06/22/15 06/22/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! [bells toll] amy: church bells tolled for the nine victims at emanuel ame church. on friday, victims families addressed dylan roof through a video monitor at his bond hearing and offered him

forgiveness. >> [inaudible] but i forgive you. you hurt me, you hurt a lot of people. amy: a newly discovered website shows photographs of roof at confederate heritage sites and slavery museums and also hosts 2500 word manifesto he is believed to have written. we will go to the southern poverty law center in montgomery for the latest on white supremacist groups. into the battle in south carolina over the confederate flag which still flies on the grounds of the state's capital. >> we know it that flag

symbolizes. we know the hate, we know the danger. it says, stop, you're not welcome here. it says, fear for your life. take down the flag. [applause] amy: we will go to columbia, south carolina to speak with kevin alexander gray, civil rights activist and community organizer. and finally, presidential candidate enters the race, and they do it on democracy now! stay tuned. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. an estimated 20,000 people gathered on the ravenel bridge in charleston, south carolina sunday evening in a show of unity to commemorate the nine african-americans shot and killed in a church last week. the march came after emanuel ame

church held its first services since wednesday night's massacre. reverend doctor norvel goff led the sermon. >> the blood of the mother emanuel nine requires us to work until not only justice in this case, but for those who are still living in the margins of life, those who are less fortunate than ourselves, that we stay on the battlefield until there is no more fights to be fought. amy: a website has surfaced showing photographs of the white shooter, dylann roof, posing with the confederate flag. the website features a manifesto detailing roof's racist motivations. roof wrote in part -- "i chose charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to whites in the country. we have no skinheads, no real

kkk, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and i guess that has to be me." republican south carolina state representative doug brannon has announced plans to sponsor legislation to take down the confederate flag from the front of the south carolina state capitol. hundreds of people marched in the capital columbia saturday calling for the flag to come down. we'll have more on the flag and on the shooter's white supremacist ties after headlines. fbi director james comey has refused to consider the rampage in charleston an act of terrorism. speaking at a news conference in baltimore friday, comey said the massacre would be investigated as a hate crime, but ruled out the term terrorism. >> because of the way we define terrorism under the law terrorism is an active done -- violence done or threatened in order to try to influence a

public body or the citizenry, so it is more of a political act. based on what i know so far, i don't see it as a political act. amy: comey's remarks appear at odds with justice department statement issued the same day, which said -- "the department is looking at this crime from all angles including as a hate crime and as an act of domestic terrorism." the leader of a white supremacist group cited in dylann roof's manifesto has donated tens of thousands of dollars to republicans including presidential candidates ted cruz, rand paul and rick santorum. the guardian reports earl holt has given $65,000 to republican campaign funds in recent years while apparently openly posting racist remarks online. holt is the president of the council of conservative citizens, whose website roof cites in his manifesto as the first place he learned about "brutal black on white murders." after the guardian approached ted cruz's campaign with the revelations, he vowed to return $8500 from holt. holt has also donated to current and former republican congressmembers, including arizona senator jeff flake of arizona, ohio senator rob

portman, former minnesota congressmember michele bachmann, iowa congressmember steve king and former missouri congressmember todd akin. the united nations has found "serious violations" of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes turn last summer's israeli assault on gaza. the long-awaited report released earlier today said of his resurrection "impunity prevails across the board." report also criticized inherently discriminate nature of palestinian rocket attacks, the assault killed over 2200 palestinians, the majority civilians and 73 people on the israeli side, all but six of them soldiers. the report is expected to guide an ongoing inquiry into possible war crimes by the prosecutor of the international criminal court. in pakistan, a heat wave has killed at least 140 people in karachi and the surrounding province of sindh. temperatures have soared as high as 113 degrees fahrenheit in

karachi, pakistan's largest city. a top al jazeera journalist has been detained in germany after -- and what al jazeera has called the crackdown by egypt on its reporters. ahmed mansour was arrested at the berlin airport saturday as he tried to board a flight to doha. he is awaiting a german court ruling on whether to extradite him. last year, an egyptian court sentenced mansour to 15 years in prison in absentia for allegedly torturing a lawyer in tahrir square during egypt's 2011 revolution, but al jazeera has rejected the charge as false. reporters without borders condemned mansour's arrest as part of "egypt's terrible revenge against journalists that cross the regime." on friday, wikileaks published more than 60,000 cables and other documents from the saudi foreign ministry which reveal how the oil-rich u.s. ally pays for influence around the world. one document appears to show gulf states were prepared to pay

$10 billion to secure the release of ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak. another expresses saudi concerns over "flirting american messages" to iran over its nuclear program. another document found by the associated press shows a saudi princess racked up a multi-million dollar limousine bill in geneva, then left town without paying it. wikileaks says this is only the first batch of over half a million saudi records. the revelations came as supporters of wikileaks founder julian assange gathered outside the ecuadorean embassy in london to mark three years since assange sought refuge there. assange has been unable to set foot outside the embassy, where he has political asylum over , fears his extradition to sweden on allegations of sex crimes. he fears you would be than extradited to the united states. meanwhile, newly unsealed documents published in full by the intercept show the obama administration won a secret

order forcing google to hand over the email records of wikileaks' volunteer jacob appelbaum as part of a u.s. criminal probe over wikileaks' publication of u.s. diplomatic cables. hundreds thousands of people gathered in london saturday to protest austerity policies backed by the conservative government. singer charlotte church and comedian russell brand were among an estimated 250,000 people who took part. >> basically, just the instance of an justice and unfairness -- injustice and unfairness, which they're trying to make people believe this is the only way our economy can be run, that we are in so much that. in my mind, that is a lie. >> i felt crushing disappointment on the morning after the election. i felt personally to blame for

it. amy: that was russell brand. you can go to democracynow.org for our hour with russell brand. european leaders are holding emergency talks on greece's financial future. greek prime minister alexis tsipras has presented a new proposal for reforms which the european commission called a "good basis for progress." the offer is seen as greece's last chance to avoid defaulting on a payment to the international monetary fund at the end of the month. thousands of greeks rallied in athens urging their leaders to , stand firm against austerity. in louisville, kentucky, the president of the local fraternal order of police has issued an open letter lashing out at black lives matter activists in the wake of a fatal police shooting. fraternal order of police president dave mutchler writes -- "to the sensationalists, liars and race-baiters, we are done with you. at first it was good enough to sit back and watch your ridiculous spectacle. no more."

mutchler goes on to write -- "your idiocy and lies are what caused the destruction in ferguson and other cities around our country and we won't be tolerating that here." mutchler defended his letter at a news conference friday. >> because this letter was honest and it was blind -- blunt. it is pretty obvious that was the case. but while it is important for me to come out here and let everyone know this is how my members feel. this is what we think is going on. only then can we move forward and actually have an honest dialogue and get over the windowdressing that oftentimes happens. between the police and, you know, sections of the community that since that there can be improvement or otherwise with the police department.

amy: louisville's mayor and police chief have criticized mutchler's "threatening tone." his remarks follow protests over a white, louisville police officer's fatal shooting of a sudanese immigrant. surveillance video appears to show deng manyoun wielding a flagpole, but protesters have questioned whether it was necessary for officer nathan blanford to kill him. the iowa supreme court has struck down a rule banning the use of telemedicine for pill-induced abortions. in order to make abortion accessible to women in rural areas, abortion clinics in iowa have been using video conferences where doctors consult with patients, then dispense abortion pills by remotely operating a drawer in the exam room. the patient is examined first by other medical staff. in a unanimous ruling, friday, the court struck down a bid by the iowa board of medicine to ban abortions by telemedicine, allowing the practice to continue. and pro-choice activists have announced plans to fly the

first-ever abortion drone carrying packages of abortion pills from germany to poland where abortion is illegal. the flight is a collaboration between polish and germany groups and women on waves, which has set sail using a dutch ship to provide abortions in international waters off the coast of countries where it is banned. the drone is scheduled to depart next saturday. you can go to democracynow.org where we speak with the head of women on waves. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. [bells toll] amy: church bells tolled throughout charleston, south carolina on for the nine sunday victims of last week's massacre by dylann roof at the historic emanuel ame church. meanwhile, hundreds filled the church's pews for the first service since the attack on a bible session in its basement.

on the alter, a black cloth covered the chair of reverend clementa pinckney, one of roof's victims. later sunday evening in charleston, an estimated 20,000 people formed a bridge to peace unity chain on the ravenel bridge to show solidarity with victims of the church shooting. the church's historian said the outpouring of support since the massacre is helping the congregation to heal. >> i'm just so grateful that community has poured out. i look at the flowers behind us and all of the love is pouring out from the governor and the mayor on down, just kind of placated the congregation and gave us -- in the spirit to go on. that is about all i can say. on friday, dylan roof appeared first bond hearing before charleston county magistrate james gosnell, who noted roof's

family members were also victims in the attack and said -- "we must find it in our heart to find -- help his family as well." it later emerged gosnell had been reprimanded by the state supreme court in 2005 for using a racial slur while on the bench. in 2003, he told a black defendant -- "there are four kinds of people in this world: black people, white people, rednecks, and n----." he actually used the word. a different judge will preside over roof's criminal charges. at friday's hearing, relatives of roof's victims addressed him through a video monitor. he was in jail. this is the mother of tywanza sanders. nadine collier, the daughter of first, 70-year-old ethel lance >> [indiscernible] i will never talk to her ever again.

i will never be able to hold her ever again. but i forgive you and have mercy on your soul. you hurt me. you hurt a lot of people. >> you have killed some of the most beautiful people that i know. every fiber in my body hurts and i will never be the same. tywanza sanders is my son and my hero. tywanza is my hero. but as they say in bible study we enjoyed you. god have mercy on you. amy: a website discovered saturday shows about 60 photographs of dylann roof at confederate heritage sites and

slavery museums, and also hosts a 2500-word manifesto he is believed to have written that explains why he chose to carry out his mass murder spree at the historic emanuel ame church. roof wrote -- "i have no choice. i am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. i chose charleston because it is most historic city in my state and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to whites in the country. we have no skinheads, no real kkk, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and i guess that has to be me." well, for more, we go montgomery, alabama, where we are joined by richard cohen, president of the southern poverty law center. he is co-author of an editorial published today in "the new york times" titled, "white supremacists without borders."

welcome to democracy now! richard cohen. talk about what we know at this point about dylan roof. >> roof might have been high school dropout, but he was an excellent student, it seems, of the white supremacist world. his entry point was -- i'm sorry. can you hear me now? amy: i can hear you fine. >> i was thinking maybe have been a high school dropout, but it seems he was a good student of the whites of promised world. his entry point was the council of conservative citizens website, a site that rails again and again about black on white crime, calls for -- it talks about white genocide. ruth had adopted all of the symbols of the weiser promised world and was able to articulate them. to me, he seems like just to us

seems like a classic example of someone who has been radicalized not by going to hate group meetings but by trolling the net and being involved in that echo chamber that is really quite so disturbing. amy: the manifesto believed to belong to dylann roof, he -- and i would like you to explain how it was registered and what it means. in it he writes -- "anyone who thinks that white and black people look as different as we do on the outside, but are somehow magically the same on the inside, is delusional. how could our faces, skin, hair, and body structure all be different, but our brains be exactly the same? this is the nonsense we are led to believe. negroes have lower iq's, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals. -- in general. these three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior." again, these are the words of dylann roof. richard cohen? >> this is what surprised

garbage. the world does that race is only skin deep. at the weiser promised world particularly something like the council of conservative citizens, race is destiny. that is the theme that one hears not just in this country but in europe, in south africa. right now, amy, some of my colleagues aren't international conference in budapest, really to talk about the international care for -- character of the white ethnic nationalism. what dylan said, what roof said is quite apart from the course. amy: i want to turn to next up from the short document to "white power usa" made by independent film makers rick rowley and jacquie soohen in 2010 and aired in full on al jazeera english. this clip begins with rowley and then we hear from the council of conservative citizens' co-founder and ceo, gordon baum. >> the council of conservative citizens is perhaps the largest

white nationalist group pushing the envelope. the council to its membership secret but council elected officials [indiscernible] it has dozens of chapters across the united states. the organization is the defendant [inaudible] preserve segregation. today, it identifies the united states as a christian and european nation and opposes integration and race mixing. >> what the racist? i'm not sure what the term means. that you are proud of what you are? i guess everybody is a racist some sort. >> in the 1960's -- today he is council of conservative citizens director. >> our noses being rubbed in the fact that obama is black and we better all recognize the fact he is a black man, he is our president, and mr. white america, you can have your nose rubbed in it we can do what we want, and give ourselves all kinds of goodies.

the last year has probably been the most dramatic and growth because people are really upset with the direction this country is taken and we're getting lots of young people, a lot of veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan that want something done before it is too late. amy: that is gordon baum, the head of the council of conservative citizens. he died this past year. richard cohen talk about how this group fits into the white supremacist story. >> well, as the intro said, the council conservative citizens was built on the milling list of the white citizens council, the notorious group that try to oppose integration. you mentioned earlier, amy, in your headline that role hold, the head of the white citizens -- the head of the council of conservative citizens had donated money to political candidates. what is much worse, in my view has been the fact the political figures, people in public

office, have lent support to the council of conservative citizens . trent lott, bob barr, haley barbour, the treasurer of -- the former treasurer in south carolina, mr. patterson. they have all appeared at council conservative citizens events in the late 1990's and early 2000's. we like to think of something is this existing only on the margins of society. unfortunately, a group like that, particularly in the south and among republican candidates were officeholders, it also has a foothold in mainstream society. amy: what were you most struck by in this manifesto? this website, apparently, registered in february and it went right to a few hours before the massacre on wednesday where he said he had to leave, he was in a hurry. but this 2500 word manifesto, a

lot has been made of this as a high school dropout who repeated -- what was it, ninth grade. what did you make of this manifesto? >> a few points. first, this young man was not stupid. he may have been a high school dropout, but it is a fairly well put together diane trop. he is a lunatic and psychopath but he is not an idiot. secondly, at the end, he talks about, my life might not be worth with in a speck of dust, but i'm going to do something for the good of society. i'm the brave one. what you see is someone who is existing on the margins of life, not successful in the real world, so he retreats to the world of the web and decide, instead of being a down and out kid with no future, he is going to do something heroic for the white race.

i think that is the main take away. amy: how did he get involved with white supremacist movements? or movement? >> i am not 100% sure. he talks about how the trayvon martin case, he became aware of it and began to search on google for black on white crime and came to the council of conservative citizens website which gave him an explanation for his own failures in life, right? like people are china take over the world, like on white crime is the real problem. look at south africa, you know, there is the white genocide going on there. and that fit into -- roof adopted those views, became more and more radical and eventually, decided to strike out. we have seen this kind of pattern before of people going to the echo chamber of the web getting angrier and angrier and angrier, and eventually striking out.

earlier this year, we put out a report about lone wolves. it is a very familiar pattern that we've seen many times. amy: roof allegedly justify the massacre by saying you are raping our women. how does this fit into the larger ideology of white supremacy? >> first, you go back to the birth of the nation, right echo the film in the early part of last century where that bugaboo was one of the animating features of the film. hundreds, if not thousands of black and historically have been lynched on allegations such as that. if you go to the council conservative citizens website again and again, it is this black men are raping white women black men are committing crimes against white people. it is a trope that has been a constant for more than a century and the whites are premised

world. amy: we want you to stay with us, richard cohen, co-author of an editorial published in today's "new york times was quote, headlined "white supremacists without borders." when we come back, kevin alexander gray will join richard cohen. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn to the battle in south carolina over the confederate flag, which still flies on the grounds of the state capital. the issue reignited by last wednesday's massacre of nine african-american churchgoers by white-supremacist suspect dylann roof. in photos posted online, roof can be seen posing with the confederate flag and in front of a car with a front license plate that reads," confederate states of america." on saturday, thousands protested in south carolina's capital, columbia, calling for the removal of the confederate flag . this is demonstrator michaela pilar brown.

>> we know what that flag symbolizes. we know they hate. we know the danger. it says, stop, it says you are not welcome here. it says, fear for your life. take down the flag. [applause] take it down. amy: meanwhile, republican south carolina state representative doug brannon has announced his plans to sponsor legislation to take down the confederate flag from the front of the state capitol. brannon said he reached the decision after losing his friend, state senator reverend clementa pinckney in the recent charleston massacre. brannon told cnn's poppy harlow he regrets not taking action earlier. >> i apologize to the people of south carolina. i have been in the house for five years. i should have introduced this bill five years ago. i should not have let my friend -- we should not be having this conversation. >> talk about what you did not do it sooner. >> um, i did not do my job.

amy: the confederate flag has flown near the state legislature in columbia since the early opponents of the flag say it's 1960's. an offensive symbol to african americans, a reminder of the painful legacy of slavery. meanwhile, some southern whites defend the flag as a symbol of their regional heritage. the debate over the confederate flag has found its way into presidential politics with republican presidential hopefuls being grilled on their positions. so far, the only high-profile republican to unambiguously call for the flag's removal is not even in the 2016 presidential race. on saturday, mitt romney tweeted, "remove it now to honor #charleston victims." president obama re-tweeted his former rival's message saying "good point, mitt." well, for more, we go now to columbia, south carolina where we're joined by kevin alexander gray. a civil rights activist and community organizer who edited the book, "killing trayvons: an anthology of american violence." he is also the author of "waiting for lightning to strike -- the fundamentals of black politics." kevin alexander gray, welcome to democracy now!

talk about the significance of this flag and of a white republican state senator doug brannon, now saying he is incredibly sorry that he did not introduce this five years ago when he first became a state representative and alabama. kevin gray? >> south carolina. actually, he is from my home county spartanburg. i am really proud he is sponsoring that bill. listen. i heard the first interview and we talk about white supremacy and dylann roof thing an anomaly. he is not an anomaly. if you write around south carolina, in some places, confederate flag on car windows flung from people's homes are as common as stop signs. and when you talk about white supremacy as a structure, you have to talk about why supremacy as a structure that permeates america, that the foundation of

our politics in this country is why supremacy. why supremacy is not nearly the ku klux klan and race hate groups. why supremacy is a structure which keeps people down based on race, that keeps people in power. racism is about power. you earlier had flp official on talking about race baiting and which is just trying to flip the script, as we say it, on people that are challenging this idea of police power and the power -- the white supremacy that is involved in the police beatings and police killings that have gone on across this country. to say i'm surprised, i'm hurt because clementa pinckney was a friend i don't know the other martyrs, like i knew him but people are hurt in stunned. but to say dylann roof who drives down streets in the state named after confederate war heroes, who walks in buildings

in this state named after confederate war heroes, a state in which the heroes of the confederacy are honored on the state house grounds, the hero putting white supremacy in the constitution and south carolina, pitchfork in tillman who drove people out of the state at gunpoint, our heroes in the state. his statue sits across from that confederate flag that flies on the state house grounds right by the confederate soldiers monument on the robert b lee highway. so that is the nature of our country. everything that dylann roof said, they've been saying it about black people since black people were kidnapped and brought into this country. the idea of white supremacy is to perpetuate themyth this country is a land of immigrants when it is a land of immigrants and kidnapees. for that young man to know about that chart and to know the

historical significance of that church, it is not difficult to know in the history of the state because that is the church that denmark 50 organized. it is down the street from the college of charleston where glenn mcconnell, the leader of the senate, who is a confederate reenactor, is now the president. that is the nature of this state . we have to talk about why supremacy just more broadly than that flag. now, if we want to talk specifically about that plan the flag that flies on the state house grounds, a bad compromise the naacp agreed to with the state legislature back in the 1990's -- that was a bad compromise -- but the flag represents why supremacy. the original flag of the confederacy, the stainless white banner was a banner that was designed to represent a white man's country. you know, for those of us who

are opposed to the flag being on the state house grounds and almost monuments, people can fly the flag at their homes, they can wear a put a flag bumper sticker on their car, they can wear it on a hat brother for heads, but my tax dollar, people's tax dollars ought not go into supporting the idea of the confederate states of america. when i was president of the aclu backed the flag fight, we tried to make the legal arguments, and we wanted to pursue it in court that the flag flying on the statehouse dome was compelled speech, that you are compelling people to support an ideology of white supremacy. the naacp, as i said, stepped in and negotiated with the state legislature. and we got what we got. amy: the bridge that thousands gathered on sunday evening and solidarity with the victims as standup performer charleston mayor arthur raven all who became a state senator. he supported find the

confederate flag mistake capital in the rally in 2000, in support of the flag. he referred to the naacp as the national association for retarded people. can you speak to this issue kevin gray? >> as i said, look, this is south carolina. they revere that history. they are in denial about what that history represents, the expansion of slavery, and he is not the only one who has made statements like that. there used to be -- she has passed away now -- a fellow who owned a chain of barbecue restaurants here in columbia pat buchanan actually said of his campaign -- set up his campaign headquarters. when the courts forced maurice bus injured to serve black patrons, he said i might have to serve the niggers them a but i'm

giving my money to the ku klux klan. south carolina is proud that it was the first state to succeed -- sisi from the union, that it fired a shot at fort sumter. this is the home of the nola fires. john c calhoun stop when hear dr. king speeches and he talks about southern governors, words dripping with nullification, that language came out a south carolina. south carolina refused to sign the declaration of independence. there had to be a compromise to take up anti-slavery clause and they sounded on the fourth. that was south carolina's ampligen's history. black people celebrate the fourth of july along with other americans, but that was really the day that slavery was codified in this country. so we want to have a conversation about race in this country and the foundations of white supremacy and racism. it starts in south carolina and the ideology of white supremacy

that permeates our nation today with the southern is asian -- southernization of american politics. when we talk about medicaid funding and medicaid expansion in the southern governors, like nikki haley, who fought against medicaid expansion because they did not want to give something to undeserving people who they see as black people. when you talk about voter id laws, trying to keep a group of people from having power, almost like literacy tests and knowing how many bubbles are in a bar of soap. they talked the game now about reconciliation, but everybody uses this code language, here and across the country, to deny black people and people of color rights. this whole idea -- go ahead amy: heavy governor said when asked about which she support taking down the confederate

flag, she said she would want to introduce politics in this time of mourning. i want to go to the issue of the massacre being terrorism. speaking at a news compass on friday, the fbi director james comey refused to label the charleston massacre as a terrorist act. >> i wouldn't because of the way we define terrorism under the law. terrorism is an act of violence done or threatened in order to try to influence a public body or the citizenry, so it is more of a political act. based on what i know so far, i don't see it as a political act. amy: that was the fbi director james comey. surprising many, because the department of justice said they were investigating whether they would call this a terrorist act. he came out against it. we're joined by kevin alexander gray from columbia, the capital of south carolina, and richard cohen, president of the southern poverty law center.

kevin alexander gray, your response to him saying this is not a terrorist act? >> well, you know, most people would say a crime like this -- you are trying to terrorize people. when we start talking about the so-called expansion of the war on terrorism and the expansion of these of that word, and especially when -- in a post-9/11 world, it is meant denying due process rights to whole lot of people, guillen roof was a human drone and every tuesday morning, the obama administration uses drones to kill people whose names we don't even know and cannot pronounce. so i don't know if i feel comfortable with the idea of expanding this word "terror" but let's convict this young man or tried its young man for murder nine counts of murder. i am opposed to the death

penalty. i would like to see him go to jail with life without parole but, you know, the law -- we start using terms like terrorism in this country, for me, it has always had a racial tinge going into it. so that is problematic. and it has been in the expansion of the denial of due process with these of the term. so i'm a little troubled by it. -- with the use of the term. so i'm a little troubled by. amy: richard cohen, your response to whether this is terrorism? >> i understand mr. gray's reservations, but i do think it is a classic case of terrorism. it is politically motivated violence by nonstate actor and carried out with the intention of intimidating more persons than those who the immediate victims. i think in some ways it is important to talk about it and terrorism in that way, not so we

can send out drones, not so we can deny people their due process rights but so we can understand the true dimensions of what we are facing. we are not facing just the lone nut who walks in the someplace and kills a bunch of people. we about someone who sees himself as art of a larger move it -- as a larger movement, intended to deny all black people their lives. i think there is some consequence in thinking about it that way. amy: recently a tweet that since 2002 right-wing white earth have killed more americans than muslim extremists. richard cohen, the minute the boston marathon killings took place, the word terror was everywhere, and question the horrific event that took place in boston, the horrific attack. but here it is different.

can you talk about how it is framed over the years he a code you have been tracking white supremacist groups for decades. how much of the increased in the last years? >> axa, the number of organized twice a promised groups has fallen fairly significantly over the last few years. i don't think that means that the level of white supremacist activity has fallen. we still see a high level of violence. we're seeing people drift away from the organized groups and retreating to the anonymity of the net. there's a website called stormfront. right now it has 300,000 registered users. those are people who have signed up to post their hatred. that is an increase of about 50% over the last five years. i want to go back to the earlier question you asked, the earlier point you made. after 9/11, we saw all of the resources the federal level go towards jihadi care, kind of

ignoring our homegrown terrorism. that again -- that begin to change somewhat last year after the killings in overton arkansas by well-known white supremacist. i think it is still important for the government of all levels not to put all of their eggs in the jihadi basket and to recognize we have as much, if not more to fear, by what we call sometimes homegrown terrorist. amy: richard cohen andg, thank you for being with us. richard cohen is the president of the southern poverty law center. he is co-author of an editorial published today in "the new york times" titled, "white supremacists without borders." kevin alexander gray is a civil rights activist and community organizer in columbia, south carolina. he edited the book, "killing trayvons: an anthology of american violence" and is the fact dylann roof tracks his hatred to the trayvon martin case. he said that opened his eyes and changed him forever.

when we come back, democracy now! exclusive, a new candidate enters the presidential race. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today a democracy now! exclusive, presidential candidate enters the race and she is announcing on democracy now! dr. jill stein was the 2012 nominee for the green party. your joining us here from new york. what are your plans now? >> first things first, i am here at democracy now!, which is really a home of people powered media, to announce that i have a people powered campaign in the same way democracy now! does not take corporate funding, i'm running with the only national party that does not take corporate funding.

that is the green party. it is a great honor to be here to announce that i am running for president of the united states. amy: and what does that mean exactly? you have run once before. how do you enter the race? what is your platform? >> entering the race is really defined by the federal election commission. it means you have formally declared as a candidate and that basically, you can begin to raise money as a candidate and you must report that money. that defined a lot of what you can do because, obviously, you need resources in order to run. and as a people powered campaign that is working toward matching funds, they're all kinds of roles we follow, to minimize those contributions and ensure we are not bought out by the big money, which is running the other parties. and that is potentially the

difference between my campaign and other campaigns, that we are part of a party that does not accept corporate money and does not accept money from lobbyists nor from corporate ceos. so entering the race basically means declaring in the beginning to behave and file as a candidate. for me, that means going to frontline communities, which are struggling with the core of the crisis that american life has become. we have been told we are in recovery, but actually we are in an emergency. that is evident with the event in charlotte. we are in a crisis -- amy: charleston. >> i'm sorry, charleston. it is really critical to recognize the dimensions of that crisis and that we have comp rinse of solutions to fix it. that is what our platform is. it is basically a blueprint for

a system change, and we call it our power to the people plan that essentially enables us to address the economic, social, racial, economic, financial crisis that we are grappling. amy: your top planks in your platform? >> it is a green new deal to transform our economy to a green economy, 100% went, water, and son by the year 2030. we can do it. this is an emergency. to use that as an opportunity to put america back to work to renew our infrastructure and a basically assure that everyone has a job. that is another key plank of our power to the people plan, that it ensures economic rights for everyone, the right to a job the right to complete health care through medicare for all improved medicare for all plan that we ensure the right to

quality education from preschool through college and that includes free public higher education and abolishing student debt. and we are very focused on reforming the financial system not only breaking up the big banks, but establishing public banks at the community, state, national level so we can democratize our finance. we can nationalize the fed and ensure it is running for public purpose and not simply for private profit. to provide a welcoming path to citizenship for immigrants and to restore else -- our civil liberties, which are for policy platform is important. we feel we should have a foreign policy that basically gets rebooted and established on the basis of international law human rights and diplomacy and that we should not be in the business of funding basically

weapons for everybody who wants them and in particular, we should not be delivering weapons systems or support of any sort to nations around the world that are human rights violators. amy: last month, independent senator bernie sanders formally kicked off his campaign for the democratic presidential nomination. addressing his home state of vermont sanders vowed to tackle , income inequality and the political power of the 1%. >> i am proud to announce my candidacy for president of the united states of america. today, with your support and the support of millions of people throughout our country, we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically politically socially and environmentally.

today we stand here and say loudly and clearly enough is enough. this great nation and its government along to all of the people and not to a handful of billionaires. amy: that is bernie sanders announcing his candidacy for the presidency in this country. though he is a socialist, he caucuses in the senate with the democrats and is running on the democratic party ticket. dr. jill stein, you're just announced on democracy now! you are going to pursue the presidency on the green party ticket. what is your response to sanders choosing to run within the democratic party? >> i wish that he had run outside the democratic hardy. there are many similarities between his vision and my vision. the differences that i am

running and a party that also supports that vision, so when our campaign comes to an end that vision will not die. it will not be absorbed into a party that is essentially hostile to that vision, and which has basically disappeared similar, very principled wonderful reform efforts within the democratic hardy that a basically allowed the party to keep marching to the right. >> would you have run against sanders if he was running another party ticket? >> if you was running as a green, certainly, -- it is very hard to run as a third party. you really have to undertake a massive ballot access campaign, which is extremely expensive and it requires an enormous culture of understanding ballot access and doesn't come easy to people. it would be hard for him to run outside the green party as an independent. if we were both running as greens, we probably would have

been in a green primary, which would have been wonderful. amy: how many states were you on the ballot the last time he ran for president? >> proximally 37 states, but covered about 82% 85% of american voters. amy: your response to the enormous response that bernie sanders is getting, whether he is campaigning in new hampshire or iowa, thousands of people coming out? >> it is wonderful and i wish him well, i wish him the best. the differences, my campaign will be there in the general. bernie has every announced that if he does not make it -- in the democratic party, we've seen wonderful efforts who had extremely vigorous, spirited visionary campaigns. it is very hard to beat the system inside the democratic party. windows efforts ended, that was the end.

hours will keep going and it will continue into the general election. when it is over, we are building a party that is not going away. amy: how do differ most from bernie sanders and from hillary clinton? >> certainly, i have more in common with bernie sanders than differences. if you look at differences, i you'll find them in foreign policy. my campaign is perhaps more critical definitely were critical a funding -- of funding for regimes like that of the netanyahu government, which are clearly were criminals. we would not be funding the weapons and the massacre on gaza. i think we also put a specific plan in order to solve the climate crisis, enemies 100% clean renewable energy by 2030 perhaps bernie will come to that. i have not seen that in his policy yet.

these are small -- i think for policy is big. it is to be one issue among many but it is the majority of our discretionary expenditures and it is really insufferable from all of the other critical issues we are trying to solve. from hillary clinton, i would say hillary has a track record. and while she may be advised now by some 100 public relations experts were helping her pithch to the -- amy: how many are helping you? >> i have one insurgent public relations person. amy: but your main differences with hillary clinton? >> with hillary, across the board, hillary is the walmart candidate. though she may change her tune a little bit, she is been a member of the walmart board -- on jobs, on trade, on health care, on banks, on foreign policy.

it is hard to find where we are similar. amy: we'll have a bit more than a minute. you are launching your campaign for the presidency of the united states at the same time that you have launched a lawsuit. explain. amy: yes, you may remember, amy, because your cameras were there in 2012, i was arrested along with my running mate at one of the debates simply for showing up. i was arrested. amy: at the presidential debate. >> i was arrested and sent to dark sites run of i-16 server -- secret service and police, handcuffed tightly to metal chairs for about eight hours until the crowds had gone home. there were that worried that people with here to have a choice that reflects their deeply held beliefs and values. it was very exciting now that i'm a part of two cases to the green party or as my campaign, two cases, one of which is being

filed today. the so-called level field case, against the commission on presidential debates. and also the federal election commission for overseeing them. basically, for violating federal election law. people think this is a public service institution. it is not. it is a private corporation run by the democratic and republican parties. when they began to take control of the debates, which are basically rigged so only their candidates can be in it, the league of women voters quit saying this was a fraud being committed on the mac in public and it would have no part of it. it is an outrage that fraud has been allowed to continue for decades. and was so wonderful when democracy now! showed the world what an open debate looks like and how exciting and engaging that is and empowering to voters. voters deserve to know. we deserve to have open debates to empower voters to make the choices that we deserve.

amy: and we willing to that lawsuit on democracynow.org. dr. jill stein announcing her on a 16 presidential candidacy for the green party on democracy now! she has run once before. that does it for our show. thank you so much for joining us.