03/04/20 03/04/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! , we arehere to report very much alive! it,make no mistake about this campaign will send donald trump packing. this campaign is taking off. >> we are not only taking on the corporate establishment, we are taking on the political

establishment! win because the people understand it is our campaign, our movement which is best positioned to defeat trump. amy: and then there were two. with 14 states at stake, joe biden takes nine, including texas, sanders won colorado, utah, and the grand prize of the largest delegate state, california. joe biden surged among african american voters. bernie sanders dominated the latino vote. we'll speak sanders organizer chuck rocha, call the architect of satyrs campaign strategy to organize latinx. and we will host a roundtable with barbara ransby, william

barber, and elie mystal. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the biggest voting day of the democratic presidential primary campaign has ended in a two-peperson r race betwtween fr vi presisint joe biden and senator bernie sanders. on super tuesday, biden swept the south and midwest, winning virginia, north carolina, arkansas, alabama, tennessee, oklahoma, massachusetts, minnesota, and texas, propelled by huge majority of african-american voters in southern states. onewhile, bernie sanders his home state of vermont and scored victories in the west, winning colorado and utah, and according to the associated press, sanders won the grand prize of the night, california, with significant latinx support.

binds strong showing him after the dinner at a party establishment -- democratic party establishment surrounded him with amy klobuchar and pete buttigieg dropping out in recent days and throwing their support behind biden. this is biden speaking last night in los angeles. >> i'm here to report that we are very much alive! it,make no mistake about this campaign will send donald trump packing. this campaign is taking off. join us! came inders biggest win california were latin voters account for nearly 40% of the population. sanders spoke last night from his home state of vermont. two major goals in front of us, and they are directly related. first, we must beat a president who apparently has never read

the constitution of the united states. president who thinks we should be in autocracy, not a democracy. [boos] but second of all, we need a movement and are developing a movement of black, white, latino, native american, asian american, gay and straight! of people who are making it clear every day they will not tolerate their grotesque level inequality we are experiencing. amy: senator warren finished in third place in her home state of massachusetts. former republican new york city mayor michael bloomberg said he planned to reassess his candidacy after he spent more than $500 million to score just

one victory, and american samoa, where he won five delegates. tulstulsi gabbard picked up point and american samoa. in alabama, republican jeff sessions will face a runoff election on march 31 in his bid to reclaim the senate seat he vacated to become president trump's attorney general, before trump fired him in 2018. sessions will face off against former auburn university football coach tommy tuberville for the right to take on democratic senator doug jones in november. in texas, incumbent democratic congressmember henry cuellar appears to have narrowly defeated democratic socialist jessica cisneros to hold on to texas's 28th congressional district along the u.s.-mexico border. cisneros, who was endorsed by senators bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, is a supporter of medicare for all and the green new deal. cuellar is pro-gun, anti-choice, and has backed private prisons, drone surveillance, and

increased border security. in california, san diego councilwoman georgette gomez is one of two candidates who will square off in november for the 53rd congressional district. gomez is a progressive democrat backed by senator sanders and new york congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez, vying to become the first queer latina elected to congress. she will square off in november against sara jacobs, a former aide to hillary clinton and granddaughter of billionaire qualcomm founder irwin jacobs. jacobs' campaign is being heavily supported by a superpac set up by her grandparents. after headlines, we will spend the rest of the hour analyzing super tuesday's results. the world health organization said tuesday t the global death rate from m the disease caused y the new coronavirus is 3.4%, far deadlier than the seasonal flu. the warning came as the number of coronavirus deaths outside of china surpassed the number inside china for the first time.

inside china for the first time. washington state on tuesday reported another coronavirus death, the ninth in the region. in new york, mayor bill de blasio said tuesday a manhattan lawyer has become the second person in the city to test positive for the new coronavirus. >> so this individual that you have been hearing about is the new nexus to some particular activity -- he is the first patient who required hospitalization in new york city since the coronavirus issue began. he is the first patient to be seriously ill. amy: officicials have closed two separate schools in the bronx attended by the patients' sons. so far they have not tested positive. two other schools in the northern suburbs of new york are closed at what officials are called in abundance of caution. "the wall street journal" reports the e trump administstrn is considering using a national disaster program to cover the cost of treating coronavirus in some of the 27 million americans without health coverage. the nation's largest union of

registered nurses, national nurses united called the , tuesday nation's public health system "woefully unprepared" for the pandemic, and demanded that once a vaccine is developed it should be made free to the public. elsewhere, chile and argentina recorded their first coronavirus cases, while the death toll in iran jumped to 92. on wall street, the dow jones dropped nearly 800 points tuesday on new fears about the virus's toll on the global economy. tuesday's stock market drop came even though the federal reserve ordered a half a percentage point cut to interest rates. in syria, turkey's military shot down a syrian fighter jet over southern idlib on tuesday. it was the third such downing of a syrian warplane in recent days. elsewhere, forces loyal to syrian president bashar al-assad retook control of saraqeb, a strategic city at the crossroads of two m major highways in northwhwest syria. human rights groups say syria's

russian-backed offensive in idlib province has killed at least 300 civilians,s, while internally displacing nearly one million residents who've been forced into squalid camps near the turkish border. this week, a u.n. investigation found russia is directly responsible for war crimes in idlib after the russian air force targeted civilian areas for indiscriminate bombings, including hospitals. amnesty international reports iranian security forces shot and killed at least 23 children duringng a crackdown on anti-government protests in november. among those struck and killed by live ammunition was a girl who may have been as young as eight years old. security forces killed many as unarmed demonstrators and 1500 bystanders during the november protests, which were sparked by a sharp increase in gas prices. the rising fuel costs came amid devastating sanctions imposed by the u.s. after president trump withdrew from the iran nuclear deal. back in the united states, powerf tornadoeses ripped

through tetennessee early tuesdy morning, killing at least 25 people in n the nashvilllle are. governor william lee toured the devastation. >> i spent the day touring and visiting with victims and walking through neighborhoods and the devastation is heartbreaking. it is heartbreaking, it is incredible. our prayers are greatly needed for families who are out there dealing with a sudden tragic eventnt that has occurred in our state. amy: the deadly storm came as voters prepared to take to the polls for the state's primary. over a dozen polling stations in tennessee were damaged before voting began yesterday. in climate news, wells fargo has ruled ouout investing in oil and gas drilling in the arctic, making it the third major u.s. bank to withdraw support for fossil fuel projects in the ecologically delicate region. the sierra club on tuesday

hailed wells fargo's pledge, but warned the shift does not make improvements to the bank's other oil and gas financing policies. this comes as the trump administration is pushing forward with plans to open the arcticic national wiwildlife ree to drilling. a top democratic lawmaker is demanding answers from a secretive artificial intelligence company over its sale of facial recognition technology to repressive regimes, including saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. massachusetts senator ed markey sent a letter to clearview a.i. on tuesday, demanding information about the company's database of billions of images scraped from facebook and other social media sites. senator markey wrote -- "the use of sophisticated facial recognition technology is concerning even in a democracy with strong civil liberties, but its export to certain foreign countries could enable mass surveillance and repression of minorities." in recent days, students at three dozen u.s. universities

held protests against administrators' plans to use facial recognition on their campuses. cnn reports that trump's new personnel chief is distributing questionnaires t to potential political appointees to verify their loyalty to the president. as part of the trump litmus test, candidates must explain what part of trump's campaign "most appealed" to them. the campaign to identify and purge anti-trump staffers is being led by 29-year-old john mcentee, who trump recently appointed head of the presidential personnel office. before he was re-hired this year, mcentee was fired in 2018 by then-chief of staff john kelly because he was under federal investigation for financial crimes. virginia governor ralph northam signed a bill tuesday outlawing a so-called d "conversion there" ---- a pseudoscientitific practe ththat seeks to coerce lgbtq yoh into renouncing their sexual preferences.

when the n new law takes effectn july, vivirginia will become the first southern state, and the 20th in ththe u.s., to ban t the practice, which has been rejected by mental health professionals for decades. a stududy last y year by the sue prevention organization the trevor project found lgbtq youth who had undergone conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as those who did not. author and reporter ronan farrow has slammed his publisher hachette after it announced it would publish woody allen's forthcoming memoir. farrow said the decision "shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse," and announced he was cutting ties with the publisher. in 2017, ronan farrow published a piece in "the new yorker" detailing abuse by recently convicted rapist and former hollywood mogul harvey weinstein. the article is widely considered to be a watershed moment in the #metoo movement. last year, hachette published

farrow's book "catch and kill," which details the challenges he faced investigating weinstein and other powerful media figures accused of sexual assault. ronan farrow is also the brother of dylan farrow, who has accused woody allen of sexually abusing her as a child when he was her adoptive father. allen has denied those allegations. and in mexico, feminists are calllling for a national striken march 9, one day after international women's day, to protest skyrocketing gender-based violence in the country. calls for a national strike are being led by the mexican feminist group witches of the sea. the strike has been referred to as "a day without us," calling on women not go to work or school, to stay out of the streets, and to avoid participating in thehe economymn anany way for h hours. thisis is a mber of f witches sf the sea, arussi unda. >> i believe that women in mexico are tired of the different types of violence that are committed against us in all spacaces.

it is s not only of him as i i crisis, but alsoso the day-to-dy in homes and schools, on the street, andnd jobs. itit seems there's no place that is they for us. amy: plans for the national strike gained momentum after the brutal murders in february of 25-year-old ingrid escamilla, who was killed and mutilated by her partner, and 7-year-old fatima, who was kidnapped and lalater found deadad wrapped ina plastic bag. in mexico, at least 10 women are killed every day. 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 biggest voting day of the democratic presidential primary campaign has ended in a two-person race between two candidates -- former vice president joe biden and senator bernie sanders. with more than a third of delegates at stake, biden swept the midwest and the south, winning virginia, north carolina, arkansas, alabama, tennessee, oklahoma,

massachusetts, minnesota, and delicate-rich -- delegate-rich texas. sanders saw victories in colorado, utah, and the grand prize of the night -- california. he also won his home state of vermont. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren finished in an embarrassing third place in her home state, and new york billionaire mike bloombeberg and said he planned to reassess his candidacy after he spent more than $500 million to score just one victory -- in american samoa. biden delivered his victory speech in los angeles, where he was interrupted when two protesters with direct action everywhere stormed the stage chanting, "let dairy die." he began his address with a much-talked about gaffe. >> it is a good night! and getting night even better. they don't call it s super tuesy for nothing. by the way, this is my sister

note,e and her husband -- this is my wife. this is my sister. they switched on me. folks, it is super early but things are looking awful, awful good. so i am here to report, we are very much alive! it,make no mistake about this campaign will send donald trump packing. off.campaign is taking join us. amy: meanwhile, bernie sanders used his speech at the end of super tuesday in his home state of vermont to contrast his record with biden and president donald trump. >> but we are not only taking on the corporate establishment, we are taking on the political establishment.

we are going to win because the people understand it is our campaign, our movement which is best positioned to defeat trump. you cannot eat trump with the same old, same old kind of politics. amy: sanders' biggest win came in california. the associated press is calling it. he won the support of some 55% of latinx voters who will account for nearly 40% of california's population. this campaign had 23 field offices in california alone. the latinx in texas community also showed up intros for sanders with 39% of the vote

compared to biden who received 26%, though texas went to joe biden. latinx voters could also play key role states upcoming primaries in arizona and florida. for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined once again by chuck rocha, senior adviser to senator bernie sanders' presidential campaign. he has been called the architect of sanders' campaign strategy to mobilize latino voters. welcome back, chuck. so let's begin with the big numbers. you have joe biden winning nine states, including -- well, your home state of texas. yet bernie sanders winning, well, four states if you include california, which ap has called -richargest, the delegate state of california. at this is been called a victory for joe biden. they're talking about joe-mentu

m, because of his surge, especially among southern african-american voters. chuck rocha, your analysis of what happened on super tuesday? >> no doubt joe biden had a good night last night but i would argue bernie sanders had a good night. this is not about who wins what state. look at watching this great program, it is about the delegate count. once we get done counting california, we will be close to joe biden. we learned a lot last night. anybody worth their weight insult will know what you do now is backup, see where he did well, you alluded to the amazing operation we have been running for months and months and thehe latino community, and places where we need to improve. we will reevaluate that now and look toward the states coming up toto make sure we continue to pt our shoulder against the wheel and empower all of those grassroots activists that really make the difference in this campaign. let's talk about one big loser last night, and that was the folks running the election system. i get sick and tired of watching good folks stand and line for

hours and hours trying to represent democracy by voting. voting in this country should not be that hard. if the richest country, the richest country, the riches point in history. we should make it easy for folks to vote and they don't have estate online time site -- sometimes for three or four hours. juan: i want to ask you specifically about texas. there was maybe twice as many people who voted in this primary in president in texas as did 2016. clearly, texas -- it is a huge state. in east texas, there's a large african-american community in places like houston, little further north in dallas. what is your sense of how the turnout and also the state broke down versus what you expecected versus what actually h happened? is thething i will say latino vote almost single-handedly carried the state for bernie sanders. but overall, if you look at the african-american vote and the

latino vote, yet bernie sanders who had done all of this work in thatat community, spent millions of dollars empowering the community, and african american community that was very much an agenda f for joe biden. overall what i have been singing since the last midterm election is this anxiety with h people of color in minority communities around donald trump. i think donald trump is motivating a lot of people who feel threatened. let's of latinos with b bwn skin like me who are u.s. citizens who feel like we have been president,by this treated as a second-class citizen. i think bernie sanders is capturing some of that energy. to give credit, joe biden has captured some of that as well. juan: would you say the big loser of the net appears to have been michael bloomberg who staked his entire $500 million on being able to avoid the early states and then scoring big victories on super tuesday? that just did not happen. >> there are some political consultants in texas who have already started building their

second house on the money they made off michael bloomberg. he threw a lot of money away and spent lots of time and lots of places, and he did not work out for them. it goes to show you cannot buy an election. you cannot go in and try to duplicate something like our grassroots movement by paying activists on the ground. anyone is welcome to run for president, but he stands for everything we stand against in the bernie sanders campaign.n. amy: nbc is repoporting, chuck, biden won the support of 63% of black voters in virginia. 62% of black voters in tennessee . 72% of like voters in alabama. exit polls show six in 10 -- let's see, six and 10 black voters back biden in texas and north carolina. according to nbc poll, exit poll, black voters outside of this south were less likely to support biden, black voters

under 45 around three times as likely to support bernie sanders. if you can talk -- i mean, were the main architect of the latino strategy, but you are part of a team that is also focusing on african-american. that also interesting simone sanders, who was one of bernie sanders top people, is now one of the top people for joe biden. she is,s, of course, african-american. >> let's not forget joe biden was the vice president of barack obama, the first black president who was an amazing president and still the most popupular figuren democratic politics. there is a piece to overcome. that does not mean you get up on that boat and walk away. when i started this telecast, i said you step back and evaluate and reassess and change or strategy. we continue to do well with young african-americans, but we can always do better with older african-americans. we want to lift up their voices

and make sure they have a part of this campaign and that we are doing this in the right way. i think we can always improve. juan: chuck, obviously, whoever is going to be the nominee of the demo at a already has to desk democratic party has to get 50% more of the delegates or more to be nominated. biden actually got more than 50% of the vote i think into states on tuesday. won in vermont, just over 50% of the vote. how do you see the path of getting more than 50% of the vote? when you add up the worn folks, looking at the so-called progressive camp, if you add up the worn and sanders, they don't quite come to 50%. how do you see the patath to actual nomination? >> there are a lot of big states coming up. if you watch this primary from the beginning, and i've been on this particular race almost over a year, things change quickly. you will have debates and

chances for people to back up down. the whole field has consolidated. all of that is a strategic decision on resource allocation and where you're doubling down. with big states coming up like washington state that we won last time, michigan, missouri, then you start looking at florida and arizona and, oh, my goodness, pennsylvania, new york, and these midwestern states -- all of these different strategies that go in. one thing you should keep your eye on is the midwest area with lots of blue-collar african-american, latino, white folks who work in union -- and around this issue of jobs. a lot of these people have been hoodwinked by president trump and they're looking for an alternative now w that they y se ain't quite right. bernie sanders has stood with them against every trade deal that has had their jobs overseas. amy: the next group of states, the majority of them went to hillary clinton over bernie whyers in 20, which is

although he won california -- this is not a winner take all state, none of them are -- so they will come out around even on the delegates. from he wanted a big push in california because of what is coming up next, not possibly favorable to him. do you have that same assessment? >> i i don't. we did really well in washington and we did really well when we shopped peopople in michigan lat time.. ththere are twtwo states comingp immediately that the senator is very popular in. this is not the same race. i talked about a whole new group of people being motivated to come out because of the undertow of donald trump. we are going to fight for every single vote. what makes us different is our grassroots activists and them making phone calls and knocking on doors. we're fixing to rotate from the deep south up to working in the midwest and some of these western states with new york and pennsylvania and we feel good.

amy: we want to thank you for being with us, chuck rocha, senior adviser to senator bernie sanders' presidential campaign. when we come back, we looked at biden's decisive victory was southern african-american voters. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we continue to look at super tuesday results, which established the fight for the democratic nomination as a two-man race between senator bernie sanders and former vice president joe biden. biden swept the south and midwest last night, winning virginia, north carolina, arkansas, alabama, tennessee, oklahoma, massachusetts, minnesota, and texas, propelled by a huge majority of african-american votes in several states. and sanders won in the west, with victories in colorado,

utah, and a grand prize of the night california, with , significant latinx support. sanders also won his home state of vermont. amy: biden's strong showing came after the democratic party establishment consolidated around the former vice president, with amy klobuchar and pete buttigieg dropping out in recent days and throwing their support behind him. but it also was due to black voters in the south, who supported biden by extremely significant margins. nbc reports that biden won the supppport of 63% of black voters in virginia, 62% of black voters in tennessee, and 72% of black voters in alabama. exit polls also show 6 in 10 black voters backed biden in texas and north carolina. according to an nbc exit poll, black voters outside the south were less likely to support biden, and black voters under 45 are around three times as likely to support bernie sanders than older voters. well, for more, we host a round table discussion.

inin chicago, we're joined by barbara ransby, historian, author, and activist advisor to the movement for black lives. she has endorsed bernie sanders for the democratic nomination. her latest book is "making all black lives matter: reimagining freedom in the twenty-first century." reverend dr. william barber is with us in washington, d.c. he is co-chair of the poor people's campaign and president of repairers of the breach. and via democracy now! video stream, we're joined by elie mystal, the nation's justice correspondent and author of the magazine's new monthly column, " objection! his recent column is titled, black voters didn't vote for biden in south carolina because they "lack information." wewelcome baback to dedemocracy! >> i think it is pretty amazing how much t the blalack communitn thee south, the older black community, has really rallied behind joe biden. they have been with biden from the start and it looked like he was shaky. itit looked d they might even go

mike bloomberg butut that all ce back to biden and it has provided him a a firewall that i am surpris that bebernie sanders has not yet been able to break through, right? work k onive years to this proroblem. this is what happened to him in 2016 against hillary clinton. i think it deserves serious analysis to try y to figure out whatat his messasage is not impacting g that c community whe has had d so l long to work k o. the earlier guestst chuck made a good point that bernrnie seems o haveve maybe inroads with the latinx community, but it has not worked with the black community, the s southern black communityy specififically. we -- want thing that analysis is somehow southern older blacks are just "more conservative." there is no evidence that southern black voters are more socially conservative than other

voters in this primary when you look at the fact that all of the candidates running are basically in lockstep on the social issues. all of the candidates running to support a woman's right to choose. all of the candidates ran to susupport gay marriage. all of the demococratic primary candidates are kind of in lockstep on n the social issues. an economic progressivism issues, black voters all across the country, including in the south, have a record of supporng economic -- the pooror people's campaign that reverend barberer -- there is strong african-american support all across the south. -- what part of bernie's message is not translating the southern black voters i think is a really nuanced and interesting question. juan: i want to bring barbara ransby into the question possible specifically, there is an existing superstructure of

black elected officials across the country who for most of this campaign were sort of divided in their perspective until it seems to me the south carolina primary and especially for now pronouncements of james clyburn and his -- it appears to consolidate the existing superstructure black elected officials around the country to turn out the vote. i'm wondering your perspective of what happened last night. >> is a good point. let me say this, the good news from last night was bloomberg's defeat, innocence, the fear that bloomberg could literally come in and buy black voters and other voters was a real fear. even with all of his millions of investment come he did not have the showing that he expected. i think that is the good news and one important take away. i think in terms of black voters, ibram kendi made a point last that in a tweet that we're

talking about a subset of black voters. we're talking about older black voters, primarily black voters in the south. i think people vote for a lot of reasons. most people are not reading every line of everyone's platform. and there is a lot of trust by associatation. whwhen jim clyburn comes in and gives his full weight behind joe biden, i think it did have a ripple effect. i'm not saying black voters in this out -- my relatives are in the south. i respect and have drawn wisdom from black folks in this out. my people come from the south. my research is about the strength and fortitude and brilliant leadership of black southerners in the black freedom dissent, so absolutely no to black southerners. but i think people are afraid and people voted more out of fear and pragmatism and out of hope and optimism. we have to turn that around. if you look at a joe biden versus a bernie sanders, both

very imperfect. i'm not looking for a savior in this election. but clearly, dowown the line, looking at his past, looking at his platform, and looking at what he represents for the future -- including youngblood activist who are excited about him -- bernie sanders, hands down, is what black people need to be looking toward in terms of a campaign that can make a material impact on our lives and the lives of other people. over. ithe race is not think there are e a number of states still to be one and are in play. and i think we have to recalibrate our notion of winning. for me, electoral politics is one part of a larger effort to further the cause of black freedom and justice in this country, but black people for all people. and certainly, sustainability for the planet. a largers one part of effort, larger building movement that i have appreciated about

the sanders campaign. people like phil agnew and nina turner and others in a campaign who have a bigger vision of building a movement, not just winning an election -- although, hopefully, we will win the election as well. amy: reverend barber, while you are in washington right now, you're from north carolina -- that is where you live. yourercentage points in home state, 42% of the vote went to biden. north carolina to sanders 24%. why do you think former vice president biden did so well in north carolina? >> first of all, good morning. i am a son of the south and certainly glad that we are finally having this conversation about the south. 160, must 170 electoral votes just out of the former 13 confederate states. i'm glad we're having this conversation about it with african-american voters.

i am planning for june 20, 2020, the poor people's assembly, national more large on washington and i have a little bit different p perspective livg in the south all my life, working in the south. i've seen a lot of candidates on the democratic side when primaries -- win primaries and then lose in the general election. here's the questions that i think we have to raise and we are looking into this morning. first of all, the question is, s 60% of say someone win the black vote, that should be celebrated, but what is that a percentage of? those who voted. the other question is, how many were not inspired to vote? how many were not inspired to move? yes, a lot of the initial vote maybe based on personality and obama policicies andd that is na bad thing necessarily, but also we have to ask -- and those 14 states last night, there are

over 40 million poor and low wealth voters. poor and well w wealth americans did not -- low wealth magazine not support donald trump. what was the number in those states that turned out or did nonot turn out? what did not inspire them? some places like texas, at 600,000 almost an even split between sanders and biden. that means there is a split in the party in this over aspiration. how will the party deal with that? that is not some clear far victory that dismisses, say for instance, sanders policies as senseless, a as silly as i've heard some democrats say come and have to be very careful with that. the last thing is, not only who did not vote, but in the southern states -- we talked about this black wall, but are the democrats really going to fight after the primaries? are they going to really invest in the north carolinas, georgias, mississippis after the

election? seegeneral, we often something different. last time the clinton campaign, million votersa of the table. there was no effort to go after -- the number of poor low wealth people and the number of african-americans who did not vote held the political calculus to not elect donald trump a stub they could changed it. are we really seriously now going to focus on the south and focus on bringing together poor blacks and poor whites in the south? if that happens,s, we can have a fundamental shift in political calculus in this country. you can see states like virginia, north carolina, georgia, mississippi, florida flipped the general election. but if we're just going to deal with primaries and who gets the primary vote and outlook deeper, who didn't vote, who wasn't inspired and why and how many black people were left -- how many poor people were left out last night and why, that we

might and up with a lot of excitement in the primary and a lot of sobbing is that is in the general election. juan: i want to bring elie mystal back into the conversation. a recent column in the nation, you laid out why you thought like voters are opting for biden and you said it is not because they lackk information. why do you think so many turned out for biden, even though understanding come as reverend barber said, this is a primary, not as representative of an overall subset or part of t the population that is s the general election? >> i t think you have to look at black voters not this is whatt reverend bararber was saying, wo is going to be for black voterss in thehe future and by the policies thahat sanders is runng on, which i personally think are the right policies for our community and lots of other

communities, our white americans ready to vote for thohose polics and uplift all people and share the great wealth of this country? because the answer historically has been no. when you ask white people to share the wealth of this country, they say no. they vote with their pocketbooks over their morality. that is how you get an unvarnished big and open sexist in the white house over highly qualified woman. that is what white people did in 2016. if seen the white electorate go for the republican nominee time and time and time again. bernie sanders is out here telling us that white people are ready to vote for real economic redistribution and change. and i don't t know that he has convinced black people that white people are ready to do that. so i don't thihink it is feaear exactly, i think it is -- i think if you don't feel like you

have white allies willing to take this pledge with youou, we, thenen you revert back to the mt important thing as bebeating dodonald trump and that is how u get t back to biden. one thing i will say, again, i think this links with what reverend barber is saying that is so importantnt, you can start to change this if you continue to invest in the south. because it is not just in terms of your own presidential campaign. we have peopople running in the south in the senate that we desperately need to take back, and we desperately n need to support. don'tt leave jamie harrison hanging out there. t thosewo seats in georgia out there. if the top of the ticket reinvest in the southern statats comeme not only will it help thm when the senate, that is the kind of thing that i think long-term impresses african-american voters that white people are ready to be allies to the cause of social justice and racial equality.

amy: historian barbara ransby, were among 100 black scholars, , writers including keeanga-yamahtta taylor, marc lamont hill, and gerald horne who issued a joint letter endorsing bernie sanders this weekend. why you think senators should be president and would most benefit americans? >> i'm glad you brought up that add that we did. we did a statement. over 100 black scholars, people who have devoted their entire lives to not only studying, but standing with the black freedom movement, people come out of the black freedom movement and not black communities. our assessment is, look, i grew up in detroit, a working-class family. for me, issues of racece and lat have always been intimately bound up. i think while sometimes i'm disappointed quite frankly that bernie sanders does not lead

with a racial justice analysis, but when i listen carefully and look at the policies, i see a way forward for black working-class people as an educator -- many of my students are first-generation college. they are black and latinx students. they are deeply, deeply in debt. the $1.6 trillion debt is of sears concern to all of us who are educators, and that is a very racialized, racially imbalanced debt following heavy dust falling heavily on people of color. bernie sanders commitment to prison reform, two in franchising incarcerated citizens -- i mean, all of these things are elements of a progressive vision for the future. the thing about white voters, listen, of racist -- racism is everywhere in the country. yet racist white people who voted for barack obama. racist white people who voted for elizabeth warren and his primary post racist white people

who voted for bernie sanders and joe biden. people vote for a complex set of reasons and we are not all going to be on the same page in that. i think what we have to look at our what are the candidates commitments around issues of race and what are the candidates commitment particularly around foreign class people? i think what reverend barber is doing with the poor people's campaign is important. it also coalitions like the rising majority looking at a range of issues that they impact the lives of black people -- all of this is in the mix when we assess what presidential candidate could best lead us into a brighter, more just and sustainable future. and for us, that candidate is bernie sanders. it is not just bernie sanders as a man, as a person. i reserve the right to critique everybody, including people who i love and respect. but it is the campaign that he is building. senatort is people like nina turner, people like phil

agnew from florida whom you've had on the show who is very much a part of the early black lives matter movement and the movement for black lives, deeply respected among a whole ecosystem of young black activists. those are the principles that we united around when we formed the statement. the statement involved a lot of discussion and debate and push and pull about what tone we wanted to strike, white was important for us to do so as educators, and all of that. i hope it has gotten some traction, but we're certainly not alone. i think the young organizers in the dream defenders, an organization that phil agnew comes out of, there 501(c) four, did endorse bernie sanders as well. there are a number of black organizers, activists, educators who see in the sanders campaign come in the people around him like alexandria ocasio-cortez, rashida tlaib, real hope for a

different kind of politics. say, itfor me i would is really about plus strategy. i agree with reverend barber that this does not end at the primaries, but it also cannot and in november. we have to be about a movement. also what elizabeth warren campaigns represented that a joining of forces really of asents a hopeful growth movement, multiracial and antiracist movement for a justice agenda long-term. juan: reverend barber, tweeted recently the dems need to keep ththinking about h h they say tt black voters, the heart of the party, when they had the chance to include blacks and did not fight for that. i change the rules for billionaire -- but change the rules for billionaire. your thought in terms of the parties to faced energy when it comes to the african-american

vote and especially how they treated kamala harris or cory booker v versus how theyey opend the doors of for michael bloomberg? campaigns.n part one an bring black -- in fact bring like peoplele and latinos togogether and you can make significant changes. we have a study that shows if you just organize 2% to 10% of the low well people in the country, you can fundamentntally change elections. we have to o talk about that. it is not so much race or class, but race and class. instance,llenged, for bernie sanders and all of the -- biden, all of ththem come as my sister said, to lead with -- it

is not about culture, but about real issues and to deal with the issue of poverty and low well. 61% of african-americans live in already and low wealth.h. 66 million people. we will never have a political transformation and calculus in this country until we deal with the issue of poverty. 140 million people, 43% of the station. the issue of how we are treating people come african-americans. there's all of this talk about the african-americans are the heart of the party. where was all of the fervor to ensure that africican-americans stayed on the stage? that is an interesting issue. if we are the heart and if 61% of african-americans are poor in the wealth, why are most candidates only talking about -- if they talk about poverty, the democrats use a pseudonym was

republicans racialized it, democrats run from it. we talk about the working class, but not poverty. we looked at the issue of poverty in the states and we said the number of people who are poor and low wealth in the super tuesday states, if far outweighs any marginal victory and races or in presidential races. why are we scared to say the issue? we will never move people until they hear themselves. here's what i want to put out. if this is a serious conversation about african-american people, then why not vote -- every candidate put in writing how the candidate will come in the future, deal with the wealth gap, close the wealth gap, deal with the health care gap, how they will deal with racist voter suppression and gerrymandering and expanding access to the ballot, how they will deal with the disparate ecological issues in our communities, how they will deal with militarization in our communities, how they will deal with mass incarceration,

resegregatioion of public schoos -- how they increase the number of african-americans in the federal work appointees, and increase the number of african-americans in the senate, and what is the strategy to go after this and it that is truly holding up progress report and the wealth people of every race, creed, and color? put it in writing and then change the next debate to be about nothing but the issue of systemic racism and poverty. not just how racism affects black people, but how it undermines democracy. rinse and stop every state that is a racist voter suppression missed state is also one where the people who use it to get elected, they block policies of living wages and health care and end up hurting more white people in terms of raw numbers than black people. let's have ahey -- full debate on these issues. every candidate needs to say, in my policies, this is how it is going to impact the black community. this is how it will impact rural community. this is how it wiwill impact the

latino community. let's moveve deep, deep, deep ia policy and put that out there. i believe if that happens, would not just the a percentage of black votes turning out, but vaux say -- folks and they got six or percent of the foe that may have only been 40% of the total black population, but we will see an increase in t the number of particicipation and a building of alliances. i also know, finally -- amy: 10 seconds. >> it is going to take a movement. amy: reverend dr. william barber, thank you for being with us for the poor people's campaign from north carolina. historian barbara a ransby speaking to us from illinois, and elie mystal of the nation. when we come back, we speak to the author of "yesterday's man: the case again j joe biden."." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we end today's show with a closer look at the big winner of super tuesday, former vice president joe biden, who won nine states, including texas, senator bernie sanders won the largest prize of the night, california. amy: for more, we're joined in toronto, canada by branko marcetic, staff writer at

jacobin magazine fellow at in , these times. other of the new book "yesterday's man: the case against joe biden." why you wrotebout a book on joe biden and what you think is most important to understand about him? , very earlyly when he announced, it was clear he wass going to be the front-runner. he was the vice president. it is trtraditional passing of e torch from the abuse ocular president -- from the previous president. lots of intraparty support. i feel people should be aware of his record, particularly african-american voters, who i argue biden is systematically betraying even though he gain their support year after year, election after election. the main thing people need to know about by is this approach since 1970,

reelection campaign which came as a conservative shipped and u.s. politics, is based on appeasing the right and sort of taking the platform of his republican opponent and trying to make it his own and siphon noise support. that has been the case and how he has governed. that is when the 1980's and 1990's uc biden going further on un-crimes and drugs that even reagan. czar. pushing for a drug expansion of forfeiture in the kind of thing will stop in the 1990's, even though he says he claims he was close to retiring, the thing that has made him stay in the race is he wanted to defeat these guys, defeat they gingrich

republicans that came in 1994. what does he do? he passes welfare reform, which was defined by senate republican majority leader trent lott as the "holy grail" of the gop agenda. welfare kinda disappears across the south and the southwest united states as the conservative governors use that basically use their money to push up their own budgets. with clinton to cut spending in the federal bureaucracy spending and fefedel emplployment goes down to pre-16 levels. -- - to levels befofore roosevelelt took powower. this is the way it is always been. part o of the reason w why he es up being the architetect democratic architect o of the iq war, he wawas worried about ann election.. he was worried about b being challelenge from the right into thousand two by an opponent who could rival him in fundraising

and is safe it was to go in support the erect work, a l lotf african-americans did not support. biden talking to a g group of african-americans shortly after voting for the war, , and this s a a classic buying thing, u-boas and says to this mostly black audience,, "wellll i think the r is a terrible idea and i don't think it is going to happen stop saddam and al qaeda are not in " when he been saying the exact oppoposite. as republican party gets mee extreme to the right, having biden as president and even going against trurump, is a a rl worry. amy: we will do part two and post it online at democracynow.org. branko marcetic, staff writer at jacobin magazine, in these times reporter. his new book "yesterday's man: , the case against joe biden." that does it for our show. if you would like to see our five hour super tuesday broadcast, go to democracynow.org. we have a number of job openings

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