02/12/15 02/12/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica this is democracy now! >> today my administration submitted a draft resolution to congress to authorize the use of force against isil. i want to be very clear about what it does and does not do. this resolution reflects our core objective to destroy isil. >> is president obama request for military authorization paving the war for another endless war? we will talk to normon solomon

about the war against the islamic state and brian williams suspension from nbc news for lying about his helicopter being shot at in iraq -- but what about the journalists whose lies helped build the case for the iraq? then we go to chapel hill. >> this was an execution style a hate crime from a neighbor. our children spoke about their uncomfortable with. he came to their apartment more than once, condescending, threatening, and despising and talking down to them. >> muslim lives matter. outrage grows over the killing of three young muslim students near the campus of unc chapel hill. two sisters and a dental student, one just married in december. their family says it was a hate

crime police claim it was a , dispute over a parking space. then to eve ensler and one billion rising. >> must every country of the world will be rising february 14 and on. in many inside each country. >> all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukraine and russia have agreed on the main points of a cease-fire following all-night talks in belarus. the truce would take effect sunday into the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines. the deal comes amidst some of the worst fighting between separatist ukrainian forces to date in a pending dress decision on arming the government in kiev. international monetary fund has offered a new $40 billion rescue package for ukraine's ailing economy, most of it in loans.

president obama has sent congress a formal request to authorize military force against islamic state six months after the u.s. began bombing iraq and syria. the resolution imposes a three-year limit on u.s. operations, but does not put any geographic constraints. it also opens the door for ground combat operations in limited circumstances. unveiling the resolution on wednesday, obama said it does not herald another middle east ground war. >> the resolution we have cemented today does not call for the u.s. ground combat forces. it is not the authorization of another ground war. like afghanistan or iraq. the 2600 american troops in iraq today, largely serve on bases. yes, they face the risk to come with service and any dangerous environment, but they do not have a combat mission. they're focused on training iraqi forces including kurdish forces. as i have said before, i am

convinced the united states should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the middle east. >> we'll have more on this story after headlines. thousands gathered on the campus of the university of north carolina chapel hill last night to remember the three muslim students who were shot dead by a gunman who had posted antireligious messages online. the victims were two sisters 19-year-old razan mohammad abu-salha and 21-year-old yusor, and yusor's husband 23-year-old deah barakat. suspected gunman craig stephen hicks has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. hicks had frequently posted anti-religious comments on his facebook page and was a supporter of the group "atheists for equality." on wednesday, police said the killings resulted from a dispute over a parking space. but mohammad abu-salha, razan and yusor's father, described the shootings as a hate crime. >> we are sad, distraught, shocked.

we are angry. we feel we were treated unjustly. this is uncalled for. we heard from the police folks that each one of these children as a bullet in the head. this was an execution style, a hate crime from a neighbor our children spoke about that they were uncomfortable with. he came to their apartment more than once, condescending threatening, and despising and talking down to them. >> we'll have more on the north north carolina later in the broadcast. greece has failed to reach an agreement with european creditors following an opening round of talks in brussels. the greek syriza government is seeking to revise the terms of its international bailout following last month's historic election victory on an anti-austerity platform. greek finance minister yanis

varoufakis said he remains confident a deal can be reached when negotiations resume next week. >> we had many different interesting opinions. we've had the opportunity to look at the views and now we're proceeding to the next meeting which is in a very few days, on monday, hoping that by then there will be conclusion to the deliberations in a manner that is optimal from both perspectives of greece and our european partners. >> in a show of support for the government's position, thousands of people rallied in athens on wednesday to reject internationally imposed austerity. >> the crucial point now is solidarity. we need solidarity. that is the whole point. and the elections sent a message, i believe, sent a crucial message to all europeans people that now we have to be

united and we need solidarity. >> in egypt, two al jazeera journalists have been freed on bail in egypt after more than 400 days behind bars. mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed were released today at the start of a new trial. the pair and a third colleague peter greste, were arrested as part of a crackdown on al jazeera after the ouster of muslim brotherhood president mohamed morsi in 2013. despite their release, the case has not been dismissed. a new hearing will be held later this month. the united nations says more than 300 people died at sea this week after attempting to flee africa by boat. the migrants left from libya on saturday in a bid to reach italy. a spokesperson for the united nations high commissioner for refugees announced their deaths. >> this morning, nine survivors arrived. they confirmed what other survivors previously said, that there were 203 people with them

that have disappeared. in addition to that, they confirm that there was a fourth dinghy. we do not know about the fate of another 100 people. >> the migrants deaths come as the u.n. has issued a new warning over the crisis in libya, saying the country is beset by widespread abuses. singh libya is facing the worst violence since the u.s. backed ouster of mo market off he in 2011. -- ouster of the market off he 2011. libya is run by two governments. u.s. has cleared a measure to clear the xo oil pipeline. the house approved the bill on wednesday following senate passage last month. but the bill doesn't have enough votes to override a veto from president obama, who has vowed

to reject it. activists opposed to the keystone xl oil pipeline have been receiving phone calls and house visits from the fbi. an attorney told the canadian press news agency at least a dozen people in the northwestern u.s. have been contacted by fbi agents. the agency appears to be focusing on people involved with efforts to block the transport of the goal loads, massive shipments of oil increment downed for the canadian tar sands. the new york city police officer accused in the killing of unarmed african-american akai gurley has been indicted. gurley was in the dimly lit stairwell of a brooklyn housing project. he had gone in there with his girlfriend because the elevator wasn't working and they were going to walk down the stairs. when officer peter liang opened fire. on wednesday, was arraigned on charges. he reportedly did not call for

help or respond to police radel contact for several minutes after shooting akai gurley dead. the defense attorneys say the shooting was accidental. instead, he called his union representative. after the hearing, his partner kennerly ballenger said her family once the indictment to lead to conviction. >> i want to thank the da office or getting us in indictment. this is the first step in justice. now all we need is a conviction which i have faith we will get. it is hard. there is, like, no way to express it. it is really hard when someone that you're used to being home isn't there anymore. not only is it hard for me and my kids, it is hard to his family as well. >> three white men have incentives to prison for the 2011 murder of an african-american man in jackson, mississippi. the three and other friends beat

james craig anderson, a 49-year-old like auto plant worker in the while yelling "white power" and other racial epithets. surveillance footage shows one of the individuals truck driving over anderson, killing him instantly. anderson was also a gay man with a same-sex partner but a design clear of the sexual orientation factored into the deadly attack. on wednesday deryl paul dedmon received 50 years, john aaron rice, 18.5, and dylan wade butler, seven years. all were convicted of the commission of a hate crime. republican governor bruce rauner of illinois has launched a new effort to undermine the state's public sector unions will stop you shoot an executive order this week that bars unions from requiring all state workers to pay fees equivalent to union dues. the measure applies to around 6,500 illinois public workers who pay fees to unions but are not members. around 42,000 state employees are unionized.

union leaders have argued the fair share fees are justified because non-members still benefit from collective bargaining. rauner, a former private equity manager, is the latest midwestern republican governor to challenge public sector employees following similar measures in wisconsin, indiana and michigan. in response, illinois labor leader roberta lynch called the order a -- "blatantly illegal abuse of power that can't hide [rauner's] real agenda: silencing working people and their unions who stand up for the middle class." here in new york city, spanish activists and local housing advocates gathered at the headquarters of the private equity firm blackstone group to protest its treatment of tenants around the world. following the global financial crisis, blackstone has been at the forefront of wall street's takeover of the housing market. in the united states, the firm has become the largest owner of single-family rental homes in the country. in spain, blackstone has swept up nearly 42,000 rental and mortgaged units.

critics in both countries accuse the company of harassing tenants and driving up rents in an effort to force people out of their homes. police -- pablo la parra of the group marea granate new york described the problem in spain where the unemployment rate is 25%. >> the problem is, many banks that were rescued with public funds are selling their mortgages to private filter funds as blackstone. many people are facing eviction because blackstone strategy is to raise the prices for the tenants so people are no longer able to pay their rent so they leave the apartment and then blackstone can renegotiate the prices. so they are causing people to suffer. >> organizers in san francisco and barcelona, spain also staged actions against blackstone group on wednesday. we will link to democracy now! juan gonzalez article in "the new york daily news" about the

subject. veteran cbs news correspondent bob simon has died in a car crash in new york city. simon was longtime contributor to the news program "60 minutes." he was 73 years old. and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. president obama has sent congress a formal request to authorize military force against the islamic state six months after the u.s. began bombing iraq and syria. the resolution imposes a three-year limit on u.s. operations, but it does not put any geographic limits on the military campaign. it also opens the door for ground combat operations in some circumstances. obama spoke at the white house wednesday, flanked by vice president joe biden, secretary of state john kerry and outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel. >> today my administration submitted a draft resolution to

congress to authorize the use of force against isil. i want to be very clear about what it does and does not do. this resolution reflects our core objective to destroy isil. it supports the conference of strategy that we've been pursuing with our allies and partners. a systemic and sustained campaign of airstrikes against isil in iraq and syria, support and training for local forces on the ground including the moderate syrian opposition, preventing isil attacks in the region and beyond including by foreign tourist fighters who try to threaten our countries regional and international support for an inclusive iraqi government that unites the iraqi people and strengthens iraqi forces against isil, he military assistance for the innocent civilians of iraq and syria who are suffering so terribly under isil's rain. >> questions over the language in the resolution have been raised by both hawkish republicans and anti-war democrats in congress.

the resolution's broad language covers military action against the islamic state as well as -- "individuals and organizations fighting for, on behalf of, or alongside [isis] or any closely-related successor entity in hostilities against the united states or its coalition partners." the resolution also leaves in place the open-ended authorization for use of military force congress enacted one week after the september 11 attacks, which has been used to justify u.s. action in somalia pakistan, yemen, and beyond. joining us now from san san francisco is norman solomon executive director of the institute for public accuracy, co-founder of rootsaction.org, author of many books including "war made easy: how presidents and pundits keep spinning us to death." norman, welcome to democracy now! can you talk about this latest effort by president obama to get war authorization? >> well, unfortunately, the political terms it represents, sort of repetition compulsion

disorder. back to the future from in a administration that came in saying it was going to dismiss with the contact -- dispense with the phraseology of the war on terror, administration that even today through the president 's statement is, again asserting it is against endless war and yet both the statement from the president yesterday in the resolution -- for that matter, the white house policy -- is explicitly endless perpetual war, and that is the kind of policy we are getting. >> did you explain why he placed a three-year limit on u.s. operations? >> windowdressing. just a scam. just a way to get sort of a sick leave -- fig leaf to libertarian republicans are antiwar democrats. it is a way of rolling the boat with a little bit of deference to the right and left in congress. what it boils down to, kicking a

war can down the road, a very bloody one, to put it mildly, and absolutely running a manipulative public relations campaign. >> we're hearing numbers like there are 200,000 members of isis are people fighting and identifying themselves as isis. this number has gone up astronomically. is there anyway to verify the kind of information that comes out at a time like this when war is being voted on in congress? >> historically, and in the present day, there is no way to verify whatsoever. you could depend on some inflation, to put it mildly. we also heard from the president yesterday that there were 2000 airstrikes by the united states in the region in the middle east in the last six months, but we don't know if that is true at all. in 10 them with its war on whistleblowers and true investigative journalism, his administration is operating in

overdrive as sort of a fog machine to try to keep from the american people realities of the war policy of because, clearly, this white house prefers the uninformed consent of the governed. >> norm, could you comment on the timing of obama's request that came just a day after american aid worker kayla mueller's death was confirmed? he also mentioned her in his remarks. >> well, these terrible atrocities by the so-called islamic state really provide fuel for the machinery a propaganda from the executive branch of the united states. clearly, chomping at the bit to drive this country further into war, and i think it is very symbolic and literally significant as well that the 2001 authorization for use of military force is not being challenged or proposed for

ending by this administration. so that very open-ended authorization right after 9/11 is one that the administration is embracing and trying to ride for all it can. essentially, in search of enemies. if there are no geographical or conceptual or state boundaries that will define this war coming out of the u.s. government, then the search for enemies is open-ended and infinite. >> i want to turn to -- >> not only a search for enemies that is infinite, but the creation of enemies. this administration, not only reaches against endless war while doing more than any other presidency to make endless war policy but this administration is second to none in creating enemies of the united states around the world, so the spin cycle, the war cycle, the destructive cycle continues. >> i want to turn to kofi annan, the former secretary-general of

the united nations. over the weekend, annan spoke at the munich security conference. he suggested the u.s.-led invasion of iraq created the islamic state. >> the second and much more proximate cause of the instability we are witnessing today with the invasion of iraq in 2003. i spoke against it at the time and i'm afraid my concerns have been proved well-founded. the folly of that fateful decision was compounded by postinvasion decision, the disbandment of security forces port hundreds of thousands of trained disgruntled soldiers and policemen onto the streets. you and secretary kofi anand. your response? >> is a good point, but when you go back >> we spoke about the

impending invasion of iraq more than a decade ago. kofi annan could've been stronger in his post at the united nations in opposing it and frankly, are ultimately people in washington as well in retrospect say what terrible tragedies have unfolded, but at the time, they don't have a whole lot of back home. they don't challenge administration and years from now, we're going to have people who are in congress right now who will say what a terrible tragedy yesterday statement and offered resolution from the obama white house was. but right now, we are not hearing them speaking out very strongly. it is incumbent on all of us to speak out about this despicable push for escalation of yet more war from the obama white house. >> norman solomon, we're going to go to break and then come

back to ask you about the suspension of brian williams for lying about iraq. and we want to talk to you about the sterling trial. and we're going to go on to talk about what happened in north carolina near the university of north carolina, the three young students, two sisters and one of their new husbands who was just gunned down. police say over a parking spot. the family says it is hate crime. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> we're speaking to media critic norman solomon. i want to ask you about the suspension of brian williams for making false state's after running the country was on board a u.s. helicopter down by rocket fire in iraq in 2003. woman solomon, you wrote the book "war made easy: how , presidents and pundits keep spinning us to death." can you talk about brian

williams and the other lies around the iraq war? >> well, brian williams was, of course, one of the many mass media spinners, not only for the invasion of iraq, but later the catastrophic interventions in libya and elsewhere. this is pension story, the. told -- this is pension story, the fall sold falsehood told by williams, is not about structural power, but a personal flaw war misstatement deception or like them if you will come a but not about constant streams of lies coming from institutions such as nbc news and many others that have billions of dollars of capital behind them. i think it is important for us to remember that brian williams has run afoul of his lie that

was told repeatedly to pump himself up in the context of glorifying the very kind of militarism that he was part of promoting in the first place. if you look at his career, unfortunately many of his colleagues, we have to understand or i think it is important for us to understand that the real tragedies, the real transgressions against truth are virtually never challenged -- almost never challenged are those folks colleagues. i would sum it up, "the wall street journal" from page yesterday described what williams had done as telling a false war story. but in fact, williams and his colleagues are in the business of telling falls war stories every day to in effect justify u.s. military to richard. >> interestingly, on tuesday williams former boss at nbc universal bob wright defended williams by pointing to his favorable coverage of the military saying --

your response to this? >> well, in the corridors of power am a being a suck up to the u.s. military is a high praise and qualification and in fact, those journalists who have challenged the escalation, the automatic support for whatever the president wants in terms of going to war, those folks hit a glass ceiling pretty quickly within the media establishment. >> i also want to ask about the recent conviction of jeffrey sterling, the former cia officer who leaked classified information about a secret operation to disrupt iran's nuclear program to journalist james risen of "the new york times." you are in the courtroom for the trial. can you talk about the significance of the case? >> extremely important case, very underreported by the news

media. tremendous selective prosecution against one of the only african-american case officers in the cia, some of the coup with your channels as a whistleblower to the senate intelligence committee to report in 2003 about a dumb and dangerous cia operation aimed at iran with a nuclear design component information back in 2000. sterling went on trial last month in federal court for revealing to the senate intelligence committee something that the senate intelligence committee needed to know, but the actual charges were, as you mentioned, that he leaked classified info to james risen. being in the courtroom day after day for the seven-day trial, very disturbing -- not only this elective prosecution, but also the fact no african-americans on the jury, 23 cia officials testifying, and a tremendous amount of innuendo against the

defendant in that case. i really urge people to look into it more closely because jeffrey sterling deserves support. all of the evidence presented to the prosecution was circumstantial. it was metadata coming e-mail and phone call metadata without content of any incriminating nature. the bottom line is, jeffrey sterling is facing nine cap sentencing of federal felonies, up to 80 years in prison on the basis of circumstantial evidence that is metadata. let me announce right now that rootsaction.org is launching a campaign for the sterling family fund and people who want to find out more about that fund can go to rootsaction.org. >> james risen got a lot more

attention, the pulitzer prize-winning new york times journalist, who was being prosecuted persecuted from the bush administration right through the obama administration, but with saying no matter what happened, but you go to jail or not, he would not reveal his source. the fact he did not do this, but did ultimately -- did agree to be question, what was the significance of this? >> ultimately, i think james risen was very honorable and principled. he never gave any information to the court or anyone else to help the government identify the sources. the government was clearly trying to push risen up against the wall. he refused to flinch and stuck with his principles. speaking of principles at rootsaction.org and housework organizing campaigns on behalf of james risen and now jeffrey sterling, we are really resolute

with the principle that we have got to support investigative journalists and whistleblowers. we cannot allow the government to drive a wedge between the two . you cannot have the conformed consent of the govern unless you have whistleblowers who give us the unofficial stories and journalists who are willing and able to report them. >> norman solomon, they give for being with us, executive director of the institute for public accuracy, co-founder of rootsaction.org, author of many books including, "war made easy: how presidents and pundits keep spinning us to death." this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> thousands gathered on the campus of the university of north carolina chapel hill last night to remember the three muslim students who were shot dead tuesday by a gunman who had posted anti-religious messages on facebook. the victims were two sisters 19-year-old razan mohammad abu-salha and 21-year-old yusor, and yusor's husband 23-year-old deah barakat. yusor and deah were married in

december. photos from their wedding day were shared widely on social media yesterday. the suspected gunman craig stephen hicks turned himself in to the police and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. hicks had frequently posted anti-religious comments on his facebook page and was a supporter of the group "atheists for equality." on wednesday, police said the killings resulted from a dispute over a parking space. but mohammad abu-salha, razan and yusor's father, described the killings as a hate crime. he also accused the media of propagating anti-muslim sentiment. >> my daughters wear the scarf. there is not a single week that my daughters don't share with us the fear of walking on the street because of what the media is saying about us. inflammatory media all the time. they pick out the bad apples and

magnify the picture and well on it day and night. we are distraught, shocked angry. we feel we were treated unjustly. this is uncalled for. we heard from the media -- not from the media, from the police source that each one of these children has a bullet in the head. this was an execution style. it was a hate crime from a neighbor our children spoke about. they were uncomfortable with. he came to their apartment more than once, condescending threatening, and despising and talking down to them. >> deah barakat's sister suzanne, described the three students as gems of their communities. >> deah at 23 a second-year dental student at unc, was well-known for his all and

racing kindness, lightheartedness, dedication to community service, love for basketball and anything with curry. ysor was on track to join him in the fall, matched his gentle demeanor and she and he found a kindred spirit in one another. razan at 19, was tremendously gifted, setting architecture, incredibly creative, giving, generous, and a loyal friend. they were gems of their community and left a lasting impression on the people around them. >> craig stephen hicks had posted a picture of his gun on facebook. the killings in chapel hill sparked international outcry. the hashtag #muslimlivesmatter spread across social media. a community facebook page was set up wednesday in memory of the three victims, called "our three winners." to talk more about the killings,

we're joined now by two guests in north carolina. in raleigh, amira ata is a childhood friend of yusor . her piece for fusion.net is headlined, "my best friend was killed and i don't know why." in durham, omid safi is director of duke university's islamic studies center. he a former professor at unc-chapel hill. welcome both to democracy now! our condolences to you, to the whole community. amira, i want to begin with you, to describe your best friend yusor, her sister, to talk about what has taken place. and what we should know about them. >> ok, well, i'm going to start about what we should know about them. yusor was or is my best friend. i do say "was" because it is hard to accept this.

i want to keep on living as if she is still by my side. yusor kept me strong through so many things. she was always helpful. she gave me and all of our friends and a lot of advice and support. she encouraged us. she was an inspiration. she was in inspiration to me her father is in inspiration to me. i actually want to follow his career path. ever since i was little, i was determined to become like him. i loved his job and what he does. yusor encouraged be to do that as well. -- encouraged me to do that as well. we have been in school together all of our lives. i met her when she was in third grade and clinton, north carolina. we have been inseparable since. we went to the same elementary school, middle school, high school and university.

>> yusor's sister razan, 19 years old, her little sister? >> yes. razan was always with us growing up. she was always playing with us. she may not have had all of the best roles in our games, but she was included. she was lucky she was included, because we were older. we tried to boss her around as much as we could were as much as she would let us. when she grew up, she was smarter than us, so it did not work anymore. razan is so kind and loving. she is just really cute. there's something about her that is just adorable. she kind of make sure heart melt a little bit. she loved yusor so much. yesterday when we were at their parents home, i was thinking to myself like, we're standing in

the kitchen and we have been there so many times. it brings back so many memories. i can see razan sitting at the end of the table. she would sit at the head of the table. i can always just see her always studying. she was always reading. she has this huge library in her room, like you would not believe how many books this girl reads. she is just a very smart young girl that had an amazing mind. her thought process was amazing. she left her family so much. she loved yusor a lot. i just can't imagine if yusor was to leave this world and razan didn't, i don't think razan would have been able to survive without her sister because it were so connected together. i am kind of looking at it last time i was thinking, it is kind of a blessing that they happen to pass together because they all needed each other so much.

i don't think razan would have been able to do it without her and vice versa. >> i would like to talk to professor omid safi as well about what occurred. fessler, could you explain to us what your response to the way in which the media has been covering these tragic deaths? >> thank you. it is obviously a very heavy time for all of us here in north carolina and in the country. i think the initial response of the community here has been to ask the media focus to be on the lives of these three beautiful young, idealistic, passionate people, these three young muslims who connected the suffering here in america to the suffering around the world, who worked in inner cities of north carolina as well is working with syrian refugees in turkey, working with palestinians, and

others. rather than something keeping the focus on this vile murderer and her visit act of -- horrific act of execution style murder. the other aspect we have seen has been the request of the family, indeed, the muslim community here, to fully consider this as a possible hate crime. when you see a man breaking in with a gun having threatened three people repeatedly over the course of weeks, then shoot them in the head in an execution style, we simply found it unbelievable that the police force would have initially dismissed this as a possible hate crime or at least removed the possibility minimized the possibility. i think the other aspect the community here is wholeheartedly asking for is for this to be investigated as a serious a crime.

>> i want to turn to deah barakat in his own words, his started a fundraising campaign to raise money for a trip they were planning to turkey this summer to provide dental care to syrian refugees. this is a clip. >> my name is deah barakat, a dental student at unc and i need your help. have you ever felt helpless about the situation in syria and felt like you can't do anything about it? this is your opportunity to help. i am embarking on a trip to turkey with 10 dentist doubts during refugees in urgent dental care. these kids don't have access to the same health care. the prolonged and can easily be taking care of with the work that we do. but we need a proper funding. so let's relieve their pain. if you want to make a difference and the life of a child most in need, i urge you to take advantage of this opportunity. >> deah barakat plus campaign had really set the goal of $20,000. it has now raised nearly

$200,000, mostly raised since news of the killing broke. professor, could you talk about some of the work that deah was involved in, both in the united states, social justice and human a train work, here and abroad as well as razan and yusor? >> absolutely. the very last facebook message most of us saw from deah -- these people are the absolute role models for what it means to live in engaged faithful life in a public space. the last time we all saw deah and social media, he was talking about leading a campaign for free dental care for inner-city, primarily african-american community interim, and to hand out free food. this was a short while after he had gotten married. >> in fact, had he just -- >> always with a small, starting

his action here at home from a but also with a knife or suffering halfway around the world. this is what we ask of the best of our young people is to connect the suffering here at home to the suffering globally. we want them to always be mindful of the fact humanity mingles together. as far as the other ones, yusor had done similar dental relief work in turkey. she was about to start at the unc dental school in august. razan, this extraordinary bundle of goodwill and brilliant young woman was already recognized for her work in 3-d design. error muslim woman -- error muslim woman breaking ground in a very male-dominated world of engineering. in the way she had chosen to respond to the horrific paris shootings and the pornographic cartoons mocking the prophet was not by simply engaging the

cartoonists at their own level but she was the artistic visionary genius behind the project called "optimism is a lost -- i mean, this is what these folks stood for. this is how they had been raised to live their life. one reason that a lot of us are morning is that a few minutes of hateful violence innocents have deprived all of us of decades of benefiting from the loving service of these beautiful young people. text this is karen hicks, the suspects wife, who held a news conference wednesday in an attempt to refute claims that her husband was motivated by religious bigotry. >> i can say with absolute does absolutely that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victim's fate, but in fact was related to the long-standing parking dispute that my husband

had with the neighbors. >> and i also want to turn to the lawyer for the suspect, her attorney rob maitland also addressed reporters, and suggested that the suspect had a history of mental health problems. >> personal opinion is this highlights the importance of access to mental health care services and removing decided the stigma for people to ask for that help when they need it. >> that is craig stephen hicks attorney. professor, your response? >> i've a couple. one is, i find it intriguing whenever we have a way person engaging in horrific acts of violence, the immediate response is to say their lone ranger disturbed, marginalized, possibly the suffer from them to own list. only a people from a muslim background, all of a sudden, the conversation shifts to a culture

of death and an ideology that somehow produces this. then there is an expectation of a communal apology on behalf of it. also on behalf of people who deeply care about issues of mental illness, i think it is really important to say while we do need extraordinary commitment to mental health here in north carolina where many institutions have in fact been shut down under republican and administration, the association between until illness and violence -- mental illness and violence is not proven by the fact on the ground. the second thing i would say that came out of the clearly unacceptable presentation yesterday that you just alluded to is the same lawyer also said that the three victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. they were in their own home. since when is being and one's own house being in the wrong place?

where are we supposed to be? >> before we conclude, i would like to ask amira ata, you wrote in your piece, he spoke about an incident in the fall -- you spoke about the incident in the fall when you are at yusor's house and the neighbor, now the suspect in this killing -- and fact, turned himself in -- came and complained about the level of noise that there was in the apartment. could you talk about that incident? what happened that night last fall? >> we were invited over to yusor and deah's house. this was in the engagement period. we were still getting to know him and that type of stuff. after dinner, we were playing a game called "risk." it is a game you basically conquer the world.

we were getting a little competitive, but we weren't that loud. the house is where, there is still a bedroom on one side and the other side, so plenty of walls that are surrounded around us in the living room. soon after we left, yusor contacted us and told us, did my neighbor say anything to you guys when you left out? we were like no, we did not see anybody. she said, oh, my neighbor came to my doorstep and he was holding a gun and was telling me that we were too loud and we woke up his wife. we told her, all of us that were there, there were four of us, we told her to call the police and tell them what happened. and she was debating whether she should or shouldn't. she was like, he didn't really do anything. i don't know if i should make this a big eel.

i'm not sure what to do, that type of thing. she was so nice to him. she was just explaining to him we worked that loud, but i'm sorry if we were allowed, i apologize for that. i don't know it was a weird situation. on tuesday as we are getting all of the phone calls and hearing all of the gossip and everybody is telling us to get to chapel hill, we had no idea what was going on. as i am driving down there, i am thinking, i thought only deah was dead and i did not know razan was involved. i thought, if deah was shot, i know the neighbor had to do it. i know it automatically. i thought immediately, who would do something like this to them? it was their neighbor. she complains about him to her parents. i don't know how many times he has threatened her. her dad does more. and she wasn't comfortable staying there. she's to always try to convince

one of us if we finished class at state to come to chapel hill and spend time with her so she would not be alone all the time. i'm not sure if that was just the fear that she did not want to be a long, but i mean, she knew it wasn't really safe there with that neighbor that tends to come to her house holding a gun. if i had a problem with my neighbor, i might write a letter , put it on her doorstep were on their car, but i would not go to my neighbor holding a gun. >> did she say -- and she feel -- felt anger or hatred toward them because they were muslim? >> yes, of course. she was saying because they were different, she felt she was hated. and she didn't know why. she's such a sweet and calm person. she did not understand why anyone wouldn't like her. so it didn't make sense to her. we told her, it is probably because you wear a scarf and you

are a muslim. some people are ignorant and they're going to not like you because of what you represent, because people think islam is a bad thing. not all muslims are bad muslims. >> amira ata, thank you for being with us. again, our condolences, best friend of yusor abu-salha. we willing to your piece at fusion.net called "my best , friend was killed and i don't know why." professor omid safi, they could for being with us director of , duke university's islamic studies center. the three young people are being buried today. 19-year-old razan mohammad abu-salha, her 21-year-old sister yusor and her new husband, 23-year-old deah barakat. all killed on tuesday. when we come back, one billion

rising. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> climbing poe tree performing "awaken" at the artistic uprising here in new york city last saturday, part of one billion uprising. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> one billion rising is the name of a global movement in more than 200 countries to end rape and sexual violence against women. the campaign was launched by playwright eve ensler, creator of "the vagina monologues," and it highlights the startling statistic that one in every

three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. >> she joins us here in new york. her also joined by kimberle crenshaw law professor. their new report is "black girls , matter: pushed out overpoliced and underprotected." eve, talk about the organizer that has been going on, even leading up to valentine's day. >> it is gone from one billion rising to one billion rising for justice to one billion rising revolution. i'm thrilled to say we're definitely 200 countries. and i think what is really exciting this year is how the theme of revolution has been adopted from place to place. yesterday i was at a luncheon with dr. bernice king, part of one billion rising atlanta -- >> dr. martin luther king's daughter. >> she was quoting her father and set a social movement that changes people's a revolt.

a social movement the changes people and institutions is a revolution. this year we're seeing the deepening of one billion rising. we're seeing restaurant workers who are rising to raise the minimum wage and and sexual-harassment. we're seeing people throughout the world rising against poverty and contractual labor. farmworkers rising against sexual harassment. one of the great things happening this year is the risings are vast and 200 countries, but also multiple within countries. i got an e-mail this morning there are 100 cities in italy alone rising. 34 provinces of afghanistan rising. i think what we're seeing is a tipping point in our movement where the diversity, children older people men -- we're seeing the coming together of issues, whether it is rising against the desecration of the earth, looking at the connection between extraction of oil and

sexual abuse. i think we are beginning to unite and come out of our silos and bring these movements together. >> has a crenshaw, usually you're here in new york or los angeles, but you are in boston right now. can you talk about the report you just came out with and how this relates to one billion rising? >> we are interested for some time and try to address some of the specific obstacles that face girls of color. we have known for a while there's something called the school to prison pipeline. for the most part, when the pipeline as discussed, it is primarily a something that been a fax boys. recently, some numbers were released by the department of education that showed in fact black girls, 12% of black girls were suspended from school and that is a rate that is multiple times more than white girls. so we decided we wanted to find out what was happening in new york and boston with black girls

and what they told us. we found some startling information. like girls are 10 times more likely to be suspended than white girls in new york, 11 times more likely in boston. but equally important, what the girls told us was that they are suspended for things that white girls would not be posted and sometimes things that black boys would not be. they're are seen as defiant aggressive, loud rowdy. they say teachers see them as ghetto. there facing specific kinds of stereotypes in the school that causes them to be suspended, and they also have burdens the no one else has. they're the ones that take care of elderly people, take their parents to immigration office to translate, the once a look after little kids. there are a lot of issues facing our girls of color, black girls in particular. we want to rise with one billion rising to let those issues up as well. >> eve ensler, in terms of how

people can find out what is happening in this country and around the world, where do you go on the website? >> onebillionrising.org. there are thousands and thousands of risings around the world. this year it is drumming dancing, resisting or the theme. it is important to think within your community what are forms of violence you are resisting and to create your rising. visit locally owned, locally determined for globally connected movement that everyone is invited to join. but thank you both for being with us, eve ensler award-winning lay right and creator of "the vagina monologues" and v-day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. their campaign is called one billion rising. particularly poignant today, coming out of north carolina and what has happened there. and kimberle crenshaw, is a law professor at ucla and columbia university, a v-day board member and founder of the african american policy forum. their new report is, "black girls matter."

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these films are so popular because they minister to a need in the audience to believe e whole american experimen is a success. war is mostly boredom, long periods of boredom, punctuated by terrifying madness and surrealism. but it's impossible to actually show. (explosions) annenberg media ♪ d: