05/20/20 05/20/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy:y: from new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic, this is democracy now! >> trapped on both sides of the political aisle. imaginationberal that believes if you just dodo something for wallll street or e wealalthy or thehe middle classt everybody else somehow will be benefiting stop instead of recognizing that we have to build from the bottom up.

amy: stay in place, stay alive, organize. today, rev. william barber is organizing a mass or people's assembly and moral march on washington online. he joins us live. and for the first time in more than its 115 year history, new york city is shutting down its subwbways overnight, removi peoplele who rely on therarains fofor shelter. >> [indiscernible] and they drove you rere? >> they did t drive me here -- [inaible] > wre you going to go now? >> will sleep outsi. again. amy: and while t w worlds under lockdown, we go toewew brunswick, new jersey,o save demoliti of am elementr

school. cooks good reason n why the children of liololn anx should bforced to carry the burden of dilacement disruption to tir learning, and detrimenta impact on their emotional, psychological, ahysical well-being tsatisfy the executivesohospital and development companies. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynynow.org, the quarante report. i'm amy goodman. as the u.s. death toll from the covid19 pandemic nears 92,000, the centerers for didisease conl and prevention has released detailed guidance to states and how to reopen their economies during the pandemic after most of the states opened. the cdc 60 page planning document comes week after the white house shelved a 68 page

version of the planan. the newly released document provides guidance for transit agencies, schools, restaurants, and other gathering places, excluded is advice to religious groups. the previous draft recommendations including recommendation is replacing church choirs with solo singers, not passing the e collection plate, and limiting this sharing of religious books. onorney general bill barr tuesday threatened california with legal action over its plan for a phase reopening, claiming it iss biased against religious groups. this comes after the cdc published d a case study that foundd 35 of the 92 people who uralnded services at a r church in arkansas tested positive for the virus, leading to three deaths. in florida, the lead software developer for the state's coronavirus data portal says she was forced to resign after she refused to censor information about florida's outbreak.

rebekah jones told cbs-12 news she was pushed out of her job as architect of florida's covid-19 dashboard after she declined to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen." in georgia, republican governor brian kemp was forced to apologize after a state website falsely showed a downward trend in covid-19 infections. a bar chart published by the georgia department of public health had dates along the x-axis reordered, creating the illusion of a decline in cases. democratic state representative and microbiologist jasmine clark told reporters -- "sadly it feels like there's been an attempt to make the data fit the narrative, and that's not how data works." treasury secretary steve mnuchin testified before the senate banking committetee and warnrnee u.s.s. economy could facee permanendamage i if businesses don't begin to reopen soon.

during the hearing, democratic sesenator shsherrod brbrown qued mnuchin n about putting g the ls of w workers at risk.. >> how many workers will didi if we send people back to work without t the protections ththey ed? how manyny workers should give their lives to i increase the ep or the dowow jones by 101000 po? >> no workers, mr. senator. i think your c characterizations unfair. amy: the state of nenebraska has announced woworkers s in meatpag factories account for about one quarter of the state's confirmed coronavirus cases. 2600 meatpackers have tested positive in nebraska. have died. eightmeanwhile, president trump claimed on tuesday that meatpacking plants are "cleaner than they've ever been." the majority of meatpackers are immigrants. here in new york, protesters marched through the bronx tuesday demanding that governor andrew cuomo create a relief fund and cancel rent payments for laid-off workers during the lockdown.

in new orleans, activists are demanding that city officials expand a program to provide hotel rooms to unhoused people during the pandemic. this is community organir r cole wiiams. >> we are ing to be at dunnn plaza every morngg at 8:00 a.m. denstrating wiwithhe homeless inroront of citytyall. >> what we want? >> housising! ♪ >> there''s a bibig lack of conn for the house list and a big concern about what is happening to black peoplple during this pandememic. amy: a federal judge in texas has ruleled all voters in the state will be allowed to vote by mail during the pandemic. the republican attorney general of texas has annnnounced plans o appeal the ruling, which came in a case brought by the texas democratic p party. judge fred biery wrote -- "one's right to vote should not be elusively based on the whims of nature.

citizens should have the option to choose voting by letter carrier versus voting with disease carriers." the department of homeland security's inspector general is launching two new probes into the agency's response to the cocovid-19 outbreak. one probwiwill invesestigate h fema, the federal emergency management agency, has dealt with the crisis. the second probe will focus on the treatment of immigrants held at customs and border protection and immigration and customs enforcement facilities. ice reported last week that at leasast 1145 immigrants in their custody have tested posisitive r covid-19 acrcross u.s. immigratn jails. ice's broward transitional center in pompano beach, florida is emerging as a new hot spot for the virus. in recent days, the number of covid infections jumped from three to nearly 20, a more than 500% increase. in other immigration news, the cdc has indefinitely extended an order that gives border agents

the power to quickly expel migrants without dueue process. on tuesdsd, was announced the u.s. border with canada wiwill remain closed until non-essential trtravel until at least june 22. the white house on tueuesday supported president trump's claiaim he's been taking the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to protect himself against the coronavirus, despite warnings from the food and drug administration of its potentially serious and even deadly side effects. trump defended his use of the drug tuesday whilele speaking to reporters at the white house. pres. trump: i think it gives you an additional level of safety, but you can ask many doctors and favorite -- in favor of it. many workers won't go there and thus they have the hydroxy. amy: multiple studies have concluded that hydroxycychloroquine is not an fefective trtreatment for covid-19. in a a number of cases, it causd heart attacks. in brazil, far right president jair bolsonaro plans to expand the country's use of chloroqoque for treating the coronavirus.

bolsonaro s enthusiastically -- this comes as brazil is reporting a record 17,400 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and over 1100 new deaths in the past day. highestow has a third number of infections. the police are continuing to raid favelas, or slums, in rio de janeiro, terrifying residents who are on lockdown. the latest law enforcement operation killed at least 13 people, including a 14 all boys nanamed joao pedro who w was plg inside hisis hse w with his cousins. in b bolivia, residents in the city of cochabamba took to the streets tuesday demanding an end to the nationwide lockdown as they say quarantine restrictions has left them unemployed, without money or food. police in riot gear and soldiers were deployed to the protest after demonstrators set up road blockades. this is one of the protesters. >> over there, you have soldiers and there you have the police.

what have we become? going out and asking for bread, for food forever children is a crime? there is no food. there is no food. the only thing we are demanding is for quarantine to be lifted, to a adopt sececurity measasured to go outut and work. that is it. amy: i in mexico city, an associated press investigation uncovered more than death 4500 certificates that listed covid-19 as a possible factor, suggesting the city's death toll from coronavirus may be three times higher than n official government figures. this comeses as workers at u.s.-owned factories in the northern mexican border city of ciudad juarez continue t to rest orders to return to workrk, citg shortages s of personal prprotee equipment and unsafe cononditio. this is a factory worker speaking at a socially-distanced protest march in juarez on tuesday. >> they prprefer economic c gaio keep human beings alive andd healthy. they prefer to s sell ththings rather than act accordg toto the health needs of a all s who live here.

amy: the woman at the center of the landmarkrk 1973 supreme cout roe v. wade case ruling legazing aboion reves she was latepaid by e antibortion vement tbecome a proment chriian anti-cice actist. the lateorma m morvey is seen in a aew documentary making what she descris s as aeaththbed confession. she says -- "i was the big fish. i think it was a mutual thing. i took their money, and they'd put me out in front of the cameras and tell me what to say. that's what i'd say. it was all an act. i did it well, too. i am a good actress." ththe film "aka a jane roe" revs corvey received ateast $4500000 in fts s fr the ti-abortrtion movement. johnson & johnson says i it has stopped selling its brand of talcum powder in the united states and canada. in 2018, a reuters investigation found the pharmaceutical giant knew as early as 1971 that some of its talcum powder contained dangerous levels of asbestos but covered up its findings about the deadly carcinogen.

it has faced thousands and thousands of lawsuits.s. in h hungary, lawmakers approvea new law tuesday ending the legal recognition of transgender and gender non-conforming people, instead basing gender on people's genetic makeup. in a statement, amnenesty international wrote -- "this decision pushes hungary back towards the dark ages and tramples the rights of transgender and intersex people." in afghanistan, gugunmen stormea mosque in parwan province tuesday evening,g, killing seven people and wounding 12 others. elsewhere, afghanistan's air force bombed a medical clinic in the northern city of kunduz, injuring patieients and d healte workers. the airstrike came as afghan troops fought off a major taliban assault on kunduz. on tuesday, the united nations blamed all warring parties, including u.s.-backed afghan forces, for killing and injuring hundreds of civilians last month. meanwhile, afghanistan recorded its largest one-day jump in coronavirus infections tuesday with 581 new cases detected, despite extremely limited testing capacity. authorities in eastern india and

bangladesh s struggled to o evae hundredsds of thousands of peope as super cyclonene amphan hammes the region. evacuation effortsts have been hampered by social distancing and other rules aimed at preventing the further spread of the coronavirus. meanwhile, thousands of migrant workers are still on the roads trying to get home after india's nationwide coronavirus lockdown left them jobless. it is the largest lockdown in world history. in michigan, two days of heavy rains led a pair of dams to breach tuesday, forcing thousands of residents to pack into shelters despite statewide remain-at-home orders during the pandemic. flooding from the breach left much of the city of midland, home to more than 40,000 people, under several feet of floodwater. even under this pandemic, they had a crowd into shelters. and in the netherlands, dozens of climate activists followed social distancing guidelines tuesday as they protested outside the headquarters of shell oil in the h hague, where the fossil fuel giant held i its annual shareholders' meeting. this is greenpeace organizer helena spiriritus.

>> we are in the middle of a climate crisis, in the middle of thee pandemic. shell is behaving as business as usual. and those are some of the headlines.s. ththis is mocrcracy w!w!, democracynow.org, ththe quaranae report.. i'm amy goodman in new york, the epicenter of the pandemic. i cohost juan gonzalez is sheltering at home, new brunswick, new jersesey, the second-most impacted state. -- juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: i look for to t the day we are sitting here together. for the first time in more its 115 year history, new york city began shutting down its subway system overnight. the unprecedented move has left unhoused people who rely on the trains for shelter suddenly with nowhere to go and made them even

more vulnerable as the coronavirus continues to spread. nypd and outreach woworkers are staffing the end of the line subway stations and bussing unhoused people to overcrowded shelters where social distancicg isis impossible. images of dozens of people sleeping on the floor of the 30th street shelter in manhattan , lining the stairs as they laid out, and a wards island shelter after being taken off the subways have sparked outrage. one man described his experience to spectrum's new york 1. >> last night i slept on the floor in the shelter because they said they had no beds. here,ey kick you out of go sleep on the floor. amy: many have refused the shelter, saying it is safer to sleep on the street. one man named rick described d s situation n to the advocacacy gp humanynyc outside e of 30th strt elteter. >> where we you when the n depi y you u

> in the train. and they drove here? >> they did not drive meerere. amy: nework cityayor bilde blasioaid thisonth tha1000 unused peoe will n be moveinto doue-occupay hotel room-- in adtion to 00 unhoud peopleho have already en re-loted to hel room but adcates sathe moves too lile, too te and a callinon the mor to ta more bolaction. delasio's adminiration i ainst leslation at would permit tusands me peopleo live in occupiedotel roo for the mainder the coronavirus pandemic. for more, we're joined by two guests. dr. kelly doran is an emergency

room physician and assistant professor of emergency medicine and population health at nyu's school of medicine. she co-authored a letter to new york governor andrew cuomo and new york city officials about how to care for the city's homeless population in the midst ofof the covid19 outbreak. and josh dean is executive director of the e homeless advocacy group, human.nyc. he has been out on the cityy streets nitotoring howow subway closures are impacting homeless people. we welcome you both to democracy now! there was a very contentious city council meeting this week. dr. kelly doran, what are you demanding the city and the state do when it comes to the unhoused in new york city, especiallyly s we see now with the unprecedented closure of the city subway system night after night, people being t taken awa? concerning.tion is the city has done a lot since

the pandemic started. i was a part of a group that actually -- over 500 physicians, nurses, social workers, and other frontline health care professionals that signed a letter that had been organized by the health and housing consortium, a nonprprofit organization here in new york city. that letter gave recommendations and observations about what had been g going on regarding ourur patients experiencing homeless in new york. that letter was sent over a month ago now, april 15, and had a number of recommendations rent increasing communication with hohospital so that hospitals knw how to better care for their patients who are experiencing homeless, improving the discharge processes so we have say places where we can send people from the hospitals. the letter had recommendations around moving homeless new yorkers who were in congregant settings into private rooms, and recommendations against stopping street suite of people living on

the streets since thosese are against cdc recommendationons. doranan, could you discuss what other cities are doing compared to new york city, what mayor de blasio, the administration here, is or is not doing correctly? >> sure. i would say new york is unique in that we are the epicenter of the pandemic and we also have a very large number of people who are experiencing homelessness compared to other places. inhave done some things well nenew york city. they have moved people out of congregant shelters. they did set up isolation hotels fafairly early for people who needed to be isolated because they have symptoms of covid. some angst we are not doing as well yet in new york city that other places are doing, are broadly testing in shelters in new york.

in some places, for example, studies have come out of boston come out of atlantnta, san francisco now, including a study that was published by the cdc where they have done widespread testing at homeless shelters. what they found is once yoyou gt even a a small clustster of twor more people within the shelter who have covid19, when they test everybody in those shelters, 30% or more test positive for coronavirus and the majority of them, the vast majority, actually, have not displayed symptoms. in new york city, some of the shelters have begun doing some testing but it is still not a widespread. that is problematic because we know there are all of these asymptomatic cases and so ththe current screening to try to catch people who do have coronavirus and isolate them in the shelters is based on asking people about symptoms. the second thing we have seen some places do better than

others throughout the u.s. is moving people proactively i into private settings, like hotel or motel rooms to prorotect them. one of the places that has done his best is connecticut. early on, before the peak of their pandemic, beforere even really the upswing of their pandememic, they moved peoeoplea large number, a majority of people out of their congregant shelters and into hotel andd motetel rooms. they have not seen nearly the number of infections and deaths among people experiencing homelessness as we have here, for example. amy: i wanant to t talk to one unhousused man speaking to new yoyork 1 about the scene at an overcrowded homemeless shelter. >> take a look inside. if you do not touchch corona or dropdead come i don't knknow wht will. conditions, unsanitary . amy: during a press conference last week, mayor bill de blasio said they're working welell and

have a "positive i impact reducg homemelessness in new york city" >> i want to keeeep updating you thise efforts related to neww plan to clelean the subways each night and amplify the reach ouries to dro homeless people and get them to safety and to a better life. here are the results from last night. 370 homeless individuals were engaged, 213 accepted help. 170 812 shelter 35 dos s but is. and i w willugugh repepeated, unprecededented ress and the trend continues now f fr over w week, very, very consistently. if we can sustain this, it will have a very long-term and positive impact rededucing homemelessness in new york city. and bebecause that is mamayor bl de blasio. we're also joined by josh dean,

executive director of the homeless advocacy group, human.nyc. if you can respond to mayor de blasio, whether you think this is a successful policy -- you are spending night a after night outside. >> this is absolututely not as succccessful as he is s making i out to be. the way he is presenting the data is extremely misisleading.. we can startrt there. ththe peoplele he is counting as excepting serviceses is anyone o agrees to o simply get into a vn and be transnsported to the shelelter, regardless ofof what happens when they actually arrive. the folks he is counting ass engagingng orr only the people within the outreach teams have a significant conversation with. so because they're is such a heavy nypd presence and the nypd has consistently mistreated folks who are homeless, a lot of homeless folks will take one look at the nypd and see they are with the outreach teams and want nothing to do with them. and those folks don't get counted engaged despite being

removed and said to the street. there are folks who are not at end of the line stations and those folks follow sleep on the platform, for example, they will be asked to lead by nypd and there are not outreach teams there. the outreach teams are only deployed at the end of the line ststations.. but the numerator and denominator -- the statistics race as have the people that we are engaging our sifting services are extremely misleading. as we heard from rick who interviewed outside the 30th treatment shelter, a lot of folks are being transported to the shelters and either because they been there before erwin inside and saw how crowded it was, they left. fofor reasons that pertatain to their safety. reasons that i think many of us who would be in the same situation would make the same decision. what we ended up saying once some of the local journalists pressed the mayorhart enonough s that only 100 people of the folklks that engaged n night afr

night actually ended up staying at the sheltlter. that in and of itself is concerning given the conditions they were taking folks to, at leasast a couple of weekss ago n were nothappening -- necessarily safe places for folks toto be right now. , this wholeean attempt by the city to move people into hotels now, a lot of people don't know, who don't know the history of new york city, , novak in thehe 1950's ad 1960's, t the city had an entire network of what were called sro a plus bs, single room august princi hototels, s specifically- single room occupancy hotels,s, specifically. those hohotels were closed, nowe are seeing the pressing need, not only because of f the homels population but because of f the pandemic, to once agagain house

peoplele but now in much more expensive hotel rooms than the old sro's. what you see is a long-term solution to dealing with this situauation of f increasingng homelessness in the cicity? in the short-term, we ablulutely need to be moving out of the congregant shelters, off the streets come ofoff the subways.s. wewe need to be o offering all f those fofolks privivate hotel rs where theyey're a able to sociay distanced, shelter inn plalace. for the folks living on the stres,s, they have notot been ae to shower, have not t been ableo wash their hands. a hotel room giveves them the ability to d do as many of the things that housed new yorkers have been doioing for months now asas we have been through this pandemic. but hotels are not a long-term sosolution. we need to be moving these fofos into perermanent hsising. for some folks, that will be supportive housing, which is housing with the port of services. and for some folks, they really just need their own apartment.

we have vouchers right now in the city that those folks have, and the vouchers are not up to fair market rent so a lot of people are not able to find units they can afford, even with the voucher. they also face rampant discrimination from landlords who do not want to be renting to voucher holders. a combination of increasing the vouchers to fair market rent and increasing our ability to fight back against landlord discrimination will be pivotal in permanently housing folks. because hotels are really important and we need to be doing that right now,w, but they are not a long-term solution. amy: josh, how many unhoused people are there would you estimate in new yoyork city anad how many do you b believe are posiveve for covovid? unhoused folklks in new york city? the numbers indicate it is around 80,000, including folks who are living in shelterers or living on the e streets.

estimate of folks who have covid? the data suggests that number is that 976 right now, but i think with what t dr. doran tatalked t with regard to asymptomatic spread, that number has got to be in the thohousands but we'ree just not aware of it right now. amy: i want to thank you for being with us. josh dean, executive director of the homeless advocacy group, human.nyc. and thank you to dr. kelly doran emergency physician and , assistant t professor of emerergency medicine andnd population health at nyu's school of medicine. she co-authored a letter to new york governor and new york city officials about how to care for the city's homeless population in the midst of the covid19 outbreak. we wilillink to ththat letter. this is democracacy now! as we turn to ththe c cochair of the r people's campaign, rev. william barber. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "wininter in america" bybl scotott heron. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez as we turn to look at thedisisproportionate impact coronavirus continues to have on black, b brown and poor communities, and the next steps official should take. our next guest is william barber, asking people to stay in place, stay alive.

marchorganizing a moral online on june 20. this comes as four of the 10 worst current confirmed outbreaks in the u.s. are now in rural southern counties come have been driven by an outbreak in a prison. facing south, the online magazine for the institute for southern studies, says -- "covid-19 has hit counties with prisons and meatpacking plants particularly hard, along with majority-black rural counties across the deep south." the three counties in the rural south with the highest death rates from covid-19 are majority-black and in southwest georgia. for more, we go to raleigh, carolina. rev. william bararber is b backh us democracy now! . welcome to democracy now! repairersesident of of the breach. rev. barber, if you can start off by talking about this disparate impact on communities of color and the poor, white,, and people of color, and what you're doing about this?

>> amy, thank you so much. and what hard times we're seeing in america now, a lot of the pain is by choice. it did not have to be. it is not because of the viriru, per se, itt is because of the pandemic of greed, lies, and trickle-down economics that have in the situation caused us to move in the wrong direction from thee begeginning. now,, what we knonow is even bee cocovid it, too many people in power were too comfortable with other people's deaths. 140,000,004 and no income people in this country -- 140,000 four and low i income people in this country.

year even before covid hit. 80 million people either uninsured or underinsured before covid hit. what all of the public health officials tell us that pandemics exploit the fissures of society and the wounds of society, the open wounds, and that america had whole lot of open wounds as it related t to systememic racim and poverty. when you brereak down n those numbers, 61% of african-amerericans were poor ad low wealth before covid. 66 million white p people were poor andnd low wealth. you haveve extreme disparities. hits. now have the disparity among black people a and really, low income african-amemericans, andd

that whites and latinos. we don't real know hohow bad it isis because the da is so spspotty. but what we do know is that the pandemic is exploiting those fissures. what our response from the beginning has been terrible, both from the white house and, dare i say, from the congressss, in pararticular, the m mcconnell congngress. he has blocked so many things. it is kind of our imagination has been limited by this trickle-down. we passed three bills up front, of the, 84%, 85% resources go to the top. the bills did not stop at t the- starart at the bottom m up. we a are in the e middle of the pandemic. we had three so-called rescue bills, not one bill provided health care for everybody in the uninsured in the midst of a pandemic. not one provided living wages in the midst of the pandemic. water guaranteed more

could not be cut off and your utilities in the mimidst of a pandndemic. not one bill ensure the protections that you need in terms of personal protection and the veventilators. not one bill significantly dealt with the homeless commumuty. not one billll focused on the undocumented workers. so what we are saying is this is the moment that you have to stay at home -- don't you believe these lies these governors s are telling g us about the time to open backukup socieiety. stay-at-home. stay alive. organize. organize. we are demanding all the things that were not done up that should have been done, they have to be done now in order for us to move forward. and possibly overcome this pandemic. otherwise, the pandemic will still have read in our society and it is not just going to hurt people, it is going to exploitit for communitities but it will continue to spread throughohout the rest of society. juan: rev. barber, i wanant -- especialally abouthe institutional populations in the

face of this pandemic, b but in nursing homes and i in prisons. not as the virusus does respect national borders, it alalso doess not respectct institutional l borders. so you h have this enormous sprd in nursing homes and long-term care facilities as well as in prprisons and jails. "t"t new yorkk times" totoy reporting over 1200 correction officers at rikers island have testeded positive, six have die? inin several s southern statesse there have beenn hotspots, it is usuaually around a prison or a meatpacking plant. the impactct on the african-american andnd the tina commununities who are censored - centered in many of these institutions? >> you are right. because of the nature of our campaign, i have to say, yes, we have a large number of african-americans, poor and low wealth of can americans.

i keep wanting to o make that point. poor whititeso and as well. what you have is these institutions have become like petri dishes. so in n the prison system, peope can actually now be imprisoned -- let's say, be incarcerated for bouncing checkcks and i it becomes a a death sentence. some people in power are ok with that. they say, well, thehey arere in prison. in nursing homomes, not only is hurting people who are the residents of those nursing homemes, but we are finding out every day that the nurses aides, the people we called essential workerers, many of f them feel e that was a t title change becaue a few months ago wewe called thm service workrkers. but w what essential really meas now is expendadable. they are essential,, but none of the bills have given them the essentials they need,d,he

protecections ththey need, the health care they need. what happens? polly, ae ladady named nurse's aide in new york. she said, i feel like we are engaged inin mass murder. wewe are being l led to mass mu. we have to b buy our own garbage babags to try to have somee covering.. we do not hahave the masks w we need. none of this was done upfront. so what happens is not only are the residents, which is ugugly d evil enough, for them to catch the e disease cacause the cocons were not put in place, it didn't spreads outside ththe nsising homemes and outside of thee prisisons. we arein a county where one of ththe five highest areasn our state a and the majority of our infecections aree inside the prisonons. then what we hear, oncnce this happens people can't call out, they'rere not allllowing ththe prisononers to talk to people on the outside. again, the pubublic health offificials say someththing lik5 people -- one study says something like 25 people has the

poteteial of being g impacted bebecause of one or two prisonos on thehe inside thatat have the coronavirus, theyey could actuay pass it to the guards, administrators, and eyey pass it to theirir families andd peoplen the outside. the dereliction of duty, really, by the white house and the congress. you think about what the president did in the bibiblical sense e it wouldld b c called e. when he said i i'm going use the defefense authorization act to make meatptpackers go to w work. you make them go to workrk. they have e to go toto work. but he would not use that same defense authorizatation acact to ppe sure that they had thehe they needed, that they had the protections they needed, and the therance they needed, and they needed. it is really sick, "i'm going to make you go back to work" in a legal situation.

people feel like they are being sent into lethal situations.s. they did not have to be like this. always the online 10,000 people standing in line for food, it did d not have to be like this. you could have expanded snap. we could have made sure that everybody had what theyy needed, even in n some communities where many of these institutions were talking about our, many of hadad to close hospitalsls over the lt ththree years. that should have never happened, but we could have used the army corps of engineers to put field hospitals in place and testing in place. that is the problem. this virus, what we have seen come has been a dereliction of duty and a dam nable election of duty and people are dying needlessly. people are being infected needlessly. he did not have to be this way. amy: reverend dr. william barber, were participating in a really organized by the aclu and fight for 15 in support of

mcdonald workers. they are walking out and at least 20 places all over the country, they cite a survey of more than 800 mcdonald's workers from march 31 to april 6 in which 42% reported being told not to wear mamasks and gloves y management. the survey also said almost half came to work feeling sick because they were afraid they would be disciplinined or penalized. the company is s disputing thes figugures. cayoyou talk aboutut mcdonald? >> they can just beat them all they want to, bubut these are rl people who we have talked to and continue to talk to. about - -- talking basically, the failulure for eql protection under the law. you say you're going to make workers go in. you're not going to give them what they need in the time of a pandemic. it shows, amy, how immoral some of our politicians and business leaders have become, that they

would rather r make people g goo than addressions the e problems that exist. we arere standining with these workers all over the country who onone of them sasaid to me the r day, rev. barber, you know what? i said, what? they said, the day our pens payment. >> said, what do you mean? us pens.ld's provided i said, i need p protective gea. i need to b be insured. should not have to work a job that is already a low-wage, low incocome job and then come into that job and risk my life and my children's lives and my spoususs life. this i is no way to run our country. but the problemm is, amy, and i want to drive this home, that even before covid, we were allowing so much inequauality --

which is why the poooor people's campaign s started long before covivid. there wawas so much inequalityy existing and so o many people comfortable with it, and to many of e even our politicianans on h sides of the aisle have been locked into thisis kind off reaganism to trickle down. as long as we take care of thee wewealthy in the middle asas, or people -- everything is fine. we have nonot done policy from e bottttom up from m low-wage andr folk - -- low-wage w workers and people from the bottom up. and this pandemic now is likike does whahat you cacall it, contt that is now gogone to the body polilitic of ameririca and it is exposing all of these inequalities and poor and low wealth people are having to pay the brunt of it. they're having to die from this. it is terrible what is going on. workers are saying, we can't just die.

we can't just allow this to happen. in fact, some have said to me, rev. barber, we are in a situation now where in 48 hours we could be on a ventilator. so we have decided that if we might be on a ventilator in 48 hours, we're going to use our last breath to breathe new life into this society. we are not going to just die. we're going to stand up. we may not be able to be in the streets because of coronavirus, but we can be on social media, we can organize, on this coming ththursday -- juan:: rev. barber -- >> y yes? juan:: we ononly have about a minute left, but i want t to ask about the junune 20 march thatt you'u're planng g and if youou d brieflfly talk about your conces abouout voter suppression goioig into this next presidential election? >> we want everyone to join poor and low wealth people e throught this country on june 20, 2020.

you can go to po orpeoplescampaign.org. we were thinkining abt not doing that people said, no, we have to do it. we're going to put a f face and voice onon poverty. we're going to o lay out the demands ththat are goingng to ce peopople weree impacted and the expertss, religious leaders -- e hahave 16 denominations, 100 organizationons. more importantly, 45 statete coordinator committees made up of poor and l low wealth people who are saying somebobody is hurting our people, it isis gone onon far too long. we won't be silent anymore. we're doing this to shift the narrative and be ---- we're goig to build a massive voting power out of this because poor and low income people hold the key to change the political capital. in terms of voter suppression, this president and the senate leader mcconnell, even before covid, they have done everything they could, , have refused t tox

the e voting rights act.t. you're goioing to have t to have massive vovoting -- we probably won't get mail in voting so we're going have to t turn out massive ways. donald trump actually lost the popular vote. theree are thousanands and thousands of people, millions of people who did not vote, 1 100 million peopople. it is timeme to stop we must voe in massive numbers. democrats, if they want to w wi, they need to speak to people's issues. they need to f fight foror peo's lives because people arare going have to risk their livives to vote. so they need to stopop talking about being pracactical and moderate and all this other stuff, left t and right cocome o fightis right stop for people's lives. it is going to be a battle and the poor people's campaign is going to be in it all away. amamy: we hope to be talking too soon. dr. rev. william barber, cochair of the poor people's campaign, the major march online is land

fofor g20 it. when we come back, largely immigrant publblic elemementary school in neww brunswickck, new jersey, fights to stop its demolition.. stay w with us ♪ [muc break] amy: "color r esperanza" featurg the hottest latinx a and hispanc artitists spanning all genres sd styles. this is democracy now!, dedemocracynow.org, the quarante report. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez. while the world is under lockdown, the struggle continues.

today we and looking at that struggle come the e fight to sae a public elementntary school in new brunswick, new jersey, from demolition to make way for a new cancer treatment center. the lincoln n annex public schol serves a mostly immigrant, working class student community. but the robert wood johnson university hospital, the new brunswick development corporation, and rutgers university want to buy the land it sits on and tear down the school to build a cancer pavilion. they say will come at no expense to taxpayers. but just a few days ago, middlesex county freeholders voted to use $25 million in public monies toward the project. parents are also concerned the replacement school could be built on a contaminated site in one of the city's industrial areas. well, democracy now!'s juan gonzalez lives in new brunswick, where he is a rutgers professor of journalm m and s been activen n the mpaiaigno saveve lincolanannex. this is an excpt from a report on thessssue pduceced one of his journali s studes, m mad

murali we hear fromctctivis chaharl kravotil, ititor o"newew brunswick daday," d lilili fernande also a tgtgers professoanand ju's fe. they'reollowed c chrispherer paladinopresidenand ceo devco, the new brunswick development corpatation. the pie e star witith proteses in new brunswick before the lockdown. >> we are not herere to stop the ncer institute. alslsghter's ededucation is importrtant. >> we are a public university.. what d do we stand for if we are going to d destroy a school? > live a cancer institute. they're doing great things. understand.

we just want our school system to be able to continue, too. these are not mutually exclusive things. >> the children who come from working-class, arcrchly undocumentedamilies. [indiscernible] in a warehouse building. siteng children to another that was not in their neighborhood and a school that was not t going to be buiuilt f, that absolutely was appalling.g. >> a little bit of an inconvenenience, but when we are dodone in three years, we will have one of the best cancer facilities i in america and we willll have a brand-d-new school with all of the modern ethnicities s and at no cost to new brununswick taxpayeyers bece the cancer c center p project wl pay for the school.. >> that does n not make a lot of sense.e. wewe just put $22 million to opn it. theset defies logicic thahat

acactors would continue toto pue thisis project right now we are facing a truly globabal crisis f the coronanavirus pandemicic. >> i it is a legitimate concern thatat robert t johnson's priors may have s shifted, though it seems they still want to go forward withth this, their abily to f find not onlnly their proj, but t the new school, you know,y the timeme this is ovevercome, e dedepleted. a not t be what it was. amy: among those voices christopher paladino, one of the , developers who wants to tear down lincoln annex public school in new brunswiwick, new jersey,o a clip of the robert wood jensen cancer pavilion. -- johnson we invited them to join us today, but they did not respond. just last night, there was a

contentious board meeting on this issue, which democracy now!'s juan gononzalez attended. virtualllly. there was also a press conference tuesday where activists announced several lawsuits spepearheaded by our guest, juan cartagena, president and d general counsel ofof latio justice,e, pearl-def. welcome to democracy now! juan, if you could set the stage, juan gonzalez. is closen issue that to you physically, but the significance of this now as we are in the midst of this pandemic, what is happening to this hub of the community, especially the latino community? now we'rere talking about, what, twlosssses a a a complaint t to the state. >juan: y yes, thisis battle hasn dedeveloping n f for over six months. there was a huge movement that had developed. hundreds of people coming to board of education meetings.

understand, this is a city that is more t than 5 50% latino, moy mexican and central american, huge percentage undocumented. so schooll officials and the elite of new brunswick understand that it is a vulnerable population -- 94% % f this school, of the 706 two children, are hispanic. this is part of the content and efforts that have occurred not just in new brunswick, but all across the country, pushing out poor communities from the central business districts and the most grid of and the most valuable land, pushing them further out into the outskirts of towns. it is occurring all across the country. but now with covid, the ability of communities to continue to hold their elected officials accountable has been reduced. all of the meetings are now held whether it is a city c council r the board of education or the

county freeholders, are held in telephonic phone calls where the community does not have the ability to participate as vigorously as it would in normal times. and yet they are proceeding as if there happening. they continue to move forward. that is why the community had to resort in the past week to a series of lawawsuits and complaints to the state to try and stop this move. amy: juan cartagena,, you are president and geneneral counself latino justice. you are out at the news conference and front of the school as yoyou socially distanceced. what are these lawsuitits and wy did latitino justice takake thi? >> good d morning. thehe lincolnents a at annex school in n new brunswick and pportersrsf those parents have been communicatingg with

latino justice f for months non. we just filed a lawsuit yesterday in middlesex c couyy juarezz eturt calleled this saleeks to stoto of the land d that the school ss on. and alalso procedural i issues. at the land issue is scinating.g. we broughthihis lauiuit legally bebecause when the church, landded church dee thehe to the board of education, did so w with restrictction that the property could only slowly be used for public school and public admdministrtration. anand year, ssss than sisix yeas from the sale, less ththan fouor years the school h has been operatining, a brandndew school, relatitively, new brununswick bd ofof educatiti wants to sellll n violatn ofof that cocovenant. that is our main claim. the second lawsuit was filed about 1010 days ago. it was filed by charlrles credible,, the m m u heard o one

tape you play beforore. he is s the editor of the n new brunswickk times and activivistd organizer. he brorought a separate claim allegiging violation of f the on meings law in new jersey -- again, in state court - -- for o meetings hel the most totorious when in february where they cleared the room afafter people were protestingng because they h heard for the first timee ththe board d of educatition describing what wowould happen o theiei schooool that he wowoulde demolished, chililen would h hae to go to a temporary space in warehouse for three years. when they heard that, they tomato to speak. the board of e education clearad the auditorium, adjourned the meeting,g, came baback half an r auditorium,n empmpty and then passed a resolution to start the amendment that led -- willll lead to a sale unlnless s stopped. that lawsuit is pending. ours wasas filed yesterday. there is also a complaint that juan gonzalelez has asserted to the statate commission of

education to deny the approval of the amendnded plan that bot delilishesn one ha the school, lincoln nenex scol, and seseekto estabsh or create a new schl to replace it. those plans wernever made avlable to the public. the plans have not been veeded by the planning boar there is a ste claim there that jua gononzaz is puring 'm ha ofoaoaliti to defe. amy:e e justot a stemements we went toir on th sry om robobt wood jnson and esseially sa when nejersey consnsisntlyly rked ininhe top 10 f cancer incence, it is perative the resents of r statand region haveccess to rld-clasinpatienand tpatientancer ca facily su as the w canceravilion. bsaying "ncerer c't it."." her final commt, juan? nznzalez juanan: the thing to understands rorobert wood johnson o or an as is an 11 hospitatal chahain, onf

the largest t chains of hospitas in new jersey. the last t time i looked, there werere 18 executives of robert wowood johnson barnanabas, all f whom were earning salaries of over $1 million a year, beginning with the chairirman, barry ostrowski, who earneded $6 million a year. this is a chain of multimilliononaire executives, so-called nonprofit chain, anand yet they are trying to bulldozoe a cocommunity of f low income immigrants w whore making $5,000, 10,000 dollarars y yr, $15,000 yeyear and donon't evene ththe ability toto vote try t o affect the educatition of theirr children. this is a david and goliath battle and w we know it happened with davidid and goliath. we will see e what happens with this cancer institute. amamy: thank y s so much f thah. juan carartagena president and , general counsel of latino

justice, we also want to thank you. representing parents, students, and taxpayers in new brunswick, new jersey, who oppose the demolition of the lincoln annex public school. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is working with as few people onsite as possible. the majority of our amazing team is working from

let's get you latest at this hour. we start here in japan, and sources say the head of the tokyo high -- tokyo high public prosecutor's office has decided to resign after a media report he played mahjong for money, considered illegal in japan and despite the government asking people to stay home due to the coronavirus