02/12/20 02/12/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! tonight that this victory here is the beginning of the end for donald trump. amy: senator bernie sanders wednesday primary a week after he won the popular vote in iowa. we will get the latest on the results and then speak to the legendary african-american

feminist scholar barbara smith, who helped coin the term "identity politics." she is supporting bernie sanders. club skin him, i see the issues, the compassion, the perspective, the plan that will help us get to where we need to be as society. amy: plus, we speak to the journalist who unearthed audio of presidential candidate and former new york mayor mike bloomberg defending stop-and-frisk in stark racial terms. in the tape, the former new york mayor falsely claims "95% of murderers fit one description" as he defends the targeting of young black and brown youth. and we will talk to a member of the south bend city council about pete buttigieg's treatment of the black community during his time as mayor. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. senator bernie sanders of vermont has won the new hampshire primary a week after he won the popular vote in iowa. with 87% of precincts reporting, sanders has 25.7% of the vote, narrowly beating former south bend mayor pete buttigieg who is at 24.4%. senator amy klobuchar placed third with nearly 20% of the vote. both senator elizabeth warren and former vice president joe biden received under 10% of the vote after seeing their support plummet in recent weeks and months. meanwhile, entrepreneur andrew yang has dropped out of presidential race. the political newcomer made the announcement as new hampshire's primary results rolled in, where he got 2.8% of votes. yang is the son of taiwanese immigrants and one of only a few asian-americans to mount a serious presidential run throughout u.s. history.

he built his campaign primarily around his signature policy proposal, universal basic income. on tuesday night, colorado senator michael bennet also dropped out of the presidential race after receiving only 905 votes in new hampshire. we'll have more on the new hampshire primary after headlines. in a highly unusual move, four federal prososecutors overseeing the criminalal case against trump's longtime friend and former campaign adviser roger stone have withdrawn from the case -- and one resigned from his job entirely -- after senior justice department officials demanded stone receive a shorter prison sentence. a senior justice department official told cn prosecutors all appeared to withdraw in protest of the intervention by top justice department officials, which came after president trump went on a late-night twitter rampage, attacking federal prosecutors and saying the initial recommended sentence of between seven and nine years was a miscarriage of justice.

even though the sentence range was based on federal sentencing guidelines. only hours after trump's tweets, a senior justice department official said the department was shocked by the sentence recommendations and would review it. last november, stone was convicted of seven counts, including lying to congress and tampering with a witness to prevent investigators from obtaining evidence on how the 2016 trump campaign tried to benefit from stolen democratic party emails. roger stone could have faced up to 50 years in prison. palestinian president mahmoud abbas forcefully rejected president trump's middle east plan during a speech to the u.n. security council tuesday. >> this plan will not greenpeace or stability so we will not a accept t this plan. this is a summary of the project that was presented to us. it is like swiss cheese, really.

who among you will accept similar conditions? amy: president mahmoud abbas's u.n. speech comes as israeli troops violently cracked down on palestinian protests against the -- against trump's middle east plan, under which israel would gain sovereignty over large areas of the occupied west bank, jerusalem would be under total israeli control, and all jewish settlers in the occupied territory would be allowed to remain in their homes. israeli troops killed four palestinians last week in the crackdown against the protest. in afghanistan, president trump has conditionally approved a peace still with the taliban potentially marking the bebeginning of the end of the longest wawar in u.s. historory. under the deal, the united datee would gradually begin to if thew u.s. troops taliban reduces violence during the so-called test period later this month. the deal would also trigger negotiations between the taliban and afghan officials. the potential peace deal comes as the first of its kind report

from the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction reveals thousands of people have been killed oror wounded duduring the reconstruction process. the majorityty of the victims we afghan civilians. the world health organization is warning the coronavirus poses a grave threat to the world as the death toll in china tops 1100 people, with more than 44,000 confirmed infections worldwide. >> with 99% of cases in china, this remains very much an emergency for that c country but one that holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world unless we use the window of opportunity that we have now. amy: meanwhile, at least 170 four people have now tested positive for coronavirus on the quarantined cruise ship the diamond princess, which is docked off the coastst of japan. therere are 3600 0 ople aboard e ship where crewmwmembers say t e

workers are not being protected from infection. venezuelan opposition leader juan guaido has returned to venezuela where protesters waited for him outside the airport tuesday screaming "dirty traitor" and "get out." he was returning from a trip to the u.s. where he attended president trump state of the union address. guaido also traveled the world economic forum during a political tour aimed at ousting venezuelan president nicolas maduro. doctors without borders says more than two thirds of migrants fleeing guatemala, honduras, and el salvador left their home countries after a family member was murdered, disappeared, or kidnapped. the new study shows more than 40% of those interviewed said they fled after a finding member was violently killed sto. in more immigration news, "the wall street journal" reports the $1.2 has spent over

million to access cellphone location data to track and arrest undocumented immigrants. the homeland security department reportedly began purchasasing cellphphone location data in 207 from a virginia-based compmpany called venntel. the data is drawn from cell phone apps, like games and weather apps, that ask the user's permission to access their location. sudan's longtime leader omar al-bashir will be handed over to the internrnational criminal cot inin the hague to o face chargef genocide, wacrcrimes, and d cris against humanity. he is accused of leading the sudanese government's scorched-earth campaign in darfur, where up to 300,000 people were killed and more than 2.5 million people were forced from their homes. bashir was forced from power last april amid massive anti-government protests in sudan. a manhattatan federal judge has approved t-mobile's plan to takeover sprint in a merger that would further consolidate the telecommunications industry by combining the nation's third and fourth largest wireless carriers. the ruling in favor of the merger camame after attornrneys general from 13 states and the

district of columbia tried to block it by arguing the consolidation would decrease competition in the industry and lead to higher cell phone bills. in louisiana, a fire erupted at an exxonmobil refinery in baton rouge tuesday night, sending plumes of black smoke into the air and turning the night sky orange. no injuries have been reported so far. exxonmobil says it is monitoring air quality in and aroround the fire. and hundreds of graduate students at the university of california, santa cruz have gone protestended strike to the unaffordable costs of living on their low teaching salaries. the strikers are demanding a cost of living adjustment of $1412 per month, which student educators say is necessary to avoid living on the brink of homelessness as they teach classes and provide essential work to keep the university running. a 2018 study comparing housing costs with household incomes found santa cruz was the least affordable place to live in the united states.s.

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. senator bernie sanders of vermont has won the new hampshire primary a week after he won the popular vote in iowa. with 87% of precincts reporting, sanders has 25.7% of the vote and nearly beats former south bend mayor pete buttigieg who is at 24.4%. senator amy klobuchar placed third with nearly 20% of vote. both senator elizabeth warren and former vice president joe biden received under 10% of the vote after seeing their support plummet in recent weeks and months. on tuesday, biden cancelled his election night party in new hampshire to head to south carolina which holds its primary on february 29. president trump easily won the republican primary in new hampshire. former massachusetts governor bill weld placed second with 9.2% of the vote.

at a celebration in manchester, new hampshire, bernie sanders said is victory in new hampshire is the beginning of the end for donald trump. >> and the reason i believe we are going to win is that we have in unprecedented grassroots movement from coast to coast of millions of people. [applause] the reason that we are going to win is that we are putting together an unprecedented multigenerational, multiracial political movement. [cheers] fromhis is a movement coast to coast, which is demanding that we finally have an economy in a government that works for all of us, not wealthy

campaign contributors. amy: pete buttigieg addressed supporters in nashua after placing second in new hampshire. >> and here in a state that goes by the motto "live free or die," you made up your own mind. [cheers] you asserted that famous independent streak and thanks to you, a campaign that some said should not be here at all has shown we are herere to stay. amy: as the results of the new hampshire primary came in, two more democratic candidates dropped out -- senator michael bennet of colorado and entrepreneur andrew yang, who campaigned for a universal basic income. we go now to manchester, new hampshire, where we are joined by john nichols of the nation where he was covering the race. welcome back to democracy now! summarize what happened. at this point, the latest news,

bernie sanders has won the new hampshire primary. >> that is correct. it was a significant win. i know you will hear a lot of punditry today that says he did not win by as much as he did in 2016. but the fact of the matter is, in an intense race where the lead moved among many candidates in the polls the last several months, when all was said and done, bernie sanders prevailed. he prevailed because, again, as a significant -- actually, a huge victory among young voters and towns like durham, new hampshire. it was clear that there bodes really put it into a much stronger position. did surprisingly good job of mobilizing in some of the urban areas of the state. i think that is something worthy of noting. with that said, there's also a caution here for sanders and a

caution for all of the candidates. 63% of the voters in new hampshire said that their top priority was to get a candidate can beat trump. among those voters, there was stronger support for pete buttigieg and amy klobuchar did very well. among the 35% roughly of voters who said they want someone they agree with on the issues, sanders did tremendously well. was sanders has to do going forward is to deliver a message, and i think i have interviewed him about this and i think he understands this, but he has to deliver a message that you can vote for the person you agree with and also beat trump. it is that electability message. and the strength of the electability message is something that was illustrated by amy klobuchar's win war strong showing. amy klobuchar did very well in new hampshire because she framed the entire close of her campaign around and electability

argument. it brought her up so rapidly that at some point last night there was speculation she might even pull ahead of the judge. from newhe take away hampshire is, eight, sanders won. that is a big dedeal. all of theseardrd, candidates clearly are going to have to make a very strong argument around electability -- which is rooted not just only in ingans and happy talk, but really detailed arguments about what the pololls show and what s possible. whencan you talk about people say, oh, yeah, it was easy for bernie sanders because he is from vermont. of course, elizabeth warren is also from next door to new hampshire, from massachusetts. her support really plummeted along with biden -- and we will talk about that. >> that is true. look, the neighboring state thing is irrelevant -- is of

relevance. it should count for something. in the counties and towns along the vermont border, bernie sanders did very well so we don't have to underestimate that but as you point out, elizabeth warren who actually comes from the state that has -- in many ways, a larger influence in new hampshire -- did not do that well. southern new hampshire is -- a lot of it is in the boston medium market and is very much touched by nasa choose its media and massachusetts politics. media andusetts massachusetts politics. she also had a great level of organization and a great level of energy on the ground. she put a lot of time and money into the state, but it did not work. for the warren campaign, that becomes a real factor. i think a couple of things need to be noted here. first off, i think she more than any other candidate was hurt by the fact she was in washington focusing on impeachment. sanders was there as well as a

was klobuchar, but for warren, that focus on impeachment took away from her time to really deliver that personal message that she is very, very good at doing at town halls and things like that. sanders on the other hand did something really smart, and that was he relied heavily on surrogates who came into the state step it bernie sanders could not be present, someone prominent and well-known and frankly who could draw a crowd is working the towns and working the cities on his behalf. i do think that is a factor. going forward, warren says she wants to fight on and i think she would, but going forward, the critical test now is if she could be physically present in these states -- particularly south carolina and nevada -- could she begin to make those connections that bring her numbers up? she is really in a tough testing point here. there are still possibilities for her. amy: and joe biden, essentially giving up on new hampshire and heading to south carolina

yestererday. >> well, with all due respect, he gave up on new hampshire in the debate on friday night. i have never, ever see a candidate say "i took a hit in iowa and i will probably take a hit here." he essentially telegraphed in that friday night debate going into that credibly critical final weekend that he did not expect to win. he did not expect to do very well. long before he flew out of the state on primary day, which was much noted in new hampshire media, he had already telegraphed to voters that he did not think he was going to do very well. the new hampshire voters like to send a signal with their vote, and i believe that some of his comments friday and even before let a lot of people to look much more seriously at pete buttigieg and at amy klobuchar. i think a lot of them -- both of them benefited by frankly his bumbling and inept performance. the way that biden handled new

hampshire ought to send up every red flag and put up every alarm bell you can hear about the thought of him running against donald trump. he really did not do a good jobb in new h hampshire. amy: i should say when we talked about donald trump winning the republican primary beating bill wells, some i have thohought, wt ababout the other person opposig him, joe walsh? he dropped out last week, the illinois congressmember, saying "i would rather have a socialist in the white house than a donaldr than a king trump, indicating he would vote for bernie sanders if you were the demomocraticic candidate. >> that is correct. i was with him yesterday. he was campaigning very hard. it is interesting that bill wells put a huge emphasis in his new hampshire campaigning on his belief in science and his determination to address climate change. that i think resonated with --

look, one in 10, almost one in 10 people who went and took a republican ballot yesterday did not vote for donald trump, they voted for bill wells. another 5% cast t right and both less noed for other candidates. donald trump plus 50% of republican vote in new hampshire. it i is significant because i think there is a sense that there is a unified republican doozy is in for trump. he has clearly put a lock on that party but i think there are never grassroots republicans who are troubled by his presidency particularly troubled on issues. i will circle back. wells emphasized climate very much and i think that resonated with a lot of old-school new england republicans. amy: one of the exit polls show the concerns of people in new hampshire, number one, health care. number two, climate change. then inequality and then foreign policy. john nichols, thank you for being with us the nation's , national-affairs correspondent

and host of the podcast "next left." when we come back, we will be joined by african-american feminist scholar barbara smith. as we had from the whitest states in the country where the first caucuses and primaries are held to the next ones, nevada and south carolina, where people of color make up a much larger percentage of the population. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "i feel love" by donna summer. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. continue to look at the presidential race following bernie sanders victory in the new hampshire primary. the race now moves to nevada and south carolina. we are joined by the legendary african-american feminist scholar barbara smith. founder of the combahee river collective and of kitchen table: women of color press. barbara smith recently wrote a column in the guardian newspaper headlined "i helped coin the

term 'identity politics'. i'm endorsing bernie sanders." her latest book is "ain't gonna let nobody turn me around." she is joining us from albany, new york. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. >> thank you. amy: we are speaking to you on the day after the n new hampshire primary, , r actually in the last two weeks, the primary, first primary caucus, iowa and new hampshire, that take place in two of the whitest states in the country now we move to states with far more diversity, nevada and south carolina and then onto super tuesday. supporting bernie sanders. you are a surrogate for senator sanders. i was wondering if we could step back and you give us a little of your background. i was recently an south

carolina after we did an environment of justice forum in orangeburg, speaking with some of the presidential candidates and made that trip to the river because it is so significant. harriet tubman and all that she had accomplished. but talk about your background before you tell us why you support senator sanders. birth or stararting at fast-forward? [laughter] amy: wheherever you woululd liko start. i think it is important for people to know and i say this in the article that was in the guardian, it is important for inple to know i was born 1946 under jim crow. jim crow was thehe law of the ld during that time, during my growing up years. the reason it is important i think is because it shaved very much whoho i was in my perspecte on this product of u.s. democracy y that we are stillll trying to improve. i have lived on the east coast for many years.

probablynd write and more important than those other things, i have beenn involvevedn movements for social justice since the 1960's. i joined the civil rights movement as a teenager and even though i lived in the north, the congress of racial equality and other civil rirights organizatis and assong in cleveland i said, i got involved as a teenager from that day to this. then i have been politically active and working for positive political social justice and change. amy: and the combahee river collective, what it is, what itt was, its significance? and also, you are credited with helping to coin the term "identity politics" and what that means. >> yes. the combahee river collective was a group of black feminists in boston from the mid-1970's until around d 1980.

we are besest known -- we were political activists and involved in many movements including the movement to endnd the warar in vietnam, the civil rigights movementnt, the panththers. we had a lot of movement experience, even though we were quite young at that time. it was always a small group. i have always liked working in small grassroots groups. what we are most known for is we wrote a statetement, the combahe river collective statement in 1977. it was for a book that was edited by the wonderful antiracist and feminist scholar. the book was titled "capitalist patriarchy in the case for social feminism." tit turned out to b be the combahee river statement. any people still read it and refer to it and in fact the black lives matter movement for black lives, both movements say

they have relied upon the kinds 's ideas of black womomen liberation that were in that statement. indeed the phrase "identity politics" is in the statement. i spent quite a few years, decades, actually, trying to find if indeed that phrase appears anywhere earlier than 1977. i consult with frienends who are scholars andnd resesearchers inp readers and no one has ever been able to show me or find that it was anywhere else prior to that. we are still searching was to think computers might help with that. talk today about why you have decidided to support bernie sanders. the corporate media makes a great deal out of paying he doesn't have -- saying he doesn't have the support of african-americans, so important, and particularly african-american women. you almost never see on cnn or

msnbc -- not talking about fox here -- a commentator who is, you know, outright supporter of bernie smith -- of berernie sanders. so talk about when you decided that he was your presidential candidate. >> i decided in 2016. and iorted him then supported him before the campaign reached out to me in 2016 to see if i would be interested in being involved then, and i was. part, toed to take be a part of the l lgbtq steerig committee and i also worked on women's issues. it was prettyy late during the primary season, but i worked very hard, as i always do, and we did as much as we possibly could to bring in those constituencies. i did not just decide. i decided in 2016 before i even hadd any working contact with te

campaign. of course, i continue to support him during this 2020 election cycle. amy: some talk about what it is that he represents that you feel is most important and why you're willing to go out and campaign for him araround the country. >> the reason i support bernie sanders is because of the fact change.has a theory of that is a popular phrase now. he has an understanding of why things are not workingng and our u.s. society, and he has ideas like medicare and health care for all, like changing the criminal justice system, like having access to college for all younung people and not just for those who are privilileged. he has good ideas about how we can actually fulfill that promise that the founders supposedly put out and they're

vevery flawed ways. they did not really include people like me. they did not include women or black people, but they had some great ideas about freedom and justice for all. he has the plans. he has the passion and compassion. he has the base of support, which is much h more diverse thn i think any of the other candidate at this point. we are just in sync. he and i are near the same age. we were both involved in movements in our younger days as students. as i said, i have only met him once so i don't know him. it is not like we are buddies or anything like that. it doesn't come from that kind of contact. it comes from looking at what he is standing for, what he proposes to do, and what he has done. i have been aware -- someone asked me, when did you first

know about bernie sanders? i said i feel like i have known him at least all of his life, his political life, because i knew him when he was, or in burlington. i have definitely followed him through the years. amy: in 2016, bernie sanders said identity politics distracts from what he considered real issues, like economic inequality and the decline of organized labor. has he changed his view of identity politics? you say you have only spoken with him oncnce, but what are yr thoughts about that? >> i think he is always the change. that is manifested in the kind of campaign he has run. there is such a commitment to having a diverse, multiracial, multiethnic various religions -- i love the coverage of the mosque where people voted in iowa and how 99% of the people there, many of whom were immigrant, how they voted and supported bernie sanders.

that did not just magically happen. i think he has changed. the termo think "identity politics" has been so distorted since we originally coined it. i should say, amy, i should tell you what we meant i have. 1977 bymeant in "identity politics" is that black women have a right to detetermine our r own political agendas, period. that is all we meant most all the things that have been attached to the term "identity politics" in succeediding decec, thatat is not what we were talkg about. and the reason we said that back then it is because of the fact that it was not thought that black women hadny particucular political issues or concerns that needed to be addreressed ad worked on. book, mytle of the

book, , "all the women are whit, alththough blacks are men butute of us are great" and that was the perspective fact and that like politics and black liberation agendas were one-size-fits-all for both black men and women. it is not come of course. all black people have things in common and have realities in common and injustices in common that we need to address. and women also, regardless of race, have issues in common like violence agagainst women, for example, access to reproductive freedom. but what we were saying is there are things that we experience who are people -- as people who are both and simultaneously and also other identities, working class, many of us were lesbians in the combahee river colollective so e were really looking at oppression as they interlocked.

subsequently, tim crenshaw, the legal scholar, came up with the concept of "intersectionality." we were not badmouthing or putting. anyone who was not our identical mirror image. we met we have a right to shape our own political identity. i'm sorry, our own political agenda that comes out of our political identity.. that is what we meant by "identity politics." amy: you speak to young acactivists. what advice would you give them, barbara smith? >> the first thing i would say is, you have to working coalition. you cannot be so -- what is the word? so immersed in youour own particular experiences, your wonderful multilevel,l, complex experiences of your identity. you can't be so immersed in that that you canannot look out at te

person across the room, across the street in another neighborhood and another n natin around the globe stuff you cannot be so immersed inin what you are experiencing that you cannot see the wider arc of a need to work for justice and do it i in coalition and in solidarity with others. i think that is what has been lost. i think that because identity politics and black feminism and some of the things i have actutually helped to establish n academic context, i think sometitimes when they are talked about i in academic context, people don't understand what we are really talking about is positioning ououelves so we can build a massss movement for positive political change and for justice. so when people think that ththe only people we are talking too ouour people who have the exact sasame list of identities that they have, always say, why would i want to work with people that

are just like me? that would be boring. that would be my major advice. take that risk. ine that risk of joining coalitions, doing work on the ground where you live. you live in a city, ththere is probably -- there are a lot of issues. one of the issues likely might be gun violence. another might be poverty or poor housing. and mother by -- another might be schools that are not of sufficient quality so everyone has great opportunities as they grow up and become adults and get into life. see what it would be like to walk into a school board meeteting. do y you see what i'm saying? i bet yoyou do, amy. it is so importantnt that we stretch and work for justice are across-the-board. and that doesn't mean we can't be in our own -- be our own safe spaces in our own kind of home kind of environments.

we can do both. amy: as bernie sanders, if you can give him advice, as a senator coming off a popular win in iowa and outright win in new hampshire, at least, with 87% of the figures in at this point, heading down now to south carolina, the -- nevada is first and in the south carolina primary. what advice do you have for him as he moves from the whitest states in the country to states with the majoritity people of color population? giveld not presume to giveor senatotor sanders advice. i really would not. i am happy to be a part of the campaign. i think he is effective in the campaign has been effective. more diverse constituencies. i feel like -- and i just had this a few days ago to someone, i feel like if senator sanders can get in front of the

electorate, if he can connect with them and share his message and his ideas with them, i think they are going to be really taking a lot of notice. ande are a lot of myths society about race and racism and who is who and what is what, and there is a lot of chatter to talk about who can appeal black vovoters in p particular. just --ling is, let's watch us. watch us. watch him. i think they're doing a really good job of connecting with our diversely beautiful united states, all the kinds of people who live here. i just think the more that that happened, the more effective and the more he will be known. we will just see what happens. amy: barbara smith, i'm going to ask you to stay with us as we go to break and then move on to

some other subjects i think you would be interested in. i also want to clarify, south carolina is majority white. of south carolina's emme kratz are african-american -- democrats are african-american, more than three quarters of democrats and south carolina are black. barbara smith, author, activist, and independent scholar. founder of the combahee river collective and of kitchen table: women of color press. she will stay with us. when we come back, we're going to speak to the journalist 200 audio a billionaire presidential candidate mike bloomberg defending stop and frisk. and we look at pete buttigieg's record of over policing. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the south african a cappella group comedy founder 78.ph died at the age of

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. bloomberg is racist. that is the hashtag that's trending on twitter since audio of remarks made by 2020 democratic presidential hopeful and former new york city mayor michael bloomberg surfaced earlier this week. in the clip from the 2015 aspen institute, bloomberg is heard defending the new york city police department's controversial stop-and-frisk policies, saying -- "95% of murders, murdered victims fit one m.o. you can just take the description, xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops." listen closely. victimsrers and murder fit one m.o. you can take the description xerox it, pass it out to all the cops. york, true in virtually every city. and because is mike bloomberg saying --

"they are male, minorities, 16 to 25. that's true in new york, that's true in virtually every city." he went on to say -- "in the way you get the guns out of the kids hands is to throw them up against the walls and frisk them. bloomberg issued a statement saying -- "i inherited the police practice of stop-and-frisk, and as part of our effort to stop gun violence it was overused. by the time i left office, i cut it back by 95%, but i should've done it faster and sooner. i regret that and i have apologized." let bloomberg did not just inherit stop and frisk. during his tenure as mayor, the use of the practice increased sevenfold. during his time in office, the new york police reported over 5 million stop and frisk. m werest majority of the black and latino. this is bloomberg speaking on the wor-nyview

radio. >> they keep saying it is a -- disbursement percentage. that may be, but not for those of the witnesses and victims describe what i think we disproportionately stop whites too much in that case. and minorities to little. amy: thousands of people marched against stop andnd frisk during his three terms in office. bloomberg defended stop and frisk as recently as 2019, only apologizing for the practice publicly in november shortly after entering the presidential race. well, for more, we go now to atlanta, georgia, where we're joined by benjamin dixon, the host of "the benjamin dixon show" and podcast. he unearthed and publicized on -- the 2015 audio of michael bloomberg speaking at the aspen institute. dixon is the co-founder of the thenorthstar.com, the revitalized abolitionist newspaper of frederick douglass. it is great to have you with us. benjamin dixon, talk about -- it

is very clear the bloomberg campaign do this was going to drop. they knew there was this recording. however muffled of his statements at the aspen institute from 2015 and they were ready with a statement. talk about why you released this, how you found it, and what bloomberg has said in response. >> thank you for having me, amy. it was online. he was hiding in plain sight. i read several artrticles about this speech. what drew my attention to it was the fact they were looking -- bloomberg steam m requested a video from the aspen institute not be released. the aspen institute acquiesced and did not release the video. i was hoping to be able to find at least an audio clip and that is what i found. it a been online for five years. i was able to isolate it, cut it up and make it a little more audible. i felt it carried a significant impact that the words in the article did not. i felt like people needed to

hear his voice say these things. amy: on tuesday morning, --sident trump tweeted "wow, bloomberg is a total racist!" trump later deleted the post. interestingly, while campaigning for president in 2016, trump called for stop-and-frisk to be instituted nationwide. >> right. right. the level of hypocrisy that comes from the president isn't surprising but that exemplifies the weakness that candidates like michael bloomberg will have against donald trump. hihis audience has no problblemh ththe fact that he i is a racist he will call sonos a racist. michchael bloomberg has put himself in a position where he has a long-standing history of problems in new york city, particularly with stop and frisk. the president will stay on the debate stage and call him a racist when the rest of american

is he e is the white supremacist in chief. bloomberg15, michael representatives asked the aspen institute not to distribute footage of his interview? >> correct.. according to the "asaspen times" which is the article that put me on the search for this audio or the v video. it was the a article thahat shod his team knew there was something wrong with what he said. they did not want that video released because i feell like te video would have been even more compelling than the audio. they understood the magnitude of what he said in 2015 and now they're doing theheir best to control the damage now that it has beeeereleased.. amy: canan you talk about the response to you releasing this? how viral has gone? what has been the response to you? >> the response has been overwhelmingly shocked because there's sosomething about hearig his words. everyone knew his record was stop and frisk in new york city, but it was something different when people were able to hear it .

and because of that, the video i put together with the transcript war with the subtitles, it is now at 7.4 million views, which has more than his announcement -- michael bloomberg's announcement video on twitter. areink a lot of people appreciative -- and i'm grateful to have been able to do this because a lot of us feel like it is a david versus goliath situation with a person with billions of dollars to spend in his campaign able to flood thehe internet with advertisements, television with advertisements, portraying himself in a way that a lot of people in new york city would disagree with. , thei want to turn to cnn politics correspondent cristina lessie, commenting on the -- cristina alescsci commentiting n the 2015 aioio of bloombmberg unearthed by you. >> important c context here. we do o not have the f full tap. this is obobvisly sniptsts that ve been releasased. ththe podcast and thehe wrir tht releleased this sound i is cleaa bernieie supporter. if y you look at hisis twitter ,

is very antiloloomberg.. #bloomberergisa racistst. lotsf queststions are beieing asked, espspecially on thehe tig of this, as you noteded in yourr intrtroduction. a poll showsws bloombergrg risin ththe polls yesterday, particularly strong support in the african-american community. amy: cristina alesci did not disclose she is a former bloomberg news reporter. benjamin dixon, if you can respond to what she said? >> this is a tactic they are using to try to insulate mayor bloomberg from his own words. there are questions and the question is, d does he still std by what he said in 2015? if you look at his apology, thee apapology gave just before runng for president, , it does not mah the intensity of his words in 2015. what he said in 2015 is a deeply held conviction about black and brown young man in the city of new york most of what he gave us

in terms of apology is really milquetoast. it does not match up with his worldview. i don't know if he sent out c ristina, but are currently other people are going out trying to cast doubt on my motivations and my intentions and say there are a lot of questions. the questions really aren't about where this came from. it was online in some simple basic journalistic research would have revealed it. the real question is, where does he stand today? his apology really pointed toward donald trump, not toward his own -- taking his own personal responsibility for what he said. the real question is, where does michael bloomberg stand on this today? where does he stand on the words that he said and the actions he took that harmed so many people in the city of new york? amy: and the response to those who say you are just trying to take down bloomberg because you support bernie sanders? >> i i am johnny-come-lately wih my support for bernie sanders.

i took my time deciding whether or not i would support him this time. honestly, i liked elizabeth warren. i do support bernie sanders and that is my right as a citizen. that hasas nothing to do with no matter who gets the nomination, i don't believe it should be a billionaire oligarch whwho is ae to buy his way into the campaign who has a history of racism, transphobia, as well as classism. mike bloomberg has a lot to answer with and he is not going to get away with it by simply declaring "i am a bernie bro so my opinion doesn't matter." benjamin dixon, thank you for joining us. as we turn now to look at other police policies and other parts of the country come to look at pete buttigieg's on policing and racial injustice following his second place place finish in new hampshire last night. the former mayor of south bend, indiana, has surprised many with his strong showings in iowa and new hampshire -- two of the country's whitest states. but as the race moves on now to

nevada and south carolina buttigieg continues to poll , extremely low with african american voters. his own former constituents are condemning his treatment of the black community in south bend during his time as mayor, calling out systemic racism in the police force. during buttigieg's tenure from 2012 to 2018, black residents were 4.3 times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana than white people. at last week's presidential debate, abc news moderator linsey davis questioned pete buttigieg about the rise in arrests of black people under his adadministration. >> the reality is, on my watch, drug arrests in south bend were lower than the national average. the overall rate was lower -- >> know, the year before you were in office, it was lower. once you became in office in 2012, that number went up was that 18, the last bird your we have a record for, that number was still up. close one of the strategies our community adopted was to target when there were cases where

there was gun violence and gang slaughteringch was so many in our community. amy: well, for more, we go to chicago, where we're joined by henry davis jr., a south bend city councilmember since 2008. welcome to democracy now! can you talk about your experience as a city councilmember with your mayor at the time -- he just recently stepped down -- pete buttigieg, who has just placed second in the new hampshire primary? >> thank you for having me. my time working with mayor buttigieg was at best was contentious. it was very difficult to get across to him and also to his administration how african-americans were living in south bend and some of the issues that confronted him on a dailily basisis. you're talking about double-digit unemployment. you're talking about a a very hh poverty rate, over 40%. you're talking about high crime, schools closing. whensome of his policies

he decided to go through the hood or in the black and brown areas, and he wanted to demolish the homes. the homes were dememolished. it was the fact there was no affordable housing program that can behind it. now we are still dealing with empty lots, , high weeds, , anda lot of farmers living in those empty lots. when you're talking about right now even with the police force, you have the lowest numbers serving african american officers and the police force in south bend. there are a number of issues ththat confronted the african-american community and that he really chose not to deal with. havinguncilman and predominantly like e districtcta lolot of those fights were held and had on the council floor. i did as much as i could to thesfy the residence and

constituencies, but it was very hard going back and forth and not getting that money invested back in the community like it should have been. here we are now dealing with a presidential idea of a pete buttigieg and even back to south bend how to correct some of the social ills in this environment. african-americans -- go ahead. amy: i wanted to say the whole country learned about the murder of eric loganan, a black south bend resident who was shot and killed by white police officer ryan o'neill because, of course, at the time, mayor pete buttigieg was runnining for president. can you talk about how he handled that and also about the firing of the first black police chief darryl boykins? >> like i was just talking about, he did not handle it. if you did handle it, it was a fumble. eric logan was a culmination of events that took place as he took office back in 2012. right after he took office, there was a young man by the

name of michael anderson n who ended up dying under suspicious circumstances with the south bend police department. there was another youngg manan named dishon franklin who happen to be asleep in his home and he was attacked and brutally beaten up by south bend police. none of those officers were even discipline. does au had eric logan lot of things happen between there as well, but then you have eric logan who died at the end of a gun. it just has not been a good ride. south bend needs a do over. this is like the things that happen right now the democratic party as a whole. blacks come african-americans is the black phone of the democratic party. we desire good schools and a safe neighborhood. we desire good jobs. we desire the same things that most people desire and need and want to live in america. if we are planning on beating

donald trump this coming november, we have to have an organized and unified attack that will make sure there is a candidate out front that will be interested in making sure we not only vote but those things that we are voting for are going to happen. a slatet now you have of candidates -- they are everywhere. they're not talking about the heart are issues you talk about at your kitchen table, the local diner, or even charge. they're talking about a lot of wild ideas on how this is supposed to work. this is not a student council race. this is for the presidency of the united states of america. this is the ruler of the free world. african-americans are americans and we desire to have our priorities as a part of someone's platform. amy: i want to bring barbara smith, the feminist scholar, back into this conversation. as you are listening to these two examples, looking up bloomberg and buttigieg, your

thoughts? i think that -- we always say this is the most i important election of our lifetime, but given what is in the white house , at this point, and given what is going on in our nation, we really have to be very, very alert and we really need to look at the candidates and figure out which one of them is capable. obviviously, the things that wee just discussed abobout two of te candidates, as far as i'm concernened, that makes them unelectablble. another racist in the white house, that is just too much to bear. i think we do have a candidate who deals with bread and butter issues, and that is why i'm supporting bernie sanders. amy: henry davis jr., if you could talk about -- the population of south bend is something like -- it is more than one quarter african-american. in the last minute that we have,

have you been surprised at the rise of your former mayor,r, a pete buttigieg, from south bend mayor and all the controversies that were there at the time, to now being one of the front runners for president in the united states? >> i am absolutely surprised by ththe rise. there is an expectation of presidential, but there is also something that needs to go behind and that means a resume and some real-life things that have occurred. biden took a text out on mayor pete this past week and talked about his lack of experience. and although those things probably were pretty hard-core, the truth is that we expect we're going to have a president that has some support from the rest of the u.s., some support from the u.s. congress, but not only that, have some real-life experience at trying to be war being a president or being

something that is more than a mayor. we desire somebody that is going to be able they want to take over the reins and try to correct some of the things that donald trump has stepped on in hurt us with. amy: we have to leave it there. henry davivis jr., thank you so