weeks ago in the us there have been more than 300 reported cases of press freedom violations american and foreign journalists covering the protests including one of our correspondents targeted with rubber bullets tear gas and police night sticks tonight governments are all struggling to germany are demanding an explanation is this a diplomatic crisis in the making and for us journalists held exercising press freedom in america become hazardous to our health i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day. and i know this has been a concern from some countries of their reporters having been treated and appropriately take. for granted this is prime time for me i'm going to the uk we've seen some of those.

allegations come into the state department we want to. put it that way. you should know and those countries should know we will we will handle them in a completely appropriate way we will do our best to investigate them to the extent state courts get to be doing that. also coming up tonight for decades it has been considered a hollywood classic gone with the wind but one streaming service says that viewers should know that the film glorifies slavery oh now misdoubted you come on and be good just. i'm good have a good time to. do my eating at the bottom if you don't care 15th of august i'm not i'm. lonely they can always tell a lady by the way to cheat in front of folks like you and i name for you to go to mcdonald's if i need not to feel and i will i don't know.

as you our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with the alarming number of attacks on journalists in the united states according to the committee to protect journalists there have been more than 300 reported cases of press freedom violations in the u.s. since the george floyd protests began the targets have been u.s. and international journalists most of the attacks have been carried out by local police and in a rare move the board of the committee to protect journalists has written an open letter to u.s. governors mayors and police chiefs demanding they let journalists do their job it reads in part for decades the world has looked to the united states as the best example of a complex nation balancing the need for security with the freedoms promised in our constitution the impact of actions here are felt around the globe every time an american police officer mistreats a journalist or a protester their actions empower the despots and all the kratz who show no mercy

in the religious suppression of their own people and press. while these attacks on press freedom may have taken place in the us they immediately became international news demanding the attention of diplomats the governments of australia and germany for example they have issued formal requests for an explanation and investigation and it is important to note that after more than 2 weeks of protests in the us the us president has offered no comment or statement regarding assaults on journalists today in washington u.s. secretary of state might bump a took questions from reporters one journalist asked why is the trumpet ministrations so quick to condemn attacks on protesters in hong kong yet remains silent about attacks on journalists outside the white house take a listen 2 and a half years i have worked for a journalist of the right to say whatever the heck they want to come out and talk

to you you can ask me whatever question you choose right and i have only and you have it that doesn't happen in nations across the world and to us where 31 years ago when thousands of people were massacred instead they were press journalists they disappeared people just fundamentally different are our nation is so special and it's the greatest nation in the history of civilization especially the challenges like the ones that we are confronting here in the united states today will be managed at on there will be a political process this engaged of the be wide open debate. that was like pompei of they are for more or less full and stephon zeroes in washington d.c. huge deficit and before we talk about what pump a.o. said today we want to remind our viewers that you and your team in minneapolis you were shot at twice with rubber bullets by local police while you were simply doing your job here is the video the shootings caught on camera take a look. take. notice of that on.

the press this is perth 6. we're not going to get out in the middle of the crowd. you know this you know you. could write a book breaker we know ok so i'm trying to and as you see i know that. there you go see. a lot off come on guys you have permission to be out there with her mission to be out here stopping. yes you have permission to be out there stuff i mean i don't care how many times we see that video it still sends chills up and down your spine see again we're relieved that you and your team escaped unharmed today the u.s. secretary of state he pledged that there will be an investigation into alleged attacks on foreign journalists have you been contacted by the authorities in the u.s. about this at any level. no not personally to me no contact i know

that it's a fellow of course the w. is in touch with the u.s. authorities so is the foreign minister in germany and now it's all about getting really this down the line to the local authorities to the state authority in minnesota and. in minneapolis in the city because those were state troopers and metropolitan police so we're going to write down and have that done already to a large degree how this all transpired from our perspective where when and how is that and then let's see what happens you know last week the german foreign minister said publicly that he was aware of what had happened to you and that he would be contacting the u.s. administration for an explanation how did you feel when you heard that news from here in berlin. it's always good if you're the

company of the organization your working for and of the country you are representing i am german and i'm an american both citizenships and proudly so both . but it's good to know that authorities and the german government as well as my my my company had dutch of hell is sticking up for me the larger point here is that and i want to remind you we have alluded to this already in 2019 there were 150 violations against against press freedom in the united states 150 for the whole year 2900 everyone is too much don't get me wrong but it's 150 in the last week alone 2020 in one week 279 well ations against the press reporting on those on those protests nationwide and we were the lucky ones we weren't hit that that bullet rubber bullet zip by my ear not fall but you know it did it didn't

hit me so other other colleagues were treated much worse it's right there people who've lost an eye for example and people who have needed medical care you name it you've covered many stories all across the us i mean we're talking about from hurricanes to political campaigns have you ever experienced aggression from police comparable to what happened in minneapolis. no i have not i have been in those situations before you are right with police with law enforcement with military with national guard is that dr not ever seen a. to say more unprofessional bunch of police off state troopers than i have seen in minneapolis i think many apple is and i think minnesota and the governor is actually aware of this. and he was highly apologetic remembers a colleague from c.n.n. never going to american black colleague got arrested in

a live shot we got shot of shot it in a live shot so you know those those police out there there were not interested in communicating whatsoever and that is that is the thing you see not only were there not interested in communicating with us there was that was all about mays tear gas rubber bullets or whatever else they had at their disposal to get rid of journalism to get rid of journalists to get rid of coverage what they do. they also have the same problem of course with the african-american community they's no communication there was never any kind of any communication there was public safety versus civil rights and that's not how it should be when a police force should be at the same level we understand that some of the attacks on journalists actually came from the public people protesting and then assaulting journalists did you experience anything like that or did you see anything like that happen. no and no i haven't seen it and i haven't experienced it

we had. really had a good experience those people were highly emotional there was a lot of anger rage and that's documented and we have documented it or tried to document this. without cutting them any slack the looting the. arson the ransacking off buildings we mentioned that that's not ok and and we sent that report that we report what we saw but we have not been attacked or assaulted or or threatened. by any protesters. they are domestically in the united states of course there are some news outlets who kind of draw the ear of the ari or of some protestors definitely it. or upon them and i think that's maybe to be expected also a little bit it depends on their coverage and their their their direction of their

coverage so to speak given how do you explain the police results on journalists in the united states i mean you're there on the ground america gives the country where this type of aggression is not supposed to exist there's the 1st amendment there's the history of freedom of the press so how do you explain what we are seeing now. i have to tell you the truth and i want to stress this is my subjective analysis or pinion here but i think the fish is stinking from the head and that means. the gentleman sitting in the white house right behind me president all trump is hammering people and hammering it into their brains that we are fake news that we are the enemy of the people didn't say that just once he said that on a regular basis and of course that sticks in some minds definitely also has probably an impact an effect on many many many police officers all over the

country the police unions and police departments are normally. supporters of the republican party and i think there is not one there's not one case i know that in an election in a presidential election or before a democrat or a democratic candidate got the support of a police union so. police. politicized and divided this country and there is no healing and that also comes with that comes militarization of police and the really really big power of police unions. which in many many ways prevents accountability. it's a sad commentary so you want a country you. know well and. step on the ones in washington stefan thank you very much and again we appreciate your candidness and

again we're glad you're safe and sound thank you. social media platforms in the united states have been criticized for not doing enough to stop campaigns of hate and misinformation you may remember facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg refusing to ban political advertising even if the message of the content are not truthful or twitter was also targeted until last week that's when twitter 1st flag tweets posted by u.s. president donald trump saying that the content of those tweets was in need of fact checking on tuesday as the african-american george floyd was being laid to rest and in a major corporate conciliatory overture twitter c.e.o. jack dorsey announced juneteenth will be a company holiday and he tweeted both twitter and square are making juneteenth which is june 19th a company holiday in the u.s.

for ever more a day for celebration education and connection now the holiday gets its name by combining the words june and 19th the date june 19th 865 is the day that union soldiers told the last remaining slaves in the confederacy the u.s. south that they had been emancipated that they were free and that the civil war was over all right let's put this in some historical perspective tonight my next guest on the day is gerald horne professor of history and african-american studies at the university of houston professor warren it's good to see you again i want to get your take on this june teen. it's it's hard not to hear that and not to be somewhat cynical when you when you see the timing of a move like that. what did you think when you heard about it. well i would say

better late than never fortunately in light of the tragic murder of george floyd you had many corporations who seemingly ignored the needs and interests of black americans have been scrambling to get on the right side of history now been included in that category of twitter a jupe seen in many ways has been marked by black americans for decades if not longer so i'm happy to see that twitter employees will get a day off away from their wage slavery what about. juneteenth for all americans you say african-americans have. celebrated this day. should it be a national holiday june 19th. clearly certainly but as your previous interview suggested this is not necessarily a progressive country that i'm sitting in this is a country where it will state speculator former reality t.v.

host who has the command of a heart rate base is now sitting in the oval office so it will be an uphill climb at best make that a national holiday and white of the open the oval office we got in contact with you today again professor because there is a changing awareness in the country and awareness of the past that is being manifest in numerous ways for example statues of confederate leaders are being taken down in the us self one standout case is the pending removal of the confederacy's main hero general robert e. lee in richmond virginia now this is the virginia governor ralph northam a few days ago announcing that the statue of the statue would come down take a listen to what he said yes that statue has been there for a long time but it was wrong then and it is wrong now. so we're taking

a damn i know some will protest some will say lee was an honorable man i know many people will be angry but my friends i believe in a virginia that studies its past in an honest way i believe that when we learn more we can do more and i believe that when we learn more when we take that honest look at our past we must do more than just talk about the future we must take action professor horn you know he said we have to learn about our history these confederate statues this iconography it did not arise beginning in 865 after the civil war. does the us public does it know the history here that these these statues for example they arose in the 20th century are people

aware of that. well that's a complicated question although it sounds simple on the surface on the one hand the premise of your question to suggest that there is mass ignorance of history in the united states of america a proposition as a historian and history teacher i cannot disagree with on the other hand i think that there is a heart poor once again of supporters of the 45th u.s. president who see the presence of these statues as helping to substantiate their current reactionary positions keep in mind that just today mr trump announced that he would not be changing the names of military bases in united states there were named after confederate generals in federal generals who led the charge to overthrow the u.s. government in order to make sure that enslavement of africans would exist forevermore it would be akin to having chancellor merkel defending the presence of statues of men of the 3rd reich in berlin i hope that of course that is

unacceptable and certainly is not acceptable on this side of the atlantic it's a very good point an interesting comparison that she drawled there we have also seen incidents of people in other countries who are also toppling symbols of the kings for example bristol in the u.k. a statue of edward colston a philanthropist and slave trader was dumped into the river there a couple of days ago don't know if you have seen the video of that but. how do you explain what is happening on the other side of the atlantic and how it's connected to what's happening where you live. well i think that the protests in united states have unleashed a tidal wave of protests globally know that most of the cities and countries where you have protests be it auckland new zealand or sydney australia or london england or even berlin germany these are cities in and installed or cited in countries

where you have had a history of either settler colonialism or colonialism for example one half work us i'm sure you're familiar with german south west africa now you know there's no maybe yes and as a result there are populations of african descent and many of these sites or in the case of the southeast darker skinned people who feel that they're facing discrimination oftentimes there are those who have not listened to their justified complaints and so they're decided to take the situation into their own hands just like we've decided to take the situation into our own hands right here in north america. i want to move from toppling stanch used to taking another look at hollywood the film gone with the wind professor warren have you seen that film. i'm afraid so but i'd like to forget it all right well keep that there ask our viewers keep that in mind and before we discuss further i'd like to show one scene from the film that has been tagged for glorifying slavery in the us self we've got

a clip here let's take a look. and get all that and i want you to buy oh now miss you come on and be good yes. i'm going to have a good time to. do my eating at the bottom if you don't have one folks in the office i'm not i'm home with him oh you know they should always come in later but a way to cheat in front of folks like a bird and i mean for you to go to god loves them and i don't feel man of god all. right that's the scene there people have seen the movie they'll recognize that scene mediately. profesor when you see this scene do you agree with the streaming service h.b.o. max that this film should only be viewed in conjunction with something like footnotes or annotations about the historic reality of slavery in the us sells.

well absolutely and once again i would say better late than never and in any case h.b.o. is not the only source for that film you can find a film in united states all over the place you can find bootleg copies you can find a copy is probably on netflix and i should also say that that particular film goer wouldn't win was a favorite of south africa pre-one $994.00 that is to say the european minority and south africa pre 1904 and certainly i think it would be inappropriate to charge h.b.o. or h.b.o. max with a former citizenship i know enough about german history to know that there are films that were made in the 1930 s. right that are very hard to find in germany as we speak precisely because of their bigoted racist anti-semitic nature yet there are films that are banned if you will there are books for example that are illegal here hitler's book mind it's illegal to you know to buy and sell that here but when we take that and we apply that to the united states immediately you you hear you know the 1st amendment defends or

that we're trying to censor free speech or that we're trying that we are engaged in revisionism of the past what do you say to that. well fortunately the past is frequently replied revise our i recall a time as do my studies of history when black people were treated as less than humans are treated like animals which helped to justify our slavery that was a opinion historical opinion that was revised and certainly censorship is a misused term in the united states i know enough about the law to know that when you talk about censorship you're usually talking about the government moving against a particular work of art you know necessarily talking about a private company moving against a particular work of art and professor before we run out of time the african-american actress that we saw in that scene her name was handy mick daniels

she won an oscar for the role that she played in gone with the whip. are you familiar with how that oscar was awarded to her i vaguely recall i recall when the film had its debut with atlanta she was subjected to us style partied regulations and of course there were objections about civil rights groups to her to trail and to the character that she depicted yes a reporter did some investigation today and told us that hattie mcdaniel she won an oscar she was the 1st african-american to win an oscar in the united states but she was not allowed to walk up on the stage during the awards ceremony because she was black so i think that's also a case of people not knowing the history because i have to admit i didn't know that had been the case with her either president it's good talking with you we appreciate you coming back on the day this week we appreciate your insights tonight

as well thank you thank you. well the day is almost done but the conversation it continues online join us on twitter either g w news or you can follow me at brett goff t.v. and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see you then of.

resisting racism and friends. from all men to say the daughter of earth immigrant spirits of the forefront of this movement. her brother was shot and killed by a police officer since then amal an attorney has been fighting for the rights of migrants she wants to put a stop to place violence against young immigrants like her brother some to sponsor a. double.

ringback in the light of climate change. for me. what's in store. for the future. or to make a city the insight. into. what

secrets lie behind small. discover new adventures in the 360 degree. to explore the mating world heritage site. w world heritage 316 to get you out now. hello and welcome to focus on your show and it's great to have you with us the death of the african american george floyd has shocked many here in europe for 8 minutes and 46 seconds i why the police officer pressed his knee on floyd's nick the death of a black man at the hands of a white officer has caused an uproar not just in the u.s. .