WEBVTT 00:00:15.210 --> 00:00:18.060 From New York, the epicenter of the pandemic 00:00:18.060 --> 00:00:20.570 in the United States, this is Democracy Now! 00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:23.240 This council is going to dismantle 00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:24.460 this police department. 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:26.120 That’s right! Yes! 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:32.240 One more time! One more time! One more time! 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:34.090 All right, they’re telling me to say it again. 00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:35.400 This council is going to dismantle 00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:37.100 this police department. 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:41.910 After nearly two weeks of historic protests, 00:00:42.720 --> 00:00:45.430 the Minneapolis City Council has announced it will move 00:00:45.430 --> 00:00:48.180 to dismantle the city’s police department 00:00:48.180 --> 00:00:51.500 in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:55.850 We’ll speak to Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison. 00:00:55.850 --> 00:00:57.650 Then we’ll look at the growing movement 00:00:57.650 --> 00:01:01.190 to defund the police with professor Alex Vitale, 00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:05.450 author Mychal Denzel Smith and activist Linda Sarsour. 00:01:06.380 --> 00:01:08.660 Defunding the police is very simple. 00:01:08.660 --> 00:01:10.960 That means get police out of our schools, 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.000 get police out of addressing homelessness, 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.930 get police out of addressing mental health crises, 00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:18.340 put police where they belong, 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:20.400 and that is not in our communities 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.630 to address things that require qualifications and expertise. 00:01:24.380 --> 00:01:26.140 All that and more, coming up. 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:32.900 Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:35.250 The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. 00:01:36.020 --> 00:01:40.600 As historic protests continue to sweep the country two weeks 00:01:40.600 --> 00:01:42.990 after the police murder of George Floyd, 00:01:42.990 --> 00:01:45.760 the Minneapolis City Council announced Sunday 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.760 it would move to disband the city’s police department. 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.840 Nine members of the council — a veto-proof majority — 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:55.850 made the vow during a community rally on Sunday. 00:01:55.850 --> 00:01:58.130 This is Minneapolis City Councilmember Phillipe 00:01:58.130 --> 00:01:59.830 Cunningham. 00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:28.670 Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham: 00:02:29.570 --> 00:02:33.620 "This work is not new. We know that. 00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:37.740 And across the entire city over the last two weeks, 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:41.120 we have seen that it is possible for us 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:42.820 to keep our own communities safe. 00:02:43.870 --> 00:02:48.290 In North Minneapolis, as the buildings were being broken 00:02:48.290 --> 00:02:52.080 and burned by white supremacists and extremists, 00:02:52.940 --> 00:02:54.640 MPD was nowhere to be found. 00:02:56.590 --> 00:03:00.300 While we have no paradigm for policing 00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:01.760 that is not rooted in white supremacy, 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:03.470 we do have a paradigm and a way to have community safety 00:03:03.470 --> 00:03:04.700 that is rooted in community and justice." 00:03:04.700 --> 00:03:05.980 The vow to disband the police came just days 00:03:05.980 --> 00:03:07.200 after the Minneapolis City Council 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:08.480 voted to ban chokeholds and neck restraints. 00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:09.960 Derek Chauvin, the former officer who killed Floyd 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:11.260 by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes, 00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:12.650 will make his first court appearance today. 00:03:12.650 --> 00:03:15.730 We’ll have more on the historic City Council announcement 00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:19.290 after headlines with Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah 00:03:19.290 --> 00:03:20.990 Ellison. 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:28.030 The nationwide uprising against police violence 00:03:28.030 --> 00:03:29.490 and anti-Black racism 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:32.320 saw hundreds of thousands of protesters 00:03:32.320 --> 00:03:35.500 take to the streets across the U.S over the weekend. 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:37.600 In New York, large-scale protests 00:03:37.600 --> 00:03:39.430 took place throughout the city, 00:03:39.430 --> 00:03:41.900 many continuing into the night in defiance 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:43.440 of an 8 p.m. curfew Friday and Saturday. 00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:47.190 In San Francisco, thousands of protesters shut down traffic 00:03:47.190 --> 00:03:48.740 on the Golden Gate Bridge. 00:03:48.740 --> 00:03:49.980 In Richmond, Virginia, 00:03:49.980 --> 00:03:52.370 protesters toppled the Confederate statue 00:03:52.370 --> 00:03:54.900 of General Williams Carter Wickham 00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:56.880 and doused it with paint. 00:03:56.880 --> 00:04:00.540 Many in Virginia, including some of Wickham’s own descendants, 00:04:00.540 --> 00:04:02.410 had called for the Confederate statue 00:04:02.410 --> 00:04:04.760 to be torn down for years. 00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:07.120 On Friday, protesters around the country 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.880 wished a happy 27th birthday to Breonna Taylor, 00:04:10.880 --> 00:04:14.270 who was shot dead by Louisville, Kentucky, 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.000 police inside her own apartment in March. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:24.260 This is a protester speaking at a rally in Los Angeles. 00:04:24.260 --> 00:04:25.470 Robert McQueen: 00:04:25.470 --> 00:04:28.420 "Today we’re taking a stand against police brutality, 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:31.490 and we’re taking a stand against the system of oppression 00:04:31.490 --> 00:04:33.190 we see with the police department. 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:36.760 And it’s not that it’s a white cop 00:04:36.760 --> 00:04:39.130 or a Black cop or a Mexican cop. 00:04:39.130 --> 00:04:41.570 They don’t have color in the police department. 00:04:41.570 --> 00:04:43.650 They have one color. It’s blue." 00:04:43.650 --> 00:04:45.770 We’ll bring you voices from protests here 00:04:45.770 --> 00:04:48.050 in New York City later in the broadcast. 00:04:49.320 --> 00:04:52.780 In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser 00:04:52.780 --> 00:04:55.110 had the words "Black Lives Matter" 00:04:55.110 --> 00:04:57.530 painted on a section of 16th Street 00:04:57.530 --> 00:04:59.300 that leads to the White House. 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:03.520 The words — in giant, yellow capital letters — 00:05:03.520 --> 00:05:05.510 span more than a block 00:05:05.510 --> 00:05:09.310 and are visible in satellite photos from space. 00:05:09.310 --> 00:05:11.530 Black Lives Matter DC accused 00:05:11.530 --> 00:05:13.920 Bowser of engaging in "performative" actions 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:15.360 and called out her past support 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:17.240 for the district’s police department. 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.870 Protesters later painted the words "Defund the Police" 00:05:20.870 --> 00:05:23.400 next to the words "Black Lives Matter," 00:05:23.400 --> 00:05:25.550 in equally large yellow letters. 00:05:25.550 --> 00:05:27.790 Former Secretary of State Colin Powell 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:30.320 became the latest Republican and prominent 00:05:30.320 --> 00:05:31.730 former Pentagon official 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:35.780 to criticize Trump’s militarized response to protests. 00:05:35.780 --> 00:05:38.740 Powell also endorsed Joe Biden for president. 00:05:38.740 --> 00:05:41.070 This came as President Trump said Sunday 00:05:41.070 --> 00:05:42.760 he had ordered the National Guard 00:05:42.760 --> 00:05:45.550 to leave the streets of Washington, D.C. 00:05:45.550 --> 00:05:48.080 Trump’s reversal came after ABC News 00:05:48.080 --> 00:05:50.080 reported that last Monday President Trump 00:05:50.080 --> 00:05:52.740 got into a shouting match with a top Pentagon official, 00:05:52.740 --> 00:05:57.180 demanding the mobilization of 10,000 troops in Washington, 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:00.620 D.C., and other U.S. cities to suppress protests. 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:04.190 On Sunday, Utah Senator Mitt Romney 00:06:04.190 --> 00:06:06.780 broke with other Republican lawmakers 00:06:06.780 --> 00:06:09.230 and joined a march in Washington, D.C. 00:06:09.230 --> 00:06:10.520 Sen. Mitt Romney: 00:06:10.520 --> 00:06:13.250 "Finding a way to end violence and brutality 00:06:13.840 --> 00:06:15.700 and to make sure the people understand 00:06:15.700 --> 00:06:17.120 that Black lives matter." 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:20.840 Protests also intensified around the world, 00:06:20.840 --> 00:06:24.060 as crowds poured into the streets in Britain, 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:27.810 Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Canada, Japan, 00:06:27.810 --> 00:06:31.490 South Korea, Tunisia, among many other places. 00:06:31.490 --> 00:06:35.550 Protesters gathered in front of U.S. embassies in some capitals, 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:38.870 as they demanded an end to police brutality and racism 00:06:38.870 --> 00:06:41.280 in both the U.S. and their own countries. 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:43.350 In Spain, demonstrators rallied 00:06:43.350 --> 00:06:46.220 in front of the Rota U.S. military base in Cádiz. 00:06:49.900 --> 00:06:52.370 In Britain, protesters in Bristol 00:06:52.370 --> 00:06:55.520 tore down a bronze statue of 17th century 00:06:55.520 --> 00:06:59.890 slave trader Edward Colston and threw it in the River Avon. 00:06:59.890 --> 00:07:03.220 In London, protesters wrote "Churchill is a racist" 00:07:03.220 --> 00:07:04.700 on the memorial statue 00:07:04.700 --> 00:07:07.430 for former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:10.020 In Columbus, Ohio, 00:07:10.020 --> 00:07:11.650 an investigation has been launched 00:07:11.650 --> 00:07:14.990 into the death of 22-year-old protester Sarah Grossman, 00:07:14.990 --> 00:07:18.340 who died soon after getting pepper-sprayed at a protest. 00:07:18.340 --> 00:07:20.500 This comes as reports of police violence 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:23.080 against protesters continue to pile up. 00:07:23.080 --> 00:07:24.920 A warning to our TV audience: 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:28.240 We’re about to show graphic images of police violence. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:30.770 In Indiana, 21-year-old Balin Brake 00:07:30.770 --> 00:07:33.420 lost his right eye after a police officer 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:35.350 fired a tear gas canister 00:07:35.350 --> 00:07:39.080 directly into his face at protest in Fort Wayne. 00:07:39.080 --> 00:07:42.710 In Texas, 26-year-old Brandon Saenz lost his left eye 00:07:42.710 --> 00:07:44.860 and seven teeth, and fractured his skull, 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:47.410 after a Dallas police officer shot him in the face 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:50.640 at close range with an unknown projectile. 00:07:50.640 --> 00:07:52.020 In La Mesa, California, 00:07:52.020 --> 00:07:54.580 59-year-old grandmother Leslie Furcron 00:07:54.580 --> 00:07:57.830 was filming a Facebook Live video of a protest 00:07:57.830 --> 00:07:59.410 when she was shot between the eyes 00:07:59.410 --> 00:08:02.040 by a bean bag round fired by police. 00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:04.110 Protester: "What’s wrong with her? 00:08:04.110 --> 00:08:07.690 Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! 00:08:07.690 --> 00:08:10.770 Are you OK, ma’am? Are you OK?" 00:08:11.630 --> 00:08:14.160 Furcron was hospitalized in an ICU 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:17.140 and placed in a medically induced coma. 00:08:17.140 --> 00:08:20.150 Meanwhile, the two Buffalo police officers 00:08:20.150 --> 00:08:22.870 who last week assaulted Martin Gugino, 00:08:22.870 --> 00:08:25.830 a 75-year-old demonstrator, 00:08:25.830 --> 00:08:28.520 violently pushing him to the ground, 00:08:28.520 --> 00:08:30.670 have been charged with felony assault. 00:08:30.670 --> 00:08:32.920 Gugino is a longtime peace activist 00:08:32.920 --> 00:08:35.710 who has been attending protests for racial justice 00:08:35.710 --> 00:08:38.060 and many other causes for years. 00:08:40.780 --> 00:08:42.540 His representatives said over the weekend 00:08:42.540 --> 00:08:44.780 he is in serious but stable condition. 00:08:45.370 --> 00:08:47.220 Fifty-seven police officers 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:49.650 from Buffalo’s Emergency Response Team 00:08:49.650 --> 00:08:51.570 quit the special unit 00:08:51.570 --> 00:08:55.780 following the suspension of the officers last week. 00:08:57.190 --> 00:09:00.100 Immigrant rights advocates are sounding the alarm 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:01.520 over the presence of Immigration 00:09:01.520 --> 00:09:04.030 and Customs Enforcement agents at protests. 00:09:04.030 --> 00:09:07.970 Last week, a viral video showed a group of ICE agents 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:10.550 detaining a protester at a George Floyd 00:09:10.550 --> 00:09:12.240 rally in New York City. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.170 The Immigrant Defense Project said agents 00:09:14.170 --> 00:09:17.280 held the man on the ground as they pointed three guns at him. 00:09:17.280 --> 00:09:18.980 The man, who hasn’t been identified, 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:20.640 was handcuffed and searched. 00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:22.310 He was reportedly released after agents 00:09:22.310 --> 00:09:24.740 found a military veteran’s ID on him. 00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:26.060 Immigration rights advocates 00:09:26.060 --> 00:09:29.760 say the man is a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent. 00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:31.690 ICE recently confirmed the agency 00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:34.740 has deployed personnel at protests across the country. 00:09:35.530 --> 00:09:38.430 In Washington state, calls are mounting to fire 00:09:38.430 --> 00:09:40.330 and prosecute four police officers 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:41.840 who killed Manuel Ellis, 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.880 a 33-year-old Black man, in March. 00:09:43.880 --> 00:09:45.700 Ellis was violently arrested and beaten 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:47.950 by four officers on the side of the road. 00:09:47.950 --> 00:09:51.150 He died while he was being restrained and in handcuffs. 00:09:51.150 --> 00:09:54.570 He can be heard saying "I can’t breathe" on a police scanner. 00:09:54.570 --> 00:09:57.520 The county medical examiner ruled his death was a homicide. 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:02.520 A bereaved family is demanding answers after the fatal 00:10:02.520 --> 00:10:05.220 shooting of 28-year-old Maurice Gordon last month 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:07.120 by a New Jersey police trooper. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.770 The state trooper, who has not been publicly identified, 00:10:09.770 --> 00:10:12.400 pulled Gordon over for a routine traffic stop. 00:10:12.400 --> 00:10:14.430 Gordon then waited in the officer’s car 00:10:14.430 --> 00:10:16.880 for over 30 minutes for a tow truck to arrive, 00:10:16.880 --> 00:10:18.990 after Gordon’s car wouldn’t restart. 00:10:18.990 --> 00:10:21.590 The trooper reportedly shot and killed him 00:10:21.590 --> 00:10:23.370 when he tried to exit the vehicle. 00:10:23.900 --> 00:10:26.200 The Attorney General’s Office said video of the shooting 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:28.680 would be released when the initial investigation is over. 00:10:28.680 --> 00:10:30.380 Maurice Gordon, originally from Jamaica, 00:10:30.380 --> 00:10:33.130 was a chemistry student and a driver for Uber Eats — 00:10:33.130 --> 00:10:36.240 a job classified as "essential" during the pandemic. 00:10:37.280 --> 00:10:39.960 In media news, The New York Times editorial page editor 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:42.230 James Bennet has resigned following outcry 00:10:42.230 --> 00:10:43.430 from staff and readers 00:10:43.430 --> 00:10:47.270 over the publication of an op-ed by Republican Senator Tom 00:10:47.270 --> 00:10:51.360 Cotton about the protests called "Send in the Troops." 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.350 Meanwhile, Stan Wischnowski, 00:10:53.350 --> 00:10:55.690 the top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, 00:10:55.690 --> 00:10:59.230 has resigned days after the paper published a piece titled 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:01.150 "Buildings Matter, Too." 00:11:01.150 --> 00:11:02.540 In other journalism news, 00:11:02.540 --> 00:11:04.020 the board of directors of the Committee 00:11:04.020 --> 00:11:06.510 to Protect Journalists sent a letter to U.S. governors, 00:11:06.510 --> 00:11:07.790 mayors and police chiefs, 00:11:07.790 --> 00:11:09.800 demanding they take immediate action 00:11:09.800 --> 00:11:12.820 to stop attacks on reporters covering the uprising. 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:14.150 The Committee to Protect Journalists 00:11:14.150 --> 00:11:15.730 says it is investigating at least 00:11:15.730 --> 00:11:18.900 280 reports of violence against journalists. 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:22.550 The death toll from COVID-19 00:11:22.550 --> 00:11:25.760 continues to surge in the United States, 00:11:25.760 --> 00:11:28.830 where it has passed 110,000. 00:11:28.830 --> 00:11:32.000 This includes nearly 600 frontline healthcare workers, 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.090 according to a new report by The Guardian. 00:11:34.090 --> 00:11:36.520 According to CNN, over the past hours alone 00:11:36.520 --> 00:11:40.860 there have been 30,000 new infections and 700 deaths. 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:42.860 In Arizona, some hospitals are on the verge 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:44.820 of running out of intensive care unit beds 00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:47.950 as the number of COVID patients has reached a new high. 00:11:47.950 --> 00:11:50.220 Meanwhile, New York City begins to reopen today 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:52.230 after 78 days of lockdown. 00:11:52.230 --> 00:11:56.420 More than 21,000 people have died in the city from COVID. 00:11:56.420 --> 00:11:58.070 In other news, President Trump on Friday 00:11:58.070 --> 00:11:59.920 visited a factory in Maine 00:11:59.920 --> 00:12:03.310 making medical swabs for COVID testing. 00:12:03.310 --> 00:12:07.600 Trump did not wear a mask while on the factory floor. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.310 The factory owner later said all swabs 00:12:10.310 --> 00:12:12.910 made during Trump’s visit will be discarded. 00:12:18.570 --> 00:12:21.160 In Mexico, protests against police brutality 00:12:21.160 --> 00:12:22.920 erupted in the city of Guadalajara, 00:12:22.920 --> 00:12:25.180 Jalisco, last week following the police 00:12:25.180 --> 00:12:27.780 killing of 30-year-old Giovanni López Ramírez 00:12:27.780 --> 00:12:30.040 for allegedly not wearing a face mask. 00:12:30.040 --> 00:12:32.690 A video emerged Wednesday showing police officers 00:12:32.690 --> 00:12:34.730 carrying assault rifles forcing López 00:12:34.730 --> 00:12:37.570 into a police pickup truck as witnesses screamed, 00:12:37.570 --> 00:12:39.150 demanding his release. 00:12:39.150 --> 00:12:41.530 Hours after his arrest, López Ramírez’s body 00:12:41.530 --> 00:12:44.590 was reportedly found by his family at a local hospital. 00:12:44.590 --> 00:12:48.160 The government of far-right Brazilian President 00:12:48.160 --> 00:12:50.680 Jair Bolsonaro has stopped publishing 00:12:50.680 --> 00:12:53.290 new reported coronavirus deaths and infections. 00:12:53.290 --> 00:12:54.840 Brazil’s health minister on Friday 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:57.040 took down a website that had published daily, 00:12:57.040 --> 00:13:00.890 weekly and monthly numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths. 00:13:00.890 --> 00:13:03.050 When the website went live again Saturday, 00:13:03.050 --> 00:13:05.020 the total numbers of infections for states 00:13:05.020 --> 00:13:07.630 and the entire country were missing. 00:13:07.630 --> 00:13:09.830 Brazil recently overtook Italy as the country 00:13:09.830 --> 00:13:12.870 with the third-highest COVID-19 death toll. 00:13:13.630 --> 00:13:15.930 In Canada, Indigenous leaders are demanding 00:13:15.930 --> 00:13:17.690 an investigation into the fatal police 00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:20.600 shooting of an Indigenous woman during a wellness check. 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:22.610 Twenty-six-year-old Chantel Moore 00:13:22.610 --> 00:13:25.030 was killed Thursday in Edmundston, New Brunswick, 00:13:25.030 --> 00:13:27.070 by an officer who had responded to a call 00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:28.870 from one of Moore’s loved ones. 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:31.340 Police allege Moore threatened the officer with a knife. 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:33.840 The officer then shot her five times. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.870 Moore had recently moved to Edmundston 00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:38.290 to be closer to her 5-year-old daughter. 00:13:38.290 --> 00:13:41.380 She was a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. 00:13:41.380 --> 00:13:42.630 In more news from Canada, 00:13:42.630 --> 00:13:45.930 charges were dropped last week against 22 00:13:45.930 --> 00:13:48.800 Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their allies, 00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:50.150 who were arrested this past 00:13:50.150 --> 00:13:52.220 February in northern British Columbia 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:54.460 after a days-long raid in Indigenous 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:56.530 territories where hereditary chiefs have been 00:13:56.530 --> 00:13:58.670 in a protracted battle to protect their land 00:13:58.670 --> 00:14:01.490 from the construction of TransCanada’s 400-mile, 00:14:01.490 --> 00:14:05.340 $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. 00:14:06.880 --> 00:14:08.160 In the United States, 00:14:08.160 --> 00:14:11.190 President Trump invoked the memory of George Floyd Friday 00:14:11.190 --> 00:14:13.510 as he celebrated the government’s recently 00:14:13.510 --> 00:14:15.530 released jobs report. 00:14:15.530 --> 00:14:16.840 President Donald Trump: 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:19.050 "Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, 00:14:19.050 --> 00:14:21.420 'This a great thing that's happening for our country.’ 00:14:21.420 --> 00:14:24.830 This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:27.110 This is a great day for everybody. 00:14:27.110 --> 00:14:31.360 This is a great, great day in terms of equality." 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:36.320 The Labor Department’s May jobs report showed the economy 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.560 gained 2.5 million jobs 00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:41.110 and the unemployment rate fell to 13.3%. 00:14:42.130 --> 00:14:44.530 However, the report contained a note 00:14:44.530 --> 00:14:47.070 warning of a "misclassification error," 00:14:47.070 --> 00:14:48.770 indicating that the unemployment rate 00:14:48.770 --> 00:14:53.400 is actually about 3 points higher, or around 16.3 percent. 00:14:53.400 --> 00:14:55.710 The report also shows the unemployment rate 00:14:55.710 --> 00:14:58.360 went up for Asian and Black people. 00:15:00.630 --> 00:15:05.330 The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday over 100 death 00:15:05.330 --> 00:15:08.420 row prisoners will be given the opportunity to prove racism 00:15:08.420 --> 00:15:10.170 played a role in their sentences. 00:15:10.170 --> 00:15:13.930 Cassandra Stubbs of the ACLU celebrated the ruling, saying it 00:15:13.930 --> 00:15:16.640 "ensures we will be able to continue our journey 00:15:16.640 --> 00:15:19.110 as North Carolinians to really confront 00:15:19.110 --> 00:15:21.410 the legacy of race in capital trials.” 00:15:22.930 --> 00:15:26.110 In sports news, the NFL has issued a video message 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:29.350 in support of Black Lives Matter and apologized for rejecting 00:15:29.350 --> 00:15:32.420 Black football players’ protests against police brutality 00:15:32.420 --> 00:15:34.240 and racism in the past. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:36.490 This is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. 00:15:36.490 --> 00:15:38.890 Roger Goodell: "We, the National Football 00:15:38.890 --> 00:15:40.460 League, admit we were wrong 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:42.520 for not listening to NFL players earlier, 00:15:43.290 --> 00:15:46.800 and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:50.070 We, the National Football League, 00:15:50.070 --> 00:15:52.300 believe Black lives matter." 00:15:52.890 --> 00:15:57.370 In the video, Roger Goodell did not name 00:15:57.370 --> 00:16:00.350 or directly apologize to Colin Kaepernick, 00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:03.950 the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback 00:16:03.950 --> 00:16:05.910 who was shunned from the league 00:16:05.910 --> 00:16:08.930 after he started taking the knee in 2016 00:16:08.930 --> 00:16:10.300 during the national anthem 00:16:10.300 --> 00:16:12.870 as a protest against police violence. 00:16:13.550 --> 00:16:15.730 And those are some of the headlines this is Democracy 00:16:15.730 --> 00:16:18.910 Now, Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. 00:16:19.450 --> 00:16:21.150 I’m Amy Goodman. 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:23.980 AMY GOODMAN: The City Council of Minneapolis announced 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:27.170 Saturday it would disband and abolish 00:16:27.170 --> 00:16:29.670 the police department responsible for the killing 00:16:29.670 --> 00:16:32.280 of African American man George Floyd, 00:16:32.280 --> 00:16:35.100 following nearly two weeks of mass protest 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:37.240 and growing calls to defund the police. 00:16:37.790 --> 00:16:39.810 In a statement, nine of the city’s 00:16:39.810 --> 00:16:42.220 12 councilmembers said, quote, 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:44.890 "Decades of police reform efforts have proved 00:16:44.890 --> 00:16:48.210 that the Minneapolis Police Department cannot be reformed, 00:16:48.210 --> 00:16:50.610 and will never be accountable for its action. ... 00:16:50.610 --> 00:16:52.980 We recognize that we don’t have all the answers 00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:55.560 about what a police-free future looks like, 00:16:55.560 --> 00:16:58.270 but our community does," they said. 00:16:58.270 --> 00:17:00.830 The historic announcement comes after years 00:17:00.830 --> 00:17:03.310 of organizing on the ground by groups like Reclaim 00:17:03.310 --> 00:17:07.020 the Block, Black Visions Collective and MPD150. 00:17:07.020 --> 00:17:09.170 This is Minneapolis City Council President 00:17:09.170 --> 00:17:11.230 Lisa Bender speaking Sunday. 00:17:12.290 --> 00:17:14.200 LISA BENDER: Our commitment is to do what’s necessary 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:17.490 to keep every single member of our community safe 00:17:17.490 --> 00:17:19.520 and to tell the truth, 00:17:19.520 --> 00:17:22.960 that the Minneapolis police are not doing that. 00:17:26.790 --> 00:17:30.040 Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship 00:17:30.040 --> 00:17:32.270 with the Minneapolis Police Department, 00:17:32.860 --> 00:17:35.290 to end policing as we know it 00:17:36.010 --> 00:17:39.400 and to recreate systems of public safety 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.920 that actually keep us safe. 00:17:42.870 --> 00:17:45.790 AMY GOODMAN: A supermajority of Minneapolis city 00:17:45.790 --> 00:17:47.440 councilmembers support 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.160 disbanding the police department, 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:52.210 meaning Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, 00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:54.360 who opposes abolishing the police, 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:56.830 can’t override their efforts. 00:17:56.830 --> 00:17:58.780 Organizers with Black Visions Collective 00:17:58.780 --> 00:18:00.530 and other activists convinced the mayor 00:18:00.530 --> 00:18:04.050 to step outside his home Saturday to speak with them. 00:18:04.050 --> 00:18:05.990 This is organizer Kandace Montgomery. 00:18:07.020 --> 00:18:09.300 KANDACE MONTGOMERY: Jacob Frey, we have a yes-or-no question 00:18:09.300 --> 00:18:13.170 for you: Yes or no, will you commit 00:18:13.170 --> 00:18:15.400 to defunding Minneapolis Police Department? 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:16.630 MAYOR JACOB FREY: Abolition of it? 00:18:16.630 --> 00:18:17.830 KANDACE MONTGOMERY: What did I say? 00:18:17.830 --> 00:18:19.040 PROTESTERS: Defunding. 00:18:19.040 --> 00:18:21.240 KANDACE MONTGOMERY: We don’t want no more police. 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:22.520 PROTESTER: No more! 00:18:22.520 --> 00:18:23.750 KANDACE MONTGOMERY: It’s that clear. 00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:27.150 We don’t want people with guns toting around in our community, 00:18:27.150 --> 00:18:29.230 shooting us down. Do you have an answer? 00:18:29.230 --> 00:18:32.690 It is a yes or a no. It is a yes or a no. 00:18:32.690 --> 00:18:33.950 PROTESTER: Yes or no! 00:18:33.950 --> 00:18:35.160 KANDACE MONTGOMERY: Will you defund 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:37.150 the Minneapolis Police Department? 00:18:37.150 --> 00:18:41.540 MAYOR JACOB FREY: I do not support the full abolition 00:18:42.050 --> 00:18:43.330 of the police department. 00:18:43.330 --> 00:18:44.550 KANDACE MONTGOMERY: All right, fine! 00:18:44.550 --> 00:18:47.200 You’re wasting our time! Get the [bleep] out of here! 00:18:48.560 --> 00:18:50.730 Get the [bleep] out! 00:18:50.730 --> 00:18:52.660 PROTESTERS: Go home, Jacob! Go home! 00:18:53.190 --> 00:18:57.670 Go home, Jacob! Go home! Go home, Jacob! Go home! 00:18:57.670 --> 00:19:00.240 AMY GOODMAN: This rally was in downtown Minneapolis. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.720 Kandace Montgomery reminded demonstrators 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:06.070 that Mayor Frey is up for reelection next year. 00:19:06.070 --> 00:19:07.740 Well, we go now to Minneapolis, 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:10.690 where we’re joined by City Councilmember Jeremiah 00:19:10.690 --> 00:19:12.260 Ellison. 00:19:12.260 --> 00:19:15.160 Councilmember Ellison, welcome back to Democracy Now! 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:17.600 This is a historic announcement 00:19:17.600 --> 00:19:19.650 that the majority of you on the City Council 00:19:19.650 --> 00:19:22.950 made at a big community rally last night, 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:25.650 that you’re going to dismantle 00:19:25.650 --> 00:19:27.630 the Minneapolis Police Department. 00:19:27.630 --> 00:19:29.330 Explain what that means. 00:19:31.520 --> 00:19:33.040 JEREMIAH ELLISON: For me, it means that we’ve got to 00:19:33.040 --> 00:19:36.400 create a system of public safety that works for everybody. 00:19:37.220 --> 00:19:39.500 You know, I think the Minneapolis Police Department, 00:19:39.500 --> 00:19:41.450 even before the murder of George Floyd, 00:19:42.130 --> 00:19:43.830 has had a whole host of issues, 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.520 a handful I can just rattle off the top of my head. 00:19:46.520 --> 00:19:48.640 You know, we dealt with an issue 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:50.160 of the Minneapolis Police Department 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:53.950 being involved in the illegal injection of ketamine of people 00:19:53.950 --> 00:19:58.940 who did not need it. We’ve had a history 00:19:58.940 --> 00:20:03.620 of not taking sexual assault cases seriously, 00:20:03.620 --> 00:20:06.560 investigations seriously, and actually recently lied 00:20:06.560 --> 00:20:09.280 about how many untested rape kits we had. 00:20:09.280 --> 00:20:11.000 And the list goes on and on. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.410 And so, I think that there has been an acknowledgment 00:20:13.410 --> 00:20:16.760 that, you know, we have done everything 00:20:16.760 --> 00:20:19.530 we can on the reform side. We have a chief who is probably 00:20:19.530 --> 00:20:20.920 one of the most pro-reform chiefs 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:24.660 and has instituted every reform we legally can. 00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:26.170 And so, where do we go from here? 00:20:26.170 --> 00:20:27.500 AMY GOODMAN: In fact, he himself had sued 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:29.910 the Minneapolis Police Department for racism, 00:20:29.910 --> 00:20:31.610 isn’t that true, years ago? 00:20:32.150 --> 00:20:33.850 JEREMIAH ELLISON: Yeah, that is true. That is true. 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:38.580 And so, I think that when we’re looking at having 00:20:38.580 --> 00:20:40.790 an amazing chief and we’re looking at having a council 00:20:40.790 --> 00:20:42.490 who has pushed for reform — 00:20:43.100 --> 00:20:46.000 and it’s not just that the relationship is bad; 00:20:46.530 --> 00:20:50.300 the relationship is untenable — where do we go from here? 00:20:50.300 --> 00:20:52.910 I think that that means we have to ask ourselves: 00:20:52.910 --> 00:20:55.420 What is the best way to keep people safe, 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:57.440 if not the Minneapolis Police Department? 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.950 AMY GOODMAN: So, explain exactly what this would mean. 00:20:59.950 --> 00:21:01.290 You made the announcement. 00:21:01.290 --> 00:21:03.530 You haven’t had a vote in the City Council. 00:21:03.530 --> 00:21:05.230 So what happens today? 00:21:05.860 --> 00:21:07.090 JEREMIAH ELLISON: Right. 00:21:07.090 --> 00:21:09.420 So, per the commitment that we made yesterday, 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:10.910 we’re going to take the next year 00:21:10.910 --> 00:21:13.660 to engage the people of Minneapolis. 00:21:14.450 --> 00:21:16.500 You know, obviously, councilmembers have ideas, 00:21:16.500 --> 00:21:17.850 but I think that if the nine of us 00:21:17.850 --> 00:21:19.300 sat in a room for a couple days 00:21:19.300 --> 00:21:22.410 and cooked up a plan without any public engagement, 00:21:22.410 --> 00:21:24.770 I think that the community would reject that. 00:21:25.430 --> 00:21:26.910 And so, I think we’re going to commit 00:21:26.910 --> 00:21:28.490 to a year’s worth of conversations. 00:21:28.490 --> 00:21:30.010 I think in some ways it’s going to require 00:21:30.010 --> 00:21:32.930 every single resident in Minneapolis to give their input. 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:35.550 But the groundwork is there. 00:21:35.550 --> 00:21:36.960 Some of the groundwork has been laid 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.200 for what we can do to keep communities safe, 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.480 other than have a police force. 00:21:42.390 --> 00:21:43.860 AMY GOODMAN: Well, what exactly do you mean, though, 00:21:43.860 --> 00:21:45.100 you’re going to wait a year? 00:21:45.100 --> 00:21:47.310 So there will not be a vote taken in the City Council? 00:21:47.310 --> 00:21:48.860 JEREMIAH ELLISON: No, we’re not going to wait a — sorry 00:21:48.860 --> 00:21:50.170 — we’re not going to wait a year. 00:21:50.170 --> 00:21:53.210 We’re going to engage the community for a year 00:21:54.360 --> 00:21:58.180 to develop a new system of public safety. 00:21:58.180 --> 00:21:59.710 You’ve got to understand, 00:21:59.710 --> 00:22:02.390 the police department has been around for 150 years. 00:22:02.970 --> 00:22:04.360 At least the Minneapolis — sorry — 00:22:04.360 --> 00:22:05.710 the Minneapolis Police Department 00:22:05.710 --> 00:22:07.880 has been around for over 150 years. 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.560 And police departments all around the country 00:22:10.560 --> 00:22:12.330 have been around a lot longer than that. 00:22:12.330 --> 00:22:14.710 I think that we owe it to the city of Minneapolis, 00:22:14.710 --> 00:22:16.150 to our residents, 00:22:16.150 --> 00:22:21.910 to develop a plan that moves forward intelligently, 00:22:21.910 --> 00:22:24.900 that moves forward in a way that works. 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:26.740 You know, we’re not going to hit the eject button 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:29.130 on the police department today, for instance, 00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:32.900 because we do not have that new system in place. 00:22:32.900 --> 00:22:35.440 But we have to start the conversation somewhere. 00:22:35.990 --> 00:22:38.340 Yesterday was the start of that conversation. 00:22:38.340 --> 00:22:40.150 AMY GOODMAN: So, will there be a vote? 00:22:40.150 --> 00:22:43.400 And what will that vote be on in the City Council now? 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:47.860 JEREMIAH ELLISON: At some point there will have to be a vote 00:22:47.860 --> 00:22:51.000 about what our new system of public safety looks like. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.010 You know, just to give you an example, 00:22:54.010 --> 00:22:55.260 one of the most effective programs 00:22:55.260 --> 00:22:58.710 that we’ve been able to fund, really on a shoestring budget, 00:22:58.710 --> 00:23:00.760 is our group violence prevention program. 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:06.400 It’s a program that helps young men get out of gang activity 00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:09.030 and remove themselves from gang life. 00:23:09.030 --> 00:23:11.220 It’s a program that’s been more successful 00:23:11.220 --> 00:23:13.780 in getting gang members 00:23:13.780 --> 00:23:17.060 to choose a different path forward for themselves 00:23:17.770 --> 00:23:19.070 than sending them to jail 00:23:19.070 --> 00:23:21.800 or anything else that we’ve tried in the past. 00:23:21.800 --> 00:23:23.920 That’s just one program, for example, 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:28.320 that I think that we need to actually put our investment in 00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:32.800 to get fully operational so that we can keep our city safe. 00:23:32.800 --> 00:23:34.490 You know, we’re going to have to figure out 00:23:34.490 --> 00:23:37.140 how to address things like active shooter situations. 00:23:37.790 --> 00:23:42.670 And we’re aware of the fact that some situations 00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:44.960 are extremely difficult to deescalate. 00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:48.700 But most of what police do — you know, 00:23:48.700 --> 00:23:51.030 we did a study last year of 911 calls, 00:23:51.030 --> 00:23:54.290 and we realized that one of the top calls that police make are 00:23:54.290 --> 00:23:56.890 for what we call emotionally disturbed persons 00:23:56.890 --> 00:24:00.600 or mental health calls. Do we need use of force — 00:24:00.600 --> 00:24:04.500 someone with a use-of-force background to answer that call? 00:24:05.060 --> 00:24:07.110 Do we need a gun present at a call like that? 00:24:07.110 --> 00:24:10.840 Do we need a gun present at a call for a forged $20 bill? 00:24:11.510 --> 00:24:14.320 I think that the answer to that is no. 00:24:14.320 --> 00:24:17.830 And we’ve got to — but we’ve never, as a country, 00:24:17.830 --> 00:24:19.180 leaned into figuring out 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:24.960 how do we address issues like this without force. 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:28.070 And I think that my colleagues 00:24:28.070 --> 00:24:30.119 and I are committed to figuring that out. 00:24:31.290 --> 00:24:33.050 AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about the Minneapolis 00:24:33.050 --> 00:24:35.290 police union president Bob Kroll. 00:24:35.290 --> 00:24:37.380 Activists are demanding he resign, 00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:39.980 after he called George Floyd a "violent criminal," 00:24:39.980 --> 00:24:42.990 described protesters as terrorists and called on police 00:24:42.990 --> 00:24:44.920 to expand their use of force. 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:47.420 In April, Kroll told a radio podcaster 00:24:47.420 --> 00:24:50.219 he "wasn’t bothered" by shootings he’s been involved in. 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:52.340 LT. BOB KROLL: I’ve been involved 00:24:52.340 --> 00:24:53.740 in three shootings myself, 00:24:53.740 --> 00:24:55.770 and not a one of them has bothered me. 00:24:56.650 --> 00:24:58.350 You know, maybe I’m different. 00:24:59.130 --> 00:25:01.910 AMY GOODMAN: Minnesota’s AFL-CIO coalition of labor unions 00:25:01.910 --> 00:25:03.120 has joined calls 00:25:03.120 --> 00:25:05.960 demanding that Minneapolis police union president 00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:08.700 Bob Kroll resign. Jeremiah Ellison, 00:25:08.700 --> 00:25:11.540 if you can talk about the role of the police union? 00:25:11.540 --> 00:25:14.030 And are you also calling for Kroll to be out? 00:25:15.710 --> 00:25:17.080 JEREMIAH ELLISON: I would love for Kroll to be out, 00:25:17.080 --> 00:25:18.730 but I don’t think this is the first time people 00:25:18.730 --> 00:25:21.510 have called for Kroll to resign. Kroll has a long history 00:25:21.510 --> 00:25:24.550 in the department of incompetence and of rage. 00:25:24.550 --> 00:25:27.780 And, you know, I think that he, very much so, 00:25:27.780 --> 00:25:30.079 follows in this traditional model of policing. 00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:33.260 When you look at sort of the groundwork that’s been laid 00:25:33.260 --> 00:25:37.420 for modern-day policing, it’s to enforce vagrancy laws. 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:41.520 It’s to bust the heads of union organizers. 00:25:41.520 --> 00:25:44.330 And Kroll, very much so, is proud of that tradition 00:25:44.330 --> 00:25:46.490 and, I think, leans into that tradition. 00:25:47.740 --> 00:25:52.020 I think that Kroll, knowing that he is protected by the base, 00:25:52.020 --> 00:25:53.280 our department, 00:25:53.280 --> 00:25:56.250 that democratically elected him to represent them, 00:25:56.250 --> 00:25:58.020 he knows that there’s really no grounds for him 00:25:58.020 --> 00:25:59.220 to have to resign. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:02.310 There’s no pressure for him to have to resign, 00:26:02.310 --> 00:26:04.260 even if people are calling for it. 00:26:04.260 --> 00:26:07.500 I’m sure he finds the whole endeavor amusing, quite frankly. 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:10.290 And Kroll doesn’t just represent himself. 00:26:11.310 --> 00:26:13.390 Kroll represents — he’s democratically elected 00:26:13.390 --> 00:26:16.170 by our department to represent them. 00:26:16.170 --> 00:26:19.430 And so, I think that for a long time we’ve underestimated 00:26:19.430 --> 00:26:20.940 what it means to have a department 00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:23.570 that elects somebody continually who advocates 00:26:23.570 --> 00:26:25.280 for extreme use of force, 00:26:25.280 --> 00:26:29.590 who recently advocated for the use of lethal rounds 00:26:30.550 --> 00:26:32.520 on demonstrators here in Minneapolis, 00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:35.460 who is the member of a biker gang 00:26:35.460 --> 00:26:37.870 with ties to white supremacist organizations. 00:26:37.870 --> 00:26:40.770 I think that we’ve often regarded him as an annoyance. 00:26:41.370 --> 00:26:43.510 And I think that the truth is that for a long time 00:26:43.510 --> 00:26:45.330 he’s been a lot more dangerous than that. 00:26:45.330 --> 00:26:46.800 AMY GOODMAN: Jeremiah Ellison, your father, 00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:48.000 Keith Ellison, of course, 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:49.590 is the attorney general of Minnesota, 00:26:49.590 --> 00:26:52.000 the first African American attorney general of Minnesota. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:53.230 He is in charge 00:26:53.230 --> 00:26:55.540 of the prosecution of the four officers, 00:26:55.540 --> 00:26:58.240 just increased the charges against Chauvin 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:00.670 and charged the other three officers. 00:27:01.860 --> 00:27:04.880 Have you discussed with him this whole issue 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:06.850 of dismantling the police department? 00:27:08.550 --> 00:27:09.880 JEREMIAH ELLISON: You know, I think he’s aware 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:12.490 of the concept of dismantling the police department. 00:27:12.490 --> 00:27:14.190 I can’t speak for him, obviously, 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:18.840 but I think that this is a concept that has to be explored. 00:27:18.840 --> 00:27:20.080 You know, as I said, 00:27:20.080 --> 00:27:24.340 I think someone asked the question, of me, 00:27:24.340 --> 00:27:27.180 "Well, what are we going to do about sexual assault cases?" 00:27:27.180 --> 00:27:29.310 And I had to remind them that our current department 00:27:29.310 --> 00:27:33.330 does not solve sexual assault cases 00:27:34.120 --> 00:27:36.719 and has a track record of not taking them seriously, 00:27:37.280 --> 00:27:40.610 lied about the number of rape kits that we had untested. 00:27:41.250 --> 00:27:44.910 I think that — I also had a constituent call yesterday, 00:27:44.910 --> 00:27:46.140 upset, saying, you know, 00:27:46.140 --> 00:27:49.100 "Jeremiah, the police don’t answer when we call now. 00:27:49.100 --> 00:27:51.220 What will we expect now?" 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:53.080 And I said, "Well, look, what I’m hearing from you 00:27:53.080 --> 00:27:55.240 is that the police don’t come when you call. 00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:59.130 And so, we’ve got to figure out a system that keeps you safe, 00:27:59.130 --> 00:28:02.550 that keeps our neighbors safe." This current one is not it. 00:28:03.090 --> 00:28:05.070 AMY GOODMAN: Finally, the role of community groups, 00:28:05.070 --> 00:28:07.270 of which you were a part before you were elected — 00:28:07.270 --> 00:28:11.330 the famous photograph of a Minneapolis police officer 00:28:11.330 --> 00:28:13.540 with a gun to your head when you were protesting 00:28:13.540 --> 00:28:16.890 the police killing of Jamar Clark a few years ago. 00:28:21.070 --> 00:28:23.200 The significance of the community groups 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:24.620 that have been pushing for this? 00:28:24.620 --> 00:28:26.230 JEREMIAH ELLISON: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. 00:28:26.230 --> 00:28:28.080 I mean, I think that the community is 00:28:29.140 --> 00:28:32.920 the most important part of this. You know, other cities have, 00:28:33.690 --> 00:28:35.700 call it what you want, disbanded, 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:37.670 fired their entire police departments, 00:28:37.670 --> 00:28:40.340 only to slowly glue them back together again over time. 00:28:40.340 --> 00:28:43.880 And I think that with community support, 00:28:44.610 --> 00:28:46.550 with community vision and leadership, 00:28:47.330 --> 00:28:50.530 this is the only way that we’re going to get to a point 00:28:50.530 --> 00:28:53.470 where we’re learning how to keep communities safe 00:28:53.470 --> 00:28:57.720 without using the police as our singular tool. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:28:59.480 I think that, you know, 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:01.590 we’ve heard from police over the years, 00:29:01.590 --> 00:29:04.990 when we’ve asked them to use less force 00:29:04.990 --> 00:29:06.240 in certain situations, 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:08.139 "Well, look, I’m not a social worker." 00:29:08.760 --> 00:29:11.210 And that’s made a lot of community members say, 00:29:11.210 --> 00:29:13.450 "OK, well, maybe we need social workers, 00:29:13.450 --> 00:29:15.390 maybe we need mental health professionals, 00:29:15.390 --> 00:29:17.330 maybe we need people who specialize 00:29:17.330 --> 00:29:21.300 in childhood development, to be addressing these issues." 00:29:21.840 --> 00:29:25.450 And so, I think that the City Council’s position 00:29:25.450 --> 00:29:29.000 in Minneapolis is 100% owed to the fight, 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:31.350 the creativity and the vision of the broader community. 00:29:31.350 --> 00:29:32.580 AMY GOODMAN: Well, Jeremiah Ellison, 00:29:32.580 --> 00:29:34.060 we want to thank you so much for being with us, 00:29:34.060 --> 00:29:35.860 a member of the Minneapolis City Council, 00:29:35.860 --> 00:29:38.940 which just announced this historic decision 00:29:38.940 --> 00:29:42.340 to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. 00:29:42.340 --> 00:29:44.750 When we come back, we’re going to look at the growing movement 00:29:44.750 --> 00:29:47.830 to defund the police with activist Linda Sarsour, 00:29:47.830 --> 00:29:50.810 professor Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing, 00:29:50.810 --> 00:29:53.730 and author Mychal Denzel Smith. 00:29:53.730 --> 00:29:55.730 This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute. 00:31:08.340 --> 00:31:10.600 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:31:10.600 --> 00:31:13.020 The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. 00:31:13.020 --> 00:31:15.950 After nearly two weeks of massive demonstrations 00:31:15.950 --> 00:31:18.180 here in New York City calling for police accountability, 00:31:18.180 --> 00:31:20.840 Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to shift 00:31:20.840 --> 00:31:22.950 some of New York funding for police 00:31:22.950 --> 00:31:25.130 and reallocate it to social services. 00:31:25.130 --> 00:31:27.929 He made the announcement in a press conference on Sunday 00:31:28.770 --> 00:31:31.840 MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO: We will be moving funding from the NYPD 00:31:31.840 --> 00:31:34.450 to youth initiatives and social services. 00:31:35.100 --> 00:31:37.800 The details will be worked out in the budget process 00:31:37.800 --> 00:31:40.940 in the weeks ahead. But I want people to understand 00:31:40.940 --> 00:31:43.860 that we are committed to shifting resources 00:31:44.710 --> 00:31:47.230 to ensure that the focus is on our young people. 00:31:48.140 --> 00:31:49.460 AMY GOODMAN: The New York City Police Department 00:31:49.460 --> 00:31:51.840 has an annual budget of about $6 billion. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:55.120 That’s nearly 7% of Mayor de Blasio’s 00:31:55.120 --> 00:31:58.440 proposed $90 billion budget for 2021. 00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:00.990 This comes as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti 00:32:00.990 --> 00:32:05.050 agreed last week to slash between $100 million 00:32:05.050 --> 00:32:08.250 to $150 million from proposed funding for police, 00:32:08.250 --> 00:32:10.370 and members of the Minneapolis City Council 00:32:10.370 --> 00:32:14.030 have vowed to dismantle the city’s police department. 00:32:14.030 --> 00:32:16.460 For more, we’re joined by Linda Sarsour, 00:32:16.460 --> 00:32:18.750 Palestinian American Muslim organizer; 00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:21.610 author of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders; 00:32:21.610 --> 00:32:23.390 co-founder of Until Freedom, 00:32:23.390 --> 00:32:25.980 which along with Communities United for Police Reform 00:32:25.980 --> 00:32:27.650 and Until Freedom has been pressuring 00:32:27.650 --> 00:32:30.230 New York City’s mayor to institute meaningful 00:32:30.230 --> 00:32:32.930 change around police accountability; 00:32:32.930 --> 00:32:35.570 a well-known activist, New Yorker. 00:32:35.570 --> 00:32:37.670 Linda, welcome back to Democracy Now! 00:32:37.670 --> 00:32:40.570 Can you respond to what the mayor announced yesterday? 00:32:40.570 --> 00:32:44.450 This is like a day or two after he was — 00:32:44.450 --> 00:32:46.950 activists turned their backs on him, 00:32:46.950 --> 00:32:49.870 after they booed him when he came out to speak 00:32:49.870 --> 00:32:53.190 at one of the memorial services for George Floyd 00:32:53.190 --> 00:32:55.020 that was run by George Floyd’s brother, 00:32:55.020 --> 00:32:56.720 who lives here in New York. 00:32:58.550 --> 00:33:00.020 LINDA SARSOUR: Let’s make sure that the credit goes 00:33:00.020 --> 00:33:01.250 where it’s due, Amy. 00:33:01.250 --> 00:33:03.760 The credit is to Communities United for Police 00:33:03.760 --> 00:33:06.850 Reform, the Justice Committee, the New York 00:33:06.850 --> 00:33:08.870 Justice League, the Gathering for Justice, 00:33:08.870 --> 00:33:11.990 Until Freedom, the many groups in New York City 00:33:11.990 --> 00:33:14.550 who have been doing police reform work for decades, 00:33:14.550 --> 00:33:16.950 and in the last for years have continued to pressure Mayor 00:33:16.950 --> 00:33:20.870 Bill de Blasio, who ran on a police reform platform, 00:33:20.870 --> 00:33:23.110 to actually make transformative change. 00:33:23.110 --> 00:33:24.440 On Saturday, Amy, 00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.960 we marched from 110th and Central Park West, 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:28.920 which was Frederick Douglass Monument, 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.050 all the way to Washington Square Park. 00:33:31.050 --> 00:33:33.150 Over 50,000 people came out with us, 00:33:33.150 --> 00:33:34.850 and we had a set of demands. 00:33:34.850 --> 00:33:36.940 And one of the demands was defund the police 00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:39.840 and reappropriate funding to youth and communities. 00:33:39.840 --> 00:33:41.170 We also called on him — 00:33:41.170 --> 00:33:43.920 when the anti-chokehold bill gets to his desk, 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:46.000 I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to hear his voice. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:48.410 I want him to put ink to paper 00:33:48.410 --> 00:33:50.640 and to sign that anti-chokehold bill. 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:52.040 We need his leadership right now. 00:33:52.040 --> 00:33:55.180 So, he can tell me that he’s going to defund the police 00:33:55.180 --> 00:33:58.030 or reappropriate funding, but we have to see that. 00:33:58.030 --> 00:33:59.330 We have to see him implement that. 00:33:59.330 --> 00:34:02.170 He has lied over and over to Black 00:34:02.170 --> 00:34:04.110 and Brown communities in New York City. 00:34:04.110 --> 00:34:08.660 So we want to see the actual tangible things 00:34:08.660 --> 00:34:10.190 that he’s going to be doing for us. 00:34:10.190 --> 00:34:12.760 AMY GOODMAN: And Mayor de Blasio was long considered 00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:14.810 a progressive mayor. 00:34:14.810 --> 00:34:17.920 Your thoughts on this and what has happened since? 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:21.230 And also, Governor Cuomo’s attacks on him, 00:34:21.230 --> 00:34:24.240 and his approach to law enforcement, Linda? 00:34:26.170 --> 00:34:28.070 LINDA SARSOUR: If Mayor Bill de Blasio is a progressive, 00:34:28.070 --> 00:34:29.960 Amy, please don’t ever use that term 00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:31.620 to describe someone like me. 00:34:31.620 --> 00:34:33.670 Bill de Blasio is not a progressive. 00:34:33.670 --> 00:34:36.860 He ran as a progressive, but when he became the mayor, 00:34:36.860 --> 00:34:38.720 the NYPD started running him. 00:34:38.720 --> 00:34:41.900 I always wondered who was the actual mayor of New York City. 00:34:41.900 --> 00:34:44.910 Was it the mayor himself, or was it the NYPD? 00:34:44.910 --> 00:34:46.190 And so, for me, 00:34:46.190 --> 00:34:48.100 what we’re looking for from Mayor Bill de Blasio — 00:34:48.100 --> 00:34:50.910 he only has a little time left right now, 00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:53.640 and he could really go out here with a legacy 00:34:53.640 --> 00:34:56.840 of really transforming the New York City budget, 00:34:56.840 --> 00:34:58.740 of defunding the police department, 00:34:58.740 --> 00:35:01.550 of actually listening and implementing the visions 00:35:01.550 --> 00:35:03.190 of Black and Brown communities. 00:35:03.190 --> 00:35:06.040 We protest, Amy, all the time in New York City, 00:35:06.040 --> 00:35:09.560 Black-led organizing, Brown people-led organizing. 00:35:09.560 --> 00:35:11.090 We know how to keep our communities safe. 00:35:11.090 --> 00:35:12.640 We are trained in deescalation. 00:35:12.640 --> 00:35:15.540 We are trained in bystander intervention. 00:35:15.540 --> 00:35:18.590 And we have seen the brutality of the New York 00:35:18.590 --> 00:35:21.330 Police Department not just against innocent, 00:35:21.330 --> 00:35:22.680 unarmed people in our communities, 00:35:22.680 --> 00:35:24.400 but also against protesters. 00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:28.210 And in one of the largest democracies in the world, 00:35:28.210 --> 00:35:30.010 we watched the largest police force — 00:35:30.010 --> 00:35:32.290 who, you remember, Mayor Bloomberg said 00:35:32.290 --> 00:35:34.610 that if they were an army, the NYPD, they would be 00:35:34.610 --> 00:35:37.510 the seventh-largest army in the world. 00:35:37.510 --> 00:35:41.200 And they have been brutalizing protesters across New York City. 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:44.150 The mayor has not asked NYPD to stand down. 00:35:44.150 --> 00:35:45.390 And we’re tired of it. 00:35:45.390 --> 00:35:48.730 And I’m looking forward to seeing the New York City Council 00:35:48.730 --> 00:35:50.740 also hold the mayor accountable 00:35:50.740 --> 00:35:53.370 and not doing any handshakes with the budget 00:35:53.370 --> 00:35:55.770 unless we defund the New York Police Department. 00:35:56.620 --> 00:36:01.380 AMY GOODMAN: So, Linda Sarsour, this call to defund the police, 00:36:01.380 --> 00:36:04.320 that is echoing throughout the country, 00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:06.320 explain exactly what it means. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:10.090 And would you say that it goes along the lines 00:36:10.090 --> 00:36:12.430 of what the Minneapolis City Council 00:36:12.430 --> 00:36:15.580 says they’re going to do within the next year, 00:36:15.580 --> 00:36:18.220 and that is dismantle the police department? 00:36:18.220 --> 00:36:21.420 Is it to completely cut off the $6 billion 00:36:22.210 --> 00:36:24.330 to the New York Police Department 00:36:24.330 --> 00:36:27.160 or reallocate a lot of money? 00:36:28.290 --> 00:36:29.580 LINDA SARSOUR: I just want to make it clear 00:36:29.580 --> 00:36:32.050 that the movement to end police brutality, 00:36:32.050 --> 00:36:33.870 the movement for the sanctity of Black life, 00:36:33.870 --> 00:36:36.870 is being led by Black women and Black people, 00:36:36.870 --> 00:36:39.740 and they have been calling for the abolition of police, 00:36:39.740 --> 00:36:42.540 many for decades, and some longer than that. 00:36:42.540 --> 00:36:43.950 So I just want to make it clear 00:36:43.950 --> 00:36:46.260 that the long-term goal for many in the movement 00:36:46.260 --> 00:36:49.130 is the abolition of police, is the abolition of prisons. 00:36:49.130 --> 00:36:51.440 But when we say "defund the police today," 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:53.850 we do not mean that tomorrow you’re going to wake up 00:36:53.850 --> 00:36:56.150 and not find a single police officer around. 00:36:56.150 --> 00:36:57.880 That is not what defunding the police means 00:36:57.880 --> 00:36:59.380 right now at this moment. 00:36:59.380 --> 00:37:01.550 What it really means, Amy — and it’s very rational, 00:37:01.550 --> 00:37:02.850 and it’s very reasonable — 00:37:02.850 --> 00:37:06.100 is that we need to take cops out of our schools, 00:37:06.100 --> 00:37:08.700 cops out of addressing mental health crises, 00:37:08.700 --> 00:37:10.750 cops out of addressing homelessness, 00:37:10.750 --> 00:37:13.830 and reallocate those resources to services, 00:37:13.830 --> 00:37:16.300 to adequate housing, to case management, 00:37:16.300 --> 00:37:18.610 to economic opportunities in our community, 00:37:18.610 --> 00:37:21.820 to reinstate programs like the Summer Youth Employment Program, 00:37:21.820 --> 00:37:23.730 to make sure that we have, for example, 00:37:23.730 --> 00:37:25.590 protective equipment for healthcare workers, 00:37:25.590 --> 00:37:27.580 making sure that we have clinics and hospitals 00:37:27.580 --> 00:37:30.080 and access to healthcare for Black and Brown people, 00:37:30.080 --> 00:37:32.200 for undocumented people in our communities, 00:37:32.200 --> 00:37:33.970 better buses and better infrastructure 00:37:33.970 --> 00:37:35.290 and better transportation. 00:37:35.290 --> 00:37:36.490 So what we’re saying is, 00:37:36.490 --> 00:37:39.090 let the cops do what the cops are supposed to do: 00:37:39.090 --> 00:37:41.220 keep people safe. They are not social workers. 00:37:41.220 --> 00:37:42.990 They are not mental health professionals. 00:37:42.990 --> 00:37:44.440 They are not educators. 00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:47.080 So they are actually engaging in activity 00:37:47.080 --> 00:37:48.870 that does not match the qualifications 00:37:48.870 --> 00:37:50.890 nor the criteria of a police officer. 00:37:50.890 --> 00:37:52.350 That is not what they are trained to do 00:37:52.350 --> 00:37:53.620 in the police academy, 00:37:53.620 --> 00:37:55.390 so why are we sending them to address things 00:37:55.390 --> 00:37:56.810 that have nothing to do with them? 00:37:56.810 --> 00:37:59.060 So, what we’re saying is, in New York City, 00:37:59.060 --> 00:38:02.740 the police department has one of the largest budgets 00:38:02.740 --> 00:38:04.110 of any agency, 00:38:04.110 --> 00:38:06.600 in fact maybe the largest of all agencies in New York City. 00:38:06.600 --> 00:38:09.350 All we’re saying is, decrease their budget, 00:38:09.350 --> 00:38:12.120 take that money and reappropriate it into youth, 00:38:12.120 --> 00:38:16.320 seniors, community development, and with a focus on those 00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:18.700 who have been the most directly impacted, 00:38:18.700 --> 00:38:21.980 focused on communities of color, poor working-class people. 00:38:21.980 --> 00:38:23.670 And when you have this conversation, Amy, 00:38:23.670 --> 00:38:25.250 with people who do not understand 00:38:25.250 --> 00:38:28.180 what defund the police is — I have not had one conversation 00:38:28.180 --> 00:38:31.460 with a white ally or a neighbor in a place like Bay Ridge, 00:38:31.460 --> 00:38:34.010 which has a lot of pro-law-enforcement people — 00:38:34.010 --> 00:38:35.830 people say to me, "You make sense. 00:38:35.830 --> 00:38:38.850 This is absolutely rational. It is absolutely reasonable." 00:38:38.850 --> 00:38:41.700 So we’re not saying, you know, delete the police officers 00:38:41.700 --> 00:38:43.520 off the face of the Earth tomorrow. 00:38:43.520 --> 00:38:46.150 But what we’re saying is, reappropriate the funding, 00:38:46.150 --> 00:38:47.870 and let’s put it back in the services 00:38:47.870 --> 00:38:49.710 that our community needs, so we can be healthy, 00:38:49.710 --> 00:38:51.860 we can be safe, and we can be secure, 00:38:51.860 --> 00:38:53.550 and we can have communities that thrive 00:38:53.550 --> 00:38:55.410 and not only survive in New York City. 00:38:55.410 --> 00:38:56.780 AMY GOODMAN: In a little bit of time, 00:38:56.780 --> 00:39:02.300 I want to ask you about a man who died in captivity — right? 00:39:02.300 --> 00:39:04.780 — in the Metropolitan Detention Center, 00:39:04.780 --> 00:39:06.200 who was pepper-sprayed, Linda. 00:39:06.200 --> 00:39:08.880 But I first want to go to Mychal Denzel Smith, 00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:12.090 fellow at Type Media Center, author of Invisible Man, 00:39:12.090 --> 00:39:15.050 Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education. 00:39:15.050 --> 00:39:16.830 His forthcoming book is Stakes Is 00:39:16.830 --> 00:39:19.370 High: Life After the American Dream. 00:39:19.370 --> 00:39:22.320 I wanted to ask you about this whole call 00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:28.540 to defund the police, Mychal, and also Governor Cuomo’s 00:39:29.470 --> 00:39:34.390 discussion of what he’s calling the "Say Their Name" bill. 00:39:34.390 --> 00:39:36.710 This is at the New York state level. 00:39:36.710 --> 00:39:41.310 He says the next wave of reform will be shift funding from NYPD 00:39:41.310 --> 00:39:48.030 to youth and social services, reform 50-A, transparency — 00:39:48.730 --> 00:39:51.210 well, that was what the mayor is calling for. 00:39:51.210 --> 00:39:53.950 But the governor, in their "Say Their Name" bill, 00:39:53.950 --> 00:40:01.990 is calling for a number of different demands. 00:40:01.990 --> 00:40:05.850 And I want to get your sense of what exactly 00:40:05.850 --> 00:40:07.890 that "Say Their Name" bill means, 00:40:07.890 --> 00:40:11.600 when he says more transparency, the New York attorney general 00:40:11.600 --> 00:40:13.800 will be in charge of prosecution of police, 00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:16.840 there should be no chokeholds, and other issues, Mychal. 00:40:18.470 --> 00:40:19.700 MYCHAL DENZEL SMITH: Well, those are things 00:40:19.700 --> 00:40:22.890 that are on the back end of this issue, right? 00:40:22.890 --> 00:40:25.870 Like, the defund the police demand 00:40:25.870 --> 00:40:27.750 is an abolitionist demand, one. 00:40:27.750 --> 00:40:30.740 We have to understand and to recognize it as such. 00:40:31.660 --> 00:40:35.770 The shifting of funds from the police department — 00:40:35.770 --> 00:40:37.710 currently, as you stated, 00:40:37.710 --> 00:40:39.720 the New York City Police Department’s 00:40:39.720 --> 00:40:41.290 budget nearly $6 billion, 00:40:41.290 --> 00:40:43.570 almost $2 billion in Los Angeles, 00:40:44.150 --> 00:40:47.260 constituting almost 18% of their city budget. 00:40:47.260 --> 00:40:50.410 It’s similar numbers in Chicago and other large cities. 00:40:51.700 --> 00:40:54.220 Those are funds that could go toward 00:40:54.870 --> 00:40:57.880 building the type of institutions and infrastructure 00:40:57.880 --> 00:41:00.000 for the health and safety of people, 00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:02.060 like Linda was just saying. 00:41:02.060 --> 00:41:03.700 You can invest that money in things 00:41:03.700 --> 00:41:04.930 that people actually need. 00:41:04.930 --> 00:41:08.560 I mean, the one thing that’s come of this global pandemic 00:41:08.560 --> 00:41:12.580 of COVID-19 is an understanding of what constitutes essential, 00:41:12.580 --> 00:41:14.430 what do we actually need. 00:41:14.430 --> 00:41:17.590 And police have shown that they are inessential. 00:41:17.590 --> 00:41:21.130 They not there to do what people imagine them to do. 00:41:21.130 --> 00:41:23.260 They don’t protect, and they don’t serve, 00:41:23.260 --> 00:41:24.960 unless you are rich and white. 00:41:25.540 --> 00:41:29.620 And so, in that instance, if you continue to fund 00:41:29.620 --> 00:41:31.930 the police at the rates that you do, 00:41:31.930 --> 00:41:36.320 and you are denying other services those funds, 00:41:37.070 --> 00:41:39.820 what you set up is an untenable situation 00:41:39.820 --> 00:41:42.350 in which you always need the police, 00:41:42.350 --> 00:41:43.910 or "need" the police, 00:41:43.910 --> 00:41:48.720 because a system of inequality requires that violent enforcer 00:41:49.570 --> 00:41:52.550 when there are uprisings, as we’ve seen the police enact 00:41:52.550 --> 00:41:54.890 in the suppression of these uprisings 00:41:54.890 --> 00:41:56.230 in the past couple weeks. 00:41:56.230 --> 00:41:58.940 So, the call for defunding the police really 00:41:58.940 --> 00:42:00.850 is sort of the first thing, right? 00:42:00.850 --> 00:42:02.650 It is one of the first demands. 00:42:02.650 --> 00:42:05.450 It goes along with decriminalization. 00:42:05.450 --> 00:42:08.940 It goes along with the building of new institutions 00:42:08.940 --> 00:42:12.080 that are actually community- oriented safety measures, 00:42:12.080 --> 00:42:15.190 and also getting rid of white supremacists, 00:42:15.190 --> 00:42:16.980 heteropatriarchal capitalism, 00:42:17.990 --> 00:42:20.430 taking a shot right at the heart of what that means 00:42:20.430 --> 00:42:23.830 and how that is undergirding every institution 00:42:23.830 --> 00:42:25.170 in the United States. 00:42:25.170 --> 00:42:28.290 Defunding the police is one step toward that. 00:42:28.290 --> 00:42:32.050 And it’s a crucial step because it gets people to understand 00:42:32.050 --> 00:42:34.810 that they have prioritized the police 00:42:35.410 --> 00:42:38.450 in ways that are unhealthy for so many of us, 00:42:38.450 --> 00:42:41.250 that are dangerous, that threaten our lives. 00:42:41.250 --> 00:42:43.930 AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about Campaign Zero, 00:42:44.600 --> 00:42:46.800 efforts at reform. 00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:51.400 They released an 8 Can’t Wait campaign with eight reforms 00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:53.600 they claim would reduce police killings 00:42:53.600 --> 00:42:55.310 by almost three-quarters. 00:42:56.930 --> 00:43:00.850 Abolitionists are responding with an 8 to Abolition platform. 00:43:00.850 --> 00:43:02.520 Explain all of that. 00:43:02.520 --> 00:43:03.800 MYCHAL DENZEL SMITH: Yeah, so, 00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:07.190 in the midst of this Campaign Zero, 00:43:07.190 --> 00:43:09.850 which is an organization of sorts 00:43:09.850 --> 00:43:13.170 that came out of the Ferguson uprisings 00:43:13.170 --> 00:43:15.160 and has been at the forefront of activists 00:43:15.160 --> 00:43:17.080 organizing around police violence, 00:43:17.630 --> 00:43:22.210 they’ve delivered to us stats on policing and police violence 00:43:22.210 --> 00:43:24.460 and use of force that have been crucial, 00:43:25.500 --> 00:43:27.530 and they’ve been uncovering things 00:43:27.530 --> 00:43:29.010 about police union contracts. 00:43:29.010 --> 00:43:31.280 And those things are really essential. 00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:33.610 But their program, the 8 Can’t 00:43:33.610 --> 00:43:37.620 Wait, the policy reforms that they issued, 00:43:37.620 --> 00:43:39.920 and came along with this nice graphic, 00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:41.720 and it was shared on social media, 00:43:43.380 --> 00:43:45.870 they’re really milquetoast reforms, right? 00:43:45.870 --> 00:43:48.020 And what they do is sort of change 00:43:48.020 --> 00:43:51.230 the rules of engagement for police, right? 00:43:51.230 --> 00:43:55.040 Like, they say, you know, you have to issue 00:43:55.040 --> 00:43:57.950 a warning before shooting, or you can’t use chokeholds, 00:43:57.950 --> 00:44:00.230 or you can’t shoot at a moving vehicle, 00:44:00.230 --> 00:44:01.700 and these sorts of things. 00:44:01.700 --> 00:44:05.250 And while those things could do something 00:44:05.250 --> 00:44:08.330 in terms of the reduction of police violence, 00:44:08.330 --> 00:44:11.630 by Campaign Zero’s own admission on their website, 00:44:12.490 --> 00:44:16.080 the 72% number, the reduction of police violence by 72%, 00:44:17.180 --> 00:44:20.690 would only happen if you go from having zero of these reforms 00:44:20.690 --> 00:44:22.580 to having all eight at one time. 00:44:23.610 --> 00:44:25.890 Then you would reduce police violence by 72%. 00:44:25.890 --> 00:44:28.110 But already across the country, 00:44:28.110 --> 00:44:31.400 a number of police departments have these reforms in place. 00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:34.260 What that means, though, 00:44:34.260 --> 00:44:37.460 is that you’re not getting at what the actual issue is, 00:44:37.460 --> 00:44:41.530 and that is the broader issue of policing, as a structure, 00:44:41.530 --> 00:44:43.870 being meant to and always having been, 00:44:43.870 --> 00:44:46.990 in its historical roots, a measure of suppression, 00:44:46.990 --> 00:44:48.980 a measure of violent law enforcement, 00:44:48.980 --> 00:44:50.780 of white supremacy and capitalism. 00:44:51.380 --> 00:44:54.740 And so, the 8 to Abolition response, 00:44:54.740 --> 00:44:57.350 which has been led by Black feminist abolitionists, 00:44:57.350 --> 00:44:59.210 it’s to say these are actual forms 00:44:59.210 --> 00:45:03.280 that are also actionable items right now that you can do, 00:45:03.280 --> 00:45:05.579 that actually strike at the heart of policing. 00:45:06.120 --> 00:45:09.130 It reduces points of contact with police 00:45:09.130 --> 00:45:12.230 so that we don’t have — we remove police from schools. 00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:14.950 We’re decriminalizing 00:45:14.950 --> 00:45:17.270 so that we have fewer interactions with police. 00:45:17.270 --> 00:45:21.180 We’re setting up community-led conflict resolution, 00:45:21.180 --> 00:45:22.990 so that people don’t call the police 00:45:22.990 --> 00:45:25.300 for these minor conflicts, 00:45:25.300 --> 00:45:28.610 such as like noise complaints or parking violations 00:45:28.610 --> 00:45:30.740 and stuff like that, that could be held — 00:45:31.270 --> 00:45:34.940 that could be handled if we were talking to one another. 00:45:34.940 --> 00:45:37.600 These are things that are actionable right now 00:45:37.600 --> 00:45:42.280 and that you can do to divest from the idea of policing, 00:45:42.280 --> 00:45:45.790 carceral logic that has seeped into all of our thinking, 00:45:46.500 --> 00:45:49.670 that the police are somehow a necessity in safety, 00:45:49.670 --> 00:45:51.620 when they have proven over and over that they’re not. 00:45:51.620 --> 00:45:52.960 AMY GOODMAN: In a moment, we’re going to be speaking 00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:54.980 with Alex Vitale, 00:45:54.980 --> 00:45:58.140 author of The End of Policing, but I wanted to ask you, Linda, 00:45:58.140 --> 00:46:00.470 about the 35-year-old African American man 00:46:00.470 --> 00:46:03.790 in Jamel Floyd — another Mr. Floyd — 00:46:03.790 --> 00:46:05.400 who died after being pepper-sprayed 00:46:05.400 --> 00:46:08.320 by guards inside the Metropolitan Detention Center. 00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:10.020 Floyd had been held at the Brooklyn jail 00:46:10.020 --> 00:46:12.030 since October 2019. 00:46:12.030 --> 00:46:13.460 His family said he was asthmatic. 00:46:13.460 --> 00:46:16.910 On Thursday, protesters gathered outside the MDC 00:46:16.910 --> 00:46:18.630 to demand justice for Floyd. 00:46:18.630 --> 00:46:21.780 Inside, prisoners knocked on their walls in solidarity. 00:46:21.780 --> 00:46:23.780 This is Floyd’s father, James Floyd, 00:46:23.780 --> 00:46:25.480 speaking at the protest. 00:46:26.270 --> 00:46:28.000 JAMES FLOYD: They claim he had a heart attack. 00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:30.330 They lied. They all lie. 00:46:30.330 --> 00:46:33.420 The truth will come out! The truth will show! 00:46:34.620 --> 00:46:36.170 AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us, Linda — 00:46:36.170 --> 00:46:37.760 I mean, you have been marching, 00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:42.030 from Minneapolis to Louisville, now here in New York. 00:46:42.780 --> 00:46:46.010 You’ve been involved with this, protesting this case. 00:46:46.010 --> 00:46:47.340 We just have 30 seconds, 00:46:47.340 --> 00:46:49.939 but if you can tell us what happened to Jamel Floyd? 00:46:50.970 --> 00:46:52.660 LINDA SARSOUR: I have been in touch with the family 00:46:52.660 --> 00:46:54.920 and working with them. This is a 35-year-old man 00:46:54.920 --> 00:46:57.640 who was about to be released from prison very soon. 00:46:57.640 --> 00:46:59.380 MDC is for people who are pretrial 00:46:59.380 --> 00:47:00.670 or about to be released, 00:47:00.670 --> 00:47:02.990 so they are not a threat. They are about to go home. 00:47:02.990 --> 00:47:04.540 He was pepper-sprayed in his cell, 00:47:04.540 --> 00:47:06.830 where he was not a threat to any other inmate. 00:47:06.830 --> 00:47:08.310 And so, we are outraged at MDC. 00:47:08.310 --> 00:47:09.560 And I want people to remember, 00:47:09.560 --> 00:47:11.530 as we say, "End police brutality," 00:47:11.530 --> 00:47:13.510 as we talk about Black Lives Matter, 00:47:13.510 --> 00:47:16.000 that also incarcerated Black lives matter. 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:18.880 And that means that we fight also the systems 00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:22.020 of incarceration that also kill our brothers and sisters inside. 00:47:22.020 --> 00:47:25.110 So, this case is ongoing. We’re demanding investigations, 00:47:25.110 --> 00:47:27.450 and we’re demanding the firing of the corrections officers 00:47:27.450 --> 00:47:29.210 who pepper-sprayed Mr. Floyd. 00:47:29.210 --> 00:47:32.120 He left behind a wife, a mother, a father, siblings, 00:47:32.120 --> 00:47:33.360 a 14-year-old daughter, 00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:36.020 who was actually about to celebrate her 14th birthday 00:47:36.020 --> 00:47:37.970 with her father upon his release. 00:47:37.970 --> 00:47:39.820 So it is a very sad case, 00:47:39.820 --> 00:47:41.740 and it should never have happened. 00:47:41.740 --> 00:47:43.630 And we need New York City to also focus 00:47:43.630 --> 00:47:45.540 not only on our brother George Floyd, 00:47:45.540 --> 00:47:47.790 but also on justice for Jamel Floyd. 00:47:47.790 --> 00:47:49.250 AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you for being with us, 00:47:49.250 --> 00:47:52.390 Linda Sarsour, co-founder of Until Freedom; 00:47:52.390 --> 00:47:54.880 Mychal Denzel Smith, author of Invisible Man, 00:47:54.880 --> 00:47:58.360 Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education. 00:47:58.360 --> 00:48:00.490 When we come back, we’ll speak with professor 00:48:00.490 --> 00:48:02.680 Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing. 00:48:02.680 --> 00:48:04.380 We’ll be back in 30 seconds. 00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:47.020 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. 00:48:47.020 --> 00:48:48.740 This weekend, activists in Washington, 00:48:48.740 --> 00:48:51.530 D.C., updated a massive mural unveiled 00:48:51.530 --> 00:48:53.220 last week by Mayor Muriel 00:48:53.220 --> 00:48:56.280 Bowser on the two-block stretch of road 00:48:56.280 --> 00:48:59.440 that leads to the White House. What she had printed, 00:48:59.440 --> 00:49:02.900 in enormous block letters that can be seen from space, 00:49:02.900 --> 00:49:06.960 "Black Lives Matter," in yellow block letters. 00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:12.040 They put right next to it "Defund the police," 00:49:12.640 --> 00:49:15.690 referring, of course, to the whole movement now. 00:49:16.610 --> 00:49:19.750 We are going to turn right now to Alex Vitale, 00:49:19.750 --> 00:49:22.070 who has long argued the answer to police violence 00:49:22.070 --> 00:49:23.840 is not reform, that it’s defunding. 00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:26.020 He’s a sociology professor at Brooklyn College, 00:49:26.020 --> 00:49:29.120 coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Program, 00:49:29.120 --> 00:49:31.220 author of the book The End of Policing. 00:49:31.220 --> 00:49:35.210 Can you talk about the whole defund the police movement 00:49:35.210 --> 00:49:37.200 in terms of the end of policing, 00:49:37.200 --> 00:49:39.320 what exactly you mean, Professor Vitale? 00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:41.710 ALEX VITALE: Sure. 00:49:41.710 --> 00:49:44.240 So, part of what we’re dealing with here 00:49:44.240 --> 00:49:48.200 is a long story about the use of police 00:49:48.200 --> 00:49:53.280 and prisons to manage problems of inequality and exploitation. 00:49:53.280 --> 00:49:54.600 And this goes back — 00:49:54.600 --> 00:49:57.160 this is a story goes back hundreds of years. 00:49:57.160 --> 00:50:01.620 But we’re also talking about a story of the last 50 years, 00:50:01.620 --> 00:50:05.420 about neoliberal austerity and the way in which 00:50:05.420 --> 00:50:08.380 it has concentrated inequality in the United States, 00:50:08.380 --> 00:50:11.050 producing problems like mass homelessness 00:50:11.050 --> 00:50:12.860 and mass untreated mental illness 00:50:12.860 --> 00:50:15.250 and mass involvement in black markets 00:50:15.250 --> 00:50:17.230 because of economic precarity, 00:50:17.230 --> 00:50:21.740 and then using police to manage those problems. 00:50:21.740 --> 00:50:24.670 So we’ve seen this incredible explosion 00:50:24.670 --> 00:50:27.080 of the scope of policing. 00:50:27.080 --> 00:50:29.440 And what the defund movement is talking about — 00:50:29.440 --> 00:50:31.710 and all your guests have just been amazing 00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:34.160 in their discussions of this — 00:50:34.160 --> 00:50:38.930 is about rethinking not just what are police doing, 00:50:38.930 --> 00:50:43.860 but why are we using police to paper over problems 00:50:43.860 --> 00:50:47.480 of economic exploitation. And the defund movement, 00:50:47.480 --> 00:50:50.650 which was occurring in dozens of cities 00:50:50.650 --> 00:50:53.100 before the events in Minneapolis, 00:50:53.100 --> 00:50:56.570 is about concretely identifying police 00:50:56.570 --> 00:51:00.090 spending that could be shifted into specific, 00:51:00.090 --> 00:51:02.030 targeted community interventions 00:51:02.030 --> 00:51:04.740 that will actually produce public safety 00:51:04.740 --> 00:51:08.170 without coercion, violence and racism. 00:51:09.520 --> 00:51:11.610 AMY GOODMAN: Can you respond to what’s happening in New York, 00:51:11.610 --> 00:51:13.810 the pressure that de Blasio has been feeling, 00:51:13.810 --> 00:51:15.720 the mayor, from community groups 00:51:15.720 --> 00:51:17.860 talking about cutting some of the budget of the police, 00:51:17.860 --> 00:51:19.150 and then, of course, 00:51:19.150 --> 00:51:21.130 this historic moment in Minneapolis 00:51:21.130 --> 00:51:25.160 where the City Council says they have a veto-proof majority 00:51:25.160 --> 00:51:26.960 to dismantle the police department? 00:51:29.010 --> 00:51:31.220 ALEX VITALE: Yeah, I think we’re dealing with an economic — 00:51:31.220 --> 00:51:33.570 I’m sorry, a political earthquake here — right? 00:51:33.570 --> 00:51:36.760 — that things that seemed completely impossible 00:51:36.760 --> 00:51:39.510 two weeks ago are now being implemented. 00:51:39.510 --> 00:51:41.310 And while I agree with Linda 00:51:41.310 --> 00:51:44.190 we cannot trust the mayor at all in this, 00:51:44.190 --> 00:51:46.800 we need to keep the pressure on the City Council 00:51:46.800 --> 00:51:48.370 to follow through with these cuts 00:51:48.370 --> 00:51:50.280 and to make not just the cuts, 00:51:50.280 --> 00:51:53.230 but the reinvestments that communities have been begging 00:51:53.230 --> 00:51:56.320 for at a significant level. 00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:59.660 And the mayor has not been our partner in this endeavor. 00:51:59.660 --> 00:52:01.260 He has undermined our efforts. 00:52:01.260 --> 00:52:03.780 He has increased the police budget 00:52:03.780 --> 00:52:06.160 consistently during his mayoralty, 00:52:06.160 --> 00:52:09.260 including adding 1,300 additional police 00:52:09.260 --> 00:52:11.570 to the headcount several years ago. 00:52:11.570 --> 00:52:14.840 So, we have to keep the political pressure on. 00:52:14.840 --> 00:52:16.930 AMY GOODMAN: And the role of police unions, Alex? 00:52:19.110 --> 00:52:21.850 ALEX VITALE: So, you know, you heard from Mr. Ellison 00:52:21.850 --> 00:52:24.340 lay out exactly what we’re up against. 00:52:24.340 --> 00:52:26.030 It’s not just the unions. 00:52:26.030 --> 00:52:28.470 It’s not just their rank-and-file memberships. 00:52:28.470 --> 00:52:33.170 They become, in many cities, the locus, the institutional hub 00:52:33.170 --> 00:52:38.340 for a whole set of right-wing "thin blue line" politics 00:52:38.340 --> 00:52:42.190 that believe that policing is not only effective 00:52:42.190 --> 00:52:45.790 but it’s the most desirable way to solve our problems. 00:52:45.790 --> 00:52:48.370 And embedded in this is a deep racism 00:52:48.880 --> 00:52:52.150 that says that certain populations 00:52:52.150 --> 00:52:57.310 can only be managed through constant threats and coercion. 00:52:57.310 --> 00:53:01.240 It is the logic of slavery. It is the logic of colonialism. 00:53:01.970 --> 00:53:04.370 And we have to take concrete steps 00:53:04.370 --> 00:53:06.930 to dismantle their political power. 00:53:06.930 --> 00:53:08.550 And one of the most exciting things 00:53:08.550 --> 00:53:09.790 that I’ve seen this week — 00:53:09.790 --> 00:53:11.070 AMY GOODMAN: We have five seconds. 00:53:11.070 --> 00:53:13.380 ALEX VITALE: — was in New York, this effort to get politicians 00:53:13.380 --> 00:53:15.590 to reject those political donations 00:53:15.590 --> 00:53:18.550 and turn them over to bail funds and mutual aid projects. 00:53:18.550 --> 00:53:20.490 AMY GOODMAN: Alex Vitale, thanks so much for being with us, 00:53:20.490 --> 00:53:23.410 Brooklyn College professor, author of The End of Policing. 00:53:23.410 --> 00:53:24.780 AMY GOODMAN: We end this broadcast 00:53:24.780 --> 00:53:26.360 in the streets of New York, 00:53:26.360 --> 00:53:28.470 where hundreds of thousands of people 00:53:28.470 --> 00:53:30.420 have been letting their voices be heard. 00:53:30.420 --> 00:53:32.530 These are just some of them. 00:53:32.530 --> 00:53:33.920 CYN FABRE: My name is Cyn Fabre [phon.]. 00:53:33.920 --> 00:53:35.530 And my wife is over there. 00:53:35.530 --> 00:53:39.780 I have four kids, two of them boys, 00:53:39.780 --> 00:53:42.400 and one presents as white, one presents as Black. 00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:45.160 I’m here so my son never has to do this march. 00:53:45.160 --> 00:53:48.300 And when we’re home, we have two different conversations: 00:53:48.300 --> 00:53:50.900 one for my son to save his life and be safe, 00:53:51.440 --> 00:53:53.640 the other conversation with my white son, 00:53:53.640 --> 00:53:56.990 to protect his brother when he gets older and do better 00:53:56.990 --> 00:53:59.210 for all the Black children in this world. 00:53:59.210 --> 00:54:01.370 So I’m here today for my son, 00:54:01.370 --> 00:54:03.470 so he never has to march ever again. 00:54:04.370 --> 00:54:07.200 PROTESTERS: Say her name! Breonna Taylor! Say her name! 00:54:07.200 --> 00:54:08.900 Breonna Taylor! 00:54:09.490 --> 00:54:11.940 CYN FABRE: Sometimes what happens is we lose sight 00:54:11.940 --> 00:54:15.080 on what we’re all fighting for. We can get distracted. 00:54:15.080 --> 00:54:18.340 And I want people to remember Breonna Taylor. 00:54:18.340 --> 00:54:20.480 She is not forgotten. She is why I’m here. 00:54:21.060 --> 00:54:22.760 We are fighting for her. 00:54:23.750 --> 00:54:26.350 I can’t tell you what this march means to me today. 00:54:27.110 --> 00:54:29.440 This is history being made right now. 00:54:29.440 --> 00:54:30.830 And I’m glad to be a part of it. 00:54:30.830 --> 00:54:32.030 PROTESTERS: Say her name! Breonna Taylor! 00:54:32.030 --> 00:54:33.300 Say her name! Breonna Taylor! 00:54:33.300 --> 00:54:35.470 DAKIA McLEAN: Well, my name is Dakia McLean [phon.]. 00:54:35.470 --> 00:54:38.960 I’m out here because, one, I’m a woman. I’m of color. 00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:41.620 I’m a mother of two boys, two girls. 00:54:41.620 --> 00:54:44.330 And it’s important. We had enough. This is the time. 00:54:44.330 --> 00:54:46.950 The time is now. So that’s why I’m out here. 00:54:46.950 --> 00:54:48.570 PROTESTERS: Say her name! Breonna Taylor! 00:54:48.570 --> 00:54:50.340 Say her name! Breonna Taylor! 00:54:50.340 --> 00:54:52.520 DAKIA McLEAN: Again, a woman of color 00:54:52.520 --> 00:54:55.710 who was unjustly gunned down in her home. 00:54:55.710 --> 00:54:57.100 And of course we know it’s because 00:54:57.100 --> 00:54:58.390 of the color of her skin. 00:54:58.390 --> 00:55:00.740 You know, with these cops, it’s always shoot, 00:55:00.740 --> 00:55:03.020 ask questions last. But if you’re white, 00:55:03.020 --> 00:55:05.070 they ask questions before they do anything else. 00:55:05.070 --> 00:55:07.150 PROTESTERS: Hands up! Don’t shoot! Hands up! 00:55:07.150 --> 00:55:08.620 Don’t shoot! Hands up! 00:55:08.620 --> 00:55:10.910 Don’t shoot! Hands up! Don’t shoot! 00:55:10.910 --> 00:55:12.200 LUCINDA CROSS: My name is Lucinda Cross. 00:55:12.200 --> 00:55:14.020 Our organization is Activate Your Life. 00:55:14.020 --> 00:55:16.580 We stand for women reentry to have the same rights. 00:55:16.580 --> 00:55:17.840 So I’m marching today to make sure 00:55:17.840 --> 00:55:20.870 that Black people are seen justly, 00:55:20.870 --> 00:55:23.990 just as white people are. I’m a mother of Black boys. 00:55:23.990 --> 00:55:26.610 So it’s important to not only just walk for my boys, 00:55:26.610 --> 00:55:29.210 but to also walk for the women that I believe in. 00:55:29.210 --> 00:55:30.850 This one, I think this is a world changer. 00:55:30.850 --> 00:55:32.130 I can say honestly, 00:55:32.130 --> 00:55:35.170 even my own son was accused of something he didn’t do. 00:55:36.070 --> 00:55:38.660 And so, this, right here, what is being done, 00:55:38.660 --> 00:55:41.100 is an extreme global world changer. 00:55:41.100 --> 00:55:42.850 And I’m honored to be a part of it. 00:55:43.680 --> 00:55:46.490 It’s about time. It’s about time we made global change. 00:55:46.490 --> 00:55:49.780 No justice, no peace! No racist police! 00:55:51.170 --> 00:55:53.040 PROTESTERS: I say, no justice, no peace! 00:55:53.040 --> 00:55:54.870 I say, no justice, no peace! 00:55:54.870 --> 00:55:57.360 I say, no justice, no peace! I say, no justice, no peace! 00:55:57.360 --> 00:55:58.650 JASON GILLILAND: I’m Jason Gilliland [phon.]. 00:55:58.650 --> 00:56:01.550 I’m from Mississippi, but I went to school here. 00:56:03.060 --> 00:56:05.260 I’m here because, I mean, I’m affected. 00:56:06.890 --> 00:56:09.440 Despite my education, despite all I’ve done, 00:56:09.440 --> 00:56:11.980 I’m just as afraid when the police are behind me 00:56:11.980 --> 00:56:13.910 or I pass by them and everything else. 00:56:13.910 --> 00:56:16.040 And I don’t have a family yet, but I hope to. 00:56:16.040 --> 00:56:19.020 So I’m out here hoping to get more justice for my kids 00:56:19.020 --> 00:56:21.710 and my friends’ kids and everybody after me. 00:56:21.710 --> 00:56:23.680 PROTESTERS: Donald Trump has got to go! 00:56:23.680 --> 00:56:25.100 Hey hey, ho ho! 00:56:25.100 --> 00:56:27.410 Donald Trump has got to go! Hey hey, ho ho! 00:56:27.410 --> 00:56:28.670 JASON GILLILAND: What else can we say? 00:56:28.670 --> 00:56:30.940 I mean, every opportunity he’s had to say 00:56:30.940 --> 00:56:34.040 something positive or help, he’s done the exact opposite. 00:56:34.040 --> 00:56:36.110 He’s done all he’s can to say that he’s not racist, 00:56:36.110 --> 00:56:40.800 but he makes sure to say that when racist things happens, 00:56:40.800 --> 00:56:42.090 there’s good people on both sides. 00:56:42.090 --> 00:56:44.330 I mean, we compare the riots anywhere else 00:56:44.330 --> 00:56:47.020 in the last few weeks, that he said about "thugs" 00:56:47.020 --> 00:56:49.160 and "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," 00:56:49.160 --> 00:56:51.530 but when Charlottesville happened not that long ago, 00:56:51.530 --> 00:56:52.850 there were good people on both sides, 00:56:52.850 --> 00:56:55.530 when people were brutally beaten and run over by cars. 00:56:55.530 --> 00:56:57.470 And every opportunity to do the right thing, 00:56:57.470 --> 00:56:58.920 he does the wrong thing on purpose. 00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:01.430 So at some point you’ve got to believe him for who he is. 00:57:01.430 --> 00:57:02.980 And that’s why he got the response that you do. 00:57:02.980 --> 00:57:05.950 This is Meagan Hockaday. She’s from Oxnard, California. 00:57:05.950 --> 00:57:09.810 On March 28, 2015, police was called 00:57:09.810 --> 00:57:13.370 because of a domestic dispute. Twenty seconds after arriving, 00:57:13.990 --> 00:57:15.960 police opened fire and killed her. 00:57:15.960 --> 00:57:18.130 She was only 28 years old. 00:57:18.130 --> 00:57:20.580 And the same police officer was just involved 00:57:20.580 --> 00:57:23.710 in a shooting one year prior. That person didn’t die, 00:57:23.710 --> 00:57:26.040 but people knew that there was a problem. 00:57:26.040 --> 00:57:28.580 Just like many other stories, nothing came of it. 00:57:29.110 --> 00:57:31.010 Very little justice was had at all. 00:57:31.010 --> 00:57:32.830 And many people don’t even know her name. 00:57:32.830 --> 00:57:35.870 So, along with Breonna Taylor and George Floyd 00:57:35.870 --> 00:57:38.930 and Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and everybody else, 00:57:38.930 --> 00:57:40.390 Meagan Hockaday deserves her attention, 00:57:40.390 --> 00:57:41.620 and she deserves her justice, too. 00:57:41.620 --> 00:57:42.850 LINDA SARSOUR: Off of the sidewalks 00:57:42.850 --> 00:57:44.120 and into the streets! 00:57:44.120 --> 00:57:46.590 Off of the sidewalks and into the streets! 00:57:46.590 --> 00:57:48.950 Off of the sidewalks and into the streets! 00:57:48.950 --> 00:57:51.130 Linda Sarsour. I’m a Brooklyn activist. 00:57:52.150 --> 00:57:54.600 I’m a co-founder of Until Freedom. 00:57:54.600 --> 00:57:56.770 And I’m here organizing, like we’ve been doing 00:57:56.770 --> 00:57:59.120 for the last many decades, as you know, 00:57:59.120 --> 00:58:01.520 here in New York City for police reform. 00:58:01.520 --> 00:58:04.580 We’re literally watching history unfold before our very eyes. 00:58:06.250 --> 00:58:09.360 As an organizer, it’s different. I feel different. 00:58:10.590 --> 00:58:12.610 This is a moment where people have said, 00:58:12.610 --> 00:58:15.650 "Enough is enough!" And they mean at this time. 00:58:17.150 --> 00:58:19.310 PROTESTERS: No justice, no peace! 00:58:19.310 --> 00:58:23.210 No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace! 00:58:23.210 --> 00:58:27.390 No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace! 00:58:27.390 --> 00:58:29.320 AMY GOODMAN: Voices of protest in New York. 00:58:29.320 --> 00:58:32.180 Special thanks to John Hamilton and Iara Fraga, 00:58:32.180 --> 00:58:34.670 and to Sadie Luetmer in Minneapolis. 00:58:34.670 --> 00:58:36.970 That does it for our show. Democracy Now! 00:58:36.970 --> 00:58:40.680 is working with as few people as possible on site. 00:58:40.680 --> 00:58:43.270 The majority of our amazing team is working from home. 00:58:43.270 --> 00:58:45.670 If you want to sign up for our Daily Digest, 00:58:45.670 --> 00:58:47.580 go to democracynow.org. 00:58:47.580 --> 00:58:50.440 Democracy Now! is produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, 00:58:50.440 --> 00:58:52.610 Deena Guzder, Libby Rainey, Nermeen Shaikh, Carla Wills, 00:58:52.610 --> 00:58:56.390 Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, 00:58:56.390 --> 00:58:58.510 John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud. 00:58:58.510 --> 00:59:00.859 I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.