democracynow--2020-06-09--Immigration Agents Target People at Police Brutality Protests, Including a U.S. Citizen Military Vet

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : We begin with protests around the country .
The protests against police brutality continue nationwide .
Immigrant rights advocates are sounding the alarm over the presence of ICE — that ’ s Immigration and Customs Enforcement — agents at some of the demonstrations .
Last week , a viral video showed a group of ICE agents working with the New York City Police Department to detain a protester at a George Floyd rally in New York City .
The Immigrant Defense Project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ground as they pointed three guns at him .
The man , who hasn ’ t been identified , was handcuffed and searched .
He was reportedly released after agents found a military veteran ’ s ID on him .
Immigration rights advocates say the man is a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent .
For more , we ’ re joined by Mizue Aizeki , deputy director at the Immigrant [ Defense ] Project .
Welcome to Democracy Now !
It ’ s great to have you with us .
You ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mizue .
Can you describe what exactly happened ?
How were ICE agents in this demonstration ?
And what happened to this man ?
MIZUE AIZEKI : Good morning , Amy , and good morning , Juan .
Thank you for having me .
That ’ s a really good question — what happened , and why was ICE there ?
You know , from what the man told us , he was walking down the street .
He had just joined a protest of people marching down the street in the Upper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you know , a black SUV pulled up .
Five men jumped out .
And they were all plainclothes , some of them — I think three of them — with their guns drawn , one wearing a vest that said ” ICE HSI.
” They threw him on the ground , basically , you know , very forcefully — he hit his head , has a big bruise there — and then started searching him illegally , as you mentioned .
They took his phone out of his back pocket , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weren ’ t able to .
They went through his wallet , and that ’ s where they found his ID , as you mentioned .
After 10 minutes of arresting him , detaining him , the agents were told by their supervisor to let him go , because they had no grounds to hold him .
And , you know , it ’ s like in so many of these incidents , as we know , like , the agents walk away .
The man was left there .
Luckily , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , while he doesn ’ t feel comfortable sharing the story for himself personally , he ’ s really asked us to share it widely , in the hopes that the abuse will stop and that it won ’ t result in more harm for others .
And , you know , while it ’ s not often captured on video , similarly to policing violence , like , this is how ICE operates all the time .
And one of the big concerns we have with ICE partnering with the NYPD @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ ve been very opportunistic in terms of policing .
Over the past 10 years , we ’ ve seen ICE basically attach themselves or embed themselves to local policing forces all over the country .
You know , now almost every fingerprint taken at a police precinct serves as like an automatic alert system to ICE and triggers a request by ICE — could trigger a request by ICE to ask cops and jails to hold someone after they ’ re released from criminal custody .
And in New York state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past three years under Trump a 1,700 % increase in ICE arrests at New York state courthouses .
And this is why we have a bill — Immigrant Defense Project has a bill right now in front of the New York state Legislature , the Protect Our Courts Act , which would limit ICE ’ s practice of targeting people in and around courthouses .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Mizue , I wanted to ask you — you mentioned the increase in ICE arrests .
You ’ ve also documented , in the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a 400 % increase of ICE raids in New York City .
Could you talk about that , in particular , just before the pandemic exploded ?
And also , what about the fact that New York City government supposedly is not cooperating with these kinds of arrests ?
MIZUE AIZEKI : Yeah , that ’ s a really good point to raise .
You know , I think , just as we ’ re seeing kind of a force coming down to suppress — trying to suppress dissent , I think Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to use force to try to really create a lot of fear and , like , implement his mass deportation agenda .
You know , you may or may not know that since DHS was founded , the number of policing agents has grown tremendously .
We started with almost — very few ICE agents , who go out and conduct raids , right ?
They grew a lot under Bush and Obama .
And then , as you may remember , Trump , when he — in January , his first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issued an executive order calling to almost triple — right ?
— I think , the ICE force , or 10,000 additional ICE agents .
And so , the other piece of his agenda has been to pressure cities like New York that have policies that protect — or , that limit ICE collusion with police or local police collusion with ICE — so-called sanctuary cities .
And so , starting in January of this year , the Trump administration came down very hard on New York City and New York state .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ presence — it almost was like a constant presence on the streets of New York City , in particular .
We had , as you mentioned — you know , Immigrant Defense Project receives reports of ICE raids .
There were 400 % more in the first 11 weeks , up until — you know , compared to the last 11 weeks of the previous year — up until the time when the city shut down because of COVID , right ?
So , we had a report of an ICE arrest the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor declared New Rochelle a containment zone .
You may remember that was one of the first areas that was really hard hit , in Westchester County .
We had ICE taking advantage of people being in their homes , you know , and conducted an arrest there .
We had ICE also conducting an arrest in Long Island the same day they shut down the schools there during COVID .
And , you know , we ’ re all familiar , as you mentioned , the story before the last news segment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in detention and continuing to deport people , people with COVID , during this whole time .
Oh , sorry , I just wanted to also add , you know , I think the other thing that we saw happening in January was the threat of the Border Patrol SWAT team , BORTAC , right ?
The Trump administration said that they would be sending BORTAC into cities like New York that have such policies to protect immigrant rights .
And then also we saw other tactical teams from ICE , with assault @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Bronx and stating that they ’ re conducting surveillance 24/7 under a program called Operation Palladium .
AMY GOODMAN : I just wanted to ask you about the issue of New York being a sanctuary city .
So , why are these ICE agents in New York City tackling this Puerto Rican man ?
MIZUE AIZEKI : Well , I think that there ’ s always been a lot of — the term “ sanctuary city ” — you know , clearly , I think , New York isn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are seeing a lot of abuse , violence by the state or the police toward Black and Brown communities in New York consistently .
And I think also , you know , the ability of the city to limit ICE presence here , you know , there ’ s only so many options — right ?
— I think , and the detainer policy is one of them .
But I think the other thing , that since — especially since DHS was founded and since post-9/11 , is we ’ ve seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and federal police in the form of joint task forces or , you know , I think , this notion of this being kind of a legitimate police force .
And this is something that I think is really important to kind of raise and challenge .
You know , just like we ’ ve heard a lot of great commentary on your show and analysis of people about what the real function of policing is — right ?
— on a domestic level , it ’ s really to maintain social control @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
And so , ICE is basically kind of the global police force , which also serves to maintain a highly unequal global world order — right ?
— with the U.S. at the center of that power .
And so , I think one of the things that we keep trying to challenge and fight back on is this notion of ICE policing .
You know , I think that there ’ s a lot of mission creep that has been happening , and also a lot of freedom for ICE to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ raids .
And , you know , ICE often hides behind kind of like the rule of law , like “ we are police , ” and politicians protect them in that .
But part of the work that we ’ re trying to do is to expand our analysis around this .
And , you know , really , it serves those in power if immigration is separated from imperialism , right ?
There ’ s a great quote from a Sri Lankan who ’ s from London — who lived in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ We are here because you are there.
” And , Juan , I think , as you point out in your book Harvest of Empire — right ?
— the long history of U.S. military and economic intervention in Latin America has shaped the migration flows to the United States .
And so , why do I bring this up when you 're asking me about what right ICE has to be here is , I think part of our work still is to challenge kind of the legitimacy of ICE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the global world order .
AMY GOODMAN : Mizue , we want to thank you for being with us .
Mizue Aizeki is deputy director of the Immigrant Defense Project , speaking to us from New York .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin with protests around the country. The protests against police brutality continue nationwide. Immigrant rights advocates are sounding the alarm over the presence of ICE — that’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement — agents at some of the demonstrations. Last week, a viral video showed a group of ICE agents working with the New York City Police Department to detain a protester at a George Floyd rally in New York City. The Immigrant Defense Project said agents held the man on the ground as they pointed three guns at him. The man, who hasn’t been identified, was handcuffed and searched. He was reportedly released after agents found a military veteran’s ID on him. Immigration rights advocates say the man is a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent.
For more, we’re joined by Mizue Aizeki, deputy director at the Immigrant [Defense] Project.
Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. You’re with the Immigrant Defense Project, Mizue. Can you describe what exactly happened? How were ICE agents in this demonstration? And what happened to this man?
MIZUE AIZEKI: Good morning, Amy, and good morning, Juan. Thank you for having me.
That’s a really good question — what happened, and why was ICE there? You know, from what the man told us, he was walking down the street. He had just joined a protest of people marching down the street in the Upper West Side. All of a sudden, you know, a black SUV pulled up. Five men jumped out. And they were all plainclothes, some of them — I think three of them — with their guns drawn, one wearing a vest that said ”ICE HSI.” They threw him on the ground, basically, you know, very forcefully — he hit his head, has a big bruise there — and then started searching him illegally, as you mentioned. They took his phone out of his back pocket, tried to unlock it, but they weren’t able to. They went through his wallet, and that’s where they found his ID, as you mentioned. After 10 minutes of arresting him, detaining him, the agents were told by their supervisor to let him go, because they had no grounds to hold him.
And, you know, it’s like in so many of these incidents, as we know, like, the agents walk away. The man was left there. Luckily, his health is fine. But, you know, while he doesn’t feel comfortable sharing the story for himself personally, he’s really asked us to share it widely, in the hopes that the abuse will stop and that it won’t result in more harm for others.
And, you know, while it’s not often captured on video, similarly to policing violence, like, this is how ICE operates all the time. And one of the big concerns we have with ICE partnering with the NYPD right now is, you know, they’ve been very opportunistic in terms of policing. Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen ICE basically attach themselves or embed themselves to local policing forces all over the country. You know, now almost every fingerprint taken at a police precinct serves as like an automatic alert system to ICE and triggers a request by ICE — could trigger a request by ICE to ask cops and jails to hold someone after they’re released from criminal custody.
And in New York state, we’ve seen in the past three years under Trump a 1,700% increase in ICE arrests at New York state courthouses. And this is why we have a bill — Immigrant Defense Project has a bill right now in front of the New York state Legislature, the Protect Our Courts Act, which would limit ICE’s practice of targeting people in and around courthouses.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Mizue, I wanted to ask you — you mentioned the increase in ICE arrests. You’ve also documented, in the first few weeks of this year, about a 400% increase of ICE raids in New York City. Could you talk about that, in particular, just before the pandemic exploded? And also, what about the fact that New York City government supposedly is not cooperating with these kinds of arrests?
MIZUE AIZEKI: Yeah, that’s a really good point to raise. You know, I think, just as we’re seeing kind of a force coming down to suppress — trying to suppress dissent, I think Trump similarly has tried, since his presidency, to use force to try to really create a lot of fear and, like, implement his mass deportation agenda.
You know, you may or may not know that since DHS was founded, the number of policing agents has grown tremendously. We started with almost — very few ICE agents, who go out and conduct raids, right? They grew a lot under Bush and Obama. And then, as you may remember, Trump, when he — in January, his first month of presidency, January 2017, issued an executive order calling to almost triple — right? — I think, the ICE force, or 10,000 additional ICE agents.
And so, the other piece of his agenda has been to pressure cities like New York that have policies that protect — or, that limit ICE collusion with police or local police collusion with ICE — so-called sanctuary cities. And so, starting in January of this year, the Trump administration came down very hard on New York City and New York state. And what we had seen was ICE presence — it almost was like a constant presence on the streets of New York City, in particular.
We had, as you mentioned — you know, Immigrant Defense Project receives reports of ICE raids. There were 400% more in the first 11 weeks, up until — you know, compared to the last 11 weeks of the previous year — up until the time when the city shut down because of COVID, right? So, we had a report of an ICE arrest the morning before — the day before the governor declared New Rochelle a containment zone. You may remember that was one of the first areas that was really hard hit, in Westchester County. We had ICE taking advantage of people being in their homes, you know, and conducted an arrest there. We had ICE also conducting an arrest in Long Island the same day they shut down the schools there during COVID. And, you know, we’re all familiar, as you mentioned, the story before the last news segment, about ICE refusing to release people in detention and continuing to deport people, people with COVID, during this whole time.
Oh, sorry, I just wanted to also add, you know, I think the other thing that we saw happening in January was the threat of the Border Patrol SWAT team, BORTAC, right? The Trump administration said that they would be sending BORTAC into cities like New York that have such policies to protect immigrant rights. And then also we saw other tactical teams from ICE, with assault weapons, standing out in the street in the Bronx and stating that they’re conducting surveillance 24/7 under a program called Operation Palladium.
AMY GOODMAN: I just wanted to ask you about the issue of New York being a sanctuary city. So, why are these ICE agents in New York City tackling this Puerto Rican man?
MIZUE AIZEKI: Well, I think that there’s always been a lot of — the term “sanctuary city” — you know, clearly, I think, New York isn’t a sanctuary city, right? We are seeing a lot of abuse, violence by the state or the police toward Black and Brown communities in New York consistently. And I think also, you know, the ability of the city to limit ICE presence here, you know, there’s only so many options — right? — I think, and the detainer policy is one of them.
But I think the other thing, that since — especially since DHS was founded and since post-9/11, is we’ve seen many forms of collaboration between local police and federal police in the form of joint task forces or, you know, I think, this notion of this being kind of a legitimate police force. And this is something that I think is really important to kind of raise and challenge. You know, just like we’ve heard a lot of great commentary on your show and analysis of people about what the real function of policing is — right? — on a domestic level, it’s really to maintain social control and an unequal status quo, right? And so, ICE is basically kind of the global police force, which also serves to maintain a highly unequal global world order — right? — with the U.S. at the center of that power.
And so, I think one of the things that we keep trying to challenge and fight back on is this notion of ICE policing. You know, I think that there’s a lot of mission creep that has been happening, and also a lot of freedom for ICE to be present in New York conducting these raids. And, you know, ICE often hides behind kind of like the rule of law, like “we are police,” and politicians protect them in that. But part of the work that we’re trying to do is to expand our analysis around this.
And, you know, really, it serves those in power if immigration is separated from imperialism, right? There’s a great quote from a Sri Lankan who’s from London — who lived in London in the '50s, who said, “We are here because you are there.” And, Juan, I think, as you point out in your book Harvest of Empire — right? — the long history of U.S. military and economic intervention in Latin America has shaped the migration flows to the United States. And so, why do I bring this up when you're asking me about what right ICE has to be here is, I think part of our work still is to challenge kind of the legitimacy of ICE and kind of expose their function in the global world order.
AMY GOODMAN: Mizue, we want to thank you for being with us. Mizue Aizeki is deputy director of the Immigrant Defense Project, speaking to us from New York.


democracynow--2020-06-09--Headlines for June  9, 2020

Headlines for June  9, 2020

Confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide now top 7 million , with over 400,000 deaths .
As many countries open up again , the World Health Organization warned Monday the situation is getting worse globally .
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus : “ Although the situation in Europe is improving , globally it ’ s worsening .
More than 100,000 thousand cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days .
Yesterday , more than 136 [ thousand ] cases were reported , the most in a single day so far.
” Nearly 75 % of recent cases came from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and South Asia , said the WHO .
The WHO also said that the spread of COVID-19 by asymptomatic people appears to be rare .
Latin America remains the epicenter of the pandemic , with the highest tolls reported in Brazil , Mexico , Chile and Peru — which together account for over 1 million confirmed cases .
The WHO said over the weekend Central and South America have likely not reached peak transmission yet .
However , Cuba remains a bright spot in the region , where infections have been on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this weekend it is “ closing in on the tail end of the pandemic.
” In New Zealand , nearly all restrictions have been lifted , including social distancing and limits on public gatherings , as the country enters into the least restrictive phase of its recovery .
New Zealand has not reported any new cases in over two weeks .
In South Africa , President Cyril Ramaphosa said he is “ worried ” as the country ’ s cases have surged over the past two weeks .
On Monday , the official @ @ @ @ @

Confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide now top 7 million, with over 400,000 deaths. As many countries open up again, the World Health Organization warned Monday the situation is getting worse globally.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it’s worsening. More than 100,000 thousand cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days. Yesterday, more than 136 [thousand] cases were reported, the most in a single day so far.”
Nearly 75% of recent cases came from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia, said the WHO. The WHO also said that the spread of COVID-19 by asymptomatic people appears to be rare.
Latin America remains the epicenter of the pandemic, with the highest tolls reported in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Peru — which together account for over 1 million confirmed cases. The WHO said over the weekend Central and South America have likely not reached peak transmission yet.
However, Cuba remains a bright spot in the region, where infections have been on the decline for two months. Cuba announced this weekend it is “closing in on the tail end of the pandemic.”
In New Zealand, nearly all restrictions have been lifted, including social distancing and limits on public gatherings, as the country enters into the least restrictive phase of its recovery. New Zealand has not reported any new cases in over two weeks.
In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he is “worried” as the country’s cases have surged over the past two weeks. On Monday, the official death toll topped 1,000.


democracynow--2020-06-10--Buffalo Police Assaulted a 75-Year-Old Longtime Peace Activist, Now Trump Is Attacking Him Too

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 , with Juan González .
On Tuesday , President Trump made no mention of George Floyd ’ s funeral , nor did he send condolences to his family on the day that George Floyd was laid to rest .
But he did take to Twitter to attack a longtime peace activist in Buffalo , where police officers assaulted him at a protest last week against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the video , recorded by a bystander , that ’ s now been viewed by millions of people , two police officers violently shove 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground as dozens of officers walk by , not one stopping to help him , as blood seeps from his head on the pavement .
After widespread outrage , the two officers were charged with felony assault over the weekend , prompting 57 police officers from Buffalo ’ s Emergency Response Team to quit the special unit in protest .
Martin Gugino is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his years of peaceful protest , including as a member of Witness Against Torture , a group that ’ s long advocated for the closure of Guantánamo Bay .
In his many years as an activist , Gugino has demonstrated against climate inaction , racism and nuclear proliferation .
On Tuesday , while President Trump did not mention George Floyd , he attacked Martin Gugino as he lay in the hospital .
Trump tweeted , quote , “ Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur .
75 year old Martin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scan police communications in order to black out the equipment .
… I watched , he fell harder than was pushed .
Was aiming scanner .
Could be a set up ?
” Trump tweeted .
Trump tagged One America News , a fringe right-wing media outlet that frequently amplifies conspiracy theories and has run multiple segments attacking Gugino since video of his assault drew national ire .
One Republican senator after another was asked to comment .
While Mitt Romney did , saying it was ridiculous , other senators said , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more , we ’ re joined by someone who protested alongside Martin Gugino for over a decade .
Lu Aya is a part of The Peace Poets , a member of Witness Against Torture .
He ’ s joining us from Oakland , California .
Lu Aya , it ’ s wonderful to have you with us .
And if you can talk to us about Martin , talk about what his activism is all about , how you know him .
And your response to President Trump ’ s completely unfounded , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Thanks so much , Amy .
Thanks , Juan .
It ’ s good to be with you both .
Martin , first and foremost , is just one of the kindest , most good-hearted people that I ’ ve been lucky to walk with .
And so , this morning , as he ’ s still in the hospital , I just want to send him love and healing from here .
I was able to work with Martin with Witness Against Torture .
Every January , we go there to protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prison in Guantánamo and demand justice for the people detained there .
So , working with Martin has always been a joy .
It is great to be able to tell people that he ’ s one of the amazing elders , that has always led with curiosity , creativity and courage in our community of Witness Against Torture .
And so , to be honest , Amy , I appreciate your question , but it ’ s hard to even justify a response to such a ridiculous tweet from President Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s important to , first , just say that Martin is someone who deserves , like all our elders , much more respect and care .
And so I want to notice what the president of the country did not say .
He did not say that it ’ s important for the police to respect elders , to treat people with dignity and care .
And so , that , to me , in the face of having seen what happened to this friend of mine , who was pushed over — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pavement , I jumped toward the screen where I was watching it , just so I could try to help him , the same way that I feel like a lot of us respond to seeing these images of violence .
And I just want to point out the absence of that , the absence of care and compassion for all our people , and especially for our elders .
And so , for Martin , again , someone who just always led with kindness , with love and respect , it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of care , and , of course , see the opposite , the criminalization of dissent , and trying to create a narrative in which he is the enemy , which is really painful , because I know he was out there .
And I want to raise up Martin ’ s one response so far since the attack .
And all he said was he wanted to be clear that his statement was Black lives matter .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Lu , I wanted to ask you — like many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when we think that this president has reached a new low , but he always manages to find an even deeper low to drop into .
I wanted to ask you about some of the work that you did with Martin at Witness Against Torture .
What were some of the activities you were involved in together ?
And what drove him to be involved ?
LU AYA : Yeah .
So , the work that we would do is , every January , we ’ d go to D.C. for a week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So it ’ s really an — it ’ s an advocacy week in which we spend all day every day together thinking about the ways in which we can creatively express our outrage at the continued injustices perpetrated by our government .
And so , our time together was really often spent in circles deciding how are we going to best do a creative action , and then going out into the streets of D.C. , to the Supreme Court , to the White House , to express to the government , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the need for human rights in Guantánamo and all military prisons , as well as prisons throughout this country .
And so — AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to go to Martin in his own words .
Martin Gugino recently submitted a video statement to a judge in Georgia presiding over the case of the Kings Bay Plowshares , the seven peace activists who broke into a nuclear submarine base in 2018 .
Martin quoted from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. AMY GOODMAN : Again , after being assaulted by police , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is laying in a hospital bed .
He was brought in in critical condition .
I wanted to give you a chance to sing the song that you wrote , Lu , to share it with us now .
LU AYA : Thanks so much .
This song , I really want to raise up that Martin did a lot to support that shifting of culture , and one of the ways is by supporting my crew , The Peace Poets .
And unfortunately , this song is still so relevant .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ can — AMY GOODMAN : We have less than a minute .
LU AYA : Thanks so much .
[ singing ] I still hear my brother crying “ I can ’ t breathe ” So now I ’ m in this struggle singing “ I can ’ t leave ” We ’ re calling out the violence of these racist police And we ain ’ t gon na stop 'til our people are free We ai n't gon na stop ’ til our people are free .
And right now across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hear my people rising up singing this : [ singing ] Defund the police Give that money to community ’ Til black people free We are rising up in unity .
Thank you for having me here , and I hope the people keep singing in these streets , because that ’ s what all of our people out there are doing .
Love and respect to all our people rising up .
Thank you for having me today .
AMY GOODMAN : Lu Aya , thank you so much for being with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and member of Witness Against Torture .
He protested alongside Martin Gugino for over a decade .
That does it for our broadcast .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
Stay safe .

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, with Juan González. On Tuesday, President Trump made no mention of George Floyd’s funeral, nor did he send condolences to his family on the day that George Floyd was laid to rest. But he did take to Twitter to attack a longtime peace activist in Buffalo, where police officers assaulted him at a protest last week against the police killing of George Floyd.
In the video, recorded by a bystander, that’s now been viewed by millions of people, two police officers violently shove 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground as dozens of officers walk by, not one stopping to help him, as blood seeps from his head on the pavement. After widespread outrage, the two officers were charged with felony assault over the weekend, prompting 57 police officers from Buffalo’s Emergency Response Team to quit the special unit in protest.
Martin Gugino is well known in the Buffalo community for his years of peaceful protest, including as a member of Witness Against Torture, a group that’s long advocated for the closure of Guantánamo Bay. In his many years as an activist, Gugino has demonstrated against climate inaction, racism and nuclear proliferation.
On Tuesday, while President Trump did not mention George Floyd, he attacked Martin Gugino as he lay in the hospital. Trump tweeted, quote, “Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. … I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?” Trump tweeted. Trump tagged One America News, a fringe right-wing media outlet that frequently amplifies conspiracy theories and has run multiple segments attacking Gugino since video of his assault drew national ire.
One Republican senator after another was asked to comment. While Mitt Romney did, saying it was ridiculous, other senators said, “We are weighing the information.”
For more, we’re joined by someone who protested alongside Martin Gugino for over a decade. Lu Aya is a part of The Peace Poets, a member of Witness Against Torture. He’s joining us from Oakland, California.
Lu Aya, it’s wonderful to have you with us. And if you can talk to us about Martin, talk about what his activism is all about, how you know him. And your response to President Trump’s completely unfounded, outright lying tweet?
LU AYA: Thanks so much, Amy. Thanks, Juan. It’s good to be with you both.
Martin, first and foremost, is just one of the kindest, most good-hearted people that I’ve been lucky to walk with. And so, this morning, as he’s still in the hospital, I just want to send him love and healing from here.
I was able to work with Martin with Witness Against Torture. Every January, we go there to protest the continued abuse of human rights in the prison in Guantánamo and demand justice for the people detained there. So, working with Martin has always been a joy. It is great to be able to tell people that he’s one of the amazing elders, that has always led with curiosity, creativity and courage in our community of Witness Against Torture.
And so, to be honest, Amy, I appreciate your question, but it’s hard to even justify a response to such a ridiculous tweet from President Trump. I feel personally that it’s important to, first, just say that Martin is someone who deserves, like all our elders, much more respect and care. And so I want to notice what the president of the country did not say. He did not say that it’s important for the police to respect elders, to treat people with dignity and care. And so, that, to me, in the face of having seen what happened to this friend of mine, who was pushed over — when I heard his head hit the pavement, I jumped toward the screen where I was watching it, just so I could try to help him, the same way that I feel like a lot of us respond to seeing these images of violence. And I just want to point out the absence of that, the absence of care and compassion for all our people, and especially for our elders.
And so, for Martin, again, someone who just always led with kindness, with love and respect, it’s really painful to see that lack of care, and, of course, see the opposite, the criminalization of dissent, and trying to create a narrative in which he is the enemy, which is really painful, because I know he was out there.
And I want to raise up Martin’s one response so far since the attack. And all he said was he wanted to be clear that his statement was Black lives matter.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Lu, I wanted to ask you — like many of us, we keep being astounded when we think that this president has reached a new low, but he always manages to find an even deeper low to drop into. I wanted to ask you about some of the work that you did with Martin at Witness Against Torture. What were some of the activities you were involved in together? And what drove him to be involved?
LU AYA: Yeah. So, the work that we would do is, every January, we’d go to D.C. for a week of fasting and action and prayer. So it’s really an — it’s an advocacy week in which we spend all day every day together thinking about the ways in which we can creatively express our outrage at the continued injustices perpetrated by our government. And so, our time together was really often spent in circles deciding how are we going to best do a creative action, and then going out into the streets of D.C., to the Supreme Court, to the White House, to express to the government, as well as to the people, the need for human rights in Guantánamo and all military prisons, as well as prisons throughout this country. And so —
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to Martin in his own words. Martin Gugino recently submitted a video statement to a judge in Georgia presiding over the case of the Kings Bay Plowshares, the seven peace activists who broke into a nuclear submarine base in 2018. Martin quoted from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
MARTIN GUGINO: It really starts with this quote of Matin Luther King that “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” What he doesn’t say there is that it doesn’t bend itself. We have to bend it. We have to go out into the culture and act justly, act morally, do good. And little by little, it will bend, will bend the culture towards justice. And some of the times, the culture doesn’t want to be bent, and so there’d be a conflict. And that’s just part of it. And Martin Luther King knew very well the possibilities.
AMY GOODMAN: Again, after being assaulted by police, Martin Gugino, who you just heard, is laying in a hospital bed. He was brought in in critical condition. I wanted to give you a chance to sing the song that you wrote, Lu, to share it with us now.
LU AYA: Thanks so much. This song, I really want to raise up that Martin did a lot to support that shifting of culture, and one of the ways is by supporting my crew, The Peace Poets. And unfortunately, this song is still so relevant. And I want to invite those who can —
AMY GOODMAN: We have less than a minute.
LU AYA: Thanks so much.
[singing] I still hear my brother crying “I can’t breathe”
So now I’m in this struggle singing “I can’t leave”
We’re calling out the violence of these racist police
And we ain’t gonna stop 'til our people are free
We ain't gonna stop ’til our people are free.
And right now across the country, I know that I can hear my people rising up singing this:
[singing] Defund the police
Give that money to community
’Til black people free
We are rising up in unity.
Thank you for having me here, and I hope the people keep singing in these streets, because that’s what all of our people out there are doing. Love and respect to all our people rising up. Thank you for having me today.
AMY GOODMAN: Lu Aya, thank you so much for being with us, member of The Peace Poets and member of Witness Against Torture. He protested alongside Martin Gugino for over a decade. That does it for our broadcast. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe.


democracynow--2020-06-10--"Out of Options in Terms of Reform": Khalil Gibran Muhammad on the Racist History of Police in U.S.

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 , with Juan González .
It ’ s been more than two weeks since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a global uprising in defense of Black lives .
The protests , seen in major cities , small towns across the U.S. , show no sign of abating .
As calls to defund the police grow , protesters are beginning to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Minneapolis City Council pledged to abolish the police department in Minneapolis .
In New York , state lawmakers have voted to ban the use of chokeholds and repeal a law that shields the disciplinary records of police officers from the public .
In Los Angeles , Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to cut police funding by $ 150 million .
Residents are now demanding he go much further .
Well , for more on the significance of this moment and the history of policing in America , from slave patrols to the present @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Khalil Gibran Muhammad , professor of history , race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the former director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture .
He ’ s the author of The Condemnation of Blackness : Race , Crime , and the Making of Modern Urban America .
Professor Muhammad , it ’ s great to have you with us .
If you could talk about this moment in time , both the uprisings , not only in this country , but around the world , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you so profoundly document ?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD : Thanks , Amy .
Thanks , Amy and Juan , for having me on the show .
Listen , we haven ’ t seen a moment like this in at least half a century , both here in the United States with protesters taking to the streets to demand , once and for all , not just police reform and accountability , but the prospect of a new vision of a relationship between state authorities and the health of a community .
And the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , from the public goods and social services that people need , but also safety .
And safety can come in many forms .
So , as far as what we ’ re seeing , we ’ re seeing a moment that is akin to the challenge that rocked the world in 1968 with global movements for various forms of anti-capitalist and anti-imperial and anticolonial organizing that took place both in the Global South and in many of the metropoles of the Global North .
And , you know , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re going to go from this moment , but it ’ s clear that when we look at the history of policing , we have run out of options in terms of reform , in terms of thinking about what the police can do for themselves .
I liken this to asking the police agencies of this country to reform themselves is as ridiculous as asking the fossil fuel industry to solve our climate change crisis .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Professor , in your book , you talk about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of these methods of policing , going back to the slave patrols in the mid-19th century .
I ’ m wondering if you could take our listeners and viewers through some of that history ?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD : Absolutely .
So , of course , people intuit and commonsensically understand that as a system of violent control over human beings , slavery required the use of violence to control people .
And so , for the entire period going back to the mid-1600s into the early 1700s , colony after colony , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Carolina and Virginia , passed a series of Black Codes or Negro Acts , various laws that were designed to empower everyday white citizens with the responsibility and , let me be clear , the duty to serve in an official capacity to surveil , monitor , to track and , when caught , to dispense corporal punishment against enslaved African people in the colonies .
It was the largest bureaucracy dedicated to a form of policing that we recognize today .
And it was everywhere in the colonies .
By the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while there were gradual abolition laws that took root in many Northern colonies , the antebellum experience of free Blacks was little different .
What went from a slave patrol became the responsibility of a growing cohort of modern police officers .
And this problem , from slavery to freedom , simply changed uniform and changed the instruments and tools of keeping track of people of African descent , and it expanded in the United States of America .
But there ’ s another part of this history that I think is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policing , in the broadest sense , was always about policing the essential workers of this society .
And this is true in societies in countries all over the globe .
And what do I mean by “ essential workers ” ?
Meaning the people who , at the bottom of the society , their freedom has always been constrained by more privileged and more elite , and in this country , whites .
Now , whites , of course , range in class .
And so , one of the ironies is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the country were policed , especially when they challenged political authority , when they challenged economic inequality , but at the same time , they were able to join police forces .
By the 1840s and 1850s , we see the Irish Americans beginning to both make their way in America , but also begin to join the police force .
They direct their sense of belonging in the United States for policing .
[ inaudible ] both a reflection of a racial and class hierarchy and also a way of giving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t have access to the top of the American economy .
So , policing is a reflection of a tremendous disorder in our economic system .
It is a reflection of racial hierarchies that are deeply entrenched in our society .
And when we see FOP or union leaders represented by working-class white men , partly , they have been empowered to define the profession as their own , not as a reflection of liberal democratic norms and universal ideas , but it is their profession .
So , for me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policing is also to talk about the history of white supremacy and racial capitalism in the United States of America .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : [ inaudible ] that I ’ m wondering , because this does not only affect — although it has largely affected the African American community , but it ’ s also been — this method of using law enforcement and policing as a method of domination has also been used with other people of color , specifically Mexicans , Puerto Ricans , Native Americans .
In 1862 , President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warriors who had gone to war against the U.S. in the midst of the Civil War .
And they were hanged as criminals and as murderers , not as enemy combatants .
And I ’ m thinking of the Texas Rangers , who were largely created to control and dominate Mexicans , who were called “ bandits , ” because they were defending their land .
And even with Puerto Ricans , from Albizu Campos to Oscar López Rivera , all the freedom fighters were always branded as criminals and dealt with as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m wondering , this whole issue of the territorial expansion of the country necessitating even more police repression on these populations of color , your sense of it in your historical studies .
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD : Listen , Juan , I mean , the summaries and examples you just gave are incredibly important , because , to take it back to the very beginning , my colleague , Kelly Lytle Hernández , who has written about the U.S. Border Patrol and its origins in policing the movement of Mexicans coming to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ here to work — but she also describes that the infrastructure of American colonial settlement , the very basis upon which the country literally expanded , as you say , the territorial expansion , was the jail .
And she goes back to the very beginning , in the 1700s , to what is now the city of Los Angeles , which used to be the Tongva Basin , which used to be populated by Indigenous populations .
And she said it was precisely the introduction of the physical jail as the instrument @ @ @ @ @ @ @ domination that was always rooted in harnessing the labor power of people , not to exterminate or to exclude them altogether , but to ensure that their labor would be extracted for the purposes of work , and then everything else would be controlled , that their freedom would be constrained .
And that story is the story of every group in every part of the country whose labor power was the most important contribution that they would make .
Their civil liberties , their civil rights , their human rights , their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secondary .
Their right to political dissent was secondary .
So , you can look at Chinese immigrants in San Francisco in the 1880s and see the same story .
You can look in Chicago in the midst of the labor upheavals of the 1890s , with foreign-born immigrant whites demanding fair treatment in the workplace , and see the same story .
You can look at Texas and look and see the story of the Texas Rangers , which enforced literal white property theft of Tejano and Mexican descendant landowners , people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Mexico before the Mexican Revolution and before the annexation of Mexico by the United States in 1848 , but people who were law-abiding , respectable citizens in their communities .
And white settlers showed up and essentially accused them of false crimes , criminalized them , and Texas Rangers enforced that .
So , across time , across space and across groups , policing has a tortured history of being enforcers of various forms of domination .
AMY GOODMAN : You know , this is so interesting .
This is so interesting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you were a Harvard professor , you were the head of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture , which was established by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg , who was an African American Puerto Rican , bringing together all of these different cultures .
I ’ m wondering if you now can go back , as you have , talking about the history of police repression , and talk about the history of the resistance to it ?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD : Yeah .
So , the resistance is fascinating , because for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group of individuals who sought to subvert the system .
And , of course , the most famous of those who fought against it was Harriet Tubman .
And while often we think of her as a kind of caricature person who stands outside of history , she embodied the earliest forms of resistance to the system itself , but also to challenging the very violent instruments of that system .
We can look at the resistance of laborers , who armed themselves to fight against private security and police officers at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Massachusetts in the 1870s , in steel country in the Midwest , and the rise-up of populist , anti-capitalist organizing of socialist leaders in the turn of the 20th century .
White workers and Black workers , in some cases , side by side , fought together to change the very understanding of their rights as economic beings and as citizens of this country .
And most certainly , we can look at Northern cities as places where African Americans showed up , beginning in World War I , and completely transforming the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nation by virtue of the Great Migration .
And in time after time , instance after instance , African Americans demanded equality at the workplace , demanded equality in the homes , and they fought against white police and white citizens in that effort .
We saw commissions beginning in , really , the 1890s around white police agencies focused on immigrants , and then we saw the same thing occur in the Great Migration period , beginning in Chicago , as the result of an anti-Black riot in 1919 .
These commissions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over again .
For over a century , from Chicago to the consent decree in Chicago in 2017 around the Laquan McDonald shooting , you have the arc of a hundred years of history saying the same story , which is that some precipitating act of violence by a police officer is only the tip of the iceberg of a submerged story of hundreds , in some cases thousands , of people being subject to various forms of everyday forms of abuse and trauma by the police .
And that resistance , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black folks speaking to their condition .
Of course , the Black freedom movement gave us the Black Panther Party and other radical groups that essentially centered police brutality as the key issue for securing Black dignity and citizenship in this country and other places , and they were subject to the full weight of the federal government in repressive tactics , including COINTELPRO and other mechanisms , including assassination , which , in the most high-profile case , killed Fred Hampton in 1969 in Chicago .
AMY GOODMAN : I want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speaking Sunday on CBS ’ Face the Nation .
Asked if he believes there ’ s systemic racism in law enforcement , this is his response .
It ’ s not playing .
But let me ask you this .
Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad , you ’ ve talked about the resistance through history .
How does what we ’ re seeing now — it looks like we have William Barr .
AMY GOODMAN : “ I don ’ t think that the law enforcement system is [ systemically ] racist.
” Professor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MUHAMMAD : Well , I mean , I was actually more impressed with some of the concessions he made in that speech than this fine line he draws between individual rotten apples and the system itself .
I ’ d like your listeners and viewers to think about this this way .
This would be the akin of saying that Americans ’ prisons are not built to dehumanize , given everything we know what goes on inside of them , despite the fact that people who show up to work every day are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the problem we ’ re having around this conversation around policing .
Policing , as a system , has been a system of control that sorts people and decides who gets to live and who gets to die with even the mere accusation of criminality .
That is not true in white affluent communities .
It is not true in communities where political elites are .
We just saw a parade of criminality in the Trump administration , and all we kept hearing is federal prosecutors say , “ We ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We ’ re not sure we can bring the case.
” We didn ’ t see Michael Cohen be subjected to pepper spray or flash grenades or a knee on his neck .
So , there is a double standard of justice in America , that police are enforcing white supremacy , and they ’ re enforcing economic hierarchy .
And until we come to terms with that , in the way that we should be coming to terms with what happens inside of our prisons , we ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the streets and demand justice and transformation .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Khalil , I wanted to ask you about a particular aspect of the role of the press and the media narrative in the issues of policing and police abuse .
For most of the country ’ s history — and I ’ ve done quite a bit of studying of the history of the press in America — the press functioned almost as an intelligence operation for the dominant white community .
During the colonial period , as much as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of American newspapers was intelligence to the white settlers about what the African American or the Native American communities were doing .
But even up to the '60s , the press were largely white , and even the rebellions of the ’ 60s , they reporting from a white perspective , as the Kerner Commission noted .
But in recent years , as the press themselves have become diversified , we 're seeing both in the mainstream media , and of course now with citizen videos , this enormous change in the narrative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police is .
I ’ m wondering if you think that that , along with the public resistance movement , will have a more lasting effect in terms of redirecting or changing the nature of policing in America .
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD : Juan , it ’ s a great question , and I certainly appreciate even your sharing your own research and brief history of media in the past .
I think it ’ s important .
So , if the question is “ Can we see this moment for the democratization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by virtue of social media and the fact that citizens can aggregate and spread news in ways that they could not before , I do think this is a fundamentally different moment .
The gatekeeping of information and distribution of knowledge has broken down in many ways , both for good and for bad .
But on the good side of the ledger , there ’ s no question that this is a moment of possibility , because there is a crisis of legitimacy in our democratic institutions , most obviously in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But it is also true that news agencies around the country , no matter who ’ s in charge — a Black person or white prison or a Latino or Asian American — have been deferential , over the past , to official accounts .
And the crisis of legitimacy for police agencies has led many of those news directors , no matter who they are , to begin to think , like , we can ’ t trust the official record .
In the case of Derek Chauvin ’ s killing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police record .
So , the deference that has been assumed up to this time now is breaking down .
The ability to shoot in real time the killing and execution of people by police , or the brutality directed by police , as is the case in Buffalo and many other places as police use brutality to stop protesters from protesting against brutality , means that this crisis of legitimacy will be resolved .
The only question of what the resolution looks like is : How long will people stay in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Khalil Gibran Muhammad , finally , defund the police .
Do you see a comparable movement in history ?
And how this has changed the narrative ?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD : The defund-the-police moment is an incredible adjustment to the issue of abolition , that has mostly been about activists seeding the notion that these institutions are fundamentally broken .
Organizations like Critical Resistance , that Ruth Gilmore and Angela Davis began many decades ago , have helped to develop the theory of change , of which abolition in our prison system and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Defund takes the core idea of abolition and says , “ If we were to start over , what would we decide police should be doing versus not be doing ?
” Now , I ’ m already picking a middle position between the notion that we simply wipe out police altogether , which is one abolitionist version of it .
But defund , as it is being articulated in places like Minneapolis , is really a conversation of : We ’ re going to start over , and we ’ re going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ list , from everything from nuisance calls to wellness checks to claims of violent crime , and we ’ re going to decide what the police ought to be doing .
And once we see what ’ s left over , then that ’ s the percentage of the budget that the police , a new version of the police , will keep .
The rest will go to other public services .
We can use violence interrupters , who are public health workers trained in the community , by the community , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal with conflict resolution .
This is how it works in nearly every other country where police have not been militarized and given unlimited resources and power to police their own citizens as if they were soldiers in occupied territory .
People resolve conflicts inside of healthy , functioning communities .
So people in this country need the same training and resources to be able to do similar things .
That ’ s what defund is about .
I ’ ll say one more thing about this .
And that is that police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those on the left can not be ambivalent about the need for opening up collective bargaining agreements where police unions are concerned , because they are a major impediment to the reforms and the defund or whatever version of new policing is going to emerge out of this moment .
AMY GOODMAN : Khalil Gibran Muhammad , I want to thank you so much for being with us , professor of history , race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School , Suzanne Young Murray professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Blackness : Race , Crime , and the Making of Modern Urban America .
When we come back , we look at the story of Martin Gugino , the 75-year-old Buffalo peace activist who ’ s continuing remaining hospitalized after being pushed to the ground by two Buffalo police officers .
Now President Trump has attacked him on Twitter .
Stay with us .

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, with Juan González. It’s been more than two weeks since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a global uprising in defense of Black lives. The protests, seen in major cities, small towns across the U.S., show no sign of abating.
As calls to defund the police grow, protesters are beginning to see results. Last weekend, the majority of Minneapolis City Council pledged to abolish the police department in Minneapolis. In New York, state lawmakers have voted to ban the use of chokeholds and repeal a law that shields the disciplinary records of police officers from the public. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to cut police funding by $150 million. Residents are now demanding he go much further.
Well, for more on the significance of this moment and the history of policing in America, from slave patrols to the present day, we’re joined by Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the former director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He’s the author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America.
Professor Muhammad, it’s great to have you with us. If you could talk about this moment in time, both the uprisings, not only in this country, but around the world, and also the history of policing, that you so profoundly document?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Thanks, Amy. Thanks, Amy and Juan, for having me on the show.
Listen, we haven’t seen a moment like this in at least half a century, both here in the United States with protesters taking to the streets to demand, once and for all, not just police reform and accountability, but the prospect of a new vision of a relationship between state authorities and the health of a community. And the health of a community depends on everything, from the public goods and social services that people need, but also safety. And safety can come in many forms.
So, as far as what we’re seeing, we’re seeing a moment that is akin to the challenge that rocked the world in 1968 with global movements for various forms of anti-capitalist and anti-imperial and anticolonial organizing that took place both in the Global South and in many of the metropoles of the Global North.
And, you know, it’s hard to know for sure where we’re going to go from this moment, but it’s clear that when we look at the history of policing, we have run out of options in terms of reform, in terms of thinking about what the police can do for themselves. I liken this to asking the police agencies of this country to reform themselves is as ridiculous as asking the fossil fuel industry to solve our climate change crisis.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor, in your book, you talk about the 400 years of legacy of the development of these methods of policing, going back to the slave patrols in the mid-19th century. I’m wondering if you could take our listeners and viewers through some of that history?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Absolutely. So, of course, people intuit and commonsensically understand that as a system of violent control over human beings, slavery required the use of violence to control people. And so, for the entire period going back to the mid-1600s into the early 1700s, colony after colony, from New York and Massachusetts to South Carolina and Virginia, passed a series of Black Codes or Negro Acts, various laws that were designed to empower everyday white citizens with the responsibility and, let me be clear, the duty to serve in an official capacity to surveil, monitor, to track and, when caught, to dispense corporal punishment against enslaved African people in the colonies. It was the largest bureaucracy dedicated to a form of policing that we recognize today. And it was everywhere in the colonies.
By the time the nation was born, in 1790, while there were gradual abolition laws that took root in many Northern colonies, the antebellum experience of free Blacks was little different. What went from a slave patrol became the responsibility of a growing cohort of modern police officers. And this problem, from slavery to freedom, simply changed uniform and changed the instruments and tools of keeping track of people of African descent, and it expanded in the United States of America.
But there’s another part of this history that I think is really important, and that is that policing, in the broadest sense, was always about policing the essential workers of this society. And this is true in societies in countries all over the globe. And what do I mean by “essential workers”? Meaning the people who, at the bottom of the society, their freedom has always been constrained by more privileged and more elite, and in this country, whites.
Now, whites, of course, range in class. And so, one of the ironies is that both poor whites in many parts of the country were policed, especially when they challenged political authority, when they challenged economic inequality, but at the same time, they were able to join police forces. By the 1840s and 1850s, we see the Irish Americans beginning to both make their way in America, but also begin to join the police force. They direct their sense of belonging in the United States for policing. [inaudible] both a reflection of a racial and class hierarchy and also a way of giving power to groups that feel like they don’t have access to the top of the American economy.
So, policing is a reflection of a tremendous disorder in our economic system. It is a reflection of racial hierarchies that are deeply entrenched in our society. And when we see FOP or union leaders represented by working-class white men, partly, they have been empowered to define the profession as their own, not as a reflection of liberal democratic norms and universal ideas, but it is their profession. So, for me, to talk about the history of policing is also to talk about the history of white supremacy and racial capitalism in the United States of America.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: [inaudible] that I’m wondering, because this does not only affect — although it has largely affected the African American community, but it’s also been — this method of using law enforcement and policing as a method of domination has also been used with other people of color, specifically Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans. In 1862, President Lincoln ordered the hanging of 38 Dakota warriors who had gone to war against the U.S. in the midst of the Civil War. And they were hanged as criminals and as murderers, not as enemy combatants. And I’m thinking of the Texas Rangers, who were largely created to control and dominate Mexicans, who were called “bandits,” because they were defending their land. And even with Puerto Ricans, from Albizu Campos to Oscar López Rivera, all the freedom fighters were always branded as criminals and dealt with as criminals within the justice system. I’m wondering, this whole issue of the territorial expansion of the country necessitating even more police repression on these populations of color, your sense of it in your historical studies.
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Listen, Juan, I mean, the summaries and examples you just gave are incredibly important, because, to take it back to the very beginning, my colleague, Kelly Lytle Hernández, who has written about the U.S. Border Patrol and its origins in policing the movement of Mexicans coming to the country because the country wanted them here to work — but she also describes that the infrastructure of American colonial settlement, the very basis upon which the country literally expanded, as you say, the territorial expansion, was the jail. And she goes back to the very beginning, in the 1700s, to what is now the city of Los Angeles, which used to be the Tongva Basin, which used to be populated by Indigenous populations. And she said it was precisely the introduction of the physical jail as the instrument of control and domination, but a domination that was always rooted in harnessing the labor power of people, not to exterminate or to exclude them altogether, but to ensure that their labor would be extracted for the purposes of work, and then everything else would be controlled, that their freedom would be constrained.
And that story is the story of every group in every part of the country whose labor power was the most important contribution that they would make. Their civil liberties, their civil rights, their human rights, their humanity itself, was optional, was secondary. Their right to political dissent was secondary. So, you can look at Chinese immigrants in San Francisco in the 1880s and see the same story. You can look in Chicago in the midst of the labor upheavals of the 1890s, with foreign-born immigrant whites demanding fair treatment in the workplace, and see the same story. You can look at Texas and look and see the story of the Texas Rangers, which enforced literal white property theft of Tejano and Mexican descendant landowners, people who not only had once been part of Mexico before the Mexican Revolution and before the annexation of Mexico by the United States in 1848, but people who were law-abiding, respectable citizens in their communities. And white settlers showed up and essentially accused them of false crimes, criminalized them, and Texas Rangers enforced that. So, across time, across space and across groups, policing has a tortured history of being enforcers of various forms of domination.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, this is so interesting. This is so interesting, Khalil, because you, before you were a Harvard professor, you were the head of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which was established by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, who was an African American Puerto Rican, bringing together all of these different cultures. I’m wondering if you now can go back, as you have, talking about the history of police repression, and talk about the history of the resistance to it?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Yeah. So, the resistance is fascinating, because for every slave patrol was an individual or group of individuals who sought to subvert the system. And, of course, the most famous of those who fought against it was Harriet Tubman. And while often we think of her as a kind of caricature person who stands outside of history, she embodied the earliest forms of resistance to the system itself, but also to challenging the very violent instruments of that system.
We can look at the resistance of laborers, who armed themselves to fight against private security and police officers at the gates of companies in various cities of Massachusetts in the 1870s, in steel country in the Midwest, and the rise-up of populist, anti-capitalist organizing of socialist leaders in the turn of the 20th century. White workers and Black workers, in some cases, side by side, fought together to change the very understanding of their rights as economic beings and as citizens of this country. And most certainly, we can look at Northern cities as places where African Americans showed up, beginning in World War I, and completely transforming the understanding of work and citizenship in this nation by virtue of the Great Migration. And in time after time, instance after instance, African Americans demanded equality at the workplace, demanded equality in the homes, and they fought against white police and white citizens in that effort.
We saw commissions beginning in, really, the 1890s around white police agencies focused on immigrants, and then we saw the same thing occur in the Great Migration period, beginning in Chicago, as the result of an anti-Black riot in 1919. These commissions came to the same conclusion over and over again. For over a century, from Chicago to the consent decree in Chicago in 2017 around the Laquan McDonald shooting, you have the arc of a hundred years of history saying the same story, which is that some precipitating act of violence by a police officer is only the tip of the iceberg of a submerged story of hundreds, in some cases thousands, of people being subject to various forms of everyday forms of abuse and trauma by the police. And that resistance, in the form of those commissions, is Black folks speaking to their condition.
Of course, the Black freedom movement gave us the Black Panther Party and other radical groups that essentially centered police brutality as the key issue for securing Black dignity and citizenship in this country and other places, and they were subject to the full weight of the federal government in repressive tactics, including COINTELPRO and other mechanisms, including assassination, which, in the most high-profile case, killed Fred Hampton in 1969 in Chicago.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaking Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation. Asked if he believes there’s systemic racism in law enforcement, this is his response. It’s not playing. But let me ask you this. Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad, you’ve talked about the resistance through history. How does what we’re seeing now — it looks like we have William Barr.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: I think there’s racism in the United States still, but I don’t think that the law enforcement system is systemically racist. I understand the distrust, however, of the African American community, given the history in this country. I think we have to recognize that for most of our history, our institutions were explicitly racist. … Since the 1960s, I think we’ve been in a phase of reforming our institutions and making sure that they’re in sync with our laws and aren’t fighting a rearguard action to impose inequities.
AMY GOODMAN: “I don’t think that the law enforcement system is [systemically] racist.” Professor Muhammad, your response?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Well, I mean, I was actually more impressed with some of the concessions he made in that speech than this fine line he draws between individual rotten apples and the system itself.
I’d like your listeners and viewers to think about this this way. This would be the akin of saying that Americans’ prisons are not built to dehumanize, given everything we know what goes on inside of them, despite the fact that people who show up to work every day are not necessarily evil people. That’s the problem we’re having around this conversation around policing. Policing, as a system, has been a system of control that sorts people and decides who gets to live and who gets to die with even the mere accusation of criminality. That is not true in white affluent communities. It is not true in communities where political elites are. We just saw a parade of criminality in the Trump administration, and all we kept hearing is federal prosecutors say, “We’re not sure we can win this case. We’re not sure we can bring the case.” We didn’t see Michael Cohen be subjected to pepper spray or flash grenades or a knee on his neck.
So, there is a double standard of justice in America, that police are enforcing white supremacy, and they’re enforcing economic hierarchy. And until we come to terms with that, in the way that we should be coming to terms with what happens inside of our prisons, we’re going to continue to see the resistance take to the streets and demand justice and transformation.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Khalil, I wanted to ask you about a particular aspect of the role of the press and the media narrative in the issues of policing and police abuse. For most of the country’s history — and I’ve done quite a bit of studying of the history of the press in America — the press functioned almost as an intelligence operation for the dominant white community. During the colonial period, as much as a third of all of the content of American newspapers was intelligence to the white settlers about what the African American or the Native American communities were doing. But even up to the '60s, the press were largely white, and even the rebellions of the ’60s, they reporting from a white perspective, as the Kerner Commission noted. But in recent years, as the press themselves have become diversified, we're seeing both in the mainstream media, and of course now with citizen videos, this enormous change in the narrative as to what the role of the police is. I’m wondering if you think that that, along with the public resistance movement, will have a more lasting effect in terms of redirecting or changing the nature of policing in America.
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: Juan, it’s a great question, and I certainly appreciate even your sharing your own research and brief history of media in the past. I think it’s important.
So, if the question is “Can we see this moment for the democratization of media itself?” obviously, by virtue of social media and the fact that citizens can aggregate and spread news in ways that they could not before, I do think this is a fundamentally different moment. The gatekeeping of information and distribution of knowledge has broken down in many ways, both for good and for bad. But on the good side of the ledger, there’s no question that this is a moment of possibility, because there is a crisis of legitimacy in our democratic institutions, most obviously in the executive branch with the White House.
But it is also true that news agencies around the country, no matter who’s in charge — a Black person or white prison or a Latino or Asian American — have been deferential, over the past, to official accounts. And the crisis of legitimacy for police agencies has led many of those news directors, no matter who they are, to begin to think, like, we can’t trust the official record. In the case of Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd, he lied on the police record. So, the deference that has been assumed up to this time now is breaking down.
The ability to shoot in real time the killing and execution of people by police, or the brutality directed by police, as is the case in Buffalo and many other places as police use brutality to stop protesters from protesting against brutality, means that this crisis of legitimacy will be resolved. The only question of what the resolution looks like is: How long will people stay in the streets demanding change?
AMY GOODMAN: Khalil Gibran Muhammad, finally, defund the police. Do you see a comparable movement in history? And how this has changed the narrative?
KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: The defund-the-police moment is an incredible adjustment to the issue of abolition, that has mostly been about activists seeding the notion that these institutions are fundamentally broken. Organizations like Critical Resistance, that Ruth Gilmore and Angela Davis began many decades ago, have helped to develop the theory of change, of which abolition in our prison system and in our police have been developed.
Defund takes the core idea of abolition and says, “If we were to start over, what would we decide police should be doing versus not be doing?” Now, I’m already picking a middle position between the notion that we simply wipe out police altogether, which is one abolitionist version of it. But defund, as it is being articulated in places like Minneapolis, is really a conversation of: We’re going to start over, and we’re going to start over by putting together a list, from everything from nuisance calls to wellness checks to claims of violent crime, and we’re going to decide what the police ought to be doing. And once we see what’s left over, then that’s the percentage of the budget that the police, a new version of the police, will keep. The rest will go to other public services.
We can use violence interrupters, who are public health workers trained in the community, by the community, for the community, to in fact deal with conflict resolution. This is how it works in nearly every other country where police have not been militarized and given unlimited resources and power to police their own citizens as if they were soldiers in occupied territory. People resolve conflicts inside of healthy, functioning communities. So people in this country need the same training and resources to be able to do similar things. That’s what defund is about.
I’ll say one more thing about this. And that is that police unions are a problem. So, those on the left cannot be ambivalent about the need for opening up collective bargaining agreements where police unions are concerned, because they are a major impediment to the reforms and the defund or whatever version of new policing is going to emerge out of this moment.
AMY GOODMAN: Khalil Gibran Muhammad, I want to thank you so much for being with us, professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Suzanne Young Murray professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America.
When we come back, we look at the story of Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old Buffalo peace activist who’s continuing remaining hospitalized after being pushed to the ground by two Buffalo police officers. Now President Trump has attacked him on Twitter. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Houston gospel singer Kim Burrell singing at George Floyd’s funeral service in Houston Tuesday.


democracynow--2020-06-10--"Justice Will Be Served": Family Pays Tribute to George Floyd and Demands Change at Houston Funeral

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : After weeks of protests over the police killing of George Floyd , his family and friends gathered Tuesday in Houston , the city where he was raised , for a private funeral , to lay him to rest and to call for change .
This comes after a public viewing Monday , when more than 6,000 people paid their respects .
After the funeral , Floyd ’ s golden coffin was driven to a cemetery to be buried beside his mother .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ passed .
A horse-drawn carriage carried his coffin for the last mile of the procession .
This is George Floyd ’ s niece , Brooke Williams , speaking at the funeral .
AMY GOODMAN : That ’ s George Floyd ’ s niece , Brooke Williams .
This is his brother , Philonise Floyd , who ’ s set to testify before Congress today on police accountability .
PHILONISE FLOYD : I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about my brother a lot , because couldn ’ t believe it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now .
All I think about is when he was yelling for Mama .
And I know how Mama is .
She ’ s just right there .
She got her hands wide open : “ Come here , baby.
” Every mama felt that .
AMY GOODMAN : That ’ s Philonise Floyd , George Floyd ’ s brother .
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden also spoke at the funeral in a recorded video after visiting Floyd ’ s family on Monday .
He began by addressing George Floyd ’ s 6-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know you have a lot of questions , honey .
No child should have to ask questions that too many Black children have had to ask for generations : Why ?
Why is Daddy gone ?
And looking through your eyes , we should also be asking ourselves why the answer is so often too cruel and painful .
Why in this nation do too many Black Americans wake up knowing that they could lose their life in the course of just living their life ?
Why does justice not roll like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stream ?
Why ?
AMY GOODMAN : During the funeral , Democratic Houston Congressmember Al Green called on lawmakers to support the Justice in Policing Act , introduced Monday by the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus , which would make it illegal for law enforcement to put a foot on someone ’ s neck .
This is Congressman Green .
It ’ s time for a Department of Reconciliation in the highest land , the highest office .
It ’ s time to have someone who is going to make it his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black people in the United States of America every day of his life .
That ’ s what it is , is all about .
It ’ s time for us to reconcile .
We need a Department of Reconciliation .
AMY GOODMAN : As mourners at George Floyd ’ s funeral recalled how he made a difference , Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner used his address at the funeral to announce he would be signing a new executive order .
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER : And what that order will say is that in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strangleholds .
In this city , we will require deescalation .
In this city , you have to give a warning before you shoot .
In this city , you have a duty to intervene .
In this city , we will require comprehensive reporting .
In this city , you must exhaust all alternatives before shooting .
When we come back , we look at the last two weeks of protest and the racist history of policing with the scholar Khalil Gibran Muhammad .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : Dray @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A Change Is Gon na Come ” Tuesday at the funeral for George Floyd in Houston , Texas .
Behind him , an artist paints a photo of George Floyd .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: After weeks of protests over the police killing of George Floyd, his family and friends gathered Tuesday in Houston, the city where he was raised, for a private funeral, to lay him to rest and to call for change. This comes after a public viewing Monday, when more than 6,000 people paid their respects. After the funeral, Floyd’s golden coffin was driven to a cemetery to be buried beside his mother. Houstonians lined the streets as his motorcade passed. A horse-drawn carriage carried his coffin for the last mile of the procession. This is George Floyd’s niece, Brooke Williams, speaking at the funeral.
BROOKE WILLIAMS: Hello. My name is Brooke Williams, George Floyd’s niece. And I can breathe. Long as I’m breathing, justice will be served for Perry!
First off, I want to thank all of you for coming out to support George Perry Floyd. My uncle was a father, brother, uncle and a cousin to many, spiritually grounded, an activist. He always moved people with his words.
The officers showed no remorse while watching my uncle’s soul leave his body. He begged and pleaded many times just for you to get up, but you just pushed harder. Why must the system be corrupt and broken? …
Someone said, 'Make America great again.' But when has America ever been great?
Those four officers were literally on him for nine minutes, and none of them showed they have a heart or soul. This is not just murder, but a hate crime.
I share happy memories with my uncle. And that’s all I have, are memories. I still can’t pull myself together to how he was calling out my grandma’s name. I believe my grandmother was right there with open arms, saying, “Come home, baby. You shouldn’t feel this pain. No one should feel this pain.”
Quote Tupac — I mean Tupac, I’m sorry, y’all — “Changes”: “You see the old way wasn’t working, so it’s on us to do what we gotta do to survive.”
America, it is time for a change, even if it shall begin with more protest. No justice, no peace!
AMY GOODMAN: That’s George Floyd’s niece, Brooke Williams. This is his brother, Philonise Floyd, who’s set to testify before Congress today on police accountability.
PHILONISE FLOYD: I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about my brother a lot, because couldn’t believe it at first. But I see it now. All I think about is when he was yelling for Mama. And I know how Mama is. She’s just right there. She got her hands wide open: “Come here, baby.” Every mama felt that.
I want justice for my brother, my big brother. Everybody gonna remember him around the world. He’s going to change the world.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden also spoke at the funeral in a recorded video after visiting Floyd’s family on Monday. He began by addressing George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter Gianna.
JOE BIDEN: I know you have a lot of questions, honey. No child should have to ask questions that too many Black children have had to ask for generations: Why? Why is Daddy gone? And looking through your eyes, we should also be asking ourselves why the answer is so often too cruel and painful. Why in this nation do too many Black Americans wake up knowing that they could lose their life in the course of just living their life? Why does justice not roll like a river, or righteousness like a mighty stream? Why?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we can’t turn away. We must not turn away. We cannot leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away from racism that stings at our very soul, from systemic abuse that still plagues American life.
AMY GOODMAN: During the funeral, Democratic Houston Congressmember Al Green called on lawmakers to support the Justice in Policing Act, introduced Monday by the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, which would make it illegal for law enforcement to put a foot on someone’s neck. This is Congressman Green.
REP. AL GREEN: This country has not reconciled its differences with us. We survived slavery, but we didn’t reconcile. We survived segregation, but we didn’t reconcile. We’re suffering invidious discrimination because we didn’t reconcile.
It’s time for a Department of Reconciliation in the highest land, the highest office. It’s time to have someone who is going to make it his or her business to seek reconciliation for Black people in the United States of America every day of his life. That’s what it is, is all about. It’s time for us to reconcile. We need a Department of Reconciliation.
AMY GOODMAN: As mourners at George Floyd’s funeral recalled how he made a difference, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner used his address at the funeral to announce he would be signing a new executive order.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER: And what that order will say is that in this city we will ban chokeholds and strangleholds. In this city, we will require deescalation. In this city, you have to give a warning before you shoot. In this city, you have a duty to intervene. In this city, we will require comprehensive reporting. In this city, you must exhaust all alternatives before shooting.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner speaking Tuesday at George Floyd’s funeral in Houston.
When we come back, we look at the last two weeks of protest and the racist history of policing with the scholar Khalil Gibran Muhammad. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Dray Tate singing Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” Tuesday at the funeral for George Floyd in Houston, Texas. Behind him, an artist paints a photo of George Floyd.


democracynow--2020-06-10--Headlines for June 10, 2020

Headlines for June 10, 2020

Voters headed to the polls in five states Tuesday .
In Georgia , some voters had to wait in line for as long as five hours in the heat and rain due to widespread problems with new electronic voting machines and a shortage of trained poll workers .
Georgia ’ s Republican secretary of state has launched a probe .
Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said , “ It ’ s a disaster that was imminently preventable .
… We found ourselves in the mix of both incompetence and malfeasance.
” The New York Times has published drone footage showing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one site .
The lines were so long , judges extended voting hours at polls in at least 20 counties — including in areas with large African American communities .
Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted videos of voters complaining about the long lines .
This is 80-year-old Anita Heard .
Anita Heard : “ This is ridiculous .
In the United States of America , this time , people can ’ t vote .
People are killing each other and can ’ t get along .
I don ’ t have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a human being .
What is going on ?
And now we get here .
People have been — look at these people .
We ’ ve been waiting .
We ’ ve been waiting since 6:00 this morning .
Six o ’ clock .
If you go around this building , you ’ ll see people waiting in line .
This is unfair.
” DeKalb County Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson said , “ If this is a preview of November , then we ’ re in trouble.
” Georgia has closed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 .
Results from the Georgia election won ’ t be finalized for days .
Jon Ossoff is leading in the Democratic Senate primary , but a runoff may still be needed to decide who will challenge Republican Senator David Perdue in November .
In other election news , Republican Senator Lindsey Graham survived a challenge from three fellow Republicans in South Carolina .
He will face Democrat Jaime Harrison in November .

Voters headed to the polls in five states Tuesday. In Georgia, some voters had to wait in line for as long as five hours in the heat and rain due to widespread problems with new electronic voting machines and a shortage of trained poll workers. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state has launched a probe. Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said, “It’s a disaster that was imminently preventable. … We found ourselves in the mix of both incompetence and malfeasance.” The New York Times has published drone footage showing hundreds of people waiting in line at one site. The lines were so long, judges extended voting hours at polls in at least 20 counties — including in areas with large African American communities. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted videos of voters complaining about the long lines. This is 80-year-old Anita Heard.
Anita Heard: “This is ridiculous. In the United States of America, this time, people can’t vote. People are killing each other and can’t get along. I don’t have to like you, but I respect you as a human being. What is going on? And now we get here. People have been — look at these people. We’ve been waiting. We’ve been waiting since 6:00 this morning. Six o’clock. If you go around this building, you’ll see people waiting in line. This is unfair.”
DeKalb County Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson said, “If this is a preview of November, then we’re in trouble.” Georgia has closed over 200 polling places since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Results from the Georgia election won’t be finalized for days. Jon Ossoff is leading in the Democratic Senate primary, but a runoff may still be needed to decide who will challenge Republican Senator David Perdue in November. In other election news, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham survived a challenge from three fellow Republicans in South Carolina. He will face Democrat Jaime Harrison in November.