07/15/16 07/15/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy y now! thisance is afflicted by new tragedy. it is horrified. this monstrosity that consists of using a truck to kill them until early -- deliver really kill people there to celebrate bastille day. amy: 84 people are dead in the french city of nice after a truck plows into a massive crowd celebrating bastille day. france has extended its state of emergency and vowed to expand its military presence in iraq

and syria. we will go to nice for the latest. then to the debt crisis in pupuerto rico. >> people of puerto rico need to know they are not forgotten, that they are part of the american familily, and congress plus responsiveness, even though this is not a perfect bill, at least moves us in the right direction. amy: while president obama vows to help the puerto rican people, a stunning new report has just beenen released d showing hohowh of t the debt owowed by puererto is not a actually momoney that e island borrowed, but instead interest owed to wall street firms including goldmaman sachs, citigroup, merrill lynch, , and morgan stanley. in some cases, puerto rico is being paid -- forced to pay up to 1000% interest. then we willll speak to the dishwasher at yale university who was arrested after breaking a stained-glass window depicting enslaved africans carrying cotton. we will also speak to professor

craig steven wilder a author of , the book, "ebony & ivy: race, slavery, and the troubled history of america's universities." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. at least 84 people are dead in nice, france, after an attack on a crowd of people celebrating a bastille day. witnesses said a man in a truck a truck deliberately ran over dozens of people before getting out of the truck with a gun and opening fire. popolice then killed the man. one resident of nice described no longer feeling secure anywhere. collects it was really early.. i was in bed and i wake upup ths morning and i had liked 100 missed calls from my friends asking what happenened. then i saw the videos. it doesn't seem safe anymore and ance. i came a couple of m months to starart workining here. nice is s not a big city and dos

not attract that much attttenti. anywhere can be a target. amy: witnesses described bodies strewn for as long as a mile down a seaside promenade where people had gathered to watch fireworks. no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the french government has described it as an act of terrorism. it is the second major attack in france since november, when the so-called islamic state of iraq and syria took credit for killing 130 people in paris. french police have identified by special the attacker as a 31-yeaear-old tunisianan-born fh cicitizen named mohamed lahohouj bouhuhlel. france has been under a state of emergency since november. only hours before the attack, french president francois holland had said that state of emergency would be lifted by the end of next t week. but earlrly this morning, hollae said he is calling up reserve police and military forces and that the state of emergency would be extended for another three months. in washington, d.c., u.s. lawmakers have said 28 classified pages from the

congressional report on the 9/11 attacks will b be releaseded to. the pages focucus on any role te govevernment of saudi arabia may have had in the attacks. in may, the senate passed a bill giving families of 9/11 victims the right to sue saudidi arabia. 15 of the 19 men who hijacked planes on 9/11 were from saudi arabia. saudi arabia has previously threatened to sell off up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other u.s. assets if the measure passes. meanwhile, u.n. secretary ban ki moon has asked saudi arabia to prove it is taking precautions to avoid killing civilians in yemen. with u.s.-backing, saudi arabia has led a bombing campaign in yemen for more than a year. the u.n. has said that the majority of civilian casualties in the conflict are caused by the saudi-led coalition's bobombing. presidential hopefuls from both parties characterize the attacks in nice, france, as a declaration of war.. donald trump spoke to bill o'reilly s shortly after the atatck last night. mr. trump >> it t is no longer isolated is

atattacks. you agree e with that?t? mr. trump: i certainly do.. it is out of control. we don't call itt -- we have a president who doesn't t want to call it what it is. you look at world trade center, look at san bernardino, paris -- 130 people killed and 70 injured in paris from that attack. you look at orlando. it is out of control. ill, unless we get stronong and realally stronong and very, very smart leadership, it -- amy: anderson cooper. mrs. clinton: we are at war with these terrorist groups and what they represent. it is a different kind of war. we need to be smart t about howe wage it and when it.

amy: this comes as newt gingrich, who reportedly is one of the people on donald trump's shortlist for vice presidential running mate, also broke out after the nice attack. "wepoke to fox news saying should frankly test every person here who is of muslim background. if they believe in sharia, they should be deported." donald trump was expected to name his vice presidential pick today, but he said he is delaying in light of the nice attack. another person on the shortlist to is believeved to be his s che is indiaiana governonor mike pe. as governor, he ovoversaw a cutn plananned parerenthood and the e and sign legegislation that woud have restricted abortions in the state. in cleveland students at case , western reserve university are protesting the administration's plan to house nearly 2500 of police officers and national

guard in campus dorms during the republican national convention next week. students say the plan puts their own safety at risk, in light of the recent fatal police shootings of african americans alton sterling in baton rouge, louisiana, and philando castile, in falcon heights, minnesota. this is a case western reserve student.t. >> shutdown of a all buildings,, alall employees are asked to sty home, students are being essentialllly evacuated from campus becauause case did not sm to r realize that housising 1700 officers and 200 national guard might have complicated the university situation quite a bit. amy: the ngo oxfam has issued a call to lift the u.s. embargo on cuba. oxfam executive director winnie byanyima said the group had previously avoided taking up the issue, but will now campaign to have it removed sooner rather than later. in march, president obama became the first sitting u.s. president in 88 years to visit cuba a as diplomatic relations were restored and the u.s. embassy

there reopened. however, t the more than half century old embargo remains in place. tens of thousands of iraqis have defied a ban on demonstrations and gathered in baghdad to demand governmental reforms. the demonstrations were called for by muqtada al sadr, a popular cleric and politician. his supporters have held regular demonstrations in baghdad and other parts of the country for months. in april, they overran the green zone, a heavily fortified neighbhborhood in cecentral bagd that is home to the country's -- iraqi parliament and strictly off limits to most iraqis. a second a attempt to enter thee green zone in may ended when troops opened fire on demonstrators. in 2015, transparency international said the u.s.-backed iraqi government was one of the 10 most corrupt in the world. just days before the republican national convention, a billboard depicting presidential candidate donald t trump kissingng republn senator ted cruz has been erected near the rnc site. the billboard reads, "love trumps hate," and is located near the convention center where republicans will hold their convention.

an organization called planting peace paid for the message. the group said it is a response to reports the draft platform republicans will ratify next week includes language opposing same-sex marriage. another provision in the draft text promotes state laws to restrict which restrooms transgender people can use. planting peace president aaron jackson said -- "planting peace calls for immediate change in the republican party platform with regard to our lgbt family and lgbt rights. never again shall a negative, hateful message be uttered in the name of 'religious freedom.'" democracy now! will be broadcasting live two hours every day from the republican national convevention. as well as the philadelphia democratic convention. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and , peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. wewelcome to all of our listenes and viewers from around the country and around the world. more than 84 people are dead in

france after an attack on a crowd of people celebrating bastille day in the city in the french riviera. the dead include as many as 10 children. another 18 people are critically injured. witnesses said a man in a large truck deliberately drove into a massive crowd watching a fireworks celebration. the truck continued driving a mile at a high speed mowing down people in the crowd. survivors described horrific scenes on the streets of n nice. >> there were people on the groundnd. only people on the ground. manyny, many. i was tryingng t to not look. i tried to look up. i did not want to see. it was too painful. there were people crying. people covered in blood. people covered in blood everywhere. it is so sad. amy: no group has taken responsibility for the attack. french media have identified the driver of the truck as 31-year-old mohamed lahouaieiej

bouhlel, a french h man of tunisian descent who lived in nice. he was shot dead by police during the attack. earlier today, french president francois hollande announced he would extetend the state of emergegency put in place afteree paris attacks.s. the paris attacks killed 130 people eight months ago. the statedecided that of emergency, which should have ended july 20 six, will be extended for another three months. a bill will be presented to the parliament in the coming week. nothing will make a sealed in our fight against terrorism. we will reinforce our activities in syria and iraq and continue to strike precisely those who strike us on our own soil in their hideouts. amy: we are joined by ismail khalidi palestinian american , playwright and writer who was in nice visiting family. yasser louati, joins us. ismail khalidi, you are last

night. while you did not see the truck, you certainly saw the aftermath of people running. can you tell us what you experienced? collects hi, amy and juan. unfortunatately, i was not a ate scene anand did not w witness te carnagage, but i wasas probababy away from whereocks the attackck took place.e. wherere the fireworkrks had just ended. there were thohousands and thousands of p pple, families, tourisists, congregagating. all of thehe sudden, we w witned what really essentially amounted to a stampede of people shouting and screaming and a lot of confusion, obviously, resulted from that as there was not really very clear information about what was going on. only that the police had told

people to run. they followed suit. one of probably the most harrowing things we saw last night was a young father jettisoning his two kids over a fence and then clambering up the fence himself in order to get out. obviously am a horrible, horrible night in nice. it was quite chaotic and confused.. there was not a lot of information in the aftermath from the bullies on the streets about where people should go and what they should do next. juan: what have you been able to lelearn more have we been able o learn since the attack about the man who led the attack was s in the truck anand was kikilled? mean, i think you guys reported a little on it. what i read is he is a local nice r resident, a yououng frenh i think,nisian,

dissent with a petty criminal record as far as i know. it seems to me he fit the bill of a lot of these attackers from the paris attacks, for example on novemember 13, of young, alienated immigrant men who in many cases are marginalized, ghettos in french cities, who have criminal records. and carry out acts of violence. i actually cannot speak to much more than that. that is what i know. i do know nice, from where i am right now, in the center of the city, seemed to kind of a going about business as normal. i think probably where the attack took place is obviously, i'm guessing, shut down at this moment. amy: yasser louati, you are in paris, french president hollande has left and gone to nice where he is just arrived.

there was a state of emergency ending next week after the attacks in november. he is now said they will be extended and france will increase its presence in iraq and syria. can you talk about what you understand about what happened and what is happening in your country, france, today? >> hi, amy and juan. this is deja vu. this is my fourth time on your show and unfortunately, i will repeat the same things. it is great confusion from the government. first, how sure can you be this is a terrorist attack? the corporate was known to be nonreligious, make no political claims. he was known to be a womanizer who was isolated and has no connection whatsoever to any organization. we need to leave time enough for the government to do its job to identify the motives the

highness attack. what we should keep in mind, president hollande on july 14, yesterday morning, was saying he was going to lift up the state of emergency, that it would be over on july 26. the very same day he said, they're going to extend it for three months. talking about the state of emergency, it has been in full effect since last november and did not bring any more protection to us as everyday citizens ,nor did it crackdown on this terrorist threat. at the same time, the presence of military people in big cities and major public areas has not shown it's a fax. even the repressive laws that passed since november, and the enhanced abilities given to police, has been protected us.

going back to the confidential reports from intelligence saying the government is failing by adopting security measures and should take into consideration the financial, social, and identity crisis deep-rooted in this country. juan: i want to ask you, you mentntioned the ememergency dec. what is the impact on the muslim community of the united states of -- amy: france. juan: i'm sorry, france. raidshas led to over 3600 , leading to only six inquiries. thehave dramatically used muslim community as a scapegoat to divert attention from the government's failure to protect the people of france at the same time, to review its own policies both abroad and here at home. when you have human rights watch, u.n., amnesty international, and various

organizations saying the state of emergency does not help in reducing the terror threat [indiscernible] at the same time, we have received two waves of terrorist attacks in 2016. nobody resigned. nobody took responsibility. the government cannot keep holding minorities responsible for those very same failures. i was saying a couple of days ago, there was a parliamentary inquiry released by the national simply pointing to the fact the intelligence community in france historically failed. you keep compiling these reports of the government keeps repeating the same strategy, people fromrry, nice killing people from nice. why would bombing syria or iraq it is more security? amy: ultimately, what do you

want to happen? >> the french government to review our foreign policy. we need to have a strategy. then we have to listen to what the professionals say. we cannot use security measures alone when they are counter effective. another point, do not forget that in the famous article destroying the gray zone saying we need these terrorist attacks so the muslim community will be cast aside, stigmatized, and persecuted. this will help hire more people and bring a divide between muslims and make it imimpossible for these two communities to live together in peace. amy: let me play for you what newt gingrich, one of what is believed to be the three people on the short list for trump for vice president, newt gingrich,

the new good jersey governor chris christie, and the indiana governor mike hands, but this is what newt gingrich said last night speaking on fofox news. >> westernrnivilizatioion is ina war. we should, frankly, test every person here who is of muslim background. if they belilieve in sharia, they should be deported. amy: talking about americans being deported who believe in sharia after the nice attacks. yasser louati, respond. >> so much ignorance is just beyond words. the western world is not at war with islam because there are western muslims being killed in the west by terrorist organizations. second, i think newt gingrich should send his resume to isis and get a job there because he is doing exactly what they are asking for. they kill us here in these

continue the job of the terrorist organization. unfortunately, this willll go o. saying, to gingrich is donald trump, even hillary. ,here is a fallaciouous concept prophecy. how about the 16-year-old war on terror? years, billions of dollars spent, hundreds of people being killed. [indiscernible] how about prosecuting the very same people who lead to the emergence of isil? i don't know, george bush, tony blair? we can use the report to prosecute these people. amy: yasser louati, thank you for being with us french human , rights and civil liberties activist and researcher.

, speaking toalidi us from where the attack occurred last night. at least 84 people have been killed. when we come back, where does the debt that it has been said puerto rico owewes come from? 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: a stunning new report has just been released on wall street's role in creating puerto rico's $70 billion debt crisis. according to the refund america project, nearly half of the debt -- owed by puerto rico is done

action he that the island borrowed but instead interest , owed to wall street firms that include goldman sachs, citigroup, merrill lynch and , morgan stanley. while the puerto rican people are facing massive austerity cuts, bondholders are set to make mindboggling profits in what has been compared to a payday lending scheme. the refund america project suggests that puerto rico should not be required to pay back much of its debt since it is illegitimate. the crux of the crisis centers on what are known as capital appreciation bonds. accocording to the refund amerea project puererto rico borrowed , $4.3 billion using this costly and risky form of debt -- when the bonds expire decades from now puerto rico will have to pay , back $33.5 billion in interest a staggering 785% interest rate. ,in some cases the interest rate , wiwill top 1000%. it i is a scandal that received almost no attention during the

recent congressional debate over the so-called promesa bill, which will establish a federally appoininted controrol board wiwh sweeeeping powerers to run p puo rico's economomy. amamy: while the legislalation's supporteters say thehe bill will help the island cope with its debt crisis by allowing an orderly restructuring of its $72 billion in bond debt, critics sasay it is a a reversion n to old-stylyle colonialalism that removes s democraticic control m the peoplele of puertoto rico. meanwhile, even before president obama has named members of the new control board, we e are beginning to learn just how bond holders are being protected and the people of puerto rico made to suffer. on june 2929, the government-owd puerto ricico electricic company announced its plan to raise by 28% the island's eltrtricit rates, which are already higher than any state but hawaii. the extra money will be earmarked to payay debt servrvin up t to $9.3 billion in nenew bs the compmpany, knownwn as prepa, plans s to issue to replace its old debt. as part of the restructuring, the utilitity's new directctorsl come largely from the u.s., and the new bonds will pay an astounding interest of 10%. to talk k more aboutut the debt

crisis we are joined by two , guests. in san juan, puerto rico, we're joined by carlos gallisa, an attorney, politician, and independence movement leader. he is a former member of the puerto rican house of representatives. he now serves on the board of directors of the puerto rico electric power authority. here in new york, we're joined by saqib bhatti, director of the refund america project andnd a fellow at the roosevelt institute. he i is co-author of the new report, "puerto rico's payday loans." carlos gallisa and saqib bhatti, welcome to democracy now! juan: if you could lay out for us, saqib bhatti, some of the findings of your study? >> as you mentioned earlier, what we found was that, basically, very large portion of puerto rico's that is actually interest on a payday loan, on the series of payday loans come in fact, where the island would pay -- bururrowed $4.3 billion d

billion inack $33.5 interest. this is the tip of the iceberg. there's a lot of debt that puerto rico has entered into that is either legally or morally illegitimate summit organization, we're going to be releasing a series of reports over the next couple of months that will look at the different ways in which wall street banks really targeted puerto rico with predatory deals and calling on the promesa board to cancel the illegitimate debt so we can properly refund services. amy: what are the banks and how are they responsible for this that? >> there were a series of banks, including citigroup, merrill --ch, goldman sachs, ubs

they were the lead underwriters on these deals that really targeted puerto rico for these immense interest rates. these payday loans, called capital appreciation bonds. it is free much like a payday loan where because you're not allowed to pay back k the prinincipal or the intererest fr many years, and over time, the interest use compounding. you end up with these astronomical interest rates. what was happening, because you have a situation where puerto rico is a colonial economy and not in charge of its own finance at the endnd of the day, there e so much pressure from the outside because those issues cannot be resolved in the same way that a cash-strapped family trying to put food on the table my go to a payday lender because they have to make ins meet, you had puerto rico try to put food on the table, provide basic services, needing to find ways to make ins me -- ends meet. wereknow they needed deals

bad. juan: the underwriters had to know there was no way that puerto rico would be able to pay these loans back. if we can, i want to put on the screen for the television don't amy: and for regular listeners, you can go to democracynow.org >> juan: these are some of the names you see. i want to show the chart of one of the bonds issued. this was 2007 sales tax bonds where it shows, for instance, puerto rico borrowed several trenches of bonds, but one was million that was supposed to be paid back -- i'm sorry $97 million, that was supposed to be paid back in

2054. that means for 47 years, the banks agreed, you don't pay as anyprinciple or interest for 47 years. at the end of the 47 years, that $97 million becomes $1 billion the puerto rico has to pay back. that is 1000 times what the original loan was. the banks had to know there was no way that puerto rico could pay this back, yet they continued to issue these bonds. >> it is a complete outrage. banks new -- there's no way puerto rico campaign all of this back. puerto rico's debt per capita burden is 10 times higher than the average of u.s. states. it is a tiny island of 3.5 million people. thanks to they could not do this. thanks like citigroup, goldman sachs, target of puerto rico for these deals because they got to make money on the front and. , for a spiceloans

of them, banks got to make $221 million in fees. they get to offload the risk. juan: your report indicates these bonds are so worthless that they are now being traded on the secondary market at $.14 on the dollar, $.15 on the dollar, and now hedge funds are buying them up hoping that e evn ifif they get $.50 on the dolla, they still make a killing because of the low rate they bought them. >> that is exactly right. we're having a secondary market for bonds, just like for mortgages where the lender that sells you your mortgage, they package it up into security to sell it off and he gets treated. same thing with bonds. they get sold off and traded. a lot of these bonds because the -- they did not believe they would be paid back, they absorbed the losses and sold the bonds for $.15 on the

dollar, as low as five cents on the dollar. a lot of the investors that are now buying these vulture hedge funds, trying to make huge 5%fits of two 2000% buying a and try to collect all 100, just up with that in n perspective, e idea is there something that the rhetoric really is worth one dollar and i'm going to pay you five cents to buy it up. even if i get back a small portion -- even if i get back $.10, i doubled my profit. there tried to collect not just the full dollar, but the interest on that dollar. amy: let's bring in carlos gallisa, a well-known puerto rican attorney, politician, independence leader. if you could talk about the significance of what this means and how it translates on the ground in puerto rico right now, speaking to us from san juan.

>> hello? amy: we are trying to make a link with our guest in san juan. he doesn't appear to be able to hear us. but what this means, let me put this question to you, saqib bhatti, what this means on the ground, the devastating humanitarian crisis there? >> as you said, it is a devastating humanitarian crisis. i believe about 40% of the children live in poverty. there is a severe cut to health care. there is a big outbreak. we need to make sure there is a promesa control board that ththy are not getting services to challenge the legitimate debt.

amy: i think we have carlos gallisa with us in san juan. you live in puerto rico. ,s you listeten to saqib bhatti your response to what is happening on the ground and what is happening with the debt? $70 billion debt is now. so we are trying to restructure bondholders the haven't been able to give us a good deal in the restructuring of the debt. [inaudible] have inflation -- for

the next five or 10 years, say a control board, which is going to be the government of puerto rico. they have full powers over the puerto rican affairs. we are in the very difficult position now and there will be more migration to the united states. there will be a reduction of government employees. -- what happened before in new york and detroit will happen when it comes into efeffect. , you are as gallisa member of the board of directors of the puerto rico electric authority. you are the elected consumer representative on that board. could you talk about what has happened with the electric company itself? they just announced, i think you're at the board meeting

where they voted, they're going to increase electric rates by 28% in the coming year? >> yes, that is one of the of thes of the problem debt. the power company of puerto rico , which is the most important public corporation, is going through a restructuring of its debt. the debt of the power company is close to $9 billion out of the $70 billion that the government of puerto rico owes. the debt service is $700 million a year. company for the power to meet its obligation, the energy commission of puerto rico [inaudible] bill, 10%icity starting next month.

thehe firstime during three months of next year, there increasen additional of 18%. so altogether, a means 20% in the dust 28% in the electricity bill. i think there will be more increases during the year. debts the people of puerto rico will have to pay all of these increases. juan: one of the things you mentioned to me when we were talking yesterday is that the theholders also insisted on appointment of a majority of the board of the new finance authority that will run the electric company to be selected from people from the united states, so the same thing is happening with promesa, will

happen, the outsiders will be appointed to run the electric company? >> yes. the lelegislature of puerto rico approved a bill, law number four, that the government of puerto rico has to appoint a new board of directors in which six of the members of the board are going to be [inaudible] a private company in the united states. it will be 10 people to the of the governor of puerto rico and the governor --of 10. to appoint that is another imposition of the bondholders. in thent to have a seat

board d of directors. so we will have a governing board now - -- juan: finally, the interest rate on the new bonds -- because, supposedly, the bondholders for prepa who have agreed to take what wall street calls a haircut, accepting $.85 for every dollar that they are owed, but they are in new bonds and they have a much higigher intert rate. isn't it 10% now these bonds will require, which is astounding when n you consider most municipal bonds in this country are like 3%, 4%, puerto rico will have to pay 10% for the elecectric company bonds? >> that is it. now we are changing bonds a at , 6 -- 5%, 6% interest for new bonds. so every time there is a

refinancing, there is an increase in rates of the bonds. we are p paying 11% interest now on the bonds that are going to be issued. , you have been following this for a very long time. your evaluation of what is happening right now? juan: it is amazing to me this continues to occur for the protection of the bondholders. which is what is going on. whether it is in these payday loans that are going to somehow or other -- some will make a whole lot of money off the restructuring of these payday loans. and now with the electric company, these much higher interest rates that will be required of puerto rico. i understand today, congress is supposed to name -- there's a congressional tatask force billlisished by the promesa that is supposed toto make recommendationss on the future puerto rico anand today, the hoe

leadaders and the senate leaders will announce who the members are. it is supposed to be four democrats and four republicans, eight people in total that will be on this new congressional task force. president obama has yet to name the members of the promesa board itself that will be running puerto rico's economy. he is expected to do that and the next few weeks. carlos gallisa, your sense of how the people of puerto rico are reacting to these latest events in terms of the increases inin the rates and the new information coming out in the last few weeks since promesa was passed? well, we are expecting the control board to take some decisions on the crisis, and then [inaudible] demanding to e end the situatio.

basically, the problem of puerto rico is colonialism. the people of puerto rico do not have the freedom to do the to lookhey have to do for a solution to this crisis. so this is a political problem besides being an economic proboblem. all we want to thank you for being with us and of course we will continue to follow this story. carlos gallisa, speaking to us from san juan puerto rican , attorney, politician, and independence movement leader. he is a former member of the puerto rican house of representatives. he now serves on the board of directors of the puerto rico electric power authority. and thank you so much here in new york, saqib bhatti, director of the refund america project and a fellow at the roosevelt institute. we will link to your report "puerto rico's payday loans." ,when we come back, the man who shattered the saying glass

window -- stained-glass window in the college of yale university, calhoun college. why he did it and what it means for ivy league universities 'lilinks to slavavery. ststay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "revolutionary borinquena" performed by lizbeth roman. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

as black lives matter protests have swept t the county in recent weeks, we end today show with the story of one dishwasher at yale university who has decided to take the university's history of racism into his own hands or his own broomstick, in this case. corey menafee worked for yalele for about eight years. in june, he was cleaning a calhoun college, he stood on top of a table and used a broom -- broomstick to break a stained glass window depicting enslaved africans carrying cotton with a broom handle. menafee said the image is racist and degrading and that he had become sick of seeing it every day. calhoun college the stand after former vice president john c calhoun, one of the most prominent proslavery figures in u.s. history. for years, students have demanded yield change the building name. yale university police arrested corey menafee and charged him with reckless endangerment and felony mischief. on wednesday, after a

demonstration in support of corey menafee, yale university has dropped the charges. amy: we're joined by corey menafee himself who broke the window at yale university as well as his attorney patricia kane. and we're joined by craig wilder author of the book, "ebony & , ivy: race, slavery, and d the troubled history of america's universities." we welcome you all. describe what happened, what day it was, and what you did. >> it was a typical workday. i was performing my normal duties, cleaning and scrubbing. we had our little 10 minute break. i don't know, something inside me said, you know, that thing has to come down. it is a picture that is, you know, as soon as you look at it, it heard. you feel it in your heart. like, oh, man. here in the 21st century, we are

in a modern era where we should not have to be subjected to those primitive integrating images. amy: described the stained-glass. >> it was a small piece of glass that was no bigger than a tablet. female,ted a male and both appearing to be african-american, standing in a field of white crops that appear to be cotton, with baskets over their heads and i believe one of the figures were actually smiling, which is like so condescending because looking back on slavery, it wasn't a happy time for african-americans. been the university has embroiled in protests over this issue of calhoun college. workingu have been

there for eight years, were you aware of the student protests in the controversy that had arisen? >> yes. over the last year, i was actually transitioned into calhoun dining hall from davenport dining hall. how it isd got to see affecting the students, how the students felt about the name john calhoun. everything he represented, it was just -- it is such a contradiction for what yale university represents. ise university's motto "truth through enlightenment." so if your institution of higher learning where you're trying to enlighten young people and train them to be productive members of society, why would you have a degrading image like that blatantly displayed? amy: democracy now! reached out to yale university for a

response to your case, corey menafee. they issued this statement -- "as part of president salovey's initiative in april to review yale's history with regard to slavery, the committee on art in public spaces was charged to assess all of the art on campus, including the windows in calhoun. after the window was broken in june, the committee recommended that it and some other windows be removed from calhoun, conserved for future study and a possible conual exhibition, and replaced temporarily with tinted glass. an artist specializing in stained glass will be commissioned to design new windows, with input from the yale community, including students, on what should replace them." corey menafee, you have started a major policy change at yale university. the what has happened to you? describe what you did as you looked up at the stained-glass you had seen for a while. basically, i took a broom handle and destroyed the image. because a bit of regret as a grown adult with a sound

mind and able to think, you don't never want to result to asse types of tactics as far bringing change about. you want to set down and talk to people and you want to use your intellectual s skills. you don't want to physically destroy something. i don't encourage anybody to just go ahead and destroy another person or another entity's property. because you don't like it. there are better ways to resolve it. however, the action that i did, obviously, there is a plethora of people who believe this same thing, who felt the same thing. in that way, i think my actions were justified because other people -- a lot of other people feel the same way i feel. juan: i would like to bring in craig steven wilder. you have written the book "ebony , & ivy: race, slavery, and the troubled history of america's universities." but what has happened here at yale and corey's actions and

what you uncovered. >> the short of the story is, ththe american college is a product t of the african slave trade and african-american slavery. none of the college's survived withoutnial period attaching themselves to that unfree economy and drawing money from that economy. but in particular what mr. menafee did, i find inspirational. the attention should focus on yale's trustees and administration. they had an opportunity to adaddress this issue -- multiple opportunities. they have declined to do it and for what i think are quite dubious reasons. what you therefore end up with that interesting problem continues to get perpetuated. the conversation about what to do with the visual culture of slavery that is on our campus --

it is embedded in our visual culture, embmbedded in our architectural culture. the problem of what to do has been a conversation between relatively privileged people. the alumni of the elite institutions, the e ministration of elite institutions, and elite institutions. the group p that is missing isie communities around those schools. and the people who do the hard work of running our institutions on a day-to-day basis. there excluded from the conversation. the people who clean offices, cook our food, move the campus buses around. but ththey spend a lot morore te being impacted by those visual reminders of slavery the most of the rest of us do. amy: where does yell universities link? >> at the beginning when the trustees met in 1701 to organize the college, ththen collegiatee school, as one historian points out, they were followed by their

slaves to that meeting. slavery is at the beginning of yale and continues to be the funding fory. money from aets man who engaged in slavery himself. they named the school after yale at that point. they continue to get funding from the slave trade thereafter. a form was given in the late 1720's. a small plantation they rent out to fund the first graduate courses in the first scholarships. almost every decade in yale 's history of to the civil war. lawyer.u are corey's the charges haven't dropped, but he was fired? >> technically, they are still pending until we go to court when we expect the court to decide they will not prosecute

and that will l be the end of te legal proceedings. but not the end of the problemss for corey menafee who is lost his job and about to lose his health insurance at the end of the month. juan: what are you seeking to do? >> i've been trying to just outside dialogue with someone in authority at yale. i've spoken twice with legal counsel, but there is no movement to bring the parties together and to find a resolution. yale has a disconnect with its own people. its alumni, its students, its enafee.es likeke mr. m i think they need to give him his job back. that is a good start. students trash university property all the time and there never criminal charges. no one is ever kicked off campus. they might take a little leave of absence. in a way, yale wants it both ways. their knowledge in, well, this was an offffensive image because now we're going to inventory it

and get rid of them, but they're not taking care of thehe human being involved. amy: corey menafee, do you want your job back? >> i would muster only love my job back. amy: and your response to taking out the sting blast image? >> i think that is a wise and good move on the part of yell university. craig wilder, your written about this. what do think the university should do right now. what i think the university has to take more responsibility for -- its decision to not to e escalate the situationo begin with. the students who have been protesting now for -- not here, for a few monthths -- nonot fora few months, but for decades. amy: to remove the name "calhoun" from the college. >> to rename the colleges that were named after slave owners and slave traders. this has been a long-lasting protest and yale has been

resistant to doing the right thing for a long time. georgetown university struggles to come to terms with its pass obama with the slave trade. in 1838, georgetown sold 272 enslaved africans belonging to prominent jesuit priest to help secure the future of the catholic institutions. they established a working group recently to determine if anything is 02 descendents of these slaves. craig wilder, what is your response? >> i think georgetown has been an interesting case. that has of the few t dealt with this issue as something more than a public relations problem. they have taken it as a challenge to their catholic identity and jesuit identity.. amy: s slavery saved the institutions when they were going bankrupt? >> they were in financial trouble. the catholic church was also in a period of dramatic expansion.

i don't want to live the story at slavery saved georgetown. it did. the sale rescue georgetown but allow the catholic church to expand out of maryland into the northeast. the first cacatholic college in new england, holy cross, is established by one of the jazz inh who sold 272 people 1838. the university here in new york, fordrdm, is estatablished by a bishop who paid for his college tuition in maryland by becoming the overseer of these slaves in the college garden. it expands westward to st. louis and the first american university west of the mississippi river and st. lucie university, established by slaveholding jesuits from maryland. amy: we have to leave it there. corey menafee, your final thoughts? >> i just hope people can learn from what i went through. did was not- what i a good thing as far as how i

went about doing it. however, it brought about change. amy: we have to leave it there. thank you for being with us. a fond farewell to -