, author ofrita parsi "losing an enemy." then we remember black lives matter activist erica garner who died saturday after falling into an asthmalowing induced heart attack. she was just 27 years old. forhelped lead the struggle justice for her father erica garner, was killed when police officers in staten island put him in a fatal chokehold in 20 13. >> i still have not accepted my father is gone, even know i talk about my dad, i talk about him in a case that he like i've been studying his case and you can see i am constantly reading ararticl andnd doinghe research my dad's s case but i'm not kiking care me. amy: in august, shgagave bth toer s secdhild, a son she named after her fath.. wilill membererric in her own words and speak with two opople

who are close to her, shuan king , and kirsten savali. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in north korea, leader kim jong-il and has ordered and opening up a hotline bringing the biggest thaw in relations between the two koreas in years. it came as the south korean president said he's is open to talks next week the so-called truce village in the demilitarized zone. as president trump took the social media to make a threat of nuclear war steeped in sexual bravado. trump tweeted from the white house -- "north korean leader kim jong-il and just stated that the nuclear button is on his desk at all times. will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that i too have a nuclear button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than

his, and my button works!" his street was among an torrent of 60 m messages he posted to itter on h his first f full dayf work of the new year with attacks on many. trump also tweeted his support for protests that have sprung up in cities and towns across iran over the past week, proclaiming "time for change!" trump's tweets came as the us ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, called on the security council to convene emergency meetings to discuss iran. this is white house press secretary sarah huhuckabee sanders. >> america longs for the day when iranians will take their rightful place alongside the free people of the world. as the president said in october, we stand in total solidarity with the arena and longest suffering, it's people. the citizens of a rent data heavy price for the violent

extremism of their leaders, and the iranian people long to reach claim their countries cooperation with its neighbors. amy: on tuesday, iran's supreme leaderccused thehe country's enemies of fomenting unrest, as anti-government monstrations continued for a sixth day and read to the northwestern city of tabriz. at least 20 people have been killed in the clashes so far -- the largest protests in the country since 2009. this is s iranian supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. >> the enemy is poised for an opportunity, a breach to penetrate through. look at the past few days. all of those who are against the islamic republic of iran, those with cash, politics, weapons, and intelligence apparatus joined hands so they may be able to create troubles for it ran. amy: the protests are largely targeting iran's high unemployment, housing costs and wealth inequality. they're focused on both hard-line clerics and reformers. newly surfaced video from a new year's day prototest in tehran shows protesters chanting, "down with the clerical regime."

we will have more on iran after headlines. president trump threatened tuesday to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of annual aid to the u.n.'s relief agency for palestinian refugees, dealing another blow to the prospect of a a peace deal betwn israel and the palestinians. trump tweeted -- "we pay the palestinians hundred of millions of dollars a year and get no appreciation or respect. they don't even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with israel. we have taken jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but israel, for that, would have had to pay more." trump's comment on jerusalem contradicts his statement made just a few weeks ago that his recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital would not impact the final status of the city in peace talks. trump's tweet came just after israel's parliament passed a new law tuesday that would make it far more difficult for the government to divide jerusalem as part of any future negotiated settlement. israeli seized control of east

jerusalem in 1967 and has occupied the territory ever since. palestinians, however, have long seen east jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and both the u.n. security council and the general assembly have passed dozens of resolutions calling for israel to end its occupation. a spokesperson for palestinian president mahmoud abbas declared, "jerusalem is not for sale." and senior palestinian official hanan ashrawi said in a statement -- "we will not be blackmailed. president trump has sabotaged our search for peace, freedom and justice. now he dares to blame the palestinians for the consequences of his own irresponsible actitions!" hanan,,ur interview with you can gogo to democracynow.or. at the united nations in new york, u.s. ambassador nikki haley said tuesday that president trump will withhold $255 million in assistance to pakistan. the announcement came a day after president trump took a swipe at pakistan on twitter, sparking widespread anti-u.s. protests acrososs pakistan.

this is pakistani politician imran khan speaking in islamabad. >> trump has no understanding of the war in afghanistan and the destruction it is causing in pakistan. it seems like yes no background knowledge about it at all. pakistan has made sacrifices. it is suffered losses in the process. our tribal areas have been devastated. on top of all of this, we're being humiliated. and american president who lack sense and does not understand much and is following the agenda of our enemies, he is insulting us in the end. amy: meanwhile, president trump attacked hillary clinton in a long time eight on twitter calling for abedin to be gel. in climate news, a new report warns that w without immediate, large-scale action to limit global greenhouse gas emissions, as much as 30% of the earth's land could fall into a state of

perpetual drought, threatening the food supplies of billions of people. the report in the journal nature predicts the desertification would follllow a global average temperature rise of 2 celsius, or about 3.6° fahrenheit, by 2050. that's the e upper limit set by the landmark 2015 paris climate accord, which has been embraced by every nation on earth, except the united states, under president trump. interior secretary ryan zinke is urging president trump to radically shrink three mararine monuments and to open them up to commercial fishing. the monuments, which were expanded under president barack obama, are vast --covering an area about t three times the sie of california. zinke's proposal comes after president trump shrank national monuments including bear's ears in utah, opening up the protected federal lands to mining, logging, drilling and other forms of extraction. in h honduras, presidential candidate salvador nasralla and other opposition leaders have called for an uprising against incumbent president juan orlando

hernandez, saying the november 26 presidential election was stolen. last month, an election tribunal controlled by hernandez's government declared hernandez the e winner by a narrow margin after early counts put nasralla in the lead by five points. on tuesday, salvador nasralla said protests would continue right up to hernandez's scheduled inauguration date of january 27. the electoral officials have to respect my victory. if they don't want to respected, if they don't respect i it, then the people will respect my victory. on january 27,s the popular will come to pass regardless of what the electoral officials want to say. amy: election observers and the organization of american states have called for a new election, saying the first vote was so filled with irregularities that

in germany, police have asked a prosecutor to investigate a lawmaker with the far-right afd party on charges of incitement to hatred after she posted an islamophobic and racist comment on social media. beatrix von storch, a member of parliament with the anti-immigrant alternative for germany party, was criticizing a local police department t for tweeting a new year's greeting in arabic. her tweet, translated from german, reads -- "what the hell is going on in this country? why is an official police site tweeting in arabic? are they trying to appease the barbarian, muslim, gang-raping male hordes?" von storch's account was later suspended. in september, her party won 94 out of 709 seats in germany's parliament. back in the united states, the senate's longest-serving republican, utah republican orrin hatch, said tuesday he will not run for reelection to the senate in during his 42 2018. years in the senate, hatch supported u.s. wars in afghanistan and iraq, and played a prominent role in passing the usa patriot act in 2001. hatch also backed the children's health insurance program and the americans with disabilities act. hatch's retiremement will set ua likely primary battle in utah, a

majority-republican state. there's speculation that former massachusetts governor mitt romneyey will run for the seat. in georgia, police arrested more than 60 people in a house party after they found a small amount of marijuana at the scene. those arrested ranged in age from 15 to 31 years old. they say police entered the home without permission, without a and arrested everyone inside when they could not determine the owner of the less than ounce of marijuana. the aviation safety network reported monday there were no commercial pasassenger jet deats anywhere in the world last year, making 2017 the safest year on record for commercial aviation. president trump quickly took credit, tweeting -- "since taking office i have been very strict on commercial aviation. good news." trump's boast prompteded astront mark kelly, the brother-in-law of former congressmember gabby giffords, to respond on twitter -- "if you're going to take credit for zero airline deaths in 2017

then you should take responsibility for the tens of thousands of gun deaths, too. #lawsmatter" mark kelly tweeted. and in iceland, a new law that took effect with the new year will see companies that fail to ensure equal pay among male and female employees subjected to heavy fines. the icelandic women's rights association says the pay equity law is the world's first of its kind. under the law, companies employing 25 or more workers will have to prove to the government that they're paying men and women equal salaries or face penalties. 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's show in iran where antigovernment demonstrations have continued for a six day. at least 20 people have been killed in n the clashes so far, the largest protests in the country since 2009. on tuesday, iran supreme leader

accused the leaders of fomenting unrest. poised.nemy is look at the incidents in the past two days. all of those were against the islamic republic of iran, those with cash, politics, weapons, and intelligent apparatus join hands so they may be able to create troubles for it ran, for the e islamic republic. juan: ayatollah ali khamenei's comments came after the u.s. voiced strong support for the protests which began last week by opponents hassan rouhani and have since spread to other cities including the capital, tehran. protesters say they are concerned about the country's high unemployment and rising housing costs. the iranian regime has reportedly blocked some encrypted messaging apps in an effort to prevent protesters from communicating securely. during a press conference on tuesday, white house

spokespersononarah sandeders sad the e u.s. stands with the irann people. >> united states supports the irananian people anand we call n the regime to respected citizens basic right to peacefully express their desire for change. aerica longs for the day when radiance will take the rifle place alongside the free people of the world. amy: also on tuesday, u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley similarly praised the protesters in iran. she said the united states is seeking emergency sessions on iran. her comments came after president trump began the new year by supporting this support for the protests in iran. cnn reports that trump may use the protests as a pretense to slam the iran nuclear deal ahead of key legal deadlines looming this month. in mid-january, trump will once again have to decide whether to certify iran's compliance with the deal. trump will also have to decide whetheher to renew temporary waivers for u.s. sanctions against iran. it's unclear if trump's condemnation of the iranian regime's response to the recent protests will factor into his decisions.

on sunday, iranian president rouhani voiced skepticism that trump is genuinely concerned about the iranian people. inthis man, donald trump america, who today was to sympathize with our people, has forgotten that just a few months ago he labeled the a rainy a nation at terrorist nation. this person who is against iranian nation to his court from he wants to feel sorry foror iranian? there is a question here. it is open to suspicion. amy: for more, we are joined now by two guests. in washington, d.c., we're joined by trita parsi, the founder and president of the nationalal iranian americacan council and author of "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the legacy of diplomacy." and in los angeles, we are joined by reza sayah, a freelance journalist based in tehran, iran but in the u.s. for for the holidays. he covered iran for cnn international for over 7 years. after his coverage of the 2009 anti-governmenent protests, iranian authorities denied him permission to work for two years. sayayah later returned to tehrhn to report on the ongoing nuclear talks, the 2013 presidential

elections, the signing of the interim nuclear deal, and most recently, the 2017 iranian president elections. we welcome you both to democracy now! reza sayah, you're just back from iran. can you talk about what these protests are all about? off, amy, i think it is important to point out that it is a difficult to verify and substantiate, and confirm what is happening all over iran, even if your inside iran at this hour, let alone if you're sitting where i am or a reporter in washington, d c i have been very skeptical of reporters and analysts who have been unequivocal in certain about what is happening in iran. having said that, i've talked to a couple of sources today who tell me that these antigovernment protests are seemingly dying down. tehran at t this hour seems to e

quiet, seems to be the case e in other major cities. state media reporting today pro-government demonstrations in --least 10 cities, including pro-government demonstrators who are coming out showing her support for the government and condemning the recent protests in the past several days. i think it is important to point out that despite the attention that these antigovernment protests have gotten the past week, there was still indication , to me, this was a repeat of 2009. i was there. you had hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people, coming out into the streets in what appeared to be a legitimate threat to the government of iran at that point. this time, the protests are citiesead in at least 60 according to reports. but they are small in number. according to reports, in the hundreds, in the thousands.

some are yelling antigovernment slogans against the supreme leer, against the president. these protests are being driven by the high cost of living, unemployment. these are grievances that the must address. what we saw today based on the limited information that i have, these are not the protests we saw in 2009. this was not a mass uprising. even so, a lot of analysts and reporters describe it as such. i think most levelheaded and sober minded analyst and reporters had a sober analysis. these are significant protest, but it is unclear where they are headed. information todaday is seemingl, seeminingly they are losing little steam. i think a lot of people will be anxious to see what happens today and the coming days, where this goes, and how the government, more important than anything else, addresses the

economic grievances of the people protesting. i want to ask you a couple of things. one is your reaction to the response of president rouhani who seems to have, in some public statements, say there are legitimate concerns being expressed in the people have a right to protest. and secondly, the call by nikki haley for an emergency meeting of the united nations to deal with this issue. i mean, i can imagine, for instance, in 1992 after the the riots and los angeles followingg ththe court decision on rodney king where 55 people were killed and 12,000 were arrested just in los angeles, that some other country would call for an emergency meeting of the united nations to discuss the freedom struggle of the people of thee united states. >> first off, president rouhani and the government's reaction, many people are arguing that the government is showining surprisg restraint. the president of iran has come

out and said these are legitimate grievances and the rainy people have the right to protest them although, he condemned the violence. you had a rainy and newspapers with headlines that are calling -- iranian newspapapers with headlines calling on the government to listen to the people. in many ways, this is unprecedented. i think the iranian government understands the power of the iranian people. six months ago, the recess 70% rouhanito vote for after the elections. i was there. there was hundreds of thousands of people in the streets demonstrating. i think the iranian government understands that if there is a severe crackdodown, these people can come out and there could be a repeat of 2009. i think they showed relative restraint. when it comes to reaction from the u.s. government, i think many people in iran believe that the u.s. government's intention is regime change.

i think there is a lot of indications that this movement in washington, led by the trump administration, that has altered iranian foreign-policy that was cautious engagement under president obama, thee confrontation are pushing for these demonstrations, to grow. and i think in the coming days, you will see more of that. iran areany people in very skeptical of the u.s. expressing their concern about the a rainy of people and alleged human rights violations and reactions to the protest. amy: let's play with the white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said yesterday. >> i think the ultimate end game would be the citizens and the people of iran are actualllly given basic human rights. he was suddenly like to see them stop being a state sponsor of terror. i think that is something the whole world would like to see. amy: in this is was sarah huckabee sanders said,

responding to a question about whether the recent protests in iran will influence trump's decision to reimpose sanctions on iran. >> i think the president has been there what his position is in support of the iranian people . in terms of what decision he will make on that waiver, he is not made a final one yet but he will keep -- with regard to that. amy: reza sayah, can you u respd to what that would mean? >> i think iranians are very aware. they're very much political -- that a lot of political savvy. they know that these statements are familiar. these were the statements made in syria, in libya, and i think, and partially, a lot of iranians have seen that the current policy in washington is having towards a heading movement that is not going to support this nuclear agreement, this nuclear agreement that many people were hopeful with changee

things for the iranian economy. again, once donald trump command office, the policy changed to confrontation. the iranians were hoping the nuclear deal would lead to international trade with the europeans. a lot of europeans are eager to make s some deals with the irann government. but i think a lot of people are aware that the global economy still is controlled by the u.s. dollar, the u.s. government. washington has shown they don't support this nuclear deal, and that is why a lot of europeans, a lot of european countries have held back in making deals with iran.. amy: let's bring trita parsi into the conversation of the national iranian american council, aututhor of "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the legacy of diplomacy." among the first weeks of president trump in the new year was attacking president obama. trita parsi, this month, once

again, president trump will be deciding whether to certify the korean deal. deal. iran talk about this and if you think these protests will continue. >> what is coming up as a deadline in which the u.s. is onigated to renew waivers the sanctions as long as iran is living up to its end of the bargain. all of the root or it's from the iaea show the radians are complying with the agreement and as a result, the u.s. is theseted to renew waivers. otherwise, the u.s. will be out of compliance with the deal. the deadline is coming up sometime around january 12. with these protests, i believe donald trump has found a new pretext to do what he had planned to do all along. to not renew the waivers. as a result, essentially walk away from this deal. the question is whether this deal could survive without the united states. on, he isrotest going

a new pretext and will probably easier way to make this decision and sell in washington compared if you done it three or four month ago. juan: you said you believe these were initiative by conservative elements within iranian society, but have an effect, a backfire to some degree. the do talk about that? also, the impact of the new confrontations now between the united states government, the trump administration, and iran, on the economic situation in iran. >> i spoke to his person -- i spoke to a person who observed the first protest, believing was last thursday. these were organized by hard-liners who were hoping to put pressure, embarrassed the

rouhani government. there's a tremendous amount of economic frustration. hopes the high economy would move in the right direction. it has not, at least not lived up to the expectation. the hard-liners were trying to capitalize on that. and things got out of control because rather quickly, more people joined these protests. they were not from the conservative ranks. there were just champion slogans against hunt's government, now targeting the regime as a whole, including the establishment. we had some conservative figures come out and express some regret. saying this is not the weight was supposed to turn out. these were not the slogans that were supposed to be said. but now we are where we are and it has grown and gotten completely out of their hands. when it cost of the confrontation between the u.s. and iran, or the trump administration, i think reza got it right. it is not just the message. some will it greet with the messages from donald -- some will agree with the message from donald trump, but the messenger carries no credibility mindful of all of the measures that the trump administration has done that has targeted the iranian people, including people very

much against the arabian government, such a some muslim ban that is affected iranian nationals and more than any other nationality. juan: and in terms of the efforts to restrict or mosul social media. during the green revolutioion bk in 2009, only about a million iranians had smartphones. today, 48 million have smartphones so there's a lot more social media communication going on. your sense of what is happening with that crackdown? >> some of these apps were cold down. around that.d ways i lost contact with some people for about two or three days precisely because of the closing down of telegraph but it reopen again because people find different ways to get around it, other apps, etc.

ultimately, does it cat and mouse game that i don't think the government can when precisely because there are some ingenious ways of getting around these different locks. amy: re-surprised by these protests? >> i was in most were. i spoke to organizers of the green movement. they had no expectation of this happening. there were taking a calculated distance from this precisely because they d't t fully understand where this came from and where it is heading. part of the reason w why think f to people by surprise, including myself, because it is a very different demomographic that is out there protesting now. a demographic that is not been at the center ofran's polical development for the last two decades. people were not necessarily paying attenon to theineeds anto theiriremand as a a result. i think is important understand this. what is happening the last month in iran, a new budget proposal has been made in the parliament, which cut a lot of cash handouts to the poor that would raise

fuel prices 50% -- things that would really affect poor people in iran very negatively. it appears that was thetraw that broke the camels back. a lot of pent-up frustration and a lot of disappointment that the economic situation would get better.. then they saw this budget that would make the situation much worse. that is part of the reason why you have the outpouring in the streets. what about the involvement of perhaps the cia, u.s. government, other western government? u.s. reckless s right now to sai arabia, an enemy of iran. and the reasons to raise the issue of the cia in people's minds and a ram, much more than the united states, is going back to the history of 1953 and the cia overthrow, the u.s. government overthrow of the democratically elected arabian leader. this is a sensitive point precisely because of the history mentioned. we have to be frank. we don't know. what we do does the people have

legitimate grievances because of both political, social, and economic injustices in iran. that does not mean, however, they may not be either a thames by outsiders to influence this or try to hijack it. but i think it is also interesting to see how the rouhani government handled it. hard-liners were quick to blame the whole thing on outside interference and saying the protesters are in collusion with foreign agents. but the rouhani government said that most people that are protesting are protesting because they are angry because their legitimate frustrations. some may be doing so because they're under the influence of foreign agents.

i think they did so because they understand they will be inciting more protest if they were to insult the protesters by essesentially dismissing the grievances. instead, they accepted they have legitimate remixes in an effort to try to calm down the situation. juan: human chen president rouhani. your assessment of president rouhani? is unusual that as a clerical hierarchy. yet the people often don't go along with the clerical hierarchy. see thoseresting to -- those hard-liners have been endorsing is almost always lost in these elections. these elections are not fully democratic because there's a etsrdian council that v candidate and a rather undemocratic way. as reza pointed out, but her participation is quite high. there is a civil rights move meant. there is a very strong civil society in iran that has really internalized democratic values. but what we're seeing right now

is actually protesters from a different demographic who seem to believe they have nothing to lose, don't seem to buy into the idea that the system can be changed from within, but are so frustrated that they are now calling for the system to be overthrown altogether. amy: reza sayah, as you head back to iran. as you cover it for many years, president trump congratulating the protesters, challenging the establishment. you'u're in los anless right n . do you think it could have in a reverse effect, inspiring people inin the united states as well? >> you know what? i doubt it. but what is interesting to me, what i observed, whenever you have protests in iran, the smallest indndication there is antigovernment protests, there is a convergence of interest. one is the u.s. policy led by

the neoconservatives that is one of hegemony that says you don't negotiate with iran, you don't compromise with iran, that any state that doesn't cement to the interest of the e u.s. cannot be negotiated with, and then you have the iranian diaspora in the u.s., very large community that still sees a rep from their prison of the 1979 revolution. they despise the circle establishment. they despise the mullas. video journalists who want their stories view to. they want to the news media here in the u.s., they want fewer ships.s. and all of these interests converge oftentimes to create an impression that these demonstrations are it this time, that the government is going too be talall old. no one knows what is going to happen in the coming days. but again, a lot of people are eager to see this government the overthrown. but this is a government -- this is a system that has lasted for

40 years. it is not because they have made radical steps. i think a lot of people will be eaeager to see if they're goingo be addressing the very real grievances of the protesters in the coming days and the coming months. you fora sayah, thank being with us, independent journalist usually based inn tehran. the nationalf iranian american council. author of "losing an enemy: obama,a, iran, and the legacy of diplomomacy." we remember back, remembe erica garner. erica, at ththe age of 27, has died. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman wtih juan gonzalez. we turn now to the tragic death of black lives matter activist erica garner, who died saturday after she fell into a coma following an asthma-induced heart attack. erica garner was the eldest daughter of eric garner, a 43-year-old father of six, who was killed in when police 2014 officers in staten island, new york, wrestled him to the ground, pinned him down and applied a fatal chokehold. his death was recorded by a bystander named ramsey orta on his cell phone. in the video, officer daniel pantaleo can be seen placing garner, who was unarmed, in a chokehold. as officers held him down, garner cried out at least 11 times, "i can't breathe!" those were his final words, and his daughter erica made sure they were not forgotten, calling for justice and leading protests breath!"chant "i can't it was at one of these early protests that democracy now! first met erica. amy: how old are you? >> 24. my father was a loving man, a knife man. he was very nice. -- a nice man. he was very nice.

he did anything for anybody who came around him. anybody who came around him was touched by his greatness. -- i wasdeotape traumatized. it was horrible to see my father die on national tv. it was horrible. i got to live with us forever. amy: what is it me to see more than 1000 people out today? my father's voice is being heard. we are standing as one. everybody is coming together for the right cause. juana medical l examiner ruled eric garr's dedeath a homicide, citing "compression of his neck, compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police." but in december of 2014 a grand jury decided not to indict officer pantaleo, setting off protests that shut down parts of

new w york citity, includiding e brooklyn b bridge. at least 83 peopople were arrested. this is erica garner speaking after the grand jury's decision, at the site of her father's death in staten island. >> this is the spot that ems workrkers and police officersrs failed a as new yorkrkers becaue they let an innocecent man die, beck for his l life, fight for s lastst breath h and now i have o come here every time i feel sad -- i have to come here and be his voice becacausee did not speak any more. hehe kept sayiying "i can't bre! " he could not breathe. they continue to take my father away frorom me. took mythe man who father's life wants to apologoge

to my famimily. i don't even know how to respond to that. am notot en going r respond tohat. am that waerica gaer' -- ica garn speakin in 24 at the site ofer father erigagarne's death from a police chokehold in staten island. during the 2016 democratic presidential primaries, erica garner endorsed senator bernie sanders of vermont for president and appeared in an ad for his campaign. last july, president obama spoke to her directly after she protested she had been railroaded when she was not called on to ask him a question during a town hall taping by abc that she was invited to attend. erica spoke about her own political aspirations on democracy now! just last year. >> i went to organize the black and brown folk on staten island. i want to knock on n doors. i would ask the people ofof stan island aboutut their issues firsthand because no one is tatalking about whatat is goingn on staten island.

if i do decide to run for the one of those elected officials that get into office and don't turnrn their backs on people. i want to be one who h holds people a accountable and get the correcected out. i i want to be able e to treat e sameme way how they treat whistltleblowers.. i wantnt to be able to pointntut ththe corrupted d elected d offs and gethemem o. am that was erica garnernene ar ago ijanunuarof 20101 in august, she gave rtrth toer send c chi boy n ned after her , a lateatather. dodocts say y e pregnancy strainederer hea. hetwititteaccounun run by her family a f frien, sasayshe nt into cardiac arrest ltt ek a anduffereremajor brain damage from a la o of oxen.. when sheied saturd, she was 27 yrs old.

ue membeher li, we are joinedy two ople whoere her iends. shuan ki is coluist fothe inrcept an iter-in-redence harvard w school's fair punishmen project, a was preously th seor justi writer the new yorkaily ns. d via demoacy no video stam from uston,irsten st savalis a joualist an associateditort the root her rece piece iheadlid "erica gner: 'i'in this ght fover." welcomboboth oyou toemocracy no kirsn, h how d you mt erica >> met hern 2016 drug policy allianc parer gaering atolumbi univerty. e was the maki the nnection betwe -- itas ally aoderern-y lynchg of rather byhe nypd d t the drug war, t war onrugs and the occution of black an browcommunitie weid not mt as journalism acvist.

was aut two womenissing thei fathers. my f father ssed ay in 2011 ju making re theiregacies did no die. i saw her and we connected over that. amy: t talk abouout the conversations you had then and what she meant to you in her actitivism and why you wrote ths piece in the root. >> i wrote it because e erica ws very resilient. she e did not let her g grief sp her. she did not let the rage maker immobile. she used it to lift her voice for a community of people. -- she wasy, very not afraid to stand alone. we saw that when she went day in and day out and she went back to the spot where her father was killed. she was not afraid to stand alone. she was not afraid and not follow the trend of particularly black women who were supporting hillary clinton during the election. that was something that was not very popular to do.

she did not get a lot of support in that. she was very clear about she was in the struggle for justice for her father. she was in it for other communities. i d't ow if she s unafraid, but she was very, very brave. y youyou should people -- said people should not whitewash her legacy. what do you mean? >> when we s saw mayor de blasio sending his condolences on twtwitter. she was highly critical of him. he was one of the ones who said it was an archaic law and disciplinary records to 90 to be released. he has multiple strikes against him. we read about that. we know about that now. when we see somemeone dies and e revolutionary dies, s someone wo does not believe in political monopoly, , he does not follow a political party, who does not pull a line that is well behaved or someone who says what they're suppososed to say, we see their

legacies whitewashed. we saw that with martin n luther king, how certain politicicians judged by theo be content of my chcharacter, but e color of my skin." they don't talk about him and say white people in particular, they think they're specialal because they're white. they don't talk about how you said -- the problem of persona say "this is how we fefeel about racial justice and this is how we should all come together." erica garner w was not about coming together for peace if there is no justice. that needs to be very clear. juan: shuan king, could you talk about your relationship with erica, how you first got to meet her and her importance? >> first off, the piece that kirsrsten wrote was beautiful. there was a lot of inaccurate stuff said about her and kirsten's piece, a really echoed

my sentiments and heart. i'm thankful she wrote it. we started talking all the way back in 2014 just through twitter direct message. it is funny that you get to know people through text message and direct message, sometimes without seeing them for months or years. i did not actually see eric of face-to-face until wboth started campaigning fobernrnie sandnder aybe mybably greatest defender and friend. i feltlt like we owed her to put ourselves out there to defend her. thererwere many y times when she came to mymy defense. i miss h her already. there was just a a fiercnanature ththat she had. kirsten says sometngng thai sa ass wl. sh was unbought and unbossed.

and anyway she w ouramily name or. i even compared to hea williams a a as someone who spoke ututh to power. when she loved you, you did n have to guesababout w shshe lt out you, good, that come ugly she s s an a -- an artist voice. there are a lot of people her right now. amy: we are going to break. only come back, we will hear more from erica garner herself. we will be back in a minute as we remember erica garner. ♪ [music brk]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman wtih juan gonzalez. we are remembering black lives matter activist erica garnrner. this i is ericica speaking on democracy now! in january 2016. >> well, and you deal with

grief, when he talked about grief and you talk about family and our regular families deal with it, you know, families have problems. family has trouble coping with it. but it makes it so different because now we are part of this national scale like everything we do is in the paper. we got people coming from the left field giving us bad advice. people coming in with their own agendas. are brushed into the spotlight. we don't have union reps and people to represent us and tell us, you need to do this or you need to do that. dealingy has been just with that, trying to stay organized and also deal with the fact that my father is gone and nothing is being done about it. very important. you hear bill de blasio say, it

is very important and we need to do something about it. it is like, a family put in my position, black families on public assistance that doesn't have the income to get there be is $300 an hour. i don't think that is fair. it is not made for the black population b because how are we supposed to cope with this if we don't have someone to talk to, someone profofessionally to talk to? now my family is trying to figure out, well, me personally, i'm trying to figure out how can i get past that barrier and find someone to talk to to do with this? this is trauma. bashed ayear-old niece boy in the head with a book at school and said "i'm angry the cops killed my grandfather." she was not mad at the kid. she is so young.

for her to say that, it hurts my heart. she got to talk to someone at her daycare or whatever, and it is just not fair. placed whatever put into for mental health to take care of our mental health, because it is very important. it is very important dealing with grief. i still have not accepted my father is gone, even though i talk about my dad. i talk about him in a case study. like i have beentutudying ththis case foror the latesest updatesu can go to my website or to and you can see i am constantly reading articles and doing the research on my dad's case, but i'm not taking care of may. amy: so that is erica garner two years ago. it was january 2016. we're continuing to remember erica who died this weekend at the age of 27.

she died after giving birth to her second child, a son she named eric after her dad eric garner who died in a police chokehold in 2014. she went into a coma after an asthma induced heart attack. andguests are shuan king kirsten savali. erica, talkn to about what has been and what has not been accomplished and her father's case. so much of it pushed for by erica. she was both c critical and supportive of bill de blasio, but right to the end, fighting for the disciplinary records of officer pantaleo to be released. to the issueue of the federall civil rirights indictmtments tht have not come down. failedt of people fea

erica and her family. i'm rather new to new york. there was a view of the city that i had that it was a progressive haven. i think that irritated erica that people saw the city is incredibly progressive, yet she could not get the most basic form of justice for her family. they never fired officer daniel pantaleo. i even confronted the police of -- chief of police about this. they talk about rules and regulations that here we are over three years later and he clearly violated nypd policy. they did not fire him. the city, including the mayor, five family over andnd over agan for the release of his disciplinary records. just ridiculous. i think mayor de blasio will look back on t this with d deep regret. it was a missed opportunity to do right by a family. i really don't even think it is something he can make right. erica was the most fierce defender of her father.

i don't think there is a way that mayor could fix this at this point. even the obama administration and the justice department really seem to make a commitment to erica, even donald trump made a commitment to the garner family that they would do something about this is that people continue to just kick the can or continue to put it off. here we are now with erica's loss. it just shows justice delayed is justice denied in so many ways. and erica was furious. i think i'm angrier now that i've ever been to see a family denied justice like this. juan: back in march, think progress published until a all caps visibly display records and it showed yet 14 complaiaint fid against them with the disciplinary review but four were substantiated including a

vehicle stop in 2011 and abusive stop and frisk in 2012. do you think that would have made it any different if it would have come out or does earlier? >> it would've made a huge difference but that was leaked by the citizen complete review board and had it come out haveially, it even could been used in the civil suit or in a criminal case. but the city, to this day, continues to fight for the defense of the secrecy of those documents, which continue to infuriate erica and the family. at every turn, it is been difficult for erica does he wear mayor de blasio stood. even though the family received a civil settlement, which they actually just received a few months ago. people think that is something they received years ago. they just don't received back. other than that double settlement, it is hard to point to anything the city is done to make this right, including how

they address the legality of the chokehold. there been dozens and dozens of other cases of officers using the chokehold even though it violateded nypd policy. i like to say like this. cops often say, hey, they're only a fewew bad apples. it new york city and the nypd don't even hold a bad apples accountatable. they protect even them. daniel pantaleo was one of them. if he is 14 complaint, those are 14 people who had the nerve and the courage to follow complaint. you can legitimately assume he had dozens of other issues that just never made it there. having four upheld is surprising. uphold any ofever the complaints. when i saw yet four, that is a

significant number. amy: and he is still on the payroll, so getting pay raisise. of the huge injustice family that at any moment may bump into him of the city. this is the man who murdered their father. amy: i want to turn to kirsten savali and ask about erica garner's endorsement of bernie sanders as president. i want to play a a clip from her ad. >> i'm behind anyone who is ing to lisisten and d speak up r us.. i think we need to belelieve in bernie sandeders. >> is unacceptable to me that we have seen young black men walk down streets in this country be beaten and be killed unjustly. >> there's no other person that is speaking about this. people are dying. this i is real. this is not tv. we n need a president that is going to talk about it. >> the african-american

commununity knows that on any given day, some innocent person like sandra bland can get into a car and three days later, she cocould end up dead d in jail. >> i belieieve bernie sanders ia protesters. >> were a police officer to break the law, that officer --- joinin amy: wawant to ask k kstn savali about erica's decision to endorse bernie sanders for presidident. i important to very make very clear that this was something that she did dururinga politicall momenent were suppppg hillary y clinton was something needed to b bed done. like women in particular really rallied around her. she stood alone. there wawas a lot of this s is . ,here's a lot of framing

suppororting berninie sanders sa white kid in it, fraraming it as not being politically mature or being from a privileged position. i invite anyone to say how erica garner was speaking from a position. this is not to litigate what happened with the election, but she stood alone in a very real way. she believed in bernieie sander. when he was no longer in the race, she spoke of political duopoly inin a good not put allf your faith in either the democratic or republican p part. i think that is important. amy: kirsten savali, thank you so much for being with us, texasng us from katy, journalist and associate editor , at the root. and shawn king. we will link to both of your pieces. go to democracynow.org are we have our interviews with erica garner. this week erica garner passed away at the age of 27.

that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

reyes: welcome to the show. illegal gold mining has created a pocket of poisonous destruction in the amazon forest 10 times the size of manhattan. the police have been crackcking down on the small-time miners, destroying their crude camps and sometimes putting thth in jail. but the amazon is a big place, and authoritiesay they can't keepep up. illegalal mining has helped make peru one of the world's largest exporters of gold. the miners claim they have no other work and must support their families. correspondent gerry hadden traveled to peru to