06/05/20 06/05/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new yoyork city, the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, this is democracy now! >> george floyd's story has been the story of black folks, because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed of being is you kept your knee on our next. amy: on the 10th day

of nationwide protests against police violence, thousands gathered for a memorial service for george floyd who was killed last week by minneapolis police. we'll hear excerpts and speak to professor carol anderson, author of "white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide." >> when i talk about white race, an in ththeean the kl society, we know how to identify that. this is the much more subtle, the much more destructive type of racial violence. and it emanates out of congress come out of the supreme court come out of state legislatures, and it is designed to undercut black achievement, bckck aspirations, and black advaemenent. amy:y: wwill a ao speak with african-amicican fmmakakerho was pepper sprayedirirectlin the face wlele filng p prosts in brooklyn. he was helped within secononds y voluntrr medics as they

struggd in agony. am and we ll discu the increasing militarization of the police with stuart schrader, author of "badges without borders: how global counterinsurgency transformed american policing." all that and more, coming up. welcome toto democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. and minnesotata, mourners gather for a memorial s service honorig ththe life of george e floyd coe the afafrican-american m man whe death at the hanands of minneapolis police sparked an nationwide protests against police brutality. mourners stood in silence for eight minutes, 46 seconds, the amount of time police officer derek chauvin kneeled on floyd's

neck as he pleaded for his life. three of those minutes he was unresponsive. reverend al sharpton read the eulogy. happened of floyd happens every day in this in education, health services, and in every. of american life. it is time for us to stand up and say get your knee off our necks. amy: after heaeadlines, , extend excerptpts of george floyd'd's memorialal servicece. in mininneapolis, , the threree officecers charged with aiding d abetting george floyd's murder were arraigned in a hennepin county courtroom thursday, with bail set at three-quarters of a million dollars each. defense lawyers told the court the two officers who held george floyd to the pavement as derek chauvin pressed his knee into floyd's neck were rookies barely off probation.

but records show alexander kueng and thomas lane joined the department in february 2019 as probationary officers and they became full officers last december. meanwhile, a longtime friend of george floyd who witnessed the killing told minnesota state investigators that at no point did george floyd resist arrest before his death. he had beeeen in the c car withm before police officecers took hm out. there are new developments in the case of ahmaud arbery, the 25-year-old african-american man who was shot dead after being chased and ambushed by a group of white men in georgia. after a hearing on thursday, a state judge concluded there is enough evidence to support the murder charges against the three men.n. duringng the hearing, special agent richard dial of the georgia bubureau of f investigan testified one of the men used a racial slur after arbery was chasased, hunted down, and executed. said after the shootiting tookk p place, b befe police arrrrival, while mr. arby was on the ground, that he her troubles michael make the statement [bleepep]

amy:y: those last two words wewe ththe f-word and the n-word.d. arbebery's famimily is calling r alththree men ararrested to face federal hate crime charges. we will have more on the ahmaud arbery case lalater in the show. massive e protests against racim and police brutality continued in cities across the united states for a 10th straight day, with more demonstrations planned throughout the weekend. here in new york, police used clubs to beat back crowds of peaceful protesters thursday as they marched in their bronze past an 8 p.m. -- eight :00 p.m. curfew. the new york police department says it arrested 170 protesters citywide. they face the prospect of a lengthy stay in crowded and unsanitary jails after a manhattan judge ruled the city could hold protesters beyond the state-mandated limit of 24 hours from arrest-to-arraignment. earlier in the day, over 10,000 people packed a downtown brooklyn plaza as terrence floyd led a memorial service for his

older brother george floyd. the crowd erupted in boos and jeers as mayor bill de blasio took the microphone. >> de blasio go home1 de blasio go home! to make a change in the city and this country. us1eave leave us! amy: as mayor de blasio left the stage, many of the protesters turned their backs and chanted for him to resign. speaking a short time later, new york city public advocate jumaane williams called on the mayor to address protesters' pain and anger, rather than responding with more police and curfews. >> i hear that mayor and the governors that we have to do what we have to do to protect property. i want to say this as a city elected official, we must protect property. we must make sure people feel safe.

but where is s same energy forr black lives? amy: in california, police in the e city of vavallejo fatallyt an unarmed 22-year-old tuesday who was s kneeling and had his hands s up outside a walalgreens afteofofficers r responded to a call about allegeged looting duduring protests agaiainst thee police killing of george floyd. popolice said they believed sean monterrosa had a gun, but later said he only had a hammer in his pocket. witnesses say when police arrived, monterrosa quickly dropped to his knees and surrendered, when a police officer in an unmarked car shot him five times through the windshield. monterrosa grew up in san francisco and had proves the work at a boys and girls club. in buffalo, new york, two police officers have been suspended without pay after videos showed them assaulting a 75-year-old protester, sending him to the hospital in serious condition. in the videos, the elderly man, whose name has not been released, stands peacefully in front of a line of advancing

riot police. two of the officers violently shove him backwards and he falls to the sidewalk, striking his head. one of the officers motions as if to administer aid but is pushed away by a third officer. about two dozen riot police look on as the man is left motionless on the ground, bleeding profusely from a head wound. the buffalo police department initially told a local radio station "one person was injured when he tripped and fell." buffalo mayor byron brown said in a statement he was deeplyly disturbed by the video. in washington, d.c., thousands of demonstrators held a youth-led protest at the martin luther king, jr. memorial thursday, kneeling on the hot pavement for 8 minutes and 46 seconds -- the length of time officer derek chauvin kept his knee pressed to george floyd's neck. across the mall, federal workers fortified a security perimeter around the white house complex,

erecting a tall black metal fence and adding new concrete barriers. meanwhile, defense secretary mark esper has ordered several hundred active duty troops from the 82nd airborne division to leleave d.c.c. he first madadthe orderr wednesday but then reveversed himself facing white house pressure. the washington, d.c., chapter of black lives matter and a group of protesters have sued presesident trump, attorney general william barr, and other top officials for violently clearing out peaceful demonstrators in lafayette square outside the white house so the president could take a photo op on on thursday, barr monday. defended the administration's actions and blamed extremist groups for instigating violence over the past week. >> we have evidence that antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been in intigating and participating the violent activity.

amy: while attorney general barr singled out the antifascist movement known as antifa, he provided no evidence of wrongdoing by the antifascist activists. this comes as "the nation magazine" has obtained an internal fbi document that shows the agency had "no intelligence indicating antifa involvement/presence" at protests in washington last sunday. but the document did cite the presence of "far-right provocateurs." in related n news, federal prosecutorors in las v vegas hae charged three men connected to the far-right extremist boogaloo movement with inciting violence during the recent protests and conspiracy to commit terrorism. the three men all had experience in the u.s. military. meanwhile, in salisbury, north carolina, police have arrested jeffrey allan long, a 49-year-old with ties to neo-confederate hate groups. he's charged with firing a weapon near protesters on sunday. on capitol hill, senator ranand paul o of kentucky proposed an amendment thursday that would weaken a bill making lynching a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison. a day earlier, senator paul

singlele-handedly held up the legislation by denying its passage on unanimous consent. the bill is co-sponsoreded by te senate''s three african americas -- republican tim scott t of soh carolina andnd democrats kamala harris of california and cory booker of new jersey. >> but i am so raw today, of all days we're doing this. i do not need my colleague, the senator from kentucky to tetelle about one e lynchingng in this country. i have stood in the museum in montgomery, alabama, and watched african-american families stories ofthe pregegnant women lynched in this country and babies ripped out of them.. amamy: international press f frm groups are expressssing alarm or the rampant ststreatment o of journalists s covering the protests over the past 10 days. reporters have been shot with rubber bullets and pepper spray, arrested live on air and assaulted with riot shields.

the committee to protect journalists has compiled a list of 250 cases of press freedom violations. the aclu of minnesota has filing a asass-acon l lawit ovevethe targining ofournrnalts. meanwhile, jrnalistst t two major papers are criticizing how their own outlets have dealt with the recent protests. on thursday, more than 30 journalists of color at the "philadelphia inquirer" called out sick after the paper ran an article titled "buildings matter, too." and at "the new york times," more than 800 staff members signed a letter protesting the publication of an opinion piece by republican senator tom cotton titled "send in the troops." many "times" reporters tweeted out a message saying, "running this puts black @nytimes staff in danger." worldwide confirmed cacases of covid-19 have topped 6.6 million, with the global infection rate rising faster than ever. there are now over 100,000 new reported infections daily, likely just a fraction of the true toll. over the past two weeks, twice

as many countries have reported a surge in cases compapared to countries that have reported a downward pattern. this comes as brazil has overtaken italy as the country with the third-highest covid-19 death toll. brazil's healalth ministerr confirmed more than new deaths 1400 in a single day thursday, a record, taking brazil's total to over 34,000. the u.s. hasas the highest ratef confirirmed cases by far with or 108,000 deaths. probably far, far higher. on thursday, r robert redfdfiel, head of the centers for disease control and prevention told a house committee that many americans are failing to heed cdc warnings that they should practice social distancing and wear masks in public. cooks are concerned that our public health as it is not resonating. we continue to try to figure out how to penetrate the message with different groupups. amy: he did not mention the president of the united statates himself. "having to impose close rereporting law enforcement ages faceseized hundreds of

mask. they madee them m to protect protesters during the pandemicic boxes i masksks were m mailed fm oakland, butut they were seizedn the mail by law enforcement. presidenent trumpmp has taken nw steps to gut the endangered species act and the natitional environmental policy act. citing the economic crisis cacaused by the cocovid outbrea, trump has signed a an executive order to remove the environmental review process for major projects including new mines, highways, and pipelines. meanwhile, a federal appeals court in san francisco has overturned the epa's approval of a popular herbicide made by monsanto. the court found the epa had substantially understated the risk caused by the proroduct. russia has declared a state of emergency y in northern sisibera after more t than 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into a river nenear the arctitic ocean.. the permrmafrost beneathth a ful reservoir rereportedlyollalapse,

leaking d diesel across milelesf russiaia area. a shococking new report by the uniteded nations says tens of thousandnds of people in the philipippines may have been kild since mid-201616 as president rodrigo duterte unleashed a war on drugs, giving police the power to arrest people and use lethal force with near impunity. the u.n. report points to top government officials as instigators of extreme violence and a pattern among police of planting evidence in dozens of murders to suggest officers were acting in self-defense. among the dead are over 70 children. the youngest victim was just five months old. and in r richmond, virginia, governoror ralph northam on thursday ordered the removal of a statue of confederate general robert e. lee from the state capital after it was vandalized during recent mass protests. richmond's african-american mayor levar stononey welcomed te move. pandemics in this country -- covid-19 and racism.

one is six months old. the other, 400 years old. and as the events of the last months in the last two weeks have made painfully clear, both are lethal, especially for r blk and brown people. amy: a and those are somome of e headadlines. thisis is decracy y now!, democrcracynow.org, the quarante report. i'm amy goodman. thursday marked the e first of many memorialsls for geoeorge f. in minneapolis, members of his family, loved ones, and supporters gathered for a tribute where floyd's golden casket was covered in red roses. a picture projected on the wall above it showed the mural of floyd that has been painted at the street corner where he died. the mural reads, "i can breathe now." during the tribute, people stood in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds -- the amount of time police officer derek chauvin kneeled on floyd's neck as he pleaded for his life.

almost three of those minutes, floyd was unresponsive. this is one of george floyoyd's younger brothers, polonius floyd. >> he was amazing. everywhere you go and see people how they c cling to him.m. they wanteted to be arouound him george, he w was like a gegener. everery dayay he walks ououtsid, therere would be a a line of pee -- just like w when we cacame i, wantnted to greetet him and havn withth him. likethat t were doing drugs smokokers and homeleless peopleu could d not tell bececause whe u spokoke to george,e, they felt e they were the president because that is how he made you feel. he was p perful. yeyet a way wititwords. heheould always make you ready jumump d go all the time. everybody lovov george. we did not call him george. called him.m.

. if you called d him. , y you knew him m direct. becaususe george was a n name -- evererybody calleded him big gee or big floored. drududgeeport g. everybody cacalled h dififferent namemes. it is crazy, man.n. alall of these peoeople came toe my brorother. that i is amazing toto me that e totouchesoso manynyeople's hears he has beeeen touching our hear, you know. you come to the third ward where we are from, people are crying right now. that is how much they loved him. i'm justtaying as strong g as i can becacause i neeeed to get it out. i need t to get it outut. everybodody wants juststice. we want juststice for geororge. he is gogoing to get it. he is going to get it. [applause] is polonius floyd, one of george floyd's younger brothers, speaking during a tribute thursday in minneapolis where reverend al sharpton announced he is joining with the

families of people killed by police to organize a march on washington on august 28 -- the 57th anniversary of the historic demonstration for civil rights led by reverend martin luther king, jr. it is also the day in 1955 that emmitt till was lynched. reverend sharpton urged those gathered thursday to stand up in george's name and say, "get your knee off our necks!" >> george floyd's story has been the story of black folks because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed of being is you kept your knee on our necks. [applause] smarter than the underfunded schools you put us

in, but you had your knee on our necks. corporations and not hussle in the streets, but you had your knee on our neck. skills, we could anyone else could do, but we could not get your knee off our neck. what happened to floyd happens every day in this country in education, in health services, and in every area of american life. inis time for us to stand up george's name anand say get your knee o off our necks.. amy: that's the reverend al sharpton speaking at a tribute toto george floyd thursday in miminneapolis. when we cocome back, we looook a hearing in ththe case of ahmaud arbery, the 25-year-old african-american manan who was shot dead after being chased and

ambushed byy a group of white mn in georgia. we will go to georgia to speak with professor carol anderson. stay with as. -- stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: music from the memorial service for george in minneapolis.s. stuart schchrader this is democracy now!, democracynynow.org, the war and peace report. i'i'm amy goodman. on thursday, disisturbing new details were revealed in t the case of f ahmaud arbery -- the 25-year-old black man who was chased, ambushed, and shot dead by a group of white men in georgia in what many have called a modern-day lynching. in a nearly seven-hour hearing, a state judge concluded all three men -- travis mcmichael, former police officer gregory mcmichael, and william "roddie" bryan -- would stand trial for ahmaud arbery's murder. speciaial agent richarard dial f the georgia a bureau of investigation testified travis mcmichael used a racial slur after shooting and killing arbery. >> he said that after the shooting took place, before police arrival while mr. arbery

was onon the ground, that here travis michael make the statement [bleep] amy: those l last two words wewe the f-f-word and the n n-word. travis mcmichael had a sticker of a confederarate flag on his truck's toolbox. the investigator, richard dial, also testified the three white men hihit arbery with a trtrucks he attemptpted to escape them. special prosecutor j jesse evans said arbery was chased, hunted down, and ulultimately executet. arbery's family is calling for all three men ararrested to face federal hate crime charges. for more, we''re going to georga , to atlanta, where we are joined by carol anderson, professor at emory university and the author of "white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide." her new piece for "the guardian" is titled "in 1919, the state failed to protect black americans. a century later, it's still failing." let's begin, professor anderson,

with ahmaud arbery and this unusual hearing, not like arraignment hearing, but went on for hours. can you talk about the testimony, the new informationo, and thisis whole issue of f lyng in america -- not 100 yearsrs a, but today? >> thank you so much, amy. w was so saw on that tapap contraradictory y to the statemt thatat the mcmichaels had originally made. and what i ishowowed w was themm blocking himim. it s showed them m hunting g hi. it shohowed them execucuting hi. and the fact that t that tape ws in the hands of law enforcement almost immmmediately but nothing ,, intensesent protests o out of thatpted

ballot t that law enfororcement click inin georgia so thatat jue heuld begin to move down pipepe. it b begins to tell youou aboutw unseemly, how corrupt, how corroded t the system is so that it takes protests to do with issusues of basic justice. amy: you a are in georgia. georgia is one of the few states in the country that does not have hate crimes laws. the family is calling for these meant to be brought up on hate crime charges. cacan you explain whatat this is about? is forof f the things georgia a is -- gegeorgia is onf e e key lyncnching states. one of the m most graphic lynchings happened here in georgia, the one that senator cory booker was taingg about -- which wasas mary t turner,ho had

protested because her husband was lynchched. anand they were angry at t this woman who was eight months pregnant who dared to defy them. ththey hung her upside d down. they stripped her naked.. they burned heanand then n they cut the baby out of her stomach anand s stomped on the baby's h. that is s georgia. become one crime's ways ththatslippery the state doenot haveveo come to grips w wh the damage that it hahas done andnd that t it conts to do. and i would just say on the whole issue of lynchching, the fact that t you had during geore flfloyd's memoririal servicecead paulul blocking an antiti-law nd speaksmmetttt till also

volumes about where we are as a nationon. wararningant to issueue a --ourur a audience, becauause profesessor anderson, i wawant o ask about the story thahat contains just horrifying footage. arrest warrants have been issued for six atlanta police officers after they tased two black college students and dragged them from their car for allegedly violating the city's curfew saturday night. one officer was filmed smashing the window of the car. another slashed the car's tires. two of the officers have already been fired. the victims were 20-year-old spelman college student taniyah pilgrim and 22-year-old morehouse college student messiah young, who suffered a fractured wrist and needed 24 stitches. e and his body for something like five hours after

they shot him. this is pilgrim and young speaking tuesday. >> i hope every police officer who thinks it is ok to drag someone, beat someone, d do all this stuff because they are cops, i hope they're all going to be held accountable as well. >> i feel a little safer now that these monsters are e ofof e ststreet and n no longer ableo terrrrorize anyone elsee froroms point t on. i think moving f forward, we jut sure that all officers are held accountable and thatat there really is chane moving forward within the culture of policing. amy: said that is messiah young antennae pilgrim, two kids, onoe at morehouse, one at spelman. you teach at emory, professor anderson. the horror of this moment as you see the electricity just convulse messiah.

if two o of the police officers fired, all six arrest were issued for them. can you respond to this? > it ablulutely hadad to hapn that they are held accountable. when you see that film, one of the things you see is that t the car right in f front of messiahs a white woman who is waiting out the window and smiling, bubut te thesece convergeen wowonderful, beautiful students and/their tires, smash out the wiwindows, andnd for what? for what? thing that is actutually convulsing across the nation because you're asking for

what? none of this looks like prprotect and serve. not of it. that interview you saw where -- there is one moment where he is just saying that llamas had to disassociate himself from it because it was so traumatic, so violent. we do this to our people. what is that? i was in t tears when i sasaw tt ininterview. i was horrified when i saw the original footage, and then n tears when i saw the interview. time, yout the same senator rand paul blocking antilynching legislation. he has proposed an a amendment n thursday that would weaken a bill making lynching a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison.

i day before, senator paul single-handedly held up the legislation by denying its passage on unanimous consent. the bill is coco-sponsored by ye senate's three african americans -- republican tim scott of south carolina and democrats kamala harris of california and cory booker of new jejersey. >> but i am so raw today, of all days w we are doing this, i do t need my colic c the senator from kentucky to tell me about one lynching in this country. i have stood in the museum in watchedry, alabama, and african-american families weeping at the stories of pregnant women lynched in this country and their babies rippepd out of them. amy: that is new jersey senator cory booker. carol anderson, talk about the significanance of this legislatn passed almost unanimouously in e and rand papaul has stoppeded

it in the senate. > you think about it, antilynching legislationon, naap hadd tried since the 1920'0's to get federalal antilynchching legislation passed. and this is at that moment t whe you are seeing onee h horrific lynching after thehe next. there's a key moment in the mid 193030's where e it is after the thehing of claude neil,, spectacle lynching, where lynching iss actually advertised and when thehey sell tickets and claude neil is taken ththrough a gauntlet of torture and tortured for hours andnd his body parts t off and he is forced to eatat hs .wn genitaliaia the nap p is pressining hard for llllndl antilynching b bi

two sesenators from m the southd yoyou bernananke him conlele bld it. they mock itit. they laughed. they did almosost a routininen e senate floor making lynching a joke. talkingi sesee rand paul about, welell, we don't needed o so extensive so we need to make sure that just when someone is slapped, that that is not called a lynchining. violelence to the thouousands upon t thousands of who have e beens lynched. that is known as disrespect toto the lives into the families s of those whwho have had to live unr rror without any kind of justice being brought.

amy: can you resespond to the words that are often used in the corpororate media, the riots, te looting ththat is going on? about thealked often statee violencnce that is not so eaeasily a addresseded. see this s false equivalent. it is the language off lootingng is away toto try to disistract d diffuse from the kind of bureaucratic violencehat hass rained down on black communities. bureaucratic violence in tererms ofof militarizing g the p polic, bureaucrcratic violencnce in tes off undnderfunding public schoo, burecratic violence in terms of environonmental toxinins beig poured into poor and black communities.

that kind d of bureaucratic alightedsust gets over. one of the things when i wrote "white rage," i talked about how we focus so much on the flames that we miss the kindling. and the kindling is that bureaucratic violence, that systematically destroys like communities, that systematically erodes for citizenship. that is what we need to be paying attention to where we are always going to see the flames. so that looting tries to make that equivalent. it is a false equivalent. that language of looting. that language of, welcome your peacefulng from the protest. but when african-americans peacefully protested, like on cap her neck -- colin cap wernick,k, he was vilified d for somehow disrespecting the flag? when the real disrespect of the flag is the systematic

destruction of black people. piece, you write attorney general bill barr does not appear to see e injustice. instead, he sounds much like his engine predecessor, mitchell palmer. explain. >> a mitchell palmer was the attorneyey general durining 1 1, the red d summ of 1919. anand there e you had an eruptif anti-black vioiolence as black veveterans are c coming back frm their work in the military as soldiers so disrupted what was the hierarchy ofof powerer becausese it was l, wait a minute, they think they are citizens now?? so y you saw thiss violence e et whwhere blacack people were nted downndnd killed. one of the most horrific cases

was in n elaine, arkansas. whwhere lacks were mobilizizingo unioioni becauause their wages were being stolen.. proof ofhis massive sheriffs and vigililantes and te u.s. army comiming in n and just massacring black people. a mitchchell papalmer did not se ththat. whwhat he saww is instead of pee fighting f for their constitutitional rights, he said these are these left-wing radicalsls, communiststs. it l launches what w would becoe known as the red scacare. ththis hunt r commumunists in every kind of movement for equality. what you see w with bill barr by raisingp the a antifa ororganization that is out to destroy allll that is good andd rit t in america, where they can'even identify what the

antifa organizatioion is -- and anti-fs dance for anti-fascicist, fightingng the fascisist. is thet we do have violencece of the righght w wine violence where you have armed men storming into the michigan state capital and threatening to kill the governor and yelling at law enfnforcement. not thehow, t that is kind of violence that bill barr is cononcerned with. so you get this mobililizing o federaral forces to knockout arereressive forces that fightingng for equalitity by usg the threre off some ououtside .gitator, , a terrorist group for a mitchell papalmer, communist. for bill barr, antifa.

whatever. amy: bill barr was s supposedly the one who calleded for t the police forces s outside ththe we house to c clear lafayette park for the president to walk forward with his chair ofof the joint chiefs of staff and secretary of defense for a photo op. of course, president trump once again yesterday tweeted about the protesters being terrorist. before we end, i want to ask you about something people might not have noticed admit the mass uprising this week as there were primaries around the country, peoplele findingng extremely difficult about. her latest book "one person, no ise: how voter suppression destroying our democracy. communities of color so hard-hit by the stream pandemics of police brutality and the pandemic and the fact that the pandemic continues, people being afraid to o go out to vote, that they have to choose voting over their own health. and the assaults by the

president on mail-in voting, though he does it himself. voting,ut democracy, what is going to happen i in november if prpresident trump allows t this electiono hahappen at a. >> what we're sayaying is langne groundwork for trying toto erode these elections the s same we hd vovoter supuppression underminig the election in 2016. in 2016, because a voter suppression, because the u.s. supreme court had gutted the protections of the votining rigs 7% inou had a drop of black voter turnout. thatemember, trump won election only by the electoral amonge vote, 77,000 votes three states. voter suppression iss lethal. it is deadly. there try to replicate it t aga. so we're saying things, for instance, like in texas where

the supreme court and the attorney general in texas have pandemic of feaear of covid-19 is not a justifiable excuse to get an absentee ballot. whereyou have in kentucky because of the pandemic, they shut down the department of motor vehicles and then the rerepublican legislature says, , but in order to use an absentee ballot, at have a cocopy of your id, your driver's license. so if you don't have a drivers license and you can't get a drivers license, how do you use your drivers license that you can't get in n order to vote absentntee? in alabama, where the used apartment of justice has waited on the side of alabama to say that you must have a witness statement in the middle of the pandemic in order to use an absentee ballot. so what we're seeing here is in addition to with you supreme

court did to those in wisconsin in the middle of a pandemic is to use the threat that is covid-19 as a way to suppress voter turnout. but what is happening is that you have seen people who understand that the way this attackeds attached -- very being, means they're willing to roll through grow glass, to stand in front of a covid-19 firing squad and risk their lives in order to vote. we have to ask ourselves -- amy: we have 30 seconds, professor. >> what kind of society is that that makes people choose between the right to vote and their health? now is where wewe are right in the united states of america. amy: carol anderson, thank you for being with us, professor wright, university and author of "white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide," which won

book "one most recent , person, no vote: how voter suppression is destroying our democracy." when we come back, we speak with an a african-a-american journalt who was pepppper sprayed in the face by y police as he was filmining. stayay with us. ♪ [music c break]

amy:y: amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. "keep on pushing" by the impressionons. we tururn now to look at how prpresident trump has threatatea military response to nationwide protests and how police are already using military-grade weapons against demonstrators. in a minute, we'll speak with the author of "badges without borders: how global counterinsurgency transformed american policing." but first, we are joined by chris frierson, an african-american documentary filmmaker and cameraman who was filming a black lives matter protest onataturdain b brolyn, new yorkwhwhen pice e mod in on demonstratorsanand asee filmed, poli p peppespraraye him directly in n the fa and ns. chrikept on lming ase struggleto the sewalk crng agony fm the pa.

within sonds, someone to his arm and gued him tvoluntee medi who camto his a. yes,e filmedhat happened to him d sharedt t with us.s. this is clip. listenlolosely >> ah! ah! ah! >> did you get sprayed? >> yes. >>, are here. shutouour eyes.

>> here we go. just going to keep doing this. i know, i know, sucks. i know. i got to get in the,e, thoh. >> oh! >> in your eyes and anywhere elelse? > all over my face. >> this will help stop the stingi, all right? >> ok. >> does anyone have tiueues? >> take a picture of this. >> wt i want you to do is bl your nos perfect. this is beerer. >> oh, my god. you want to get it out o your nose.

ready? 1, 2, 3, below. peperfec we have saline. ready? we're goingo o do iagaiain. remember, it is temporary. u'u' notot gng to beike is. it will not hurt you ia a purp way, but it sucks. in the got me right face. like i sawt happeng. am that's chris ierson, - --a are y ard-wininng peabody ard-winng domentary lmmaker dd meraman who was lming a black ves matter prote satuay in brklyn, neyork, en policmoved inn denstrators and, as heilmed, they pepr sprayehim in t facend lens. withineconds, filmed himsf gettinhelp from volunteer mecs. chris,t is n ne to see you tting up andhat your eyes are not closed. talk about exactly what

happened. what in the poce movoving on you as y you were directlyly filmin? >> it wawas a fairirly peaceful protest nothing wawas going on.. brooklynove through and the cops started surunding at the drop of a had, theree wasas o woman in the crcd who i filmed who kind of ran in, throh h wate b bottle, and i turned around and soon ai turn around, there is failing so poce officers that just start runng. th jusust art running towd a peacef cro. saying ththings. i just s this liquid flying at . it was too quick for me to even undersndnd what was s happening, but as you can see, i was incapacitated from that point on. amy: it is always described as

this nonlethal way of crowd control. describe what it feels like to be pepper sprayed in the face.. it is the second-most painful experiencece i have ever h had y entirere life. you just don't owow whais goinonon. d d i thinkt is more than the in, it jt not knowing what is happening all of e e sudd. yousite.obd d of yoyou arved of yr sesens. idea what islear happening. lilikelynough asou s seen thee video, peop came to my aid immediately. i don't knowat, what i would've done. amy: it was amazing to see these grassroots medics on the ground. explain what they were spraying in your face, knew exactly what to do. they h had their equipment r rit on them m and they, too, cacan e pepppper sprayed. >> withihin secds, theyey pulled

meme aside. i'm over on the curb d not in the street amomore. salineolution d water. words -- iheir me, , this sounds -- it was their words over just as helpf as the water in the mi tt was ured in eyes. it washen reasring m tha yes you can hear it, it is temporary, you're gngng to fi. everything is going toe ok. and that is sortf f the wer r of what aot of people in these prototes i think -- thats s the these,in the spirit of people trying to help each other. amy: this was not generalized, the attack on you. the police shot you point blalak range. you're a black man covering a black liveves matter protest. you have a major camera right there. and they just take you out with that paper sprayed. this also in the midst of the

pandemic were african-american men are the most at risk of this respiratory attack on the system, covid-19. like i pepersonalally cannot of that they got me because the color my skin. i do know that prorobably dididt helplp saw thohose cops running toward me, i saw -- i saw w a weird fear in their eyes even though there is nothing to be afraid of on their side, for mymy opinion. there isis nothing really ining on. when internazed it, i am not mad at the guyho did that. i i st am not. is aah h who seone producucof a failure in a system

of poling. thinkhat is the main ingg atat nee to o beddressss. i honestly am nomamad athe guy. that is what he is tryrying to . amy: chris, as we wrap up, you are riright backck out on n the reetets filming? >> > yeah. last nigight, peaceful u until t snsn't. in the day b before, the same. agaiain, t that goes back to the systematic failuress of whwhat e new york cy police is d i think cicities acrososs the cou. these e guys are workers. these guys largely are e being that are nonotings appropriate. amy: chris frierson, i want to thank you for joining us and thank goodness that you are ok right now. astounding that you are right out on the streets after being pepper sprayed directly in the face by police. dodocumentary filmmaker and cameraman. as we take this larger -- turning from chris' story to

lolook at the e militarization f the american civil liberties the police force. the american civil liberties union and black lives matter announced thursday they are suing president trump and attorney general william barr for authorizing a "unprovoked and frankly criminal attack" on protesters at lafeyette park in washington, d.c., where the national guard and officers dressed in riot gear fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs to disperse peaceful protesters on monday so trump could have his photo taken with a bible in front of st. john's episcopal church. the bishop there criticized him, said it was completely inappropriate, that they should use their church, that trump should use their chuhurch as a backckdrop. the lawsuit alleges the trump administration violated protesters' constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. for more, we go to baltimore, maryland come to speak with stuart schrader, associate director of the program in racism, immigration, and citizenship at johns hopkins university. author of the book "badges without borders: how global counterinsurgency transformed american policing."

welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about this militarization of police? >> at think whatat we're seeinig now is a convergence of what i would consider three trains. the first is a lonong-term trend to treat being trarained polititical protetest and agitan as almlmost hand -- tantamount o a revolutionary situation and therefore understanding their job of controlling protesters, basically defending the republic. this has a long history. i cover it in my book. it goes back throughout the 20th century. i think we cannot i the term "counterinsurgency" to this, meaning we are saying a combination of social and political power being used to control political protest in

addition to police power, even in the absence of a real insurgency or real revolutionary situation. this is a long-standing trend. another trend is what most of us would refer to as the militarization of policing. that means the use of military style body armor and helmets, that arestyle trucks heavily armored, and the scary looking military style weaponry. material beingof in the hands of police increased after september 11, 2001, but in the 199090's,nder president bill clton andnd in 1997, congress approved a program to ansfer a lot ofurplus merial fr the u.s. military aid to the hands of police. so this has been happening for quite a long time.

i think it's important to note that we are seeing this material on our screens in the context of protests, but it also has been used quite widely and what we would consider ordinary policing situations. serving warrants and other types of routine activity. and beyond that, i think it is also important to note that of course g george floyd was not killed by a mine resistant truck . george floyd killed by a police officer in ordinary gear who basically turned his body into a lethal weapon. so i think what we talk about the militarization of leasing, we have to also ask ourselves if getting rid of it, which i think is on the table in a new way right now, if we need to ask ourselves if getting rid of it is going to be a nap. the third d trend i would pointo

is witithin the military, within the intellectuals and theorisiss of military strategy there has been a turn toward urban space, a turn toward cities. the idea here is the u.s. military in coming decades is its tacticse to use in urban space in the building environment of cities. ththis is a very sophisticated d detailed theoretical discourse that military strategists have developed. newalso entails a bunch of tactics. amy: very quickly, b before we wrap and we just have 30 seconds, this use of teargas, pepper spray in a timimof covid, pandemic that t affects s the respiratory system? >> yeah. it is very dangerous. teargas is a misnomer. it does n not just make peoeople crcry.

it makes them cough and gag. it is very harmful to the respiratory system and makining people cough and potentially even n if theys may not know they are infected. it is s really scary. a lot of people arare getting tr gassed and also getting arrested and then held in a small, confined spaces in jails and detentioion centers. the risk o of the spreadad of cd is intense. amy: thank you so much, stuart schrader, with us, author of "badges without borders: how global counterinsurgency transformed american policing." and that does it for today's broadcast. today would have b been breonna tayloror'ss 27th birthday. shshe was shot to dedeath by lol police inside e her own apartmet in louisville, kentucky, and the officers have not been charged. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or

mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

[sums guitar] wanto o do ifor r myriend?d? man: yes, we'll itit f him.. rl: yeah [laughte sami: thankoou. ghtt o b boyces ththe untry y ues legend fmm com, mimisssippi.i. on the weekes,s, peoe gagath inhehe bacard d ofl'house, e e unofcialal mting p pce for this smallowown's mumusians. spontanusus jamgiveve bth too ne i improsed d tus. andndn the sun,imime go by y ve slow d drinkg bebeernd jammining. rl: ♪ cai i get ndisistit]? ttold u, s son.