners, 00:40:52.570 --> 00:40:55.410 half the prison staff at Marion Correctional Institution 00:40:55.410 --> 00:40:57.760 tested positive for COVID-19 in April, 00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:00.490 making it the largest virus hot spot in the country. 00:41:01.270 --> 00:41:04.780 A massive outbreak has also devastated Pickaway prison, 00:41:05.450 --> 00:41:06.970 where at least 23 prisoners 00:41:06.970 --> 00:41:09.410 and one staff member have died from the virus. 00:41:09.410 --> 00:41:11.720 This is an incarcerated person at Marion 00:41:11.720 --> 00:41:14.150 describing conditions inside the prison. 00:41:15.340 --> 00:41:16.610 INCARCERATED PERSON: I’m in Marion Correctional, 00:41:16.610 --> 00:41:19.520 where the coronavirus is just spreading like wildfire. 00:41:19.520 --> 00:41:23.150 Out of 2,500 people, they say 1,300 people got it. 00:41:23.150 --> 00:41:24.850 You know, that’s a scary thought. 00:41:25.970 --> 00:41:29.000 I might not make it home to my children, you know. 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:30.580 I just wanted to speak up for what I believe in, 00:41:30.580 --> 00:41:32.500 and hopefully that this will make a difference 00:41:32.500 --> 00:41:33.920 and it reaches the right hands 00:41:33.920 --> 00:41:36.470 and, you know, we get some kind of relief. 00:41:36.470 --> 00:41:39.080 All I can ask is just keep us in your prayers. 00:41:39.080 --> 00:41:40.880 AMY GOODMAN: Despite growing calls to release 00:41:40.880 --> 00:41:42.180 thousands of Ohio’s 00:41:42.180 --> 00:41:46.580 nearly 50,000 prisoners as the coronavirus spreads, 00:41:46.580 --> 00:41:48.830 Governor Mike DeWine has only approved the release 00:41:48.830 --> 00:41:51.860 of more than 100 people in the state’s prisons. 00:41:51.860 --> 00:41:54.530 Protesters recently held a car demonstration 00:41:54.530 --> 00:41:55.960 outside the Ohio Statehouse 00:41:55.960 --> 00:41:59.470 demanding the governor free 20,000 people in May. 00:41:59.470 --> 00:42:01.150 Demonstrators spoke to ABC News. 00:42:01.150 --> 00:42:02.980 This clip begins with Teresa Rogers, 00:42:02.980 --> 00:42:04.840 whose son is imprisoned in Ohio. 00:42:05.950 --> 00:42:07.970 TERESA ROGERS: I think it’s a reasonable number, 00:42:07.970 --> 00:42:10.430 but most of them are going to get out anyway. 00:42:10.430 --> 00:42:12.360 Most of them are on their way out anyway. 00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:14.340 CHAZIDY BOWMAN: How are we protecting these people? 00:42:14.340 --> 00:42:16.380 They don’t have proper PPEs. 00:42:16.380 --> 00:42:18.220 Some of them have masks that are made 00:42:18.220 --> 00:42:20.290 from toilet paper and sheets. 00:42:20.290 --> 00:42:21.600 AMY GOODMAN: This comes as a new report 00:42:21.600 --> 00:42:23.050 by the Prison Policy Initiative 00:42:23.050 --> 00:42:26.060 finds that while some jails have drastically cut populations, 00:42:26.060 --> 00:42:28.830 state prisons have released almost no one. 00:42:29.370 --> 00:42:31.040 Well, for more, we go to Austin, Texas, 00:42:31.040 --> 00:42:32.590 where we’re joined by Azzurra Crispino, 00:42:32.590 --> 00:42:35.280 co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support, 00:42:35.280 --> 00:42:37.750 or PAPS, associate professor of philosophy 00:42:37.750 --> 00:42:40.020 at Austin Community College in Texas. 00:42:40.020 --> 00:42:42.520 Her husband James is incarcerated at Marion. 00:42:42.520 --> 00:42:44.310 Welcome to Democracy Now! 00:42:44.310 --> 00:42:47.130 Can you tell us, Azzurra, about the situation at Marion? 00:42:47.130 --> 00:42:51.150 I mean, this is 80% of the prisoners and half the staff? 00:42:51.150 --> 00:42:53.610 What are you demanding? How is your husband? 00:42:54.190 --> 00:42:56.230 You’re asking that he be released. 00:42:56.230 --> 00:42:58.990 He has served the vast majority of his time. 00:42:58.990 --> 00:43:00.690 What is the response? 00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:03.760 AZZURRA CRISPINO: So far, we have received a response 00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:05.630 from the County Prosecutor’s Office 00:43:05.630 --> 00:43:10.000 filing a motion against his judicial release, 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:12.780 and we are waiting for Judge Wanda Jones 00:43:12.780 --> 00:43:15.370 to decide whether she will grant him a hearing 00:43:15.370 --> 00:43:18.470 or if she will deny his judicial release. 00:43:18.470 --> 00:43:21.100 We’re seeing a few people being released out of Marion 00:43:21.100 --> 00:43:23.400 through the judicial release process. 00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:26.260 They are able to attend hearings by teleconference, 00:43:26.260 --> 00:43:30.390 if they wish, but not anywhere near the 20,000 in May 00:43:30.390 --> 00:43:34.300 that we and others in our coalition are demanding. 00:43:34.300 --> 00:43:36.870 In terms of conditions at Marion, 00:43:36.870 --> 00:43:39.140 Governor DeWine has been bragging about the fact 00:43:39.140 --> 00:43:41.220 that he called in the National Guard. 00:43:41.220 --> 00:43:44.950 However, that has substantially increased tensions, 00:43:44.950 --> 00:43:48.350 as you have people who are not trained in deescalation 00:43:48.350 --> 00:43:51.180 and really don’t understand the prison environment. 00:43:52.340 --> 00:43:56.480 You have incarcerated people who are taking care of each other, 00:43:56.480 --> 00:43:59.340 as they are scared to request medical facilities, 00:43:59.340 --> 00:44:02.310 because they are led to believe, and probably are, 00:44:02.310 --> 00:44:05.100 being placed in solitary confinement conditions 00:44:05.100 --> 00:44:06.860 if they are seen as being too sick, 00:44:06.860 --> 00:44:08.540 and then they won’t be able to help each other. 00:44:08.540 --> 00:44:11.740 So, we’re getting reports of people using Vicks VapoRub 00:44:11.740 --> 00:44:15.410 and putting it in hotpots to basically create steamers 00:44:15.410 --> 00:44:18.120 for their fellow incarcerated people. 00:44:18.120 --> 00:44:20.050 Meanwhile, the governor is bragging about 00:44:20.050 --> 00:44:23.550 how great a resolution to this situation Ohio has. 00:44:24.730 --> 00:44:26.020 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Azzurra Crispino, 00:44:26.020 --> 00:44:28.140 this is not just an Ohio problem. 00:44:28.140 --> 00:44:29.960 Obviously, we’re getting the reports — 00:44:29.960 --> 00:44:33.370 we’ve seen reports that in Cook County Jail in Chicago, 00:44:33.370 --> 00:44:36.400 800 confirmed cases of the virus, 00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:40.910 and so far six prisoners and one correction officer have died. 00:44:40.910 --> 00:44:44.660 We’re seeing in New York City, at Rikers Island, 00:44:44.660 --> 00:44:48.440 800 city correction employees have tested positive, 00:44:49.220 --> 00:44:50.920 and eight have died. 00:44:51.850 --> 00:44:55.260 The city jails seem to be moving much more quickly 00:44:55.260 --> 00:44:57.690 to reduce prison populations, 00:44:57.690 --> 00:44:59.920 but some of the state prison systems 00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:04.160 are much more slower to react or are resisting. 00:45:04.160 --> 00:45:05.650 AZZURRA CRISPINO: Absolutely. 00:45:05.650 --> 00:45:07.310 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Why do you think that is? 00:45:07.310 --> 00:45:08.510 AZZURRA CRISPINO: Well, I think that it’s 00:45:08.510 --> 00:45:09.970 a political problem, right? 00:45:09.970 --> 00:45:14.680 The governors don’t want to be seen as being soft on crime. 00:45:14.680 --> 00:45:18.060 And politically, they have absolutely nothing to lose. 00:45:18.060 --> 00:45:20.810 Whereas those of us who have family and friends 00:45:20.810 --> 00:45:23.620 who are incarcerated understand that these are loved ones, 00:45:23.620 --> 00:45:25.640 and we don’t want to see them die. 00:45:25.640 --> 00:45:28.300 In addition, I don’t think that there’s been enough 00:45:28.300 --> 00:45:32.240 focus on the judiciary and how it can be involved. 00:45:32.240 --> 00:45:33.870 Now, Ohio is a little unique 00:45:33.870 --> 00:45:36.540 because it has a completely different parole system 00:45:36.540 --> 00:45:38.170 than most states. 00:45:38.170 --> 00:45:41.560 Long/short, it almost got rid of parole in ’97. 00:45:41.560 --> 00:45:47.360 So, what that means is that it’s easier for political officials 00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:50.090 to basically be able to pass the hot potato around, 00:45:50.680 --> 00:45:52.110 I think, in state facilities, 00:45:52.110 --> 00:45:54.490 in a way that we have not seen at the federal level 00:45:54.490 --> 00:45:57.050 or at the city and county jails, 00:45:57.050 --> 00:46:00.880 where, due to the pretrial nature of many people, 00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:02.310 I think there’s been a greater focus 00:46:02.310 --> 00:46:05.030 on helping people who are presumed innocent. 00:46:05.030 --> 00:46:08.110 So, I think, ultimately, this is a question of humanization. 00:46:08.110 --> 00:46:10.790 As long as we continue to see incarcerated people 00:46:10.790 --> 00:46:12.110 as disposable, 00:46:12.110 --> 00:46:14.940 then we’re not going to deal with this problem head on. 00:46:14.940 --> 00:46:16.790 AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring in another guest 00:46:16.790 --> 00:46:18.040 into this conversation, 00:46:18.040 --> 00:46:20.840 as we turn now to look at the coronavirus 00:46:20.840 --> 00:46:22.390 and the case for abolition. 00:46:22.390 --> 00:46:26.010 The spread of COVID-19 poses mortal danger 00:46:26.010 --> 00:46:28.340 to the more than 2.3 million people 00:46:28.340 --> 00:46:30.900 locked up in U.S. prisons and jails. 00:46:30.900 --> 00:46:32.750 As of May 1st, The Marshall Project 00:46:32.750 --> 00:46:36.000 reports more than 14,000 incarcerated people 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:39.630 and nearly 4,000 workers in state and federal prisons 00:46:39.630 --> 00:46:41.400 have tested positive for the virus — 00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:44.210 and that number is expected to be far higher 00:46:44.210 --> 00:46:46.130 due to lack of testing. 00:46:46.130 --> 00:46:48.150 Activists and human rights defenders 00:46:48.150 --> 00:46:51.170 are demanding the mass release of prisoners to save lives 00:46:51.170 --> 00:46:54.060 and halt the spread of this deadly virus. 00:46:54.570 --> 00:46:56.770 For more, we’re joined by abolitionist scholar 00:46:56.770 --> 00:46:58.170 Ruth Wilson Gilmore, 00:46:58.170 --> 00:47:00.100 professor of Earth and environmental sciences 00:47:00.100 --> 00:47:01.900 and director of the Center for Place, 00:47:01.900 --> 00:47:05.420 Culture and Politics at CUNY Graduate Center. 00:47:05.420 --> 00:47:08.630 She is co-founder of California Prison Moratorium Project 00:47:08.630 --> 00:47:11.740 and Critical Resistance and author of Golden Gulag: 00:47:11.740 --> 00:47:14.120 Prison, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition 00:47:14.120 --> 00:47:17.840 in Globalizing California. Her forthcoming book is Change 00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:21.440 Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition. 00:47:22.020 --> 00:47:23.770 Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, 00:47:23.770 --> 00:47:26.730 it’s an honor to have you with us, from Lisbon, 00:47:26.730 --> 00:47:28.430 Portugal, where you are right now. 00:47:29.200 --> 00:47:31.230 Can you start off with the basics? 00:47:31.230 --> 00:47:33.990 How would you define "abolition"? 00:47:33.990 --> 00:47:37.830 And can you put it in a pandemic context right now? 00:47:38.650 --> 00:47:39.880 RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Oh, why, certainly. 00:47:39.880 --> 00:47:41.760 Thank you for having me on the show. 00:47:42.380 --> 00:47:44.000 And it was very good for me 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:48.630 to hear the commentary from my colleague in Texas. 00:47:48.630 --> 00:47:54.510 Abolition seeks to undo the way of thinking 00:47:54.510 --> 00:47:58.490 and doing things that sees prison and punishment 00:47:58.490 --> 00:48:03.440 as solutions for all kinds of social, economic, political, 00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:05.840 behavioral and interpersonal problems. 00:48:06.870 --> 00:48:10.570 Abolition, though, is not simply decarceration, 00:48:10.570 --> 00:48:12.520 put everybody out on the street. 00:48:12.520 --> 00:48:16.610 It is reorganizing how we live our lives together in the world. 00:48:17.140 --> 00:48:19.440 And this is something that people are doing 00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:22.580 in a variety of ways throughout the United States 00:48:22.580 --> 00:48:25.140 and around the planet already. 00:48:25.140 --> 00:48:27.850 It is not a pie-in-the-sky dream. 00:48:27.850 --> 00:48:31.820 It is actually something that is practical and achievable 00:48:31.820 --> 00:48:33.550 in the city of New York, 00:48:33.550 --> 00:48:36.870 in Texas, in South Africa, around the world. 00:48:39.170 --> 00:48:41.660 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, could you talk about this response 00:48:41.660 --> 00:48:43.760 from other parts of the world 00:48:43.760 --> 00:48:46.210 to the question of crime and punishment, 00:48:47.090 --> 00:48:50.340 and why, obviously, we often talk about how the United States 00:48:50.340 --> 00:48:53.170 has such a disproportionate percentage 00:48:53.170 --> 00:48:55.230 of the world’s prison population? 00:48:56.610 --> 00:48:58.610 RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Yes. It’s kind of interesting, 00:48:58.610 --> 00:49:00.870 although it’s probably just a coincidence, 00:49:00.870 --> 00:49:03.370 that the United States has about one 00:49:03.370 --> 00:49:06.220 in four prisoners in the world. 00:49:06.220 --> 00:49:10.620 It also has about one in four COVID deaths in the world. 00:49:10.620 --> 00:49:13.200 And although that might just be a coincidence, 00:49:13.200 --> 00:49:17.420 it does make me stop and think about how it is 00:49:17.420 --> 00:49:20.210 that we organize ourselves in the United States 00:49:20.210 --> 00:49:24.910 across the disparate and various polities 00:49:24.910 --> 00:49:28.660 that go from the Atlantic to the Pacific and beyond. 00:49:29.350 --> 00:49:32.060 So, in other parts of the world, 00:49:32.060 --> 00:49:36.710 what one sees is a very simple fact: 00:49:36.710 --> 00:49:40.000 Where life is precious, life is precious. 00:49:40.520 --> 00:49:46.110 In places where the state, the government, municipalities, 00:49:46.110 --> 00:49:49.390 social justice organizations, faith communities, 00:49:49.390 --> 00:49:54.670 labor unions work together to lift up human life, 00:49:54.670 --> 00:49:57.530 the incidents of crime and punishment, 00:49:57.530 --> 00:50:00.830 including the incidents of interpersonal harm, 00:50:01.380 --> 00:50:03.480 are less likely to occur. 00:50:03.480 --> 00:50:08.600 And this is in places where populations 00:50:08.600 --> 00:50:12.100 are every bit as diverse as in the United States. 00:50:12.100 --> 00:50:18.340 We also see that in places where inequality is the deepest, 00:50:18.340 --> 00:50:22.500 the use of prison and punishment is the greatest. 00:50:23.340 --> 00:50:27.410 Nowhere, however, gets even close to the United States. 00:50:29.690 --> 00:50:31.360 AMY GOODMAN: Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, 00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:34.500 you talk about organized abandonment 00:50:34.500 --> 00:50:37.890 and organized violence of the state. 00:50:38.600 --> 00:50:42.090 You talk about this as twin evils of the pandemic. 00:50:42.090 --> 00:50:44.040 Please explain. 00:50:44.040 --> 00:50:45.720 RUTH WILSON GILMORE: OK. Did I use the word "evil"? 00:50:45.720 --> 00:50:47.750 I might well have done. 00:50:47.750 --> 00:50:49.900 They’re twin aspects of the pandemic. 00:50:49.900 --> 00:50:54.640 And that is to say that organized abandonment has to do 00:50:54.640 --> 00:50:59.050 with the way that people, households, communities, 00:50:59.050 --> 00:51:02.430 neighborhoods do not have equal levels 00:51:02.430 --> 00:51:06.060 of support and protection against the pandemic, 00:51:06.580 --> 00:51:10.900 and that the response to people trying to figure out 00:51:10.900 --> 00:51:14.540 how to shelter themselves and save themselves — 00:51:14.540 --> 00:51:17.120 let’s take an example from the city of New York, 00:51:17.120 --> 00:51:19.640 homeless people living in the subways — 00:51:19.640 --> 00:51:22.590 is to use policing and criminalization — 00:51:22.590 --> 00:51:24.730 i.e. punishment — 00:51:24.730 --> 00:51:28.680 to resolve the problems of abandonment. 00:51:28.680 --> 00:51:30.080 Now, organized abandonment 00:51:30.080 --> 00:51:32.300 is not only abandonment by the state, 00:51:32.300 --> 00:51:34.530 it’s also abandonment by capital, 00:51:34.530 --> 00:51:37.830 whether it’s abandonment by real estate capital, 00:51:37.830 --> 00:51:41.200 that produces more and more luxury apartments 00:51:41.200 --> 00:51:43.330 but not affordable housing, 00:51:43.330 --> 00:51:46.480 as we can see in struggles throughout the city of New York 00:51:46.480 --> 00:51:50.240 and around the United States, or tourism capital, 00:51:50.240 --> 00:51:52.130 that pushes certain kinds of people 00:51:52.130 --> 00:51:56.410 out of certain areas of the city and only welcomes them in 00:51:56.410 --> 00:52:00.570 if they work as workers in the service industry, 00:52:00.570 --> 00:52:03.330 delivering, serving, taking care of and cleaning. 00:52:04.240 --> 00:52:06.350 There are many, many ways for us 00:52:06.350 --> 00:52:08.700 to think about organized abandonment, 00:52:08.700 --> 00:52:12.970 but that thinking should bring us to consider 00:52:12.970 --> 00:52:16.790 both how capital — large and small — 00:52:16.790 --> 00:52:19.610 and state — municipal or greater — 00:52:19.610 --> 00:52:23.660 work together to raise barriers to some kinds of people 00:52:23.660 --> 00:52:25.360 and lower them for others. 00:52:25.870 --> 00:52:27.280 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you — 00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:30.840 when prison reform is discussed, 00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:34.580 it’s usually talked about help or assistance 00:52:34.580 --> 00:52:36.500 to nonviolent offenders 00:52:36.500 --> 00:52:38.200 or release of nonviolent offenders, 00:52:38.200 --> 00:52:42.250 as opposed to violent offenders, as if a violent offender, 00:52:42.250 --> 00:52:44.590 there’s no question that they could never be released 00:52:44.590 --> 00:52:46.310 before their sentence is up. 00:52:47.050 --> 00:52:49.390 Your take on this issue of the attempt 00:52:49.390 --> 00:52:51.570 to divide the prison population 00:52:51.570 --> 00:52:53.760 between nonviolent and violent offenders? 00:52:54.800 --> 00:52:56.890 RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Certainly. And my colleague from Texas 00:52:56.890 --> 00:53:01.230 already raised this in her discussion with you. 00:53:01.230 --> 00:53:06.520 The assumption underlying that division suggests 00:53:06.520 --> 00:53:10.670 that we know something about one group of people 00:53:10.670 --> 00:53:12.840 that is never, ever going to change. 00:53:13.430 --> 00:53:16.410 And what we forget is, most people who go to prison, 00:53:16.410 --> 00:53:18.940 for whatever the controlling offense — 00:53:18.940 --> 00:53:21.989 which is to say, what they are convicted of — leaves someday. 00:53:22.510 --> 00:53:26.150 That means that instead of thinking 00:53:26.150 --> 00:53:28.130 that we have these two groups 00:53:28.130 --> 00:53:32.570 that we can predict the behavior of, 00:53:32.570 --> 00:53:35.510 that we ought to be thinking about the kind of life 00:53:36.060 --> 00:53:40.350 that makes possible people to return to the world, 00:53:40.350 --> 00:53:41.730 from which they’ve been removed, 00:53:41.730 --> 00:53:45.810 in such a way that any harm that might have occurred 00:53:45.810 --> 00:53:49.120 does not harm anybody again in the future. 00:53:49.670 --> 00:53:53.280 What abolitionists do, in all kinds of work 00:53:53.900 --> 00:53:57.360 surrounding what we call transformative justice, 00:53:57.360 --> 00:53:59.630 is to try to work that out. 00:53:59.630 --> 00:54:02.760 So, some of the leading abolitionists 00:54:02.760 --> 00:54:05.970 in the United States and around the world today 00:54:05.970 --> 00:54:08.030 are people like Mariame Kaba 00:54:08.030 --> 00:54:11.400 and Andrea Smith and Kelly Gillespie and others, 00:54:11.400 --> 00:54:16.120 who came out of work against domestic violence — 00:54:16.120 --> 00:54:19.150 i.e. it was in doing work 00:54:19.150 --> 00:54:22.170 to try to fight against violence and harm, 00:54:22.170 --> 00:54:26.730 that they realized abolition was the only way to resolve 00:54:26.730 --> 00:54:29.220 the problems that were not being resolved 00:54:29.220 --> 00:54:34.180 by having better, faster, more swift and sure punishment 00:54:34.180 --> 00:54:36.280 when somebody harmed somebody else. 00:54:37.720 --> 00:54:40.490 AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to bring Azzurra 00:54:40.490 --> 00:54:42.190 back into the conversation 00:54:43.690 --> 00:54:47.990 to ask about the media coverage of the prisoners, again, 00:54:47.990 --> 00:54:50.860 and get Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s response 00:54:50.860 --> 00:54:52.840 to this astounding situation in Ohio, 00:54:52.840 --> 00:54:57.910 80% of the prisoners testing positive. 00:54:57.910 --> 00:55:01.720 You have that happening right now in Ohio. 00:55:01.720 --> 00:55:03.020 In — what is it? 00:55:03.020 --> 00:55:07.620 In Tennessee, you have — in Arkansas, 00:55:07.620 --> 00:55:09.420 Governor Asa Hutchinson announced 00:55:09.420 --> 00:55:12.660 Tuesday nearly 40% of the state’s coronavirus cases 00:55:12.660 --> 00:55:15.570 are concentrated at Cummins maximum-security prison, 00:55:15.570 --> 00:55:18.490 where some 850 prisoners have tested positive. 00:55:18.490 --> 00:55:22.730 In New York, the former head of the jails’ doctor 00:55:22.730 --> 00:55:25.350 is accusing MDC, Metropolitan Detention Center, 00:55:25.350 --> 00:55:28.180 of not releasing figures on the prisoners 00:55:28.180 --> 00:55:30.180 who are detained there. 00:55:30.180 --> 00:55:32.470 So, what is your exact demand right now, 00:55:32.470 --> 00:55:34.830 as your husband remains in prison, 00:55:34.830 --> 00:55:38.500 and the response of the governor of Ohio, DeWine? 00:55:38.500 --> 00:55:39.730 AZZURRA CRISPINO: Sure. 00:55:39.730 --> 00:55:43.390 First of all, I just wanted to thank Professor Wilson Gilmore, 00:55:43.390 --> 00:55:46.990 because my husband has been convicted of a violent offense. 00:55:46.990 --> 00:55:49.240 That doesn’t mean that he’s a violent person. 00:55:50.210 --> 00:55:52.470 And people absolutely can change. 00:55:52.470 --> 00:55:54.560 I think, in terms of the media coverage, 00:55:54.560 --> 00:55:57.850 one of the frustrations has been that Ohio DRC 00:55:57.850 --> 00:56:00.620 has been unwilling to release the names of the dead, 00:56:01.130 --> 00:56:02.450 especially at Pickaway. 00:56:02.450 --> 00:56:04.200 We have one of our coalition partners, 00:56:04.200 --> 00:56:05.700 who was formerly incarcerated there, 00:56:05.700 --> 00:56:09.020 who really wants to know which of his friends may have died, 00:56:09.020 --> 00:56:11.380 but we are being told that we can’t have that information 00:56:11.380 --> 00:56:14.290 due to privacy reasons. Yet, at Marion Correctional, 00:56:14.290 --> 00:56:17.450 when recently two well-known people 00:56:17.450 --> 00:56:20.050 who had committed murders died, 00:56:20.050 --> 00:56:24.580 both of them got media coverage in their deaths. 00:56:24.580 --> 00:56:27.810 But when Jesse Zeigler dies — right? — 00:56:27.810 --> 00:56:32.300 a beloved father, then we don’t talk about him, right? 00:56:32.300 --> 00:56:34.360 So, from the use of the word "inmate" versus 00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:37.590 "incarcerated person," the focus on state actors, 00:56:37.590 --> 00:56:38.910 such as Governor DeWine, 00:56:38.910 --> 00:56:41.930 without focusing on what everybody else can do, 00:56:42.450 --> 00:56:45.380 we’ve seen, I think, some pretty mixed media coverage. 00:56:45.380 --> 00:56:46.950 And I would like to see journalists 00:56:46.950 --> 00:56:48.180 continue to do better 00:56:48.180 --> 00:56:51.170 by reaching out to people who are directly impacted, 00:56:51.170 --> 00:56:52.620 and uplifting those voices. 00:56:52.620 --> 00:56:54.580 I think the people who are closest to the problem 00:56:54.580 --> 00:56:56.500 are always closest to the solution. 00:56:56.500 --> 00:56:58.170 And it’s so wonderful to see journalists, 00:56:58.170 --> 00:56:59.490 such as Democracy Now!, 00:56:59.490 --> 00:57:01.730 doing a great job of covering these issues. 00:57:03.250 --> 00:57:04.520 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor Wilson Gilmore, 00:57:04.520 --> 00:57:06.410 we have about a minute left, but I wanted to ask you. 00:57:06.410 --> 00:57:09.180 You focus a lot of your research and attention 00:57:09.180 --> 00:57:14.360 on the role of incarceration in California specifically, 00:57:14.360 --> 00:57:19.460 the nation’s biggest and most populous and prosperous state. 00:57:19.460 --> 00:57:21.450 Could you talk about that, as well, 00:57:21.450 --> 00:57:23.580 the lessons from California? 00:57:23.580 --> 00:57:24.830 RUTH WILSON GILMORE: Certainly. 00:57:24.830 --> 00:57:28.200 I think the major lesson I would like to share with our audience, 00:57:28.200 --> 00:57:31.540 these last few seconds that we have together, 00:57:31.540 --> 00:57:35.360 is that California was on a path 00:57:35.360 --> 00:57:41.380 to making what was an huge and bulging prison system 00:57:41.380 --> 00:57:43.220 to be bigger and bigger and bigger. 00:57:43.220 --> 00:57:46.260 And that’s where contemporary abolition movement 00:57:46.260 --> 00:57:48.980 in the United States took root. 00:57:48.980 --> 00:57:50.940 And we fought and fought and fought, 00:57:50.940 --> 00:57:53.250 throughout urban and rural California, 00:57:53.250 --> 00:57:55.660 making common cause with labor unions, 00:57:55.660 --> 00:57:58.070 healthcare workers, faith communities, 00:57:58.070 --> 00:57:59.770 environmental justice activists, 00:57:59.770 --> 00:58:03.320 and other, to denaturalize the notion 00:58:03.320 --> 00:58:07.040 that crime was the problem for which prisons and punishment 00:58:07.040 --> 00:58:08.440 was the right solution, 00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:12.980 as a result of which the number of people in California prisons 00:58:12.980 --> 00:58:15.790 is much lower than it was even imagined 00:58:16.300 --> 00:58:18.520 it could be in the year 2000, 00:58:18.520 --> 00:58:20.730 because of the work that abolitionists did. 00:58:21.240 --> 00:58:23.980 That work needs to expand. 00:58:23.980 --> 00:58:28.390 But we see victories in Los Angeles County, 00:58:28.390 --> 00:58:32.510 where a plan to build multibillion-dollar jails 00:58:32.510 --> 00:58:38.360 was defeated after nearly 15 years of struggle. We can — 00:58:38.360 --> 00:58:39.650 AMY GOODMAN: Ruth Wilson Gilmore, 00:58:39.650 --> 00:58:40.850 we have to leave it there, 00:58:40.850 --> 00:58:43.670 but I want to thank you so much for joining us, from Lisbon, 00:58:43.670 --> 00:58:45.810 Portugal, author of Golden Gulag: 00:58:45.810 --> 00:58:48.760 Prison, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition 00:58:48.760 --> 00:58:51.370 in Globalizing California. Her forthcoming book, Change 00:58:51.370 --> 00:58:54.070 Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition. 00:58:54.070 --> 00:58:55.540 And I want to thank Azzurra Crispino, 00:58:55.540 --> 00:58:58.020 co-founder of Prison Abolition Prisoner Support. 00:58:58.020 --> 00:59:00.970 I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe.