03/06/14 03/06/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! had multiplejamal high-cost lawyers volunteering their time. he had plenty of lawyers. he did not need more lawyers. did was debo adegbile decide to join a political cause. to do. what he decided >> the senate reject president obama's pick to head the civil rights division of the justice department. a group of democrats joined republicans in opposing debo

adegbile because he was head of the naacp legal defense fund which represented mumia abu-jamal on a constitutional issue involving his death sentence. but backers of debo adegbile say the attacks are new form of willie horton politics and race baiting. >> in fact, his willingness to represent an unpopular defendant in an emotionally charged case, to mistreat his appreciation as well as his respect for the criminal justice system. >> then we speak with renowned author, educator, and political activist angela davis. >> abolition involves so much more than the abolition of slavery. abolition involves so much more than the abolition of imprisonment. as the dominant mode of punishment. it involves the reconfiguration of the social, political, economic conditions that render prison such a necessary

institution. >> all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. lawmakers in the ukrainian province of crimea have voted to join russia and hold a referendum on their decision within 10 days. the move could mark a major escalation of the crisis that exploded last week and russian forces deployed around crimea, far beyond the confines of their base there. the vote comes amidst international pressure on russia to withdraw from crimea. nato says it will suspend cooperation with russia, including a joint mission destroying syria's chemical stockpile. top diplomats including john kerry held talks with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov, but the talks broke off without progress. don kerry said the two sides had agreed to keep talking. >> we agreed to continue intense discussions in the coming days

with russia, with the ukrainians , in order to see how we can help normalize the situation, stabilize it, and overcome the crisis. and those intentions are intentions that are shared exactly as i have described them between russia, the united states, the european countries, and ukrainians who were here. that ities agreed today is important to try to resolve these issues through dialogue. >> in an effort to bolster the new ukrainian government, the european union has unveiled an aid package worth at least $15 billion. a leaked phone call has bolstered claims antigovernment forces were behind sniper attacks on protesters in kiev last month. both sides of ukraine's political divide land the other when dozens of people were killed by gunfire in the weeks before the ouster of russian

backed president viktor yanukovich. but in an intercepted phone call between estonia's foreign minister and european union policy chief, paet said the sniper fire came from the opposition. chose the people who were killed by snipers from both sides among policeman and people from the streets, that they were the same snipers, killing people from both sides. photoso showed me some saying is a medical doctor, she can say it is the same type of bullets, same handwriting. it is disturbing the new coalition, that they don't want to investigate what exactly happened. there is stronger and stronger understanding behind sniper's, it was not -- it was somebody from the new coalition. >> in addition to aid, european leaders are also mulling new sanctions on russia.

in news from afghanistan, a nato airstrike has killed five afghan soldiers in eastern logar province. nato says the bombing was a mistake. on theted nations panel civil war in syria says the regime of bashar al-assad is waging a campaign of siege warfare and starvation against hundreds of thousands of civilians. the commission of inquiry says syrians are being -- "denied humanitarian aid, food and such basic necessities as medical care, and must choose between surrender and starvation." speaking to reporters, the panel chair says the un security council bears responsibility for the ongoing atrocities. >> the security council bears responsibility for not addressing accountability and allowing the warring parties to violate the rules with total impunity. one shows the use of siege warfare. the denial of human a terry made

him a basic necessities such as medical care and clean water have force people to choose between surrender and starvation. >> more details in the unfolding dispute of the cia's alleged spying on a senate panel probing the agency's torture and rendition program. members of the senate intelligence committee say cia officials illegally monitored their staffers work as they compiled the panel's exhaustive report on cia torture. the report has yet to be released, but reportedly documents extensive abuses and a cover-up by cia officials to congress. senators and their aides say they believe the cia monitored computers they used while conducting research at cia headquarters. the spying apparently came to light after the cia and plain senate staffers had taken a classified internal review that showed cia officials had misled lawmakers in disputing allegations of torture. in a statement, cia director john brennan said lawmakers are "spurious allegations

about cia actions that are wholly unsupported by the facts." in an irony noted by critics, several members of the senate intelligence committee now complaining about being spied on have been among the staunchest defenders of the nsa, which they also oversee. of senate democrats has broken ranks with president obama to block a key nominee in a 52 to 47 vote rejecting the nomination of debo adegbile the had the department of justice civil rights division. he is a widely respected lawyer who has argued before the supreme court on voting rights issues. the confirmation fight focused almost solely on his role in the legal defense of imprisoned black panther mumia abu-jamal who was convicted of killing the little to police officer. debo adegbile was part of a team of lawyers at the naacp legal defense fund who successfully argued the trial judges jury instructions file a did mumia abu-jamal's rights. seven democrats joined with

republicans to defeat debo adegbile's bit. president obama called the vote "a travesty they started wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant." more on this story after the headlines. administration has again extended the timeline for consumers to keep health plans that failed to meet the standards of the new health care law. president obama granted a one-year reprieve to the substandard plans they last year amidst anger over his failed pledge that all policyholders can keep their plans. on wednesday, the white house extended the window to two years. federal prosecutors have dropped a number of key charges against eric brown, an activist-journalist covering online surveillance who has spent over a year behind bars. supporters say he has been unfairly targeted for investigating the highly secretive world of private intelligence and military contractors. on wednesday, prosecutors dropped 11 of 17 counts, including a charge for posting a

web link online to a document that contained stolen credit card data. all of the dropped charges relate to the hacking of the private intelligence firm stratfor, which unearthed how the firm auditors activists and spies for corporate clients. the dropping of charges came just one day after brown's attorneys filed a motion have the same counts dropped. arguing posting a web link is protected by freedom of speech. brown still faces up to 70 years in prison. alpha naturalnt resources will pay a record fine for years of pollution in the appalachian mountains. alpha has been ordered to pay $27.5 million for thousands of violations of water permit the dumping toxins into waterways. it is the largest ever find under section 402 of the clean water act. the company will also be forced to pay around $200 million to upgrade facilities in five states. around half of the violations were committed by massey energy, which alpha bought in 2011.

alabama lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban abortion after a few to heartbeat is detected, which can happen in the earliest stages of pregnancy them around five or six weeks, before many women even know they're pregnant. it makes no exception for rape or. a similar measure in north dakota has been blocked by a federal judge. the alabama house past three other anti-choice bills on tuesday -- one would extend the waiting period before it abortion from 24 to 48 hours. a second would force women who learn their fetuses have lethal conditions and cannot survive outside the womb to wait at least 48 hours and learn about kerry nato hospice options, which do not currently exist in alabama. would dramatically increase barriers to abortion for minors, whether or not they have parental permission. if a young person seeks legal permission from a judge instead of a parent, her parents to participate in the court proceedings, even if they are

abusive. two more reproductive health clinic in texas, one that invited abortions, have shut down due to the terms of the state harsh to anti-choice law. pro-choice advocates predict september, when a section of the law requiring clinics to meet hospital-style buildings requirements comes into effect, just six abortion providers will be left in the entire state. a house hearing on alleged political targeting by the irs has turned into a shouting match between the panel stop members. lerner refusedis to testify in the latest of dozens of hearings into the alleged singling out of right-wing groups for extra scrutiny. oversight committee chair darrell issa, republican, adjourned the meeting after she reportedly pled the fifth. in doing so, he refused to allow the panel's ranking member, democrat allies are coming said maryland, the chance to speak. >> [indiscernible] if you will sit down and allow me to ask a question.

congress ofr of the the united states of america. i am tired of this. >> well -- >> we have members of your come you to represent 700,000 people. you cannot just have a one-sided investigation. there is absolutely something wrong with that. it is un-american. >> hear hear. >> we had a hearing. it is adjourned. i gave you an opportunity to ask a question and he had no questions. >> i do have a question. >> i gave you an opportunity. >> congressman elijah cummings was speaking off the microphone because the chair of the committee, darrell issa, had shed his microphone off. tens of thousands of people marched in venezuela on wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of longtime president hugo chavez. opponents have staged a series of protests against his

successor nicolas maduro. medianews, two anchors with russia state owned u.s. news network rt has spoken out against russian policy and ukraine on air. on wednesday, one of the anchors resigned during a live broadcast of protest in what she called by's protest in favor of the russian government. >> personally, i cannot be part of network funded the russian government that whitewashes the actions of putin. i'm proud to be an american and believe in disseminating the truth, and that is why after this newscast, i am resigning. >> rt has dismissed her actions as a show of self promotion. there was another anchor at also spoke out on air, calling the invasion of crimea and act of military aggression. in an interview with cnn, martin has tears bargain that rt

acted no differently than the u.s. corporate media did intervene for the iraq war. >> there is no difference than any other corporate media station. we are talking about zix corporation second phone 90% of what americans see, hear, and read. the lead to the iraq war. king what the establishment said. i can only speak for my show. i stay true to my moral compass, ows the perspective. quicken breaking news, the state department has announced a new ban on visas for russian and ukrainian officials who are responsible are complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine. the move could lead to the freezing of assets and barring americans from doing business with targeted individuals. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world.

a group of senate democrats broke ranks with president obama wednesday as they joined republicans to block his pick to lead the debt -- the civil rights division of the justice department. in a 50 2-47 vote, the senate rejected the nomination of debo the former acting head of the naacp legal defense fund. he is a widely respected lawyer who led the group's defense of voting rights. >> but the confirmation site focused almost solely on his role in a legal defense of imprisoned black panther mumia abu-jamal, who was convicted of killing a philadelphia police in 1981.aniel faulkner the naacp legal defense fund argued the trial judge's instructions to the jury violated mumia abu-jamal's rights. federal courts agreed and in 2011, ordered a new sentencing hearing for him. the move eventually took him off death row. senator ted cruz was one of several republicans who spoke out against debo adegbile. >> the fraternal order of police

vehemently opposes this nomination. according to a letter written by the president of the fop debo adegbile, plus nomination only exacerbates the "growing division and distrust toward local law enforcement agencies." a trend that has continued from the time now labor secretary thomas perez was eating the department of justice's civil rights division. a member on the u.s. commission on civil rights wrote "responsible people should agree that going out of your way to defend a convicted cop killer long after it has become unequivocally clear that he was guilty and has suffered no violation of his civil rights, disqualifies one from serving as the head of a division of the u.s. department of justice." >> republican senator ted cruz who voted against debo adegbile

's confirmation. seven democrats joined republicans in opposing him. bob casey of pennsylvania, joe manchin of west virginia, mark pryor of arkansas, heidi dakota, joenorth donnelly of indiana, john walsh of montana, and chris coons of delaware. senate majority leader harry underlso voted no, which senate rules, allows them to bring the nomination back to the floor and later tom will stop them aquatic senator dick durbin defended debo adegbile's nomination. >> the bush administration's solicitor general stated "i have litigated both with and against debo and her him arguing the supreme court. i've always found him to be a formidable advocate of the highest intellect, skills, and integrity. of mumiasentation abu-jamal does not mean he lacks respect to the rule of law. is certainly should not disqualify him for this

important civil rights job. in fact, his willingness to represent an unpopular defendant and emotionally charged case demonstrates his appreciation for the rule of law as well as his respect for the criminal justice system. his critics have attempted to characterize him as someone who actively sought out this case, someone who is spiritual the officer who was cut down in the line of duty, officer faulkner. and someone who was responsible for mumia abu-jamal's dissidents are being overturned. each of these theaters nations is wrong, inaccurate, and unfair. >> dick durbin speaking wednesday. president obama called the vote a travesty and said -- for more we're joined by two guests. johanna fernandez is with us, professor of history, part of

the city university of new york, one of the coordinators of the campaign to bring mumia abu-jamal home. she is the editor of his essays, "writing on the wall." is the director of the naacp legal defense and educational funds political participation group. we welcome you both to democracy now! let's begin with you, ryan, the significance of debo adegbile's rejection by the democrats as well as the republicans? >> i appreciate you having me on the show. it is hard to overstate with the senate did yesterday in a shameful vote that essentially decided being a lawyer disqualifies one from holding a legal position. more specifically, they held yesterday that serving this country as a public servant and the highest aspirations of the legal tradition and being one of the preeminent civil rights litigators in america disqualifies one, here debo adegbile come from serving as

the top lawyer and the civil rights division for the department of justice. what is striking in watching the debate yesterday on the senate floor, is that none of the discretion was about the substance of debo's qualifications. there's no disagreement about him being a preeminent so bright attorney whose worldview and experience speaks to his call of -- speaks to his qualification. what the senate lacked yesterday was the political will to do the right thing and give the american people what they deserve and having a person who is imminently qualified like debo adegbile, serve in the department of justice civil rights division. >> the amazing thing, apparently, his involvement in this appeal, the death sentence, was almost tangential. he wasn't even a key lawyer in the case. can you talk about who was actually conducting were involved in the case for the legal defense fund? >> the case was chiefly handled expertly by the director of our criminal justice group, and debo

was overseeing all of the legal defense fund, which included this case that involved mr. mumia abu-jamal. when you focus on what was really at issue in this case, there were four federal judges, to whom were appointed by ronald reagan and one was appointed by george bush, which found there was a constitutional violation in this case involving the jury instructions, and it was appropriate for mr. mumia abu-jamal's death sentence to be altered to life without parole. merits at hand, they were involved in this case, though not primarily responsible for representing mr. mumia abu-jamal, but debo's involvement is in line with the highest tradition of our legal profession, which is affording everyone the constitutional rights afforded to any criminal defendant. several of then documents because he was the acting head of the naacp legal defense fund? >> yes, his name was on all of the briefs and he appeared on

two before the third circuit court of appeals and one before the u.s. supreme court. >> johanna fernandez, the significance of the ability of the lobby of police organizations around the country to essentially tar debo adegbile the mumia abu-jamal and refusal to accept by the police organizations that the courts had already ruled, one, that the death penalty in this case was not properly administered or ruled to mumia? >> i think we have to outline what the strategy was that was used to tar debo adegbile. this has been used historically to dismiss nominees and elected officials who are not in line with the interest of a particular section of society. so what exactly did they do?

they essentially appealed to the racism of white voters by creating a target -- and this target is mumia abu-jamal, whom they depict as a monster, unrepentant, cop killer. then they link him to debo adegbile in order to scare democrats from supporting him, especially in the run-up to an election. now i think it is important to note that in the post-civil rights and black power era, the alleged killing of a police officer is synonymous with the notion of a black man killing our tuesday, a white man raping a white woman. this becomes the basis upon the legal lynching happening. this essentially is deployed to

instill fear and intimidation in a white, lately racist voter population. at some point we have to say mumia was lynched in the courts. part of what the fraternal order of police says is that the movement to free him cares not maureene pain of faulkner. but part of what we have to say is justice for maureen faulkner is tied to finding out who killed officer faulkner. one of the most important things in this case is that there was a fourth person at the scene of the crime. and that person was the grinding away from the crime scene, and was identified as the shooter. was suppressed and trial by the prosecution. the question is, why? we believe mumia is innocent and

justice for maureen fought and are is tied to finding out who killed officer faulkner. why doesn't the fraternal order of police want to discover the truth in this case? >> this is republican senator pat toomey a pennsylvania opposing the nomination last night. he addressed his colleagues, stood before an oversized photograph of daniel faulkner, the police officer mumia abu-jamal was convicted of killing. >> when they should've been pursuing their historic role in providing the truth and justice for american people, they were advancing neither cause. it's also important to point out that this was never a case of a criminal deserving a legal defense. terminals do deserve -- terminals do deserve appropriate legal counsel in their defense. the fact is, the trial had occurred decades ago. mumia abu-jamal had multiple high cost lawyers volunteering their time. he had plenty of lawyers. you did not need more lawyers.

did was debo adegbile he decided to join a political cause. that is what he decided to do. that is what this was all about. by doing so, he demonstrated his own contempt for, and frankly, a willingness to undermine the criminal justice system of the united states. >> that was republican senator pat toomey a pennsylvania where mumia abu-jamal is in prison. johanna fernandez, can you talk about the campaign to oppose debo adegbile? what happened in the senate? i heard a lot from the opposition in this period of time leading up to the vote. i heard very little from groups supporting debo adegbile. >> so the campaign against debo was initiated by the fraternal order of police. it began when they wrote a letter to the president of the united states. it essentially demonized mumia abu-jamal and linked debo mumia's alleged

shooting of the police officer. and then they proceeded to lobby politicians like senator pat toomey, but also the first black the a a philadelphia, seth williams, and both of them ended up writing a letter to "the wall street journal," field with lies about mumia abu-jamal's case and a misrepresentation of debo adegbile's association with the case. andas a vociferous campaign it was a grassroots campaign. and this is what the right does. they actually went to the floor of the senate about three weeks ago when an initial vote was taken and they had literature about mumia abu-jamal and debo adegbile field with lies. and part of what we learn from

this example is that voices of conscience do not organize like the right does to present the truth and the facts of the case, then they end up winning. >> part of the reason why the vote yesterday so tragic is because as a practical matter, and now leads the head of this overwrites division position open. it is a pivotal time in american history when we're dealing with all manner of inequality in the civil rights context, and the standard ground context, the issue of the role of race in her education. for me as a voting rights lawyer, one of the most important issues is, how to respond to the supreme court's devastating decision in the shelby county case last term? what is striking about this vote yesterday against debo, he was one of the people who took the lead and help develop the record that congress used in 2006, and it was debo adegbile who twice defended what congress did before the u.s. supreme court

for successfully in the mud case and most recently the shelby county case. the u.s. senate vote yesterday was really a vote against its own interests. last term, the supreme court essentially gave congress a vote of no confidence when it struck what congress did by striking -- it was debo who was one of the chief defenders of congress's work before the supreme court two times on some of the most important voting rights cases in our generation. >> it is entirely possible that the real reason behind the attempt to get him out was for cicely that he would become, as head of the civil rights vision aid, the main proponent within the federal government of holding up the voting rights of african-americans and other minorities just at the time we have these elections coming up. >> i also think there was interest convergence here. it is significant congress essentially was given the vote of no-confidence by the supreme

court and the supreme court said, look, your power to legislate around the core of fundamental rights, the right to vote, is being constrained by the supreme court decision. congress really had an opportunity to respond by and thewith debo department of justice under his leadership to enact new voting rights legislation that would pass and would restore what was lost in the shelby county decision. >> senator chris coons of delaware was one of the seven democrats who voted against the nomination. he said -- and then there was heidi heitkamp. the democratic senator who voted

also to oppose debo adegbile's nomination. her office sent a fund-raising e-mail that claimed -- ryan haygood, your response? >> i don't think he could be more disingenuous. i think it is well known by all in the civil rights community worksome of debo plus most was in the civil rights context. he would have been one of the chief champions to make sure voters of color in particular are not men more vulnerable by the decision of the supreme court and worked with congress to get more legislation passed. her vote against him is actually a vote against doing that thing is she promises to do here in this e-mail to her funders. here is what stake

the fraternal order of police and its allies feared. here you had the possibility of debo adegbile, someone who's familiar with the case of mumia abu-jamal and who is interested in issues of social justice in the department of justice. what the fraternal order of police feared was that perhaps with debo in office, the department of justice my take on this case of investigating the police. one of the least known facts in this case is that a third of the police officers involved in collecting evidence in mumia abu-jamal's trial, were later convicted for corruption and tampering with evidence to obtain a conviction. in 1970 nine, the department of justice conducted an investigation of the philadelphia police department, the largest ever in the history of the united states, that concluded that the level of brutality and corruption in the police department in

philadelphia "shocks the conscience." that is what the department of justice concluded in 1979 at around the same time mumia abu-jamal was convicted. and what the fraternal order of police feared, which has an office in washington, d.c., and initiated is organization in philadelphia, is that they might actually come down with the election and nomination of debo adegbile, but the problem is not just historical in this case. the philadelphia police's infamous for police brutality. the latest case a brutality involves darren manning, a 16-year-old boy whose testicles were ruptured in a stop and frisk in philadelphia. people inroup of philadelphia, those people who were fighting for justice for darren manning, are also calling for an investigation of the police and all of philadelphia.

and if the case of mumia abu-jamal enters into a conversation in the department of justice, it is over for the department police -- of the police department of philadelphia. why? because it is an international case. as soon as there's any investigation, a lot of people are going to come down, including politicians, who have money from theed fraternal order of police and who have actually run their campaigns in the execution and incarceration of mumia abu-jamal . the stakes politically are pretty high. >> we really are in this pivotal time when there are lots of important issues in the civil rights context that must be addressed. the senate's vote yesterday has provided us with no head of the department of justice civil rights division at a time when we are up on the 49th anniversary of the bloody sunday in march that folks know from selma, alabama, which ultimately resulted in the enactment of the voting rights act.

we celebrate that this year after the supreme court struck a core part of it. be aweekend, there will voting rights workshop in some, alabama. our focus will be on assessing where we are and how the voting rights context in particular can ensure voters of color are not made even more vulnerable by with the supreme court did. i also think there's another take away from the senate vote yesterday. there really is a chilling effect. lawyers like me who practice in the public sphere and our civil rights lawyers were told essentially by congress yesterday that being a lawyer will disqualify you from a legal the -- vision, particularly in the government context. i think that is the most shameful takeaway. quick that you would be afraid to take on difficult cases? >> yes. >> jeopardize any political career. >> the take away from yesterday's vote is if you're interested in a career in

government, you ought to tread carefully about the of cases you take. thatnk it is very true chief justice john roberts today went before the senate, given his pro bono assistance to afford a man who was convicted of killing 8 people, that he would have a very, very steep hill to climb in getting the senate to confirm him. >> thank you both for being here, ryan haygood, former , nowague of debo adegbile director of the naacp legal defense and education fund's political participation group, which promotes the full coequal, and active participation of black people in the democratic process. hank you, johanna fernandez, professor of history here in new york city. davise come back, angela doyon says. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the struggle to overhaul the criminal justice system in the u.s. has reached a pivotal moment when the obama administration push to reform harsh and racially biased sentencing for drug offenses to the recent decision ready new york state to reform its use of solitary confinement, there's a growing momentum toward rethinking the system. ubuntu have also emerged like to find overstaying your ground loss in states like florida or number of recent court cases have highlighted the issue of racial bias in the court system. doris alexander, an african-american woman of color who fired what she says was a warning shot near her abusive

husband, is facing up to 60 years in prison of her retrial. michael dunn shot and killed an african american teenager in a dispute over loud music the same state of florida is facing a minimum of 60 years for attempted murder. the jury failed to convict him on the central charge in the case of the murder of jordan davis, case that many recalled the shooting of trayvon martin by george zimmerman. >> to talk about more of these issues, we spend the rest of the davis.th angela for over four decades, she is mostone of the mos influential activist. she speaking this friday at columbia, university. it is great to have you here. do you since progress? >> well, yes. i think this is a pivotal moment. there are openings. i think it is very important to point out that people have been struggling over these issues for

years and for decades. this is also a problematic moment. as those of us who identify prison abolitionist as opposed to prison reformers make the point that often times reforms create situations where mass incarceration becomes even more entrenched. so therefore, we have to think about what in the long run will barsce fewer people behind and, hopefully, eventually, in the future, the possibility of imagining a landscape without prisons where other means are used to address issues of harm, were social problems such as illiteracy and poverty, do not lead vast numbers of people

along a trajectory that leads to prison. >> i'm wondering, in the first term of president obama was often referred to by some through a myth that post-racial america represented by the election of president obama. he shied away to recently of dealing with the racial inequities, especially in the prison system. i wonder if you can see a movement or transformation and the president himself? >> this is his second term. he has nothing to lose. it really is about time that he began to address what is one of the most critical issues in this country. that pretty unfortunate obama has waited until now to speak out, but it is good that he is speaking out. i think we can use this opportunity to perhaps achieve some important victories. >> explain what you mean,

angela, the difference between being a prison abolitionist, how you describe yourself, and a prison reformer. 1977, when then attica rebellion took place, it was a really important moment in the history of mass incarceration, and the history of reasons in this country. the prisoners who were the spokespeople for the uprising indicated that they were struggling for world without prisons. ofing the 1970's, the notion prison abolition became very important. as a matter of fact, public intellectuals, judges, journalists took it seriously and begin to think about alternatives. however, in the 1980's with the

dismantling of social services, structural adjustment in the global south, a rising global capitalism, we began to see the prison emerging as a major institution to address the byblems that were produced the industrialization, lack of jobs, less funding and education, lack of education, the closedown of systems that were designed to assist people who had mental and emotional problems. now of course, the prison system is also a psychiatric facility. i always point out the largest psychiatric facilities in the country are rikers island in new york and in chicago. is, how does one address the needs of prisoners

by instituting reforms that are stronger to create a prison system? now there are something like 2.5 million people behind bars, if one counts all of the various aspects of what we call the prison industrial complex, including military prisons, country,indian immigrant detention facilities -- which constitute the fastest growing sector of the prison industrial complex. the question is, how do we respond to the needs of those who are inside and at the same time begin a process of dhi qar ionratia and -- decarcerat that will allow us to in this reliance on prison as a default notod of addressing or

addressing, really, of major social problems? >> how do you see the changing public attitudes toward the war on drugs and the willingness of some states to begin a decriminalization process and recognize drug addition wars of help -- more is a health problem in the criminal justice problem? do you see that is having some hope of sharply reducing the prison population? >> yes. i think it is important, but, again, it is also essential to point out that people have been struggling around these issues for a very long time. and oftentimes when these new moment emerge, it is as if the legislators have come up with this idea for the very first time. of course it is important that decriminalization is happening in certain states because drugs

have served the so-called war on drugs, which as we know it has been a war on poor communities -- black and latino communities -- all over the country that so-called war on drugs has been the major motor driving the rising prison population. i often point out that we need to look at the corresponding pharmaceutical complex when we think about the way drugs have served as a pretext for incarcerating such vast numbers of people of color. >> what about the for-profit system? the for-profit prison system? >> there are private prisons. of course -- the u.s. has given rise to this private prison industry for corrections corporation of america was the first private prison

corporation. now of course we have institutions like one that is the third-largest private corporation in the entire world. third only two number one, walmart and number two, foxconn. this corporation which owns and operates prisons all over the inntry, which is involved the production of the technologies used in occupied palestine by israel, which is involved in supporting prisoners from europe to the global south, -- onee u.s. to mexico begins to see how it all comes together. but i think private prisons are of the only indication corporatization of punishment. even public prisons rely on

private corporations. has been outsourced. been outsourced. the few programs there are in prison systems have been outsourced. there's a privatization imprisonment that such it is not possible to consider the issue of mass incarceration without looking at the important role it plays in the economy. and this means, of course, people who have very little to do with criminal justice, with punishment, have no stake in that, really, have stakes in the increase in prison populations because it means more profit for them. >> we're going to take a break and come back to this discussion. i want to also ask you about feminism, where that plays income as we move in on international women's day march 8 on saturday.

we're speaking with angela davis, the author, activist, professor. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

john lennon and yoko ono singing about angela davis. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> our guest today is the angelac and activist davis. her remarkable life journey is chronicled in a recent documentary, "free angela and all political prisoners." it is directed by shola lynch. admitted she is a member of the communist party. >> everybody has a file on her. >> her first lecture drew to 2000 students. >> her education is being put into practice.

>> she purchased quattro guns. >> there is a conspiracy in the land. conspiracy to wipe out the black community. i think she's trying to overthrow our system of government and she admits that. the actions of the fbi in every inning angela davis are rather remarkable for u.s. district court judge set bail at $100,000. its entire -- >> they wanted to break me. >> there was enormous feeling for angela everywhere in the world. >> we know she is innocent. >> we went to tell that pharaoh in washington to let angela davis go free. >> what they're doing is an exaggerated form of what happens every day to black people in this country. >> angela! free angela! >> what does it mean to be a criminal and the society? >> they're not going to kill her

or imprison her. we're going to win her freedom. documentary on angela davis. the making of that documentary from the film maker approached you wanting to do what? in making interested a film about the trial. i had previously been aware of her work because she did a --derful film >> who ran for president. >> the first black woman to run for president in this country, yes. i have been approached many times by people who wanted to do films, but have been reluctant. i did not think it would be fair productive to have a film properly focused on me. i knew shola lynch wanted to tell the story of the trial.

that would also mean telling the that of the campaign developed all over the country and all over the world around the demand for my freedom. and she did quite an amazing job .f retrieving archival footage i've often pointed out, there were things that i did not know until she made that film. i had not seen a lot of archival footage because i was in jail when it was shown on television. talks explain what you were imprisoned for and acquitted of. with threearged capital crimes. murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. i was acquitted on all three charges. t you in prison just down the road from us here? >> yes, as a matter of fact, on the studio, i saw where the old detergent buildings stood.

-- the old detention building stood. the night i was arrested, i could hear the voices of people callad gathered outside to for my freedom. i suppose that is one of the reasons it is no longer in that spot anymore. island, so the community doesn't have the same kind of access. women's house the of detention, you have been speaking increasingly about with an feminism abolitionist frame and abolition within a feminist frame. what do you mean by that? >> absolutely. well, i mean a number of things by that because feminist perspectives i think are really important. not just with respect to understanding how essential it prison or at women in even the women constitute a relatively small minority, one

can see the way the system functions allow more clearly by , forng at the convergent example, of institutional violence and intimate violence. also, looking at the particular prisoners,f trans not only allows us to recognize that this is a group that is perhaps more criminalized than any other group. trans people are arrested and imprisoned more frequently than any other group in society. it allows us to see the role that the prison system as a whole plays in upholding the binary notions of gender in the larger society. so feminism, it seems to me, helps us to reframe the issue of imprisonment and the prison industrial complex within a

larger context. and we see the connections between the personal and the political institutional and the intimate, the public and the private. >> aren't women the fastest-growing appellation imprison? >> all over the world, they constitute the fastest-growing population in prison. i also want to point out that women are such a minority because there are other ways of punishing women in the larger society. i like to point out that violence against women, which is the most pandemic form of violence in the world -- we talked about police violence, racist violence and we think about street violence, trayvon martin and so forth, and that is absolutely important to recognize, but at the same time,

the violence that happens in withionships is connected that street violence, institutional violence, and intimate violence. when one looks at women situation, it is essential to grasp the connection, which then allows us to have a different institution that is responsible for the incarceration of so many men and especially black and latino men. move into this international women's day, what gives you most hope? >> i think -- i always find hope in struggle. i find hope in younger generations. >> do you feel people have been demobilized under president obama or are getting more active? >> i think we could have been much more active. and one of the problems i think was that after this world

historical election that took place, we went home and decided that this one man in washington would carry the ball for us, not recognizing that, actually, he was the president of the imperialist militarist united states of america. and i think we might have had more victories during the era of obama's administration had we mobilized, had we continually put pressure on him, and also created the possibility for him to take more progressive stance. >> do you been there is hope in the next two years? >> i think we have to act as if there is hope. >> on that note, we have to wrap. we will continue this conversation and posted online at democracynow.org. angela davis, a author, activist, professor for the

subject of the recent film, "free angela and all political prisoners." democracy now! is look

(dramatic music playing) goodbye, baby. (gunshots) great noir poses the question: why me? that sense of knowing what you are doing is doomed and you can't stop from doing it. annenberg media ♪