05/11/20 05/11/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city,y, the epicenter of the p pandemimic, s is democracy n now! >> there is no question there has been serious de-escalation efforts. these videos we have seen lately, one that was particularly heinous and i was very critical of what happened in the officer has been placed on modified duty and is facing discipline. amy: black and brown communities are being disproportionately targeted and policed in new york city's response to covid-19.

more than 80% of the social distancing violaons polic issued were two black and latinx people. we will speak with author and activist jill nelson, who herself was arrested by police in april for writing "trump equals plague" in chalk on the sidewalk. the 67-year-old scholar was handcuffed, taken to the police station, and held for five hours.s. now w the so-called graffiti grandma is speaking outut. we will talklk to her lawyer norman siegel. th an unusual billboard has been erected. >> the trump death clock hangs over times square. it shows an estimate of the number of u.s. covid 19 deaths that resululted from the presidt and his team's failed response to the coronavirus outbreak. amy: we will speak with the filmmaker and activist eugene jarecki about his trump death clock. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democraracy now!, democrcracynow.org, the quarante report. i'm amy goodman. the worlrldwide death toll from covid-19 conontinues to rise, ,h over 280,000 known deaths and over 4.1 million confirmed cases. the true number is thought to be much higher. the united states leads by far in the number of cases, which has topped 1.3 million, and the number of deaths, which is nearing 80,000. despite the dire numbers, states across the united states continue to open up their economies. the institute for health metrics and evaluation at the university of washington again upped its death toll forecast and is now projecting over 137,000 covid-19 deaths in the u.s. by early august. director christopher murray said states have moveded to open up e seeing double-digit spikes in their caseloads.

this is murray speaking on cbs's "face the nanation" sunday. > what is driving the changes the rise in mobilityy. and that is s the key drivever. we are seeing in some statetes a 20 percentage point increase in just 10 days in mobility. and that will translate into more human contact, more transmission. amy: after record unemployment numbers were reported friday, treasury secretary steven mnuchin acknowledged the true u.s. unemployment rate could be as high as 25% -- a rate not seen since the peak of the great depression. despite this, mnuchin said sunday the whihite house may wai a feweekeks before t taking up a new round of cororonavirus r ref fufunding. in new york, health authorities are investigating the deathshs f atat least three children,n, ana possible 85 cases of severe illness in children believed to be brought on by the coronavirus. new york is also notifying other

statates of the cases. this is governor andrew cuomo. >> symptoms similar to call was cute disease, --, psycho disease, toxic shock-like syndrome. this does not present as a normal covid case most of covid cases tend to be respiratory. this presents as an inflammation of the blood vessels, sometimes inflammation of the heart. it is possible these cases were coming in and were not diagnosed as related to covid because they don't appear as covid. amy: new york remains the hardest hit state in the united states, reporting over r 340,000 cases anand over 26,00000 death. in other news from new york, the intercept is reporting the lincoln hospital in the bronx is investigating a nurse for sharing footage with the website that shows medical workers

speaking out about the lack of critical supplies they were facing. a nurse in the video blamed the passing of a fellow nurse from covid-19 on government's failure to provide them with proper resourceces. the nurse under investigation, lillian udell, is part of a group known as the radical nurse squad, who are organizing nurses at their respectivive hospitals amid the p pandemic. in neighboring new jersey, where half of the over 9000 covid-19 deaths have been linked to nursing homes, a veterans home in paramus is now reporting 72 fatalities, and the number is expected to keep rising. in south dakota, the cheyenne river sioux tribe is defying orders by governor kristi noem to remove covid-19 checkpoints. the checkpoints are set up on highways on tribal land, which noem says is illegal. cheyenne river sioux chairman harold frazier says the checkpoints are the best way to protect against covid-19 entering the community, which is not equipped to handle an outbreak.

south dakota has also ordered the oglala sioux tribe to remove its coronavirus checkpoints. indigenous activists say the stand-off in south dakota could have major implications for other battles on tribal land, inclcluding the fight t to stope keystonene xl pipeline. vicece president mike pence's prpress secretary katie miller testeded positive friday for the coronavirus. miller is married to top trump adviser stephen miller. she is the second person to have a publicly confirmed case of covid-19 in the white house after news broke thursday one of president trump's personal valets had contracted the infection. ivanka trump's personal assistant also reportedly has tested positive. mike pence is not going to despite shened is his press secretary. however, three top health officials said they would go into quarantine -- dr. robert redfield, head of the centers for disease control and prpreventionon, fda commissione. stephen hahn, and top coronavirus task force scientist dr. anthony fauci.

all three are scheduled to testify by video link tomorrow to the senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions. committee chair senator lamar alexander will also appear remotely after a member of his staff tested positive for the coronavirus. this all comes as reports have been emerging that trump is privately questioning the coronavirus death toll and forecasts. axios reported last week trump may start to question official numbers publicly. on friday, former president barack obama blasted the trump administration's handling of the crisis. obama was speaking in a conference call with 3000 former members of his administration. pres. obama: even with the best of governments -- it has been an absolute chaotic disaster. amy: in california, over a dozen immigrant women have been released from the for-profit mesa verde detention center in bakersfield after they held a hunger strike demanding they be

freed from the squalid facility during the pandemic. mesa verde is owned by the private prison company geo group. meanwhile, jailed immigrants at northwest detention center in washington state have initiated a collective work stoppage protesting their worsening conditions inside the facility amid the pandemic. in other immigigration news, the u.s. i is reportedly continuing deportations to haiti i with a flight scheduled today with at least 100 immigrants, including five people who recently tested positive foror covid-19. this all comes as "the wall street journal" reports the trump administration is pushing to expand its latest immigration bans under the guise of curbing the spread of the coronavirus. president trump's immigration advisers are reportedly drafting a new executive order that would ban issuing new temporary, work-based visas for migrant workers as well as f feign students. meanwhile, three more prisoners at a chino, california, facility have died of covid-19 as

-- an earlier death was reported in april. over 330 cases have now been confirmed at the california institution for men in chino, and at least 44 people have died in federal prisons across the country according to the federal bureau of prisons. across europe, countries continue to relax restrictions as more people return to work and children return to school in some localities. in britain, prime minister boris johnson anannounced plans to transition from a "stay at home" to a "stay alert" policy starting this week, saying those who cannot work from home should be encouraged to go back. he also said people should take unlimited time outside as long as they respect social distancing rules. in addition, elementary schools could open as soon as next month, he said. boris johnson's message was met with disapproval and confusion over its lack of clarity. wales, scotland, and northern ireland have decided to extend their lockdowns. this is scottish first minister nicola sturgeon. >> i have asked u.k. government

not to deploy the stay alert advertising campaign in scotland because the message in scotland at this stage is not state home if youou can, , the message is, except for the exceptional reasons you know about, stay-at-home. amy: britain has the second highest death toll after the uniteded states, with around 32,000 confirmed deaths. boris johnson alsoso announced sunday all air travelers will soon be subject to a 14-day quarantine period when entering the country. people traveling from france will be exempt after the two nations agreed on a reciprocal arrangement. france has also lifted some of its restrictions as of today and is imposing new measures, including the mandatory wearing of masks on public transportation and in high schools. some muslims have called out the government's hypocrisy since headscarves are banned in public schools and burqas are banned in any public space. in spain, around half the country is moving to the next phase of a national plan to ease its lockdown.

restaurants and shops can operate at reduced capacity. museums, gyms, and hotels will also be able to reopen for business nearly two months after shutting their doors. however, madrid and barcelona, spain's two largest cities, still do not meet the criteria to open up non-essential businesses. in russia, a fire broke out at a moscow coronavirus hospital saturday, killing at least one. coronavirus cases continue to surge in russia. over 10,000 daily cases have been reported for over a week, with a total of over 220,000 confirmed cases and over 2000 known deaths. to see our coverage ofof russia, go to our interview last week on democracy now! south korea reported 34 new coronavirus cases sunday, its highest daily figure in a month after a a new outbreak that originated in several nightclubs. seoul shut down all bars and nightclubs indefinitely in response. president moon jae-in said sunday that despite its early success in curbing the outbreak, south korea was facing a

"prolonged war." >> it will be a long time before ends.vid-19 outbreak we should prepare for a second outbreak. amy: china is also reporting new coronavirus cases, sparking fears of a second wave of the outbreak. authorities reported 17 new cases of covid-19 sunday, including five in wuwuhan. in afghanistan, rights groups are calling for an investigation after at least six people were killed in a police shootout at a food distribution event in central ghor province, where protesters were demanding economic assistance amid the coronavirus crisis. around 4000 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed in afghanistan, where testing remains extremely limited. in iran, a southwestern county has been placed under lockdown after authorities say people faililed to observe social distancing rules. in lebanon, the economic crisis

is compounding the threat of hunger for syrian refugees amidst the pandemic. a recent u.n. survey found 70% of syrian refugees experienced hungerer while many coululd not afford to buy soap. the u.s. has blocked a a vote oa u.n. security council resolution supporting a global ceasefire over objecections to a minor, indirect reference to the world health organization. the u.s. said it would only approve mention of the who is -- if the resolution included language critical of the agency and of china in their response to the pandemic. last month, trump halted u.s. fufunding for the world, a move widely condemned around the world. in iraq, hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered in central baghdad on sunday, setting up barricades and battling with police who responded by throwing stun grenades and rocks at the demonstrators. the protests came just days after iraq inaugurated a new prime minister, formerer spy chf mustafa al-kadhimi, ending

months of political deadlock. over the weekend, he promised compensation for the families of hundreds of anti-government protesters who were shot and killed after large-scale protests erupted last year. libya's capital city tripoli was rocked by a barrage of missile fire over the weekend as forces aligigned with renegade former libyan general khalifa haftar fired on u.n.-backed government forces, setting fire to airplanes and fuel tanks at tripoli's main airport, and threatening the city's main water supply. the surge in fighting prompted turkey's government to threaten new attacks on general haftar's forces in eastern libya. back in ththe united states, georgia's attorney general chrhs carr requesteded sunday the u.s. department of justice conduct an investstigation into the handlig of ahmaud arbery's casese. he is a black man shot and killed in by two white men while february he was out jogging. the killers, father and son gregory and travis mcmichael,

were arrested and charged with murder thursday, two days after video of the shooting was released. the father is a retired police officer. they said they hunted arbery down because he looked like a burglary suspect. rights groups and some georgia lawmakers are calling for the urgent passage of a hate crime bill.. georgia is one of four states that does not have hate crime laws. atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms called the killing a lynching. this is mayor lance bottoms speaking on cnn sunday. >> with the rhetoric we hear coming out of the e white housen so many ways, i think many that are prone to being racist are given permission to do it an and over way that we otherwise would not see in 2020. amy: protests took place in glynn county, georgia, and around the country friday on what would have been ahmaud arbery''s 26th birthday.

and in missouri, a black transgender woman was found stabbed to death i in her home last week in what t is believedo be a hate crime. 28 year-old nina pop is at least the 10th victim of anti-trans murder this year. transgender rights groups are renewing calls for missouri lawmakers to pass legal protections for lgbtq residents, including the missouri nondiscrimination act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected groups in the missouri human rights act, but has failed to pass the state legislature for over 20 years. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, demomocracynow.org, the quarante report. i'm amy goodman. wewe turn now to looook at how k and brown communities arare beig disproportionately targeted and policed in new york city's response to the spread of covid-19. and it is not just limited to new york. data released friday reveals more than 80% of summonses issued by nypd for social

distancing violations have been to black and latinx people, and 92% of people arrested for not social distancing are non-white. images circulated widely on social media showing a spotlight on uneven policing, some shohowg police officers distributing masks to white residents in crowded new york city parks, apparently, resting no one. meanwhile, videos have emerged of violent crackdowns on social distancing measures in black and latinx neighborhoods. cell phone video footage went viral showing officers aggressively pinning a black man to the ground as they arrested him, then violently attacking a black passerby, draggingng him n the street, punching him and kneeling on his neck, during what was supposed to be a social distancing enforcement actction. the man who was attacked, 33-year-old donnnni wright, was hospititalized w with severere injuries to his back, ribs, and

chest. the officer involved, francisco garcia, has since been put on modified assignment. last week, the brooklyn district attorney's office said 35 of 40 people arrested for social distancing violations were black. mayor bill de blasio has rejected comparisons to new york city's unconstitutional "stop and frisk" policies under former mayor bloomberg, but said in tweet -- "the disparity in the numbers does not reflect our values." well, for more on racist policing, we are joined by an auththor and activist t yoursels arrested by the new york police department on april 16. she was writing "trump equals plague" in chalk on aborted upbuilding -- boarded up building in her washington heights neighborhood. jill nelson spent more than five hours in jail before being released. the 67-year-old scholar, writer, and activist nonow being called the graffiti grandma, is speaking out against the nypd.

she is a longtime reporter, has written several books including "volunteer slavery: my authentic negro experience." jill nelson, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us, but impartially, not under the circumstances. can you talk about what happened to y you just t under a a month? >> i went out to go to the anrugstore, supermarket, essential trip. i was walkining down broadw t to go to the supermarket when i saw a a green boarded up empty for rent buildlding. it was covered with plywood. i wrote, with a piecece of chalk in my pockcket, "trump e equals plague." before i could even stepep back, cops swooped in, cut me off --

two cocop cars jumped out, what are you doing? what are you doing? you're under arrest. they searched me most o of asked me if i had weapons. tellll me to take my hands out f my pocket. it was a cold day. i said no. frisk to me and shoved him into a police car and took me to the 33rd precinct where they put me in a cell and left me there for 5.5 hours. i i ok my shoeoes offff. i had a f fabric mask i i had me -- i demanded they give me one of the m more professiononal ma. they did not allllow me to make any phone calls. i was never read my rights. it was absurd. absolutely absurd. a total waste of time, energy -- and d this is in a community, oe of t the highest rates of covid. as many people who arere poor ad workining poor. there is something the police could have been doing besides atattacking me for writing the tree. i have yet to have anyone

disagree. amy: let's go back to the beginning. talk about the building you were writing on. we were using chalk? >> i i was usingng whable chalk. it was a boarded up front. when you build it outut and covr it with plywood as if you're going to renovate, but it had a "for rent" sign, so it was not occupied most of amy: why did you choose that phrase? plague a and as a popox on all of our houseses. amy:y: you a are writiting "trup equals plague"? >> yes. it summedd up to me how it is, what is happening in t this country y in the world. we have a president who iss aidingng and abetting and tellig ,s thahat as people of color older people, we should just die. get out a and die for capitalis. it is ridicuculous. there 70 disparitities in health

care, in treatment,t, in covera. the popolice are out o of contr. i think the mayor is afraid of the police. instead of sasaying what hehe ot to s say, which is "now i see hw you wiwill, people off color," e is fronting for the police, as always. the, the only person h he worris about -- amamy: his son. >> his son. amy: a and why do you sayy that? > well, becausese it is alwan excu. i am 67 years old. i was politicized by the killing of glovevewhen i was 18. this notion that there are only a few w ba appless and the polie are there to protect -- i dono't buy it. i d't bubuy it. i don't sesee it. i can't see how arresting me or rushing down those young men in brbrooklyn serves any pupurpose. it does not make usus safer.

frankly, i feel that covid-19 r really.racialized, it is now being used as a way to further oppress people of f col. wrong.ust absolutelely the popolice are not dng their job. what a wastete amy: jill nelson -- >> i think we have to stand up and resist. amy: describe what happened when the police moved in on you. you are wearining your mask. were they wearing masks? >> they were wearing masks and gloves. you wowould have thoht i i was sellingg crack in the early 1980's the way they swooped down. they subsesequently said, told someone that someone had called in a c complaint. i find that hard to accept. between 1515 and 30 0 seconds mx from when i stararted writing ad when the cops got ththere. good doare you doing?"

know w what you're doing?"?" i said worords. they did n not think it was funy or intelligent. they cuffed me roughly. they took my pocketbook. took me to the station, book to me. for 5.5n a filthy sell hours. i was not read my rights. i was not offer the right to make a phone call. amy: youou're not ablble to maka phone call? >> no. i'm sorry, at 3:00 -- this is after beining there couple of hours, they toldld me i could ca and trtry to g get my husband because i did not have a photo id. they needed d that to releasase. they dialed my home number. wh my husbanand answered, the guy come after 500 seconds, the cop, says, i'm going g to cut yu off after a minute. boboom. cut me off.. so my y husband had no idea what precinct i was at. amy: : you hd not gogotten a chance to say whe u wewere yet.. >> n no.

they said they would send a cop car byby my apartment, which is like 10 0 blocks a away, to picp my id. my husband put my license in an envelopepe, with h outside e and wawaited for 40 minutes and they never came to get a. he came back upstairs, figured out where i was. i did not even know that until i happen to see my identification in a plastic evidence bag. i wass like, where is my husban? there were like, he came a while ago but you would not of been able to see them anyway. amy: which police station? which community? precinct in washingtgton heights. amy: did they threaten to bring you downtown? > yes, because i did not have id and they would not b be the o pickck up my i id -- i offered earlier, come up t to my apapart and i willll give you my id. theyey told me they were going o take me downtown. and if they took me d downtown,i prprobably would have been there all night. when they finally released me,

amy, the desesk sergeant said -- and d be sure toto show up for r desk appearance ticket or elelse we will come to your house e and arrest you. amy: jill nelson, we're going to gotta break and we will be joined by your lawyer norman siegel, former head of the new york civil liberties union come and talk about this issue. these arare the kinds of issues you write about not only in new york city,y, but all over the country. we are t talking to the author, activist, former professor jilll nelsonon. 67 years old, lives in the washington heights area of newew york city, and was handcuffed by police after they moved in on her for graffitiing on a boboard up building "t"trump equals plague." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "freedom blues" by little richarard. the man called the "architect of rock and roll" died of cancer saturday a at the age of 87.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. blacktinue e to look at how and brown communities are being disproportionately targeted in new york city's response to the spread of covid-19. it is not only herere in nenew k city. we are joined by y jill nelson, usualllly writing about these issues come author, activist, former professor of journalism. she was just arrested herself by the new york police department on april 16. she was great -- graffffitiing "trump equals plague" in chalk on a boarded a building. she spent more than five hours in jail. was not allowed to make a phone call f for hours, had to d demao be given a mask. also with us, norman siegel, civil rights attorney who was one of two lawyers representing jill nelson. he is former director of the new york aclu. norman siegel, can n you talk about what t jill nelson faced d what you're calling forigight nonow?

asking the manhattan will beginnorney, we some tepephoneononversationsns n the nenext week, to dismiss the chararges. we want whatever record that exisists bececause of what happd in april to be expunged stop we want an apology for ms. nelson. and finally, ms. nelson has requested a meeteting with the precinct commander of the 33rd precinct in manhattan so she can sit down and have a discussioion with thehe police commissioione, the commander, to talk about what the p police department c n do during the covid-19 period in the washington h heightsts commmmunity. ms. nelson is an outstanding, she saiaid, amy, scholar, activist. peoplegiving v voice t to who are suffering directly or

indirectly similar inapppproprie actions by some of the police officers of the new york city police department. amy: out to talk about some of the disproportionate approaches the police department and disparate approaches. the samelast week on weekend when police officers were distributingg masks to whie crowdeds gathered in parks, not involved with social distancing. --tures were going online pictures were showing white park. crowded in central at the same time, you had a different group of new york police officers attempting to shut down a press conference and a protest in manhattan's east village. the event was organized by reclaimed pride coalition,

imitation a partner with the right wing and been jealous -- theo open medical officers order the protesters to disband and gave one of them a summons think she violated social distancing rules that ban "any nonessential gathering of individuals of any size for any reason." so you have both the arrests around social distancing and the protetesting. norman sieiegel, can you talkk ababout this? >> it is very alarming becauause if the mayor of ththe largest cy anan been n peaceful, procecess, it can s spread acrs america. a veteran cities see it, it might t be the same thing. political protest is a bedrock principle in democracy.

it it has beenen protected under thee firirst amendment of the constitution of the united ates. just think, withthout pololiticl protests in n the last 75 years, any y progre we've made inin regard t to racece relationsns, becacause of the civivil rightss movementnt, becacause of the eng of vietnamam war, the women'ss momovement, the lgbtq movement, without the rights of political protest, peoeople who generally dodon't haveve the power had a vehicle to g get their message across. peaeacefully , a prorotest , the situationon in georgia wih arbery, much morore historical pattern discrimination of people of color and poor people.. ththe idea the department of dropping the charges on michael flynynn. let's of demonstrations are

i is whatecause it amerericanememocracy is all abo. when you have an exexecutiveve r that t the mayor is now relyingn that talks abobout nonessential gathering ofof people, and the governor's executive ordeder ororder, the examples they givee our parties, celebraons, social evevents. ouour position very stronglyy we encoururage people notot only iw york allll across america to understand what is at stake hehere. it is the right of the peoplpleo peacefully demonstrate -- usually when you are demonstrtrating, historicacallys well as cucurrently, who is the tatarget?? government officicials a and gogovernment pololicy. so it t naturally follows that e governors anand the mayorors wod want to ban and suspend popoliticacal protests. the bottomom line is, when youou take a look at the suprememe cot dedecision, they sayay if you're goining to havave an execucutivr of policicy, it t is got to bee

content-neutral, narrowly overlrlyd, a it can'n'tt be brbroad. the problem here i is you could protecth respect and free speech and public heaealt because you can say the people who wawant to d demonststrate, g as you're wearing a face mask and you are at least s six feet apart from the other people, you cacan have f free speech and you won't spread the covid-19 virus. amy: before we talk about the arbebery case, which i i want to also w with jill nelson, i wantd to compare what happened to her and central park being filled with white people very close together. the pictures are e everywhere. and yet in the east village -- this is a video that also went viral -- cell phone video showed police officers aggressively

pinning a black man to the ground as they arrested him, accusing him of not social distancing, who was talking across the sidewalk to a woman who was at a police booth. and then violently attacking another black passerby, dragging them o on the ststreet, punchinm . like with the first black man, they ---- this very burly officr not wearing a mask kneeled on both of their next separately during what was supposed to be this social distancing enforcement. the second man who was attacked, 33 old donni wright, was hospitalized with severe injuries to his back, ribs, and chest. the officer francisco garcia has mododified m on assignment. i went to get your thoughts onn what is taking place here.e. >> i think covid-19 has been weaponize and racialized and is being used to further oppress

latinx black and latinx people. we have to read this as norman was sayining. we cannot justify an act as if thisis is acceptable or anytythg goes to survive. it is not enough h to me 2 pots and cheer and clap at 7:00 every night. demonstrate and resist. asian of --s racialization of this fight agagainst covid-19. what is the difference between -- whehen you look at the pictus you mention in central park, people are much closer r than te people whoho were beat down in brooklyn or in lower manhattan. it is just absurd. the mayor and the elected officials thing to take -- need to take a stand. i wrote a letter on april 20 two all my elected officials and

have heard from al taylor, my state assembmblyman, gail brewe, giovanni williamams. that i is it. where's my c congressman? where city coununcil person? where is my state senator? nothing. amy: i i want to turn nationally to what is happening in georgia with a a mod's debt. georgia's attorney general requested sunday the u.s. department of justice conduct an investigation into the handling of arbery's case. the 26-year-old -- would have been 26 on friday, 25-year-old at the time, february 23, an african-american young man shot and killed in february by two white men, retired police officer and his son. he was out jogging. the killers, gregory and travis mcmichael, were arrested and charged with murder thursday, two days after the video of the shooting was released.

the police department, given the state, had it for months. they said they hunted down arbery because he looked like a burglary suspect. earlier this month, the cell phone video went viral showing -- i was wondering if you c could alalso -- jill, this is the kind of thing you write about in the nation and other publications. what has taken place here, many people are calling for the rest of the third person, the one who took the cell phone video who was following arbery along who knew the other two men. but your thoughts on how this fits in to what is happening? interestingly, as the republican govevernor kemp opens u up geor, one of the first states to reopen, immediately hundreds of people protested t the dea of this young man. >> r right. i thk it is, asas it hahas alwas been in america, open season on people of color. covovid-19 and the stress

in the natiobeing usused as a cover for that same thing and arbery to o me, it people -- if his mother and his family had not kept up complaining and demanding g action, p people hat immediately come out and began to demonstratete and resisting, this would never have happened. there would have been no arrest. but it ties into these things we see of armed white men with swasastikas and confederate flas converging in front of statehouse and demanding that governors reopen. this is the civil w war.. amy: final comments, norman siegel, on what you feel has to happen nationally righght now as states to open up but this crackdowown continues?s? comment i wante to support the family of mr.

arbery with regard to a call for an independent prosecutor. my expererience is cases of this nature, whwhich not only affecet that family but are symptomatic of a larger historical pattern, you need to have someone from the o outside come in in o ordeo get justice. second, with regard to what is happenening in right now, my message to people for listing this m morning and for you to tk to your r friends andd neieighb, ththe rebels need toto get out d need to be a able to protest gog to speak out not just online, not just on twitter, but to make sure you're wearing face masks, socially distancing, and speak up. , we don'te learned lose our civil liberties overnight.

we lose it day by day, little by littlele. one day you wake up and you don't have those rights s that u took for granted. speak up, write, demonstrate peacefully. this is ouour country. these are ouour righghts. we have to fight for them because otherwise, we will lose them. amy: i just want to comment t tt at the same time we are talking about this disparate treatment of people of coloror and white residents in this country, particularly here in new york city, covid-19 also does not affect people equally as we see all over the country. the disproportionate number of deaths in the black and latinx community of those sufuffering from covid-19 and contracting it to begin with. i want to thank you both for being with us. jill nelson, writer activist, , and journalist. author of several books including, "volunteer slavery: my authentic negro experience" norman siegel is a civil rights

attorney and the f former direcr of the new york aclu. when we come bacack, a new billboard has s gone up in times square. the trump death clock. we will speak with t the man who unveiled it. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "can't be therere today" y billy bragg. he released this on mother's day, performed remototely for a big city winery event that

included steve earle, the indigo girls, and others. deceive steve earlele's premiert his new song, you can go to democracynow.org. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodmaman. as t the death toll from covid-9 in the u united states surpassss 80,000 -- higher than n any othr country in the world -- a unusual new billboard called the trump death clock has been unveiled in new york city's times square. the 56-foot sign keeps tally of lives lost to government inaction. it was created by filmmaker eugene jarecki, who writes in "the washington post" that "it is time for the establishment of clock' tonal 'death measure the cost in human lives of president trump and his team's reckless handling of the coronavirus pandemic." white house coronavirus task force advisor dr. anthony fauci has said the virus would have been mitigated and lives would have been saved if social distancing guidelines had been

implemented earlier. dr. fauci is now one of three members of the task force who've entered self-quarantine after possible exposure e to the viru. by one o of several p people who have just tested positive at the white house. among themem, vice presidedent pence's press secretary, though vice president pence says he will be coming to the white house today. on cnn lastfauci month. >> obviously, logically, you could say if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. obviously, no one is going to deny t that. but what goes into those kinds of decisions is s complicacated. bubut you're right, obviououslyf we had right from the v very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different but there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then. amy: reports show president trump ignored warnings from advisors and experts as early as january about the need for

urgent mitigation measures against the spread of the virus. it wasn't until march 16 that trump reversed his previously dismissive stance and announced new guidelines. but by thehen, it wawas too lat. well, , for more, we're joined y eugene jarecki, award-winningg dodocumentary filmmamaker, auth, and an activist. he created the trump death clock billllboard that was unveiled in new york city's times square friday morning. we will also link to his bees in "the washington post" "trump's covid-19 inaction killed americans. here's a counter that shows how many." itit is great toave e you withts sling what went into this billboard -- with us, jean. explain what went into thihis billboard. looks it started out as a website. it was to quantify whahat we wee learning from the videoiologists s and we got made all the just -we got in

contact with the leading epidemiologist. what we found was tt was anan amamazing and very dark truth underlyiying the numbebers thatt spoke to recklessness handng of a panandemic by the president and his team. we thought that ought to be quantify. it first became a website. amy: described the website f for us, where it is in t times squa. >> the website is called trumpdeathclock.com.m. what was inspiring to me originally -- i amam a new yoro. every new yorkeker knows and mot vivisitors to new york at one te or another past the famous death avenue th hangs ovever t the of ameriricas, 6ththvenue. ththat stands for something. it is symbololic and speaks abot ththe country's reckless

borrrrowing. it warns in way just asas a symbol that therere will be gret future consequences to that borrowing. ardid not need to look f fo to s see the recklessness of ths pandemic. the spread of the death clock there ouought to be a death clck and d not to be it for the world to see, for the memedia to see - it ought to be for the worldld o see, for the media deceiveve. greatminder of the consequences of reckless leadership during the time of crisisis. amy: tell us exactly the place it is in times square, how you got permission to do it, and then how you make the calculation. clearly, the united states would have been affected by the coronanavirus whether it was president trtrump or president obama or the next t president. >> yes. the trump death clock now lives in times square e at 43rd d andh at 1500 broadway. read myfound, people

editorial when i was writing for "the washington post" and i showed it to friends and acquaintances who are supportive of what i was thinking, but giving me good editorial ideas. over time they said if you're so focused on the death clock, why don't you find out about putting a death clock in the real world? why just to as a website? i thought about that but i thought,, my gosh, what is a billboard cost reviewed clock to put up? we looked around a little bit, friends offered to give support and we found maybe not surprisingly billboard space is not very expensive right now because there's nobody on the streets in the height of the pandemic if people a are livingy the guidelinenes they're supposd to be under. that means billboard space in new york was much, much more affordable than one would have ever dreamt. a tiny, tiny fraction of what it usually costs to advertise in times square, one of the most expensive areas in the world. some friends put together some support to put it up and start the ball rolling, which we hope

will roll up because the country. we'll be trump death clock in new york can be emulated in small towns and big cities across the country where people can get a billboard sitting dormant or can just projected. most projectors that people have come you can projected on your house just remind your community of what the incredible cost has been of the reckless handling of this. this is not just about being critical. as you say, this could have happened to any president. the fact is, there is thihis calculation ththat we base the death clock on. we're not just saying, oh, donald t trump, have been bad in some general blurry way. we wanted to o find a single calculation that was most damning and most specific.. in other words, we look for the most conservative number. thatumber was s so damning, that --reasonable people will d debae and thee president defenders wil say, it t was the world hehealth

organization or the cdcdc are blame indivividuals, b blame any but the white house. they can do that. trump's's detractors will point to things that happen much earlier like his team disbanded the white hohouse pandemic directorate in 2018, g got rid f peoplele chiefly concernrned wih ththis kind of outbreak oror thy might have pointed -- they want to say, in january and february, the inintelligenence services ge the presesident countless wawars about the needed to move quickl. that is all trurue and reasonabe people can debate that, but they can debate it until they are not reasonable. we wanted a single calculation, the basis of the trump death clock, which just looks at one period around which there is no debate -- and that is the period between march 9 and march 16. after dr. fauci and others made clear they had knowledge that mitigation guidelines were not put in when they should've been, the question is, what was the costst of thatat? when a virus is spreading exponentially as vererses do, every second counts.

the s second that you lost, mr. presisident, -- lk at south korea. south korea at that same moment ththat we were beginning to see the outbreak of this. they institututed mitigation guidelines and they ended up o our 70,000,s s to 80,000. so you're in a a position where the enormity of the mistake, donald trump made a political calculation. whatever his reasoning was. he made a bet. the bet failed. it was a failure. at what cost? at what cost being borne by the american people? amy: we're talking to eugene jarecki, who has just erected the trump death clock in timess square. have you got response from the administration? >> we have nonot heard from the administstration. most of what we have heard from, frankly, people whwho are

deacactors of f the president wo wish that we h had used a hihigr number. they say youour death h clock oy shs that the administration is sort of attributable e to 60% of the death toll in amererica, because that is what it shows. piece "the new york times" andd other leasases of a a couple of ctors s ke heathther presidedent and his team vedn march 9 raer than march 16, % of american lives wou have been sad.d. th i is a hrowing statistic thatuts us today at this moment at 48,337 dths that could ve been avted had mitigaon guideneseen put in pla earlier i anapplesis damn ofn the gg? chamr of the hyperbic planegoing in both directions, th don't even have trees in them but the president will try to use that to get out of accountability. the goal here is to require accountability, to demand it.

amy, thousands of people lost their lives needlessly. and in their name, we must demand not just accountability, but more r responsiblele and moe responsive leadership going forward. amy: let me go to the trump coronavirus calendar that was produced by the recount and captures those months of downplaying and denial -- before president trump pivoted to coronavirus crisis mode. it begins on january 22 full of clothes we haveve it totally unr control. it i is one person coming in frm china. we think we have it under control. wewe pretty much shut it down coming in from china. >> in april, supposesedly it di. >> gets dies historically, has been able to killll the virus. people are getting better. 15 within a couple of days will be down clolose to --

[no audio] amy: so therere you have presidt trump in that lead repeatedly

said he was the first institute thatat chinese travel ban but if that is true in late january, the question is, where was the gearing up for the tests and where was the gearing up for making the personal protective equipment that so many in hospitals all over this country, not to mention people all over the country in general, need, masks? why wasn't that began at that time? clearly, life-saving meaeasures. now you have to this day president trump at his new press secretary mocking the need for massive testing in this country, but we see over the weekend with three people very close to the white house testing positive for covid, that what the president and vice president are saying is we are getting tested every day and everyone is being tested regularly there -- which seems likeke a perfect model for perhs the rest of the countrtry should be, that we all should be able to have access regularly to tests, especially as the country reopens.

eugene jareckiki, your final cocomments on what this means going g forward? > the psident is conducting himself like an emperor. this is where we see the breakdown in american democracy. and donald trump is sort of th pygmy of what it looks l like -- the pygmgmy of what t it looks e we no longng have dedemocraticic process at work. giveve a separaration ofof powet alone between the branches,s, ad within thohose branches there ae those who are brought in to represent areas of policy with all they h have learned and all they know from the full-time they d devote to it. donald trump steps in like any sort of woululd be deses asaph y clip where trevor noahpot. cocompares the way donald trump speaks about his brain and how smart he is s in everything he does is great and nonothing he does is wrongng. that delusionary speech that he engages himself in, t trevor noh compares that back a and forth between n the african dictator d

donald trump, back and f forth d backck and forth. it makakes clear we're d dealing with the a person who thinks he is a dictator and we're d dling with a person whose dictatorial leananings havave caused a a mae human death toll in this country, as dictators often do. and as democracies arere supposd to protect against. when you reject the experts and you make yourself focus of everything, you screw up like the president did here. demand a better path forward. amy: eugene jarecki, thank you for being with us award-winning , documentary filmmaker. created the trump death clock website and the billboard that has been unveiled in new york city's times square. that does it for our show. democracy now! is working with as few people onsite as possible. the majority of our amazing team is working from home. ♪ 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!]

. in a volley field in bulk of a life in northern new south wales beta my lot you starting. for the next problem by spraying killing chemical