03/06/15 03/06/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we have something to say to all of those big corporations and special interest who spent all those billions to install their own mayor. we want change. amy: could rahm emanuel dubbed i some of chicago's mayor 1%, be defeated? we will speak to his challenger

jesus "chuy" garcia, a mexican born committed to organizer. the race is being called the next big fight for the soul of the democratic party. we will also look at the opening of the boston marathon bombing trial and discuss why the fbi is being sued in florida after an agent shot dead a friend of the marathon bombers. >> we're seeking answers and justice for some who was shot dozen times by fbi agent in his own home after hours of interrogation. amy: and bloody sunday. when scores were beaten as they attempted to march from selma to montgomery. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. militants with the self-proclaimed islamic state have reportedly bulldozed the ancient assyrian city of nimrud, in northern iraq, in what the

head of unesco has called a war crime. the ancient site was founded in the 13th century b.c. it's reported destruction comes a week after video showed isis militants smashing priceless statues at the mosul museum, northwest of nimrud. further south, meanwhile, iraqi forces and iranian-backed militias are continuing their bid to retake the city of tikrit from isil. the militants have set oil wells ablaze northwest of the city in a bid to slow the offensive. the united nations reports nearly half a million people were displaced from the darfur region of western sudan last year, the largest amount in a decade. the u.n. blames the uptick in violence on the sudanese government and government allied forces, which have ways to campaign against rebels and are for instance 2003. an estimated 300,000 people have been killed since 2003, when the

sudanese president omar al-bashir has faced accusations of genocide and crimes against humanity, but the international criminal court suspended its probe in december. bashir seeks re-election next month to extend his 25-year rule. liberia has finished treating its last ebola patient, as the world health organization announced the country has gone a week without any new cases, for the first time in 10 months. health officials warn the fight is still not over, since a fresh outbreak could still erupt. sierra leone and guinea meanwhile, reported a combined total of 132 new ebola cases last week. in total, the record outbreak has killed nearly 10,000 people and infected nearly 24,000. attorneys for the family of michael brown have announced plans to sue the city of ferguson, missouri and darren wilson, the police officer who shot and killed the unarmed, african-american teenager. attorney anthony gray made the announcement a day after the justice department said it would not bring civil rights charges against wilson. >> with always felt from the

very beginning that officer darren wilson did not have to shoot and kill mike brown jr. in broad daylight in the manner that he did, that he had other options available to him and he chose deadly force as his option. and we plan to demonstrate in a court of law to reasonable mind of people that the choice to use deadly force was unreasonable and unnecessary under those circumstances. amy: a muslim iraqi immigrant has been shot dead in dallas texas, in what police are investigating as a possible hate crime. relatives told local media ahmed al-jumaili was out taking pictures of the snow with his family, when they walked past two men, who then opened fire. al-jumaili had reunited with his wife in dallas just 20 days ago, after moving from iraq. a former fbi informant who posed as a muslim convert to infiltrate mosques in california has said the fbi instructed him

to have sex with muslim women if it would help him gather information. craig monteilh has admitted collecting phone numbers and other personal information about muslims in the los angeles area, even planting a recording device in the local muslim student union. he told huff post live his fbi handlers encouraged him to date muslim women. >> sometimes within a date, it would get intimate. so i would ask my fbi handlers [indiscernible] they instructed me if i was getting good intel, to allow it to go into sexual relations. amy: monteilh's extreme talk of violence and jihad alarmed his targets in the muslim community, who ultimately reported him to the fbi and took out a restraining order against him. new york city has made history by adding two muslim holidays to its school calendar.

mayor bill de blasio announced this week new york would become the first major city to close school on eid al-fitr and eid al-adha. muslims in new york have spent at least nine years fighting for the holidays' recognition. shujaat khan of the coalition for muslim school holidays celebrated the win. >> we feel included in this melting pot of the country, and we take pride of that. the whole world is watching us in our fight can come to a successful close. thank you all for coming. thank you all for listening. thank you all for the support. we did it. we just did it. thank you. amy: in argentina, the ex-wife of a late prosecutor who accused the president of a cover-up has said she believes her ex-husband was murdered.

the prosecutor, alberto nisman was found dead a day before he was due to testify on his claims argentine president cristina fernández de kirchner helped cover up iran's role in the 1994 bombing of a jewish center that killed 85 people. investigators initially said his death appeared to be a suicide but sandra arroyo salgado said the experts she hired concluded he was shot in the back of the head and his body moved to the bathroom. >> nisman didn't have an accident. he didn't commit suicide. his death deserves answers. our commitment is a family and mine also is being part of the judicial power of the nation is to persevere as to build a find out the truth about what happened that day. amy: indigenous communities in peru have announced a settlement with oil giant occidental petroleum in a landmark case over pollution in the amazon

rainforest. in 2007, achuar indigenous communities sued occidental in u.s. court after a report by amazon watch and earth rights international accused the firm of dumping toxic waste directly into rivers and streams, resulting in widespread lead and cadmium poisoning. the settlement was actually reached in 2013, but the terms of the deal prevented an announcement until thursday. the sum involved in the deal has been kept secret. an attorney for the republican national committee has asked the state department's inspector general to probe presumptive democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton's exclusive use of personal email during her tenure as secretary of state. clinton did not use a government email address at all. her aides failed to save her enough on government servers, a possible violation of both state

department rules and federal law. clinton says she is asked the state department to release the emails she recently turned over to them for review, tweeting -- "i want the public to see my email." but reuters reports the review of about 55,000 pages of documents could take several months. newly revealed documents from edward snowden have shown new zealand is vacuuming up communications across the asia-pacific region and sharing them with the nsa. reports published by the intercept in collaboration with the new zealand herald and journalist nicky hager describe how new zealand's equivalent of the nsa collects data from island nations with whom it has friendly ties, such as tuvalu, naura, samoa, the solomon islands, and fiji. the spying reportedly is covering ngos in the south pacific countries, new zealand shares a through the nsa system xkeyscore, a search engine-like tool which lets the nsa monitor nearly every type of online

activity. a group of activists arrested for during the flood wall street action against capitalism's role in climate change have been found not guilty at their trial here in new york. on september 22, the day after the historic people's climate march, thousands of people sat down in manhattan's financial district to protest the role of big banks in backing the extractive industries fueling climate change. ten of the defendants decided to fight their charges in court hoping to use the necessity defense to argue the urgency of climate change required civil disobedience. instead, the judge ruled the new york city police department's order for protesters to disperse was unconstitutional. but defense attorney martin stolar said the judge also acknowledged the urgency of climate change. >> the court found all 10 defendants not guilty, releasing them and basically endorsing the position that they took, that climate change is a serious,

urgent problem requiring attention. basically, complementing the defendants for being out there and protesting, and then because the police department made a mistake in the way they ordered people to leave the demonstration area, the judge said the order to leave was permissible under the constitution therefore, he found all of the defendants not guilty for violating an unlawful order. amy: attorney martin stolar standing in another extreme weather event in new york. the acquittal of the climate activists comes as snowy conditions have continued to engulf the united states, from new york, where a plane skidded off a snowy runway at laguardia airport, to kentucky, where hundreds of drivers were stranded on a snowy highway for 20 hours. scientists warn increased snowfall was part of a pattern of extreme weather driven by climate change. a train carrying crude oil from the bakken region of north

dakota has derailed in northern illinois, causing a massive fire. the incident follows two previous oil derailments last month, which happened within days of each other in ontario, canada and west virginia. you can go to our website for discussions of these at democracynow.org. the fire was so intense, the firefighter simply left this latest explosion. ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus has announced it will end its elephant acts by 2018, citing mounting public concern over animal mistreatment. the animal rights group peta which has documented ringling's abuse of elephants, hailed the decision, but called for an immediate halt to the performances. the humane society called the decision "startling and tremendously exciting." u.s. army whistleblower chelsea manning has won a court order instructing the military to stop referring to her with masculine pronouns. manning announced her identity as a transgender woman in 2013 a

day after she was sentenced to 35 years in prison for giving a trove of secret documents to wikileaks. last month, she was finally allowed to begin hormone treatment. wellesley college in massachusetts has become the latest all-women's school to begin accepting transgender women. the school says it will now consider for admission "any applicant who lives as a woman and consistently identifies as a woman." students who identify as men will not be admitted, but if students come to identify as men while enrolled, they will be allowed to graduate. the american library association has released its list of notable videos for adults. 15 outstanding films from the past two years, including in the list, "harvest of empire" based on the ground breaking book by the same name by juan gonzalez. they described it as "a conference of geopolitical

picture of the economic and historical realities that have guided waves of latin american migration to the u.s.." other films recognized include "dirty wars" and "five broken cameras" and other democracies we have -- comes we have featured on democracy now! this is the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday. on march 7, 1965, 600 people tried to cross the bridge. they were attacked by alabama state troopers. reverend frederick douglass reese and sadie mitchell moss recall that day. >> we saw a lot of state troopers across the highway. and we were asked to not go any further, that we are going to be

denied the right to continue that march. so we were somewhat concerned about that and decided that we were not going to turn this we returned. that caused the state troopers to move in on us with their billy clubs literally went down the line of marchers, toppling us over as if you would topple over bowling pins in a bowling alley. >> i felt if we turn around or give up, it will never happen. so in order to make sure that this does become a reality, we must continue. and that is just the way i felt. and i must admit, i didn't want to die, but that feeling is always there. i think i'm quoting king correctly, anything worth living for is worth dying for. i just couldn't turn back.

i thought we are gone too far, especially in selma. amy: activists and politicians including president obama, john lewis will converge on some of this weekend for events marking the anniversary. democracy now! will broadcast from selma on monday. and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. congratulations on your film being notified. juan: it sounds like the committee watches democracy now! quite of lot of the films were future care. amy: "harvest of empire" was so critical to understanding all the different populations who are in this country and shake the whole issue of immigration in the battle right now that is going on. juan: if only some of the

members of congress watched the film, we might be getting a little different perspective on immigration reform. hopefully, someone watch it in the next year or so. amy: congratulations. we will post our interview with you as well as the film makers were also listed in the notable list at democracynow.org. juan: thousands of people are expected to travel to summit alabama for the 50th anniversary of leddy sunday. when hundreds of peaceful civil rights activists were attacked by police and white mobs crossing the edmund pettus bridge as they attempted to march to montgomery. the date was march 7, 1965. bloody sunday was the first of three attempted marches from selma to montgomery, which was finally completed under federal protection and led by dr. martin luther king, jr. one of the protesters beaten on bloody sunday was congressman john lewis, then a 25-year-old organizer with sncc, the student nonviolent coordinating committee.

>> was beaten by state troopers, not to the ground -- knocked to the ground. a in 2012 i interviewed congressman john lewis and asked him to talk about selma and bloody sunday. >> on that day, a group of us attempted to march from selma to montgomery alabama to demonstrate that people wanted to vote. one young african american man had been shot and killed a few days earlier in no journey -- and adjourning county. the home county of mrs. abernathy, of mrs. andrew young. and because of what happened to

him, he made a decision to march. in selma, alabama in 1965, only 2.1% of blacks of age to vote were registered to vote. the only place you could do it was at the courthouse. he had to pass a so-called li. on one occasion, a man was asked [indiscernible] on another occasion, to count the number of jelly beans in a jar. through african lawyers, doctors, teachers, housewives, college professors that flunked the so-called literally test. -- literacy test. so we started to march. it got to the top of the bridge, we saw alabama state troopers. we continued to walk. we came within hearing distance. a man identified himself and

said, i major john cloud of the alabama state troopers. this is an unlawful march and you will not be allowed to continue. i give you three minutes to disperse and return to your church. one of the young people walking with me leading the march, josé williams, who was on the staff of dr. martin luther king, junior said, major, give us a moment of inquiry. he said, troopers, advance. you saw these guys putting on gas masks. they came toward us, beating us with night sticks and bull whips, trampling us with horses. i was hit in the head with a nightstick. i had a concussion. my legs went out from under me. i felt like i was going to die. all these many years later, i don't recall how i made it back across the bridge to the church. after i got back to the church the church is full to capacity.

more than 2000 people on the outside trying to get on the inside to protest what had happened on the bridge. i stood up and said something like, i don't understand it, how president johnson can send troops to vietnam, but can't centric's to selma alabama to protect people who want to register to vote. the next thing i knew, i was admitted to the hospital in selma. amy: explain that moment where you decided to move forward. i don't think the history we learned records those small acts that are actually gargantuan acts of bravery. talk about -- i mean, use all the weapons, the police raid against you. what propelled you forward congress member lewis? >> well, my mother and my father , my grandparents, my uncles and aunts and people all around me had never registered to vote.

i had been working all across the south. the state of mississippi had more than 450,000 of african-american's and only 16% were registered to vote. on that day, we did not have a choice. i think we had been tracked by what i called the spirit of history. we could not turn back. we had to move forward. we became like trees planted by the rivers of water. we were anchored. i thought we were dying. i first thought we would be arrested and go to jail, but i thought it was real possibility that many of us would die on the bridge that day after the confrontation occurred. i thought it was the last protest for me. somehow, in some way, had to keep going. you go to a hospital, to a doctor's office, you get mended.

you get up and you try it again. amy: what was the next act you engaged in? >> we continued to organize, continued to try to get people registered. we went to fellow dish federal court to try to get an injunction. the federal court said we had a right to march from selma to montgomery. president johnson spoke to the nation and condemned the violence in selma, introduced the voting rights act. that night, he made one of the most meaningful speeches that any american president had made in modern time. the whole question of civil rights and voting rights. he condemned the violence over and over again. near the end of the speech he said, and we shall overcome. we shall overcome. we call it the "we shall

overcome" speech. i was sitting next to martin 13 junior as we listen to president johnson. i looked at dr. king, and tears came down his face. we all cried. dr. king said, we will make it from selma to montgomery in the voting rights act will be passed. two weeks later, more than 10,000 of us, people from all over america, started walking from selma to montgomery. by the time we made it to montgomery five days later, the role must 30,000 -- there were almost 30,000 white, black protestant, catholic jewish, men, women, young people -- it was like a holy march. congress debated the act passed it in august on tuesday five president monson johnson cited in

the law. amy: commerce member lewis remembering he was one of the leaders of the march had his head bashed in by alabama state troopers among the scores of other people who were wounded. he will lead a pilgrimage to selma tomorrow. democracy now! will be there and broadcast from alabama on monday. the edmund pettus bridge is named for a confederate general who escaped three times from capture. he was also grand dragon of the alabama ku klux klan, as well as a u.s. senator. the group students unite have launched a petition to change the name of the edmund pettus bridge. when we come back on the we go to chicago to speak with the challenger of the current mayor rahm emanuel, jesus chuy garcia. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. a shout out to the students who have come to visit us today from democracy prep high school in harlem, new york. juan: we turn now to chicago, where jesus "chuy" garcia, the son of mexican immigrants and an immigrant himself, shocked the nation's political establishment last week by forcing chicago's powerful mayor rahm emanuel into a run-off election. now, the race has turned into what could be the next big fight for the soul of the democratic party. many experts had predicted emanuel would easily win the primary because of his political background as the top white house aide to president obama,

who came to chicago to endorse him. emanuel also won the endorsement of chicago's major newspapers. by comparison, garcia was a little-known former city alderman, state senator and community organizer. and now cook county commissioner. he raised just over $1 million in campaign donations compared to emanuel's $15 million war chest. but on election night, emanuel captured just 45% of the vote, below the 50% he needed to avoid a run-off. meanwhile, garcia emerged a close second with 33%. this is garcia addressing his supporters after the news was announced. >> nobody thought we would be here tonight. they wrote us off. they said we didn't have a chance. they said we didn't have any money.

while they spend millions attacking us. [applause] well, we are still standing. [applause] we are still running. and we are gonna win. we have something to say to all those big corporations and special interests who spent all those billions to install their own mayor. we want change. amy: now, a new poll shows the gap between the garcia and emmanuel closing to what the chicago sun-times calls a "dead heat." emanuel leads by 43%, while garcia has 39%. the incumbent mayor faces public dissatisfaction over his closing of 50 schools in mostly african-american neighborhoods his handling of a 2012 teacher's strike, and the city's high murder rate and levels of gun violence. this week, emanuel is going on the offensive and is expected to

run a series of new campaign ads. >> your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. i camera people the wrong way or talk when i should listen. i own that. but i'm driven to make a difference. when politics did in the way of a full day kindergarten or tougher gun laws, i charged ahead. in one business interest said a $13 minimum wage was too high, i did not back down. i'm not always going to get it right. when it comes to fighting for chicago and chicago's future, no one is going to fight harder. amy: mary mendel's point millions into these run offense. for more on the possible unseating of the mayor who some have nicknamed mayor one percent, we go to chicago where we are joined by his challenger jesus "chuy" garcia. we contacted emanuel's campaign and invited him to join us, but they did not respond. if garcia is elected, he will become chicago's first-ever latino mayor. the run-off election will take place on april 7.

welcome to democracy now! why are you running for mayor? >> good morning. great to be with you, amy. i'm running for mayor because chicago needs to go in a different direction. for the past four years, we've seen mayor emanuel arrive in town with a boatload of money and pose his policies on the people of the city of chicago. they favored a select few in chicago. through the amassing of large sums of money, he thought he could get reelected, while leaving behind chicago neighborhoods, making chicago the city that leads the nation in the number of school closings -- almost 50 -- in making chicago one of the most violent cities in the country. we have experienced 10,000 shootings in the past four years. people feel left behind. that come together, supported me for mayor. we forced them into a runoff by

building a coalition that is truly multiracial, multiethnic across juncker via chicago fighting back against the agenda that was imposed on chicago. we want some attention and resources and investment in chicago neighborhoods. juan: chuy garcia, one of the big issues in this race has been education. the mayor's policies on school closings, on charter schools and his reform agenda. could you talk about your differences with him on this issue and your own history in terms of seeking education reform? >> yes. the mayor has total control of the chicago public school system. it was a bill that gave the mayor that exclusive control and 1995. a was a member of the illinois senate and voted against that bill, thought it was a bad idea. it also assured in the year of charter schools in chicago now has 125 charter schools.

the mayor appoints people who have been loyal to him. some of them have had conflict of interest was serving on the school board. the companies that profited. the business they do, the business that some of those court members have, has tremendously grown over the passable years. it is indicative of the mayor's opposition to have an elected school board in chicago. that question about elected school board appeared on the ballot a week ago last tuesday. it received 88% of the vote in support. people want greater account ability. they want a say so, and they want an elected school board. what we've seen in chicago is a policy of inequality, lack of equity. you have some parts of the city that have really good public schools and other parts of the city that don't have the resources that you need to have successful education of occurring. those schools happen to be

located in some of the poorest neighborhoods in chicago. of course, the schools that were closed in chicago are primarily in low-income areas that are predominately african-american and latino. there's another issue in these school systems, which is standardized tests. teachers focus of much time and energy in teaching students how to pass tests, they're not able to educate them. so our students are over tested and undereducated, and those are some of the issues that are being debated with respect to schools in chicago in addition to, of course, the issue of how you invest in having a robust system of public schools. and stopping the charter mania the rush to open as many charter schools as possible without demonstrating that in fact charter schools are superior to the neighborhood schools in chicago, which means siphoning of money. i recognize that are some good charter schools in chicago, but the charter mania, the rush to create additional charter

schools has just created a second tier of schools in our system. i will put an end to that. we will turn to that all students, putting those attending current charters receive an education, but we should not continue to open charters and create a two-tier school system in the city of chicago. juan: i would ask about euro history in this area back when you were leading a major committed to organization in chicago, you lead a protest and hunger strike by parents to build a public school. my understanding is, summative by the name of arne duncan was the one who eventually caved in and agreed to build the high school you were seeking? >> yes. we had to engage in a fight in 2001 in an area known as little village in the city of chicago. the chicago public school student test system have promised to build a new high school by 2001, the year edition of open. no high school had been built yet. parents and other leaders in the

community decided they had to do something really unconventional. they engaged in a hunger strike that lasted 19 years. pardon me, 19 days. it was a group of mothers, students, other leaders in the community. a really forced the chicago public schools in the mayor to come to the table to sit down and negotiate. it resulted in part in the exiting of the ceo of the public school system at that time. there was a change in leadership after arne duncan came in a superintendent of the school system, we sat down and negotiated in a new high school and innovative high school with four small schools in one church is silly that educate children who are latino and african-american about 30% of them, but for successful school, very peaceful school and it is graduating students and sending them to colleges and universities in unprecedented

numbers. thereby, showing you can have great schools in low-income neighborhoods and working class" in chicago. if we are able to do it there, a means you're able to do it in other parts of the city. thus underscoring the fight for public education, if we have the resources to have been schools we can have great schools everywhere in the city of chicago and educational equity. amy: speaking of education, we interviewed karen lewis president of the chicago teachers union, and she told us about a private meeting she had with mayor rahm emanuel back in 2012, we're this discussion. the meeting was about the city's plan to shut down seven schools and fire all of the teachers at ten other schools. >> when i first met him, we had dinner together and he said, well 25% of these kids are never going to be anything, never going to amount to anything, and i'm not throwing money at it. i was like, wow, even if you believe that, you can't say that to me.

so i just watch how he has used black and brown and portillo and as props to push an agenda -- poor kids as props to push an agenda that is all about so-called accountability, but it is really the status quo. once schools get put on probation here in chicago, the chicago public schools takes over, takes over the democratically controlled local school councils, takes that power away from them to hire and fire and evaluate sensible's and -- principles and spend discretionary fund. we see this culture of punishment and culture of this investment. it is rampant and obviously spreading throughout the country. amy: karen lewis, former head of the teachers union. talking to the "daily beast" at the democratic national convention in 2012, chicago mayor rahm emanuel defended the city's proposed education reform. >> i started school yesterday

after a decade of discussing it, we finally have the full school day in the full school year. we cheated our children for over a decade. that used to be things that we didn't get our charming, now we're giving them. >> not popular with the teachers unions. >> but i know what it is going to do for children's lives. this school year, the core curriculum, the most rigorous academic standards. this your, five new sci-fi technology, and math high school cycle all the way through community college -- don't stop in high school, they go two years to community college. associated with five of the top technology copies in the country. we added 6000 just a magnet schools and early childhood pre-k as will his kindergarten programs, and we also made available online every principle you see. the most conference of sweeping reform in schools. why?

if i get those kids educated that a future. amy: rahm emanuel speaking at 2012, before that, karen lewis whom i made well have run against rahm emanuel, but was diagnosed with brain cancer. chuy, she turned to you? >> she approached me shortly after she came home, after her surgery, her brain surgery that removed a tumor and she asked me if i would consider running for mayor chicago. she did not just ask me, she said, you have got to step up and do this. i asked her, why are you asking me? i'm headed to a reelection victory without an opponent first time in my life. and she said, you have a history. you have been a coalition builder. you been a steady, progressive over three decades in chicago. you have relationships across the city. you can build a multiracial, multiethnic coalition across the state.

and this is the time for you to step up. the city needs you. and i hope you'll will consider it. so i went home and talk to my wife and we slept on it. we prayed on it and contemplated it. we ask for inspiration. of course, i decided to step up and here we are a month out from a runoff election, having denied the mayor a reelection bid in his first effort. of course, shaking things up in chicago, saying the neighborhoods in chicago will be addressed, the neighborhoods in chicago deserve a voice. we want to put an end to the mayor style and approach and policies in chicago to favoring a select few, giving tax breaks and tax incentives of our property tax dollars to rich corporations and wealthy individuals. we want democracy in chicago. we want change. 55% of the voters voted for change a week ago last tuesday

on federally 24th. that is unprecedented in chicago. folks thought this was a conventional election. it is not been conventional whatsoever. even though only 33% of the voters turned out, a majority of them voting for change, and we are now in a dead heat as we approach april 7. there's a fight for the heart and soul of chicago. this is about whether chicago will be a city that is inclusive of all of its people or whether it will continue to work for a select few of rich and powerful people. we overcame the money deficit. they threw everything they had negative ads, a barrage of propaganda outspent us 12 to one. bush a call once were clear on what they -- but chicagoans were clear on what they wanted. they wanted change. those, chicago is at the forefront of a national debate about how you govern. you continue to let the powerful

interests are in your city or do citizens fight back, unite, and demonstrate that they can have a voice, they can chart a new course that is inclusive of the interests of all of the people of chicago. juan: chuy garcia, you mentioned the whole issue of the favored treatment of the city's -- i want to read from google chicago tribune "chicago tribune turko "a pattern of mutually beneficial interactions between the mayor and his major supporters. nearly 60% of those 103 donors benefited from his city government, receiving contracts, zoning changes, business permits, pension work, board appointments, regulatory help or some other tangible benefit." despite this report the chicago tribune went on to endorse emanuel for mayor. this whole issue of pay to play, could you talk about that? >> as you pointed out, the

two-part series that showed a clear pattern of pay to play, unethical conduct, favoring the rich and powerful in chicago came out that sunday and monday of february 1 and february 2. i the end of the week, they had endorsed the mayor for reelection. it is highly ironic that took lace. the have to understand, chicago and who favors a mayor like rahm emanuel, i think it is highly ironic that happened, but at any rate, it didn't affect people's understanding of how they under this mayor. there been many instances of those types of abuses and conflict of interest. but chicagoans one change. they voted for change. as we moved to april 7, they will get change. we will generate even a stronger

troop base in chicago, a wonderful coalition that will overcome the 1% in all the rich and wealthy folks who want to keep chicago working for the select few. the coalition will grow. this will be a tremendous battle that will also put chicago at the forefront in terms of an agenda in what cities all over the country need. they need the attention of the federal government. we need to address our crumbling infrastructure system. we need more support from washington d.c. in order to address the violence in our cities. this investment in many chicago neighborhoods, we need a national work program that will enable us to put young men, in particular, and women in many parts of the city back to work so that we can have neighborhood revitalization. you can't have successful never had revitalization in some of

chicago's poorest communities, especially the african-american community on the west side and the south side, if you don't put people back to work. amy: chuy garcia, i want to stay on this issue of african-american community and also the latino committee. in 1987, he spoke at the funeral of the former mayor harold washington who became the first of an american mayor in chicago. >> to learn what excess go, there's no place you wouldn't go, from the beaches of san want to the mountains of mexico. and now that you have gone, we, the people thou to stay strong. the unity of our coalition is a tribute to the washington tradition. today in 1987, we know that you are in heaven. adios amigos.

amy: for those watching on tv, you also saw luis gutierrez. i want to talk about the black brown coalition of chicago. luis gutierrez, the first midwestern latino congress member ever to be elected, is actually endorsing mayor emanuel. a want to get your, it on that. and also how you will pick up support within the african-american community. >> first, to my old friend luis gutierrez, he apparently committed to the reelection of the mayor some time ago. they did serve together in congress. there is relationship there. i think the conventional thinking of chicago is rahm emanuel would coast to an easy reelection victory. but that was overlooking some of the major issues in chicago -- the school closings, the level of violence, the disinvestment in many of the neighborhoods.

it is unfortunate that my old friend luis gutierrez could not be with me in this election. nevertheless, in chicago there's a real desire on the part of the people everywhere in the african-american community in the latino community, in working-class white communities to want to come together and establish a new path for chicago that is rooted in greater equity, that recognizes we are each other's future. analysts all of us have a voice and say so and how our government is led, that we cannot have a sustainable city. in order for chicago to be a truly world-class city, truly great city, it needs to have right neighborhoods. you can't have great neighborhoods and less you have good public education, good public schools within reach of this neighborhood residences and we have to reduce our terrible violence and many of the neighborhoods in chicago. 10,000 shootings over the past four years is intolerable. we need a mayor who will be

about the neighborhoods, who will have the disposition, the willingness to sit with neighborhood residents, who will be receptive to the need for mental health services in many of the neighborhoods in the city of chicago. so a mayor who is really in tune with ordinary people, with chicago neighborhoods, and with working people in chicago, is what residents of chicago have said they want, and i intend to be that mayor for all of chicago. amy: jesus chuy garcia, thank you very much for being with us, running for chicago after a run-off election set for april 7, in which he could unseat the incumbent, mayor rahm emanuel. thank you so much. when we come back, we head north to massachusetts to talk about the boston marathon bombing trial. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>>amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: the trial for accused boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev has opened in massachusetts after defense attorneys failed in their repeated bids to move it out of state. tsarnaev and his brother tamerlan, who died in an shootout with police, are accused of planting bombs at the marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring 264 others. tsarnaev's attorneys had argued unsuccessfully their client can't get a fair trial in the city where the bombings occurred. jury selection took two months and all 18 jurors selected are white. on the trial's first day, defense attorneys acknowledged their client's role in the bombings, but said he was heavily influenced by his older brother. prosecutors, meanwhile, say

messages scrawled on the inside of a boat where tsarnaev hid after the attacks show he was motivated by anger over the u.s. government's killing of muslim civilians around the world. amy: the trial comes as the the council on american-islamic relations in florida has announced it will sue the fbi for $30 million on behalf of the family of an unarmed chechen man killed during questioning over his ties to the tsarnaev brothers. the fbi says an agent shot ibragim todashev in self-defense after todashev attacked him, but his parents have accused the fbi of killing their son in cold blood. well, for more, we go to boston, massachusetts where we're joined by kade crockford. she is the director of the technology for liberty project at the aclu of massachusetts where she's been following the tsarnaev trial closely. kade crockford, welcome to democracy now! talk about the opening of the trial. very emotional as people talk about their losses. >> really devastating testimony we have heard so far this week in the trial.

survivors describing their horrific winds and the immediate impact of the blast, going from standing watching the race on a beautiful spring day to essentially waking up in a pile of carnage finding body parts nearby, looking down at their own bodies and discovering missing limbs. it is been really traumatic. unfortunately, here in boston, in a city where there is done death penalty, we in massachusetts found the death penalty unconstitutional as a state in 1984, we haven't executed anyone since 1947 in massachusetts. are going through with this federal death penalty prosecution, which is highly unusual. even the people of boston who were victimized by this horrific attack, the majority of whom think dzhokhar tsarnaev is guilty, post death for the defendant. -- oppose debt for the

defendant. honest 60% of the people polled oppose the death penalty. it appears the prosecution of the doj at any point made an offer of the life without parole, the defense team headed by judy clarke, an expert at getting people off of death row wouldn't accept that police. it is not clear to us why the doj is going ahead with this death penalty prosecution, particularly, given that the city is being re-traumatized i this kind of testimony we have heard this week. juan:k kade crockford, what about the judges pretrial rulings, how they affect the ability of the defense to mount their arguments in the case? >> one of the most critical rulings that judge o'toole made this week barred the defense from discussing what are called mitigating circumstances. in that case, the defense's main

argument, it appears, is to suggest that tamerlan dzhokhar tsarnaev was an overbearing influence on the young man whose parents a few years prior had moved back and left him, essentially, in the care of his older brother. the judge has said that the defense essentially cannot address tamerlan's role in the guilt phase of the trial. as soon as dzhok is found guilty, which is very likely, there will be a second phase of the trial, which is the sentencing phase. in that portion, there will be more evidence in the defense will likely be able to present much broader arguments about the older brother's influence on tamerlan -- i'm sorry, on dzhokh ar. a can you talk about the lawsuit

and how it relates to the trial? >> one of the main pieces of evidence that judy clarke ameren conrad the other federal public defenders, i think, probably want to be able to use in court to illustrate to the jury that dzhokhar tsarnaev was terrified of his brother, is evidence of a 2011 gruesome triple murder that took place on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, actually, in a quiet boston suburb. in that murder, three people one of whom was reportedly tamerlan tsarnaev's closest friend, 3m meant had their head still he decapitated in separate rooms of the house. there was marijuana dumped on their corpses and $5,000 cash left in the building. those murders are still unsolved . immediately after the murders took place, the da, the district

attorney for the area told the press and the public that he suspected there were likely to people who were known to the victims who were in the house at the time of the murders. that was basically the last thing that the public heard substantively in the government about who was responsible for those murders until after the boston marathon bombings. about a week after the bombings, abc news published a report containing anonymous law enforcement sources, allegations that in fact, tamerlan tsarnaev newly deceased accused boston bomber, was responsible for those murders. it was a bombshell. this news was huge in the boston area on these murders that have been unsolved for nearly two years, suddenly, were penned on a man who was the most notorious figure and maybe the history of boston, recently deceased. the reason to shove, the

unmanned it was killed by an fbi agent in florida is connected to this, is because just weeks after that initial story in abc news, we woke up to the more shocking is here in boston, which is that the fbi, along with two massachusetts states troopers, had traveled down to florida to do an interview with this young man who was reportedly a friend of tamerlan's about his connection to those murders. and we were told that overnight during this highly unusual interrogation in ibragim todashev's home, the fbi killed him, basically. the strange thing is that in the wake of those murders, even after saying the fbi had forensic evidence linking tamerlan to the crime scene, in court last year, the doj told the public defenders -- in fact, we have no evidence linking tamerlan. amy: we have to leave it there but we will continue to follow all of these cases. kade crockford is the director

of the technology for liberty project at the aclu of massachusetts. that doesn't for the broadcast. we have a job opening of part-time camera operator in new york city. check out our website. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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