democracynow--2020-07-16--In Attempt to "Intimidate Protesters," 87 Face Felony Charges for Kentucky Sit-In for Breonna Taylor

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 Nermeen Shaikh .
Scores of protesters gathered Tuesday for a peaceful sit-in outside the home of the Kentucky attorney general , Daniel Cameron , urging him to charge the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor .
She ’ s the 26-year-old Black woman , an EMT , who was treating COVID patients , an aspiring nurse , who was shot to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in March .
Several celebrities , including NFL player Kenny Stills of the Houston Texans , and activists Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour were arrested , along with more than 80 other protesters .
They all face several charges , including a felony for intimidating a participant in the legal process .
Hayes Gardner , a reporter for The Courier-Journal in Louisville , tweeted Sarsour saying , quote , “ We are being charged with a felony as an intimidation tactic by the LMPD in hopes that they believe we will never do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As you know , we are not intimidated , in fact , very emboldened right now.
” For more , we continue our conversation with Marc Lamont Hill , professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University , author of a number of books , including Nobody : Casualties of America ’ s War on the Vulnerable , from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond .
So , talk about what ’ s happened in Louisville , Marc , this killing of Breonna Taylor , this remarkable young woman who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , hoping to be a nurse .
Police storm her apartment .
She ’ s there with her boyfriend .
They shoot into it blindly , one of the officers shooting into the window of her bedroom , where there were curtains .
She was shot to death with eight bullets in her .
Talk about what happened this week .
MARC LAMONT HILL : Yeah .
And again , I think you ’ re right , and I know you know this very well , Amy , and Breonna Taylor was an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had she been unremarkable , even if she had made many mistakes and even if she hadn ’ t been a hero , she still deserves not to die at the hands of the state .
And what we saw this week was the public responding very powerfully to — or , rather , excuse me , the people responding very powerfully to the state ’ s failure to produce any semblance of justice in her case .
When I saw 87 people were arrested — you know , we ’ ve all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrested .
And usually we get a slap on the wrist .
Usually we get misdemeanors for civil disobedience .
But when you see someone getting a Class D felony for intimidating a person involved in a legal process , as Linda Sarsour said , what they ’ re attempting to do is intimidate protesters .
They ’ re attempting to send a message that no one should be out here investigating something that clearly needs investigation .
You know , you have someone who dies in March , and until the public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no movement , even though there ’ s so many questions about this case , from why they were there to why he was wantonly shooting a gun , to why the police report had no information about even her being killed or even harmed , to why the state attorney is acting so slowly and with so little commitment to justice .
And so , you see people protesting and risking their lives , risking their careers , and it ’ s a beautiful statement .
But we can ’ t stand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to intimidate these protesters .
And finally , Amy , I just want to thank you for keeping Breonna Taylor ’ s case in the public eye , because , for so long , this was not a story .
And too often the deaths of Black women , girls and fems go unnoticed .
And so it ’ s really important that people like you and others keep these stories in the public mind .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Marc , could you also talk about the attorney general , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is the state ’ s first Black attorney general , and the first Republican to hold the office in more than 17 years ?
He ’ s been backed by President Trump .
MARC LAMONT HILL : Yeah .
You know , the great anthropologist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston said , you know , sometimes your skinfolk ain ’ t your kinfolk .
You know , I don ’ t look to Black people in positions of power to necessarily produce justice for Black people .
I ’ m interested in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m interested in what their commitments are .
And so , when I see a Black appointee reinforcing the very same racist practices and policies that his white predecessors have , I find no joy or no pleasure in that .
And the fact that this is a Trump appointee speaks not only to how unlikely we are to get justice from this position , but how important it is in November for us to do everything we can to remove Trump from office .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Marc , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the decision by the Manhattan District Attorney ’ s Office to indict Amy Cooper .
You ’ ve questioned this decision .
Amy Cooper is the woman who called the police and falsely claimed that a Black man in Central Park was threatening her .
You tweeted in response , quote , “ We can ’ t criminalize our way out of social problems .
… [ T ] hese retributive approaches will not largely impact the powerful .
Who will be most likely criminalized if we intensify prosecutions for filing false police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world , ” you tweeted .
Could you elaborate on why you think this is so problematic ?
MARC LAMONT HILL : Well , ultimately — well , fundamentally , I ’ m an abolitionist .
I believe in the abolition of prisons .
I believe in the abolition of police .
I stand in a long tradition of people who believe this — the Angela Davises , the Ruth Gilmores , the Mariame Kabas of the world , who sort of intellectually and politically led the way toward a vision of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at every opportunity , I look for restorative approaches .
I look to not use punishment and caging human beings as a primary response to social problems , whether it ’ s drug addiction , whether it ’ s being unhoused , whether it ’ s poverty .
You know , I try to find ways that are outside the prison and outside the logic of the prison .
For me , Amy Cooper was an opportunity to do that , not — given the specifics of that case .
I understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that without any other mechanism for justice , I don ’ t shame or criticize or even challenge people who call for the killer cops to be arrested or incarcerated .
That ’ s not an abolitionist vision for me , but I do understand that without any other tools or resources , we ’ re left with very little other — anything else to hold onto with regard to the possibilities of justice .
I want us to have a more robust and ambitious freedom dream than that in the long term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when we have opportunities to not use the prison for drug addiction , again , for dealing with a dispute between people , to deal with someone asleep in a Wendy ’ s parking lot , like Rayshard Brooks , I say let ’ s do it .
But in cases like Breonna Taylor or others , I understand that we have fewer mechanisms , and we have to do something to hold the state accountable in the short term , while we look for a broader and more ambitious , again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AMY GOODMAN : Marc , we ’ re going to end where we began , and that ’ s with COVID , the reports and studies showing that African Americans and Latinx people are nearly three times as likely to be infected and twice as likely to die from the virus compared to their white neighbors .
We just heard that the Republican white governor of Oklahoma , Governor Stitt , has tested positive for COVID .
He was maskless at Trump ’ s Tulsa rally , held almost on Juneteenth , had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of outcry .
But what Trump hasn ’ t been tweeting about as he tweets against the left protesting in this country is that Herman Cain , a major supporter , who came to support Trump at the Tulsa rally , also has tested positive , has been hospitalized for weeks .
He is the 70-year-old former African American presidential candidate , cancer survivor .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you talk about the connection between President Trump trying to , quote , “ move on ” and not deal with the pandemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this country , disproportionately African American and Latinx people ?
MARC LAMONT HILL : Yeah .
We live in a country that renders the poor disposable , anyone who we can ’ t extract value from disposable , Black and Brown people disposable , trans folk disposable .
And as soon as it became very clear that the people catching the most hell at the epidemiological level , the people who were dying the most from COVID , were people who were Black and Brown and poor , there was a very quick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country back up.
” There was a very quick move to not worry about the health consequences for those who were left behind .
And that ’ s something that Trump has been very clear about , and we saw that throughout the country .
And the same with the elderly .
You had the lieutenant governor of Texas a few months ago talking about , you know , that grandparents should being willing to sacrifice their lives for the country .
And so , now , when Trump is walking around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — for the last few months , when Trump is essentially saying that we should just open things up and everything will just be fine , he ’ s essentially saying that some people are death-eligible , and other people are not .
And that is very , very — it ’ s a very , very dangerous thing .
Herman Cain is someone with some sense of power and resource and access , and yet he is still vulnerable .
The elderly are vulnerable .
People who are immunocompromised are vulnerable .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the luxury of social distancing , the luxury of working from home , are vulnerable .
And until we have a very serious conversation about investing in the vulnerable , through housing , through healthcare , through education , we ’ re going to continue to have this problem .
And as long as we have an administration that ’ s willing to open up schools , to open up the economy and to continue to let people die in the streets as long as they ’ re not white and privileged , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have the moral crisis that is America right now .
AMY GOODMAN : Marc Lamont Hill , we want to thank you for being with us , professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University , author of several books , including Nobody : Casualties of America ’ s War on the Vulnerable , from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond .
We wish you all the very best as you cope with COVID .
We ’ ll be thinking about you — and not just thinking , taking action .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ masks .
And this news just in : The U.S. just carried out its second execution this week , killing Wesley Ira Purkey by lethal injection , even though his lawyers argued he had dementia .
The last federal execution before this week was 17 years ago .
Up next , we speak with public health historian John Barry , who says the pandemic could get much , much worse if we don ’ t take bolder action now .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : Elsa Nilsson , playing her alto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Series at home in Greenpoint , Brooklyn .

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 Nermeen Shaikh. Scores of protesters gathered Tuesday for a peaceful sit-in outside the home of the Kentucky attorney general, Daniel Cameron, urging him to charge the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor. She’s the 26-year-old Black woman, an EMT, who was treating COVID patients, an aspiring nurse, who was shot to death by police inside her own apartment in March.
Several celebrities, including NFL player Kenny Stills of the Houston Texans, and activists Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour were arrested, along with more than 80 other protesters. They all face several charges, including a felony for intimidating a participant in the legal process. Hayes Gardner, a reporter for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, tweeted Sarsour saying, quote, “We are being charged with a felony as an intimidation tactic by the LMPD in hopes that they believe we will never do this ever again because of that charge. As you know, we are not intimidated, in fact, very emboldened right now.”
For more, we continue our conversation with Marc Lamont Hill, professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University, author of a number of books, including Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond.
So, talk about what’s happened in Louisville, Marc, this killing of Breonna Taylor, this remarkable young woman who was treating people with COVID-19, an EMT, hoping to be a nurse. Police storm her apartment. She’s there with her boyfriend. They shoot into it blindly, one of the officers shooting into the window of her bedroom, where there were curtains. She was shot to death with eight bullets in her. Talk about what happened this week.
MARC LAMONT HILL: Yeah. And again, I think you’re right, and I know you know this very well, Amy, and Breonna Taylor was an extraordinary, remarkable woman. But even had she been unremarkable, even if she had made many mistakes and even if she hadn’t been a hero, she still deserves not to die at the hands of the state.
And what we saw this week was the public responding very powerfully to — or, rather, excuse me, the people responding very powerfully to the state’s failure to produce any semblance of justice in her case. When I saw 87 people were arrested — you know, we’ve all protested; we’ve all been arrested. And usually we get a slap on the wrist. Usually we get misdemeanors for civil disobedience. But when you see someone getting a Class D felony for intimidating a person involved in a legal process, as Linda Sarsour said, what they’re attempting to do is intimidate protesters. They’re attempting to send a message that no one should be out here investigating something that clearly needs investigation.
You know, you have someone who dies in March, and until the public scrutiny is on there, we get no movement, even though there’s so many questions about this case, from why they were there to why he was wantonly shooting a gun, to why the police report had no information about even her being killed or even harmed, to why the state attorney is acting so slowly and with so little commitment to justice. And so, you see people protesting and risking their lives, risking their careers, and it’s a beautiful statement. But we can’t stand here as a public and allow them to intimidate these protesters.
And finally, Amy, I just want to thank you for keeping Breonna Taylor’s case in the public eye, because, for so long, this was not a story. And too often the deaths of Black women, girls and fems go unnoticed. And so it’s really important that people like you and others keep these stories in the public mind.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Marc, could you also talk about the attorney general, the Kentucky attorney general, Daniel Cameron, who is the state’s first Black attorney general, and the first Republican to hold the office in more than 17 years? He’s been backed by President Trump.
MARC LAMONT HILL: Yeah. You know, the great anthropologist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston said, you know, sometimes your skinfolk ain’t your kinfolk. You know, I don’t look to Black people in positions of power to necessarily produce justice for Black people. I’m interested in what their politics are. I’m interested in what their commitments are. And so, when I see a Black appointee reinforcing the very same racist practices and policies that his white predecessors have, I find no joy or no pleasure in that. And the fact that this is a Trump appointee speaks not only to how unlikely we are to get justice from this position, but how important it is in November for us to do everything we can to remove Trump from office.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Marc, I want to go to another case, the decision by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to indict Amy Cooper. You’ve questioned this decision. Amy Cooper is the woman who called the police and falsely claimed that a Black man in Central Park was threatening her. You tweeted in response, quote, “We can’t criminalize our way out of social problems. … [T]hese retributive approaches will not largely impact the powerful. Who will be most likely criminalized if we intensify prosecutions for filing false police reports? Not the Amy Coopers of the world,” you tweeted. Could you elaborate on why you think this is so problematic?
MARC LAMONT HILL: Well, ultimately — well, fundamentally, I’m an abolitionist. I believe in the abolition of prisons. I believe in the abolition of police. I stand in a long tradition of people who believe this — the Angela Davises, the Ruth Gilmores, the Mariame Kabas of the world, who sort of intellectually and politically led the way toward a vision of a world without prisons. And so, at every opportunity, I look for restorative approaches. I look to not use punishment and caging human beings as a primary response to social problems, whether it’s drug addiction, whether it’s being unhoused, whether it’s poverty. You know, I try to find ways that are outside the prison and outside the logic of the prison.
For me, Amy Cooper was an opportunity to do that, not — given the specifics of that case. I understand very much, in this moment, that without any other mechanism for justice, I don’t shame or criticize or even challenge people who call for the killer cops to be arrested or incarcerated. That’s not an abolitionist vision for me, but I do understand that without any other tools or resources, we’re left with very little other — anything else to hold onto with regard to the possibilities of justice. I want us to have a more robust and ambitious freedom dream than that in the long term. And in the short term, when we have opportunities to not use the prison for drug addiction, again, for dealing with a dispute between people, to deal with someone asleep in a Wendy’s parking lot, like Rayshard Brooks, I say let’s do it. But in cases like Breonna Taylor or others, I understand that we have fewer mechanisms, and we have to do something to hold the state accountable in the short term, while we look for a broader and more ambitious, again, freedom dream in the long term.
AMY GOODMAN: Marc, we’re going to end where we began, and that’s with COVID, the reports and studies showing that African Americans and Latinx people are nearly three times as likely to be infected and twice as likely to die from the virus compared to their white neighbors. We just heard that the Republican white governor of Oklahoma, Governor Stitt, has tested positive for COVID. He was maskless at Trump’s Tulsa rally, held almost on Juneteenth, had to push it to the next because of outcry. But what Trump hasn’t been tweeting about as he tweets against the left protesting in this country is that Herman Cain, a major supporter, who came to support Trump at the Tulsa rally, also has tested positive, has been hospitalized for weeks. He is the 70-year-old former African American presidential candidate, cancer survivor.
MARC LAMONT HILL: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the connection between President Trump trying to, quote, “move on” and not deal with the pandemic, as over 137,000 people have died in this country, disproportionately African American and Latinx people?
MARC LAMONT HILL: Yeah. We live in a country that renders the poor disposable, anyone who we can’t extract value from disposable, Black and Brown people disposable, trans folk disposable. And as soon as it became very clear that the people catching the most hell at the epidemiological level, the people who were dying the most from COVID, were people who were Black and Brown and poor, there was a very quick move to, quote-unquote, “open the country back up.” There was a very quick move to not worry about the health consequences for those who were left behind. And that’s something that Trump has been very clear about, and we saw that throughout the country. And the same with the elderly. You had the lieutenant governor of Texas a few months ago talking about, you know, that grandparents should being willing to sacrifice their lives for the country.
And so, now, when Trump is walking around without a mask, when Trump is — for the last few months, when Trump is essentially saying that we should just open things up and everything will just be fine, he’s essentially saying that some people are death-eligible, and other people are not. And that is very, very — it’s a very, very dangerous thing. Herman Cain is someone with some sense of power and resource and access, and yet he is still vulnerable. The elderly are vulnerable. People who are immunocompromised are vulnerable. And people who don’t have the luxury of social distancing, the luxury of working from home, are vulnerable. And until we have a very serious conversation about investing in the vulnerable, through housing, through healthcare, through education, we’re going to continue to have this problem. And as long as we have an administration that’s willing to open up schools, to open up the economy and to continue to let people die in the streets as long as they’re not white and privileged, we’re going to continue to have the moral crisis that is America right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Marc Lamont Hill, we want to thank you for being with us, professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University, author of several books, including Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. We wish you all the very best as you cope with COVID. We’ll be thinking about you — and not just thinking, taking action. We, too, will be wearing our masks.
And this news just in: The U.S. just carried out its second execution this week, killing Wesley Ira Purkey by lethal injection, even though his lawyers argued he had dementia. The last federal execution before this week was 17 years ago.
Up next, we speak with public health historian John Barry, who says the pandemic could get much, much worse if we don’t take bolder action now. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Elsa Nilsson, playing her alto flute as part of the Lattice Concert Series at home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.


democracynow--2020-07-16--COVID-Stricken Marc Lamont Hill: New Floyd Video Shows Familiar Ritual of Racist Police Terror

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : We begin today in Minneapolis , where newly released footage from police body cameras reveals devastating new details of George Floyd ’ s killing on Memorial Day and shows medics did not appear to rush to Floyd ’ s aid after they arrived .
A warning to our viewers and listeners : We ’ re about to describe scenes of police violence .
Reporters who were allowed to view the video at a courthouse Wednesday say that after the officers arrived on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clerk who had called 911 , they then pointed a gun at Floyd within 36 seconds .
When he was in his car , they banged on his car door and yelled at him to “ get out of the f—ing car , ” as he wept and repeatedly pleaded with them , “ Please don ’ t shoot me.
” Then , in footage not previously seen , the officers are shown dragging him to the ground as he ’ s handcuffed .
AMY GOODMAN : The attorney for former officer Thomas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the court as part of a motion to dismiss the charges against Lane .
Until now , only the written transcripts were made public .
This comes as George Floyd ’ s family filed a lawsuit against the four former officers involved in his killing , and also against the city of Minneapolis , saying it failed to properly dismiss officers with records of abuse and/or properly train new ones .
This is family attorney Benjamin Crump .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , to respond to these new developments in the case of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that sparked a national uprising against racism and police violence , and much more , we ’ re joined by Marc Lamont Hill , professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University and the author of several books , including Nobody : Casualties of America ’ s War on the Vulnerable , from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond .
He ’ s also the host of a new podcast , launched this week , Coffee and Books .
Professor Marc Lamont Hill , welcome back to Democracy Now !
, @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ I ’ ve been fighting Covid-19 this week .
It ’ s been tough but I ’ m managing and self-quarantining .
Please wear masks .
Please observe social distancing .
Please stop sharing conspiracy theories and bad science.
” Marc , let ’ s begin there , before we go to the latest video of Minneapolis .
Thanks so much for joining us .
Your diagnosis of COVID-19 and right now how you ’ re coping ?
MARC LAMONT HILL : Thank you .
Thank you for asking .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been fairly manageable .
It ’ s a very real thing .
You know , fevers have been intense .
Very tired .
My body is very sore .
Dizziness , weird skin pain , things like that .
Some things , I anticipated ; some things , I didn ’ t .
Fortunately , you know , my breathing has been OK so far , not as bad as some people ’ s has been , and so I feel very fortunate .
And I ’ m very fortunate that I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get results more quickly than many people have been able to .
So , I just encourage people to observe social distancing and , again , wear masks .
And it ’ s not enough for me to wear my mask .
You have to wear yours , too , in order to make sure that no one is endangered , as much as possible .
Obviously , nothing is foolproof , but we have to do the best we can .
AMY GOODMAN : So , Marc Lamont Hill , if you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re home sort of viewing this through this prism of COVID-19 right now and dealing with this , there is a surge of new information about what happened to George Perry Floyd in his last moments .
We now see that some reporters have gotten to look at , though this video hasn ’ t been released , bodycam — police bodycam footage of those last minutes of Mr. Floyd , not him on the ground with the knee on his neck , but when he was in his own car , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his terror when they came over to the car , cursing at him , “ Get out of the f—ing car.
” He could not figure out what they wanted .
He kept asking .
This is according to the reporters who saw this , like Omar Jimenez , who , by the way , was arrested by police in Minneapolis , a man of color , even though they clearly knew he was a CNN reporter .
But he did get to view this video footage .
And then the pleading that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even as he ’ s in his own car , “ Please don ’ t shoot me .
Please don ’ t shoot me.
” Marc ?
MARC LAMONT HILL : Yeah .
You know , you mentioned the lens of COVID-19 .
In many ways , for the last four or five months , so many people in this country have felt a sense of unsafety , of unprotectedness , a sense that the state does not have an interest in making sure that the vulnerable are well taken care of .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans have felt , that sense of unpredictability and violence , is something that many Black people — men , women , girls , fems , trans , cis — have felt throughout all of our time in America .
What you saw on George Floyd ’ s face , or what ’ s been reported to see on George Floyd ’ s face , when he ’ s in that car is a sense of terror , of knowing that when the police show up , they ’ re not showing up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not showing up to ensure that he ’ s OK.
They ’ re not even showing up to figure out how a crime occurred .
They ’ re simply coming to advance a very familiar ritual of criminalizing and brutalizing , and oftentimes killing , a Black body .
What we see in that sequence is terrifying .
It ’ s disgusting and it ’ s disturbing that George Floyd , the moment the police show up , knows that there ’ s a problem but can ’ t get answers .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when you ask a police officer , “ Why am I here ?
You know , why am I being stopped ?
What ’ s the problem ?
” that only enrages them further and leads to this death sequence that George Floyd tragically had to undergo .
It ’ s disturbing , and I have no desire to see that footage , but America needs to know that it happened .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Marc , can you also respond to the financial damages that Benjamin Crump , the attorney @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have proposed ?
He said that the — although they have not disclosed the sum , Crump has said that he hopes to , quote , “ set a precedent that makes it financially prohibitive for police to wrongfully kill marginalized people.
” Could you respond to that to that ?
And what effect do you think financial settlements could have as a disincentive for the police to exercise this kind of violence ?
MARC LAMONT HILL : You know , I support Attorney Crump ’ s efforts to demand some sort of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state killed George Floyd .
That ’ s indisputable .
I ’ m not sure that long-term , though , that will be the ultimate solution .
Absolutely , within a white supremacist , capitalistic empire , putting a rock in the levers of capital can always pause things and make the state respond differently .
The state responds to its financial and economic interests , to be sure .
But this is a deeper issue .
In the moment that the police officer is faced with a Black person , irrational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And I ’ m not sure that a financial logic can stop that .
I ’ m not sure that qualified immunity can stop that .
Although we need all of those things , I ’ m not sure that that ’ s enough .
Ultimately , we have to understand that as long as there is policing in this country , we are going to have people who are policed and criminalized in ways that reflect white supremacy , that reflect sexism , that reflect transphobia .
And so , ultimately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policing .
But in the meantime , these types of reforms could be helpful .
I am not against reforms that don ’ t undermine abolition .
And I think that if we can place pressure on the state financially , if we can place pressure on individual officers financially , as a means of getting us somewhere , I ’ m all about that .
But we can ’ t confuse ourselves into believing that a financial penalty , that an economic sort of sanction , is going to stop police officers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in many ways , that is part and parcel of what American policing is and always has been .
AMY GOODMAN : Marc , we ’ re going to break and then come back to our discussion and go down to Louisville to talk about what happened this week outside the state attorney general ’ s house , 87 protesters arrested as they demanded that the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor be arrested and prosecuted .
Marc Lamont Hill is professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nobody : Casualties of America ’ s War on the Vulnerable , from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond .
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today in Minneapolis, where newly released footage from police body cameras reveals devastating new details of George Floyd’s killing on Memorial Day and shows medics did not appear to rush to Floyd’s aid after they arrived.
A warning to our viewers and listeners: We’re about to describe scenes of police violence.
Reporters who were allowed to view the video at a courthouse Wednesday say that after the officers arrived on the scene and talked to a store clerk who had called 911, they then pointed a gun at Floyd within 36 seconds. When he was in his car, they banged on his car door and yelled at him to “get out of the f—ing car,” as he wept and repeatedly pleaded with them, “Please don’t shoot me.” Then, in footage not previously seen, the officers are shown dragging him to the ground as he’s handcuffed.
This is CNN’s Omar Jimenez describing Floyd’s final moments.
OMAR JIMENEZ: Part of what he pointed to in the motion, which we saw on camera, was that Lane asked if Floyd should be moved to his side, to which Chauvin responded, “No, he’s staying put where we’ve got him,” to which Lane says, “I’m just worried about excited delirium.” And it is in those moments, right after that, that Floyd is still pleading, “Please, please, please.” Right before that — it is listed in the transcript, this part — the “please”s seem to get weaker with each “please.” And then, eventually — this isn’t listed in the transcript — as I listed before, “Man, I can’t breathe.”
AMY GOODMAN: The attorney for former officer Thomas Lane requested the footage be released to the court as part of a motion to dismiss the charges against Lane. Until now, only the written transcripts were made public.
This comes as George Floyd’s family filed a lawsuit against the four former officers involved in his killing, and also against the city of Minneapolis, saying it failed to properly dismiss officers with records of abuse and/or properly train new ones. This is family attorney Benjamin Crump.
BENJAMIN CRUMP: We are going to have an important conversation, that continues based on this lawsuit, that documents what we have said all along. And that is, it was not just the knee of officer Derek Chauvin on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, but it was the knee of the entire Minneapolis Police Department on the neck of George Floyd, that killed him.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, to respond to these new developments in the case of George Floyd’s killing by police, that sparked a national uprising against racism and police violence, and much more, we’re joined by Marc Lamont Hill, professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University and the author of several books, including Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. He’s also the host of a new podcast, launched this week, Coffee and Books.
Professor Marc Lamont Hill, welcome back to Democracy Now!, especially given yesterday, that you tweeted, “I’ve been fighting Covid-19 this week. It’s been tough but I’m managing and self-quarantining. Please wear masks. Please observe social distancing. Please stop sharing conspiracy theories and bad science.” Marc, let’s begin there, before we go to the latest video of Minneapolis. Thanks so much for joining us. Your diagnosis of COVID-19 and right now how you’re coping?
MARC LAMONT HILL: Thank you. Thank you for asking. I’m happy to say that things have been fairly manageable. It’s a very real thing. You know, fevers have been intense. Very tired. My body is very sore. Dizziness, weird skin pain, things like that. Some things, I anticipated; some things, I didn’t. Fortunately, you know, my breathing has been OK so far, not as bad as some people’s has been, and so I feel very fortunate. And I’m very fortunate that I was able to access a test and get results more quickly than many people have been able to.
So, I just encourage people to observe social distancing and, again, wear masks. And it’s not enough for me to wear my mask. You have to wear yours, too, in order to make sure that no one is endangered, as much as possible. Obviously, nothing is foolproof, but we have to do the best we can.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Marc Lamont Hill, if you can talk about — as you’re home sort of viewing this through this prism of COVID-19 right now and dealing with this, there is a surge of new information about what happened to George Perry Floyd in his last moments. We now see that some reporters have gotten to look at, though this video hasn’t been released, bodycam — police bodycam footage of those last minutes of Mr. Floyd, not him on the ground with the knee on his neck, but when he was in his own car, when the police first came up, and his terror when they came over to the car, cursing at him, “Get out of the f—ing car.” He could not figure out what they wanted. He kept asking. This is according to the reporters who saw this, like Omar Jimenez, who, by the way, was arrested by police in Minneapolis, a man of color, even though they clearly knew he was a CNN reporter. But he did get to view this video footage. And then the pleading that Omar described of George Floyd saying, even as he’s in his own car, “Please don’t shoot me. Please don’t shoot me.” Marc?
MARC LAMONT HILL: Yeah. You know, you mentioned the lens of COVID-19. In many ways, for the last four or five months, so many people in this country have felt a sense of unsafety, of unprotectedness, a sense that the state does not have an interest in making sure that the vulnerable are well taken care of. And that sense of terror that many Americans have felt, that sense of unpredictability and violence, is something that many Black people — men, women, girls, fems, trans, cis — have felt throughout all of our time in America.
What you saw on George Floyd’s face, or what’s been reported to see on George Floyd’s face, when he’s in that car is a sense of terror, of knowing that when the police show up, they’re not showing up to protect him. They’re not showing up to ensure that he’s OK. They’re not even showing up to figure out how a crime occurred. They’re simply coming to advance a very familiar ritual of criminalizing and brutalizing, and oftentimes killing, a Black body.
What we see in that sequence is terrifying. It’s disgusting and it’s disturbing that George Floyd, the moment the police show up, knows that there’s a problem but can’t get answers. And like many Black people have experienced, when you ask a police officer, “Why am I here? You know, why am I being stopped? What’s the problem?” that only enrages them further and leads to this death sequence that George Floyd tragically had to undergo. It’s disturbing, and I have no desire to see that footage, but America needs to know that it happened.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Marc, can you also respond to the financial damages that Benjamin Crump, the attorney for George Floyd’s family, have proposed? He said that the — although they have not disclosed the sum, Crump has said that he hopes to, quote, “set a precedent that makes it financially prohibitive for police to wrongfully kill marginalized people.” Could you respond to that to that? And what effect do you think financial settlements could have as a disincentive for the police to exercise this kind of violence?
MARC LAMONT HILL: You know, I support Attorney Crump’s efforts to demand some sort of cash settlement from the state, because the state killed George Floyd. That’s indisputable. I’m not sure that long-term, though, that will be the ultimate solution. Absolutely, within a white supremacist, capitalistic empire, putting a rock in the levers of capital can always pause things and make the state respond differently. The state responds to its financial and economic interests, to be sure. But this is a deeper issue.
In the moment that the police officer is faced with a Black person, irrational white supremacist fears about Black people emerge. And I’m not sure that a financial logic can stop that. I’m not sure that qualified immunity can stop that. Although we need all of those things, I’m not sure that that’s enough. Ultimately, we have to understand that as long as there is policing in this country, we are going to have people who are policed and criminalized in ways that reflect white supremacy, that reflect sexism, that reflect transphobia.
And so, ultimately, we have to dismantle and abolish policing. But in the meantime, these types of reforms could be helpful. I am not against reforms that don’t undermine abolition. And I think that if we can place pressure on the state financially, if we can place pressure on individual officers financially, as a means of getting us somewhere, I’m all about that. But we can’t confuse ourselves into believing that a financial penalty, that an economic sort of sanction, is going to stop police officers from killing the vulnerable, because, in many ways, that is part and parcel of what American policing is and always has been.
AMY GOODMAN: Marc, we’re going to break and then come back to our discussion and go down to Louisville to talk about what happened this week outside the state attorney general’s house, 87 protesters arrested as they demanded that the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor be arrested and prosecuted. Marc Lamont Hill is professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University, author of several books, including Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. Stay with us.


democracynow--2020-07-16--Headlines for July 16, 2020

Headlines for July 16, 2020

The U.S. continues to shatter coronavirus records , with 41 U.S. states recording increasing cases of COVID-19 .
More than @ @ @ @ @ Wednesday , nearly tying the previous daily record .
The official U.S. death toll is @ @ @ @ @ Houston , Texas , the U.S. Army deployed hundreds of medical personnel to set up @ @ @ @ @ Memorial Medical Center as intensive care units filled to capacity .
Texas Congressmember Sheila Jackson @ @ @ @ @ .
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee : “ Whenever you enlist the United States military for @ @ @ @ @ a peak crisis period .
I think that is important for everyone who thinks this @ @ @ @ @ , anyone who thinks we ’ re at the end of it.
” The Houston @ @ @ @ @ it will start the school year with at least six weeks of online classes , @ @ @ @ @ open classrooms in late October .

The U.S. continues to shatter coronavirus records, with 41 U.S. states recording increasing cases of COVID-19. More than 67,000 new cases were reported Wednesday, nearly tying the previous daily record. The official U.S. death toll is now over 137,000. In Houston, Texas, the U.S. Army deployed hundreds of medical personnel to set up a COVID-19 ward in United Memorial Medical Center as intensive care units filled to capacity. Texas Congressmember Sheila Jackson Lee toured the hospital Wednesday.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: “Whenever you enlist the United States military for assistance, you are at a peak crisis period. I think that is important for everyone who thinks this is going away, COVID-19, anyone who thinks we’re at the end of it.”
The Houston Independent School District said Wednesday it will start the school year with at least six weeks of online classes, with a tentative plan to open classrooms in late October.


democracynow--2020-07-15--Tucson Mayor Romero Slams Arizona Gov. Ducey for Downplaying COVID & Hasty Reopening as ICUs Fill

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
This is The Quarantine Report .
As COVID-19 cases soar in the Southern and Southwest United States , we go to the hot spot of Arizona , which reported more than 128,000 infections Tuesday .
Nearly 90 % of Arizona ’ s ICU beds are full .
Republican Governor Doug Ducey faces widespread outrage for downplaying the virus and even obstructing local officials from requiring masks in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ducey has reversed course and allowed mayors to issue their own virus guidelines , under growing pressure , but he resisted calls to pass a statewide mask mandate or reimpose his stay-at-home order , which expired in May with little restriction on the state ’ s reopening .
Facing rising numbers in June , Ducey ordered bars and gyms to close again .
But Arizona residents say the actions are too little , too late .
The family of a 65-year-old Mexican American man who died of COVID-19 in Phoenix is accusing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for his death .
In a scathing obituary in The Arizona Republic , the family of Mark Anthony Urquiza wrote , quote , “ His death is due to the carelessness of the politicians who continue to jeopardize the health of brown bodies through a clear lack of leadership , refusal to acknowledge the severity of this crisis , and inability and unwillingness to give clear and decisive direction on how to minimize risk.
” This is Urquiza ’ s daughter , Kristin , at an interview with The Arizona Republic .
AMY @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re going to Tucson to speak with a local leader who ’ s been standing up to Governor Doug Ducey .
That ’ s Mayor Regina Romero .
She is the first Latina and the first woman to be elected mayor of Tucson .
She was previously a Tucson city councilmember for over a decade , the daughter of migrant workers .
We welcome you to Democracy Now !
, Mayor Romero .
Your thoughts on Governor Ducey ’ s responsibility ?
What do you want to see the state of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing in Tucson ?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO : Good morning , Amy and Juan .
Thank you so much for having me this morning .
We have been in a state of crisis since Governor Ducey decided to hastily reopen the state .
We were in a very good place , coming to a plateau .
Here in the city of Tucson , we ’ re located in Pima County .
In Pima County , we were seeing 20 , 24 cases a day .
It was a plateau .
Now we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pima County .
In a county of a million people , we are — we see anywhere from five to 20 ICU beds , which is very , very concerning and straining our doctors and nurses at our hospitals .
We jumped up in front of Governor Ducey — a few mayors , Mayor Gallego from Phoenix , Mayor Evans from Flagstaff and myself — jumped ahead of the governor to call the stay-at-home orders and to close down bars back in March .
He took our cue a few days later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tied the hands of mayors in cities and towns , and county health departments throughout the state , by preempting us from doing anything that he wouldn ’ t do .
Most recently , he untied the hands of mayors in counties throughout the state to do mandatory mask ordinances throughout the state .
But what we have been seeing with Governor Ducey is a microcosm of what has been happening with Trump in his federal response to this pandemic , which is tepid , a tepid response , a pushback on science @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we do .
Every day that Governor Ducey waits , we see 3,000 cases in Arizona , and the crisis continues , more lives lost .
And so , what we have been doing here in Tucson is basically pushing the governor to do the right thing , because it ’ s a very real threat .
If we do move ahead in front of him , the state Legislature — the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a bill about three years ago , 1487 , that if any city does anything , any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our state-shared revenue could be pulled from us .
And those are millions and millions of dollars that we could potentially lose .
And so , in this crisis , we see ourselves , as mayors , in fear , in fear for the lives of our communities , in fear for the inability for us to be able to do anything .
So , what mayors across Arizona and I have been doing is publicly pressuring the governor to do the right thing .
The one thing that he could do that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a mandatory mask executive order statewide , and he refuses to even do that .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Mayor Romero , what ’ s the testing situation in Tucson and Pima County ?
Are people able to get testing ?
How long does it take to get the results back ?
And what kind of tracing , contact tracing , is going on ?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO : The Pima County Health Department has been providing testing to the community .
It has been very , very little .
And even Pima County @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more .
We do not see the help of the governor from the state or of the federal government .
In Maricopa County , the mayor , Mayor Kate Gallego , had to pressure publicly the governor and FEMA , the federal government , to institute additional testing sites .
Here in Pima County , we have — we have none .
We have no state or federal help .
I know that the governor has been working with nonprofit healthcare providers in terms of testing here in Pima County , and Pima @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but we need much more .
We need federal help so that we could test .
The one thing — the two things that we need to do , according to health officials , is testing and contact tracing , and then isolation opportunities for those that are positive .
And so , we don ’ t have enough federal help .
Governor Ducey has not communicated with me or Mayor Gallego from Phoenix , the two biggest cities in Arizona , and so we don ’ t — we really are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of help we can get here in Pima County , in the city of Tucson , and throughout the state .
It is really concerning that even in terms of communicating with us , there ’ s absence there , and there ’ s unwillingness to [ inaudible ] .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : I wanted to — I wanted to ask you about the situation with housing .
As many as 74,000 Pima County residents could be at risk of losing their homes because the moratorium on evictions that Governor Ducey had put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 22nd .
What can you do , if that is not extended ?
And what is the situation , the potential homelessness occurring in your city ?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO : What mayor and council here in the city of Tucson did was use some of those federal CARES Act moneys to put into rental and utility assistance .
We used $ 5 million of the $ 95 million that we received to help families with rent assistance .
But we ’ re going to need more .
And so , one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Governor Ducey to consider is that he extend that moratorium 'til the end — at least ’ til the end of the year , so that we do n't see families losing their home , and therefore aggravate the issue of the virus , of COVID-19 spreading throughout Arizona even worse .
And so , here in Tucson , we ’ re dedicating CARES Act funds to help families .
And I ’ m asking the governor to extend his moratorium so that it is a statewide moratorium to help families statewide , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lose their homes in a border town like Nogales , you know , they will travel to Tucson .
And so , we will see people traveling from town to town to try and find help , and we will see that continued spread of COVID-19 .
AMY GOODMAN : Mayor , do you agree that Governor Ducey has blood on his hands , as the daughter of the Mexican American COVID victim expressed ?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO : I believe that every single day that Governor Ducey waits and does nothing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We see additional people , 3,000 people a day , here in Arizona .
And so , it is unconscionable for Governor Ducey to sit and not act .
And right now , at this point , we need the leader of our state to do statewide action , institute statewide action .
One of the easiest steps that he can take is institute a mandatory face covering throughout the state .
He can — and the mayors have told him that we will support him if he decides to recall his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind him .
It is a point of crisis right now in the state of Arizona .
We ’ re not only a hot spot in the nation , we ’ re a hot spot in the world .
So we need him to take a swift action , so that we can bend this curve downwards and then move forward together .
And what he — AMY GOODMAN : And finally , the link you see between what ’ s happened with COVID-19 , the effect on Black and Brown populations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
You hung a Black Lives Matter banner on Tucson City Hall .
We just have , oh , 20 seconds .
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO : We are seeing Mexican Americans , Brown and Black and Native American folk here in Arizona receive the biggest brunt of this disease .
And so , that points to issues in healthcare , in not just Arizona , but our country .
And so , we see the brunt of COVID-19 here in Arizona .
It points to inequities in healthcare delivery to people of color @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me , it ’ s important that we state — that we state the truth — right ?
— that we speak truth to power .
AMY GOODMAN : We have to leave it there .
Mayor Romero , we thank you so much for being with us .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. This is The Quarantine Report. As COVID-19 cases soar in the Southern and Southwest United States, we go to the hot spot of Arizona, which reported more than 128,000 infections Tuesday. Nearly 90% of Arizona’s ICU beds are full.
Republican Governor Doug Ducey faces widespread outrage for downplaying the virus and even obstructing local officials from requiring masks in June as case numbers began to explode. Ducey has reversed course and allowed mayors to issue their own virus guidelines, under growing pressure, but he resisted calls to pass a statewide mask mandate or reimpose his stay-at-home order, which expired in May with little restriction on the state’s reopening. Facing rising numbers in June, Ducey ordered bars and gyms to close again.
But Arizona residents say the actions are too little, too late. The family of a 65-year-old Mexican American man who died of COVID-19 in Phoenix is accusing Arizona state officials of being directly responsible for his death. In a scathing obituary in The Arizona Republic, the family of Mark Anthony Urquiza wrote, quote, “His death is due to the carelessness of the politicians who continue to jeopardize the health of brown bodies through a clear lack of leadership, refusal to acknowledge the severity of this crisis, and inability and unwillingness to give clear and decisive direction on how to minimize risk.” This is Urquiza’s daughter, Kristin, at an interview with The Arizona Republic.
KRISTIN URQUIZA: Governor Ducey’s got blood on his hands. He was late to close down the state. He was early to open it. And the manner in which he opened, allowing things to go back as normal, is, in my opinion, the reason why my dad is being buried today.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we’re going to Tucson to speak with a local leader who’s been standing up to Governor Doug Ducey. That’s Mayor Regina Romero. She is the first Latina and the first woman to be elected mayor of Tucson. She was previously a Tucson city councilmember for over a decade, the daughter of migrant workers.
We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Mayor Romero. Your thoughts on Governor Ducey’s responsibility? What do you want to see the state of Arizona do? And what are you doing in Tucson?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO: Good morning, Amy and Juan. Thank you so much for having me this morning.
We have been in a state of crisis since Governor Ducey decided to hastily reopen the state. We were in a very good place, coming to a plateau. Here in the city of Tucson, we’re located in Pima County. In Pima County, we were seeing 20, 24 cases a day. It was a plateau. Now we are seeing almost 300 cases a day in Pima County. In a county of a million people, we are — we see anywhere from five to 20 ICU beds, which is very, very concerning and straining our doctors and nurses at our hospitals.
We jumped up in front of Governor Ducey — a few mayors, Mayor Gallego from Phoenix, Mayor Evans from Flagstaff and myself — jumped ahead of the governor to call the stay-at-home orders and to close down bars back in March. He took our cue a few days later, and with his executive order, he tied the hands of mayors in cities and towns, and county health departments throughout the state, by preempting us from doing anything that he wouldn’t do. Most recently, he untied the hands of mayors in counties throughout the state to do mandatory mask ordinances throughout the state. But what we have been seeing with Governor Ducey is a microcosm of what has been happening with Trump in his federal response to this pandemic, which is tepid, a tepid response, a pushback on science and what public health officials recommend that we do. Every day that Governor Ducey waits, we see 3,000 cases in Arizona, and the crisis continues, more lives lost.
And so, what we have been doing here in Tucson is basically pushing the governor to do the right thing, because it’s a very real threat. If we do move ahead in front of him, the state Legislature — the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a bill about three years ago, 1487, that if any city does anything, any law that preempts the state, that our state-shared revenue could be pulled from us. And those are millions and millions of dollars that we could potentially lose. And so, in this crisis, we see ourselves, as mayors, in fear, in fear for the lives of our communities, in fear for the inability for us to be able to do anything. So, what mayors across Arizona and I have been doing is publicly pressuring the governor to do the right thing. The one thing that he could do that could help is do — is institute a mandatory mask executive order statewide, and he refuses to even do that.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Mayor Romero, what’s the testing situation in Tucson and Pima County? Are people able to get testing? How long does it take to get the results back? And what kind of tracing, contact tracing, is going on?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO: The Pima County Health Department has been providing testing to the community. It has been very, very little. And even Pima County Health Department says that we need much more.
We do not see the help of the governor from the state or of the federal government. In Maricopa County, the mayor, Mayor Kate Gallego, had to pressure publicly the governor and FEMA, the federal government, to institute additional testing sites. Here in Pima County, we have — we have none. We have no state or federal help. I know that the governor has been working with nonprofit healthcare providers in terms of testing here in Pima County, and Pima County Health Department has been providing it, but we need much more. We need federal help so that we could test.
The one thing — the two things that we need to do, according to health officials, is testing and contact tracing, and then isolation opportunities for those that are positive. And so, we don’t have enough federal help. Governor Ducey has not communicated with me or Mayor Gallego from Phoenix, the two biggest cities in Arizona, and so we don’t — we really are in the dark as to what type of help we can get here in Pima County, in the city of Tucson, and throughout the state. It is really concerning that even in terms of communicating with us, there’s absence there, and there’s unwillingness to [inaudible].
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to — I wanted to ask you about the situation with housing. As many as 74,000 Pima County residents could be at risk of losing their homes because the moratorium on evictions that Governor Ducey had put into place expires next week, July 22nd. What can you do, if that is not extended? And what is the situation, the potential homelessness occurring in your city?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO: What mayor and council here in the city of Tucson did was use some of those federal CARES Act moneys to put into rental and utility assistance. We used $5 million of the $95 million that we received to help families with rent assistance. But we’re going to need more.
And so, one of the issues that I’ve asked Governor Ducey to consider is that he extend that moratorium 'til the end — at least ’til the end of the year, so that we don't see families losing their home, and therefore aggravate the issue of the virus, of COVID-19 spreading throughout Arizona even worse. And so, here in Tucson, we’re dedicating CARES Act funds to help families. And I’m asking the governor to extend his moratorium so that it is a statewide moratorium to help families statewide, because if we lose — if families lose their homes in a border town like Nogales, you know, they will travel to Tucson. And so, we will see people traveling from town to town to try and find help, and we will see that continued spread of COVID-19.
AMY GOODMAN: Mayor, do you agree that Governor Ducey has blood on his hands, as the daughter of the Mexican American COVID victim expressed?
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO: I believe that every single day that Governor Ducey waits and does nothing, we see additional deaths in our state. We see additional people, 3,000 people a day, here in Arizona. And so, it is unconscionable for Governor Ducey to sit and not act.
And right now, at this point, we need the leader of our state to do statewide action, institute statewide action. One of the easiest steps that he can take is institute a mandatory face covering throughout the state. He can — and the mayors have told him that we will support him if he decides to recall his stay-at-home order, that we will stand behind him.
It is a point of crisis right now in the state of Arizona. We’re not only a hot spot in the nation, we’re a hot spot in the world. So we need him to take a swift action, so that we can bend this curve downwards and then move forward together. And what he —
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, the link you see between what’s happened with COVID-19, the effect on Black and Brown populations, and also the issue of police brutality? You hung a Black Lives Matter banner on Tucson City Hall. We just have, oh, 20 seconds.
MAYOR REGINA ROMERO: We are seeing Mexican Americans, Brown and Black and Native American folk here in Arizona receive the biggest brunt of this disease. And so, that points to issues in healthcare, in not just Arizona, but our country. And so, we see the brunt of COVID-19 here in Arizona. It points to inequities in healthcare delivery to people of color. And we have to — for me, it’s important that we state — that we state the truth — right? — that we speak truth to power.
AMY GOODMAN: We have to leave it there. Mayor Romero, we thank you so much for being with us. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.


democracynow--2020-07-15--The Left Remakes the World: Amna Akbar on Canceling Rent, Defunding Police & Where We Go from Here

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 .
As COVID-19 cases hit a new high and at least 11 states report record hospitalizations , we look at another looming crisis for the American public : mass evictions .
We ’ re now more than four months into a pandemic that ’ s left millions unemployed .
Eviction freezes across the country are ending even as case numbers rise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warn a tidal wave of evictions and a spike in homelessness during the pandemic could be next .
In Michigan , where a halt on evictions ends Thursday , the state estimates it ’ s a backlog of 75,000 eviction filings .
Other states have already resumed eviction hearings , including Texas , Georgia , Ohio , where a Columbus convention center has been converted into a massive socially distanced housing court .
The COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project reports more than 20 million people could face eviction by the end of September , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Latinx .
This comes as the $ 600-a-week bump for unemployment benefits that Congress passed as a COVID relief measure is set to expire in a few weeks .
Facing these dire circumstances , activists are continuing their demand to Cancel the Rent — a movement that ’ s inspired rent strikes and protests nationwide .
And a coalition of labor unions , workers , and racial and social justice groups in 25 states plan to stage a mass walkout this Monday called the “ Strike for Black Lives.
” For more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Akbar , law professor at Ohio State University , who wrote about how to respond to all of this in her op-ed in Sunday ’ s New York Times headlined “ The Left Is Remaking the World.
” Welcome to Democracy Now !
Thank you for joining us from Columbus , Ohio , Professor Akbar .
The beginning of your piece , you say that the uprisings in response to the killing of George Floyd are far different than anything that has come before .
Please explain .
Well , the pandemic and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what the state does and does not , and for whom , who has to work , in what form and for what pay , and the interdependence of all of our lives .
We have 18 million people unemployed in the country , and , as you were saying , 20 million people face possible eviction and houselessness by the fall .
And the response from Trump and Tim Cook , recently , was to tell Americans to find something new .
We had the one-time $ 1,200 payout from the feds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court , which are now coming to a close , as you mentioned .
There has been a total lack of imagination and , more importantly , political will to respond to the basic human needs of people .
And if this is not the purpose of our coming together and electing people to represent us , we should be asking some hard questions of what the purpose of the state is .
But I want to take a moment to unpack “ cancel rent ” and “ defund the police , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizers and social movements are making across the country .
Police and private property are central , defining institutions of life in the United States .
We know the centrality of police to local budgets now , and the immense power that they have and their sprawling scale , because it has been on spectacular display for the last two months , since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd .
But it might be worth taking a moment to talk about private property , which is also everywhere and structures our everyday lives , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in how it does .
Private property is the basis of our legal regime .
It ’ s a settler regime , a capitalist regime , a racial regime .
It creates these relationships where some people own property and most people don ’ t .
And if you don ’ t own property , you have to pay for it .
This is pretty weird , if you think about it .
We are human .
We have physical bodies .
We need space to exist , to sleep , to eat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But we live in a society where you need to pay for space to live .
The private property regime then creates a direct contradiction with meeting people ’ s needs .
And so , both police and private property are rooted in the histories of enslavement and conquest .
They are not systems rooted in collective care and social provision .
And it ’ s not as if we have the police over here and private property over there .
These are fundamentally interconnected institutions that prop one another up .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the structures and the relationships that sustain things as they are .
And so it might be helpful to think for a moment about the connection between these institutions , because part of what I argued in the piece is kind of this radical imagination coming out of today ’ s social movements that ’ s telling interwoven stories about the world that we live in and the world that we must build .
So , many police killings around the country have happened in gentrifying neighborhoods , including here in Columbus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Henry Green and Julius Tate , young Black men and boys , in gentrifying neighborhoods .
Police arrest people for stealing food to eat or selling loosies to survive or living under a bridge or squatting in a home when they have nowhere else to go .
And all over the country , sheriff ’ s offices work with landlords to evict people who can ’ t pay their rents .
And so , contrary to this popular idea that we have the market over here and the state over there , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the more powerful players in the market by lending them untold volumes of arsenal .
And , of course , central to the defund demand is precisely this critique of neoliberalism , that the state has been stripped of virtually all of its provisioning function , which we see on spectacular display right now in response to COVID-19 .
We don ’ t guarantee housing .
We don ’ t guarantee food .
We don ’ t guarantee healthcare or PPE .
Instead , all of our tax dollars are going to prisons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they are ; enact so much violence on poor , working-class , Black and Brown people ; and distract us from the real work of collective care and social provision .
And so , the pandemic and the uprising have put a magnifying glass on how the most powerful institutions in the most powerful country on Earth have absolutely failed to meet the needs of the vast majority of Americans .
We have a federalist system with layers of government , right ?
We have local , state , federal .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ basics that we need to survive .
We ’ re always told it ’ s too expensive and we can ’ t afford it .
But now we know that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building prisons , jails and detention centers to house 2.3 million people in cages .
We pay the salaries and benefits of 800,000 police around the country for their tanks and guns and horses and bikes , Tasers and StingRays .
And in that case , it ’ s no surprise that the police responded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fashion across the country in response to the protests , and the state completely failed to respond to COVID-19 .
And , of course , on the other hand , the pandemic and the uprising have reminded us of our collective power and our collective resilience .
We have the power to consent or refuse .
We have the power to build alternatives .
So , when today ’ s movements and organizers are calling to cancel the rent or defund police , these demands are calling for material changes to make a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everyday people .
And the demands , in themselves , are throwing into crisis the very shape of the state today , because they ask the state to step in on behalf of people over property , and people over police .
And we live in a society where both of those institutions — private property and policing — take precedent over the lives of working-class people .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Professor Akbar , I wanted to ask you , though : What is singular about this movement compared to movements in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remaking the world ?
I ’ m speaking , for instance , of the anarchists , the Magonistas , in Mexico ; the International Workers of the World in the early 1900s ; the communist and social movements of the 1930s , right after the — in the wake of the Great Depression ; the New Left movement of the 1960s , which I was a part of .
Our slogan then was not “ defund the police ” ; it was “ off the pigs.
” And yet , each of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remake the world .
However , capitalism proved to be a lot more resilient in its ability to co-opt and to adjust to the threats .
I ’ m wondering how you think that this is going to be any different ?
And also , are you taking into account the potential for a fascist or right-wing response to the current movement ?
AMNA AKBAR : Thanks , Juan .
So , we are about a decade into sustained social movement activity in the United States .
If you think back to Occupy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and income inequality through an exercise of prefigurative politics through the encampments that we saw all around the world .
And then , through Ferguson and Baltimore , Black Lives Matter and more , all of those kind of protest moments made us confront the long history of anti-Black violence in the United States .
Standing Rock made center stage Indigenous struggle and how the state and powerful corporations work together to take , take , take from the land in blatant violation of treaty rights , connecting Indigenous resistance to environmental justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And now with defund police , we have a new call , kind of a new moment , where left social movements , young people of color are calling for these various modes of reforms that are designed to imagine and start to build a different kind of world .
And now — you know , and then the moments I just named are kind of the spectacular headline moments , the moments of the whirlwind , and all the while , long before and long after , you have the slow work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ building , political education , toolkits , campaigns , coalition building and canvassing .
And so , in the last decade , we have built our power and our analysis , expanded our collective muscle for a wide array of strategies and tactics , and built all sorts of institutions , organizations , coalitions , magazines , podcasts , bail funds , mutual aid networks and more .
And so , while there are certainly differences in analysis and theories of change across the left and working-class organizing , there ’ s also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people understanding why the status quo can ’ t stand , how the status quo is a product of a global and local history , and the need to come together to build alternatives .
And so , whether this is a more powerful formation or powerful moment than any other one across the — you know , in the history of the United States or around the world , that I don ’ t know .
But I do know that over the course of my life , this is certainly the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been .
And I feel hopeful about where we are .
And , of course , I feel apprehensive , because our opponents are not going to pack up and go home , as Rachel Herzing put it the other day when I was talking to her .
We are going to see , and we are seeing , state repression all over the country , whether it ’ s federal prosecutions of protesters or all sorts of local and state prosecutions , not to mention the ongoing criminalization and prosecution of working-class @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the odds against us are long , but we are also stronger than we have been over the last few decades .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , Amna Akbar , we will certainly continue to cover all of these issues , and we hope to get back to you soon .
Professor Akbar teaches at Ohio State University .
We ’ ll link to your column in The New York Times headlined “ The Left Is Remaking the World.
” When we come back , we ’ ll be joined by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another hot spot in the United States .
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. As COVID-19 cases hit a new high and at least 11 states report record hospitalizations, we look at another looming crisis for the American public: mass evictions.
We’re now more than four months into a pandemic that’s left millions unemployed. Eviction freezes across the country are ending even as case numbers rise and states reimpose lockdown measures. Many warn a tidal wave of evictions and a spike in homelessness during the pandemic could be next.
In Michigan, where a halt on evictions ends Thursday, the state estimates it’s a backlog of 75,000 eviction filings. Other states have already resumed eviction hearings, including Texas, Georgia, Ohio, where a Columbus convention center has been converted into a massive socially distanced housing court. The COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project reports more than 20 million people could face eviction by the end of September, and those hardest hit will be Black and Latinx. This comes as the $600-a-week bump for unemployment benefits that Congress passed as a COVID relief measure is set to expire in a few weeks.
Facing these dire circumstances, activists are continuing their demand to Cancel the Rent — a movement that’s inspired rent strikes and protests nationwide. And a coalition of labor unions, workers, and racial and social justice groups in 25 states plan to stage a mass walkout this Monday called the “Strike for Black Lives.”
For more, we’re joined by Amna Akbar, law professor at Ohio State University, who wrote about how to respond to all of this in her op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times headlined “The Left Is Remaking the World.”
Welcome to Democracy Now! Thank you for joining us from Columbus, Ohio, Professor Akbar. The beginning of your piece, you say that the uprisings in response to the killing of George Floyd are far different than anything that has come before. Please explain.
AMNA AKBAR: Thanks, Amy. Thanks, Juan.
Well, the pandemic and the uprisings have raised fundamental questions about what the state does and does not, and for whom, who has to work, in what form and for what pay, and the interdependence of all of our lives. We have 18 million people unemployed in the country, and, as you were saying, 20 million people face possible eviction and houselessness by the fall. And the response from Trump and Tim Cook, recently, was to tell Americans to find something new. We had the one-time $1,200 payout from the feds and various forms of closings of housing court, which are now coming to a close, as you mentioned. There has been a total lack of imagination and, more importantly, political will to respond to the basic human needs of people. And if this is not the purpose of our coming together and electing people to represent us, we should be asking some hard questions of what the purpose of the state is.
But I want to take a moment to unpack “cancel rent” and “defund the police,” which are two really important demands that organizers and social movements are making across the country. Police and private property are central, defining institutions of life in the United States. We know the centrality of police to local budgets now, and the immense power that they have and their sprawling scale, because it has been on spectacular display for the last two months, since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd.
But it might be worth taking a moment to talk about private property, which is also everywhere and structures our everyday lives, but is arguably a bit more subterranean in how it does. Private property is the basis of our legal regime. It’s a settler regime, a capitalist regime, a racial regime. It creates these relationships where some people own property and most people don’t. And if you don’t own property, you have to pay for it. This is pretty weird, if you think about it. We are human. We have physical bodies. We need space to exist, to sleep, to eat, to take care of one another. But we live in a society where you need to pay for space to live. The private property regime then creates a direct contradiction with meeting people’s needs.
And so, both police and private property are rooted in the histories of enslavement and conquest. They are not systems rooted in collective care and social provision. And it’s not as if we have the police over here and private property over there. These are fundamentally interconnected institutions that prop one another up. They are central to the stories, the structures and the relationships that sustain things as they are. And so it might be helpful to think for a moment about the connection between these institutions, because part of what I argued in the piece is kind of this radical imagination coming out of today’s social movements that’s telling interwoven stories about the world that we live in and the world that we must build.
So, many police killings around the country have happened in gentrifying neighborhoods, including here in Columbus, where Columbus police killed Tyre King, Henry Green and Julius Tate, young Black men and boys, in gentrifying neighborhoods. Police arrest people for stealing food to eat or selling loosies to survive or living under a bridge or squatting in a home when they have nowhere else to go. And all over the country, sheriff’s offices work with landlords to evict people who can’t pay their rents. And so, contrary to this popular idea that we have the market over here and the state over there, we see that the state works to protect the more powerful players in the market by lending them untold volumes of arsenal.
And, of course, central to the defund demand is precisely this critique of neoliberalism, that the state has been stripped of virtually all of its provisioning function, which we see on spectacular display right now in response to COVID-19. We don’t guarantee housing. We don’t guarantee food. We don’t guarantee healthcare or PPE. Instead, all of our tax dollars are going to prisons, police and jails; sustain things as they are; enact so much violence on poor, working-class, Black and Brown people; and distract us from the real work of collective care and social provision.
And so, the pandemic and the uprising have put a magnifying glass on how the most powerful institutions in the most powerful country on Earth have absolutely failed to meet the needs of the vast majority of Americans. We have a federalist system with layers of government, right? We have local, state, federal. And none of it guarantees any of the basics that we need to survive. We’re always told it’s too expensive and we can’t afford it. But now we know that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building prisons, jails and detention centers to house 2.3 million people in cages. We pay the salaries and benefits of 800,000 police around the country for their tanks and guns and horses and bikes, Tasers and StingRays. And in that case, it’s no surprise that the police responded so quickly and in such a coordinated fashion across the country in response to the protests, and the state completely failed to respond to COVID-19.
And, of course, on the other hand, the pandemic and the uprising have reminded us of our collective power and our collective resilience. We have the power to consent or refuse. We have the power to build alternatives. So, when today’s movements and organizers are calling to cancel the rent or defund police, these demands are calling for material changes to make a real impact in the daily lives of everyday people. And the demands, in themselves, are throwing into crisis the very shape of the state today, because they ask the state to step in on behalf of people over property, and people over police. And we live in a society where both of those institutions — private property and policing — take precedent over the lives of working-class people.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Professor Akbar, I wanted to ask you, though: What is singular about this movement compared to movements in the past that also believed that they were remaking the world? I’m speaking, for instance, of the anarchists, the Magonistas, in Mexico; the International Workers of the World in the early 1900s; the communist and social movements of the 1930s, right after the — in the wake of the Great Depression; the New Left movement of the 1960s, which I was a part of. Our slogan then was not “defund the police”; it was “off the pigs.” And yet, each of these movements thought that they were going to remake the world. However, capitalism proved to be a lot more resilient in its ability to co-opt and to adjust to the threats. I’m wondering how you think that this is going to be any different? And also, are you taking into account the potential for a fascist or right-wing response to the current movement?
AMNA AKBAR: Thanks, Juan. So, we are about a decade into sustained social movement activity in the United States. If you think back to Occupy, Occupy focused our attention on capitalism and income inequality through an exercise of prefigurative politics through the encampments that we saw all around the world. And then, through Ferguson and Baltimore, Black Lives Matter and more, all of those kind of protest moments made us confront the long history of anti-Black violence in the United States. Standing Rock made center stage Indigenous struggle and how the state and powerful corporations work together to take, take, take from the land in blatant violation of treaty rights, connecting Indigenous resistance to environmental justice, and environmental degradation to capitalism. And now with defund police, we have a new call, kind of a new moment, where left social movements, young people of color are calling for these various modes of reforms that are designed to imagine and start to build a different kind of world.
And now — you know, and then the moments I just named are kind of the spectacular headline moments, the moments of the whirlwind, and all the while, long before and long after, you have the slow work of organizing. So you have base building, political education, toolkits, campaigns, coalition building and canvassing. And so, in the last decade, we have built our power and our analysis, expanded our collective muscle for a wide array of strategies and tactics, and built all sorts of institutions, organizations, coalitions, magazines, podcasts, bail funds, mutual aid networks and more. And so, while there are certainly differences in analysis and theories of change across the left and working-class organizing, there’s also a growing overlap with more and more people understanding why the status quo can’t stand, how the status quo is a product of a global and local history, and the need to come together to build alternatives.
And so, whether this is a more powerful formation or powerful moment than any other one across the — you know, in the history of the United States or around the world, that I don’t know. But I do know that over the course of my life, this is certainly the strongest the left and working-class movements have been. And I feel hopeful about where we are. And, of course, I feel apprehensive, because our opponents are not going to pack up and go home, as Rachel Herzing put it the other day when I was talking to her. We are going to see, and we are seeing, state repression all over the country, whether it’s federal prosecutions of protesters or all sorts of local and state prosecutions, not to mention the ongoing criminalization and prosecution of working-class people for their survival. And so, the odds against us are long, but we are also stronger than we have been over the last few decades.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Amna Akbar, we will certainly continue to cover all of these issues, and we hope to get back to you soon. Professor Akbar teaches at Ohio State University. We’ll link to your column in The New York Times headlined “The Left Is Remaking the World.”
When we come back, we’ll be joined by the mayor of Tucson, Arizona, yet another hot spot in the United States. Stay with us.