02/25/20 02/25/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> times up on blaming survivors. times up on empty apologies without consequences. pervasiveup on the

culture of silence that has enabled end-users like weinstein -- abusers like weinstein. amy: disgraced former hollywood producer harvey weinstein has been convicted of first-degree commission of a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. he was acquitted of two serious barges. we will speak with actress rosanna arquette who was one of the first women to share details of weinstein sexual misconduct. we will also get response from the founder of the #metoo movement tarana burke. orif r. kelly or bill cosby heidi weinstein, the owner of the grocery store, the coach, the teacher, the neighbor who were doing the same thing, but we don't pay attention until it is a big name and we don't hit attention until it is a big celebrity stop at this work is ongoing because this is pervasive. amy: then we will speak with senator bernie sanders chief latinx organizer and nevada sanders continues to ride the

wave of his decisive victory saturday in the nevada caucuses. demonizing the undocumented. thehe just hates undocumented. but when he was a private businessman, he loved the undocumented. he hired hundreds of them in his resorts so that he could exploit them and pay them low wages. amy: we will speak with chuck in nevadat his win and organizing underway ahead of super tuesday. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. harvey weinstein is guilty. the jury delivered the verdict against former movie mogul on

two counts -- first-degree commission of a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. he was acquitted of two more serious charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape. he faces a total sentence of up to 29 years in prison. the charges in weinstein's new york rape trail involved two women, production assistant miriam hayley and then-aspiring actor jessica mann. but over 100 women have accused the once-powerful hollywood producer of sexual assault and misconduct. the weinstein case propelled the me too movement onto the national and global stage. weinstein was ordered to be taken to jail immediately after the verdict was announced was -- but was first taken to bellevue hospital after his attorneys say he experienced heart palpitations. ambra gutierrez, one of weinstein's accusers -- who in 2015 reported him to the new york police and later recorded him admitting he groped her -- reacted to the verdict. >> i could say right now i am

that i'm getting my life back. of course, there is a lot of work to do. i am here to speak so the situation like this will never happen again this is my mission right now. amy: weinstein's sentencing hearing is set for march 11. we'll have more on this story after headlines with tarana burke, the founder of the me too movement, and award-winning actor, filmmaker, and activist rosanna arquette. seven democratic presidential candidates will take the debate stage tonight in south carolina as the state gears up for its primary saturday. among the contenders, two billionaires -- tom steyer and mike bloomberg. joe biden holds a slight edge over bernie sanders going into the debate according to recent polling. meanwhile, mike bloomberg's campaign is reportedly planning an anti-sanders media blitz in the wake of his landslide victory in nevada over the weekend. in related news, yet more

damning comments made by former new york city mayor mike bloomberg surfaced last week, in which he vows to "defend the banks" if elected president and jokes about droning his political opponents. he also called progressives and fellow presidential candidate senator elizabeth warren "scary." the remarks were reportedly made at a private event for goldman sachs in 2016. listen closely. >> the campaign platform will be to defend the banks. seriously, somebody has to stand up and do it. we need a healthy banking system . amy: meanwhile, front-runner bernie sanders has faced attacks following his praise of some aspects of cuban leader fidel castro's government. on cbs's "60 minutes," sanders stated he opposed the authoritarian nature of castro's rule but lauded cuba's literacy program.

sanders reiterated his comments on a cnn town hall monday night. >> they went out and they helped people to learn to read and write. you know it? i think teaching people to read and write is a good thing. i have been extremely consistent and critical of all authoritarian regimes all over the world, including cuba, including nicaragua, including saudi arabia, including china, including russia. democracyo believe in not authoritarianism. amy: cuban-americans hit back as some of the rebels including pete buttigieg who tweeted "after four years of looking on in horror as trump cozied up to dictators, we need a president will be extremely clear in standing against regimes that violate human rights abroad. we cannot risk dominating someone who does not recognize this." in india protests in delhi left , seven people dead and at least

-- with scores hospitalized as president trump continued his official visit. police unleashed teargas and smoke grenades against crowds who were protesting the new anti-muslim citizenship law. both pro- and anti-u.s. demonstrations rocked new delhi and other cities around india. trump held a news conference today in which he called on liberal supreme court justices sonia sotomayor and ruth bader ginsburg to recuse themselves from "trump-related" cases. former egyptian dictator hosni mubarak has died at the age of 91. egyptian state news announced the death today. mubarak was the authoritarian president of egypt for 30 years before being forced to step down amid the historic popular revolution in 2011 that was part of the arab spring. in 2017, mubarak was acquitted on charges of murder, over his violent crackdown on protesters 2011, which killed hundreds of people. he spent six years behind bars before his release.

his death comes less than a year after his successor mohamed morsi died after collapsing in court last june. a british court has started deliberations on whether to extradite julian assange to the united states where he faces espionage charges and up to 175 years in prison for his role in publishing classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. a crowd of supporters including pink floyd co-founder roger waters and fashion designer vivienne westwood rallied in central london to demand his release. this is assange's lawyer, jennifer robinson. >> wikileaks has published evidence of war crimes, human rights abuse, corruption the world over. is facing 175 years in the united states. this case is an abuse -- abusive process. amy: a verdict in assange's

extradition case is not expected until at least this summer. coronavirus continues to spread, the white house requested $1.25 billion in emergency funding to address the crisis on monday. the trump administration also said it will use more than half a billion dollarmeant for addressing the ebola virus -- a move the chair of the house appropriations committee called profoundly disturbing. new york senator chuck schumer said monday trump's funding request was too little too late. this comes just weeks after trump's proposed budget for 2021 cut funding for the centers for disease control and prevention by 16%. on a state visit to india tuesday, president trump said he believed china was getting coronavirus under control and said, "i think that is a problem that is going to go away." but as the rate of infection in china slows, infections are spreading around the globe, particully in soh korea, italy, and iran. cases have also been identified , lebanon. afghanistan

in other news from china, a court sentenced bookseller gui minhai to 10 years in prison. the chinese-swedish owner of a hong kong-based bookstore first disappeared in 2015 before reappearing in chinese custody several months later. he was detained again in 2018. human rights and press freedom advocates called his detention politically motivated since he published sensitive and gossipy materials on china's ruling elite, including president xi jinping. in haiti, a gun battle outside the presidential palace between police and soldiers ended in the killing of one soldier sunday as political unrest continues to mount. police officers and their supporters were protesting poor working conditions and the prohibition on unionizing. this comes as anti-government demonstrations have been rocking haiti for months, calling for the ouster of the president stop this is a protester speaking sunday. cook's people are hungry. everyone has problems. people cannot pay for their

homes. police cannot do anything with what they are paid. demand for him to go to jail. amy: carnival celebrations in port-au-prince were canceled following the weekend violen. a u.n. envoy for haiti warned last week political turmoil is pushing the country deeper into recession, weakening national institutions including the police force, and has put 4.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid. in ontario, canada, police forcibly removed indigenous activists from a railway line monday where they were staging a theest in solidarity with wet'suwet'en first nation. in australia, norwegian oil company equinor announced it was abandoning plans to deepwater drill in the great australian bight marine park. equinor is now the third major oil company to pull out of drilling in the bight, after bp and chevron, following a long campaign by indigenous leaders,

activists, and locals who are hoping to have the marine park recognized as a world heritage site. jpmorgan chase announced monday it will stop providing financial services to companies pursuing oil and gas exploitation in the arctic and phase out loans to the coal industry. jp morgan will, however, still finance oil and gas projects outside of the arctic region. the announcement comes just days after a leaked report by jp morgan warned the planet is facing irreversible damage due to the worsening climate crisis. the bank is one of the biggest financial backers of the fossil fuel industry and other leading polluters. in san francisco, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the trump administration ban on letting family planning clinics refer patients for abortions by depriving these clinics of federal funds. the decision on the so-called gag rule lifts injunctions granted by three lower courts. planned parenthood said -- "the gag rule puts up egregious barriers for people with low incomes to get birth control and preventive care like sti testing, education, and cancer

screenings. before being forced out of title x, planned parenthood served 40% of patients in the program." planned parenthood left title x last year, rather than comply with the trump rule. the supreme court said monday it will take up a gay rights case to decide whether the city of philadelphia can exclude a catholic agency that refuses to work with same-sex couples from the city's foster care system. philadelphia stopped working with catholic social services in 2018, and since then a unanimous three-judge panel of the u.s. court of appeals for the third circuit ruled against the agency. leslie cooper, deputy director of the acllgbt & h project, said in a statement -- "we already have a severe shortage of foster families willing and able to open their hearts and homes to these children. we can't afford to have loving families turned away or deterred by the risk of discrimination." senator bernie sanders has unveiled his plan to introduce free universal childcare if

elected president. under the proposal, childcare would be available to all families, regardless of income, start at infancy and include free pre-kindergarten. the plan also would ensure living wages to educators and provide access to higher education and training for all caregivers. the $1.5 trillion proposal would be funded through taxes on the wealthiest americans. msnbc host chris matthews apologized on-air to bernie sanders after receiving widespread backlash and calls to resign for comparing sanders' landslide win in the nevada caucuses to the nazi takeover of france. >> as i watched the one-sided result of saturday's democratic caucus in nevada, i reached for an historical analogy and used a bad when was not i was wrong to refer to an event from the last days were actually the first days of world war ii. senator sanders, i'm sorry for comparing anything from that tragedy in which so many suffered, especially the jewish people, to the electoral result in which you were the

well-deserved winner. this is going to be a hard-fought heated campaign of ideas in the days and weeks and months ahead i will strive to do better myself elevating the political discussion. myself elevating the political discussion. the university of california, santa cruz, announced it will provide graduate student-workers students with a stipend of $2500 in response to a wildcat strike protesting the unaffordable costs of living on low teaching salaries. organizers welcomed the announcement, but said they would continue to push for additional compensation to , expand the financial relief to other campuses, and to negotiate the terms of any agreement as part of a union contract. and trailblazing african-american mathematician katherine johnson died monday at the age of 101. johnson played a key role at nasa, where her calculations helped put an american in space for the first time in the 1961 mercury mission, made john glenn the first american to orbit the earth in 1962, and landed neil armstrong and the apollo 11 on the moon in 1969.

in 2015, she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by president obama. the hit 2016 film "hidden figures" portrayed the widely unrecognized work of johnson and other black women at nasa during the space race. author margot lee shetterly, who wrote the book "hidden figures" that the hollywood film was based on, paid tribute to johnson on twitter, writing -- "my life's honor to tell the story of katherine johnson's contributions to nasa, science, our country, and #hamptonroadsva. her brilliance helped us to see and celebrate other #hiddenfigures in history. you changed the narrative. godspeed, katherine johnson." 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. the verdict is in. disgraced former hollywood producer harvey weinstein is a convicted rapist.

on monday, a manhattan jury of seven men and five women found weinstein guilty of raping then-aspiring actress jessica mann in a hotel room in 2013 and of sexually assaulting production assistant mimi haleyi at hispartmentn 2006 b forcly perfoing oralex on her. weinstein was convicted of first-degree commission of a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape, but he was acquitted of two more serious charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape. he faces a total sentence of up to 29 years in prison. after the verdict was announced, judge james burke ordered weinstein to be taken to jail immediately. weinstein was handcuffed and led out of the court room. his attorneys say he experienced heart palpitations and high blood pressure when he was being taken to rikers island jail. he was reportedly than transferred to a locked unit at bellevue hospital. this is attorney debra katz addressing the media after weinstein's conviction. katz represents costume designer dawn dunning, one of weinstein's

accusers and who testified in the trial. >> we were in court as we saw harvey weinstein being remanded into police custody. harvey weinstein is exactly where he should be now, behind bars. juan: meanwhile, manhattan district attorney cyrus vance called weinstein a "vicious serial sexual predator" and said the women who testified against weinstein work heroic. >> to the survivors of harvey weinstein, iom we all of inamed's debt to you who had the courage beyond measure to speak your story to the world to this courtroom at great personal risk and in great personal pain. to those of us who are privileged to be in the courtroom when they testified, you know what i mean. these survivors were not just heroic.hey were

amy: harvey weinstein's sentencing has been set for march 11. the verdict comes after weeks of testimony from a slew of accusers who described alleged rapes, forced oral sex and groping by weinstein. weinstein's new york trial was the first criminal case to arise from allegations against him made by more than 90 women, including actresses salma hayek, ashley judd, uma thurman, gwyneth paltrow, and mira sorvino. but many of those cases were too old to prosecute. weinstein still faces charges in los angeles. authorities allege he raped one woman and sexually assaulted another on back-to-back nights in 2013 during oscars week. well, for more, we are joined by two guests. in new york nla. in los angeles, rosanna arquette is an award-winning actress, filmmaker, and activist. one of the first women to share details of harvey weinstein's sexual misconduct. arquette has been closely following the new york trial of weinstein. and here in new york, tarana burke is the founder of the me too movement.

she founded the #metoo hashtag in 2006 to focus on young women of color who have endured sexual abuse, assault, or exploitation. burke is now the executive director of the newly established organization of the same ne, also own as too inteational. welcome th of yoto democcy no iant to begin wh rosann arqute. u are onof the fst to speak ouagains hary westein bause of ur own expeence withim. n you respo to yestday' verdt? even though it was five counts -- it was only three counts, we are happy. it is a beginning. it is an opening. this is very, very important. it is that seismic cultural shift in many ways and really important that this man be held accountable for his actions. and to good bit very powerful -- and to convict a very powerful white male is a big deal. i am happy that he is going to

go to jail one way or another. ton: tarana burke, i want ask you about your reaction to the verdict and then you should to statements and you thought this jury worked with an incredibly narrow and unjust set of laws governing sexual assault. i'm wondering if you could elaborate on that? >> my reaction was so much a lot of people. i think a sense of relief knowing this is not the fullness of what accountability can look like to have some accountability from a person is powerful as harvey weinstein, knowing the survivors, knowing some of them personally, knowing this felt cathartic to them, i was definitely relieved there was some conviction. but the reason why i said that in a statement is because there was a lot of chatter about women and believing their testimony and that is why he was not convicted on the higher charges. and really i think we have to examine what the laws look like

around sexual violence. it is not so much the people who came forward, but with they had to work with, the charges were 27 years old. the statute of limitations. there's not enough law to cover the breadth of what sexual violence actually is and what it does a people's lives. so they worked with what they had. amy: the jury convicted weinstein as felony sex crime and rape but acquitted him of predatory sexual assault. seriousd of the most charges, but still faces up to 29 years in jail. "the new york times" wrote, "on the two cans of predatory sexual assault, the not guilty verdict suggested the jurors did not believe the testimony of annabella sciorra and actress best known for her work in "the sopranos." know we can assume they did not believe her as much as they could not get to where they needed to get to to convict him of that crime.

i think it is dangerous to put out this narrative she was now believed. she came and she testified about this really horrendous thing. and to make that assumption sends a message to survivors that we don't need to send. that if you come forward, folks won't believe you. laws are narrow around -- the burden of proof is different than say for a civil case or a case that was more recent. i think we have to be careful about saying they did not believe her. amy: rosanna arquette, your response? >> everything that the queen tarana said. [laughter] she is our hero and she is right. we really do have to do -- change the laws. testimony, iorra's believe had she not done that in the courtroom, we would not be here today. i think they did listen to her. but because they could not charge, for some reason, something happened with the jury

-- and i want to thank the jury for deliberating taking the time and doing this as much as they possibly could. i don't think it was actually their fault in this. juan: rosanna arquette, in terms weinstein'segy of defense attorneys, you watched the proceedings of the court, of the trial closely. your reaction to their attempt to discredit the testimony of the women who are charging him with these? >> those of the dirty tactics that harvey weinstein play for years and years. that is how he manipulated people, including -- there's a lot of evidence missing in the years of cy vance. this is how he plays. it was horrible to watch and to be called -- i felt so bad for the witnesses.

on trial, not the women. that is what everybody forgets. amy: we're going to gonna break and come back to this discussion. >> sorry, it is early in the morning here. amy: rosanna arquette, one of the first to speak out about harvey weinstein's abuse and tarana burke, founder of the us, founder and director of me too international. stayith us ♪ [sic brea

amy: sisters are doing it for themselves by aretha franklin and the rhythmic. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. yes, the verdict is in. harvey weinstein is a convicted rapist. on monday, a manhattan jury of seven men and five women found weinstein guilty of raping then aspiring actress jessica man in

a hotel room in 2013 and of sexually assaulting his production assistant mimi haleyi at his apartment and 2006 by forcibly performing oral sex on her. i wanted to continue our conversation with our two guests, rosanna arquette is with us in los angeles and tarana burke is with us here in new york. rosanna, you are one of the first to sound the alarm to speak out around what harvey weinstein did to you. and if you could quickly -- and if you don't want to, certainly, feel free to say no -- recount what happened to you. and then i want to talk about the years after what happened to you in terms of what you felt was somehow his attempts to discredit you. >> i was asked to go to meet harvey weinstein for dinner at the beverly hills hotel for a movie i was going to do.

he was giving me the new script. i arrived. they said, mr. weinstein will see you upstairs. , went upstairs and thought what's going on? oh, yeah, he probably has this penthouse suite -- which is what a lot of directors did when they came into town. they get a big suite. he opened the door in his white bathrobe and said, "i can't move my neck. you a, ok, i will get massage. he grabbed my hand and pulled it toward his penis. i pulled it away. he said, rosanna, you're making a very big mistake. look what i've done. gwynetht i've done for paltrow and el mcpherson. those are the two names that he gave me stop i said, i will never be that girl. and i left. i told people. they told me to keep my mouth shut. i told my agents. one of my agents was that guy that testified for harvey weinstein paul felter.

so that is strange. want to go to this whole issue of harvey weinstein hiring black cube, the private intelligence agency run largely by former officers of israeli intelligence mossad and other intelligence agencies. according to reporting by new yorker and others, black cube was hired by weinstein via his law firm. agency investigators reportedly adopted false identities in order to obtain information about his accusers, including actress rose mcgowan. she spoke about being targeted by black cube investigators during an interview on cbs "60 minutes" and being tricked into revealing intimate details of her alleged abuse by weinstein to one of their spies, seth . >> black cube came out to you personally? >> yes. >> what told her that ta on yo think ishaved yrs off

my life. spun hicoming aft me my brainnd stilloes in aay th has fraional pa of me that i d'hink wll eve fi bu thesere peoplthat hur peop. th is theijob. eir jois to hurt other people. i hope they are proud at night. amy: that was actress rose filed a lawsuit against weinstein. before, i the year saw you, rosanna arquette, at an event organized by david dubin a too honor -- david given honor dr. mark luther king. you were visibly shaken. film makers had just come to your house to show you a completed film about harvey weinstein called "untouchable." you had been interviewed by them and you announcing the completed dome. you told me that day that you had just seen the film and you

are learning for the first time that you were on that list of black cube. can you explain what you think they did and what he did to you after you are telling the story of what happened to you? knew -- i knew i had been spied on because ronan farrow had told me that before. but what they had was assigned contract and picture of me as a target. that is what they show in the film, signed by harvey weinstein. so it was very scary. peoplethis to a lot of and that is what he is done for years. and if anybody has not read "to catch and kill," i highly suggest reading ronan's book or hear him read it. amy: ronan farrow, who reveal this first in "the new yorker" magazine. juan: i want to bring tarana burke back into the conversation. given his verdict now and

honestly weinstein still has to face a trial in los angeles for two accusations of sexual assault there, what is going to be the impact come your sense, on the me too movement as a result of this historic verdict? >> what i'm trying to do and what those of us on the ground are trying to do is use this example. i don't want people to rest on this verdict as an indictment of the whole movement where the victory even for the whole movement or the things -- or to think our work is done. we have to look at people like harvey weinstein and unpack that. what power and privilege was he's surrounded by that allowed him to do this -- these things, these crimes for 20 and 30 years? he is an individual person who did this, but individuals do not operate in isolation. you cannot -- you don't become harvey weinstein overnight without having systems of power around you to keep you in that position.

triallly, as the new happens and as we get to his sentencing, we will keep a close eye on that, but use that as an example to talk about the larger issue of sexual violence and how it affects people who aren't in positions like harvey weinstein or art actresses in hollywood or people who have access to the same kind of resources. juan: what we have seen a lot of these cases, there were people around them that were perfectly aware of what was going on and helped to facilitate his crimes in effect, but there has been no prosecution or attempt to go after these folks. >> no, and there has to be accountability across the board. yes, the person who perpetrated the crime needs to be held accountable but people are also causing harm and if we turn a blind eye the systems they operate in, then we will just have another harvey weinstein. right now there's another weinstein being groomed, another r. kelly being groomed to do the same thing. that is why we have to up in the system. amy: i wanted to go back to a

clip we played earlier of amber gutierrez, what of weinstein's accusers. story.e is an amazing was with harvey weinstein. he attacked her. she raced from the attack to the new york police precinct. at the precinct, she said one of the police officer said, "oh, again?" and had her wired to return to harvey weinstein to see if he would admit that he groped her. she did that. she got it on tape. bringen cyrus refused to the case. she was there yesterday and she reacted to the verdict against harvey weinstein. out happy say that

years i lost of my life and getting back. of course, there is a lot of work to do. aam here to speak out so situation like this will never happen again. that is my mission right now. amy: that is the story behind amberg iteris to understand her bravery as she is sitting there responding to the verdict. manhattan district attorney cyrus called weinstein a vicious serial predator. there are many right now who are calling for cyrus vance to resign. among the cases around dr. haddon, the columbia diversity that thesity ob/gyn wife of andrew yang said she went in, she was seven months pregnant, and he sexually assaulted her. since she spoke out at a rally, 40 more women have come forward, bringing the total to 70 women

who came out against dr. haddon. unbeknownst to her, he had been arrested six weeks before she was assaulted but allowed to go back and continue to practice. he never served a day in jail. so many are calling for cyrus to resign over this or to bring charges around dr. haddon who simply lost his license. >> it is ridiculous that it takes 90 women to get two convictions. 60 and 70 women to come forward to get attention to these issues. the fact that cy vance did not bring a case against harvey weinstein over the years when he has had other evidence is something that we do have to look at. his statement yesterday was great, but that does not erase what you did not do. many of us will never see the inside of a courtroom. so many survivors will never have a moment like we had yesterday. we will never see this kind of justice, if you will. part of this is because of

people like that who said and gate keep so powerful women like -- men like harvey weinstein never have to sit inside a courtroom. this is why keep going back to the system. he is a part of that system that perpetuates this continued violence against women. >> what are the kinds of changes, reforms of the law that you need to be made to make it -- to level the playing field for women who are targets of these assault to be actually get justice? >> some is statute of limitations. there's a lot of conversation across the country around statute of limitations. we just saw new york rollback to make this window for people who have institutional violations can come forward and prosecute -- ring claims. we have to look at the different -- their hindrances throughout the laws, and i think there should be a close examination ongoing of these laws whether it is statute of limitations, the preponderance of evidence. these are all things that have

to continuously be looked at. it is like technology advances over time and you have to move along with the times. the law has to change with the times. amy:osannarquette,f you could al respo to that qution. of cours harvey instein's lawyersay ty are pealing. they kt reatingesterday ande sat ere like man heepeatey said "i innont, how n this happein americ" how c this haen in america. well, its finallhappening america and itas beea long time cing and pefullyhis just th beginning. this is just the beginning. there is another court case happening in los angeles for harvey weinstein and new women, one of the women who was 16 at the time. of amberg that tape iteris. that tape was missing.

thank god for ronan farrow and amber. they figured it out and she had it somehow recorded herself. i don't know how it worked out, but they got it. and that is great. sisterhood that was formed around this case. i think of the cover story of new york magazine with 100 women wearing black, arm in arm all saying that they were victimized by harvey weinstein. what has taken place with that kind of sisterhood? in your case, rosanna, your case is not going to trial and 70 women's cases are not. due to statute of limitations. clubs not yet. amy: are you thinking of bringing -- me.ou spied on you spied on my life. we will see. all in good time i think. there's a lot of other people

that need to have their day in court before me. but the sisterhood -- the sisterhood started by tarana the me too and, her help of women coming forward to share their stories and heal in a safe space. she created that. we are all a part of that across the world holding hands. people we have never met. day,r from people every thank you, thank you, tell me their stories be it online -- it is quite extraordinary what she has created. amy: tarana, let's end with you talking about how you began to organize this movement so many years ago, revived by the hash tag completely credited to you

of the words me too. you were dealing with mainly black and brown girls and women of have a much harder time coming forward and confronting their accusers. >> absolutely. i cannot even imagine having this kind of outcome 15 years ago. i think it is important, even relating it to today, our work is around healing and ending sexual violence. although moments like yesterday feel really good and they are symbolic and they're very important to survivors, you cannot adjudicate healing. we have to remember there are still lives that were ruined by this man. there are so many careers that were upended. there were people who will never have their dreams actualized because of this individual. and there are people like that across the world. with the work i started, it was about making sure the people who say me too have the resources they need to heal, that they know healing is possible, but

also they are empowered to do the work to end several violence. that is our focus. we want to have consistent interruptions and interventions wherever sexual violence is so ultimately, we can get to a place where it is not normal, it is not ok, where the laws meet the crime and the action, and where we move beyond the crime and punishment frameworks of people are accountable for the harm they caused in the lives of other people. amy: we want to thank you both so much for being with us. tarana burke founder of the , #metoo movement. executive director of the new established group me too international. rosanna arquette, award-winning actress, one of the first women to share details of harvey weinstein's sexual misconduct. thank you for joining us from los angeles. when we come back, we will talk to senator bernie sanders to flat next organizer latinx -- .rganizer stay with us.

♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we turn now to the 2020 democratic presidential race, where senator bernie sanders' campaign continues to ride the wave of its decisive victory saturday in the democratic presidential caucuses in nevada. sanders' win came with support from young voters, union members and latinx voters who strengthened his status as democratic presidential front runner. sanders won 73% of the latino vote in nevada, a remarkable victory that supporters hope will bode well heading into super tuesday and races in california, colorado, and texas -- where there are large latino populations. this is sanders addressing supporters on sunday in houston. >> and the reason we are going ishatt tru

american regardls of the polical vie, are sick and tired of a president who lies all the time. [cheers] trump come every day, is busy demonizing the undocumented. just hates the undocumented. but when he was a private businessman, he loved the undocumented. he hired hundreds of them in his resorts so that he could exploit them and pay them low wages. amy: that is senator sanders speaking in texas. through march 17, the democratic primary calendar will run through seven of the 12 states where latinos constitute at least 10% of the total eligible voting population. four -- well, for more, we are joined now from washington, d.c., by the architect of sanders' stunning success in nevada, campaign senior adviser chuck rocha.

political strategist, a self-described "tex/mex redneck" and founder of solidarity strategies -- the largest latino-owned and operated political consulting firm in the country. welcome to democracy now! talk about the significance of the wind in nevada, what you did on the ground, and this whole issue of investing in organizing. actual organizers respected in the community. think chuck rocha was not able to hear that question. him for the moment. we're going to try to get him back. chuck, can you hear me now? >> yes ,ma'am. >> i was just asking you about the significance of your win, senator sanders' win with the

majority of latinx voters going with senator sanders. you had the culinary voters i think and seven of the eight or six of the seven major casinos come up with thousands of service workers. the rank-and-file block the leadership in supporting senator sanders, but the strategy of actually investing in and paying organizers on the ground that are respected in the community, recognized as the leaders in the community. a big key to the success. it will be a big key in moving to south carolina and other places. we did things differently than what most campaigns have been done. i've bn organing and doing campaigns for years. senator sanders velocy is getting new people to participate in our democracy. green pastor because when the caucus, of a small group of people who participate in nevada, 100,000 latinos had voted -- register to

vote. a lot of folks were there. a lot of these culinary workers who are working class folks were trying to make a living who really resonate with bernie sanders and our message, so we went strategically in their early, eight months out, spent money in the community. we hired that community and treated that community with priority. that sounds like it is something that should normally be done in every campaign, but it is just not done in the latino campaigns. it is never done on a latino campaign. it is not done in diverse communities at all. democrats show up in the last minute and they will go to black churches, set of taco trucks in front of an early vote location and think that is latino or diverse outreach program. we did it completely different. juan: what was different about your approh? >> i will tell you the backbone of it is we don't have a latino outreach group. because we have had people of color at the senior level of this campaign since day 1 -- i have been there since day one -- we have integrated people into

every program we do. one thing i've seen, which is a big mistake, is they will silo off the african-american outreach, silo off the latinos, give them no budget or power. they will use them as window dressings and then never really understand what is going on holistically with all of the campaign. with this campaign, we did it different and made it a central theme of everything we were doing so everyone was talking to each other. we made a part of the overall field apparatus. in nevada alone, the person running the entire field was a bilingual woman. everything we did filter through a lens of cultural competency. not only were we there early and spending a lot of money come our products were better because they were made and delivered by people from the community. juan: there was a "new york times" article that came out today that said so far in the -- primary primaries

states, that the turnout that senator sanders was predicting a historic turnout that will come in this election, that the turnout has not been really up to the level of what the campaign was expecting. yes, the senator has won increasing number of votes, but so far no evidence there's been a significant expansion of the electorate. i'm wondering your response to that? >> i would take exception to that. i was on the ground in iowa and nevada. it may not have been amongst everyone, but in the places where we double down to go the electorate, i would dry your attention to collis campus -- college campuses. your to satellite caucuses in nevada where we had the first spanish-language satellite caucuses ever. and that you had like 500 people show up to these caucuses. we won 98% of these folks. these are new people coming into

the system because of bernie sanders and the work you've done. that is the kind of strategy you have to have to beat donald trump in the fall. amy: we are moving into -- there's a debate tonight and then there is the primary in south carolina. thetor sanders did not win african-american vote in nevada. it is much smaller. biden took that. as for south carolina, biden does seem to be pulling ahead in his vote count is -- in the african-american community is being eaten into by tom steyer and senator sanders. what is the strategy for senator sanders in south carolina? >> i am so happy you asked that question. i am super proud of what we have built down there. we have had people on the ground longer than any other campaign and taken the same philosophy we have in nevada. you can see what our results are. our staff in south carolina is over 80% african-american and over 80% from south carolina.

we have had the most staff on the ground since any campaign. very first time we paid to advertise to voters in south carolina, it was to african-americans. we've also had a robust bilingual program to latinos in south carolina. philosophy is organizing on the ground with all of the air cover to protect you and turning out this diverse electorate by showing them respect and showing up more early that any other campaign ever has. you have seen the results and the fruit of our labor in nevada, and we've certain that will happen in south carolina. juan: chuck rocha, your reaction or response to the entry into the race of michael bloomberg, the enormous amount of money he is spinning on airtime and his percentage in the polls and obviously polls have to be taken with a grain of salt until people vote, but has continued to increase as a result of this saturation advertising. your strategy for dealing with the bloomberg juggernaut?

i have been doing this a long time. i have not had much else in my life other than organize and do campaign so i base everything off of normally mistakes i've made in e pastorcing oer folkmake. i have no y to reay undetand h this fld of moy i reay going affect the ovall elecrate. weill take head-on we he a lot people. hean gout anduy all o the thin he needto fd you cannotake up t time tt we have beespendingn these areas. whate d'know andhen i think isisgustin a politic is a of this moy being le to buy your way into this race. people say, oh, chuck, or spending money. we are getting that money $5 had a time from teachers, plumbers, union workers. that is what makes us different. we feel like we are party of the people. it is proper me is around men does every time latinos give us many, i am reinvesting that into our community.

into this bloomberg race. we feel it is good to distinguish between what he stands for and senator sanders, but we don't know what kind of impact all of that money is going to have down the road. amy: i want to ask you about the media's increasing emphasis on senator sanders' views on castro. it happened on sunday night on "60 minutes" and on monday night at cnn town hall. this is senator sanders saying he opposed the authoritarian nature around the castro regime but lauded cuba's literacy program, reiterating his comments last night on cnn. >> they went out and they help people learn to read and write. you know what? i think teaching people to read and write is a good thing. i have been extremely consistent and critical of all authoritarian regimes all over the world, including cuba, including nicaragua, including saudi arabia, including china,

including russia. i happen to believe in democracy, not authoritarianism. amy: chuck rocha, can you talk about the media's emphasis on this? president obama normalize relations with cuba before trump was pulling that back. and then the media going on to say he is clearly going to lose florida because he is talking about castro -- which the media is asking him about. >> it is -- i laugh because it is the media -- what bernie sanders that is the same thing barack obama said just a few years ago. the reason i love working for bernie sanders is not he is always -- a, he is always stood for working folks. he has been steadfast for regular folks. b, he always says exactly what is on his mind and from a very honest place. he just said "i am against all authoritarian states" listed every single one of them. because he says one positive thing about putting people's education and the things that went on down there -- if it

right into that perfect little angle the democratic consultants and folks in south florida come exactly what you want to hear, it is just showing he is in first place, that we are bringing lots of people in, that the democratic on corporate media folks are nervous about bernie sanders. you just heard me say in the first 10 minutes of this interview that we are doing things different by empowering people. that puts a lot of risk at a group of elite folks who have been in power in this party for a long time. when he doesn't fit in that box, their here is on fire. are from texas, and texas has been known, at least for 40 or 50 years, as republican state in terms of presidential races. could you talk about what is happening in texas, the demographic changes, and what the future looks like in texas? >> i am one of the few political consultants who actuallyorked in texas and old enough to remember because i was paid to

work in a race for ann richards when democrats still won statewide. the state has gone through lots of transformations and has come red. this demography, this whole growth of latinos in the state. what you have been the difference between them and california, there's been a direct investment in california to register educate, internet latinos. kind has never been that of investment into texas. that is why you saw someone like bush, who when he ran for governor, got 44% of the latino vote. i have lived there and studied this, but what is happening is the growth is so exponential and getting there so fast -- guess what? young folks, young black and brown kids, young kids overall, they are not scared to buck the system and they feel like there should be a real change. guess who speaks to that real change was running for president? bernie sanders. just this last week and in texas, we brought up 28,000 people inexas for bnie

sanders. there's something special going on because i have told you what we have done in nevada. can you imagine scaling that up in texas and investing in the community, empowering the community and is spending money talking to latinos who have never been talked to? we will take a chance in texas and i think latinos are going to deliver bernie sanders. amy: chuck rocha, thank you for being with us, senior advisor to bernie sanders campaign. tune in next tuesday night for democracy now!'s super tuesday live special broadcast. we will be doing it jointly with the intercept from 7:00 eastern standard time to midnight right here at democracynow.org and on many stations around the country. democracy now! is currently accepting applications for a development manager position and our news production fellowship and his producer, all here in new york city. learn more and apply at

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