democracynow--2020-06-19--99 Years Later,  Wounds of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Have "Never Been Remedied"

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I ’ m Amy Goodman , as we go to Tulsa , Oklahoma , where President Trump will host a massive indoor campaign rally Saturday , despite a spike in COVID-19 cases there .
This is his first since he stopped them during the pandemic .
Attendees are required to sign a waiver absolving the campaign of liability if they get the virus , but they are not required to wear masks .
Oklahoma reported a record @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fifth consecutive day .
Trump rescheduled the rally to Saturday after facing enormous backlash for saying it would happen on Juneteenth — the celebration of African Americans ’ liberation from slavery — amidst a nationwide uprising against racism and police brutality .
But Tulsa is also the site of one of the deadliest massacres in U.S. history .
In 1921 , 99 years ago this month , a white mob attacked a Black neighborhood in Tulsa , killing as many as 300 African Americans .
Over two days , white mobs set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Greenwood , a thriving African American business district known as “ Black Wall Street.
” To talk about this history and the pervasive racism that remains , we go to Tulsa , where we ’ re joined by Damario Solomon-Simmons , a civil rights and sports lawyer , who represents the last known survivor of the Greenwood massacre living in Tulsa .
He ’ s also the attorney for the family of Terence Crutcher , a Black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer in Tulsa in 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his hands in the air , when he was killed .
He had pulled over on the side of the road because his car broke down .
The officer , Betty Shelby , was later acquitted .
Terence Crutcher ’ s twin sister , Dr. Tiffany Crutcher , also joins us from Tulsa .
Her great-grandmother was a survivor of the 1921 massacre .
She ’ ll introduce the Reverend Al Sharpton today at the 2020 Juneteenth celebration , “ I , Too , Am America , ” that ’ s taking place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ welcome you both to Democracy Now !
Dr. Crutcher , let ’ s begin with you .
The significance of this day for you , and your family bringing together all of these horrors , from 1921 to the loss of your twin brother in 2016 at the hands of a Tulsa police officer ?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER : Good morning .
Good morning .
Can you hear me ?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER : Yes .
Can you hear me ?
AMY GOODMAN : I think we may have lost Dr. Crutcher for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go to Damario Solomon-Simmons .
You ’ re intimately connected to the Crutcher family .
You represented Terence Crutcher ’ s family in his [ death ] at the [ hands ] of , by police .
And you also represent the last living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre .
Let ’ s begin there .
We ’ re going to see if we can hear you .
Damario ?
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS : Can you hear me ?
AMY GOODMAN : Oh , now we can hear you , yes .
Go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS : OK. Can you hear me ?
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS : OK , good deal .
Yes , I represent Mother Randle , who ’ s the last known living survivor that lives in Tulsa , and she ’ s 105 years old .
And she has been waiting for justice for 99 years .
And we are excited about this new opportunity that has come about because of COVID-19 and the unfortunate , tragic death of George Floyd , that just has really riveted this entire country , if not this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at injustice , white supremacy and anti-Black discrimination and find true ways to try to remedy this long-standing injustice in Tulsa , that has just been sitting here festering and has been a continual — what we call a continual massacre that has never been remedied .
AMY GOODMAN : So , explain who the last survivor of this race massacre is and how you came to know her and represent her .
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS : Yes , she ’ s a wonderful woman .
She was about 5 or 6 years old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her — she was at her grandmother ’ s home .
And she has vivid memories of running out of the house .
Unfortunately , she still says she can see the bodies that were in the street and that were stacked up on top of each other .
Her home — her grandmother ’ s home was destroyed .
She recalls having to flee , like so many thousands of refugees , out of the city of Tulsa — those who were able to get out of the city — and go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out there for a long period of time .
And she talks about the fact that she feels like the city of Tulsa and others who were responsible had a duty to try to help her and her family and others like her get back on her feet , as she would say .
And she said , “ At least they could have given us some type of a pension.
” That ’ s the terminology that she uses .
And she says , “ You know , I ’ m 105 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need this necessarily .
It would be nice .
But for my family , because we ’ ve never been able to heal .
We ’ ve never been able to get back on our feet.
” And that ’ s what ’ s important about understanding what happened here in Tulsa .
It was a complete stripping of generational wealth and opportunities for people , and it was never fixed .
And it just continued to get worse and worse and worse .
AMY GOODMAN : And your reaction to President Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month , and originally set for Juneteenth , today ?
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS : Yeah , my reaction to that is that President Trump is doing — he ’ s following a long line of powerful whites here in Tulsa that are utilizing the history of Black Wall Street to leverage that for his own benefit .
So , I ’ m not surprised that President Trump would do that , because that is what the white power structure is doing here in Tulsa right to this day .
They are leveraging the massacre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ utilize it as a cover for the gentrification that ’ s going on inside of Greenwood .
We call it glorified gentrification here in Tulsa .
And we know that these individuals or these entities , like the city of Tulsa , they are happy to talk about making Greenwood a tourist attraction and talking about the history , but they do not want to talk about or provide reparations , as that is a badge of slavery .
If you are someone who has been injured and you know who injured you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an opportunity to have compensation for that injury , you ’ re being treated like an enslaved person or a person who does not have rights .
And so , I ’ m not surprised that President Trump is doing what he ’ s doing , because he ’ s proven that he does not respect Black life .
He doesn ’ t respect anyone .
He only wants to do anything that helps himself get reelected .
AMY GOODMAN : Dr. Tiffany Crutcher , if you could weigh in here ?
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And if you can talk about what this means ?
Nineteen thousand people are expected to be in the arena .
And while Trump understands the lethality of the virus — right ?
— they are going to require people who come in to have waivers signed ; they won ’ t hold the campaign responsible , liable — they will not require masks .
What does this mean , Dr. Crutcher , for the workers ?
There must be hundreds of workers who have to be there , on this day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t been open for months because of the coronavirus .
Who are the workers ?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER : Well , thank you so much .
I ’ m definitely outraged , because those workers are the most vulnerable among us — African Americans , the elderly population .
Those are the citizens that have to work in that arena .
Also , they need their jobs .
You know , COVID-19 has definitely amplified a lot of the issues that we , as African Americans , face in this country as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president of the United States to host the largest rally since the pandemic shows just who he is .
I mean , we should not be surprised .
He is only concerned about himself .
And to put the health and the lives of the American citizens at risk for his own , you know , benefit and ego is just atrocious .
AMY GOODMAN : Dr. Tiffany Crutcher , your family ’ s life spans the trajectory , from the race massacre — explain — your great-grandmother survived that massacre in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ twin , your twin brother , Terence Crutcher , was killed by police in Tulsa .
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER : Absolutely .
Well , you know , there are so many stark parallels .
And it ’ s just unbelievable that my family , we ’ ve had to endure racial terror , violence , down through the generations , and nothing has changed .
And my great-grandmother , Rebecca Brown Crutcher , as Damario stated , had to flee in fear of her life .
They owned a barbecue pit down on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life , and then it was all stripped away from them .
And she had to run off to the country and was fearful , and never , ever talked about it because of the fearmongering .
They stated if they said anything , it would happen again .
And so I didn ’ t learn about this until I went off to college , and I heard it from some other classmates from all around the country .
And I went to school on Greenwood , and no one said anything .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it in Oklahoma history .
And that ’ s devastating , because I didn ’ t get the opportunity to ask my great-grandmother questions .
I want to know how she felt , you know , and what happened .
But she did return and eventually moved to Kansas City , Missouri .
And I always say that this same anti-Black , white supremacist culture that burned down my great-grandmother ’ s community is the same culture that killed my twin brother almost 100 years later .
So nothing has changed at all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with your brother Terence .
I hate to ask you to do this , but , to say the least , at this time , when we ’ re dealing with one police killing after another , from Minneapolis to Atlanta and in so many other places , what you can share with us ?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER : Well , I ’ ll just say this .
On Friday , September the 16th , 2016 , Terence was leaving school .
He started his first day of community college .
And according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 15 minutes later , after he left , he was shot , and he was dead , by a white police officer by the name of Betty Shelby .
After watching the video , we saw that Terence ’ s hands were in the air , he was unarmed , he wasn ’ t belligerent , he wasn ’ t attacking the officer whatsoever , yet he ended up dead .
Police officers fled to the scene .
He was tased simultaneously .
Helicopters loomed in the air .
Police officers in those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bad dude.
” And I ’ m not sure what a bad dude looks like that far up in the air .
All I could think of is they saw the color of his skin .
And they didn ’ t render any aid .
He laid on the ground like roadkill , and the officers trampled over him and went to check to make sure that officer Betty Jo Shelby was OK. And I just can ’ t get over that .
I have that visual of Terence lying on the ground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ head every time I lay down and go to bed .
And so , those same parallels , 1921 — my great-grandmother never received reparations .
There ’ s been no atonement .
And to this day , my family — the city of Tulsa , they have yet to atone for what they did to my brother , and won ’ t even acknowledge that they violated his rights .
And so , the culture just hasn ’ t changed .
And so , on today , even though — AMY GOODMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but acquitted .
We just have 10 seconds .
You ’ re introducing Al Sharpton at the Juneteenth celebration today in Tulsa ?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER : Absolutely .
I ’ ll be introducing Reverend Al Sharpton just to bring some energy and help us channel the fear that we ’ re dealing with and the anger .
And hopefully we ’ ll actually start that process of liberation , because , in reality , 2020 , we ’ re still not free .
We ’ re fighting just for the right to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
AMY GOODMAN : Dr. Tiffany Crutcher , we want to thank you so much for being with us , and Damario Solomon-Simmons , civil rights lawyer in Tulsa .
That does it for our broadcast .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Happy Juneteenth .
Stay safe .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, as we go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where President Trump will host a massive indoor campaign rally Saturday, despite a spike in COVID-19 cases there. This is his first since he stopped them during the pandemic. Attendees are required to sign a waiver absolving the campaign of liability if they get the virus, but they are not required to wear masks. Oklahoma reported a record number of new COVID cases Thursday for the fifth consecutive day.
Trump rescheduled the rally to Saturday after facing enormous backlash for saying it would happen on Juneteenth — the celebration of African Americans’ liberation from slavery — amidst a nationwide uprising against racism and police brutality.
But Tulsa is also the site of one of the deadliest massacres in U.S. history. In 1921, 99 years ago this month, a white mob attacked a Black neighborhood in Tulsa, killing as many as 300 African Americans. Over two days, white mobs set fire to homes, businesses, churches in Greenwood, a thriving African American business district known as “Black Wall Street.”
To talk about this history and the pervasive racism that remains, we go to Tulsa, where we’re joined by Damario Solomon-Simmons, a civil rights and sports lawyer, who represents the last known survivor of the Greenwood massacre living in Tulsa. He’s also the attorney for the family of Terence Crutcher, a Black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer in Tulsa in 2016. Terence Crutcher was unarmed, with his hands in the air, when he was killed. He had pulled over on the side of the road because his car broke down. The officer, Betty Shelby, was later acquitted. Terence Crutcher’s twin sister, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, also joins us from Tulsa. Her great-grandmother was a survivor of the 1921 massacre. She’ll introduce the Reverend Al Sharpton today at the 2020 Juneteenth celebration, “I, Too, Am America,” that’s taking place in Greenwood, in Tulsa.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Dr. Crutcher, let’s begin with you. The significance of this day for you, and your family bringing together all of these horrors, from 1921 to the loss of your twin brother in 2016 at the hands of a Tulsa police officer?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER: Good morning. Good morning. Can you hear me?
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Crutcher?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER: Yes. Can you hear me?
AMY GOODMAN: I think we may have lost Dr. Crutcher for a minute, but we’ll go to Damario Solomon-Simmons. You’re intimately connected to the Crutcher family. You represented Terence Crutcher’s family in his [death] at the [hands] of, by police. And you also represent the last living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre. Let’s begin there.
We’re going to see if we can hear you. Damario?
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS: Can you hear me?
AMY GOODMAN: Oh, now we can hear you, yes. Go ahead. Go ahead, Damario.
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS: OK. Can you hear me?
AMY GOODMAN: We can.
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS: OK, good deal. Yes, I represent Mother Randle, who’s the last known living survivor that lives in Tulsa, and she’s 105 years old. And she has been waiting for justice for 99 years. And we are excited about this new opportunity that has come about because of COVID-19 and the unfortunate, tragic death of George Floyd, that just has really riveted this entire country, if not this world, to really try to look at injustice, white supremacy and anti-Black discrimination and find true ways to try to remedy this long-standing injustice in Tulsa, that has just been sitting here festering and has been a continual — what we call a continual massacre that has never been remedied.
AMY GOODMAN: So, explain who the last survivor of this race massacre is and how you came to know her and represent her.
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS: Yes, she’s a wonderful woman. She was about 5 or 6 years old when this happened. She was visiting her — she was at her grandmother’s home. And she has vivid memories of running out of the house. Unfortunately, she still says she can see the bodies that were in the street and that were stacked up on top of each other. Her home — her grandmother’s home was destroyed. She recalls having to flee, like so many thousands of refugees, out of the city of Tulsa — those who were able to get out of the city — and go down into the country and basically hide out there for a long period of time.
And she talks about the fact that she feels like the city of Tulsa and others who were responsible had a duty to try to help her and her family and others like her get back on her feet, as she would say. And she said, “At least they could have given us some type of a pension.” That’s the terminology that she uses. And she says, “You know, I’m 105 years old. I don’t need this necessarily. It would be nice. But for my family, because we’ve never been able to heal. We’ve never been able to get back on our feet.”
And that’s what’s important about understanding what happened here in Tulsa. It was a complete stripping of generational wealth and opportunities for people, and it was never fixed. And it just continued to get worse and worse and worse.
AMY GOODMAN: And your reaction to President Trump coming to Tulsa on this 99th anniversary month, and originally set for Juneteenth, today?
DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS: Yeah, my reaction to that is that President Trump is doing — he’s following a long line of powerful whites here in Tulsa that are utilizing the history of Black Wall Street to leverage that for his own benefit.
So, I’m not surprised that President Trump would do that, because that is what the white power structure is doing here in Tulsa right to this day. They are leveraging the massacre that they created, so they can utilize it as a cover for the gentrification that’s going on inside of Greenwood. We call it glorified gentrification here in Tulsa. And we know that these individuals or these entities, like the city of Tulsa, they are happy to talk about making Greenwood a tourist attraction and talking about the history, but they do not want to talk about or provide reparations, as that is a badge of slavery. If you are someone who has been injured and you know who injured you, but you don’t have an opportunity to have compensation for that injury, you’re being treated like an enslaved person or a person who does not have rights.
And so, I’m not surprised that President Trump is doing what he’s doing, because he’s proven that he does not respect Black life. He doesn’t respect anyone. He only wants to do anything that helps himself get reelected.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, if you could weigh in here? I want to start with the rally. And if you can talk about what this means? Nineteen thousand people are expected to be in the arena. And while Trump understands the lethality of the virus — right? — they are going to require people who come in to have waivers signed; they won’t hold the campaign responsible, liable — they will not require masks. What does this mean, Dr. Crutcher, for the workers? There must be hundreds of workers who have to be there, on this day, tomorrow, where this arena hasn’t been open for months because of the coronavirus. Who are the workers?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER: Well, thank you so much. I’m definitely outraged, because those workers are the most vulnerable among us — African Americans, the elderly population. Those are the citizens that have to work in that arena. Also, they need their jobs. You know, COVID-19 has definitely amplified a lot of the issues that we, as African Americans, face in this country as a result of systemic racism. But for the president of the United States to host the largest rally since the pandemic shows just who he is. I mean, we should not be surprised. He is only concerned about himself. And to put the health and the lives of the American citizens at risk for his own, you know, benefit and ego is just atrocious.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, your family’s life spans the trajectory, from the race massacre — explain — your great-grandmother survived that massacre in 1921 — to 2016, when your twin, your twin brother, Terence Crutcher, was killed by police in Tulsa.
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER: Absolutely. Well, you know, there are so many stark parallels. And it’s just unbelievable that my family, we’ve had to endure racial terror, violence, down through the generations, and nothing has changed.
And my great-grandmother, Rebecca Brown Crutcher, as Damario stated, had to flee in fear of her life. They owned a barbecue pit down on Greenwood. They were living their best life, and then it was all stripped away from them. And she had to run off to the country and was fearful, and never, ever talked about it because of the fearmongering. They stated if they said anything, it would happen again.
And so I didn’t learn about this until I went off to college, and I heard it from some other classmates from all around the country. And I went to school on Greenwood, and no one said anything. We didn’t even learn about it in Oklahoma history. And that’s devastating, because I didn’t get the opportunity to ask my great-grandmother questions. I want to know how she felt, you know, and what happened. But she did return and eventually moved to Kansas City, Missouri.
And I always say that this same anti-Black, white supremacist culture that burned down my great-grandmother’s community is the same culture that killed my twin brother almost 100 years later. So nothing has changed at all.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what happened with your brother Terence. I hate to ask you to do this, but, to say the least, at this time, when we’re dealing with one police killing after another, from Minneapolis to Atlanta and in so many other places, what you can share with us?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER: Well, I’ll just say this. On Friday, September the 16th, 2016, Terence was leaving school. He started his first day of community college. And according to some of his professors, about 15 minutes later, after he left, he was shot, and he was dead, by a white police officer by the name of Betty Shelby.
After watching the video, we saw that Terence’s hands were in the air, he was unarmed, he wasn’t belligerent, he wasn’t attacking the officer whatsoever, yet he ended up dead. Police officers fled to the scene. He was tased simultaneously. Helicopters loomed in the air. Police officers in those helicopters said he look like a “bad dude.” And I’m not sure what a bad dude looks like that far up in the air. All I could think of is they saw the color of his skin. And they didn’t render any aid. He laid on the ground like roadkill, and the officers trampled over him and went to check to make sure that officer Betty Jo Shelby was OK.
And I just can’t get over that. I have that visual of Terence lying on the ground, with blood everywhere, in my head every time I lay down and go to bed. And so, those same parallels, 1921 — my great-grandmother never received reparations. There’s been no atonement. And to this day, my family — the city of Tulsa, they have yet to atone for what they did to my brother, and won’t even acknowledge that they violated his rights. And so, the culture just hasn’t changed. And so, on today, even though —
AMY GOODMAN: And the police officer was charged but acquitted. We just have 10 seconds. You’re introducing Al Sharpton at the Juneteenth celebration today in Tulsa?
DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER: Absolutely. I’ll be introducing Reverend Al Sharpton just to bring some energy and help us channel the fear that we’re dealing with and the anger. And hopefully we’ll actually start that process of liberation, because, in reality, 2020, we’re still not free. We’re fighting just for the right to live as Black Americans in this country.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, we want to thank you so much for being with us, and Damario Solomon-Simmons, civil rights lawyer in Tulsa.
That does it for our broadcast. I’m Amy Goodman. Happy Juneteenth. Stay safe.


democracynow--2020-06-19--Juneteenth: A Celebration of Black Liberation & Day to Remember "Horrific System That Was Slavery"

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
President Trump was originally slated to speak in Tulsa today , June 19th , a holiday celebrated around the country as Juneteenth .
It was June 19th , 1865 , when enslaved people in Texas first learned they were free , two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation .
Trump moved his rally [ back ] by one day after facing widespread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Wall Street Journal , “ I did something good : I made Juneteenth very famous .
It ’ s actually an important event , an important time .
But nobody had ever heard of it , ” he said .
In fact , 47 states and the District of Columbia already recognize Juneteenth as a state or ceremonial holiday .
Senators Kamala Harris , Cory Booker and Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas now say they want to make it a national holiday .
It ’ s already an official paid holiday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including Texas and New York .
It was on this day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston , Texas , first heard of their liberation .
On that day , Union Army General Gordon Granger publicly read General Order No .
3 , which stated , quote , “ The people of Texas are informed that … all slaves are free , ” unquote .
Word spread , and spontaneous celebrations ensued .
It had been more than two-and-a-half years since President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation .
In a 1941 audio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Laura Smalley , born into slavery in Texas , recalled learning of her freedom as a child .
The plantation owner who enslaved her , Mr. Bethany , had returned from war but didn ’ t tell those he enslaved that the Confederacy had lost and that they were free .
AMY GOODMAN : For more , we go to Houston , Texas , where celebrations marking Juneteenth will take place today , as they have since the 1890s .
We ’ re joined by a professor of history and African American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ author of many books , including one just published this month , The Dawning of the Apocalypse : The Roots of Slavery , White Supremacy , Settler Colonialism , and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century .
Gerald Horne , we welcome you back to Democracy Now !
It ’ s great to have you with us .
Can you talk about the history of Juneteenth ?
GERALD HORNE : Well , thank you for inviting me .
And first of all , let me say that I salute those who are now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s long overdue .
Second of all , let me say that the traditional story of Juneteenth is somewhat flawed , insofar as the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st , 1863 , did not necessarily extend to Texas , where the United States did not exercise meaningful sovereignty .
Point number two is that Juneteenth also needs to be seen in the context of a larger scheme by slaveholders in Texas .
You all know , I ’ m sure , that we celebrate Cinco de Mayo , May 5th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rose up against the French puppet ruler , speaking of Maximilian .
Recall , as well , that Texas had seceded from Mexico in 1836 and became an independent republic , not least because Mexico had moved towards abolition of slavery in the 1820s under a president of Indigenous and African descent , speaking of Vicente Guerrero .
So the idea for the enslavers in 1865 was to try to return to Mexico under French rule and extend the lease on life of slavery .
This plot , this scheme , may have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mexican people that drove Maximilian out of office , leading to his execution , that was joined by Black soldiers , including an early Black historian , George Washington Williams .
You may want to consult the biography of him by the late historian John Hope Franklin .
And it presents a remarkable story of Black-Brown unity against white supremacy that I think we can learn from .
AMY GOODMAN : And so , take it forward from there and explain , first , what exactly Abraham Lincoln signed with the Emancipation Proclamation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years for enslaved people in Texas to learn of this , but even with this Emancipation Proclamation , it did not free enslaved people in places like Kentucky , in places like Delaware and Maryland .
GERALD HORNE : You have to see the Emancipation Proclamation as a war-fighting measure .
Its remit did not necessarily extend to slaveholders who remained true to the Lincoln government .
Its remit did extend to states like Texas , where the United States did not enjoy meaningful sovereignty .
Then , the larger point is , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even after June 19th , 1865 , unpaid labor of Africans continued at least for months , perhaps longer — we still need research on that .
And in any case , a kind of neoslavery erupted , speaking of the convict lease system , whereby Black men , in particular , were arrested on a flimsy pretext and then were leased out en masse to plantations where they formerly had been enslaved laborers .
So , this whole story of Juneteenth is much more complicated and much more complex than is traditionally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once again , I salute those who are pushing for a federal holiday with regard to Juneteenth , because it provides an opportunity to have a thorough remembrance of this horrific system that was slavery .
It allows an opportunity to connect the toxicity of the past to the carnage in the streets that you just saw three weeks ago in Minneapolis , Minnesota , and just recently in Atlanta , Georgia .
It allows us to recognize that slavery created a system and a culture where Black life is cheap and worthless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ itself is degraded .
And also , I should add that when slavery was abolished , the slave owners were not compensated .
Of course , this discourse today is about reparations to the descendants of the enslaved , but unlike in the British Empire in the 1830s , where the slave owners were compensated , they were not compensated in Dixie .
And what that means is that you had a lot of animosity and antipathy , to put it mildly , to the newly freed Africans , which then boiled over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Klan and , arguably , created this culture which allows a kind of Klan mentality to continue to persist amongst police departments , such as in Minneapolis , and amongst vigilantes , which , of course , led to the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick , Georgia , months ago .
AMY GOODMAN : And can you talk about the naming of military bases after Confederate generals , not at the time of the Confederacy , but decades later , or even the erecting of these statues all over the South — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any other state — erected well after the Civil War , and what their significance was in the 20th century ?
GERALD HORNE : Well , it represents , clearly , lost cause mythology .
As should be recognized , Dixie , the Confederacy , lost militarily but did not lose politically , as evidenced by the fact that you have these statues to heroes of enslavement , and fewer statues still to those who fought against slavery , and fewer statues still to the descendants and the enslaved themselves .
I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remove these portraits of Confederate leaders and speakers from the Capitol ; however , she must be asked : Why did it take so long ?
And with regard to these monuments , such as on Monument Avenue in Richmond , Virginia , the question is — they represent a version of history .
That is to say , they represent a lost cause mythology .
They represent a history that , in some ways , sanitizes and whitewashes a horrific system of enslavement .
And in any case , I think it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ citizens , in particular , not to mention all Democratic-leaning people , to subsidize the upkeep of these monuments through their tax dollars , which represent a violation of the basic precepts of democracy .
AMY GOODMAN : You ’ re a history professor , Professor Horne .
You ’ re in Houston , Texas .
Now there ’ s going to be a trail , an Emancipation Trail , that will run 51 miles from Galveston to Houston to trace the route along which families traveled to spread the word of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s true .
And Galveston should be singled out .
Galveston was a major slave port , particularly during the era when Texas was an independent country , from 1836 to 1845 .
Indeed , as you may know , a significant number of Black people in Cuba were basically arriving from Africa and taken to Galveston and then transshipped to Cuba , just like you saw the ships , the vessels of the so-called Lone Star Republic of Texas , off the coast of Angola in the early 1840s and off the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where they were bringing enslaved Africans .
Part of that core of enslaved Africans included Jack Johnson , the former heavyweight boxing champion , now deceased , who was a man who helped to give rise to the so-called Great White Hope , this spasm of hysteria about a Black man being the heavyweight boxing champion .
There ’ s a statue to him in Galveston as we speak .
And Galveston is also the birthplace of Little Esther Phillips , the singer , whose signature tune , “ Home Is Where the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I ’ m afraid to say , at this dire moment , as a new national anthem for Black Americans , not to mention Barry White , the deep-voiced crooner , who died in Los Angeles approximately 17 years ago .
AMY GOODMAN : Gerald , the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones just tweeted , “ The Emancipation Proclamation came abt partially because enslaved people were self-liberating by the thousands .
Don ’ t let them tell you we just waited to be free , ” she said .
GERALD HORNE : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me salute that Pulitzer Prize winner , Nikole Hannah-Jones .
She turned the tables on establishment historians by writing in that now-famous essay in August 2019 in The New York Times Magazine that a motive force for the revolt against British rule in 1776 was the desire to preserve forevermore the system of enslavement , which is why the Confederates in 1861 considered themselves to be walking in the footsteps of real estate speculator George Washington .
This also helps to explain why Black people today are treated so atrociously , because , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and mostly now , did not engage in class collaboration .
They did not side with their slave masters , their slaveholders , in a slaveholders ’ revolt that led to the creation of a slaveholders ’ republic .
And when you fight a war and lose , as Black people did in 1776 , you can expect to be pulverized and penalized forevermore until you can turn the tables , which we began to do with the Haitian revolution , 1791 to 1804 .
AMY GOODMAN : Your response , Professor Horne @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s he who ’ s made people aware in this country of Juneteenth ?
Apparently , he learned of it only hours before by — he asked all around — this was his proof no one knew it — and finally found a Black Secret Service agent in the White House who could explain it to him .
GERALD HORNE : Well , I mean , it ’ s laughable .
It ’ s ludicrous .
It ’ s like the rooster taking credit for the rising of the sun .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think that we need to entertain for that long the maunderings and the mutterings of the oaf in the Oval Office .
And indeed , we should not rest until Agent Orange himself winds up in an orange jumpsuit in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his many crimes and transgressions .
AMY GOODMAN : Gerald Horne , your final comment on this day , Juneteenth , also on this day before President Trump gives his address in Tulsa , opens his campaign rally , where so many , especially Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inside the convention center — the arena , where he will be speaking , their own lives threatened by the COVID-19 surge there , and it being the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre , and amidst this protest , this uprising across the country against racism and police brutality ?
GERALD HORNE : Well , all of these events , it seems to me , illustrate central themes in U.S. history .
First of all , there is the theme of class struggle , as evidenced by the Africans who were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most profound of class exploitation , speaking of enslavement .
They did not collaborate with their slave masters , as evidenced by the Haitian revolution , already alluded to .
And , of course , they fought by the tens of thousands against their slave masters , so-called , from 1861 to 1865 .
And then you saw that tradition continue with the San Francisco General Strike of 1934 by the West Coast longshoremen , who of course are continuing that tradition still by shutting down West Coast ports , from Seattle to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lives Matter and Juneteenth .
Then there ’ s the tradition of settler colonialism and class collaboration , whereby poor Europeans oftentimes collaborated with their slave masters to claim the land and dispossess the Indigenous population , and then collaborate in terms of militias , and the precursors of police forces , in keeping those two subordinated groups in line .
I think that there ’ s still a struggle between these two lines of class struggle , on the one hand , and class collaboration , on the other .
AMY GOODMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much for being with us , Gerald Horne , professor of history and African American studies at the University of Houston , author of a number of books , one just published , The Dawning of the Apocalypse : The Roots of Slavery , White Supremacy , Settler Colonialism , and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century .
Up next , we go to Tulsa , Oklahoma , look at the spike of COVID-19 cases and speak with the sister of a man killed by police several years ago .
They are the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ race massacre in Tulsa .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : “ No More Auction Block , ” also called “ Many Thousands Gone , ” performed by Martha Redbone .
The spiritual is often sung at Juneteenth celebrations .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. President Trump was originally slated to speak in Tulsa today, June 19th, a holiday celebrated around the country as Juneteenth. It was June 19th, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas first learned they were free, two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Trump moved his rally [back] by one day after facing widespread criticism.
On Thursday, he told The Wall Street Journal, “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous. It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it,” he said. In fact, 47 states and the District of Columbia already recognize Juneteenth as a state or ceremonial holiday. Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas now say they want to make it a national holiday. It’s already an official paid holiday for state employees in four states, including Texas and New York.
It was on this day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, first heard of their liberation. On that day, Union Army General Gordon Granger publicly read General Order No. 3, which stated, quote, “The people of Texas are informed that … all slaves are free,” unquote. Word spread, and spontaneous celebrations ensued. It had been more than two-and-a-half years since President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
In a 1941 audio interview recorded by the Library of Congress, Laura Smalley, born into slavery in Texas, recalled learning of her freedom as a child. The plantation owner who enslaved her, Mr. Bethany, had returned from war but didn’t tell those he enslaved that the Confederacy had lost and that they were free.
LAURA SMALLEY: Old master didn’t tell you no one was free.
INTERVIEWER: He didn’t tell you that?
LAURA SMALLEY: No, he didn’t tell. They worked there — I think now they say they worked them six months after that — six months — and turned them loose on the 19th of June. That’s why, you know, we celebrate that day, colored folks celebrates that day.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Houston, Texas, where celebrations marking Juneteenth will take place today, as they have since the 1890s. We’re joined by a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Houston, author of many books, including one just published this month, The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century.
Gerald Horne, we welcome you back to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. Can you talk about the history of Juneteenth?
GERALD HORNE: Well, thank you for inviting me. And first of all, let me say that I salute those who are now pushing for a federal holiday for Juneteenth. It’s long overdue.
Second of all, let me say that the traditional story of Juneteenth is somewhat flawed, insofar as the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st, 1863, did not necessarily extend to Texas, where the United States did not exercise meaningful sovereignty.
Point number two is that Juneteenth also needs to be seen in the context of a larger scheme by slaveholders in Texas. You all know, I’m sure, that we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, which marks a time when Mexicans rose up against the French puppet ruler, speaking of Maximilian. Recall, as well, that Texas had seceded from Mexico in 1836 and became an independent republic, not least because Mexico had moved towards abolition of slavery in the 1820s under a president of Indigenous and African descent, speaking of Vicente Guerrero. So the idea for the enslavers in 1865 was to try to return to Mexico under French rule and extend the lease on life of slavery.
This plot, this scheme, may have succeeded but for an uprising by the Mexican people that drove Maximilian out of office, leading to his execution, that was joined by Black soldiers, including an early Black historian, George Washington Williams. You may want to consult the biography of him by the late historian John Hope Franklin. And it presents a remarkable story of Black-Brown unity against white supremacy that I think we can learn from.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, take it forward from there and explain, first, what exactly Abraham Lincoln signed with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, why it took two years for enslaved people in Texas to learn of this, but even with this Emancipation Proclamation, it did not free enslaved people in places like Kentucky, in places like Delaware and Maryland.
GERALD HORNE: You have to see the Emancipation Proclamation as a war-fighting measure. Its remit did not necessarily extend to slaveholders who remained true to the Lincoln government. Its remit did extend to states like Texas, where the United States did not enjoy meaningful sovereignty.
Then, the larger point is, there’s evidence to suggest that even after June 19th, 1865, unpaid labor of Africans continued at least for months, perhaps longer — we still need research on that. And in any case, a kind of neoslavery erupted, speaking of the convict lease system, whereby Black men, in particular, were arrested on a flimsy pretext and then were leased out en masse to plantations where they formerly had been enslaved laborers.
So, this whole story of Juneteenth is much more complicated and much more complex than is traditionally presented. But having said that, once again, I salute those who are pushing for a federal holiday with regard to Juneteenth, because it provides an opportunity to have a thorough remembrance of this horrific system that was slavery. It allows an opportunity to connect the toxicity of the past to the carnage in the streets that you just saw three weeks ago in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and just recently in Atlanta, Georgia. It allows us to recognize that slavery created a system and a culture where Black life is cheap and worthless. It created a culture where Blackness itself is degraded.
And also, I should add that when slavery was abolished, the slave owners were not compensated. Of course, this discourse today is about reparations to the descendants of the enslaved, but unlike in the British Empire in the 1830s, where the slave owners were compensated, they were not compensated in Dixie. And what that means is that you had a lot of animosity and antipathy, to put it mildly, to the newly freed Africans, which then boiled over into the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and, arguably, created this culture which allows a kind of Klan mentality to continue to persist amongst police departments, such as in Minneapolis, and amongst vigilantes, which, of course, led to the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, months ago.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about the naming of military bases after Confederate generals, not at the time of the Confederacy, but decades later, or even the erecting of these statues all over the South — I think Virginia has many other than any other state — erected well after the Civil War, and what their significance was in the 20th century?
GERALD HORNE: Well, it represents, clearly, lost cause mythology. As should be recognized, Dixie, the Confederacy, lost militarily but did not lose politically, as evidenced by the fact that you have these statues to heroes of enslavement, and fewer statues still to those who fought against slavery, and fewer statues still to the descendants and the enslaved themselves.
I’m happy that Speaker Pelosi decided to remove these portraits of Confederate leaders and speakers from the Capitol; however, she must be asked: Why did it take so long?
And with regard to these monuments, such as on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, the question is — they represent a version of history. That is to say, they represent a lost cause mythology. They represent a history that, in some ways, sanitizes and whitewashes a horrific system of enslavement. And in any case, I think it’s too much to ask Black citizens, in particular, not to mention all Democratic-leaning people, to subsidize the upkeep of these monuments through their tax dollars, which represent a violation of the basic precepts of democracy.
AMY GOODMAN: You’re a history professor, Professor Horne. You’re in Houston, Texas. Now there’s going to be a trail, an Emancipation Trail, that will run 51 miles from Galveston to Houston to trace the route along which families traveled to spread the word of the emancipation?
GERALD HORNE: That’s true. And Galveston should be singled out. Galveston was a major slave port, particularly during the era when Texas was an independent country, from 1836 to 1845. Indeed, as you may know, a significant number of Black people in Cuba were basically arriving from Africa and taken to Galveston and then transshipped to Cuba, just like you saw the ships, the vessels of the so-called Lone Star Republic of Texas, off the coast of Angola in the early 1840s and off the coast of Brazil in the 1840s, where they were bringing enslaved Africans.
Part of that core of enslaved Africans included Jack Johnson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, now deceased, who was a man who helped to give rise to the so-called Great White Hope, this spasm of hysteria about a Black man being the heavyweight boxing champion. There’s a statue to him in Galveston as we speak. And Galveston is also the birthplace of Little Esther Phillips, the singer, whose signature tune, “Home Is Where the Hatred Is,” should be considered, I’m afraid to say, at this dire moment, as a new national anthem for Black Americans, not to mention Barry White, the deep-voiced crooner, who died in Los Angeles approximately 17 years ago.
AMY GOODMAN: Gerald, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones just tweeted, “The Emancipation Proclamation came abt partially because enslaved people were self-liberating by the thousands. Don’t let them tell you we just waited to be free,” she said.
GERALD HORNE: She is absolutely correct. And let me salute that Pulitzer Prize winner, Nikole Hannah-Jones. She turned the tables on establishment historians by writing in that now-famous essay in August 2019 in The New York Times Magazine that a motive force for the revolt against British rule in 1776 was the desire to preserve forevermore the system of enslavement, which is why the Confederates in 1861 considered themselves to be walking in the footsteps of real estate speculator George Washington.
This also helps to explain why Black people today are treated so atrociously, because, unlike some, Black people then, and mostly now, did not engage in class collaboration. They did not side with their slave masters, their slaveholders, in a slaveholders’ revolt that led to the creation of a slaveholders’ republic. And when you fight a war and lose, as Black people did in 1776, you can expect to be pulverized and penalized forevermore until you can turn the tables, which we began to do with the Haitian revolution, 1791 to 1804.
AMY GOODMAN: Your response, Professor Horne, to President Trump saying that it’s he who’s made people aware in this country of Juneteenth? Apparently, he learned of it only hours before by — he asked all around — this was his proof no one knew it — and finally found a Black Secret Service agent in the White House who could explain it to him.
GERALD HORNE: Well, I mean, it’s laughable. It’s ludicrous. It’s like the rooster taking credit for the rising of the sun. But more seriously, I don’t think that we need to entertain for that long the maunderings and the mutterings of the oaf in the Oval Office. And indeed, we should not rest until Agent Orange himself winds up in an orange jumpsuit in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his many crimes and transgressions.
AMY GOODMAN: Gerald Horne, your final comment on this day, Juneteenth, also on this day before President Trump gives his address in Tulsa, opens his campaign rally, where so many, especially Black and Brown people, will be working inside the convention center — the arena, where he will be speaking, their own lives threatened by the COVID-19 surge there, and it being the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, and amidst this protest, this uprising across the country against racism and police brutality?
GERALD HORNE: Well, all of these events, it seems to me, illustrate central themes in U.S. history. First of all, there is the theme of class struggle, as evidenced by the Africans who were part of a relationship that was the most profound of class exploitation, speaking of enslavement. They did not collaborate with their slave masters, as evidenced by the Haitian revolution, already alluded to. And, of course, they fought by the tens of thousands against their slave masters, so-called, from 1861 to 1865. And then you saw that tradition continue with the San Francisco General Strike of 1934 by the West Coast longshoremen, who of course are continuing that tradition still by shutting down West Coast ports, from Seattle to San Diego, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and Juneteenth.
Then there’s the tradition of settler colonialism and class collaboration, whereby poor Europeans oftentimes collaborated with their slave masters to claim the land and dispossess the Indigenous population, and then collaborate in terms of militias, and the precursors of police forces, in keeping those two subordinated groups in line. I think that there’s still a struggle between these two lines of class struggle, on the one hand, and class collaboration, on the other.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you so much for being with us, Gerald Horne, professor of history and African American studies at the University of Houston, author of a number of books, one just published, The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century.
Up next, we go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, look at the spike of COVID-19 cases and speak with the sister of a man killed by police several years ago. They are the great-grandchildren of a survivor of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “No More Auction Block,” also called “Many Thousands Gone,” performed by Martha Redbone. The spiritual is often sung at Juneteenth celebrations.


democracynow--2020-06-19--How DREAMers Defeated Trump: Supreme Court DACA Win Shows "Sustained Pressure of Activism" Works

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : In a massive win for immigrant rights , the Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump ’ s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects nearly 700,000 immigrants from deportation .
In 2017 , Trump tried to end DACA , which was created by President Obama in 2012 .
But in a 5-to-4 decision Thursday , led by Chief Justice John Roberts , the court concluded Trump ’ s move to end DACA was “ arbitrary and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ruling Monday barring workplace discrimination against LGBTQ people and prompted Trump to tweet , quote , “ Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn ’ t like me ?
” unquote .
Trump called the decisions , quote , “ shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives , ” and wrote , quote , “ We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd Amendment & everything else .
Vote Trump 2020 !
” unquote .
Trump can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ways , based on the court ’ s narrow ruling , but that could alienate voters in key election battleground states .
Meanwhile , presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden issued a statement Thursday promising to send a bill to Congress on his first day in office that , quote , “ creates a clear roadmap to citizenship for Dreamers and 11 million undocumented people who are already strengthening our nation , ” he said .
For now , DACA recipients are still protected from deportation and have authorization to work in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re joined in Seattle by one of the lawyers who defended DACA in the Supreme Court .
Luis Cortes is an attorney with the Immigrant Advocacy & Litigation Center .
He ’ s also a DACA recipient himself .
Also with us , in Phoenix , Arizona , Erika Andiola , advocacy chief at RAICES , the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services , host of the podcast Homeland Insecurity .
Well , let ’ s go to you first , Luis .
Congratulations on your victory , on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Luis Cortes , what was it like to be in the Supreme Court ?
And explain the court ’ s decision .
LUIS CORTES : [ inaudible ] where we had hundreds of people there .
AMY GOODMAN : Luis , if you could begin again ?
I ’ m sorry .
We just got your mic on .
LUIS CORTES : Oh , not a problem .
I ’ m so sorry about that .
Good morning , and thank you for having me on .
You know , one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day of the Supreme Court arguments was actually right before entering the Supreme Court and the hundreds of people that were outside demonstrating on behalf and in support of not just DACA , but broader immigration protection , because it reminded me of what got us DACA to begin with , which was a sustained pressure of activism to get us protection against deportation .
So , being able to share the stories with the Supreme Court justices , I think , was very , very important with the case , because , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Justice Roberts in our case , was the stories , and we see that throughout his opinion .
AMY GOODMAN : So , explain exactly what this ruling says .
LUIS CORTES : Yeah , so , the ruling really strikes down President Trump ’ s decision to terminate DACA on a procedural ground .
He ’ s not saying that he can ’ t do the program — or , he can ’ t end the program .
He ’ s saying that the way in which he ultimately terminated the program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come and now terminate the program following the Administrative Procedure Act ; however , we know that that ’ s going to take some time .
It ’ s going to take him into the November election .
And what he ultimately would have to do , if he was going to do it again , is terminate a program that is overwhelmingly supported by the American people , during a pandemic , and justify his reasons doing so .
And I think that people are going to make some decisions come November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
AMY GOODMAN : So , would you describe this as a narrow ruling ?
And what exactly does it mean , in terms of can people apply today for DACA ?
LUIS CORTES : Well , it ’ s a narrow ruling in that it terminates his decision to end DACA .
And so , it will restore the program .
Now , the timeline is something that we still need to see how it plays out .
The Department of Homeland Security has had some very strong words against the decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the actual mechanics of how it ’ s going to work .
We know that they ’ re going to have to comply with the court order , but the timing of it is still left to be seen , and so we ’ re going to have to wait to see some agency guidance on that .
And so , we ’ ll wait to see in the next few days to see what they say .
AMY GOODMAN : This is not only a significant national victory for you , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that argued the case before the Supreme Court .
You , yourself , are a DACA recipient .
Can you talk about that ?
LUIS CORTES : Yeah .
You know , one of the things that we set out to do here in the case was , we know that the state of California and the UC regents played a very important role in helping us crack the case , but we wanted to make sure that the stories of the DACA recipients , who our lives were the ones who were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the — not just the justices , but the judges who were deciding the case initially .
It was such an honor to be able to help represent the hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients .
But we ’ re not just talking about the DACA recipients .
We ’ re talking about them and their communities .
It ’ s teachers and their students , doctors and their patients , lawyers and their clients .
We ’ re talking about millions of people here .
And for someone like me who has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , trust the American court system to do the just thing , it was really a great honor to be involved in this case .
AMY GOODMAN : And can you talk about your own personal story ?
It also seems that Chief Justice Roberts was particularly moved by individuals ’ stories .
LUIS CORTES : Yeah .
So , I was born in Mexico , and I came to the United States when I was about 1 year old .
And I grew up in California , and so I consider myself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my life — and I think this is a common experience for a lot of people who are undocumented — is a series of events of trying to — I knew that I was undocumented from a young age , but I was figuring out what that really meant throughout the course of my life — the limitations that are there , the types of restrictions that we have , either from not getting driver ’ s licenses or not being able to apply for financial aid .
So , really , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adult life , when I was in law school .
I went to law school before there was DACA , and I knew that it might prohibit me from being able to practice law .
And it wasn ’ t until my last year in law school that DACA came out .
And so , the timing couldn ’ t have been better , and it ’ s one of the things that allowed me to really advocate for other clients .
And so , I am so grateful that , you know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young activists early on that pushed President Obama to protect — stop the deportations of young people .
Now , it ’ s not a perfect solution .
Obviously , we would want protection for all of the undocumented community here .
But it was a good step in the right direction .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to bring Erika Andiola into this , of RAICES .
You , too , a DACA recipient , can you talk about what your reaction was yesterday when you heard the news ?
ERIKA ANDIOLA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I was really surprised .
I honestly was not expecting this .
Unlike Luis , I wasn ’ t in the ins and outs of the case .
I was just really pessimistic because of the court makeup , and I was really gearing up for something negative .
And I woke up really early to hear that , you know , this was — this was great news .
And , you know , just I was really proud .
I was feeling really proud , because , you know , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , basically , the first thing that came out of my mind was we pushed Obama , and we defeated Trump in court .
I mean , this is all because of movement building , of organizing , of the courage of millions of people , I mean , DACA recipients and even some of our family members , who have come out and said , “ We ’ re undocumented and unafraid.
” We took the step to come out of the shadows , you know , in 2009 , 2010 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and it ’ s been worth it .
It paid off .
I was feeling really proud in the morning , and also understanding that , you know , we ’ re a bigger community .
Our family members , our community members are also struggling .
But , as Luis said , it is a step in the right direction , and it ’ s something that we have to celebrate .
And then we have to keep fighting for more .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you respond to Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden said , the former vice president , who is running for president against Trump , of course ?
Trump said this is a “ shotgun blast in the face , ” and he asked if the Supreme Court likes him anymore .
And Biden talked about what he would do on his first day in office .
Your response to both , Erika ?
ERIKA ANDIOLA : I mean , on the Trump side , you know , I think he — it didn ’ t work out for him .
What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DACA recipients as a bargaining chip to try to get his anti-immigrant agenda enacted .
And we saw this since the very beginning .
In 2017 , when he took the program away , the first thing he said , you know , “ I have a great heart ” for DREAMers — I mean , I still remember the phrase that he used — because he thought that , you know , by taking away the program and then taking it back to Congress and saying , you know , “ If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help DACA recipients , then here ’ s everything that I want to do with asylum .
This is everything that I want to do to cut immigration and get people who I don ’ t want out of the country.
” And so , you know , it didn ’ t work out for him .
And , you know , again , we won .
We won against him in court , which is really incredible .
And , you know , on Biden , I understand that there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legislation in Congress , and we want Congress to act .
But it is important , because we all saw what happened with Obama in — you know , when he was running in 2008 , that he was talking about doing immigration reform the first day in office , and he didn ’ t do it .
And he deported 3 million people or more .
And so , what we want to hear also from Biden is what is he going to do to undo everything that the Obama administration and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deportation machine , and that he can , in day one , do so much with executive power .
And so , we ’ re hoping that not only is he talking about that and he ’ s talking about policy , but also that he actually does it , if he ’ s elected as president .
AMY GOODMAN : So , Erika , talk about what this means for you on the ground .
You ’ re a DACA recipient .
I attended your virtual news conference yesterday as you talked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Can you talk about that and other cases you ’ re focused on right now ?
ERIKA ANDIOLA : Yeah .
I mean , you know , I think it ’ s a big relief for me .
It ’ s a big relief for my little brother , who — you know , we are able to work right now .
We ’ re able to be safe from deportation .
But it ’ s also painful to still experience our family members — you know , my mom is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2013 , right after I had gotten my DACA for the first time .
And so , you know , this is a bigger fight .
We are fighting right now , you know , to abolish ICE .
And we say this all the time , but this is the perfect time for Congress — you know , as we ’ re talking about defunding the police , that has to happen , too .
We ’ re standing in solidarity with that ask from the Black Lives Matter movement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re also asking for , you know , ICE to be defunded , as well , as a first step to abolish it .
And I think right now even Democrats can do that right now in the House .
It is time to start taking money away from a deportation force that is taking our own family members .
Even though we ’ re protected , a lot of — you know , more than 11 million people in this country are not .
They ’ re still vulnerable , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And finally , Luis Cortes , United We Dream tweeted , “ Supreme Court has said new applications must be accepted , but DHS ” — the Department of Homeland Security — “ has NOT confirmed they are accepting them yet.
” What should people do at this point , with this major Supreme Court ruling ?
LUIS CORTES : I think the people need to get ready .
The initial applications , you know , there are a lot of paperwork you need to show .
There ’ s a lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ initial applications .
So , we know that there was a mini-generation that was left out of the DACA program who are now graduating from high school or maybe have already graduated from high school .
And so , get your documents ready , would be my very first suggestion .
It takes some time .
You know , most of the time , DACA applications can not be prepared in one day , and so get everything ready so that when the agency provides some guidance as to when they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be soon , then they ’ ll be ready to do so .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , Luis Cortes , we want to thank you for being with us , and congratulations , Immigrant Advocacy & Litigation Center , DACA recipient , argued — was part of the team that argued the case before the Supreme Court ; and Erika Andiola , who is advocacy head of RAICES and has just launched the podcast Homeland Insecurity .
This is Democracy Now !
When we come back , we ’ ll talk about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history , Juneteenth .
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This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: In a massive win for immigrant rights, the Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects nearly 700,000 immigrants from deportation. In 2017, Trump tried to end DACA, which was created by President Obama in 2012. But in a 5-to-4 decision Thursday, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court concluded Trump’s move to end DACA was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The decision follows the court’s ruling Monday barring workplace discrimination against LGBTQ people and prompted Trump to tweet, quote, “Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?” unquote. Trump called the decisions, quote, “shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives,” and wrote, quote, “We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!” unquote. Trump can still try to end DACA in other ways, based on the court’s narrow ruling, but that could alienate voters in key election battleground states.
Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden issued a statement Thursday promising to send a bill to Congress on his first day in office that, quote, “creates a clear roadmap to citizenship for Dreamers and 11 million undocumented people who are already strengthening our nation,” he said.
For now, DACA recipients are still protected from deportation and have authorization to work in the United States.
For more, we’re joined in Seattle by one of the lawyers who defended DACA in the Supreme Court. Luis Cortes is an attorney with the Immigrant Advocacy & Litigation Center. He’s also a DACA recipient himself. Also with us, in Phoenix, Arizona, Erika Andiola, advocacy chief at RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, host of the podcast Homeland Insecurity.
Well, let’s go to you first, Luis. Congratulations on your victory, on this victory for the United States. Luis Cortes, what was it like to be in the Supreme Court? And explain the court’s decision.
LUIS CORTES: [inaudible] where we had hundreds of people there.
AMY GOODMAN: Luis, if you could begin again? I’m sorry. We just got your mic on.
LUIS CORTES: Oh, not a problem. I’m so sorry about that. Good morning, and thank you for having me on.
You know, one of the things that I recall vividly about the day of the Supreme Court arguments was actually right before entering the Supreme Court and the hundreds of people that were outside demonstrating on behalf and in support of not just DACA, but broader immigration protection, because it reminded me of what got us DACA to begin with, which was a sustained pressure of activism to get us protection against deportation.
So, being able to share the stories with the Supreme Court justices, I think, was very, very important with the case, because, ultimately, that seemed what moved Chief Justice Roberts in our case, was the stories, and we see that throughout his opinion.
AMY GOODMAN: So, explain exactly what this ruling says.
LUIS CORTES: Yeah, so, the ruling really strikes down President Trump’s decision to terminate DACA on a procedural ground. He’s not saying that he can’t do the program — or, he can’t end the program. He’s saying that the way in which he ultimately terminated the program was unlawful. So, he can come and now terminate the program following the Administrative Procedure Act; however, we know that that’s going to take some time. It’s going to take him into the November election. And what he ultimately would have to do, if he was going to do it again, is terminate a program that is overwhelmingly supported by the American people, during a pandemic, and justify his reasons doing so. And I think that people are going to make some decisions come November if he decides to do so again.
AMY GOODMAN: So, would you describe this as a narrow ruling? And what exactly does it mean, in terms of can people apply today for DACA?
LUIS CORTES: Well, it’s a narrow ruling in that it terminates his decision to end DACA. And so, it will restore the program. Now, the timeline is something that we still need to see how it plays out. The Department of Homeland Security has had some very strong words against the decision, but nothing concrete yet in terms of the actual mechanics of how it’s going to work. We know that they’re going to have to comply with the court order, but the timing of it is still left to be seen, and so we’re going to have to wait to see some agency guidance on that. And so, we’ll wait to see in the next few days to see what they say.
AMY GOODMAN: This is not only a significant national victory for you, and you are part of the team that argued the case before the Supreme Court. You, yourself, are a DACA recipient. Can you talk about that?
LUIS CORTES: Yeah. You know, one of the things that we set out to do here in the case was, we know that the state of California and the UC regents played a very important role in helping us crack the case, but we wanted to make sure that the stories of the DACA recipients, who our lives were the ones who were impacted by this, are told to the — not just the justices, but the judges who were deciding the case initially. It was such an honor to be able to help represent the hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients. But we’re not just talking about the DACA recipients. We’re talking about them and their communities. It’s teachers and their students, doctors and their patients, lawyers and their clients. We’re talking about millions of people here. And for someone like me who has really learned to, as a lawyer, trust the American court system to do the just thing, it was really a great honor to be involved in this case.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about your own personal story? It also seems that Chief Justice Roberts was particularly moved by individuals’ stories.
LUIS CORTES: Yeah. So, I was born in Mexico, and I came to the United States when I was about 1 year old. And I grew up in California, and so I consider myself a California guy. And really, my life — and I think this is a common experience for a lot of people who are undocumented — is a series of events of trying to — I knew that I was undocumented from a young age, but I was figuring out what that really meant throughout the course of my life — the limitations that are there, the types of restrictions that we have, either from not getting driver’s licenses or not being able to apply for financial aid.
So, really, that stemmed all the way up into my adult life, when I was in law school. I went to law school before there was DACA, and I knew that it might prohibit me from being able to practice law. And it wasn’t until my last year in law school that DACA came out. And so, the timing couldn’t have been better, and it’s one of the things that allowed me to really advocate for other clients.
And so, I am so grateful that, you know, we had a lot of the young activists early on that pushed President Obama to protect — stop the deportations of young people. Now, it’s not a perfect solution. Obviously, we would want protection for all of the undocumented community here. But it was a good step in the right direction.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to bring Erika Andiola into this, of RAICES. You, too, a DACA recipient, can you talk about what your reaction was yesterday when you heard the news?
ERIKA ANDIOLA: Oh my god! I mean, I was really surprised. I honestly was not expecting this. Unlike Luis, I wasn’t in the ins and outs of the case. I was just really pessimistic because of the court makeup, and I was really gearing up for something negative. And I woke up really early to hear that, you know, this was — this was great news.
And, you know, just I was really proud. I was feeling really proud, because, you know, I tweeted — I tweeted, you know, basically, the first thing that came out of my mind was we pushed Obama, and we defeated Trump in court. I mean, this is all because of movement building, of organizing, of the courage of millions of people, I mean, DACA recipients and even some of our family members, who have come out and said, “We’re undocumented and unafraid.” We took the step to come out of the shadows, you know, in 2009, 2010, and some people even before that, and it’s been worth it. It paid off.
I was feeling really proud in the morning, and also understanding that, you know, we’re a bigger community. Our family members, our community members are also struggling. But, as Luis said, it is a step in the right direction, and it’s something that we have to celebrate. And then we have to keep fighting for more.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you respond to Trump’s tweet and then what Vice President Biden said, the former vice president, who is running for president against Trump, of course? Trump said this is a “shotgun blast in the face,” and he asked if the Supreme Court likes him anymore. And Biden talked about what he would do on his first day in office. Your response to both, Erika?
ERIKA ANDIOLA: I mean, on the Trump side, you know, I think he — it didn’t work out for him. What he wanted to do was to use DACA recipients as a bargaining chip to try to get his anti-immigrant agenda enacted. And we saw this since the very beginning. In 2017, when he took the program away, the first thing he said, you know, “I have a great heart” for DREAMers — I mean, I still remember the phrase that he used — because he thought that, you know, by taking away the program and then taking it back to Congress and saying, you know, “If you want to support and you want to help DACA recipients, then here’s everything that I want to do with asylum. This is everything that I want to do to cut immigration and get people who I don’t want out of the country.” And so, you know, it didn’t work out for him. And, you know, again, we won. We won against him in court, which is really incredible.
And, you know, on Biden, I understand that there is a need right now to talk about legislation in Congress, and we want Congress to act. But it is important, because we all saw what happened with Obama in — you know, when he was running in 2008, that he was talking about doing immigration reform the first day in office, and he didn’t do it. And he deported 3 million people or more. And so, what we want to hear also from Biden is what is he going to do to undo everything that the Obama administration and the Trump administration have done with the deportation machine, and that he can, in day one, do so much with executive power. And so, we’re hoping that not only is he talking about that and he’s talking about policy, but also that he actually does it, if he’s elected as president.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Erika, talk about what this means for you on the ground. You’re a DACA recipient. I attended your virtual news conference yesterday as you talked about your mother being in deportation proceedings. Can you talk about that and other cases you’re focused on right now?
ERIKA ANDIOLA: Yeah. I mean, you know, I think it’s a big relief for me. It’s a big relief for my little brother, who — you know, we are able to work right now. We’re able to be safe from deportation. But it’s also painful to still experience our family members — you know, my mom is in deportation proceedings. My house was raided in 2013, right after I had gotten my DACA for the first time.
And so, you know, this is a bigger fight. We are fighting right now, you know, to abolish ICE. And we say this all the time, but this is the perfect time for Congress — you know, as we’re talking about defunding the police, that has to happen, too. We’re standing in solidarity with that ask from the Black Lives Matter movement. We want that to happen. And we’re also asking for, you know, ICE to be defunded, as well, as a first step to abolish it. And I think right now even Democrats can do that right now in the House. It is time to start taking money away from a deportation force that is taking our own family members. Even though we’re protected, a lot of — you know, more than 11 million people in this country are not. They’re still vulnerable, like my mom.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Luis Cortes, United We Dream tweeted, “Supreme Court has said new applications must be accepted, but DHS” — the Department of Homeland Security — “has NOT confirmed they are accepting them yet.” What should people do at this point, with this major Supreme Court ruling?
LUIS CORTES: I think the people need to get ready. The initial applications, you know, there are a lot of paperwork you need to show. There’s a lot of evidence that you need to show for initial applications. So, we know that there was a mini-generation that was left out of the DACA program who are now graduating from high school or maybe have already graduated from high school. And so, get your documents ready, would be my very first suggestion. It takes some time. You know, most of the time, DACA applications cannot be prepared in one day, and so get everything ready so that when the agency provides some guidance as to when they’re going to accept applications, which should be soon, then they’ll be ready to do so.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Luis Cortes, we want to thank you for being with us, and congratulations, Immigrant Advocacy & Litigation Center, DACA recipient, argued — was part of the team that argued the case before the Supreme Court; and Erika Andiola, who is advocacy head of RAICES and has just launched the podcast Homeland Insecurity.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’ll talk about this day, and this day in history, Juneteenth. Stay with us.


democracynow--2020-06-19--Headlines for June 19, 2020

Headlines for June 19, 2020

The U.S. coronavirus death toll has topped 118,000 .
California has ordered residents to wear masks outside .
California Governor @ @ @ @ @ after California reported a record 4,000 new COVID cases on Wednesday .
In Florida , @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ICU beds are now occupied .
On Thursday , Florida reported 3,207 coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ one-day high .
The Navajo Nation has reinstated a weekend lockdown due to a recent @ @ @ @ @ Arizona .
At least 322 Navajos have already died from COVID — a toll higher @ @ @ @ @ other news from Arizona , a county sheriff who refused to enforce the state ’ @ @ @ @ @ tested positive for coronavirus .
Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County tested positive just before @ @ @ @ @ to Washington to attend a ceremony for President Trump ’ s new policing executive order @

The U.S. coronavirus death toll has topped 118,000. California has ordered residents to wear masks outside. California Governor Gavin Newsom issued the order after California reported a record 4,000 new COVID cases on Wednesday.
In Florida, 75% of the state’s ICU beds are now occupied. On Thursday, Florida reported 3,207 coronavirus cases, shattering the previous one-day high.
The Navajo Nation has reinstated a weekend lockdown due to a recent surge in COVID cases in Arizona. At least 322 Navajos have already died from COVID — a toll higher than 16 states.
In other news from Arizona, a county sheriff who refused to enforce the state’s stay-at-home restrictions has now tested positive for coronavirus. Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County tested positive just before he was scheduled to travel to Washington to attend a ceremony for President Trump’s new policing executive order.