05/07/18 05/07/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! i temporary protective status have achieved a lot. i'm a health educator and i have brought up my kids who are good citizens so i don't understand what the problem is with this administration who said we are a problem when we came here to fight and to make this country grow. and we're all over the united states. amy: the trump administration ends temporary protective status, tps, for early 90,000 hondurans living in the united states, saying it is now safe for them to return home.

we'll get response from a honduran immigrant and activist whose family could now be deported. then meet the 2018 teacher of the year. year, i wantext students to know i am here for refugee and immigrant students, for the kids in the gay straight alliance and for all of the girls i have coached over the years to send them the message that they are wanted, they are loved, they are enough, and they matter. amy: would teacher of the year mandy manning received her award at the white house wednesday, the press was barred from her speech and president trump did not mention who she teaches -- immigrant and refugee children. indias a 17 euro girl in is in critical condition after she was raped and set on fire, we speak with world-renowned indian author and activist arundhati roy about increasing incidence of rape in south asia.

>> we are in a society where underclassmenrape . it is their right. amy: but first, did president trump's pick to head the cia try to withdraw her nomination on friday just days before her confirmation hearing this week? we will look at the mounting criticism of gina haspel and her her role in the u.s. torture program under george w. bush, including running a black site in thailand at the time at least one prisoner was waterboarded. wednesday's hearing would mark the first time haspel has ever spoken publicly about her role in the torture of prisoners. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the observer newspaper of london has revealed president trump's aides hired an israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a dirty ops campaign against members of the obama

administration who negotiated the iran nuclear deal. the agency was asked to dig into the personal lives and political careers of several obama officials as part of an effort to discredit the deal. according to "the new yorker," the secret effort was carried out by black cube -- the same firm hired by disgraced hollywood movie mogul harvey weinstein to stop publication of articles that exposed him as a sexual predator. black cube is made of former officials from the mossad and other israeli agencies. president trump is expected to decide by may 12 on whether he will withdraw the united states from the landmark iran nuclear deal. on saturday, trump's attorney rudy giuliani spoke at a conference in washington organized by a group that is allied with the exiled iranian dissident movement mek which was once considered a terrorist organization by the state department. giuliani promised trump would tear up the iran deal.

>> whatever president who is tough. a president who doesn't listen to the people who are naysayers, and a president that is as committed to regime change as we are. amy: on sunday, iranian president hassan rouhani warned the u.s. would regret pulling out of the iran nuclear deal. >> if america leaves the nuclear accord, it will soon see this will entail historic remorse for it. amy: on sunday, israeli forces shot dead three palestinians near the border between gaza and israel. israel has now killed 43 palestinians since protests began along the border in late march. more than 7000 palestinians have been wounded during that time. meanwhile, palestinians living in israel staged a protest at the erez crossing on friday. ahmad tibi is head of the arab joint list parliamentary faction in the israeli knesset. >> method demonstrate against killing civilians, demonstrate

in gaza, nonviolent palestinians who are demonstrating against the siege, demanding and asking -- amy: the trump administration has announced it is ending temporary protective status, so-called tps, for nearly 90,000 hondurans now living in the u.s. tps is an immigration status granted to foreign nationals who can't safely return to their home countries and allows them to legally live and work in the united states. hondurans were first given tps in 1999 after hurricane mitch devastated the country. the trump administration has also ended protections for el salvador, haiti, honduras, nepal, nicaragua, and sudan. president trump addressed the nra convention on friday and made no mention of the gun control proposals he publicly embraced after february's mass school shooting in parkland, florida. instead, trump criticized britain and france for having tight gun control laws.

pres. trump: yes, that's right. they don't have guns, they have knives. is blood allthere over the floors of this hospital. they say it is as bad as the military war zone hospital. knives. knives. knives. amy: then he turned his attention to france suggesting the 2015 paris attacks could have been prevented if france had looser gun laws. pres. trump: killed by a small group of terrorists that have guns. they took their time and gunned them down one by one. boom, come over here. boom. amy: trump's remarks sparked outrage in france and britain. in london, the director of the city's major trauma system, dr. karim brohi, said it is ridiculous to suggest guns are part of the solution to knife violence. "the washington post" is

reporting president trump's pick to head the cia sought to withdraw her nomination on friday just days before her confirmation hearing. gina haspel is facing mounting criticism over her role in the u.s. torture program under george w. bush. haspel ran a cia black site in thailand at the time at least one prisoner was waterboarded. her confirmation hearing set for wednesday would mark the first time she might ever speak publicly about her role in the torture program. in west virginia, polls show the formerly imprisoned coal baron don blankenship is surging in popularity ahead of tuesday's republican senate primary. blankenship is the former ceo of massey energy. he served a year in prison after 29 miners died in the 2010 upper big branch mine disaster. last week blankenship released an ad attacking senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and his "china family." mcconnell, who has opposed blankenship's run, is married to secretary of transportation elaine chao. >> i am todd blankenship and i

approve this message. mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. while doing so, mitch has gotten rich. his china family has given them tens of millions of dollars. i just want people are now running false negative ads against me. their challenge of me on me despicable and mentally ill. drain the swamp and create jobs for was virginia. ditch be joe manchin and cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. amy: while the ad was widely viewed as racist, don blankenship has defended the messaging saying -- "we're confused on our staff as to how it can be racist when there's no mention of a race. there's no race. races are negro, white caucasian, hispanic, asian. there's no mention of a race. i've never used a race word." the news orleans news site the lens has revealed the energy company entergy paid actors to attend and in some cases speak at public hearings to support a proposed $210 million power plant in eastern new orleans.

photographs from the hearings show dozens of people wearing the same orange shirt that read "clean energy. good jobs. reliable power." one actor said -- "they paid us to sit through the meeting and clap every time someone said something against wind and solar power." the new orleans city council approved the new entergy power plant in march. environmental groups have sued to block the project in part because they were turned away from public meetings because of lack of space. in virginia, a 61-year-old mother and her daughter have ended a five week tree sit to protest the construction of a natural gas pipeline. theresa "red" terry and her daughter began the tree sit on april 2. they ended it on saturday after federal judge threatened to begin fining the women $1000 a day even though the women were conducting the sit-in on their own property. red terry briefly spoke to reporters after coming down from the street. >> i spent most of the morning crying. i did not think i would be able to come to you all.

i was told they were going to cut my trees. i don't think that want to talk about it anymore. amy: in labor news, tens of thousands of workers across the university of california system are beginning a three-day strike today to address pay inequalities. uc campuses and medical centers are expected to stay open during the strike. new school here in new york student takeover of , a a cafeteria has entered its seventh day. the takeover began on may day after the school announced plans to layoff 45 unionized food service workers. in news from capitol hill, house minority leader nancy pelosi has asked the house ethics committee to investigate allegations of child sex abuse against democratic congressman tony cardenas. a lawsuit filed last week alleges cardenas drugged and sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 2007. at the time, he was serving on the los angeles city council. cardenas has denied the accusations. and the pulitzer prize winning novelist junot diaz withdrew from the sydney writers' festival this weekend after he

was publicly accused of sexual misconduct. during the festival, diaz was confronted by the writer zinzi clemmons who said diaz had forcibly kissed her when she was a graduate student. other female writers later took to twitter and accused diaz of other forms of misconduct. last month, diaz wrote an essay for the new yorker in which he revealed he was raped when he was eight years old. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show with the trump administration's push to install the cia's controversial deputy director gina haspel as the cia's new director. haspel is set to begin a senate confirmation hearing this wednesday. but according to "the washington post," the hearing almost didn't happen. the paper reported sunday that haspel attempted to withdraw her name from consideration over opposition to her role in the cia's torture program under george w. bush. haspel was responsible for running a secret cia black site

in thailand in 2002 where one prisoner was waterboarded 83 times and tortured in other ways. the former acting director of the cia confirmed that in 2005, haspel personally oversaw the destruction of videotapes showing torture at the black site. gina haspel reportedly offered to withdraw her nomination after some white house officials raised concerns with her about her ability to get confirmed. she was then summoned to the white house to discuss her history with the covert interrogation program. during the meeting, sources says she offered to withdraw. but by saturday afternoon, haspel told the white house that she would not withdraw. also on saturday, white house press secretary sarah sanders tweeted -- "there is no one more qualified to be the first woman to lead the cia than 30+ year cia veteran gina haspel. any democrat who claims to support women's empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite." wednesday's hearing will mark the first time haspel has been forced to speak publicly about

her role in the u.s. torture program and the destruction of cia tapes documenting the torture. her nomination has been widely criticized by human rights groups. the american civil liberties union called on the cia to declassify and release every aspect of haspel's torture record. last year german prosecutors were asked to issue an arrest warrant for haspel for her role in the torture program. prosecutors are said to be reviewing the request by the european center for constitutional and human rights. for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we are joined by john prados, senior fellow at the national security archive. he is the author of about 30 books on international security, diplomatic intelligence, and military history. his latest book is "the ghosts of langley: into the cia's heart of darkness." welcome to democracy now!

and code that is john kerry occam who knew gina haspel. patricia montes, if you can --john prados, if you can elaborate. >> it is an important point to make because all of this malarkey about putting a woman at the top of the cia disguised

as one of the main problems here which is what we're talking about is the head of an agency faced outward to the entire world. if the person is an acknowledged torturer, then it is that america is not your friend america is not someone you want to cooperate with. and the problem with us all question of the secrecy of the documents and all of this is the no one outside rarefied, classified levels of the secret society, if you want to call it that, knows what story -- the real story is with gina haspel. the consequence of that is essentially that the senate is being asked, the american people are being asked to accept a pig in a poke amy: which is why the

civil liberties rights group has asked for documents to get the senate to confirm gina haspel a cia director. the cia is seen as being "more robust than normal" in reporting the nomination including a string of enthusiastic tweets and press releases endorsing her record. aclu attorney dror ladin called these efforts "propaganda" on friday, saying -- "for years, the cia waged a propaganda campaign to mislead the american public and its elected representatives about the cia's brutal and unlawful torture program." the american people have a right to know about the new propaganda campaign that the cia is now waging on behalf of gina haspel even as it hides her responsibility for torture and role in destruction of torture evidence." that is what the aclu is saying. gina haspel is now acting head of the cia, so she is in charge of what gets out and what doesn't. you have written that the confirmation hearing would

actually be an important event to get information out if in fact you believed democrats or republicans will ask about her role in torture. >> let me add to what you just said. i work for the national secured archive. we have also filed suit for those documents. effort to widespread open up the record. i don't think any of this is going to happen before the nomination hearing. and that is part of our problem. also addse, i want to to the conversation about told,or of the cia being actually like a box of cereal. for example, to this day, this morning, there is no publicly available document that even

tells you what were gina haspel 's duty stations during her 30 year career at the cia. we know the things that we talked about earlier in the program, and that is almost the only open information that exists. releases actually a cia that gave some details about ms. haspel's career. but if you want to the cia's website, you could not find a document. that is how open the agency's approach to informing the american people on this is. amy: how different is her nomination process from other high-level intelligence officials, nomination process is like michael hayden, porter goss, george tenet? >> very different. beentandard has always that there is a high degree of detail, high degree of inquiry

applied in one of these situations. the nominee feels out an extensive questionnaire. this is made available to the public. the nominee appears at hearings both open and private and answers questions for the record and all of that becomes a package that is available for the american people. she's going to go to the nomination hearing as of now without the public even being aware of what her duty stations at the cia were. antonia heard on friday she might withdraw her nomination for their reporting in "the times congress you might withdraw as a candidate, what were your thoughts? what do you think this means? orn if she did withdraw wasn't approved, she could stay as head of the cia for his longest president trump doesn't nominate for a nomination

process goes forward for someone else, right? >> that is correct, yes. my thoughts were this shows in fact they're starting to understand there is a problem here. i think initially, they might have thought they could walk through this process and not pay attention. it would people started asking for information -- but when people started asking for information, it began in the posture of denial. then as they came closer to the sort of moments, they're beginning to realize that this is a much more complicated thing than a thought. amy: we will continue to follow this. hearing at least for now a confirmation hearing of gina haspel to be head of the cia is set for wednesday. john prados senior fellow at the

, national security archive. his latest book is "the ghosts of langley: into the cia's heart of darkness." this is democracy now! when we come back, with the ending of the temporary protective status for hondurans, is president trump ending tps altogether? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "this is america" by childish gambino. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the trump administration announced friday that it is ending temporary protective status, so-called tps, for early 90,000 hondurans now living in the united states. tps is an immigration status granted to foreign nationals who can't safely return to their home countries and allows them to legally live and work in the united states. hondurans were first given tps in 1999 after hurricane mitch devastated honduras. on friday, homeland security secretary, kirstjen nielsen, said -- "based on careful consideration of available information, including recommendations

received as part of an inter-agency consultation process, the secretary determined that the disruption of living conditions in honduras from hurricane mitch that served as the basis for its tps designation has decreased to a degree that it should no longer be regarded as substantial." meanwhile, critics note honduras remains one of the world's most violent countries. the trump administration has also ended protections for people from el salvador, haiti, honduras, nepal, nicaragua and sudan. only south sudan and syria were renewed. an estimated 300,000 people will be impacted overall. on friday, the government of honduras said it regrets the cancellation of tps and pledged free legal and consular support for hondurans in the united states. patricia montes is an immigrant from honduras, and executive director of centro presente in boston, massachusetts, which has worked with members from honduras and central america since the 1980's. she also has family members who will lose their temporary

protected status. welcome to democracy now! let's start off with your family. what will happen to them and why does the timetable for 90,000 hondurans having to leave the united states? , it is part of a larger strategy to criminalize the undocumented immigrant community in the u.s., especially black and latino immigrants. i am from honduras. had tps.mily that also our case is not unique. we're talking about hundrs of families that are confronting this problem at the moment. salvador,onduras, but haiti, and others that are being criminalized by this administration. amy: can you talk about your challenge that you have joined to stop the dropping of tps for hondurans? >> i think it is for a

challenging, especially because honduras as a country is not ready to receive people that are being deported from the u.s. and other countries like mexico. as you mentioned before, honduras is one of the most violent countries in the world. earlier this year, the united nations economic commission for latin america and the caribbean declared honduras is the most poorest country in latin america, displacing haiti. we had a coup d'etat in 2009. the u.s. government under the obama administration supported that could a top. -- coup d'etat. after that coup d'etat, we have a lot of violations in the country. more recently, but elections our were illegal because constitution, the honduran constitution, does not allow presidential reelection. there's a lot of repression in the country right now. beingds of protests are

repressed in the country. 38 people were killed by the honduran army. the country is not ready to receive people that are going to be potentially deported from the united states. amy: during a senate committee hearing in january, senator dianne feinstein questioned homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen about whether the trump administration's steps to cancel tps were racially motivated in the case of haiti. feinstein spoke after president trump made comments in which he used the word referred to immigrants from africa, el salvador, and haiti as being from s-hole countries. he used the full word. aboutlight of the words the reports of the president's recent comments, hope you're ready to specifically address one issue in particular, and that is the termination of temporary protected status, known as tps, for haitians. in light of the president's

comments, i am forced to question whether the decision to terminate protected status for haitian nationals was in fact racially motivated. i hope not. amy: also, senator feinstein asked secretary kirstjen nielsen if she thought the tps law should be changed. this was the homeland secretary's response. >> this was meant to be a temporary status, as you know. the difficulty with that is when people are here for 20 plus years, and the case of el salvador, they are roots. there are other was making our economy strong. yes, we do need to look at this and find a better way to come up with a permanent solution. amy: patricia montes, can you tell us what your plans are today on the state house steps in massachusetts? >> we truly believe the fact they terminated tps is a

discriminatory act against black and latino immigrants that are protected under tps. today we have an action demanding justice for people. we are denouncing violation of human rights. we also want to raise awareness about what is going on in honduras right now. i think it is urgent for people to understand here in the united states the connections between forced migration and the u.s. foreign-policy. and it is also urgent for people to understand that countries like haiti and el salvador and nicaragua are not ready to receive these people that potentially can be deported to these countries. amy: patricia montes, can you talk about how u.s. policy affects a number of hondurans fleeing back to the united states? just last november, the highly discredited election that took place in honduras with the reelection of the incumbent

president for an end is that was questioned by every organization from the organization of american states and many others, many thousands of hondurans protesting in the streets calling for a new election -- how does that affect the number of hondurans who come here? >> it is connected. the u.s. foreign policies connected with forced migration from honduras -- there is a conflict. now extreme violence taking place and it is extremely connected. when the us government is supporting a coup d'etat, supporting an election that is a legal because the honduran constitution does not allow the presidential election, of course it is connected. thousands of hondurans are leaving the country as a result of extreme violence. 80% of the 1000 immigrants that are in the caravan right now looking for protection in the united states and are being criminalized by this government

are escaping from violence. that violence that is extremely connected with the policies that these countries have been for decades. amy: is there anything house you would like to add as you head off to this state house action today with congress number mcgovern, joe kennedy? >> we're part of a national coalition that has been going and visiting migrants in countries like mexico, honduras, and el salvador. we are inviting formally commerce may kennedy -- congressman kennedy and mcgovern --come with us in a meetings and have meanings defending human rights. i think they need to understand what is going on and have a conversation not just with the

honduran government. amy: i want to thank you, patricia montes. finally, how long will hondurans have right now? is it 18 months if this -- the resending of tps for hundreds is not stopped by a court? >> they have 18 months. -- wee the community would like to see the immigrant community fighting for their countryere and also the of origin. it is important for them to be part of an organized strategy and fight for their rights. amy: patricia montes, immigrant from honduras, executive director of centro presente in boston, massachusetts. she has been working with members from honduras and central america since the 1980's. she also has family members who will lose their temporary protected status. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. as we turn now to the 2018 teacher of the year. when mandy manning received her award at the white house on wednesday, the press was barred from her speech and president trump did not mention who she teaches -- immigrant and refugee children. >> over the next year, i want students to know i am here for refugee and immigrant students, for the kids in the gay, straight alliance, and for all of the girls i have coached over the years to send them the message that they are wanted, ,hey are loved, they are enough and they matter. amy: that is 2018 teacher of the year mandy manning. while suzette the white house, meaning handed president donald trump a stack of letters from her refugee and immigrant students. manning also wore six politically themed buttons as she accepted her award from trump, while billionaire

education secretary betsy devos looked on. manning's buttons featured artwork from the 2017 women's march, and a rainbow flag with the slogan "trans equality now!" pres. trump: to mandy and all of the amazing educators here today am a your tireless dedication doesn't just inspire your students, it inspires all of us. and i can to you it very much inspires me. we honor you and every citizen called to the noble vocation of teaching. now it is my privilege to present mandate with a national teacher of the year award. by: for more, we're joined mandy manning who has returned from washington, d.c. to washington state where she teaches english and math to refugee and immigrant students

at the joel e. ferris high school. she was named 2018 national teacher of the year by the council of chief school state officers. welcome to democracy now! and congratulations. clothes thank you. thank you very much. amy: can you talk about your message at the white house, what took place on monday? secretary of labor, secretary of education and you are with the president of the united states. >> it was on wednesday afternoon. the white house really did a good job of honoring us. we had a reception and we had an opportunity to be on a panel with secretary devos and secretary of labor, the four finalist. we got to speak about some very important issues facing education like school safety and the opioid crisis. of course i spoke about my immigrant students at the newcomer center here. we had a reception.

then the presentation of the award was next. and gaveo the audience my remarks, and then we had a short intermission -- which is where i had my opportunity to hand the letters to the president from my students. and i also asked him if he would be willing to come to spokane and meet my students, my immigrant refugee students, to see how amazing, dedicated, focused, and what protective members of our community they are as future citizens of our united states. amy: the press was barred from recording your speech? >> i did not know that until ceremony when i spoke with reporter afterwards. that is when i found out that my remarks were not witnessed by the press -- amy: that they were prevented

from being in the room. i did not think would be particularly subversive to play a clip of your speech at the white house, but apparently, it is, so we are going to play if from a recording made by a friend of yours on their cell phone. this is the clip. toi am honored and humbled tell my students story. [indiscernible] [applause] who believed united states is the place where there found the center of their lives where they

can have dreams and hopes to be someone. my students are immigrants and refugees brand new to our nation. i teach at a high school in spokane, washington. they are just learning english. they are focused and determined to reproductive citizens of our united states. and most importantly, they succeed. amy: this speech no one saw but those in the room like the vos goodn secretary deb labor secretary acosta. i don't believe the president was there at the time. but the press barred from being in the room and recording that speech. you're talking

there about your students. talk about the countries they come from as you teach at the -- what is known as the newcomers center. president trump did not mention teacherwarding you the of the year award that you teach refugee and immigrant students. >> yes. so i teach in the newcomer center, which is a specialized english-language development program for brand-new emigrant refugee students. these are the students who just came to the country like one to three months prior to starting school in the u.s. thousand know very little english. my students come from all over the world. they come from iraqi afghanistan, several countries .n africa such as uganda sudan -- all over.nia i have syrian students. i also have current students from myanmar, i've had them from

malaysia, micronesia come in the , students froms el salvador. all over. amy: can you talk about the pins you were as president trump recognized you as the teacher of the year? >> sure. teach -- i not only teach immigrant refugee students, but i also have worked closely with the gay straight alliance. does the code advisor before becoming the washington state teacher of the year. basketball.ed girls and on micros basketball team, i who had totrans boy come you know, be on the girls basketball team. but these bins represent my students. i wanted them to know 100% that as i stood there in this white am there for them.

i am there to bthe vehicle through which they can tell their stories. i want to represent them. that is what my pins represented. the one from the women's march is the one that represents the dreamers and me daca immigrants. amy: you were speaking this past wednesday in the midst of the teacher walkout and strikes around the country. can you comment on these? >> welcome at the heart of every teacher is their students. in many states in many areas, we are under serving many of our students. and sometimes it takes that collective voice where teachers come together to ensure the have the supplies they need and the equipment and also the compensation to be the very best that they can be for their students. so sometimes we don't have a choice. all we want what is best for our students, we have to come together with that collective voice because that is when we

can make change. amy: do you endorse the strikes and walkouts from west virginia to oklahoma to arizona? -- yes,ieve that anything that we can do to ensure our students have what that is whatause teachers want. we want what is best for the students. amy: the last time we saw a televised event that involved teachers and students at the white house was after the valentine's day massacre in parkland. the marjory stoneman douglas high school, february 14, where both students and staff, teachers were gunned down. they told president trump ,irectly, some of them said one, the husband of a teacher said, no, we don't want teachers to be armed.

president trump and vice president pence went to the nra convention on friday right after giving you that award on wednesday. their people were not allowed to bring in guns to the nra meeting, the national rifle association meeting. your thoughts on guns in schools? well, of course i can only speak for myself, but i will never and do not ever want to carry a gun in the classroom. the most important thing in my classroom is the relationships that i've built. and i strongly feel if we had guns in our schools, particularly if i carried a gun, it would dramatically impact the feeling in my classroom and my ability to connect with my students. it is an idea that is a temporary band-aid to make

people feel like that might make us feel more safe but in reality, if we bring more guns into the school, i personally would feel less safe. plus, the relationships that we build in the connections in the community would be so deeply impacted. so i would never, ever carry a gun in my classroom. amy: did you get a chance to discuss this with secretary education devos or secretary of labor acosta, guns in schools, the strikes, the walkouts? >> we did have an opportunity to and school guns safety, but we really focused on the fact that in order to have safe schools, we need to have connected schools. which means students need to feel connected to their peers. they need to feel connected to their teachers. they need to feel like their score represents them and is a safe place for them. so that was the focus of our discussion that the key to

school safety is ensuring that teachers can do the things that they need and have the latitude in their classrooms to meet the needs of the students within their individual classrooms. and at school state to be -- go ahead. amy: go ahead. " meet the needs of the community with which they reside. amy: could you share a letter from one of your students? you ask them to write letters to president trump? >> yes. and they wrote just beautiful letters. i chose one from a student -- i believe his name off -- but from iraq.ent from he says "dear president trump -- he put his statement here. "dear president trump, my name is yousself. you won the presidency. i should have arrived in the u.s. but because you said it

immigration been combined to wait until march. my mother was already here and bow can, washington and i had not seen her in quite sure years. when i graduate from college, i will be a dj. if you want to learn more about me and my mom's story, you can watch our video on youtube. called iraqivideo refugee reunites with her son. sincerely, youseff." the letters are just beautiful. and some are very supportive of the president. most of them say thank you and how much they are appreciating being here the u.s. was just listening to the show, your show little bit earlier and some juice week do speak language -- about his lane which from africa and how that hurts and encourages other people to use that same kind of language. it does not make for positive connections within our communities. the students were great.

they great insights into our nation. they were very respectful and kind. amy: mandy manning, when president trump called africa, which you call the country, africa, haiti, other countries - sohole countries, what did you tell your students that day? we loved them that them, that we know their value and that we can see that this is a place for them to come to have hope and dreams and be someone and that we want them here and that they are lovely, beautiful human beings who make the united states are richer, more beautiful country. amy: mandy manning, thank you for being with us. english and math teacher who teaches refugee and immigrant students from places like iraq and syria at the joel e. ferris high school in spokane, washington.

year by the council of chief school state officers, and last wednesday president trump presented her the award during a ceremony at the white house. this is democracy now! stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "chicago teacher" by rebel diaz. we end today's show in india, where police say they have arrested the main suspect and 14 of his accomplices in an alleged gang-rape and murder of a teenage girl.

she was reportedly murdered after her parents complained to the local vigil -- village council she been raped. the accused rapist was told to do 100 sit-ups and pay a 50,000 rupee fine -- that's $750 -- as punishment. the men were allegedly so enraged by the penalty that they beat the girl's parents then set her on fire. this is the girl's sister speaking to indian television on saturday. >> the boy was asked to pay 50,000 rupees. he said he would pay 30,000 letters that he won't pay any money. he said he won't marry my sister for up then all of the fighting started. amy: the jharkand incident is just the most recent of a series of brutal incidents of sexual violence against children. protests erupted last month over

the gang rape of an 8-year-old muslim girl in a hindu-dominated area of the state of jammu in kashmir. one of the three suspected rapists is a police officer. authorities say the motivation for the kidnapping, rape and murder of the girl, named asifa bano, was to drive her muslim family out of their village. two lawmakers with the ruling bjp party were forced to resign, after they helped organize rallies in support of the accused rapists, sparking widespread outcry. last month, india's cabinet approved the death penalty for rapists of girls below the age of 12 after prime minister narendra modi held an emergency meeting in response to nationwide outrage in the wake of the rape cases. according to government officials, the order also amends the law to include more drastic punishment for a convicted rapist of girls below the age of 16. this comes as there were 40,000 rapes reported in 2016. 40% of them child victims. last week, nermeen shaikh and i spoke to world-renowned indian author and activist arundhati roy about the increasing

incidence of9 in india. calledot that modi for the death penalty because he was concerned about the death -- is only after he went to england and realized what a big issue internationally. and had to make a spectacle i'm an appearance of doing something. the truth is, first of all, i'm against the death penalty. but what actually happens is, of course there's a death penalty for mass murder. all of the people who are involved in mass murder sentence to death very dramatically and then released. really, it is a question of gathering evidence, of making a really strong case of taking -- of doing things because you really want to do them, not because you want to perform on

some international stage by making these empty declarations. you havele is that rapes. you have these brutal men that are raping women -- of course, hindus are raping girls, muslims are raping girls. everybody is raving girls. there is no question of it belonging to only one community. but what is new over here is that aside from the fact that the girl was not just raped and killed, she was held in a temple, according to the please report, held into a temple and then bludgeoned to death, they had a ritualistic satanist that part to it which is terrifying. criminals, aside the the fact that people are marching in support of the rapists, men and women, you know? marching in support of the rapists, demanding the charges

be withdrawn. this is what is frightening. in the course of one year, there was a guard man who was sentenced this convicted of rape . his supporters created have it. unity march is marching in support of rapists. another guard man -- both were close to modi, convicted of rape. they had have a security lockdown in three states because the people who are going to support the rapists are going to create trouble. so this is something that we've got to wrap our heads around. it has gone beyond just the little girl that was raped and the maniacs who raped her. but politicization of this, you know? what is it? what is going on?

after all, we are in a society where it has been allowed for upperclassman to rape women. it is seen as their right. where armies,ces officers, soldiers who are being accused of rape are protected by the armed forces special powers act. is a big knife to say, let's not politicize it. but it is political. it is political. it has to be looked at in that way. sexual violence against women in gross has increased since modi came to power. can you elaborate? yet given some indication now, but do you think under his administration there somehow more permissive attitude toward --

>> there is a more permissive attitude to all forms of violence. people know they will be protected in the end. rape, yes. it lynching t,oo. fracking summoned to death because they suspected of eating breve. flogging somebody because they are just flogging because they are transporting dead cattle. beingkind of violence is -- often the victims have cases filed against them. so as long as the perpetrators belong loosely to this hindu family, as they call it, the hindu to our family, rather, they know even if they go in for a few days to jail, when they come out, they will be greeted as heroes. and as we come up to the elections, you are seeing a situation -- for example, two days ago just outside of delhi, a group of turks when it

prevented muslims from saying their prayers outdoors. for a fewarrested days. there was a huge protests asking for them to be released. did they get a decreasing from now on, we will decide where muslims are allowed to pray. they cannot pray outside unless it is more than 50% of the local population, but we will decide. it is being allowed. fact that the monetization and the new goods and services tax has broken the back of all small enterprises and local people, the only way they're going to drum up support polarization. amy: that is world-renowned indian author and activist arundhati roy.

her second novel has just come out in paperback book with the ministry of utmost happiness." you can watch our full interview on our website at democracynow.org. that does it for our show. democracy now! is accepting applications for our paid year-long social media and video production fellowships as well as a variety of paid internships. the social media fellowship deadline is may 6 so apply today! find out more at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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