01/05/16 01/05/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i want to talk directly to the people at the wildlife refuge. you said you are here to help the citizens of harney county. that help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed occupation. hammonds have turned themselves in. it is time for you to leave our community and go home to your

families and end this peacefully. amy: the standoff continues. as armed anti-government militiamen occupy a national parks building in oregon for the fourth day, we will speak with richard cohen of the southern poverty law center which found a number of militias in the u.s. jumped 37% over the past year. we will also speak with janell ross of the washington post. and we go to portland, oregon, to speak with indigenous writer and activist jacqueline keeler on the history of the land that once belong to the paiute tribe. then the art of resistance. >> it brings you behind the scenes of what we are reading in the newspapers today. it brings you behind the scenes of black lives matter, behind the scenes of occupy wall street, of the climate marches, of the public education movement. amy: from immigration raids to police killings, we'll speak with contributors to a

remarkable new book that explores the growing resistance movement for justice. "when we fight, we win!" 21st century social movements and the activists transforming our world." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. tensions between saudi arabia and iran over the saudi execution of a shiite cleric have continued to spread across the region. on saturday, saudi arabia executed 47 people, including shiite cleric nimr al-nimr, marking its largest mass execution in decades. in response, protesters in the iranian capital tehran torched part of the saudi embassy. saudi arabia responded by severing diplomatic ties with iran. the sunni-led nations of bahrain and sudan soon followed suit. the united arab emirates downgraded ties with iran while kuwait said it would recall its ambassador to iran. speaking monday, saudi foreign

minister adel al-jubeir said saudi arabia would also suspend air traffic and trade relations with iran. >> cutting off all diplomatic relations with iran and all air traffic to and from iran. we will be cutting off all commercial aids with the rent and have a travel ban against people traveling to iran. amy: amid the increasing isolation of iran, protests against the saudi execution of shiite cleric nimr al-nimr have erupted across the region. in bahrain police fired tear gas , and birdshot at demonstrators. in iraq, authorities said at least two sunni mosques were attacked and two people killed in retaliation for the cleric's execution. germany has said it may re-examine its arms exports to saudi arabia after saturday's mass execution. the united states, meanwhile, which recently approved a $1.29 billion arms sale to saudi arabia, has stopped short of

publicly condemning the execution of sheikh nimr al-nimr. speaking monday, white house press secretary josh earnest said the obama administration had raised concerns about the execution in the past. >> this is a concern that we raise with the saudis in advance. unfortunately, their concerns that we express to the saudis have precipitated the kinds of consequences we were concerned about. amy: in oregon, the armed right-wing group that has occupied the building of the national mother for refuge continues. they took over the wildlife refuge saturday in support of two ranchers sentenced to prison for setting fires that burned federal land several years ago. turneday, the ranchers themselves in to federal authorities in california will

stop the hammonds have said the militants in oregon do not speak for them. at a news conference monday, ammon bundy spoke out in defense of the hammonds. >> myself and many, many among end,others, for weeks on put all of the energy we possibly could to try and keep them from having to go into this prison. and we feel we have exhausted all prudent measures and have been ignored. and it has been left u.s. to decide whether we allow these things to go on or whether we make a stand so that it will not haven't other people throughout this country. amy: ammon bundy is the son of cliven bundy, and that is standoff with federal authorities in nevada in 2014. we will have more the occupation and eastern oregon after headlines. president obama is poised to

formally unveil a series of executive actions to address gun violence in the united states. the steps include expanded background checks for some gun sales, increased federal funding for law enforcement agencies. the actions fall far short of the reforms obama has requested from congress. speaking monday, the president says congress still needs to act. >> we have a frequency of mass shootings that far exceeds other countries frequency. and although it is my strong belief that for us to get our complete arms around the problem, congress needs to act got what i asked my to do this to see what more we could do to strengthen our enforcement and prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands. amy: the united nations special rapporteur for human rights in the palestinian territories has resigned over israel's refusal to allow him into the occupied west bank and gaza. makarim wibisono said in a

statement he had hoped israel would grant him access as an impartial observer but -- "unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of palestinian victims of violations under the israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way." turkish authorities say they have found the bodies of 21 people, including three children, after their boat sank as they tried to cross the aegean sea for greece. it's the latest in a series of tragedies as refugees fully violence in syria, iraq and other war-torn countries. meanwhile, in the latest violence targeting refugees, authorities say several shots were fired as a building housing syrian and afghan refugees in western germany. one of the shots wounded a 23-year-old asylum seeker as he slept. the obama administration has acknowledged agents detained 121 people, including children, in raids over the new year's weekend as part of an operation to deport families fleeing violence in central america. the raids took place mainly in georgia, north carolina, and texas. the number of mothers with

children and unaccompanied minors arriving at the u.s. border reportedly rose late last year amid a spike in violence in el salvador and honduras. new data shows killings in el salvador increased by nearly 70% last year, meaning it could overtake honduras as the world's most violent country. republican presidential frontrunner donald trump has released his first campaign ad. the ad vows trump will impose a temporary ban on muslims entering the united states, "cut the head of isis" and "stop illegal immigration by building a wall on southern border." >> he will stop illegal immigration by building a wall and our southern border that mexico will pay for. amy: over that section describing the u.s.-mexico border, video footage shows scores of people streaming over a border. but politifact reveals the footage actually shows a small spanish enclave on the mainland of morocco. asked about the discrepancy, trump's campaign manager told nbc -- "no, it's not the mexican border

but that's what our country is going to look like. this was 1000% on purpose," he said. the justice department has sued german automaker volkswagen after accusing it of installing devices in its vehicles to skirt u.s. emissions regulations. u.s. regulators say volkswagen vehicles were emitting up to 40 times more pollution than us standards allow. the lawsuit seeks billions of dollars in penalties. florida authorities have acknowledged the state has a backlog of more than 13,000 untested rape kits. the report by the florida department of law enforcement says it could take several years and tens of millions of dollars to process the rape kits. the florida backlog is part of a nationwide problem, with federal officials estimating 70,000 rape kits currently languishing untested across the united states. las vegas police shot and killed an unarmed man new year's eve after mistaking his cellphone for a gun. police responded after deputy u.s. marshals said they were pursuing a fugitive wanted for attempted murder. but the man, keith childress, was not wanted for attempted

murder. he had skipped a court date in arizona after being convicted of other charges. police body camera video shows an officer telling childress to drop his gun which turned out to , be a phone. the other officer involved failed to activate his body camera. in south carolina, officer michael's legal has been released on bond. use the white policeman charged with murder after shooting an unarmed african american man in the back. he was released from jail on $500,000 bond but will remain under house arrest. his trial has been set for october 31. and michigan governor rick snyder is reportedly weighing whether to declare an emergency over contaminated water in the city of flint. governor snyder apologized last week for the state's handling of the water crisis in flint, where residents have reported serious health problems due to elevated lead levels. the contamination began after an emergency manager appointed by governor snyder switched the city's water source to the

long-polluted flint river in a bid to save money. in august, the governor helped deliver 1500 water filters to flint, even as state officials assured people the water was safe. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the armed occupation of a federally owned wildlife outpost in remote oregon has entered its fourth day. a self-styled right-wing anti-government militia calling itself the citizens for constitutional freedom took over the malheur national wildlife refuge on saturday in support of two ranchers sentenced to prison for setting fires that burned federal land. the wildlife refuge is located outside the town of burns, oregon about 300 miles southeast , of portland. leaders of the occupation include ammon and ryan bundy, the sons of nevada rancher cliven bundy. cliven bundy refused to pay decades' worth of cattle grazing fees, prompting a standoff with federal rangers last year in nevada, during which an armed

militia rallied to his support. cliven bundy declared victory after the federal government backed down and released cattle they had seized from him. the oregon occupation also stems from a fight over public lands in the west. on monday, the two ranchers whose cause the bundys have embraced -- dwight hammond, jr., and his son steven -- turned themselves over to federal authorities in california for setting a series of fires on federal land including one , allegedly intended to cover up evidence of deer poaching. at a press conference on monday, ammon bundy spoke out in defense of the hammonds. , dwight inay know steven hammond are being forced to report to prison today for a , and they did not commit they have been put twice in jeopardy for. they have already served prison time for this already, and now they're being forced to go back again. they are a good ranching family that ranches not but just a few

miles from here. and myself and many, many, many put allor weeks on end of the energy we possibly could to try to keep them from having to go into this prison. and we feel we have exhausted all prudent measures and have been ignored. and it is -- has been left to us to decide whether we allow these things to go on our weather we make a stand so that it will not happen other people across this country, so they will not come into our homes and take away our rights, and they will not come into our children's home and take away their rights. amy: that is ammon bundy. the hammonds say he doesn't speak for them. federal authorities have so far made no attempt to break up the armed occupation of the remote wildlife refuge.

harney county sheriff david ward urged the militia to end its occupation. >> i want to talk directly to the people at the wildlife refuge. you said you were here to help the citizens of harney county. that help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed occupation. turnedmonds have themselves in. it is time for you to leave our community, go home do our families, and in this peacefully. thank you for your time. amy: the oregon occupation comes as a new report by the southern poverty law center found the number of militias in the united states jumped 37% over the past year. the center identified 276 militia groups, up from 202 in 2014. joining us now is richard cohen, president of southern poverty law center. he is joining us from the government, alabama.

richard, talk about what you found. >> you know, amy, the number of militia groups, the number of extremist antigovernment groups has really skyrocketed since barack obama took office in 2009. there was a bit of waning between 2011-20 13, but in the last couple of years, we have seen a big increase, particularly in the number of militia groups. as you said, from about 200 to about 275. i think this can be traced directly to what happened at the cliven bundy ranch that you mentioned in april 2014. the government was there to collect grazing fees, or really to confiscate his cattle. hundreds of armed militiamen came to his aid and pointed guns at federal dust people from the bureau of land management. standoff.armed and very wisely, the government

backed down. immediately, not just cliven bundy declared victory, but the entire militia group, militia movement, rather, declared victory. one militiamen who is very well-known known said, "courage is contagious." and it really energized the militia movement and that is what was responsible for the big increase that you referred to, 37% increase. amy: so talk about cliven nevada sons moving from to eastern oregon. men ore are two young the apple didn't fall very far from the tree. they seem to be cut from the same cloth as their father. they are true zealots, true fanatics. ammon is talking about being on the mission from god. i think they are enjoying their newfound celebrity. this is not the first time they have ventured across state lines

in an effort to supposedly come to the aid of others. they were involved or people connected with them were involved in another incident in oregon at a mine were federal regulators were attempting to impose additional restrictions. people connected with the bundy's have been to the mexican border to stop so-called illegal immigration. and really, ammon bundy is someone whose own actions energized the movement. what happened shortly before the gotl standoff in 2014, he into a confrontation with some people from the bureau of land management, tried to kick one of their dogs. they could not restrain him. they ended up taser ring him. that was caught on the youtube in thehat went viral militia movement and was responsible, as much as anything, for drawing hundreds of people to the bundy cause.

amy: exclaimed the fire the hammonds set and then talk about the relationship with the bundys, saying the bundys don't speak for them, but explain while they were -- why they were sentenced to jail. >> they were sentenced to jail in connection with two fires, one in 2001 number in over 100 acres and one in 2006 that was much smaller. they claimed they were burning their land and order to protect it from other forest fires. but the federal government had a very different view of it, and said they did it to cover-up evidence of coaching. they were originally sentenced -- the sun was sentenced to a year and a day, and the father was sentenced to three months. then the government appealed that sentence and they were resentenced under federal guidelines that required a mandatory minimum of five years. and that tremendous increase in

sentencing was, i think, the thing that really sparked the punch to people coming to, you know, to their side. and now that whole thing has kind of morphed into a dispute over, you know, the federal regulation of land. long-standing friction between ranchers and the federal government relating to the use of federal land. so that is how we got to where we are today. hammonds were heartened -- i assume they were heartened, i should say, to have hundreds of people rallied to to theirse -- rally cause. a lot of controversy surrounding federal minimums. but i think when they saw the violence associated with it or the threat of violence, they recoiled very wisely from that. amy: richard cohen, it is been reported a prolific creator of online propaganda against islam has joined the group of

militiamen in oregon. southern poverty law center has written about him. that in't tell you, amy, know a lot about that. i'm sure it is available on our website. amy: i wanted to bring janell ross in as well, reporter for the washington post blog the fix. you have a piece headlined "why , aren't we calling the oregon occupiers 'terrorists'?" of sundayby saying as afternoon, the washington post called them occupiers, new york times said militiamen, associated press for the situation this way, a family previously involved in a showdown with the federal government is occupied a building at a national while of refuge in oregon and is asking militia members to join them. taken from there. you're talking about disparate coverage of different kinds of groups. >> i think so. i think the point, i suppose, that i was trying to make or

highlight was just the sort of slow and very deliberate, careful pace at which it seems that we often move in our public discussions of these sorts of events from describing individuals such as the group that are occupying this facility in oregon as sort of principled individuals who are there to support a specific cause. and although, in some cases, that come to the facility armed, and in the case of ammon bundy has said directly, while they are not looking for a violent confrontation, they are prepared to die there, this is certainly an indicator some violence could occur. and it seems there is a real effort to be very, very careful about how their actions themselves and what they're doing right now are described. the same certainly cannot be said about the way, for instance, coverage of various

protests related to race and policing have been covered, or rapid weight which the activities of, say, a group or subset of people have may have been involved in writing in those cases get sort of mushroomed out becomes away the entire group is described. in fact, i'm sure you, as well as many other viewers have seen, the way the actor situation of protesters with rioters and leaders and descriptions of them as thugs, etc., and a threat to entire cities and so on and so forth, and is certainly, in light of that very hard to imagine the same kind of deliberate, slow, careful, methodical use of language would happen or their group of say, black protesters who had decided to take over a courthouse while armed and threatening to fight

to the death. it is hard to imagine. amy: i want to play this for you, on sunday, art broderick said the militants were being treated differently than black lives matter protesters because "they are not looting anything." he made the remarks in an interview when he was being interviewed by cnn host brian stetler. >> you know it is going to become politicized and we have our to her from activists online, many of them have been saying, if these were black lives matter protesters or if these work peaceful muslim americans come a they would be treated very different lead by law enforcement. do you think there's truth to that argument? >> where not talking -- i think you mention it in the opening, this is a very rural area out in the middle of nowhere. what are they actually doing? they're not destroying property. amy: there you have seen a law-enforcement analyst art broderick. your response, janell ross? >> my response to his opinion is

not really necessary. i can only point out the obvious difference in what he said. i think all americans who have been paying attention to the news over the last 12 months are aware that there were in fact protest and there were in fact some looters and ferguson and in baltimore were writers, but there is also no reticence at all about describing those individuals that engaged in violent activities as rioters or as looters. in fact, what you saw as people describing the entire group, groups of people who came for peaceful protest who are not armed and were being described in all sorts of ways, including a straight up terminals and thugs, because of who they are, not because of what they were actively doing -- even though much of this was caught on tape. and in this case, i think that while it is certainly true factually that these individuals are occupying a space in arural

area where there is little in the way of built infrastructure to destroy, even if that is what they were inclined to do, it is worth noting these individuals have arrived armed, have said repeatedly that they're prepared to essentially fight to the death, and in fact, are seeking an overthrow or, rather, an end to federal government authority. specific areas, or in this case, over specific pieces of land. that is a whole an altogether different thing than protesting and saying you would like to see the justice system function in a different way. , president ofohen the southern poverty law center, talked about how media coverage influences how different groups are treated. -- i don'tm not sure know if i really want to compare the different groups. i do want to speak to the issue of terrorism, if i could, for a moment.

there is no doubt that there has been any enormous amount of terrorism over the years that has emanated from the radical right in our country. the most spectacular incident was the oklahoma city bombing carried out by people who had hatred of the federal government and felt it was overreaching. and since that time, there have probably been 100 different to killvolving efforts federal officials, poison water supplies, and all of that. so the bundys come out of the maluku where there has been an enormous amount of terrorism. so i understand exactly why janell would want to describe this as a tourist incident. there is been no violence yet, but you can imagine something far worse happening from fanatics like this. i think these people have been described by the media as fanatics, as they'll it's, i think there has -- zealots.

we certainly would not call the rioters or the people involved in the disturbance in ferguson or baltimore, would not call them terrorists, but we would be very quick to come i think, condemn them. and i think people have been relatively quick to condemn the bundys. some, you know, i don't to point fingers, but sean hannity, many republican politicians originally portrayed the bundys as heroic. cruz, trump,ed rand paul -- they all talked about how, you know, the bundys were standing tall against the man. and that type of portray and them as heroes, i think, i think they should be held accountable for those kinds -- that kind of encouragement. amy: you can contrast this, how protesters here are being dealt

,janell, the philadelphia when the philadelphia police bombed a house, killing 11 people -- ackley, dropped a bomb on their house. 11 people killed, five of them were children. >> that is true. i think -- of course, as mr. cohen said, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to make direct comparisons between groups and events and responses. there are always variables on the ground messerli, not the least of which in this case is an urban versus rural setting. it there is, it seems at least, difference inr the escalation of language and/or as mr. coyne pointed out, the real differences the way members of the media, but also the public seem to think about

and understand these individuals who are involved in different incidents. and it seems largely to be based on who they are, rather than their cause or even more specifically, what they're actually doing or not doing on the ground. and i would just come back to come all you have to do is look closely at specifically what ammon bundy has said about their goals and aims in oregon, and what they're prepared to do, and the fact that these occupiers have come to this state -- they certainly have a right to assemble, a right to protest. this is the united states. but to occupy a building is perhaps a different thing, not exactly the same as a protest. and further, to occupy building while armed and two in essence invite a confrontation and say that it is going to end in violence is an entirely different thing. and there seems to be some sort of -- i guess, there are

certainly some people who view -- they may agree with the sort of underlying principles of the reason for gathering or occupying this space, but they ascribe to that a whole series of very principled ideas and labels, which is noteworthy because it certainly affects both the way these issues are covered come a but also, i think, the way law enforcement feels it is appropriate to respond or how the public will react to law enforcement plus response. beinganell, thank you for with us. we're going to move on to portland, oregon, to look at the roots of the land in the area of eastern oregon. janell ross, reporter for the washington post blog the fix. richard cohen from the southern poverty law center. when we come back, we will go to portland, oregon. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: specialist robert john bradberry passed away last week at the age of 62. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

the obama administration -- we are going to talk for a moment about the land dispute that is going on in oregon. jacqueline keeler is with us. we are to turn to the issue now of land rights. the armed militia members have demanded that the land be "returned" to them. but who really has claim to this area? we're joined now from portland, oregon, by jacqueline keeler. she's a writer and activist of dineh and yankton dakota heritage who wrote about the 2014 bundy ranch standoff for the nation magazine and is now working on a new piece, which in part, examines the history of the paiute tribe's treaty rights to this very forest currently occupied by the nearly all-white militia. it is great to have you on from portland. can you talk about what you found so far?

tell us about the history of this area and eastern oregon. >> yes, i would like to start off saying that today in january, this is the 137th anniversary of when 500 paiutes walked under heavy armed guard from the lands where the bundys to aight now holding it reservation in washington state, some 300 miles knee-deep in snow are forced to march shackled to buy two -- two-by-two. amy: and take us through to today. what happened to this land? how did it change hands? now called theea

-- it constituted nearly 1.7 million acres of land. but with incursions from white settlers, they basically pressured the federal government to open it up to settlements. so in 1876, president grant did that. and after there was an uprising 1878, duendian war in to issues of starvation and deprivation in the middle of the tribes rose up and that is when they were force marched out of the area. i lost most of the land. they actually were allowed to return five years later, but they didn't really have a land base. it will working for lotro --

1928 whenhers until the ego land company gave the paiute 10 acres of land just outside the city, and the land was an old city dump him at which the indians claimed and made ready for houses -- cleaned and made ready for houses. amy: when you are writing about the cliven bundy standoff in 2014, you wrote, if the nevada rancher's forced to pay taxes or grazing fees, he should pay them 2 -- explain nevada is actually treaty in 1863. theid allow for passage military, and also settlers crossing the ranch.

but it did not give up any land. so the shoshone had never officially signed a treaty to give up plans. , thank you forer being with us, just a little bit of history is always helpful, writer and activist of dineh and yankton dakota heritage. her forthcoming book is entitled, "not your disappearing indian." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. to our nextow segment. the obama administration has begun conducting raids and detaining families across the united states as part of an effort to deport hundreds of central americans who have fled violence in their home countries. at least 11 families have reportedly been detained so far. at one home in georgia, a honduran woman and her 9-year-old son were taken into custody after an early-morning raid. the woman, ana lizet mejia, reportedly fled honduras after her brother was murdered by gangs. her aunt joanna gutierrez told

the "los angeles times" that mejia was already under surveillance by the court, wore an ankle monitor, and attended all of her court dates. gutierrez said her children were shaking with fear after agents woke them and searched the house at 5:00 in the morning. meanwhile in chicago, a prosecutor has asked the fbi to investigate the fatal shooting of an african-american college student and a grandmother last weekend. the student, quintonio legrier, was fatally shot after his father called 911 to report his son was acting strangely and carrying a metal bat. police acknowledged they shot 55-year-old bettie jones by mistake. meanwhile, chicago mayor rahm emanuel's administration has released thousands of pages of emails revealing its year-long effort to contain the fallout from the shooting of laquan mcdonald last october. mcdonald was shot 16 times. police dashboard camera video released only last month after a court order contradicts police accounts of the killing.

what do the immigration raids and police brutality have in common? well, they have both sparked growing social movements demanding justice. it's those linkages that are examined in a remarkable new book, "when we fight, we win!: twenty-first-century social movements and the activists that are transforming our world." the book looks at movements ranging from immigration to black lives matter to the fight for 15 to lgbtq rights. we are joined by the author, education activist greg jobin-leeds and two of the people featured in the book, jitu brown and isabel sousa-rodriguez. we're also joined by the book's art director, deymirie hernández. one of the things that makes this book so unusual is the stunning artwork throughout. but i want to start on those immigration raids. isabel, if you can talk about the significance of this new year, 2016 dawn's, and what we learn? that well over 100 people are being swept up in these

immigration rates under the obama administration. what do you know about them? >> it is very disappointing and heartbreaking that we have been retrieved so severely by the obama administration. it was part of the inspiration of the trailer dreams. there were record numbers of deportations entirely unprecedented. there were minority groups across this country that were given this illusion of hope and change that was coming and, really, i felt at the time, and i feel like now, many of our families -- i came to this country from columbia with my family fleeing the violence that was taking place there in the same way that we fled a country where people were disappearing in the middle of the night and being taken by members of the government, by armed individuals -- the same things are

happening today in this country, and it is terrifying. and it is the reason why we stand up and fight because we refuse to be dehumanized any longer. we want our families to be treated with dignity and respect. to your families on immigration story and how you took activism into your own hands, not alone, but the march you went on from florida. >> so it all came about after i graduated from high school. i was dealing not just with my shattered dreams of being an undocumented student and realizing that the american dream was not accessible to me and to individuals like me or not recognized because they don't have legal status, but also because my family was experiencing deportation, was being forced out of the country because there local asylum cases had been denied. i was seeing how enforcement kept increasing, detention

centers were expanding the cost expanding, sore the trailer dreams was really a desperate effort to try to inspire hope amongst young people, mixed families from miami all the way to d.c. i reached out to my best friends from our youth group and the florida immigrant coalition in miami. together, we just believed that people out there wanted to join in the cause and wanted to stand up and say no more. overourney to d.c. got 6000 people around the country involved, engaged through social media. amy: talk about some of the places you went to and what you confronted in the south. >> we walked all through florida, georgia. and in georgia, the ku klux klan had a demonstration where they wanted prayer in schools and in and to the latino invasion. and they compared all immigrants

to prostitutes and criminal and we joined the naacp and efforts to show black and brown communities are standing together against the racism in this country, against the ways we are under attack and are being dehumanized. yeah, we went through south carolina, north carolina, virginia until we made it to d.c. with 8000 people walking across the bridge to the capital. amy: you met president obama? >> i was invited. it was interesting because in the period of the trail i was sponsored by my u.s. citizen stepmother. i was still the one in the group that was given an opportunity to legalize their status. so i received the invitation after multiple times that we had requested meetings with the white house. and with the president specifically. and have been rejected.

we were told, oh, the president can't meet in a document a person, you wouldn't be able to get through what has clearance. when they found out i was only one in the group that had an id, i was invited. so i knew going into that meeting that i wasn't going there as myself, i needed to be there representing everyone that gets left out of these meetings. yep, left out of being having a say in the policies that are affecting our lives. so when i arrived, i decided not to shake the president's hand. it was a way of expressing my disappointment in the sense of betrayal the committee has witnessed under his administration, and our ability to give the government accountable. amy: what was the president's response? >> they never expected that coming. jarrettld by valerie was very excited to meet us. they figured this is a meeting

with a group of advocates, it will be nice, friendly. in the moment that i did that, it completely changed the tone of the meeting and it made a series meeting about the need to end deportations and it got a lot of conversations started that led to the passage of the deferred action for child arrivals. amy: do you feel the dreamers did it? >> i do believe the dreamrs put everything on the line for their families, for their futures. we continue to fight all over this country, continue organizing, continue building meaningful relationships with other communities that are struggling in the same way. we need equality and justice in this country, not just for immigrants, but for all of us who are being cast into the shadows. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. isabel sousa-rodriguez is one of our guests.

a longched, walked on trail of tears -- >> of dreams. amy: of dreams, from florida to washington, d.c., then ultimately refused to shake president obama's hand, though clearly the dreamrs changed the obama ministry policy. when we come back, we will be joined by others who are part of a fascinating project, a new book out called, "when we fight, we win!" stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "mañana", by desaparecidos. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we talk about a new book called, "when we fight, we win!"

greg jobin-leeds, talk about how you conceived of this book. your longtime education activist and philanthropist. >> thanks, amy. my book, my cats were refugees fleeing war in a very similar way to isabel's story. town my very existence here their life because some people stood up and spoke out for them as jews fleeing germany. amy: talk about what happened. >> my father cleaned up a temple , the night of broken glass were the streets were filled with glass from temples and stores were smashed. he cleaned up the temple. luckily, they had an immigration number and were able to get in, otherwise he would gone of the way of anne frank whose family died in a concentration camp. in my mother was a refugee two times, fleeing war -- at first

she was age 11. these stories that isabel talks about and 70 are very personal to me. out fore people spoke them and that is why am here, but not enough people spoke out. and so my sense is that we have to be the one to speak out against these incredible deportations, against and wars we are creating. i interviewed brilliant activists like isabel and worked with the most amazing artists like deymirie hernández to figure out what are the key things that activists can do and what makes movements tick and how to make them more transformative. amy: jitu brown, we have spoken to in chicago a number of times. he is joining us from chicago right now. activism and how it is shaping chicago stuff i mean,

you now have the mayor rahm emanuel, who is under siege. did i just hear the illinois state legislature is weighing whether to have a recall election? at first,'am post good morning, amy. thank you for having me. i think what is inspiring about the organizing that has really been happening in chicago over the last few years is that communities that are taught by design that there is no way they can win, that you just have to go with the flow or go along to get along, or accept second and third class citizenship has been fighting back. in a hyper segregated city like chicago, you see people struggling together across race, across income levels. so not only in these issues of police violence, but around the issue of public education.

and what is beautiful is that the fights are no longer just issue-based, which it tends to be sort of what happens. it is around a shared set of values. what type of world do you want to see? how should policing look in our community? we will not accept that a normal response for police officers is to shoot down the people there paid to protect -- or should be paid to protect. so i think that the work of ,oung people in this city blacklivesmatter, other groups, they -- it has been really pushing the powers that be to the limit. amy: and you, like greg come and longtime education activist, we last looked to you when you were on hunger strike protesting the closing of a school and a committee of color.

-- in a committed he of color. do you think it is possible that rahm emanuel will be forced to step down in the latest killings last weekend, quintonio legrier as well as bettie jones, you have the policing -- they made a mistake when they killed bettie jones. she opened the door for the police. you don't hear them saying that with quintonio legrier whose own father called the police to say, help me with my son. >> let's remember mayor emanuel closed a mental health center when he first got in office. so we don't know if quintonio legrier had mental health issues, but if you have someone who is struggling, the response should not be to kill them. the response should be to be able to bring that person down in a way that is humane, a way that can get them treatment that they deserve, or if they need to be incarcerated, they can make that happen. at the response should not be to

shoot them seven times. to shoot them seven times. and you don't hear any sense from the police that that is outrageous. i think what you see is part of the chicago culture that is really just accelerated under mayor rahm emanuel. the privatization of schools has accelerated under rahm emanuel. in danger.e is i think he is fighting for his political life. and i think he deserves it. i think his lack of willingness to look up people in our neighborhoods as valuable, as people who can actually make a contribution to chicago is racist, arrogant, has caused pain and suffering of people's lives. people have it harder than they did before he came into office. and, you know, that should not be acceptable. we don't envision a world -- we

view have some unrealistic of a colorblind society, but we should have a colorful society. we should have a society where i shouldn't have to apologize for being who god made me. i shouldn't have to act as if i'm not proud to be black, stabile to work with greg jobin-leeds and deymirie hernández as brothers and sisters who respect what we each bring to the table. that is the world we are fighting for. that is not the city or the world that he comes from. amy: before we end, i want to bring deymirie hernández it is -- youation with collaborated in the most magnificent way, it is unique in the way it is framed by the art. explain why this is so important in some of these images in your book. >> and the recognition of art and culture, as an official part

-- itlding the movement is an organization where i'm a resident artist, made up of artists who are committed to creating projects and practices of culture, solidarity, with workers and marginalized communities and grassroots struggle. and our work in this book was creating that are narrative, recognizing that most of -- and we forget the narratives are controlled by those in power and that there are certainly art and culture created within the -- soities, amazing amazing artists who hand by hand with activists are changing those narratives and creating a new culture where we can create

that liberation. amy: one of the people you collaborated with also made one of the big grin and puppet like art pieces in the climate justice march. describe that, as mother earth, that became the image of the march. >> so that one in particular, we brooklyn, also an organization for more than 40 years. puppet more than 14 feet, our biggest puppet, was created and i would say like two weeks. it was one of the -- we were thinking of the resemblance of mother earth, but also arisen lives of all of these single likers and brown and bodies that are raising.

amy: before we go, greg, tonight you will be premiering, launching the book at powerhouse arena in brooklyn and big multimedia display art stories. where do you go from here, from brooklyn to boston? >> 7:00 p.m. tonight at powerhouse in cambridge, on thursday at 7:00 p.m. at harvard books, we will be in dcfs boas and poets -- bus boys and poets. on tuesday the 12, back in boston. we go to chicago, seattle. amy: your website? henwefightwewin.org. veryonce again, they're movements you document it. i want to thank you all for being with us, greg jobin-leeds, deymirie hernández, jitu brown and isabel sousa-rodriguez. best of luck on your journey. book, "when we fight, we win!"

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narrator: this is grace, a business woman in kigali, rwanda. eight years ago, she was starving and unable to feed her children. many of her family had been massacred in one of the worst genocides of the late 20th century. but today, thanks to an innovative program, life is good. she earns up to $200 a month from her furniture business and employs 11 people.