12/04/14 12/04/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica this is democracy now. >> put your hands behind your head. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. once again, police beating up on people. rocks back up. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. those were the final words of eric garner before he died after

being placed in a police chokehold on the streets of staten island new york in july. last night protesters took to the streets chanting the same words as a grand jury cleared the police officer in the case. the justice department has now launched a federal investigation. >> if you are choking a man who is down with other police helping and covering over him, even if the guidelines don't kick in your mind, even if the law don't kick on your mind, after 11 times of "i can't breathe," when does your humanity kick in? >> today, conversation, we bring you graham weatherspoon them retired police detective, and vince warren of the center for constitutional rights. all of that and more coming up.

welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the justice department has announced it will launch a civil rights investigation into the death of eric garner after grand jury decided not to charge a white police officer for causing his death. garner, an african-american father of six, as well as a grant -- grand father, died after he was placed in a chokehold and wrestled to the ground by new york police. the grand jury's decision set off protests across new york that shut down parts of the city, including the brooklyn bridge, the west side highway, and the lincoln tunnel. protesters also staged a die-in in grand central. at least 83 people were

arrested. death was- garner's just weeks before michael brown was killed by a white police officer in ferguson and sparked a national debate about police use of excessive force and the new york police department's policy of cracking down on low-level offenses. garner was first confronted on july 17 by police for allegedly selling single, untaxed the streets of staten island. what happened next was recorded by a bystander. in the video, the officer, daniel pantaleo, can be seen placing garner in a chokehold just before he collapsed onto the sidewalk. while officers held him down, garner cried out at least 11 times. mother spoke out last night after the grand jury released its decision. disappointed in the grand jury's decision this

evening. i don't know what video they were looking at. evidently, it wasn't the same one the rest of the world was looking at. how could we put our trust in the justice system when they fail us like this? >> the headline in the "new york daily news" this morning read, "grand jury clears choke cop. we can't breathe." in the wake of the grand jury's decision, over 80 people were arrested as protesters shut down parts of new york city, including the brooklyn bridge, lincoln tunnel, west side highway and sixth avenue around rockefeller center where the christmas tree lighting ceremony was taking place. the justice department has announced it will launch a civil rights investigation into eric garner's death. we will have more on the case after headlines. the decision by the grand jury

came as more than 100 people packed a church in cleveland, ohio, for the memorial service of tamir rice, a 12-year-old african american boy shot dead by police last month. rice, who was in sixth grade, was killed after a 911 caller reported seeing the boy with a gun, which the caller repeatedly said appeared to be fake. video shows cleveland police officer timothy loehman fatally shooting rice immediately after leaving his police car, from a distance of about 10 feet. now, reports have emerged officer loehman was deemed unfit for police service two years ago when he worked in the small suburb of independence. a letter from a superior specifically criticizes loehman's performance in firearms training, saying -- "he could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor

recollections." and he said his performance was dismal. the philippines is bracing for another super typhoon this weekend with thousands being told to evacuate from areas devastated by last year's typhoon haiyan. schools and workplaces have closed down as forecasts show the typhoon could impact two thirds of filipino provinces and reach category 5 status. the storm is on a path similar to typhoon haiyan, which left more than 7000 dead or missing last year. it comes as the group germanwatch listed the philippines as the country most impacted by climate change last year. it's the third year in a row a major storm in the philippines has coincided with the united nations climate change summit, where the disproportionate brunt borne by countries least responsible for global warming has been a top issue. speaking at the summit in lima,

peru, christiana figueres, head of the u.n. framework convention on climate change, acknowledged emissions limits due to be agreed upon at next year's summit in paris will not be enough to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. good sensea pretty of what countries will be able to do in the short run that the sum total of efforts of both governments and nonstate actors will not be able to put us on the path for two degrees next year. >> democracy now! will broadcast from the u.n. climate summit in lima, peru all next week. the colombian government and farc rebels have agreed to resume peace talks aimed at ending a 50-year conflict. president juan manuel santos had suspended the talks until the farc released an army general and other hostages captured last month.

iran has launched airstrikes against the islamic state targets in iraq, as the united states continues its air assault on the militants in iraq and syria. but speaking in washington, white house press secretary josh earnest said iran and the united states are not working together. >> at this point our calculation about the wisdom of cooperating militarily with the iranians has not changed. >> al qaeda militants in yemen have released a video threatening to execute a u.s. journalist taken hostage last year. luke somers is a photojournalist who was captured in the yemeni capital sanaa. u.s. commandoes reportedly tried to rescue somers last week, but missed him, instead freeing several other hostages, most of them yemeni. u.s. lawmakers have reached a deal on a $585 billion military bill which endorses president obama's war against the islamic state in iraq and syria. and extend training of syrian

rebels for another two years. the measure includes $1.6 billion to train iraqi security forces. this comes amidst reports of disarray in the army's ranks, as iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi has revealed the presence of 50,000 so-called ghost troops -- fraudulent names which generate salaries that are then collected by army officers. the deal also as a blow to efforts to close guantanamo prison by excluding language sought by the obama administration allowing the transfer of prisoners to u.s. soil. and the bill includes some steps to curb sexual assault in military ranks, but keeps sexual assault cases in the military chain of command. it comes as new data shows reports of sexual assault in the u.s. military have increased 8%. more women have come forward publicly to accuse comedian bill cosby of sexual assault. three women joined together at a news conference, including beth ferrier, who told her story to the national enquirer in 2005.

the tabloid ended up killing the article in exchange for a favorable, front-page interview with cosby. >> i believe mr. cosby drugged me and sexually assaulted me that night. anyoners, i did not tell about what he had done to me because i was afraid. i felt threatened by him. i did not think anyone would believe me. >> the women were joined by attorney gloria allred, who urged cosby to waive the statute of limitations and let the cases go to trial or provide a $100 million compensation fund for the more than 20 women who have now come forward to report assaults dating back half a century. cosby has canceled performance planned for this weekend in tarrytown, new york after about half of attendees returned their tickets to the sold-out shows.

in oklahoma, police have arrested an 18-year-old for rape in a case that sparked a mass walkout by students in the town of norman. tristen kole killman-hardin has been charged with raping a 16-year-old girl in september, and at least two other victims have also come forward. after the victims faced harassment at norman high school, hundreds of students with the campaign "yes all daughters" staged a walkout last month to protest the school's treatment of victims. the supreme court has heard arguments in a case about the rights of employees who become pregnant. the case centers on former ups driver peggy young. after young became pregnant, ups refused to reassign her to lighter duties, instead suspending her from work and cutting off her health benefits. she spoke outside the court. >> it is principle.

they c can't be right to maybe choose to start my family and to support my family. it is principle. i should be able to do both. >> the case comes as the labor department has issued a rule to prevent discrimination against employees of federal contractors based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. the rule puts into place an anti-discrimination law signed by president obama in july. texas and 16 other states have filed a lawsuit against the obama administration over its plans to provide relief from deportations to up to five million undocumented people. the lawsuit marks the first major legal challenge to obama's executive action announced last month. the fifth circuit court of appeals has stayed the execution of a texas prisoner with schizophrenia. scott panetti was due to be executed for murder wednesday despite a lengthy history of mental illness. he represented himself at trial and attempted to subpoena jfk,

the pope and jesus christ in his defense. in a statement, his attorneys said -- "mr. panetti has not had a competency evaluation in seven years, and we believe that today's ruling is the first step in a process which will clearly demonstrate that mr. panetti is too severely mentally ill to be executed." and in upstate new york a longtime peace activist has been sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay a $1000 fine for demonstrating outside the gates of new york's hancock field air national guard base, which is used to remotely pilot u.s. drone attacks. mark colville, who appeared on democracy now! on tuesday, was facing two years in prison for his role in the peaceful protest, but the judge decided not to send him to jail. colville celebrated after the decision. >> i am a person of hope and my hope is grounded in my fellow human beings, among whom is the

judge. i choose to think the best of him, which is that perhaps on some level, his conscience was moved to do something in the way of rightness and fairness and justice in this case. >> more than 100 people have been arrested over the past five years as part of nonviolent campaign against drone attacks organized by the upstate drone coalition. and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the justice department has announced it will launch a civil rights investigation into the death of eric garner after a grand jury decided not to charge a white new york police officer for causing his death. garner, who was an african-american father of six, died in july after being placed him in a chokehold and wrestled to the ground.

the grand jury's decision set off protests across new york that shut down parts of the city including the brooklyn bridge, the west side highway and the lincoln tunnel. protesters also staged a die-in and grand central. at least 80 people were arrested. garner was first confronted on july 17 by police for allegedly selling single untaxed cigarettes known as "loosies" on the streets of staten island. >> what happened next was recorded by a bystander. in the video, the officer daniel pantaleo can be seen placing garner, who was unarmed, in a chokehold just before he collapsed onto the sidewalk. while officers held him down, garner cried out at least eleven times, "i can't breathe!" >> this guy right here is forcibly locked somebody up for breaking up a fight.

>> i didn't do nothing. i did not sell nothing. [indiscernible] i'm minding my business. please, leave me alone. i'll told you the last time, please, leave me alone. >> hold on, hold on. >> don't touch me. [bleep] >> man. hands, buddy.r >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> once again, police beating up on people. >> back up. >> in august, a city medical

examiner's office ruled eric garner's death a homicide citing -- "compression of his neck (chokehold), compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police." during wednesday's demonstrations, protesters repeatedly chanted "i can't breathe, i can't breathe." the cover of today's "new york daily news" features a photo of garner in the chokehold above the words, "we can't breathe." during a press conference in harlem wednesday night, eric garner's mother gwen carr responded to the grand jury's decision not to indict the officer responsible for her son's death. >> i am truly disappointed in the grand jury's decision this evening. i don't know what video they were looking at. evidently, he wasn't the same one that the rest of the world was looking at. trust in we put our the justice system when they fail us like this? >> before garner's family spoke,

officer daniel pantaleo issued an apology. his statement read in part -- "it is never my intention to harm anyone and i feel very bad about the death of mr. garner. my family and i include him and his family in our prayers and i hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss." garner's widow, esaw garner, was asked by a reporter if she accepted pantaleo's apology. this was her response. >> know, i could care less about his conduct -- condolences. he is still working at getting a paycheck and still feeding his kids. my husband is six feet under and i'm looking for a way to feed my kids now. >> eric garner's family says it plans to sue the city for wrongful death, pre-death pain and suffering, and civil rights violations. well for more, we are joined by brandon davidson, the nephew of eric garner.

welcome to democracy now! again, our condolences on the death of your uncle. your response to the grand jury clearing the officer in the chokehold death of your uncle? >> it is tragic. date can't see the video clearly -- they can't see the video clearly. seenn my family, we have what happened. i watched my uncle died. like, right in front of my eyes. i've never seen any of my other family members. my father, but his brother died when our six, i never seen it. my uncle died last year, did not see him die. it is tragic for me to see my last uncle died in front of my eyes. in front of my face, live on tv. and it hurts me even more that my family, my grandmother, you saw her last night on national

-- >> at the national action network. >> yeah. she is going through it hard. i agree with my aunt when she says, we can't accept your apology. you say you have no intentions on harming anyone? you waited for backup to harm my uncle. to leave him alone, which means you all have been bothering him previous times. and while the government was recording the video saying he just broke up a fight, what does that tell you? he is not harmful. my uncle isn't harmful. you just broke up a fight -- justaning your uncle had been a mediator in a fight. he is broken it up come and stepped back. he was standing by the beauty suppl salon.

>> minding his business. where are the cigarettes the police claim he was selling? where is that evidence? that youve evidence put my uncle in a chokehold until he died. until he died. >> can you tell us a little bit about your uncle? >> there are a lot of stories of i see him,ut, like, the family begins. he had seen me in a train station out of nowhere. just to say, hey, brandon, what's up? i hadn't seen him in a long time. i hadn't seen your mom and a long time. we're keeping our heads strong since my father passed away. since has been mourning my father's passing. even more -- >> was he your father's brother? >> yes.

the last time i seen eric before that incident was my other uncle joseph who died last year in jersey, being gunned down by perpetrator. he wasn't harmful at all. he is a goodience, man. would, him and my aunt have their ups and downs, but at the end of the day, he is in her life. he is in his children's lives. most of all, he's in his grantor and five. my cousins daughters. he is in their lives. >> what did you think of you and your family volatile protesters who turned out last night -- yourthis decision family think of all of the protesters who turned out last night against this decision? >> it was peaceful. it was great to see people rally against the system. but that should not just happen

during the time of anyone's death. people should come together, period, instead of just one incident. >> what do you think needs to change? >> we need justice, period. if there isn't justice, what do we have? >> where were you yesterday when the decision came down and did it surprise you? >> i mean, it didn't surprise me. i was hurt, but it did not hur surprise me. i was home. it was my day off from work. that is what i was waiting for. i was waiting for the news to tell me the cop would not be indicted. he did not surprise me at all, it just stung me. i mourned. the best thing i did was to keep strong. i called my cousin, his daughter erica. i called to make sure she was

all right. i called my grandmother before she went on the national american network. i called my aunt. she was at work -- i'm sorry. i just basically called everyone in the family deceived they were all right. >> we want to thank you very much, brandon davidson, for making attributed a. brandon davidson is the nephew of eric garner. it pains me to play in front of you, although i know you have seen it i don't know how many hundreds of times, if you watch tv, that video of your uncle saying "i can't breathe" 11 times. when we come back, vince warren will join us, the head of the center for constitutional rights. we will also be joined by a retired police effective talking about the culture of the lease. those who do right and those who don't. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we go to the streets of new york last night, thousands of people shut down the west side highway, went to times square, traveled throughout the boroughs , some scores of people, then hundreds of people and thousands. renée feltz was in times square. >> i'm bob from brooklyn, new york. i'm out here working, but of a lunch break so i took i time to protest.

>> what went through your mind when you heard the grand jury's decision not to indict the officer responsible for eric garner's death? >> they keep making excuses for the officers. they're not been liable for their actions. that is horrible. brooklyn, the island called new york city. >> i heard you say the blue wall has to be broken. explain why you're here. >> the blue wall has to be broken. a lot of the officers that was part of the eric garner situation, i mix of him and mike brown because they're one in the same, it has to be broken. he and the cops -- there were a couple of cops that were supposed to be prosecuted that did not get into trouble. we're not getting justice. they don't want to be out here, but they have to because this is how they feed their families. of their families and children that will go to the same thing if they don't do something about it.

>> i am a brooklyn native, but i live in the bronx. i'm not here tonight because i'm a mother of three children, two are black noise. -- two are black boys. my youngest daughter is six years old. which he looks at a police officer, she is afraid. she is not looking at them as someone to protect and serve her. as such a young age, innocent, that her to be aware that police hurt people that look like her dad, that look like her brother, her uncle, and they don't have to be doing anything. >> i am here because i don't have nowhere else i'm supposed to be. i am supposed to be here in solidarity with the people. i'm a teacher. i teach my students to be obedient. i teach my students to think and be critical, but most of all, i teach them to be human beings. i feel like a hypocrite because when i'm teaching my students, it is that were subrogated. one of these days, when my school, which is predominantly african-american, some of my students could be the next eric rice orthe next tamrir

michael brown. we don't see an indictment on white cops, but on black skin. >> some of the voices of people protesting in times square. among them, spike lee and his son. vince warren is with us, executive director for constitutional rights. yesterday, the staten island grand jury cleared daniel pantaleo, the officer who actually put eric garner in the chokehold. your response? >> as a lawyer, i was absolutely shocked by this because when you have video evidence like that, the evidence we all saw, that tells more than half the story. what i think really ended up happening was the prosecutor very much like ferguson, i understand, presented all of the evidence to the grand jury, potentially failing to secure an

indictment. it is the prosecutor's responsibility to get an indictment. when they start shifting the blame and people start thinking, it was the grand jury that did not indict the police officer, then we know we have a problem, a systemic problem were prosecutors are not taking responsibility for what their jobs are. clocks can you explain what a grand jury is, when it is called, what the failures are of the system? >> it is an old process that came from england. very often, prosecutors will convene a secret group of jurors to hear information and evidence in order to determine whether charges can be brought against the person they're seeking to charge. in both of these cases, the prosecutors convened these grand jury's. what was different about this grand jury's than most, the prosecutors laid out all of the evidence and essentially asked the grand jury to figure it out. everybody knows you can indict a ham sandwich if you do it right. there are hundreds of thousands of black cap latino men that get

indicted every single day. many of them, for nothing. a shopping -- shocking we have a police ms. bhutto taken on get to do a show the tape, hand out the popcorn and say to the grand jury, how do you vote? that is how you secure indictment. you don't have a big broad conversation -- >> how rare is it not to get an indictment? >> extremely rare. grand jury presentations in the year and only 11 of them ended up with non-indictments. >> 11 of 160,000? >> even more rare to get an indictment when it has to do with the police officer. that is what the issue is here. the fact there are cops on the dock, that changes everything for the prosecutors. >> what role do district attorney's play in the way in which a grand jury unfolds? a number of people have pointed out staten island district attorney jonathan was considered pro-police. >> it is hard to the district

attorney in america and not be pro-police. your entire job description depends on cooperation with the police department. police officers present evidence, preserve evidence, collect evidence, and give witness testimony in virtually every criminal trial in america. now we're trying to pretend the same prosecutors and police officers that work together every single day should be on opposite sides of the v in both acting in independent ways. theyen a police officer kill someone, should there automatically be a special prosecutor? >> absolutely. i would not limited to killing. in the opportunity for the district attorney to prefer any kernel charges against a police officer, there should be an independent prosecutor to avoid what we all know is a conflict of interest between the prosecutors office and the police department. >> on wednesday, attorney general eric holder said the justice department was launching

a federal civil rights investigation into the death of eric garner. he also stressed all lives must be protected equally. >> we have all seen the video of mr. garner's arrest. his death, of course, was a tragedy. all lives must be valued. all lives. mr. garner's death is one of several recent incidents across our great country that have tested the sense of trust must exist between law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve and to protect. this is not a new york issue for a ferguson issue, alone. those who have protested peacefully across our great country following the grand jury's decision in ferguson have made that very clear. >> that was attorney general eric holder. , could you talk about how you feel the department of justice has responded to this case and what you feel ought to be done? >> let me give you a little bit

of real talk to the attorney general. the issue is not whether all lives matter. of course they do. the fact is, black lives don't matter in the criminal justice system. it would be extraordinary to have our first black attorney general to be able -- to be a little more nuanced on the analysis. in moving forward, i'm very happy he is announced in investigation. i would point out he is also announced investigation in trayvon martin and ferguson with mike brown. these investigations tend to go under the radar screen for a very longtime. what i'm concerned about at the end, we will come up with, well, we try to look at things and did not have any information. the attorney general and the president, the department of justice can defund police department's that do discriminatory practices and can defund and provide incentives for good police practices around the country. i would like to see that as well. >> i want to go to the one person who was arrested after

eric garner died. while daniel pantaleo will not face charges for choking eric garner, a staten island grand jury did indict a man who filmed the entire incident. in august, a grand jury indicted ramsey orta on weapons charges stemming from an arrest by undercover officers. orta spoke to time magazine about what he's been through since he filmed the fatal encounter. copshave been harassed by since this happened. physically,ct pallotta camera. that's what people need. not only new yorkers getting abused by police, everywhere. i hope it gives people the courage to not be scared of these people. said.a lot of he said/she >> that is ramsey orta. and i went to the protest stray

from ferguson to staten island, i saw a ramsey and his wife christie. they were standing on the stoop where ramsey filmed. right next to that beauty salon were eric garner was taken down. i asked to talk to them, but they were too afraid. it was not only ramsey was arrested the day after the city medical examiner declared eric garner's death a homicide, but then his wife christie was also arrested. >> this is how the power structure works. it is almost a too perfect of an example where the police officer that chokes amanda death doesn't get indicted, the man that feels the police officer choking amended at gets indicted in his entire family is pressurized. this is not random happenstance. withis an overly working our criminal justice system where police officers have so much power and control that they can put pressure on witnesses, that they can make people's lives miserable until they get

the result they want. but the result we want as a society is one in which we see these types of horrible police practices where they're happening on videotape or not, where we can feel confident that there will be accountability for police officers. i don't think anybody in america feels there can be a count ability for police officer for killing an unarmed black man at this moment in america. >> on wednesday, new york city mayor bill de blasio said he and his wife, chirlane, fear for the safety of their teenage son, dante. >> we've had to talk to dante for years about the dangers he may face. good young man, law-abiding young man who never would think to do anything wrong, yet a history that still hangs over us, the dangers he may face, we have literally had to train him as families have all over this city for decades, and how to take special care in any encounter he has with police officers who are there to protect him.

and that painful sense of contradiction that our young people see first, that our police are here to protect us and we honor that and at the same time, there's a history with to overcome because for so many of our young people, there is a fear. and for so many of our families, there is a fear. >> that was new york city mayor blasio speaking yesterday. he is married to an african-american so his children are also african-american. thed you talk about what city's responses been to this decision and in particular what the mayor had to say? the'm very appreciative mayor is battling talking from a policy perspective but a personal perspective. i also have two teenagers at home and i don't the same question as my parents don't with me. this is a time when america can put -- the mayor can put his money where his mouth is. there are real opportunities for change. the number one thing he has to do is talk with his police commissioner and get rid of this

horrible them a broken windows policing policy that led to the death -- >> what is the broken window policy? >> a policy that is been brought in precursor to stop and frisk. it goes after low-level incidents and crimes against the police department in the position of giving tickets for people that don't walk their dogs with a leash or the park and the theory is by cracking down on those types of incidents, they get to the bigger fish. the reality is, by cracking down on those types of things, they and up spending time and resources pushing for prosecutions of relatively innocent black and latino people in poor neighborhoods. it is a problem that has to go. the second thing that has to happen, we have a joint reform process and the stop and frisk case for the police department, the police union, another activist and community members will come to the table and this is the point where the community

gets to say, we want to talk about how we are being policed. that is the solution we're looking for, not commission's or conversation, but getting the people affected and the communities at the table and a lay out the real deal for how the problem is and then to come to solutions from that. >> last night i went to the national action network headquarters. reverend how sharpton held a news conference with gwen carr, eric garner's mother, as well as esaw garner, his wife, to respond to the staten island decision. retiredds, i saw a police detective here in new york, longtime member of 100 blacks in law enforcement who care. if hed him afterwards could talk about what exactly pantaleo did. he pulled out the nypd patrol guide for officers and read the restrictions, the outlines, the

guide outlines on these of chokehold. >> it stakes here in the 203-11, the use of force. and it states -- embers of the new york city police department will not use choke holds. a chokehold shall include but is now limited to any pressure to the throat or windpipe which may prevent or hinder breathing or induce the intake of air. that is exactly what happened in the eric garner case. >> that is croton oakley, retired nypd detective. he said other officers on the site should also be held accountable for eric garner's death, not just officer pantaleo who used the chokehold. here detective berkley reads again from the nypd patrol guide. >> at the scene of a police incident, many members of the service may be present in some members may not be directly involved in taking police

action. however, this does not relieve any member present of the obligation to ensure that the requirements of the law department regulations are complied with. members of the service are required to maintain control or intervene that the use of force against a subject clearly becomes excessive. failure to do so may result in both criminal and civil liability. excessive force will not be tolerated. so therefore, what i just read you, technically, those other officers should be held accountable. because with this man saying 11 times, "i can't breathe," when was any of the others going to say, hey, get off him, he can't breathe? >> that is carlton berkley, retired new york police to check to him of talking about two issues. one is the one that apparently, in a grand jury, and we've yet to see the notes of the grand jury, pantaleo actually said he

did what he was taught in the academy. he was actually wrestling, using a wrestling move, not a chokehold, which is illegal in the police guide. and the second point is this issue of everyone else who was there. all of the other officers, look at how they held him down. it is a group -- if a group of us attacked someone here, we would all be held accountable. >> absolutely. this highlights -- two things are highlighted. number one, there tends to be a focus on the one police officer and people want to talk about particular techniques they used. and that is part of the problem, but not the whole problem. we have the blue wall of silence. everybody knows that police protect their own. everybody knows police officers will lie to protect their own. everybody knows the goal of policing is to not get caught doing a criminal act. we have a situation where i

agree, every single one of those police officers who were there that failed to stop it, the people that fail to reported, the people that said it wasn't something we all know that it is, should face charges just like any of us would if we were in the same situation. there are two roles in america. rules for police and the rules for the rest of us. that is the problem this particular criminal justice system is failing to solve and that is why people are out on the streets, because we need something new. >> could you talk about the question of proportionality? one of the things that was very striking late last night and also to ask ago when the ferguson protests happened, there is such an enormous in what appears to be massively excessive police presence for peaceful demonstrations, vans upon vans of police officers. what is the relationship between, first, the number -- what appeared to be too many police officers for peaceful

demonstration, and second, the military gear that appears more and more frequently in public spaces used by the police? >> number one, the police always over police protests. and disonfuse unrest -ease. they confuse that with violence and looting. the police department aren't looking at protesters when they go to these things, they're looking at potential terrorists. this is post-9/11 america. let's not pretend they don't think this way, they do. they over policing situations. which brings us to the next situation, which is people are angry and frustrated. when police act that way then come with militarized gear and rubber bullets and -- >>. >> in ferguson and when their court owning off protesters and tracking them as they have here ferguson, andd

saying that your to disperse by people can't and they arrest everybody, these are tactics the police use not just for social control, but this is also social justice control. that is the problem we have. >> it has now been debated throughout the night and the media, was it an illegal police chokehold? yes, it was a violation of the patrol guide, but was it illegal? in new york, a 2010 law was passed unlikely to limit to must of violence about strange relation. second-degree strain relation, choking to the point of injury or unconsciousness can leave and vigorous marks were no marks at all. i guess it was passed to do with this issue. why isn't this illegal? even if the officer says in a grand jury, i thought it was doing something else. >> i haven't read the statute and that may apply to police officers were it may not.

but let's assume it does apply to everybody -- >> it's a law. >> of course the police officer can be charged with that. there's no reason why they can't breathe. level, doesn't matter whether he says he was doing what i was told were doing what i was taught or it really wasn't a chokehold but a wrestling move that crushed the windpipe. it ends up with the same thing. this is an aggressive action, homicide, they killed a man. the law in the prosecutors should be good enough to find out what area of law it violates an indicted criminal. >> are these grand jury's being used to substitute trials? both in ferguson and new york, only one side is presented because it is a grand jury? it is just supposed to be about an indictment, so you don't have a cross-examination of the police officer. in both cases -- one a police officer before grand jury, they are humanized. you get just their side of the story. and because it is not a trial, could they be indicted if it is

found something was wrong with this grand jury, like in ferguson, the question of the law, the grand jury members were presented with, was a wrong? >> to answer the first question, that we're seeing these types of police cases the prosecutors are treating this more like a wikipedia, roll your own kind of trial, were all of the evidence is there. that is not how they're typically done. usually it is a concise set of information presented that is designed to lead to an indictment. acting as a defense attorney rather than a prosecutor, then you don't have the other side. >> exactly. a gentle defendants have a right to testify in a grand jury. i have put plenty of people in the grand jury in brooklyn. the differences, when i put my claims in the grand jury, they say their piece, there are couple of questions and their out in a prosecutor than has the rest of the time to clean that up. what i think has happened here, a couple of hours of the police officer testifying, the prosecutor basically built in

the defense case. the "i'm really sorry, i did me to do this, here is what was going on." none of that has any relevance in a grand jury proceeding when those issues are normally brought out at trial. that is what the big problem is, "let's turning into a give the cop a break" have event when it really should be "c look at what the charges and the information suggests." >> could they be recharged? >> grand jury's can be reconvened by the prosecutor. they can bring in another grand jury and move the same information forward, but that becomes a political problem. it is unreasonable to expect this staten island district attorney working so closely with start anothero grand jury proceeding. i don't see that happening. >> at the federal level? the word on the street when i was in ferguson, it's not going to happen, civil rights charges at the federal level, but maybe is that changing?

>> it should change. i don't know the information but i know in new york there's another sexy asian debt axfixiation death.sics there's a longer road that happens are, but they need to build faith they're going to do this the right way not just a their hands up and say, sorry, we tried. >> today's the 45 anniversary of the police killing of mark clark and fred hampton in chicago when the police moved in to their home, they were sleeping and killed both black panthers. absolutely. it is hard to believe it is been that long ago and we're dealing with a lot of the same issues we have here, which is -- there we had political brothers. here we have normal everyday people that are unarmed, yet the dynamics are the same.

i don't want us to be 40, 50 years from now talking back about this incident, thinking about the next incident saying, is it too bad? >>v, thank you for being with us. when we come back, we look at of new nominee to be head the pentagon, the secretary of defense. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> from pacifica, this is democracy now! this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> we end today's show with the man first in line to be the next secretary of defense. obama administration officials have said ashton carter heads the white house shortlist to replace outgoing chuck hagel. on tuesday, white house spokesperson josh earnest responded to questions about the nominee. >> mr. carter has generated a lot of headlines today. he previously served the of administration as the deputy

secretary of defense, a position he filled very ably. he was confirmed by the united states senate into that position in september 2011 with -- by unanimous consent. this is an indication he fulfills some of the criteria we have discussed in the past, someone who certainly deserves and has demonstrated strong for hisan support previous service in government. he is somebody that does have a detailed understanding of the way the department of defense works. >> an announcement will come after the official vetting process is complete, but carter is said to be the only candidate left after two others withdrew from consideration. his appointment will require approval from the republican-led senate. chuck hagel was pushed out last week amid reported differences with the administration's military campaign in iraq and syria. a trained physicist, carter has a long history at the pentagon,

where he served as the chief arms buyer. he was also assistant secretary of defense under former president bill clinton and deputy defense secretary from 2011 to 2013. to find out more about ashton carter, we're joined now by by alice slater, new york director of the nuclear age peace foundation and a member of the abolition 2000 coordinating committee. business as usual. it is the perpetuation of the military-industrial complex. this is somebody that has rotated inside and outside of industry. he is advised goldman sachs and other business companies will come military equipment they should be manufacturing. they've been doing deals for years. he was brought in because hagel -- well, not exactly the peace movement, but they were going to ratchet down [indiscernible]

now it looks like they've abandoned the whole war machine. use a perfect candidate. it is really pathetic. he actually wrote an op-ed that we should be bombing north korea stamp their powerplant. clock i would like to go to that. in a 2006 "washington post" op-ed written with former defense secretary william perry, ashton carter urged the bush administration to launch a pre-emptive strike against north korea if the country continued with plans to conduct a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. in the piece headlined, "if necessary, strike and destroy," perry and carter wrote -- "should the united states allow a country openly hostile to it and armed with nuclear weapons to perfect an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons to u.s. soil? we believe not." they went on to say -- "[i]f north korea persists in its launch preparations, the united states should immediately make clear its intention to strike and destroy the north korean taepodong missile before it can be launched."

>> actually, cheney criticized them, peaceful cheney said they gone too far. that is where we are now. it is the same gang. i'm particularly upset with ashton carter because i familiar with the whole nuclear disarmament process. or rearmament process, i should say. our government is planning to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years for new bomb factories, delivery systems, missiles the ander means, -- submarines new nuclear weapons. he has been part of the push, particularly starting when president clinton signed the conference of test entreaty -- test ban treaty in 1993 when we are been working for all of our adult lives. they have this little kicker that they allowed laboratory ,est and subcritical tests testng up plutonium at the

site below deserts with high explosives -- >> where? >> at the nevada test site. because it doesn't have a chain reaction, clint said that is not a test. we can do this. like, i did not inhale, did not have sex, and i'm not doing nuclear testing. that is why india tested. after the test ban was signed, the technical laboratory tests and the cyclical test and said if you don't include that, which carter was advising at that time, we're not going to sign it. in india went and developed -- >> he advised clinton on deploying a missile shield in alaska? >> he was talking to him that it would be ok. you know, that it did not violate the anti-ballistic missile treaty. that was his advice. russia disagreed. then clinton started the big ofrastructure, the expansion

missiles. we had a treaty since 1972 with russia, the anti-ballistic missile treaty, in order to stop the missile race, we would not build anti-missiles so we would not need so many missiles. bush actually walked out of the treaty. that was an carter, they started -- that now we have missiles in romania, yugoslavia -- not yugoslavia, turkey. we took missiles out of turkey. kennedy took missiles out of turkey in order to get the soviets out of cuba, and now have them all back there. everyone is saying putin is a bad guy, meanwhile, we're pushing them up against a wall. >> alice slater, thank you for joining us. alice slater is new york director of the nuclear age peace foundation and a member of the abolition 2000 coordinating committee. to see our conversation in vn a few weeks ago about this conference, you can go to democracynow.org. that does it for our program. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed

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