07/24/19 07/24/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! [chanting] amy: as july is slated to become the hottest month in recorded history, demonstrators with extinction rebellion superglued themselves to the walls of the u.s. capital. we will speak to climate scientist michael mann who is calling on the media to make the link betetween extreme weather d

clclimate change. then as the governor puerto rico is expected to resign today following mass protests, we look back to the founding 50 years ago this week of the new york chapter of the young lords, a radil group ararted pueuert ricans simil to the ack panther rty. lks if we have to wait for number two or number thr or mbmber fe oror nber 1515efore we felt now ihe time for us to say exactly how are goi to respond to t killings of our peop.. w'reot g goi to sisiby a ttleore deaths. we have to stand up for ththe puerto rican people and say enough. amy: we will speak to three former members of the young lords, including one of its cocofounders, ouour own juan gonzalez. all of that and d more, cocomin. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. former special counsel robert mueller is testifying before the house judiciary and intelligence committees today. it will be about his investigation into russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections and the issue of obstruction of justice. his report was handed in 120 four days ago, but only a redacted version was made available to the public. his depuputy, aaron zebley, is expected to alsoso be present tn an advorory capacityty and will -- after a requeuest from robert mueller.r. he will l reportedly be sworn io the house intelligence hearing. ahead of today's highly anticipated hearings, house intelligence chair jerrold nadler slammed the justice department's directive that mueller remain within the boundaries of the public version of the report. the department also said that mueller could not discuss the conduct of uncharged third parties, which includes president trump, his family, and

his close associates. on tuesday, trump railed against former special counsel robert mueller's investigation during a spspeech at t an event for conservative high school students in washington. pres. trump: i have an artrticle where i have the right to do whatever i want as president, but i don't even talk about that anduse they did a report the was no obstruction. after looking at it, our great attorney general read it. he is a total professional. he said, there is nothing here. there is no obstruction. the trumpeport found administration or the trump campaign did not collude with russia in thehe 2016 electionont it f formed no conclusion about obstruction of justice. president trump also renewed attacks on the four progressive congresswomen of color widely referred to as the squad. he repeated his claim that "they hate our country," and called michigan congressmember rashida

tlaib "vicious" and a "crazed lunatic," referring to a video from 2016 showing tlaib heckling trump when he was running for president. again, he was speaking to high school students. puerto rico governor ricardo rossello is expected to resign today. el nuevo dia first reported the news late last night. rossello has faced nearly two weeks of mass protests demanding he step down following a massive leak revealing sexist, homophobic and violent text messages with government ofofficials in which he mocked victims of hurricane maria and joked about shooting san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz. in immigration n news, cbs newss repoporting thousands of migrant chilildren could be locked up indefinitely at the southern border. most of those at risk are unaccompanied. officials from the office of refugee resettlement say trump's hard-line immigration policies are having a chilling g effect n

potential sponsors, which may result in children languishing in orr detention centers for years, only to be transferred to adult migrant prisons when they turn 18. there was a dramatic decrease in the percentage of children released from orr cacare i202018 as compared to previous years. in texas, authorities have released an 18-year-old u.s. citizen who had been detained by immigration agents for over three weeks after he was taken in at a border patrol checkpoint, miles away from the border. francisco erwin galicia was detained with his younger brother as they traveled to a soccer event in texas last month. he showed proof of his texas id, which requires a social security number and is only given to u.s. citizens or those authorized to work in the u.s. galicia's lawyer says she supplied multiple documents proving the teenager's citizenship, but border agents refused to release him for weeks saying the documents were fake.

francisco erwin's 17-year-old brother marlon, who was not born in the u.s., signed a voluntary deportation order and is now in mexico. new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez expressed outrage at galicia's treatment, tweeting -- "cbp is detaining american citizens. how would you feel trapped in a border camp, where guards wear face masks because the human odor is so strong? when we allow the rights of some to be violated, the rights of all are not far behind." meanwhile, a community in hermitage, tennessee, prevented ice agents from taking a man into custody by forming a human chain around him and his son. ice agents tried to intercept the man -- who has been living in the community for 14 years -- after he left his home with his son by blocking him into the driveway. but neighbors saw what was happening and quickly went to offer support, bringing water and supplies to the pair as they stayed in their van. after a standoff lasting several

hours, community members formed a human chain so that the two could exit the van and reenter their home. the ice agents only had an administrative warrant, rather than a warrant signed by a judge, meaning they could not enter the man's house or a ban without consent will stop immigration officers eventually left the scene. neighbors say they are prepared to jump into action again if ice reappears. president trump threatened to retaliate against guatemala for failing to sign a so-called safe third country deal with the u.s. in a tweet tuesday, he threatened to impose tariffs, reremittance fees, and an uncler ban on guatemala. earlrlier this month, guatemalan president jimmy morales canceled a trip to washington, d.c., after a court in guatemala blocked the signing of such an agreement between the two countries following a massive outcry. the deal would have allowed the u.s. to send migrants, from any country of origin, to guatemala instead of processing asylum requests at the u.s. border.

the justice department has opened an antitrust investigation into big tech companies, which could include google, apple, facebook, and amazon. they are looking into whether companies' search, social media and retail practices stifle market competition. the house judiciary committee is also investigating anti-competitive practices in big tech. in more tech news, the federal trade commission is reportedly planning to file a complaint that facebook misled users about how ththeir personal data was used. the complaint alleges some advertisers were able to access users' cell phone numbers as part of an early version of the two-factor authentication process. the ftc also reportedly alleges facebook did not sufficiently inform its users that they could disable a facial recognition feature which identifies and tags photos. the senate confirmed mark esper as the new secretary of defense tuesday. the pentagon had been without a confirmed secretary for seven months afterer james mattis exid

in december last year -- the longest period ever without a permanent head. esper is a former aerospace executive and was a top lobbyist for raytheon. five of the eight democratic senators who voted against esper are 2020 presidential candididas -- elizabeth warren, cory booker, kirsten gillibrand, kamala h harris, and amy klobuchar. fbi director christopher wray told members of the senate judiciary committee that crime driven by racism and white supremacy is on the rise compared to the previous year and that his agency recorded arouound 100 a arrests foror doc terrororism in the past ninine months. >> a majority o of the domestic teterrorism cases that we have investigated a are motivated by sosome version of what you might call white supremacists. amy: during his testimony, wray alalso said russia is s intent n interfering with u u.s. electios and that china represents the

greatest counterintelligence threat to the united states. wray declined to answer most questions about former special counsel robert mueller's investigation. senator and 2020 candidate kamala harris and congressmember jerrold nadler introduced a bill tuesday that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and expunge low-level marijuana offenses. the legislation also invests inn communities of color, which have been disproportionately targeted by harsh drug laws. the drug policy allianance praid the bill, saying -- "marijuana convictions have disrupted people's lives -- from one's ability to secure or maintain employment, housing, funds for education, a valid driver's license, to the ability to keep one's kids or remain in this country for noncitizens. the marijuana opportunity reinvestment and expungement act ends prohibition in a way that centers communities most impacted by criminalization." former vice president and 2020 presididential candidatete joe n unveiled his criminal justice reform proposal that he says

will reduce incarceration and the criminalization of poor cocommunities and communities of color. the plan proposes ending cash failed, supports eliminating the death penalty, and e eliminating unfair sentencing discrepancies in drug offenses. he does not call for the legalization of marijuana at the federal level. since announcing his 2020 run, biden has come under attack for checkered track record on race issues, including his role in the 1994 crime bill that helped fuel mass incarceration and directed billions of dollars toward building more prisosons. the senate overwhelmingly passed a bill tuesday to permanently fund the september 11th victim compensation fund, which provides healthcare for first responders to the 9/11 terror attack. first responders have been lobbying for its passage over recent months as the current legislation was set to expire next year. trump is expected to sign the bill into law. president trump sued new york state officials and the house ways and means committee tuesday in an attempt to blockck his ste tax returns from being turned over lawmakers. new york passed a bill r recenty allowing ways and means committee chair richard neal to

obtain trump's returns. he has so far been unsuccessful in obtaining the returns through subpbpoenas and other means. 16-year-old swedish climate activist andndounder of f the "school strike for climate" greta thunberg addresseded frenh lawmakers tuesday, urging them to act to prevent a clclimate breakdown. >> and i believe the biggest danger is not our inaction. the real danger is when companies and politicians are making it look l like real actin is happening, when in fact, almost nothing is being done. apart from clever counting. amy: an intense heat wave is currently sweeping europe. the french town of bordeaux broke its high temperature record on tuesday, reaching over 106 degrees, while paris could also break its record this week. the unrelenting heat is causing drought conditions elsewhere in france and exacecerbating massse wildfires in portugal, with spain also on high alert for more blazes. the u.n. warns that such extreme

weather events in europe will become more frequent and more intense as climate change worsens. scientists say july is on track to become the hottest month ever recorded. we'll have on the climate crisis after headlines with author and director of the earth system science center at penn state, climate scientist michael mann. and in washington, d.c., climate activists from extinction rebellion staged a civil disobedience protest tuesday calling on lawmakers to take action on the climate crisis and to pass the climate emergency resolution introduced earlier this month by senator bernie sanders and congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. activists superglued themselves to doorways in the underground passageways connecting congressional offices with the capitol building. >> how do we mobilize our entire nation to fight the nazis and yet we cannot even mobilize one single resolution to save our entire species? >> we have known about this for decades and we still have done absolutely nothing.

companiessil fuel [indiscernible] not say anything because they wanted to keep making profits. amy: also on tuesday, extinction rebellion activists in san francisco staged a protest and die-in at nancy pelosi's offices, demanding the house speaker take immediate legislative action on climate change. 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. amy: before we move on to the climate crisis that is enveloping the globe today, we are watching events unfold in puerto rico where it looks like the governor ricardo rossello is about to resign. juan: it is being reported maybe a soon as by new t today there wiwill be an official

announcement. if so, this will be a stunning and unprecedented turn of events in puerto rico. peopople have to undnderstand, puerto rico has a long history -- 500 years of governance in puerto rico. during that period of time of 500 years, there have been 286 governors of the island of puerto rico. 147 werehem about under spanish rule and then there was a period of direct american control of the island when the president appointed about 27 governors, and it has only been in the past 60 years or so there has been elected gogovernors by the people themselves and there have only been 12 elected governors of puerto rico since the commonwealth of puerto rico was created -- it will be, actually, , july 25ago tomorrow is the anniversary of the founding of the commonwealth of

puerto rico. so in all of those 286 governors, never has a governor been forced to resign by a popular protest. so this is unprecedented in the entire history of puerto rico, going back to constantly on, the first governor of puerto rico back in 1508. the power of the portal can people to be able to force the governor to resign as a result of this scandal -- scandalous chat messages uncovered a couple of weeks ago is really going to veryhe island in a difficult situation. on the one hand, whole generation of young people now have a new sense of power, the power that people can have to affect governance. the problem becomes now, what happens next? even the succession issue will be tough because the one who will come in as the interim governor is -- does not have a whole lot of experience, neither did ricky rossello, which is one of the real stories here, this is a very incompetent and inexperienced person from the

beginning with certain arrogance in the way he dealt with his own population. but history is replete with examples of popular uprising that got rid of a corrupt or dictatorial government. but the people ended up with worse to joyce and sometimes. can we forget tahrir square in 2011 and the overthrow of move barak -- mubarak? or go back further to the philippines in 1986 and the overthrow of marcos by popular protest or even further back to 1979 in iran and the overthrow of the shawl. in each of those cases, people thought their country was going to change traumatically and ended up, in some cases, a worse situation than before. there is going to be a real test now among the leaders and the activists of puerto rico. canadian? can they come up with a political force, a leadership that is accountable to the

puerto rican people? and that is going to be the big test in the future. amy: we will certainly continue to follow this. i encourage people to check out our broadcast yesterday. we spent the entire our interviewing the head of the center for independent journalism, which is the independent journalist a group that released these explosive exchanges between the governor emails thatf with disparage the victims of hurricane maria -- which i think clearly was the most explosive part of that whole chain. juan: without a doubt, yes. we turn now to the climate crisis. july is slated to become the hottest month in recorded history as extreme weather fueled by global warming wreaks havoc across the globe, from extreme heat waves in eueurope d the united states to deadly monsoon flooding in south asia. severe rains have killed at least 660 people across india, nepal, bangladesh, and pakistan

in a monsoon that is expected to continue throughout the week. the flooding has displaced millions of people, including rohingya muslim refugees in cox's bazar, the largest refugee camp in the world. this comes as a record heat wave is hitting europe for the second time this summer, with paris, brussels, and amsterdam all at risk of hitting all-time high temperatures and spain facing the threat of severe fires. this is clare nullis with the u.n.'s world meteorologicical organization. >> heat waves arere the halallmk of climate change and they are, as we saw in june, they're becoming more frequent. they are starting earlier and they're becoming more intense. the span us -- spanish mineralogy full-service is warning of an extreme fire risk in large parts of the country. it is a combination of heat, wind, and the risk of storms and

lightning setting things of blaze. juan: the united nations warned that such extreme weather events in europe will become more frequent and more intense as climate change worsens. this all comes as a climate change-fueled heat wave in the u.s. has finally subsided after a weekend of scorching temperatures across the east coast and midwest that put 157 million people under heat warning. amy: last month was the hottest june ever recorded. in the u.s., the number of days with a heat index of more than 100 degrees will more than double by 2050 due to climate crisis according to the union of concerned scientists. the extreme weather comes as climate activists are sounding the alarm on the need to act against devastating global warming. demonstrators with extinction rebellion staged a civil disobedience protest in washington, d.c., calling on lawmakers to take action on the climate crisis and to pass the climate emergency resolution introduced earlier this month by senator bernie sanders and congressmember alexandria

ocasio-cortez. activists superglued themselves to doorways in the underground passageways connecting congressional offices with the capitol building. >> how do we mobilize our entire andon to fight the nazis yet we cannot even mobilize one single resolution to save our entire species? this have known about trend for decades and we still have done absolutely nothing. >> especially -- the fossil fuel companies. they would not say anything because they wanted to keep making profits. amy: for more, we go to penn state, where we're joined by professor michael mann. he is the director of the earth system science center at penn state university. his latest book, co-authored with political cartoonist tom toles, is titled "the madhouse effect: how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy." on sunday, michael mann tweeted

at the new york times urging the paper do change the headline to its story "what a heat wave looks like." he said it should have read "what climate change looks like." welcome back to democracy now! it is grgreat to have you with . let's start there. this is how people learn about the climate crisis, the connections of the disparate weather events. from the meteorologist on television every 10 minutes or so to headlines like that, "heat wave versus, crisis." can you talk about with the media needs to do to make these connections? >> it is great to be with you this morning. just in your program earlier, we saw a greatt example of a story where there is an important climate change context. of course, the political turmoil in puerto rico right now ulultimately is connnnected to e

inadequate response of their government to a devastating storm, hurricane maria, that undoubtedly was supercharged by climate changnge. the impacts of climate change are no longer subtle. once again this summer, we are seeing them play out in real time on iraq television screens -- on our television screens and our newspaper headlines. climate is no longer just a only issue that deserves to be covered in science programs or science and technology sections. it is impacting every aspect of modern life and we need to integrate that context into our reporting. you mention "the new y york tim" article. i somewhat humorously tweeted i fixed the headline for them because they publish an article about this devastating heatwave without any mention, let alone , ofallusion in the title

the critical role that climate change is now playing with these devastating extreme events. we simply would not be seeing these devastating, unprecedented weather extremes in the absence of the warming of the planet due to the burning of fossil fuels. juan: michael mann, could you talk more about the monsoon flooding and the displacement of people in south asia, specially bangladesh, one of the mosost populist c countries in the word as has been repeatedly subjected to massive flooding in recent years? absolutely. so these events are not disconnected. heatwave, drought, and wildfire in europe, unprecedented rainfall in parts of south asia. what we are saying, in addition to the obvious factors -- i will just take a moment to talk about those. a warmer planet, you'll see more intense and frequent heat waves.

that is obvious. you'll see more intense rainfall events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. worst flooding eventnts. warming the ground causes more evaporation of moisture from the ground surface so you get worst worse droughts.s. you combined heat and drought and you get wildfires. that is fairly clear in the climate models for decades have been predicting we will see these things happen and we are seeing them happen. there are other things adding fuel to this fire, so to speak. they are intensifying these extreme weather r events beyonod what the models predicted host of and it has to do with an interesting relationship between what happens up in the arctic. as you milk the sea ice -- melt ice and warm the arctic more than the rest o of the planet, well, that tempter contrast between the cold arctic tropics for you

decrease the contrast, slow down the jet stream, you get those very broad meanders a and those stuck weather systems like we are seeing. you get a high-pressure system sitting over europe for day after day or the eastern and central u.s. for a day after day, is when you get these unprecedented heat events. conversely, you get a low-pressure system, what we call h croft, that is stuck over the same location day after day, you get unprecedented monsosoonl rainfall. this factor, this additional factor is not well captured in the climamate models. so our preredictions, if anythi, have underestimated the impact ont climate change is having these devastating weather extremes. amy: you -- talking bout devastation, well over 600 people dead in south asia from this climate crisis. i want to go back to this issue of the media, since the u.s. is

one of the main drivers with the release of greenhouse gases of the climate crisis, to what people understand here is that a recent report by media matters looking at just the network's nightly news program and sunday morning political shows found climate change coverage actually 2017 to 2018.om the programs on abc, nbc, cbs, and fox news sunday aired a total of 142 minutes of climate coverage, a little more than two hours, in 2018. less than 2.5 hours. media matters reported that nearly a third of the time, 46 minutes came from a single episode of nbc's "meet the press." the same study found that abc featured just one climate scientist on its shows in 2018. that is abc. nbc led with 16 climate scientists on its nightly newscast and sunday morning news shows. as we were talking about before, actually, what would make the biggest difference, what most people tune into television for,

are the meteorologists who are talking about extreme weather but not talking about the climate crisis. when we covered the u.n. climate summit, we met a group of european meteorologists something called like meteorologists for change, who are leading a movement to get the people who must communicate with their populations to make this connection. what kind of conversations have you had? i'm not even talking fox, a climate denying network, i'm talking about the networks that are critical of trump yet continue to refuse to make those -- in theirin error daily reports, like this weekend as they talked about heat waves. >> so some media organizations are doing reasonably well. "the new york times" in general has given quite a bit of change and climate its devastating impacts.

pbs newshour has done a good job in covering this issue and connecting the dots on these extreme weather events and climate change. and you, amy, democracy now! is a shining example of what a media organization needs to be doing, showcasing t this issue d connecting it with all of these other challenges and crises that we face. now, there is an effort when it comes to broadcast meteorologists. your local weather preresenter, yoyour local meteorologistst is often the one scientist that people feel like they know and they have a personal relationship with, so there's a huge opportunity to, again, integrate the context of climate change in two nightly weather reports. after all, the extreme weather events we are watching play out in real time here in the united states, there's a direct climate connection. some broadcast meteorologists are starting to do that. my fririend john morales in miai

is doing a a wonderful job in making those connections for his audiences. in florida, their thing the impacts of climate change firsthand -- they are saying the impacts of climate change firsthand. now we're pretty much seeing them everywhere. other broadcast meteorologists should follow john's example. there is an organization that helps to sort of foster the integration of climate information into news coverage, climate central in princeton, new jersey, has been working toh broadcast meteorologists provide them with the jewels and training so they can integrate climate change into their nightly discussions of the weather, especially when the events there talking about cannot be understood without talking about climate change. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. we will continue to cover this. we are seeing more more coverage

but obviously, it is up to the consumers of the news to demand their news organizations make the connection, tell the truth. michael mann, thank you for being with us, distinguished professor and director of the earth system science center, penn state university. his latest book, co-authored with political carartoonist tom toles, is titled "the madhouse effect: how climate change denial is threatening our planet, destroying our politics, and driving us crazy." when we come back on this 50th anniversary of the founding of the new york chapter of the young lords come on this day of what is expected to be the resignation of the rhetoric and governor, we bring you the members of the young lords of 50 years ago. stay with us. ♪ [ [music break]

amy: "flash" by gauche. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: as massive protests rock

puerto rico and governor rossello is expected to resign today, we look back to the young lords, a radical group founded by puerto ricans modeled on the black panther party. this week when the group staged -- the new york chapter began 50 years ago this week when the group announced their formation in a rally. soon after the group launched an effort to force the city of new york to increase garbage pickup note as the garbage offensive. anders claimed the streets pal the garbage into the middle of 3rd avenue and set it on fire. the young lords would go on to inspire activists around the country as they occupied churches and hospitals in an attempt to open the spaces to community projects. the group called for self-determination for all puerto ricans, independence for the island of puerto rico, community control of institutions and land, freedom for all political prisoners, and the withdrawal of u.s. troops from vietnam, puerto rico, and

other areas. amy: the young lords would also play a pivotal role in spreading awareness of puerto rican culture and history. while the group disintegrated in the mid-1970s', its impact is still felt today. on friday, a number of former unung los wiwillather r the schomburcenter for reseah h in blacack lture e kick ofa seseries oevents tcocommematee th5050th aiverersa. we're joined right now by four young g lords. former young lords. four denise oliver-velez was the first woman on the central committee of the young lords. carlito rovira is one of the original members of the young lords. and our own juan gonzalez who helped found the organization and served as its first minister of education. we are also joined by johanna fernandez, associate professor in the department of history at cuny's baruch college. she is the author of the upcoming book "the young lords: a radical history."

so three young lords here. begin with you, as you talk about the history -- i mean, the moment -- i want to go back to that clip we played at the beginning, that we played in the billboard of the show because it was a clip of you talking about the sigficance of what was haeneningack k in juan: the death of julio. graduate for number two or nuer threer r numb fivive nunuer 15 before we rlize that is all this system has an store r us. we felt now is t t time r us to say exactly how 'reoingng respond to thkilling of our pepeople w'rereot going to sit and allow more deaths. we have to begin atatand up forr the puto rican peopl and s enou is enou. am talk out the circumstances 50 years ago and the founding of the young lords. key thing to the understand a supporter can

community in the united states, especially in new york city, was effectively invisible community for r the rest of the city.. none of puerto ricans effectively work -- were subject to discrimination on a regular basis and it was really the rise of the second generation of young people from the sons and daughters of the original migrants who came in the 40's and 50's that began to demand respect for the puerto rican and latino community. so the lords arose out of that what most of us were children of parents born in puerto rico. i was asked to born on the island, the came here as a baby. uprising against the conditions in the ghettos of east harlem and the south bronx in central brooklyn was what got us going. i think the fact we constantly dealalt with the direct issues

confronting the community on a daily basis, whether was garbage of -- or care or lack the lack of teaching of puerto rican and african-american history in schools. issues we the originally organized around. the group was extremely young. i think denise and i were the oldest people in the leadership and we were like 21, 22. everyone else was 18, 17. cacarlos was -- amy: you just come out of the columbia uprising. juan: that was previously, yes. we were inspired by the young lords group in chicago, which itself was inspired to a great dedegree by the formatation of e black panther party so the group blossomed and really recruited hundreds and hundreds of people in a very short period o of tim. amy: you were 14, carlito? >> unbelievable, yes.

amy: what inspired you? >> i grew up in the lower east side. at the time, it was going through a transition from being a white neighborhood to a black and latino neighborhood. thet to experience directly events of the west side story, the real events of the westside story, the racism, the being picked on and everything else. when i joined the young lords, it was sort of like a vengeance for the intensity of discrimination against not just my family, but many puerto rican families that we knew. as i recall, you were originally organized or gotten involved in politics by a former black panther and then went to the famous conference in denver -- what was it, 1968? >> you know, as you get older,

you tend to forget the years. but at that time, i was involving myself in some of the ,ffects of oppression -- drugs doing some stuff on the street that you should not be doing. it was thanks to bob collier, who is now d deceased, he was a leader of the black panther party and the lower east side. and one of the panther 21. thanks to him, i am alive today. i was able to join the young lords because he put me o on a s to denver, colorado. that is where i met morales. i met quite a few other number of people on the above strip that eventually joined the young lords. nez?: and jime >> he was one of the first

people i met as soon as i got off the bus. amy: and his significance in denver? juan: who is he? >> he was the founder of the .oung lords he was impacted by the work the black panther party was doing in prisons. he was in prison at the time. when he came out, he vowed to transform what was once a street gang into a revolutionary political entity. juan: this was in chicago. >> correct. , howdenise oliver-velez did you get involved? where were you born? in awas born in brooklyn jewish neighborhood. i have been working in an organization in east harlem called the real great society. they were founded on the lower east side. --y had been a string gang

a street gang, the assassins. they transform themselves into under this great society rhetoric and it was money, anti-poverty money that came in and they were rehabilitating buildings because the slum buildings and the tenements on the lower east side and east harlem were horrific. i met them at howardniversity. and they rruruited me to come and teach at a prep school fo high school dropouts. of atat is where the society -- was founded. figure lutiory >> f fm puerto rico. amy: was wasrminated on in prison -- experimented on in prison for decades. >> they recruited a bunch of us

to go to an experimental college oldong island called the west berry. when we got out there, there who 16 students on campus were not white. so we formed a nonwhite caucus and banded together. it was there that juan came out, pop low -- pablo. amy: who would become another newscaster, journalist. >> david perez came in from chicago. and a sikh student came out. a group of the young people decided to go to chicago. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion and also find out why johanna fernandez is writing a book on the young lords. our guests are carlito rovira and denise oliver-velez, juan cofnders of the

young lord we wl l be bk inin aoment.t. ♪ [musibreak]

amy: "pa'lante" by the puerto rican musician alynda segarra of hurray for the riff raff. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. in december 1969, young lords took over the first spanish united methodist church in east harlem which became known as the people's church. 11 days, they use the space to provide services for impoverished people. program forreakfast children, provided basic health care, ran a daycare with spanish language lessons and taught puerto rican history. of pablo yoruba guzmanddddressg ththe owd atat the pele's church. >> it ain't just east hlem and his ururch. we relate to an internioional strugg. it may sound ridiculou b but

this links up to what is haening fr v vietn to o puto .i watt , your children veve hadt. , what youo here today do after you leave this church, nono matr whwhetr we g gusted or we have to wa out -- either way, iisis sti a victo. istever happens after that going b be imrtanant r thee fate othe world. we are in the belly of t monster. peop a all or arare iting g r us to take your buneness. i am kind of aessimist. but rember, no matter what haenens, o wayay othe ototr, weave won. we have a victory hertoday. they can never te that away om us. everyby y go o andnd gout crowd better what haenens.

this church is ours. this is the people's church. [applause] juan: that was pablo yoruba guzman. a few days after he speaks there, 105 of us were arrested by the new york city police department. i am bringing in johanna fernandez. you have been doing a lot of research and interviewing of young lords now for years. the importsf what of the people's church was to the puerto rican movement in this country? >> what was said previously, puerto ricans s were super exploited class in new york city. in many ways, treated like people from latin america who are migrating here are treated today. demeananed, demonized. and part of what the young g los did was they amplified the .ignity of an entire people and at the church, they amplified the united statates

quite colonial project on the island. people ofined to the new york and the world that the reason why so many puerto ricans migrated to new york -- and they were migrating and lararger numbers than africican-americans at the time -- was because of youth economic policy on the island, operation boot strap. in many ways, the church occupation gave puerto ricans a coming out party. the perception of puerto ricans. because here you had incredibly talented, articulate, dynamic, whose i imagecals was very different from the image that most new yorkers had a puerto ricans, from what they read in the newspaper. massive artsred a movement of puerto ricans. the puerto rican arts move. in young lords are understudied part of the period

of the 60's. the 60's transformed the way white people think about black people. it transformed how we understand issues of sex and gender. and the young lords really brought to the four there were other people who were oppressed and the united states beyond african-americans. anand all people of color stando benefit from those struggles of the young lords today. denise, one of the issues you have raised and many of us have raised, when they centered on the puerto rican community and the independence of puerto rico, the group itself was multiethnic, multinational, included african americans, mexican americans, dominicans, and cubans as well. >> i think what is so revolutionary about the young bridgewhere we created a . we broke down a lot of barriers

between groups that were dealing with their individual communities. and that has a lot to do with when you talk about spanish had about one third of the population in the bario was african-american. you also had marriages between black americans and puerto ricans. so we have people in the lords who identified as both. the fact we are having this event at the schaumburg is really key. arturo schaumburg, which a lot of people don't know, was a black puerto rican who had a parent from the virgin islands. crossover able to lot of those artificial barriers because we had the same objective conditions of oppression and were able to unite. and that doesn't mean we did not have to struggle with issues of race or of gender or of class,

but i think that we were successful in that. and it was also amazing that we did it with a group of 17-year-olds addressing those kinds of issues. amy: what about the role of women, denise? >> the role of women and initially in a cultural context passive --hand to be that is what we were programmed into believing. but when we started studying as ministernd juan, of education, major we learned about radical women leaders in puerto rico. so for most of us, including those of us who have been to college, we've never heard of like -- the mayor of san

juan for so many years. -- rememberexamine the women's movement was also the second wave, was also coming along. at the out our newspaper rat, which was taken over by women. back -- in theh program it said revolutionary machismo. we said that is ridiculous. machismo is oppressive. thehe young men -- and young men joined with us women and we made a change. amy: you mentioned this week, friday night on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the new york chapter of the young lords, a big event at the schaumburg starting at 6:00. you are going to be moderating, joanna. all three of you are going to be speaking at this. and this is all happening in this remarkable week that is unfolding in puerto rico right

now what looks like we're on the cusp of the governor, who a week ago, many people would not have thought this was possible, whether or not he was popular, is going to be resigning after a massive protest. the significance of this for you, carlito? >> legacies are born out of traditions. and the puerto rican people have been fighting since the birth of our nation. it is a warning to those who we willer rossello that not be pacified by his resignation. we will continue fighting. that is how we came into existence. we will be fighting until puerto ricans are free in puerto rico and in the united states. we are a revolutionary people. amy: denise, what this means to you? >> i was amazed when i saw people on the island coming from a whole spectrum of politics.

, puerto rico has multiple political parties. but the fact that i saw people who were from the ruling party in the streets, people from independent parties, all making -- statehood, commonwealth, an independent. >> yes. that would be like imagining a bunch of trouble people getting together with a bunch of bernie sanders folks out in the streets. that is really key. the mainstream media has been focusing on the chat, the aposure of the things said in private chat. and on the islands, people are demanding they want the junta, the physical control board out. raising issues

about violence against women. three, they've been talking about rossello brought an american woman in to revamp the educational system on the island, turn it into charter schools, and shut down public education. parents and teachers are protesting. juan: and she was then indicted for corruption. >> yes. she is sort of like the betsy devos of puerto rico. there are a number of things -- and i think -- amy: making way more than but the devos. >> something i really want to bring up is it is september. 900,000 people on the island are due to lose their medical coverage. and that is going to be -- we're talking about 4000 people who died in the hurricane. imagine 900 people -- 900,000 elderly and of them

children, will not be up to get their medications. the number of deaths is going to be phenomenal and i don't want to see us go, oh, this is so terrible, look at all of the dead people in puerto rico. this maybe do something now. so people are raising these issues now in puerto rico and also in the diaspora. the: i would ask you about , kicking off several events throughout the year. i understand the responses to this event friday night, there are ready filled? they can't take anymore more people to reserve seats for it? >> the response has been tremendous. we have 800 people who rsvp'd and there are only 400 seats att the schaumburg. we expect to have a packed house. people should get the early. this is a propitious moment. in many ways what is happening in puerto rico is an example of

the political crisis around the world. 500 schools have been shut down in puerto rico. prisoners are not being fed. during the died hurricane, and many, many more later. so the reason why there are 1.2 million people in the streets is a reflection of the crisis. and part of what the young lords tried to do during their history was to keep alive the heartbeat of resistance and puerto rican forstance and the call puerto rican independence from u.s. imperialism. and part of what we of being hearing at these demonstrations is puerto rico is not for sale to american businesses. it is not for sale to capitalism. and we will not have our island privatize. that is what the struggle is about, that is what the young lords were about, and that is wet the world over -- if

sell our land, our island, to business, we are not long for this world. the environmental crisis -- on amy: i wanted thank you for being with us. again, the event is friday night at the schaumburg center in harlem at 6:00 and i guess you need to get the early as you said. it is called the young lords new york at 50, activism past and present. it is certainly going on today. we want to thank you for being with us. denise oliver-velez, carlito rovira, juan gonzalez and johanna fernandez. with theing to and live testimony that is going on right now former special counsel robert mueller, testifying on capitol hill for the first time about his investigation into president t trump. we will be covering this tomorrow. >> cannot go beyond our report.

we chose these words carefully. i would not provide information that is not already in congress. do you stand by that comment? >> yes. >> have you conducted any additional interviews or obtain any more information since the closing of the office in may 2019? >> the question was -- >> have you conducted any new interviews? >> no. >> and you can confirm your no longer special counsel? >> i'm no longer special counsel. >> at any time was your investigatioion curtaiailed or stopped? >> no. >> re-provided -- were you provided questions before your hearing today? >> no. amy: you have been listening to congressman collins, republican congressman collins, questioning robert mueller. we will be bringing you the

hearingss of the two today, house intelligence and house judiciary, tomorrow i'm democracy now! 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.