06/04/20 06/04/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, this is democracy now! >> i am happy that all of the officers have been arrested. my father should not have been killed like this. he deserves justice. amy: all four minneapolis police officers involved in the killing of george floyd have been charged with murder or aiding and abetting murder in a case that has triggered historic protests across the country.

minnesota's first black attorney general, keith ellison, unveiled the charges. >> floyd is not here. he should be here. he should be alive, but he is not. about nine days ago, the world watched floyd under his very last words "i can't read" as he played for his life. the world heard floyd called out for his mama and cried out "don't kill me." amy: we will go to minneapolis for the latest and a, kentucky, where protesters are calling for charges against the officers involved in the death of breonna taylor. the 26-year-old african american woman was shot to death by police inside her own apartment in march. >> i don't thinink i'm asking fr too mumuch, just justice for he. truthoror people to a anotherer , thatat she did not deserve th, that people are fired for doing this to her. amy: and we will speak to former women's march co-chair tamika

mallory. about't talk to us looting. you are the looters. america has been looting black people. looted the native americans when they first came here. we learned it frfrom you.. and because has traveled from global to minneapolis to houston. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!,!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy y goodman. minneapolis attotorney general keith h ellison hahas filed args against all fofour minneapolis police officers involved in last week's killing of george floyd, which sparked ongoing nationwide protests. a second-degree murder charge was added against officer derek chauvin, who was already charged with third-degree murder for kneeling on floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds while floyd pleaded for his life. the other three officers present

were charged with aiding and abetting the murder. chauvin was arrested last week. the three other officers thomas , lane, alexander kueng, and tou nmn thao, are now in custody. keith ellisoson, minnesota's fit african-american attorney general, announced the charges on wednesday afternoon.. >> our couountry is under- prosecuted these matatrs in minnesota anand throughout the country. so i think the trust is result of historically y not holding people who areublic g guardians accountable for their behavior in situations where we should have. amy: a memorial service will be held today for george floyd in minneapolis. on wednesday, his son quincy mason floyd welcomed the charges against the officers. >> i am hapappy that all of the officers have been arrested. my father should not have been killed like this. we deserve justice. that is all i have to say. amy: massive protests calling

for racial justice and an end to police brutality are continuinig across the country and around the world. in washington, d.c., the largest crowd of protesters yet converged at the white house late wednesday after a day of peaceful marches throughout the capital. they were met by uniformed national guard members as well as scores of heavily armed people in riot gear with all insignias and name plates removed from their uniforms. the unidentified officers repeatedly refused reporters' demands they identify which agencies they were with, raising comparisons to a paramilitary polilice force. at the pentagon, defense sesecretary y mark esper brokekh presidident trumump and said a e duty military troooops should nt be deployed to quell the ongoing protests. >> the option to use active-duty should onlyent be used under the most urgent and direct situation. we arere not in one of those

situations now. the not support invoking insurrection act. amy: secretary esper said he also regretted urging governors monday to "dominate the battle space" when dealing with protests. early on wednesday, the pentagon had made a decision to remove about 200 active-duty soldiers with the 82nd airborne who were deployed to washington, d.c., but then esper reversed the pullout after what has been described as an angry meeting at the white house with president trump. meanwhile, trump's former pentagon chief james mattis denounced trump's handling of the militarized handling of the protest. mattis wrote -- "donald trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the american people -- does not even pretend to try. instead, he tries to divide us. we are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort." on wednesday, former president obama expressed his support for the nationwiwide protests and criticicized thehe actions of se police o officers. pres. obama: too often some of

that vioiolence e has come fromm folklks who were supposed toto e seserving g and protectingg -- . i want too know that you matter. i want yoyou to knoww thahat yor lives matter, that your dreams matter. amy: mass protests continue in new york city. blocks of f the upper east side were shut down wednesday as a massive sit-in took place outside of gracie mansion, the residence of mayor bill de blasio. meanwhile, over 200 current and former staffers of the mayor signed an open letter. their demands include cutting the police budget by $1 billion and reallocating the money to social services, including housing support and rental relief, food assistance, and health care. the letter also calls for the firing of officers who have used excessive force during the protests. this comes as the legal aid society has filed suit alleging hundreds of protesters in new york are being held for longer than 24 hours in cramped cells during a pandemic.

in other news from new york, a 35-year-old afrirican american named jamel floyd has died after being pepper sprayed by guards inside the metropolitan detention center. floyd had been held at the brooklyn jail since october 2019. in california, a m massive crowd of peaceful protesters converged at the los angeles civicic centr wednesday, accusing los angeles district attorney jackie lacey of failing to prosecute police officers accused of misconduct. the protests came as l.a.'s city council introduced legislation that would cut up to $150 million from the lapd's budget, diverting the funds toward health and education programs for communities ofof color. many leading athletes have come out publicly to support the proteststs. basketball legend kareem a abdul jabbar wrotete in "thehe los ans times" -- "racism in america is like dust in the air. it seems invisible -- even if

you're choking on it -- until you let the sun in. then you see it's everywhere. as long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. but we have to stay vigilant, because it's always still in the air." meanwhile, many athleteses are speakiking out against n new ors saintsts star quarterback drewew brees,s, who recently criticized playayers who have takaken a kne during the nationanal anthem saying he would "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the united states of america.a." his teammate malcolm j jenkins posted a video on instagram responding. >> here we are in 2020 with the whole country on fire, everybody dying,ing a black man murdered at the hands of police, in cold blood for everyone to see. the whole country is on fire. in the first thing you do is criticize peaceceful protest?t?

amy: in other sports news, 16-year-old tennis s star coco gauff spokoke wednesesday at a k lives matter protest in delray beach florida. >> no matter how big or small your platform is, you need to use your voice. i saw dr. king's quote that said "the silence of the good people is worse than the brutality of the bad peoplele. we need d to not be silentnt. amy: mononuments celebratingng e nation's raracist history are cocoming down n in several stats after being targrgeted by protteters over r the past week. on wednesday, the city of philadelphia removed a statue of the city's former racist police chief and mayor frank rizzo just days after protesters attempted to topple it and light it on fire. philadelphia mayor jim kenney said -- "the statue represented bigotry, hatred, and oppression for too many people, for too long." in virginia, governor ralph northam is expected to propose a dashboard or the removal today

of the statue of confederate general robert e. lee from the state capitol grounds in richmond after it was vandalized during the protests. in birmingham, alabama, protesters toppled a statue of confederate officer charles linn and vandalized a monument known as the confederate sailors and soldiers monument. following the action, birmingham mayor randall woodfin ordered the rest of the statue to be removed. in nashville, tennessee, protesters toppled a statue of edward carmack, a racist politician and newspaper publisher who incited violence against ida b. wells for her reporting on lynchings. on capitol hill, republican senator rand paul of kentucky is holding up quick passage of a bill sponsored by the senate's three black members that would mama lynching g a federal l hate crime. senator paul objected to passing the bill by unanimous consent wednesesday, saying it could "conflate lesser crimes with lynching." in february, the house passed its version of the bill, the

emmett till anti-lynching act, on a vote of 410-to-4. at the vatican, pope francis had a message for the american people wednesday. >> i have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days following the tragic death of mr. george floyd. friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. amy: pope francis' remarks came a day after president trump visited the saint john paul ii national shrine on tuesday, which washington archbishop wilton gregory called a baffling and reprehensible politicized photo-op.

he is ththe first african-amamen archchbishop of washington, d.c. the labor department releases its weekly report on jobssss claims this moining, wh economists expecng a 1010thtraighghweek in n whh more than 1million ople fil for unemployment befits. out one in four s.s. worrs has becomenempmplod duringhe paemic, a vel not en since thheight othe great pression anwhile udy by bomberg , a ns finds e u.s. tasury hafailed tpay out stgering $ billionn unemploynt benefits during the pandic -- about o third o l the moy owed to jobless american the ath tollrom covi19 in the unit states w standst er 107,0, with 1.85 million confmed case though blic heal officialsay both thos fires s arsignificicant under-counts. in a majority of states, seveven-day averages of new coronavirus s cases are either

holding steteady o or rising. meanwhile, the trump adadministration's top official leading federal coronavirus testing efforts, a admiral brett giroir, said this s week he e wl be demobilized from m his role n mid-jujune. a coalition of public health officials is calling on police departmements to end the widespspread use of teargas against protesters dururing the pandndemic.. anan online petition signed by nearly infectious disease 1300 specialists warns the gas could "increase risk for covid-19 by making the respiratory tract more susceptible to infection, exacerbating existing inflammation, and inducing coughing." the experts also warn against holding anyone arrested in confined spaces, including jails or police vans, which are some of the highest-risk areas for covid-19 transmission. despite the health risks, the health experts encourage them to continue protesting, including "white supremacy is a legal public health issue that predates the contributes to covid-19."

an anti-malarial drug touted by presidident trump as a curative for covid-19 has been found no better t than a placebo at protecting people exexposed to e coronavirus. that's according to a study published by the new england journal of medicine, the largest and most scientifically rigorous study of thehe drug to date. and hong kong's s legislature hs passed a law making disrsrespect of the chinese national anthem a crime. the law passed as police ramped up their crackdown on antigovernment protests and following a bitter debate that saw scuffles break out on the floor of hong kong's legislative council. its passage cacame on the 3131-r -- 31st year anniversaryry of crackdown in beijingng's tianann square, when chinese forces crushed student protesters. and those are some of the headlines. this is dedemocracy now!, democracynowow.org, the quarante rereport. i'm amy goodman in new york city, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh, who o is also he inin new york but ststaying homo help s stop communitity spread.

welcome, nermeen. nermeen: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: aftfter more than a week of widespread p protest across the country, minnesota attorney general keith ellison has filed charges against all four minneapolis police officers involved in last week's killing of african-american george floyd. a second degree murder charge was added against white police officer derek chauvin, who was already charged with third degree murder for kneeling on floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds while floyd pleaded for his life, saying repeatedly "i can't breathe." the other three officers present -- thomas lane, alexander kueng, and tou nmn thao -- have now been charged with aiding and abetting the murder. chauvin was arrested last week. the other three officers are also now in custody. keith ellison, minnesota's first african-american attorney general, announced the charges wednesday. >> today i filed an amended

charges former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin with murder in the second degree for the death of george floyd. i believe the evidence available to us now supports the stronger charge of second-degree murder. we have consulted with each other and we agree. second, today arrest warrants were issued for former minneapolis police officers andas lane, alexander king, to tou nmn thao. michael freeman and i have filed a complaint that charges police lane, and thao with murder in the second degree, felony offense. amy: minnesota attorney general keith ellison addressed the statates historic failurere to d

police accountable. > i'm going to be honest her. our country has hahad -- is -- s under prprosecuteded these matts in minnesota and throughout the countrtry. and so i think the trust is a reresult off historically not holding people who arere public guardians a accountable foror tr behahavior in sisituations where should have.e. so that i think is the oririginf the trust t problem. but we can't control the past. all we can do isis take the case wewe have in front of us right w and our good faith best to bring justice to the situation, and we will. amy: well, f for more, we gogo o minneapolis, where we're joined byby nekima levy-armstrong, civl rights attorney, actctivist, founder of the racial l justice netwtwork former preresident ofe , miminneapopolis chapteter of e naacp. it is greatt to have you back with us. can you lay out these charges, what exactly they mean? the upgrading of the charge from

third-degree murder -- which remains -- to second-degree murder for chauvin and then what it means that these three other officers were also arrested d or in cusustody foror aiding and abetting that murder? after themay r recall third chargeges came outut, sevl of us in minneapolis, c camecally attorney,y, against those chcharges. we raised concerns a about thehe factct that third-d-degree murdr forgesork settiting chauvuvin dismissal l or ultimate acquitt. thirird-degree chaharges are sir to s someone firing in a a crowd rarandomly hitting a person and leadininto their d death. iso under minnesota l law, it not usually possible to have a conviction in situation where a specific persoson is beieing targeted as in the case of

chauvin puttingng his knee e one back o of the neck of george floyd. and so we belilieve that second-degegree murder charges e much more appropriate in this situation because e of the intentionalityty surrorounding k chauvin's actition and stuffingf the life of g george floyd and e aiding and abetting are also appropriate for the other t thre formerer officers involved in killing george floyd. and that means they will be held just as cuculpable as derek chauauvin for the r role in the situatation. ,ermeen: nekima levy-armstrong attorney general keithllison says e even though he i is chare thesese three additional office, he has wararned -- a as you are yiying a well -- of the difficultieses of tually prosecuting police officers. in fact,t, one of t the three we isow charged already faced a

lawsuiuit for allegegedly assaug an africanan-american man, leavg him with brokoken teeth and with bruises. to tou nmn thao. what is your sense that is likely to come of this case? >> the hope is, for one, in the state of minnesota, an officer who kills an african-american person will be convicted. that has not happened yet. partly because most of the time no one is ever charged for .illlling african-americanan p e and officers typically are not even fired in those situations. --the public in minnesota minnesota is 85% white. so the public typically supports

officers word in a givenen situation. they t typicallyly believe that officers feared for their safety. and as african-americans and those of color were constantly saying, that is not our reality. everythingpside of is that we don't know yet about the composition of the jury. given that minnesota is 85% white is very likely that the majority of the jury will be white people. some may be misinformed. some may havave a good perspecte , positive perspective about the police. to actuallyfficult secure a conviction. but at this point in time, given the e worldwide attttention t tt happened to mr. floyd, my hope is that there is a a paradigm shift in tererms of public perception and that translates over to how that jury -- amy: nekima levy-armstrong, when you talk about the composition of minnesota, it could be that one of the first actions is to

challenge the venunue of this state murdrder case. if it were to go outside the twin cities, that would mean the jury wouldld be even morore whi. is that true?? i also wanted to ask you about the significance of what ben crump said, the family attorney for the floyds, saying that he thought the second officer kneeling on the back of george whod right next to chauvin, was kneeling on his neck, was also key in cutting off the air supply for him. the significance of the three of them on top of this man -- not just present -- as well as what looked like the fourth officer , looking like a lookout, protecting themrom bystanderers pleading with the officers t to geget off floyoyd. >> absolutely. yes, if the venue is switched to

another place outside of hennepinin county, it will defininitely be much h re white- which i don'n't think willll be helpful too securing convictions in this paparticular case.e. beyond that, yes, if you look kt ththe video -- at least from wht we can tell --- the pressure frm all three officers on mr. floyd's body contributed to o hs dedeath. pleadingd t the man saying "i can't breathe" and they h h a callousus disregard r his life. amy: finally, the power of the protest. in upping the charges to second-degree murder against chauvin and bringnging charges against the other three, it certaiainly wasn't the case last week. >> absbsolutely. people in the city of minneapolis, thehewin cities, folks acrossss the natioion ande wororld, all contribibuted to te chargeges finally being g brougt against thee other three offices ininvolved in mr. floyd's death,

as well a as the increase in charges for chauvivin baseded os role. we knonow that t those prorotese a huge difference anand broughtt worldwide attention to a significicant injustice.. and now, f finally, we canan say that firirst leg of thee race hs been won and no need to move on to the others until there's a conviction for all four officers involved. amy: one last question about amy klobuchar. she leaked the charges were going to be brought yesterday, the senator from minnesota.. i'm wondering if you could talk about the signinificance of her cacalling for chargeges to be broughght, but her history since she is clearly a sigignificant possibilility as a a vice presidential candite alongng wiwith joe biden? >> as we have said many times before amy k klobuchar's s recos a prosecutor and her failure to hold kililler cops accountable shouould disqualify her frorom becoming the next vice presidedt of the uniteted states.

many of us feel thatat amy klobucucr's call for r charges s disingenuous in light of thee fact shehe never brought charges against killer cops when she was a prosecutor. so right now it like it isis toothing she is calliling for position are so pololitically, d we're not g going for it. amy klklobuchar needs to do righght but the afternoon americanan community a and be a chamampion for jusustice e evenn she is dumumping his uttttered r one of thehe highest officers of the land. amy: nekima levy-armstrong, civil rights attorney, activist, founder of the racial justice network and former president of the minneapolis chapter of the naacp. as you get ready to head off to thee memorial that is b being hd in minneapolis for george floyd today. whwhen we come back, tamika mallory is our guest. stay with usus. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. the minnesota attorney general keith ellison files charges against all four minneapolis police officers involved in last week's killing of african-american george floyd, a mass uprising against police brutality continues in the streets, from minneapolis to louisville to houston to los angeles. we go now to activist tamika mallory to discuss the latest developments, the killing of breonna taylor, and more. tamika mallory is the former national co-chair of the 2017 women's march in w washingn, d.c. she is also co-founder of the

social justice organization "until freedom." she's joins us from new york city after participating in the protests in houston and louisville and minneapolis, where she gave a major speech that went viral. this is part of it. >> don't talk to us about looting. you all are the looters. america has looted black people. americans looted the native americans whenen they first came here. we l learned it from you. amy: well, tamika mallory joinis us now from nenew york, soon headed to a memorial for george floyd. welcome to democracy now! talk about the latest development of the charges brought against all four officers and their significance. >> t thank you foror having me. colleague n nekima said, we're definitely glad that there has been charges against all four officers and of course that the charges agaiainst chauvivine

been increased. however, we know we cacannot rey of ourr as ththe end fight. we have to ensure that we stay engaged in this m movement and continue to push for r convictis bebecause too often we see these things happen where everyone is excited that someone has been charged, when we get an officer charged, and thehen in thehe ent falls apart once it makes it into the roooom come into a sysm ththat is not designed d to hold police officers responsible for the abuse against poor, black, and brown people. nermeen: several people hahave poted out that t these protests are very different from t the africicanbout previvious americans killeled by the p pole from t trayvon marartin to ericc gaer. fifirst of all,, these protests

spreread very rapidly across the u.s., but also acrososs the word from n new zealandnd to brazil o france, and also with much greater i intensity. and many observevers and protesesters theelelves haveve d they have never witnessed such an outpouring of grief and anger on such a mass scale. intntensity that the and they rarange of these protes , , as some sasay, might actualy result in subststantive change? you have said that we can't rely any longer unjust charges against police officicers, b but also prosecutitions. do you thihink it is likelyy tht the scscale of these protetests, unlike thehe protests that precededed them, may actually me that possible? >> cerertainly, , you're rigigh. the proteststs we'rere seeing ty in t the wayays in which peoplee

engaged d and sustaining for so many days is v vy strong.. ihink we sasaw something similar around trayvon martin's death whenen george merman wasas fount guilty. we sell real energy across -- george zimmerman was foundndot guilty.. we s sell real energy when the black lives mamatter movemenents paparked. of course, in this particular moment, it is intensified. i think from m trayvon martin ad even caseses before that, leadig up to today, a all of it comes togetherer and you see that enerergy. a particularly in the last month , month and a half, we know that people have literally been trtraumatized by not one, not t, but three different incidents where -- i know for sure, i personallyly have been traumatad most of ahmaud arbery. people watched a video where it was clear that that young man was hunted and he was hunted by

theyifferent cars in which boxed him in and he was shot with a shotgun on the streets just for j jogging. then we see breonna taylor. breonna taylor is a younung 26-yeaear-old woman, in emt worker, so she is a first responderr at a time when pepeoe are alsoo stressed and going through aa lot as it relates to covid-19.. 100,000 plus americans w who hae died a at the hands of an inincompetent administration. and then we come to george floyd , in which we watch him die. we literally watch his life leave his body. the difference to me in the eric garner situation is that as he is being choked, there is some movement of people around. but in this situation, we see george floyd literally tell --

held, handcuffed down, suffocating, andnd as the attory ben n crump said, h he was being tortured by someone who literally y sat on h his neck ad was there trying to kill him a d he succeeded. therefore, there's a level of trauma that i believe hasas buit up in individuals across this country. and it is s no longer jujust a k protesest or a b black movemene. at this point, we are looking at a nationon and a world thahat hs decided that what we saw happen on camera, not justst in one instance, but ahmaud arbery and this incident, is no longer acceptable. and we cannot continue to meet and ask and cry and beg for change. people have taken to the streets to demand change.. nermeen: i t tnk one of f the ingsgs thatt has exacerbatated e trauma that t you speak ofof ise extent of f the militarization f

the police that we see. i memean, we're in new w rk city and you can see -- i mean, the constant souound of helicopters overhead, constantly y police sirens all across the cicity. and then just the figures of these police officers who looked more like paramilitary with all ofof this gear and equipment and someone. now, in new york, hundreds of ststaffers of mayor bill de blao haveve called for defunding the police following what they have seen here. the new yoyork policice departmt apartmentsts response. can yoyou respond to wheerer the police, not just in new york, but across the u.s., should be defunded? support defununding the police.

the one thing we know about america and itits capitalism i s that money i allll that really, reallyly, really matatters. if p people wereusust waining in the ststreets in n n york an there this country andnd were not fololks vandalizing -- which we totallylyon'susupport -- but to make the point that the vandalism is what has sparked a need to try to reconcile and fix it and let see what we can do to calm thingss down. not the violence that occurred in the first place against george floyd, where there should have been swift action to deal with that before people hit the streets, and ththen afterwards people began to vandalize -- some people. in rare instances, it happened. so the same thing applies when we are talking about the police department. again, how the system functions based in and steve in capitalism. person, tonded a

find a company, you defined an institution like the police department, you get people's attention. and i completely support that. what i don't think is that you will receive from this mayor in new york city mayor l de blasio don'tor bill de blasio, i think you'll even givive it the slightest bit of attention. and the reason why, maybe hiss staffefers can help and i thinkt is great they were courageous enough to step out there and to do somomething on behalf of ther communities -- however, this mayor has not shown us that he is bold, that he is courageous, and that he is willing to stand up to the police department. getook us five years to daniel pantaleo fired after he choked eric garner to death and in the police manual l it says that a chokehold is inappropriate and it is in fact illegal. ,ut it still t took us five yeas

plus protesters like myselelf, c , linda sarsour, andnd so many others, toto go througha presidential d debate and have o actually call him out d during e debate in order toto make s sure that he could not go around this country touting his relatioionsp between police and community in new york that doesn't really exist. i am not confident in this mamayor, unfortunatetely, that's going to do that work. i have seen him as of late trying to begin to have conversasations around the sosol distancing piece, with community groups to figure out other ways to deal with social distancing in communities, but i still just do not feel that he has what it takes to r really stand up to shay.ssioner

amy: i've two questions. one is the tear-gassing of protest. these two legs of racism and police brutality and the pandemic, and the fact that protesters all over this country are getting gassed come and teargas, pepper sprayed, coronavirus is a respiratory disease. and it is particularly affected communities of color, for the leaders now of these protests all of the country, what this means? and the other question has to do with the militarization of police all over, the buzzing by helicopters of the protesters in washington, all levels, hiding --ir affiliation of security whether you're talking national guard, bureau of prisons come altogether with policice, and te battle over whether the army is going to be involved with suppressing protests and what you make a people like matus, the former defense secretary, general george allen, and

othersrs, who are now condemning trump for what is happening right now, bringing the army into the streets -- it is not clear where esper stands. he condemns that, then he e goes back and he saysys he supports , not clear. but your thougughts on both? >> so i think the tear-gassing and the ways in which the rubber bullets of which i experienced in minneapolis, and i know much about it because many of my friends anand colleagues in this work experienced the same on n e streetets of fergusoson where me brown was shot and killed and left for four hours laying on the ground for the entire community to see and to be traumatized by. alwaysthat america has been militarized in terms of its police force. and we have been saying that. in fact, there is a campaign police in the militarization that folks have been pushing to get done in congress.

we have been sounding the alarm about all of these things. this is not new. as it relateses to what we see happening with the administration, the p presidentf the united states ran on being a law and order president. he said it. he set it. and that was a part of his platform. so we knew what he would do when you have the opportunity to show that he is in fact a law and order president. he is also an extremely disrespectful and his rhetoric is racist. his rhetoric is dangerous. anand in fact, because of his actions, people are on the streets even more angry. i believe this president has incited most of what we see happening today. he does not know how nor does he care to bring people together. instead, he was just in the military to the streets because i don't think even knows how to

actually work on relationships between humans and bring people together. and especially n not as it relas to race relations. i am happy to see that those individuals, -- he actuaually bought into office, t that they would be courageous enough to speak out because wrong is wrong. if you are a person of good moral stanandard, you should spk truth to power. so that is what we have e seen happen, and i'm veryry gratefulo those people who have done that. i wish they had done it earlier becaususe as maya angelou said, when someone s shows you who thy are, believe them. and now we know we can actually believe who donald trump said he was. and now november is coming, andd i hope people are getting themselves prepared toto do what is necessary to take back our country. amy: tamika mallory, thank you for joining us activist and , former national co-chair of

the 2017 women's mamarch in washington, d.c. co-founder of the social justice organization until freedom. she talkeded about breonna tayl. we're going to gogo extensively more intnto her case when we coe back. thousands are protesting in louisville, kentucky, for more than a a week in a row, seven days, demanding justice not only for george f floyd, but for two black louisvilille residents killlled by police, includuding breoeonna taylylor comome emt pe shot dead in her own home. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this s is demococracy now!, democracacynow.org, the quarante repoport. i am amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. wednesesday marked the s seventh nit t of protetests in lououisv, kekentucky, as thousands demandd justice for george floyd and for two black louisville residents killed by police, including breonna taylor, a 26-year-old african american woman who was shot to death by police inside her own apartment in march.

taylor was an emergency room technician treating covid patients. as protest for breonna taylor raged,rge floyd both police and the national guard fired shots at a crowd of protesters, killing david mcatee, whose body then reportedly lay in the streets of louisville for over 12 hours. david mcatee owned a local barbecue business and was a beloved figure in the community who regularly gave police officers free meals. wednesday night, hundreds of cars lined up in a caravan to honor mcatee and taylor and drove to the site where mcatee was shot and killed by police. louisville police chief steve conrad has now been fired after it emerged two officers who were at the scene of mcatee's shooting did not have their body cameras activated -- a violation of police department policy. conrad had already announced his plan to retire this month after the police killing of taylor.

this comes as the louisville metro council's public safety committee voted unanimously wednesday night to approve proposed legislation called "breonna's law" that would regulate no-knock warrants. the law is based on what happened to taylor on the night of march 13, when police with a warrant to search for illegal drugs entered her home and say they were immediately met by gunfire from taylor's boyfriend. a lawsuit filed by taylor's family says the officers arrived at the home in plainclothes and unmarked cars and did not announce who they were in that walker and taylor thought they were being robbed. the louisville courier journal reports the police were investigating two men who they believed were selling drugs out of a house that was far from taylor's apartment. a judge had also signed a warrant for them to search her house because police said they thought one of the men had used it to receive packages. 911 tapes from the night have now been released. this is a warning. this is an excerpt of the call from taylor's boyfriend, kenneth walker, as he spoke to a metro ems dispatcher after louisville metro police officers shot his girlfriend.

again, warningng to our listenes and viewers, this call i is highly disturbing. >> i don't know what is happening. somebody kick in the door and shot my girlfriend. >> where was she shot at? >> i don't know. she's on the ground right now. i don't know. help. help. >> what is happening? she able to talk to you? >> no. amy: that's taylor's boyfriend, kenneth walker, speaking to a 911 operator after louisville metro police officers shot his girlfriend in their own home. this is breonna taylor's mother tamika palmer speaking monday. >> i don't think i'i'm asaskingr too mucuch, just justice fofor . just that people anothther trut, what happened,d, that she did nt deserve ththis. the people e are fired for doing this to her. breonna, shshe was full o lilife. shshe loved life.

shshe respect l life. her is so much bigger than most of amy: well, for more, we go to louisville where we are joined by sadiqa reynolds, president and ceo of l louisvile urban league. we welcome you to democrcracy n! heardople e who had not this story, perhaps because there was no videotape inside ththe home of breoeonna, this ia young woman who was helping care for covid-19 patients. she goes home and -- explain exactly what happened. >> well, she is working. she goes home, she saiaid, she s risksking her life taking care f covid-19 patients. she goes too b bed, is my undederstanding,g, and her boyfd kenneth walker was there with her. at some e int in thehe night, te police showed up. it seems to be clear they y did fact not.

as you k know, they y had a no k wawarrant. what they did not d do was announcece t themselves. so when they knocked, i ththinkt prprobably frightetened kennethe got up. he is a licensed gun owner. he had his gun. when they came to the door, he firered. one of the offfficers was shot. they fired back. they fired back in such a way sentthere were 22 bullets into that house. eight of t those blelets landedn breonna's body. at least one of those bullets landeded in the next or neighbos house in the bedroom of a a five-year-old. one of those bullets come at least one, landed in breonna's sisterer's r room, who thanknk s not home because if she had been, maybe her m mother would have lost both of her children. the 911 call that you hear, i

guess that is when police must have retreated because one of the officers had been shot. so that is why kenneth had the time to make the call. what is disturbing here is that police have always known that that 911 tape existed. there seems to be some controversy -- well, we did not know this. the community was not under the impression, never heard about any 911 call until this case -- it was in may. for quickly, he was released once we really began the outcry to say this man should not be in jail because it corroborated what he said "i did not know it was police coming in." i thinknk they attempt to say sometimes that he has contradicted himself. but i think it is insane for them to think like that. if you think about what it is to see someone you love, who you

just in bed with, be murdered in they of you, by the time take you to interview you, only god knows what you will say -- you know, there's so many things going on in your head. and police know this better than anyone, that is why they wait so long to be interviewed after they have had a sisituation like this where they have taken someone's life. amy: the man they say they're looking for was already in custody? they said, sorry, , this wasas a mistake? >> first of all, thehese pulleys never say sorry, so that absolutely did not happen. they don't say sorry.y. ththey've nevever said sorry for anything. but t it is -- there is a man wo was an alleged drug dealer. the allegation is that he was storing drugs at her house or having drugs shipped there or something. so her name was actually on the search warrant. that gentleman was someplace else, obviously, she was there with kenneth walker. but when you hear the story --

when the police told the story, kind of get this story that we went into the drug suspects fired one of the suspects at officers. hitting an officer. a female suspect was caught in the crossfire, basically, was killed. so this will female suspect, male suspect. well, he was never a suspect. and she was never suspected of selling any drugs or anything like that. so one of the things we're really hoping that the fbi takes a very hard look at is the content of the affidavit. the affidavit that the police officer used in order to get the search warrant. because there are things stated in the affidavit, things like we observed this otother person leaving breonna taylor's home wiwith a package and we obseseed breonna taylor's car at this other location. so the questions that we have our, well, when was that?

who was driving the car? when did you see? ? him leaving with the package how long ago? how many times? there are also some allegations , sworne affidavit testimonony in the affidavit tht -- a s sworn statement, i'i'm s, inin the a affidavit that t thed spoken with someone from t postal office who said there were p packages suspiciousus packageses. well, that is just not true. ththere's so many things that nd to be chchecked on and confirmed in the affidavit because t there is some beliefef that the affidavit is flawed and quite frankly, the warrant itself -- we just lost like sadiqa reynolds, , president and ceo of the louisville urban league. eget her on to r skype.

as you see, the way we are conducting interviews all over is for people to rememain safe t home and to bebe able to do thee broadcast from home. i want to go to the kentucky governor andy beshear. on monday, he said he supported louisville mayor plus bs decision to fire steve conrad. >> it is unacceptable that the officers that responded last night did not have body cameras on and recording. this is the entire reason that we have those cameras. i believe e at this point thatat chieff conrarad, who is someone that i have known, and is a nice individual it had to happen. it had to happen. two incidences with the significance, nobody cameras. it had to happen. amy: that is governor beshear.r. sadiqa reynolds, take this forward. you have the police to being

forceded out butut he was allowo resign and stay until the end of june because of what happened here and officers have been charged, is that right? in the killing of breonna taylor? and then explain what happened this week inin the midst off the protests. now he h has been fired. >> in the midst of t the protes, in the midst of us comomplaining and then mayor responding -- the mayor has triededery hard to bee responsive. hehe says legally there are this he cannot do quickly as it relates to termination of these officers. forward,d say moving they would be wearing body cameras. well, as people were out protesting, the national guard came in a mellon pd was already here, and louisville has that divide and ours starts at 9th street. most of the protesting was in downtown louisville, which is a business district and the highlands area. for whatever reason, the national guard and the police

department did not in the west end of louisville, which is beyond that 9th street divide. most of those folks probably did not even know there was a curfew. they were not into -- they were into an with things that were happening, but not probably watching the news or whatever. they just were not protesters. they were going to get barbecue. there was a man there, yaya, a business on 26th and broadway and he sold barbecue. he gave barbecue away any fed community and fed the police. i think even catered an event ththe police have.e. they thought higighly of him jut as the commumunity did. what police say is someme things happen. we don't know what exactly because the video theyururned ovover is not that clear. why they werere not wearing body cameras? and he is dead now. nowow. mcatee is dead and we e n't hahave a clear understanding of what happened.

you can certrtainly s see him gg out hiss door, raiaising his ar, be also can slightly see smoke. so you don't know whwhat h happd to revoke this. was he shooting when he raised his arm? was he waving? we just don't know the answers. now he is gone. what people are trying to figure out is why was the national guard at 26th and broadway? why were the police -- they were supposed to be focused on protesters. why were they there? those people out there were not protesting. they were getting barbecue. they were hanging out. they were doing what they do any typical evening. it doesn't make any sense. can i say this? i think it is so important. sometimes we have these kinds of cases, of this other side that goes, "aha, he did something wrong." deserves tohat? he be executed? nermeen: i want to go back to a point that you made in breonnaa

tataylor's casese, namemely thae judge was granted a a no knock warrant. can n u explain what ttt is? it seeeems to haveve an inherent risk, nanamely that people whose houses are seaearched without a warrant arare likely to respond with force o or could respond wh force, especially in a country which is so heavily armed, that that is a risk. why did the j judge granted in this case a no knock warrantnt? and your resesponse to thiss law and breonna's groups like the aclu wanting to ban no knock warrants entirely? >> i think that -- can you hear me? amy: we hear you perfectly. i don't understand. there certainly situations where i can imagine if you have a

kidnapping in process -- i think about the case in cleveland where the man had several women locked in the base for all of that time, all those years. you're not going to knock there. but if you think there are drugs in a home, or going in at 1:00 in the morning, you've had a search warrant since 12:00 in the afternoon. that is not exigency circumstances. there's no need to execute a no knock warrant. they did not. there is evidence they did not need a no knock aren't. many, many judges would not have signed it. not that it was just no knock, but there is information that was not clear. how long had it been? all those kinds of things that need to be looked at. as it relates to breonna's law, and i think it is right to limit the no knock warrants. i think the metro council here in louisville and the aclu and all the organizations working on this are exactly right. i think it was right for the mayor to suspend all no knock

warrants period. but that is not going to bring breonna back. what we have to have in this country is a way to more quickly respond to these officers who make these sort of terrible decisions that cost people their lives, innocent people. and sometimes -- and this is the hard part for folks -- sometimes guilty people. but guilty people don't deserve to be executed on the streets. amy: very quickly, or in senator, senator ranand paul, opposing the anti-legislation -- lynching legislalation? is.e is being who he amy: sadiqa reynolds, thank you for being who you are, president and ceo of louisville urban league. speaking to us from louisville. as we broadcast, the u.s. labor department has released its latest unemployment numbers. most chillining amerericans appy for an employment benefit last week, camilla to what he 2.6 million u.s. workers have now filed claims since the start of

the pandemic, extended unemployment benefits are set to expire the end of next month. that does it for our show. a huge thank you to our amazing team as they prevent community spread by working from home.

narrarator: on ththis episodedef "eaarth focus"s"... the e race to transition to sustainable solar powower is underway. in zanzibar, rural women are learning solar skills, bucking a tradition of entrenched gender roles, empowering their communities in the process, while in southernrn californini, it's genererating the e growth f grgreen jobs s and winning over skeptics. [filmlm advance clicking]