05/19/17 05/19/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from los angeles, this is democracy now! swedish prosecutors have dropped the investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by wikileaks founder julian assange. but could he still be extradited to the united states if he ststs foot outut of the ecuadoran embbassy where he has been holed up f for close to fiveve years? we will speak to human rights lawyer. then to the war on drugs.

> we know that drugs and crie go hand-in-hand. ththey just do. the facts proveve that so. drug trafficking is an inheherently dangerous and violt business. if you want to collect a drug debt, you cannot follow lawsuit in court. you collect it with the barrel of a gun. amy: as attorney general jeff sessions vows a major revival of the war on drugs, we'll spend ---- speak with susanan burton. she spent 15 years cycling in of prison afterer her five-year-old son was run overr and killeded. she e has writteten a booook abr lifefe expxperience, "becoming . burton: from prison to r recovey toto leading the fight f for incarcerated womomen." i believe in rehabilitation, not only for drug addiction, but for other areas. and we cannot continue to warehouse people and not provide

,evels of rehabilitation reentry services, training, jobs, and allow them to be an economy in add to this america. amy: we will also speak with michelle alexander, author of, "the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness." i is -- has s described susan burton as a modern-day harriet tubman. >> we have got to build an underground rarailroad for peope returning home fromm prisonn. in underground railroaoad.. coururageous peoeople like susan burton have been doioing this wk for a long time. she is buiuilding the unundergrd railroroad. but we all need to take part in that. amy: all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

in sweden, prosecutor friday dropped the investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by wikileaks founder julian assange. assange has alwaways denied the allegations, which he is called a pretext for his ultimate extradition to the u.s. to face prosecution under the espionage act. sisince 2012, assange e has takn refuge in the ecuadorean embasay in london. it's not clear whether assangnge will emerge any time soon. wikileaks tweeted friday -- "u.k. refuses to confirm or deny whether it has already received a u.s. extradition warrant for julian assange. focus now moves to u.k." last month, u.s. attorney general jeff sessions s confirmd that the u.s. . has prepared a warrant for assange, calling his arrest a priority. and washington, d.c., president donald trump has -- assailed his

critics thursday over a series of scandals that have rocked his administration, calling an investigation into alleged ties between russia and trump associates a witch hunt. speaking at a white house news conference alongside colombia's president, trump said he respected the justice department's decision to name a special counsel to the investigation, but denied he personally colluded d with rusu. pres. trump: well, i respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch hunt. there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but i can always speak for myself and the russians zero. amy: asked if he urged former fbi director james comey to close or to back down the fbi's investigation into trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn, the president responded flatly, no. the statement directly contradicts a memo comey drafted after a valentine's day oval

office meeting, in which trump reportedly asked comey to end the investigation into flynn's ties to russian officials. on thursday, the "new york times" published new details of comey's interactions with the president before trump fired him on may 9. "the times" reports trump called comey weeks before his inauguration, urging comey to state publicly that trump was not personally under investigation. on capitol hill, house minority leader nancy pelosi said thursday she's worried the trump -- the white house good try to influence newly-appointed special counsel robert mueller as he investigates possible ties between trump officials s and russia. >> i'm concerned that director mueller will still be subject to the supervision of the trump appointed leadership at the justice department. we must remain vigilant to protect the integrity of the mueller investigation.

a special prosecutor cannot take the place of a truly independent outside commission that is completely free from the trump administration's meddling. amy: robert mueller was appointed by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein after attorney general jeff sessions claimed to have recused himself from the russia investigation. on thursday, rosenstein briefed senators and a closed-door meeting. afterwards, democratic senator rosenstein said revealed he wrote a memo recommending the termination of fbi director comey after trump had alreadyy decided to fire hi. before heed comey wrote the memo? >> he just said on may 8, he led the president was going to terminate comey. amy: rosenstein's memo was dated may 9. last week, president trump contradicted his staff's account of comey's ouster, telling nbc news he had decided to fire

comey regardless of the justice department's recommendations. president trump leaves for the middle east today on the first overseas trip of his presidency. trump's first stop will be riyadh, the capital of saudi arabia, where he's expected to announce a $110 billion deal. the deal was brokered by trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, jared kuchner, and reuters reports it could see as much as $300 billion in weapons sold to the saudi monarchy over the next decade. the deal comes as the pentagon continues to support a saudi-led bombing campaign in yemen, where years of fighting has decimated yemen's health, water, sewawage and saninitation systems. , the u.n. says arouound 19 million of yemen's 28 million people need some form of aid, with many of them at risk of famine. in media news, former fox news

chair and ceo roger ailes, who molded the network into a vast right-wing media empire, died thursday at the age of 77. ailes resigned from fox news last july after he was accused of sexual harassment by more than 20 women, including fox news anchors megyn kelly, andrea tantaros, and gretchen carlson. fox ultimately paid out $45 million to settle the claims. ailes began his career as a republicanan party operativeve a consultant for president richard nixon. over the decades, he advised other republican presidents including ronald reagan, george h.w. bush and donald trump. , trump has called ailes a friend and has defended ailes after the harassment allegations. back in washington, the fcc voted 2-1 thursday, along political party lines, to begin a process to replace net neutrality rules that were adopted in 2015 to keep the

internet open and prevent corporate service providers from blocking access to websites, slowing down content or , providing paid fast lanes for internet service. in response, free press president craig aaron warned the proposal would take away the rights of internet users, saying -- "the federal courts rejected this kind of approach twice when the fcc tried it before." meanwhile, an award-winning reporter is speaking out after he was attacked and forced to leave the federal communications commission headquarters thursday, all for trying to ask a question. john donnelly of cq roll call said he tried to ask fcc commissioner michael o'rielly a question after a news conference had ended. but two fcc security guards reportedly pinned donnelly against the wall until o'rielly had passed. donnelly said o'rielly witnessed

the incident and kept walking. donnelly is chair of the national press club's press freedom team and president of the military reporters & editors association. he issued a statement after the attack, saying -- "i have been working as a reporter in this town for years and dealing with the top leaders in our government every day and in the hustle and bustle of press scrums. i've never been in a situation where simply asking a question was treated as a crime." in washington, d.c., newly published video shows turkish president recep tayyip erdogan looking on as members of his security detail assaulted a group of peaceful l protesters outside the turkish ambassador's residence. the violence left nine anti-erdogan protesters hospitalized. it's not clear if erdogan gave the order for the attack.

among those assaulted were american diplomatic security officers assigned to protect erdogan's delegation. police briefly detained the assailants, but released them after learning they held diplomatic immunity. the assault came shortly after erdogan was welcomed to the white house by president trump. during the meeting, trump did not mention turkey's deteriorating human rights situation, which has seen nearly 50,000 people and 150 journalists arrested since a failed coup last summer. in syria, u.s. warplanes bombed a convoy of pro-government militia members thursday, in what appears to be the trump administration's third attack on president bashar al-assad's forces. the pentagon says it ordered airstrikes after the convoy came too close to a zone where the u.s. and british troops are training syrian rebels. the assault drew fire from some lawmakers, including california democratic congress member ted lieu, who tweeted --

"if true, this is frickin illegal. trump does not have congressional authorization to attack syria, a country that has not attacked u.s." in brazil, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of rio de janeiro, sao paolo, and other cities thursday, demanding the resignation of president michel temer over a corruption scandal. out. want temer we want everyone who is corrupt out as well because this congress is a group of thugs. it is not worth it to just make temer go to justin have commerce but of another in his place. amy: there are growing calls for temer's impeachment, after the newspaper o globo reported the president was secretly recorded approving hush-money payoffs for a powerful politician jailed on corruption charges. temer on thursday refused to step down, even as brazil's supreme court released the audio tape and said it w was investigatining him for briberyf

a potential witness. >> at no moment did i authorize anyone to be paid so that they would remain quiet. i did not buy the silence of anyone. were very simple reason, exactly and precisely, because i am not afraid of any testimony. amy: resilient president -- brazilian president temer said he should remain in office to help end brazil's recession, the longest in its history. the claim came as brazil's stock market halted trading early after it plunged by more than thursday 10% on news of the corruption scandal. in venezuela, national guard troops used tear gas and water cannons thursday as antigovernment protesters marched on the interior ministry in the capital caracas. across town, medical workers evacuated three newborns and one pregnant woman in labor from a maternity hospital besieged by opposition protesters. it was the latest violence that has seen fit to three people killed.

in washington, presidentnt trump said the u.s. could intntervenen nenezue's politicacal crisis. pres. trump: we will be working with colombibia and other coununtries on the venezuelan problem. it is a very, very horrible problem. and from a humanitarian standpoint, it is like nothing we have seen in quite a long time. amy: on thursday, the trump administration announced sanctions against eight members court court afterme ththey ruled in january that opposition party members were in contempt of the constitution that remove them from power. president maduro has accused the u.s. of supporting opposition parties to mount a coup. in greece, the parliament on thursday narrowly approved a fresh round of austerity measures demanded by the nation's creditors in exchange for a bailout. the deal was backed by prime minister alexis tsipras, whose syriza party campaigned on an anti-a-austerity platform. >> we feel that we are on the

final step. nobody is denying, nobody doubts that this agreement has typipicl these. however, it does open a path in front of us. amy: outside the parliament, anti-austerity anger boiled over into protest. police fired tear gas to beat back a crowd of more than ten -- 10,000 people demandnding a w government. is no other solution but revolution. they have taken everything from us will step the pseudo-left us are finishing us all. goa thing we can do is resist and revolt. >> the government must resign him eagerly. the people demand the resignation. amy: the latest round of austerity will see taxes rise and pensions slashed further. eurozone finance ministers will decide on monday whether to disburse another $8 billion in bailout funds. in fresno, california police are , investigating the murder of 34-year-old imerer alvarado as a possible hate crime. alvarado was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds several blocks from the fresno gay bar the alibi early wednesday morning. police described alvarado as a

transgender woman, though friends describe alvarado as a gay man. alvarado's killing is the 11th reported murder of a transgender or non-gender conforming person in the u.s. so far this year. and u.s. army whistleblower chelsea manning on thursday tweeted the first photo of her new look as a free woman after serving seven years in men's-only army prisons. the photo shows manning wearing a black top, lipstick and mascara, with the caption, "okay, so here i am everyone!" and the hashtag #helloworld. while in custody, manning spent years battling the pentagon for the right to transition to a woman, winning the right to hormone therapy treatment in early 2015. although president obama in january commuted her 35-year prison sentence, manning is the longest-held whistleblower in u.s. history. 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.

welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today show with news from sweden where prosecutor on friday dropped an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by wikileaks founder julian assange. assange has denenied the allegations, which equals a pretext for his ultimate extradition to the united states to face prosecution under the espionage act. since 2012, a sauce has taken refuge in the ecuadoran embassy in london. it is not there whether he will emerge any time soon. amy: wikileaks tweeted friday -- last month, u.s. attorney general jeff sessions confirmed the u.s. is prepared a warrant for assange, calling his arrest a priority. for more, we're joined by democracy now! video stream, a

courage foundation trustee and human rights lawyer that has been advising wikileaks and julian assange under the director of the former spanish et,ge who has indicted pinoch bush administration officials, many others on human rights grounds. welcome to democracy now! thank you for joining us from berlin, germany. your response to this stunning news out o of sweden? >> i cannot hide my smilile, toe hohonest. it is such a week to celebrate. a week to celebrarate. in ais s a small victory long road to free julian assange and all of the people workining for wikileaks, but it will finally help us lawyers t to fos on the main issue, which is the persecution,n, political persecution, and prosecution of julian assanange in the united states.

we are ready nowow for the batt. it was long overdue decision from swedish courts. eveven the united natations told ththem to do so more t than onor potentialclare his arbitrary. for the second time, we can sasy that he is i innocent in the system. hehe has never been chargeged oa crime. we hope that this will tell people to focus on the issues of matters in t this case, which is our right and d his right to publish. juan: renata avila, what abobout the isissue of a possible u.s. warrant for julian assange? is are in a responsibility on the part of the government to advise you or any of his other attorneyeys about the existencef a wawarrant of such nd? >> we knonow how this operates. the investigation wikileaks -- .gainst wikileaks

it was all caps in extreme secrecy. it is a secret grand jury. suspect it is already there. email remember for the revelations, there was confirmation of an indictment. we have over time, through freedom of information request, found evidence of this investigation. it is clear f from sessions' statement and clear from others statements that it is imminent. but now the battle that we have to fight is the right of asylum. julian assange has been grantetd asylum by ecuador. the political persecution is

clear. it is a balance. be willing to not respect asylum and therefore, risk all the potential people they want too protect just to get julian assange? or will they respect the right to asylum? that is the question we have to answer the following months. amy: edward snowden has called on donald trump did drop investigation into wikileaks enjoying a socialist of p join more than 100 others in signing an opepen letter from the courae foundation to president trump that calls prosecuting wikileaks "a threat to all free journalism." the letter asked the department of justice to drop plans to charge assange and other wikileaks staff members and reads -- so if you can respond to this and also what happened nowow?

has the ecuadoran government responded? what about the british government? if julian assange steps foot outside -- he is not want to buy swsweden -- will the british gogovernment arrest him? >> i will answer the last question first. the u.k. is refusing to respect its international obligations. police say theyhe will arrest him. they will arrest him for a minor infraction on jumping bail. but it is a misunderstanding because he did not jump bail. he did not stay in the house because he needed to exercise his right to asylum. [indiscernible] amy: we seem to have lost renata avila for a moment. she is speaking to us from ireland, germany, -- berlin,

germany. the video stream is faltering right now. we're not sure why. we're going to go to a break. we will see if we can get her back for a moment. then we spend the rest of the hour in a fascinating new book called "becoming ms. burton: from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incarcerated women." we will also be joined by michelle alexander, author of "the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness." this is democracy now! we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "down to the river to pray" by ousting kraraus. this i is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. it looks like we cannot get renata avila back on with us, one of the advisors to julian

assange. she was speaking to us from berlin, germany, about this latest news that sweden has dropped the investigation into julian assange, where a prosecutor friday dropped that investigatioion into allegations of sexual misconduct. julian assange has always called this a pretext for the extradition of j julian assangeo the united states. we will be bringing you the latest through the weekend. as we turn now to the story we will s spend the rest of t t hor on. juan. in u.s. prisons were first victims. it is estimated 85% of locked up women were at some time or many points in our lives physically or sexually abused or both. disproportionally, these women are black and poor. those are the opening words of

the powerful new memoir "becoming ms. burton: from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incacarcerated women," by susan burton. amy: susan burton's book comes out as attorneney general jeffff sessions is vovowing a a major revival of the so-calllled war n drugs. this is the attorney genereral speakiking athe e dertmentnt of justice e headquartersrs as he rescinded two obama-era memomos that encouraged prosecutors to avoid seeking inordinately harsh sentences for low level drug offenses. >> going forward them i have empowered are prosecutors too charar and pursue the most serious offense, as i believe the law requires, most seriously, r readily approvable offense, and it means we're going toto enforce the law with judgment andnd fairness. it is simply the right and moral thing to do. and crime gogs hand-in-hand. they just do. the facts p prove that so..

drug trafficking is an inherently dangerorous and violt business. if you want to collect a drug that, you cannot follow lawsuit inin court.. you collected with a barrel of a gun. backedessions has a long -- has long backed lengthy prison sentences and mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, inincluding for marijuaa use, which is now legal for either medical or recreational purposes in many states. sessions' escalation of the so-called war on drugs was met with widespread outcry. naacp president cornell william brooks said in a statement -- "the attorney general's directive suggests that this long ugly era of mass mass incarceration now has eternal life. the racial disparities in arrest, prosecution, and incarceration have led to the devastation of african american families and communities." amy: our next guest today know this devastation all too well. after susan burton's

five-year-old son was accidently killed by a los angeles police officer, burton fell into a deep depressionon and a 20-plusus-yer cycle ofof drugs and incarceration. she founund her way to a rehab program in 1997 and made it her life''s workrk to help o other n reenter society after incarceration. the foreword of "becoming ms. burton" is written by another leading voice in the fight against mass incarceration, michelle alexander. she is the author of the best-selling book "the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness." we are thrilled to have her back with us today. michelle alexander, susan burton, welcome both of you to democracy now! susan, let begin with you. the title of your book is "becoming ms. burton: from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incarcerated women." tell us s your story. born in thes

housing projects in east l.a., and struggled most of my life to become, struggled for stability, struruggled for safety. it wasn't until october 4, 1997 i found that after many, many years of abuse, suffering, and then finally the death of my son usehich led to my substance and incarceration. after october 4, a able tohen i was stand upup and come into the community and fight foror not oy my right, , but the right of otr women to come e back and have a life that is just not survival, but offers a lane to thrive. juan: in your book, you talk

about especially -- it is very power -- i was reading it last that. it is a very powerful book in terms of the personal relationships within your own family, the commununity, the support groups you had, and how felt for many years you had failed so many of these folks who have provided you support. but you also talk about how the impact of your family, of your father loss of work in the industrialization of losos anges and the effect that had been her family in the community. father, he was a great family man. he took us to the drive-in every weekend. came to losother angeles running from the racism of the south. they settled in the housing projects. rather, they were directed to this area, is what i understand now where they could be contained, suppressed, and surveillance.

-- they begin the industrialization of america. my father lost his job. with that, went much of his esteem and proud cimino, "i'm the breadwinner and the family man." likeow that until things the industrtrialization and unemployment, white america -- it is a problem that you're lazy, you don't want to work, you have no skills. capturepart of what i when i describe my early years and my mother and my father and our family. amy: can you talk, susan burton, 1997, about how after just several decades of the cycle of addiction and imprisonment, you found your way to a rehab center

and what happened there? >> a friend of mine told me about this rehab center in santa monica, california. there october 4, 1997. what i found there -- i stayed in this rehab for 100 days. after six prison terms. o. days in a rehab host this was a wealthy beach community. there was this huge fuss a of services that i was able -- fetre was this huge buf partake of. anything i wanted. there be, clothing, job, medical, dental, mental health -- just everything. it was delivered in such a

friendly and opening, warm way. and in that community, what i found is that people arrested for the same things that i was arrested for was not sentenced to prison. and i thought, what is this? why is -- what are we treated so harshly and other people given help, given a path, given diversion programs, sent to rehab instead of to prison? and i began to really look closely at the difference in being black in america and white in america, having income, having well and not having wealth, and where that left us. that was one of the driving factors that had me come back to south l.a., where our community had been devastated by the war

on drugs. so many women were sent away to prison. i came back there to create what i found in santa monica. but i did not have the wealth. my skin was not white. -- i did have the commitment a little of the anger -- to get the job done. juan: michelle alexander, i want to ask you first came in contact with s susan and your decision o write the forward for her book. i'm wowondering if you would be willing to read the opening as well. >> i would be happy to. it has been such a privilege and honor to know susan. after ir shortly published my book, but i had heard of her sometime before.

i actually stumbled across an interview with her while i was doing research for my book. in that interview, she described so clearly and so powerfully and with such deep conviction, what it meant and felt like to be aa secondnd-class citizen in this beenry because you have branded a felon. she described what it was like to check the box on implement applications, housing applications, and to be denied even food been branded a felon. stamps because you had once been caught with drugs. i came to learn that she had founded several safe homes for formerly incarcerated women in los angeles and that she was helping to birth a movement led by and for formerly incarcerated people who are demanding the restoration of theirir basic cil and human rights. after i published my book, she

invited me down to l.a. to visit the homes that she created and to do an event for me. when i got there and s saw these homes and met the women, i was just blown away by what susan had created. she has bebeen a profound inspiration to me. and i believe thisis book wi be a profoundnd inspirationon to millions of people, those who have themselves -- found themselves ensnared by our criminal justice system and are struggling to make a way out of no way. those whosusan has made it posr hundreds of women -- not just to survive in this era of massss incarcereration, butut to find a path to a thriving and to see that they, too, can be leaders in this movement for justice. juan: if you could read for us

the opening of your forward? >> ok. "there once lived a woman with deep round skin and black hair who freed people from bondage and assured them to safety. she welcomed them to say from san offered food, shelter, and health of a reuniting with family and loved ones. she e met them w wherever they n be found and organized countless othehers to provovide support ad aid in various forms so they would not be recaptured and sent back to captivity. this couourageous soul knew well the fear and desperationon that each one who came to h her, seeg in t their eyes all of the pain she felt years ago whenen she h been abusesed and shackled, and finally began n her ownn journro freedom. deep i in the night, she cried t to god, begging for strength. when she woke, she b began her workll o over again, opening doors, planing escape routes, and holding hands with mothers as they wept for children they hoped to s see again. a relentntless advococate for

justice, this woman was a proud abolitionist and freedom fighter was ththat she told the unadadod trtruth toto whomever would lisn and spent countless hours training and organizing others, determineded to grow t the move. she served not only is a profound inspiration to thosose who knewew her, but a literal gateway to freedom for hundreds whose lives were changed forever by her heroism. some people know this name as harriet tubman. i know her as susan. and it are those are the words of michelle alexander and those opening three paragraphs in this stunning new work " "becoming ms. burton: from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incarcerated women." michelle, before he go to break, how you see susan story fitting into this larger narrative, the way you have framed your book, , especially in the era of

trump? >> when you read susan's story carefully, easy it is not only a story of individual trauma and struggle, survival and heroism, it is also a story that explains how a system has been born in the united states that criminalizes people in the year of the industrialization and globalization that has criminalized individuals for families, and communities, locking people up who are now deemed disposable, their labor no longer needed, their services no longer required in the current economy. and how we have chosen to treat drug addiction as a crime rather than a public health problem, and how the liberal war that has been declared -- literal war that has been declared on poor

people and people of color have led to the birth of a prison system unlike anything in world history. if susan burton had been white, if she had been solidly middle-class, she would have had access to legal drugs that would have helpeped her cope with her trauma and depression following the death of her son. but instead, susan had no choice but to turn to illegal drugs and self medicate herself. when she was arrrrested and rereleased onto the streets, she forced a -- faced a legal system of discrimination that kept her locked out of jobs and housing, denied her access to food, and ensured that she, along with millions of others, would cycle in and out of prison, potentially, for the rest of her life. juan: susan, i would like to ask

you your response to the forward that michelle wrote to her comparing you to harriet tubman, book had an her impact on your life and on your understanding of your own journey? >> i can't get through the forward withouttears. i am touched very, very deeply the way in which michelle wrote that. and while i embrace it to be real and true, it just touches me very, very deeply. a tear is falling right now. -- much of what michelle "rote in "the new jim crow allowed me to examine more

deeply my life, my family's life, my mothers and fathers life to understand what happened, how my family, my mom and my mom and fathers dreams got dismantled, their hopes got smothered with deindustrialization, with that theyth treatment had prior to coming here. i remember my father talking about that they the hanging in trees. he had that horror that came with him. i can remember how my father never was able to look white people, white men in their face.

this all drowned and dismantled, derailed their hopes and dreams, this systemic oppression, racism , and no value of the black man or woman in america. , as i flip's book the pages, i begin to understand more about my life and the life of black people in america. and this cruel, really cruel systemem that we have that drivs people into being criminalized. entire communities criminalized. amy: we are talking to susan burton. her new book, "becoming ms. burton: from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incarcerated women." and michelle alexander, author of, "the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness."

we're going to get a break. when we come back, after susan burton came out of prison for the final time, we're going to ,alk about a new way of life the nonprofit she is founded that provides supuprt and housing for formerly incarcerated women. why michelle alexander calls susann burton the harriet tubman of our time. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "they can't take that away from me" by ella fitzgerald. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. i am in los angeleles, headed to santa fe, new mexico, and arizona and houston tomorrow.

and one gonzalez is in new york. juan: we're spending the hour with two leading voices in the fight against mass incarceration. michelle alexander, author off the best selling book, "the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindnesess." burton, founder and executive director of a new way of life, nonprofit that provides housing and other support services to formerly incarcerated women. burton, founder and executive directorshe's the autw memoir "becoming ms. burton: from prison to recovery to leading the fight for incarcerated women." i want to go to a clip from a short documentary by the digital channel about -- channel wigs, about susan burton. this is angela, who was s relead from prison just 11 months before this was filmed. >> they y drive you to the busus station anand give you $200 and buy your tickets out of your money and put yoyou on a bus.. you're just headed toto whereve. so i arriveded downtown l l.a.

it was really scary. really scary. i looked likike i came fromm prisison, you know? gegenes in a paper bag. s and a paperback. eveverne knono you are from prison. there are p pple asking if you need a a re and d lling you th y you lk f fin drugug addicicts. people living that life, and y u know they are. it i is so easy to get lord, especially if you're scacared. to be hononest, i was s scared. i felt like i was just standing there naked. i do not have any place to go. i rereally didn't. and i s said, burtonn i receceived a letttter from yod you said f for me to call you ad that y you would pick me up. and to says, where are you? i told her and she said, i will be there in about 15 minutes. she came and picked me up. amy: that is a clip from a documentary about our guest susan burton. we're also joined by michelle

alexander, author of "the new jim crow." susan, talk about this new way of life. it is your nonprofit. anand what it is you are d doing with women who are coming out of prison right now. >> a new way of life is a safe house that women can come to after their release from prison in south los angeles. it is a place for women to detox the trauma, the torture of incarceration, be welcomed d and embrbraced and live and begin their nupathe to -- new path if it is to recovery or receiving mental health services, go back to school, get their children back, whatever their r goals are wewe support them to obtain n te goals. that we spend

$60,000, $70,000, $80,000 he to incarcerate somomeone for mininr drugug charges or petty crimemed then put them on a bus and send them back to skid row without id, without government papers after years of torture and trauma inside of a prison system , and sasay "go makeke a life fr thatr selves" and give them $200 and nothing else. -- andriminal in such such a waste of not only financial resources, but human potential. i have seen n some of the most amazing women with just a few months of support come back and actually their lives soar. they become organizers, caregivers, mothers again.

and become social workekers drug therapists -- all types of walks of life, you know, hairdressers. fit back into o the community. but wiwithout that support once they leave t those datates, allf that potential is just wasted. it just goeses down the drain. so from m what i received in saa calififornia, andnd my goal to transplplant it back into soh l.a., you know, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people have been california, and lives changed, h hope and inspiration given baback. what i belieieve and havee witnessesed is that, you know, women are the glue of our community.

we put the band-aids on. we hug the kids. we raise them. we bring that love into the community andd thahat groroundig fofoundation. and w when you come through a communitity like south l.a. and you just criminalize the entire community and just suck all the women out of it, that community hurts and bleeds as a result of it. so my goal, my hope is to actually repair that damage from the war on drugs and replant the women bacack healthy and whole d thoseo function, and for band-aids on their kidneys. juan: i want to ask shylaa gansr -- a shell alexander, there appeared to be hope in the last years the country was finally beginning to turn away from as incarceration, special medicated drugs and now we're seeing under the new trump administration, we heard what some of the stuff

that new attorney general jeff sessions said. your reaction to where the truck appeared to be heading and now where -- the turn it is? taking? >> i think it is clear by the rhetoric coming out of the justice department today that they are committed to reviving a warlike mentality toward poor people and for people of color. i think we need to respond forcefully with as much as it and compassion as we can muster in these times. you know, a few decades ago, politicians were banging the podium calling for law and order and get tough and declaring war, you know, our television sets were filled with images of crack mothers, crack babies. but you know, a little war was

unleashed. worse that devastated the lives of people like susan. families and communities of color nationwide. well, today, the enemy has been as brown skin sneaking across the border. the podium -- juan: bringing drugs. >> claiming they are bringing drugs and they a are murderers d urging our nation to get rid of them a all. you know, that war that was declared on drugs decades ago gave birth to a private prison system, gave birth to the system of mass incarceration, and if we had d risen to the challenge of the war on drugs the way that we could have and should have, the system of mass deportation would

not exist today. the private detention centers that are locking up immigrants today would not even exist but was wagedug war that with little resisistance for decades in this country and that it prison system, you know, a penal system unlike anything this world had ever seen before. i hope that we w will learn the lesson that the drug war has to teach us and rise to the challenge this moment in history presents and build a truly transformational the willutionary movement that not only dismantle the system of mass incarceration and mass deportation, but will lead us to a new way of life, a new way of caring for one another and for our communities and reimagine what justice can and should be

in this country. the michelle, that is not direction, of course, of the trump administration. jeff sessions, the attorney general of the u.s., just announcing an escalation on the war on drugs, going after drug offenders, people who are addicted. can you talk about the significance of what this means, pushing for mandatory minimums when there has been this many waysnow in across the political spectrum of the right from the koch brothers to newt gingrich to progressives who have been pushing for reform for a long time? what does this mean? what effect will it have? >> at the federal level, it will have significant effect for those who are arrested and charged with federal crimes, particulularly drug crimes and will be facing years, perhaps decades longer than they might sessions have before

overturned obabama's memo directing slightly more compassionate approach. but there is tremendous movement in states and communities around the country in places like california and ohio. go down the list of states and communities that are calling for legalization of marijuana, that are moving to declassify drug offenses from felonies to simple misdemeanors. there is momentum that will not be turned back overnight. and i think that is why it is important for us not only to see the necessity of continuing to build momentum to end the drug war, but to understanand the racial politics that gave birth to this drug war of the same

racial politics that have given birth to the war on immigrants. and it is not simply a matter of building a movement to reform drug policy. it is about building a movement that will break the history and cycle of these racially punitive politics that birth systems of racial and social control in whatever form. so i am hoping in the months and years to come, that we will see more coordination, more unity between the movements to end mass incarceration and mass deportation, and come to see it is the same struggle. to define who is worthy. who has dignity and value and who is disposable. and ultimately, we are trying to birth a new america in which each and everyone of us, no matter who we are, where we came

from, or what we may have done is viewed as fully human with know,y and value and, you deserving of inclusion in our efforts topite the distract and to divide and to elicit from us are most punitive impulses. juan: susan, we only have about 30 seconds, but is there any hope of you expanding our successful new way of life to other cities across the country? >> the next ststage is to actuay identify areas in the country and develop a network of the model in which a n new way of le had developed successfully bringing people back into the community. there has been a lot of interest . i'm going to rerespond to thatt interest because allll over america, we have found that women have been taken out of men have been sent

away, and they need to be able to come back in successfully. amy: susan burton and michelle alexander, thank you for coming back. susan's new book is called "becoming ms. burton." [captioning made possible by democracy now!w!]

announcer: this is a production of china central television america. walter: the human brain, it weighs a little more than a kilogram and we use it every moment of every day, yet so much about our brain remains a mystery. this week on "full frame," we'll meet some of the field's top researchers who are unlocking the popower of the brbrain. i'm mike walteter in ls angeles. let's take it "full frame."