>> this is democracy now, democracynow.org. an inauguration day special. we're broadcasting live from whut on the campus of the historically black university, howard university. we are live on the air until 3:00 eastern time in his inauguration day special. i'm amy goodman. >> donald trump has just been

sworn in as the 45th president of the united states. trump was sworn in by the supreme court chief justice john roberts. vice president mike pence was clarence thomas. while trump was being sworn in, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of washington. hundreds of thousands are planning to take part in tomorrow's massive women's march on washington. protests against donald trump also taking place worldwide today. ofi like to go to the author a -- white house. in a few moments we will be going to clarence. we think it's interesting as a look at this transition of power , to look at the new home that donald trump will be living in. not only the white house, but his new city, washington, d.c., and who is responsible for building it. we are going to go to clarence

of howard university in a moment. as we broadcast here from howard university, just a mile or two from the capital where barack obama and michelle clarence tho. while obama have just flown away, it's important to note, the house they lived in. this is an issue that the first lady, the former first lady, michelle obama used to raise. talking about making her own daughters were the descendents of slaves, aware of wholady held to build the white house. let's go right now to howard university alums. thatm glad you pointed out president obama when he went to jefferson's home pointed out the slave history there. it's important to note the most iconic building in the u.s., the

one of represents the country to the world, the white house, also was a place where slavery existed. not only that, it was built by our slaves, and none of that has been publicly acknowledged. there's over a million people who visit the white house every year who go on tours and come from meetings. you can go through that building and never have a sense of that important history. i think president's day should be a period of critical reflection, not some blind celebration. it should be one where we tried to get a better sense of the country's history. significantly before the civil war, nearly every u.s. president was a slave owner. that meant they were compromised on the issue of slavery and that had repercussions through

history. it's critical that we have that acknowledgment because we grow up, we go to school, we have our history classes. none of that history is told to us. >> give us a black history of u.s. presidents, as you call it. >> in looking at the white house -- and i use that as the prism look at this longer history that basically lead up to president obama, one of the things we find his missing in that history is the voice of the people, particularly african-americans who were enslaved during that long history. and that was critical because when you think about george washington, madison, munro, all of the early presidents who wrote the declaration of independence, they wrote the constitution, the articles of the confederation. all of these documents, founding that stole the

principles of democracy, liberty, equality. that contradiction is that every single day of their life, every moment in their life, they were surrounded by people who were enslaved. fortunately because of the historic records that have been kept, we now know who some of those people were. hisge washington, presidency was in philadelphia, had at least nine individuals with him who were enslaved. maria judge, who was a young woman about 22, who escaped from george washington. she found out that martha washington was planning to give her away as a wedding gift. she made contact with the free black population in philadelphia and was able to escape. this is a remarkable because we are talking about a young woman who basically traveled nowhere by herself who escaped from the

most powerful person on the much, pretty much the most powerful person in the united states. her story is important because she outlived washington. be in her 80's, and lived a life where she learned to read, became active in her community. you had hercules, washington's cook, who also escaped from washington. there are people who were in and around the white house who have stories to tell that are part of that history that we literally were never taught about for all of these years that we took schooling and we took classes in history. i thought it was important and there are others who have written to reenter into the historic narrative the stories of these individuals because they really are critical, if you really want to understand the politics of george washington, the politics of thomas jefferson, or any of the other presidents who held slaves. >> tell us about paul jennings.

>> paul jennings, another he was enslaved to the medicines, james and dolly madison. first individual to actually write about working in the white house. he published a memoir in the late 1860's that talked about the time when he was in the white house. he was there in 1814 when the british literally were burning down the city and was part of a contingent of folks who were attempting to give -- get materials out of the white house before the british came. he had a fascinating history. he was supposed to be free when james madison died but dolly reneged on thely deal. it took him a few years to buy his freedom, which he eventually did. he came to help dolly madison. she fell on hard times.

she wasn't a wealthy person and she wasn't part of the social elite of washington. when she fell on hard times and her family and friends abandoned her, jennings would often bring her food and money and look after her. what's also important about paul alsongs is that he was central to the largest attempt at escaping from slavery that happened in washington, d.c. this happened in 1848. for a number of reasons, the escape attempt failed, but er brought in,ev never seem to be part of it, it was only literally after his death that it was revealed that he played a critical role in that. my point is that you had these individuals who were enslaved to presidents who had fascinating weries and lives, that should know about, because they really are also part of the

history of the white house and the history of the presidency. >> i want to play a clip from the trailer of the film released last year about president abraham lincoln and the fight to end slavery in the united states. in this clip you first hear abraham lincoln, followed by the voice of fighting a stevevens ad mary toddd linincoln. the f fate if human dignity i s inin our hands. -- of human dignity is in ourur hands. >> abraham l lincoln has a askes to work with him to o accomplish the deatath of slalavery. >> no one has ever been loved so much by the people. don't waste that power. >> that was an excerpt of "lincoln." talk about abraham lincoln and

slavery. >> the lincoln administration was a turning point in terms of the history of relationships between african-americans and the white house. it was during lincoln's tenure that the first meeting took place between a u.s. president and leaders of the black community. this happened in 1862, i believe. this was critical because up and to that point, although northn-americans in the have been organized and have been raising issues, policy issues, issues around slavery, they simply had no access to the white house or to policymakers. lincoln would open up some of that space, and part of what i think moved lincoln from being not just simply antislavery but ultimately to recognizing that you had to eliminate slavery, that abolition was the only path forward. in part, it came because of his

discussion with black leaders. not only church leaders, that people like frederick douglass. but also, discussions with elizabeth kegley. in the film, she is the woman who is often seen with mary lincoln. she's played by gloria reuben in the film. the film is a little bit disingenuous in that you can think that maybe she was a servant, but in fact she was an independent businesswoman who had become basically best friends with mary lincoln. spent a great deal of time at the white house, having discussions with abraham lincoln about race, slavery, the future of the country. her story is important to be told because she again was part of a contingent of african-americans who sought to influence the presidency and to address issues that needed to be dealt with. "lincoln"e movie

doesn't quite take you there to show you that side of the people who influence lincoln, but it is an important part of understanding what happened in the civil war and how lincoln actually got to the point where he said the only way out of the situation is that slavery has to end. >> than that moment, that meeting. abraham lincoln does something unprecedented. he meets with a small delegation of black leaders, clergy. >> right. at that point, lincoln had already decided to issue the emancipation proclamation. there was some debate about which date to issue it on. but he was already moving in a position where he saw the a future future as without slavery. and these leaders that he met mostly wereople who tied to the black church community, but people who also had ties to abolitionists and

people who were active in other kinds of issues around the country. that really was kind of a turning point, and since that point, there has been a considerable amount of effort on the part of african-americans to negotiate and to meet with and lobby, not only in congress, but ves.president themsel >> talk about these iconic structures that kids, adults go d.c. to honoron, this country, the white house, the capital. who built it? >> this is really important, because i think there may be some sense more generally that washington owned slaves and jefferson owned slaves, but i think there's a general ignorance about the role of people who were enslaved and actually building the nation's capital. the country was

founded, the congress passed legislation to build a capital. washington, d.c. did not exist. there was a decision that land ceded from maryland and virginia would become the nation's capital and it had to be built and it would take 10 years. this is why washington sent all his -- spent all his presidency in new york or pennsylvania. to build washington, d.c. you needed labor. george washington, who was -- who built who built the buildings, the white house, and other buildings in washington, d.c. clarence, howard university alum and author of the black history of the white house. we spoke to him a few years ago when his book came out. yes, we are broadcasting from howard university, from whut,

and right now president obama, former president obama, is speaking. president obama: put your heart and soul not just into our campaigns, but into making schools better. making sure our veterans got the care they need. making sure that we left behind a planet that is safe and secure for our kids. making sure that hard-working people have a letter of opportunity to support families. der of opportunity to support families. all of you have just done amazing, remarkable work. most of it unheralded, most of it without fanfare. most of it without you getting any word of thanks. we could not be prouder. i could not be prouder.

this has been the privilege of my life. i know i speak for michelle as well. continuingward to this journey with all of you. and i can't wait to see what you do next. and i promise you i will be right there with you. all right? god bless you. thank you, everybody. yes, we did. yes, we can. god bless america. obamamer president barack with his wife, michelle obama, applauding at his side. he's at andrews air force base, where he will take the plane that they will take to palm springs, california for a vacation before returning whereo washington, d.c.,

we heard barack obama saying to donald trump just before he was inaugurated as the 45th president, as they were walking through the capital with an open mike, he said i'll be just around the corner. because he will be living just around the corner from the white house. when he ascended the podium at andrews, people were chanting "yes we can, yes we can." this is a "democracy now!" special broadcast of inauguration day of the 45th president of the united states, donald j. trump. donald trump was sworn in by the chief justice of the united , and theustice roberts vice president, mike pence, was sworn in by clarence thomas. i'm amy goodman share with -- here with nermeen. we are joined by two guests. black is the cofounder of

lives matter and the director for special projects of the national domestic workers ,lliance, and still with us alan. to get a comment on that speech, president trump just gave his 15 minute inaugural address. your thoughts? is the most substantive inaugural address i can remember hearing. usually they are full of platitudes. this was packed with is the mose inaugural address i can remember political program. and it shows how serious this guy is. it shows how serious this movement is. we are facing a national emergency now. it's not a joke. has a team consisting of

the most radical political party in american history, arguably current60, the republicans. he has a cabinet who believes in oligarchy unbound without limits , a lot of individuals in there looks to be very competent at their assigned task of dismantling those aspects of their respective departments that serve the poor, or working people, as opposed to the rich. in that speech, which was a collection of the most severe moments from his sub speeches, you really felt again some of the ranist undertones through his campaign. this was a real signal. people better organize now. because up to now, in the course of this campaign, american progressives have not done very

well. it was remarkable that sanders got as far as he did, but he didn't make it over the line, which is in a sense all that counts in the end. stopped.ld not be it's an interesting parallel with what happened in peru last year, in the peruvian elections. there you had three main candidates, a progressive, a neofascist.and a mendoza, the progressive, narrowly was edged out of getting into the second round by the neoliberal. thehen faced in the runoff daughter of the former president, who had sponsored and ruled in a

proto-fascist manner. she was promising to bring that back. although they were heartbroken by the narrow defeat of and rula veronica mendoza, the progressive candidate who had promised to in a very constructive direction, the peruvian backing the neoliberal, figuring he would do less damage, and pushing him narrowly over the line. that didn't happen here,peruviap the return of neofascism by andw we've got trump and the radical oligarchs. they are prepared to devastate the last 100 years of social progress. one thing that has been hasresting to see is trump been working through his transition. he's got the preparation to wreck government as a force for working and poor people.

one party hasn't addressed yet is mass mobilization of his people. i've been wondering if at some point he's going to do that. that's always a key element of any key fascist type movement. is he going to set up p trump leagues at the grassroots level that canthat's always a key elef go and gather outside progressive gatherings and intimidate them, start roughing people up. the tone of that speech suggests that may be the next step. amy: not far from the inauguration route, there is going to be a parade that donald trump will leave. we are going to turn right now to democracy now!'s carla wells. talk about what's happening .here [inaudible]

we arere going to try to make it easier for you to be able to hear that report. somehow the microphone doesn't seem to be working properly. we will get there. earlier today carla was reporting from the black lives matter rally. but i think we have that microphone right now. if you can repeat what you are saying, talk about what's happening now, if there are protesters around you, if you could let us hear what someone has to say. >> thousands of folks all across the country coming for that. one of the most beautiful things

i'd ever seen. on the other hand, we have been facing extreme repression from supporters. i got punched in the stomach here by a large man. it's definitely a mixed bag of emotions today. >> how long will you be out here today? >> i'm here to support the future of feminists checkpoints. we have four women locked down and changed within the security checkpoint and they have requested that we stay here and shut it down and support them until they get arrested. >> what are your greatest concerns about this trump presidency, particularly in terms of what policies may be, about women, his record? >> my biggest concern is a normalizing a hateful agenda. donald trump threatens every community in our country except for rich, white men.

i think the biggest threat is our fellow americans around the world normalizing this type of outrageous behavior that you hear. eporter: we are here at the intersection of 10th street and e. is now in the process of being shut down. here by a large man. this is a route along 10th street to get inside the checkpoint to see the inaugural parade. heregain, a protest shutting it down right now. a continuation of what we've seen all day. there are trump supporters who are confronting all of the activists along the routes along the city. again, more confrontations going on right around this as we speak. we will continue to give you live updates on what's going on here from tents and. e.10th and

amy: e. that was carla wells on the streets of washington, d.c. .eena is also there special thanks to our videographer. tona, can you introduce us activists where you are right now? ,eena: pennsylvania avenue where protesters are waiting for the presidential motorcade. [inaudible] deena,u're listening to but we are going to go to that report in just a minute. continue there in studio, journalist and activist, spends a good deal of time in asia and

indonesia in particular, also in guatemala and latin america. as you look at what is taking place with donald trump. are one of the only journalists who from the beginning said that donald trump would win, even when all the other pollsters and journalists and networks with their high-tech gadgets were showing the polls indicated a clinton sweep. you from the beginning to the end, even in times of the greatest controversy like when that videotape came out of donald trump saying that he sexually assaulted women, you still said, i think he's going to eke out a victory. >> well, because polls are very oldrate at measuring the electorate that turned out last time. they give you a very good picture of where that old electorate stands now. but they can't know who's going to turn out this time great and what trump did was mobilize.

he mobilized his people, he mobilized various kinds of white americans. i believe he got 58% of the white vote. clinton did not mobilize the democratic base, so the electoral model as reflected in the polls were a bit off. clinton still won the popular vote by a couple points so the polls weren't that far off. trump did the mobilization strategically. etc.,higan and wisconsin, and the clinton people did it. so, he won. now, we have the prospect of a president who came to office was campaign that proto-fascist in many respects and was described that way across the political spectrum, from old white republicans to

centrists to left-wing people. he's got his cabinets in place, and now, i think, from that speech, the next phase could be mobilizing his public. getting his trump people out on to go after progressive people, public officials who step out of line, to intimidate, to change the atmosphere. he's got that capacity. the a capacity that political right and the corporations never had before. it is something that hasn't been in americanhile politics. in american politics. if people think there is repression now, you ain't seen nothing yet. among those internationally who like admires, are figures

those from the philippines, who talked about the need to murder millions of filipinos and hasugh police death squads, thousand,eral ostensibly in a war against drugs, a really targeting many just ordinary poor people on the streets. say, just talking about international news, we just got word, this latest tweet from gambia. it says, the third president of the republic of the gambia, he said that, i would like to scheduled to step down. a very interesting development.

gambia a little sliver of land in senegal, where the previous presidents said he would step down. he went on television, had a i concede and said, see the presidency to you, but then said god had spoken to him and he would rule for a billion years. the west african of senegalese soldiers and other countries moved into gambia to remove the defeated president, and the wasent incoming presidents sworn in as president in the gambian embassy in dakar, senegal. it looks like this conflict has been resolved. >> when it comes to authoritarianism, gambia and the u.s. are moving in opposite directions. it is the u.s. that is moving towards authoritarianism and gambia that is moving away from it. who ist's go to deena,

joined by a teacher activist brian jones in the streets of washington, d.c., just before the inaugural parade. tell us what's happening there. deena: protesters are continuing their opposition to donald trump waiting for the presidential motorcade to drive by. it's a very mournful yet defiant theme here. protesters have out to continue despite the long lines. we are joined by a longtime education activist, brian jones. tell us where you come from and what you have seen here at the protests. >> i'm coming from new york city. we drove early in the morning to get here through the secret service checkpoint, which was quite an ordeal. i got an pretty quickly, only about an hour waiting online, because we got here at 6:00 in

the morning. people who got here at 7:00 in the morning waited three hours online who also came from new york, and friends of mine who arrived from boston told me thty waited five hours on line. the secret service played a role in disrupting this protest. as we were discussing earlier, this is the only permitted si te for protesting during today's event. people are allowed to be here, but the secret service effectively disrupted the protest by making people wait 1/2 day just to get inside. deena: you heard the speech donald trump gave recently. what was your reaction to what he said? >> i understand why some people think donald trump is going to deliver for them because he really swung for the fences and made it promises. -- big promises. but i think when you look at the messages underlying his speech,, there is something that should

frighten us. he's promising that he is going to deliver for some people and not for others. he's talkingou" to, who are the people that are going to get their country back? and we know that there are some people, from his earlier rhetoric, who will be left out of that. for people who are included, he made great promises. ththey are not going to have problems with crime. but i fear for the people who are left out of his vision. immigrants, people of color. he went out of his way to praise the police. we are having year after year an epidemic of police violence and murder. there are some people who are left out of these big promises. he's promising people a kind of collectivity that he is saying will deliver a great life. you are a longtime

education activist. your reaction to his pick for education secretary? >> it seems like she's similar to other picks he's made in that she knows very little about the department she is supposed to be overseeing. it was clear from her prepared statement and it was clear from her confirmation hearing that she really doesn't have much to say about what teaching and learning should look like. she's not an educator. she doesn't have any idea what a classroom should look like or what school should look like. her entire proposition is that we can fix what's wrong with schools by changing how we shuffle students around via, in her proposals, choice mechanisms . if we introduce more competition between schools and shuffle around students between the schools, he will end up with great schools. we've seen this neoliberal privatized vision of choice.

we've seen it realized in detroit, in louisianana, and it really ends up resulting in -- and reaffirming and reinstating the same kind of divisions and hierarchy and inequalities that have plagued american education all along. it's not rereally a solution. we need an educator in that position, not someone who really just is pushing privatization. it's quite frightening. she lied in her senate testimony. she said she has nothing to do with the so-called conversion therapy for gay people and she doesn't participate in her mother's foundation, but she's on record for several years back being on the board of directors. is that a clerical error? the reality is we have an anti-gay bigot who will be in charge of the nation's schools

and school children. that is a frightening proposition. people who care about schools, children, parents, teachers, community members, now is the time to speak up and fight back, exercise your right to have civil disobedience, refused to take standardized tests. exercise your right as parents to opt your children out of the standardized tests and throw a wrench in the years of the privatization mechanism. there's a lot we can do to fight back. we had better get started doing it. deena: thank you so much. na onemocracy now!, i'm dee pennsylvania avenue right next to capitol hill and the white house and the trump hotel here in washington, d.c. amy: deena on the streets. i'm amy goodman, and we are in the studios at the pbs station whut at howard university with

a journalistlan, and activist, as well as the black lives matter co-founder, alicia garza. alicia, we wanted to get your comments. this is very interesting. at 11:59, the website of whitehouse.gov was wiped clean and a new website went up. and that is the trump administration website. it says, first and foremost, it was going to wipe out under the climate section the climate action plan and work towards deregulation. standing upon on for our law enforcement community, it reads, our country needs more law enforcement, more community engagement, and more effective policing. theit goes on to say, dangerous anti-police atmosphere in america is wrong. the trump administration will end it.

matter, your organization, decentralized throughout the country, really rose up in response to police killings of young african americans. can you comment on this new position, this new administration? this is obviously a moment where everyone is trying to get our bearings. frankly, this has been an impending threat that folks have felt is coming for a while, and during the campaign we say a lot i this rhetoric from rudy giuliani, who said the black lives matter itself is racist and he had done more for black people than black lives matter had. you had sure if david clark, who was essentially saying that black lives matter is an urban warfare organization that should be compared to isis. we have been seeing this kind of rhetoric that is essentially trying to change the narrative from responsibility and

accountability for law enforcement that does not actually protect and serve, but instead acts as judge, jury, and a secure she and her comment to this additional rhetoric of what weo make sure that see about law enforcement is not that they essentially need to change the way that policing is happening, but instead that we have curated some kind of anti-law-enforcement climate and environment grade all i can say is that's not true. what we see in places all over the country is that law enforcement is still, for better or for worse, continuing to be valorized, even in the face of questionable incidents and cases, at least 1000 last year alone, where people who are unarmed are being killed by police and there is no accountability for those actions. i can also say that i think

there's a racial rhetoric that is underlying all of this as well. and we are seeing here, quite frankly is that in the inauguration speech rhetoric and in the rhetoric meeting up to this very moment -- leading up to this moment, there is a notion that white people are being forgotten about and black people and folks of color and women and other oppressed groups are getting all the attention, getting extra rights. and it's garbage. this is stuff we can expecect to see over the next two years, four years, and hopefully not eight years, which is that essentially, there is a way in which trump and his administration are setting up a set of rules for some people and another set of rules for other people. what we want to do is close the gap. if we are really concerned about how it is that we protect democracy, it means we have to have one set of rules for everybody to adhere to.

unfortunately, what we see in this incoming administration is that there will be one set of rules for rich and white people. there will be another set of rules for people of color, carp -- color, women, immigrants, or anyone who is considered different than the trump -- i'm not even going to say majority, but anybody who is associated with trump's fiefdom. wereinterestingly, as we broadcasting just now, the in air force -- what is the plane they took off in? they flew off to palm springs for a vacation before returning home to washington as private citizens. maybe the same time -- you have the documentation, the actual scripts of the new press secretary, sean spicer. at that moment, president trump

was signing a series of proclamations. if you can share with us sean spicer's first three tweets as press secretary of the new president. >> now apparently they have multiplied. so first he thanked josh earnest, his predecessor at the white house, obama's press secretary, and then he explained the 3 -- because we saw that while obama was leaving, trump are a shortly after making his inaugural speech and started signing documents which of course weren't visible to us, and his press secretary informs us via twitter that he was signing three things. bill into law, formal nominations to senate, and a proclamation for a national day

of patriotism. can you respond to that? alicia: while we are seeing is the introduction of a pro-fascist administration. i think what we can expect over the next two years, is what i'm hoping, 4 years more likely, is there will be these types of unilateral actions that are being taken that continue to narrow and put many different types of boundaries around peop le's rights, people's liberties, and also people's abilities to understand what is happening in their own government. we are seeing the gap between what the trump administration is saying they will be doing, and the actual kind of implementation of that. two separate set of rules. one set of rules for thehem,

another set of rules for the rest of us. i watched president obama's last press conference and he talked a lot about the advice that he trump coming into president obama's role. essentially he said, one of the things i warned him about was if you find yourself taking action unilaterally, if you find yourself taking action with people who only agree with you, you should stop and ask yourself, what am i doing? what obama was able to do, whether you agree with everything he did or not, what he was able to do was to build really effective coalitions of people who didn't always agree, but he found the common denominator. the other thing i think we should be paying attention to, and i was watching the signing disappointedery with our own legislators, right -- nancy pelosi is from my

state. and or does seem to be the sway onwhich folks are going business as usual, as if they are just participating in pomp and circumstance and not actually grappling with the weight of this moment. i'm concerned about what the resistance will look like in the democratic party. and i think all of us should be concerned about that. quite frankly, there are at of our democratic legislators who did not attend this inauguration today, and they should be commended. and then there are a majority of senate democrats who didn't participate. participate. really trying to push to make sure there is an actual a plannce plan, but also to govern differently and alternatives that are being put forward to be able to govern

differently. just swirling around the internet right now that pbs, ap, everyone is also tweeting out. said, donaldpbs trump has vowed that his inauguration will draw unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout. "usa today" says the washington transit agency tweeted a little before noon that there were 193,000 trips taken today, down from 513,000 by the same time january 20, 2009, and less even then george w. bush's second inauguration in 2005. wrote, federal and local agencies have estimated that 900,000 from 700,000 to people will be in washington, d.c. today for trump's inauguration, roughly half the number of people who attended obama's inauguration in 2009.

it's also less than the turnout for obama's 2013 inauguration which drew a million people. the significance of these numbers, and also, just this language in his 15 minute address, using words like a decree across the land, make america first, or just america first, using words like allegiance, and now, in one of sean spicer's first tweets as press secretary, talking about a day of hatred. of the turnout, the very low turnout for trump, i think the key fafact is in an important sense it doesn't matter. it doesn't matter at all because they have the power. it doesn't matter in a sense that he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million. it doesn't matter. he's the chair witith the presidential pen, and not just his hand on the button, but his

hand on the use of violence all over the world. u.s. special forces just under obama recently gone into 138 countries. strikes, assassinating and one country after another. all this under obabama. now that apparatus is in trump's hands. it doesn't matter, because the republicans have become very proficient in recent decades at political engineering, at studying in a serious way, anyway the democrats have not, exactly what the rules are, exactly what meetings you have to go to, what levers you have to pull and push, and through things like voter suppression, through gerrymandering, through redistricting, through the passage of laws regarding ., theyn-finance, etc

have been able to win political power with a minority of political support. and, peeople in opposition too them have to get serious about learning this kind of political engineering. earlier you were talking about enforcing the law. same rules for everybody. the idea is equal justice under the law, which is supposed to be a credo of the american system. we don't have that in this country. if we had equal justice under the law, donald trump would have done time for sexual assault. general mattis, his current defense nominee, would have stood trial for the wedding massacre. this was a wedding party in iraq, near the border of syria, in 2004 when mattis was in command, and his troops went in and bombed and slaughtered the people. he was asked about it afterwards. he said, we thought they were

insurgents. he was asked, how long did you deliberate on this? for about 30 seconds. he gave it the back of his hand. in a serious system of equal justice, he would've had to stand trial for that rather than being elevated to power in high office. mattis is one of the figures around him democrats and republicans have coalesced. the democrats praise him to high heaven. he was invited to speak at both the republican and democratic conventions. he was the man put forward by the bill kristol neocon, -- bill kristol neocon figure. there is a consensus within the u.s.-washington system in favor of the killing of foreign civilians. if we really had equal justice under law, every past president would have to stand trial for the role in the killing of civilians. in terms of the conduct of police on the streets, my god,

think of it. what are the chances now that under a trump administration, police killings of unarmed african americans go down as opposed to going up? what are the chances that white vigilantes with guns become less active as opposed to becoming more active? and how is the trump justice department going to react the first time there is another videotape case -- videotaped case of a black civiliabeining shot by the police, and the community responds with repudiation for the police? what are they going to do? do time fort never this, or the protesters. at least if we know there's been violence against protesters, police there hasn't been attempted systematic prosecution. now there's s every indication that that could be a priority of this new justice department. amy: abs --

alicia: absolutely. billshave been five introduced in five states to criminalize any protest that happens on a transportation system. amy: indiana the home state of pence. alicia: essentially what they are trying to prevent us what they're calling economic terrorism. when you block transportation, block freeways, block buses or train systems, essentially they are saying you are blocking commerce, and that under these new bills will become a crime. i couldn't agree with you more that we have a big contradiction in terms of the idea of democracy that the united states and what we actually inhabit and what we practice. at the same time, i think if a resistance -- i think a resistance is possible. we have the talk about what kind of democracy we want to see, and

we have to start drawing out in very clear ways that it's not enough to have allegiance to the democratic party or the republican party, that in fact we need to be very serious about building an independent political power that has the thistial to reshape country and the way that we interact around the world. amy: block traffic and you die? alicia: exactly. in the image of the vision we want. i want to make that clear. over the next few years, it's very possible that what progressives can start to do is pick things apart so much that people actually feel like there's nothing that can be done. it is an overwhelming situation we're facing right now. this is a moment where we do have to start saying, what is it that we want to see? what are we seeing right now, and harding -- how do we close the gap between what we want to? see and what we are seeing right

now to see and what- we are seeing right now. one of the reasons trump also wasis because nobody actually talking about the populism that really exists in this country, where people do want folks to pay attention to the experiences and the that multiple communities are living in. people do want these political parties to pay attention to what economic security really means, without exploiting people's labor, and certainly without taking advantage of people and having some people have another people not have. and then of course, i think people want to address the contradictions in our political system, where hillary was certainly seen as somebody who didn't tell the truth, she was seen as somebody who again, in similar fashion to donald trump, had a set of rules for herself and the people around her, and a

different set of the other folks. that is something we have to address a serious way. i appreciated your example earlier from peru. i couldn't agree more. there also needs to be a very cogent strategy coming from progressives, or whoever identifies that way, that is not just about the ideal that we want and turning away from eveverything if it's not the idl that we want, but that it's towardsking chess moves the vision that we want. sometimes by doing things that don't feel good, but actually do move us forward. >> what type of things? alicia: who duly coalesce around when we have a major threat, somebody like donald trump, but the candidate that so many people are rallying around clearly isn't going to win. absolutely awas missed opportunity, and it's a disagreement that i had with many people. when you take a step like that and you say, i don't really care

for hillary clinton but i really don't care for donald trump, and so i'm going to get behind her in order to eliminate this threat, one thing progressives can do is eat each other alive and say, you are not radical enough. honesty, there is a mandate that we have every want to be serious about governing, which is to keep our people safe and keep our people alive so that we can continue the fight towards what it is that we actually want. i couldn't agree with you more. idea abouta key finding and advancing ideas that lots of people can rally around. expand, notto contract. not to get into smaller and smaller groups, but get into o g groups that can take power and make things better. ion is -- be

evenhanded. enforce the law. you do the crime, you do the time, no matter who you are. even if you happen to be a member of the police force, even if you happen to be a local prosecutor, even if you happen to be a general or president of the united states. in some way it's a very american notion, because americans pride themselves on the idea of fairness and giving everyone a fair shake. that is one reason sports are so popular, especially among men. the game,hat in everybody has to abide by the rules, it's clear, guys love that. a lot of these guys who ends up voting for trump apply the same principle to law and order. amy: democracy now! is going for another hour in this special live inauguration broadcast. the inaugural parade will be

beginning soon. we will be joined by angela davis, longtime activist bringing us a historical perspective. we have been speaking with alicia garza, cofounder of black lives matter.

announcer: this is a production of china central television america. mike: whwhat makeses a visionan? for some, it's the passion for innovation. for others, it's seeing opportunities to make a difference when others have given up. this week on "full frame," conversations with visionaries who are using their global fame to make an impact. i'm mike walter coming to o you from the heart of new york city's vibrant timemes square. let's take it "full frame."