06/18/20 06/18/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> these are the 11 charges against officer rolfe. the first charges felony murder and the possible sentence is for felony murder conviction would orlife, life without parole, the death penalty. amy: the former atlanta police officer who shot and killed rayshard brooks in a wendy's

parking lot is charged witith felony murder, along with 11 offenses. prosecutors accused officer garrett rolfe of twice shooting brbrooks in the back and then kicking in the back as he lay dying. a second officer faces four charges. both have until tonight to turn themselves in. we will speak to rashad robinson of color of change about the atlanta, as well as a new campaign to boycott facebook and the recent cancellation of the long-running tv show "cops," which glorify police violence. then we look at how the use of tear gas is fueling police abuses around the world. officers in nearly 100 u.s. cities and towns fired tear gas on protesters in rececent weeks. >> the quantity of tear gas weapons ailable toto police rose every year with to kno oversight -- with little to no oversight. amneynternational has documented many cases of severee pain o or suffering g caused byr gasse as well as instances in

which its use is clearly punitive. amy: we will speak with amnesty international and seattle city councilmember kshama sawant. the seattltle city c council has voted to ban police from using chokeholds, tear gas, and pepper spray. all that and more, coming up.. welcome toto democracy now!, demomocracynowow.org, the quarae report. i'm amamy goodman. in g georgia, prosecututors have chararged former atltlanta polie officer garrett rolflfe with 11 cocounts, including felony m mu, for the shooting death of 27-year-olold rayshard brooks, o was s shot twice in n the back outside a wendy's restaurant on june 12. the charges carry a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. a second former officer involved in the killing, devin brososnan, will be charged with aggravated assault. prosececutors saidid he has agrd to turn state's witness and testify against rolfe, but brosnan's lawyer disputes this claim.

fulton county district attorney paul howard on wednesday revealed a photo of rolfe kicking brooks as he lay bleeding on ththe pavement, sayg both officers failed to give brooks a any medical attention r more than two minutes. >> during the two minutes and 12 seconds that officer rolfe actually kicked mr. brooks while he laid on the ground, while he was there fighting for his lifi. from the videotape, we were able to see that the other officer,, officer brosnan, acactually stod on mr. brooks' shoulder whwhilee was struggggling for his life. amy: the guardian reports officer garrett rolfe was previously accused of f covering that i 2015 shooting, along with two other officers. rolfe and the other officers reportedly open fire on a black an chasing him for driving a stolen truck.

the officers hit the man once puncturing his long, but never reported the shooting. on wednesday night, a number of atlanta police officers staged a "sick out" and refused to show up for their usual shifts to protest the criminal charges against the two former officers. meanwhile, new video has emerged of rayshard brooks speaking in his own words about his struggles with the criminal justice system. the experience of being locked up in prison, he says, left him deep in debt and struggling to pay court fees and restitution, even as employers turned him away due to his criminal record. brooks spoke in february with the grououp reconnect. >> i just feel like some of the system could look at us as individuals. we do have lives. it is a mistake we made, you know. you knowow, not just do o us asf we are animals. amy:y: meanwhile, , protests agt racism and p police brutality continue a across the united

stateses in the world d and cone to make political gains. officials in east lansing, michigan, duluth, minnesota, eugene, oregon, columbus, ohio, and elsewhere are moving to ban police officers from schoolhouses. here in new york, governor andrew cuomo has signed an executive order declaring juneteenth -- a day celebrating african americans' liberation from slavery -- as a holiday for state employees. meanwhile, president trump continued to demonize black lives matter protesters, telling fox news that their efforts were losing steam. pres. trump: the protesters andd ananchists and tererrorists and looters andd although ththe peoe that were -- and all of t the people t that were mararching on various locations the last couple of weeks, that has died down. theyey have lots of energy. that is good. many of them don't even know whatat they're protesting, frankly. amy: trump's remarks came as black lives matter protesters continue to be attacked by vigilantes and far-right

counterprotesters. in portland, oregon, three protesters were injured after a driver plowed into a group of marching peacefully downtown early wednesday. in taylor, michigan, one person was injured tuesday evening after a driver sped through a peaceful protest, crushing a bicycle. this week, officials in albuquerque, new mexico displayed assault rifles, hand guns, knives, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition seized from members of a far-right militia group whose armed members menaced protesters one protester was s shot a and hospitalizized in critical condition. inin geneva, the brother of geoe floyd called on the united wednesday nations human rights council to set up a commission of inquiry into racism and police brurutality in the ununid statates. philonise fld d spokby v video link. protestpeople dare to

for myrother, ey were tea ruover with policeehicles stoppeseseverapeopopleost eyey and suffered brain damage to rubberulullets ers were shotest and could buy police mosofof urnalistere e been and blindewhwhen ty trtry to show the bralality ppeneninat thehe protest. when people raise thr r voic to prote the treatment of blblack people in america, they are silenced. they are shot and killed. amy: there was no united statats representative present as philonise floyd spoke, since the trump administration withdrew the u.u.s. from the u.u.n. human rights council in 2018. top p infectioious disease sciet dr. anththony fauci warned wewednesday the unitited statess still in the firstst wave of covid-19 infections, as 10 states reported d record levelsf the disease and the official u.s. death toll approaches 118,000. alabama, arizona, california, florida, nevada, north carolina,

oklahoma, oregon, south carolina, and texas all posted their highest seven-day averages of new daily infections since the pandemic began. florida reported over 2600 new cases on wednesday, nearly matching a record high set a day earlier. among the nenew cases were 16 friends who shared a night out at an irish pub in jacksonville on june 6. seven employees of the restaurant also tested positive. despite the record level of infections, the republican national committee is seeking hundreds of local businesses to sign up as vendors at its -- the presidential convention in jacksonville in late august, which will be held in a 15,000-seat arena. florida has officially recordedd ovover 3000 covivid-19 deas.s. and even as cases are skyrocketingng, republicanan governor r ron desantis says h's ruling out any new restrictions to s slow the spread of the

virus. >> in teterms of the restaurant have been doing this -- thehey have beeeen doing it for six weeks. the idea that that all of f the sun is the r reason?n? i'm not sure that is the case. we are not shutting down. we're going to go forward. amy: in oklahoma, tulsa's republican mayor g.t. bynum said wednesday he will not be attending president trump's first campaign rally since the start of the pandemic on saturday, telling reporters -- "i'm not positive that everything is safe." 19,000 people are expected to pack an arena for the event and city officials are expecting up to 100,000 trump supporters to descend on tulsa for the president's visit. the trump demanding the attendees sign a waiver to absolve them of responsibility in case they get covid-19. they are not requiring that attendees wear masks. cocoronavirus cases continue to

surgrge in latin a america. brazil connues to rerecord over 30,000 new cases daily, with the official death toll now at over 46,000 -- though researcrchers y that's a significant underestimate. a new study by the university of washington's school of medicine predicts brazil will surpass the united states in july to become the nation with the world's highest death toll from covid-19. in lima, peru, police in riot gear used clubs and shields to beat back healthcare workers holding a protest to demand more personal protective equipment. doctors and nurses at the protest said they feared leaving widows and orphans behind. >> right now statistics show we are at the highest level of infection. we have lost many colleagues to covid-19. we are asking, demanding the government and thehe public heah care system and its ceo provide adequatete face masks,s, which y are only providing to some workers. amy: peru has recorded over 7000 coronavirus deaths and m more tn

a quarter mimillion confirirmed cases. former national security advisor john bolton n has accused president trump of personally asasking chinese president xi jinping to use his economic power to help him win the 2020 presidential election by purchasing more soybeans and wheat. bolton makes the claim in his forthcoming memoir. the justice department has sued bolton i in an attempt to block publication of the book, but copies of the book have already been obtained d by journalists. boltlton's bobook comes just mos after he d declined to testify during president trump's impeachment trial. in the book, he faulults democrs for focusing on trump's dealings with ukraine saying trump was willing to halt criminal investigations f for "dictatorse liked" citing chchina and turkey as two examples. bolton also writes trump privately called for the execution of journalists who do not reveal their souources, reportedly saying -- "these people should be executed. they are scumbags." bolton also criticizes trump for not being hawkish enough on foreign policy. he claims trump's decision not

to attack iran in 2019 following the downing of u.s. drone as "thehe most irrational thing i ever witnessed any president do." john bolton, who strongly advocated for the u.s. to overthrow the venezuelan government, claims in the book that trump said invading venezuela would be "cool" and that it was "really part of the united states." bolton also claims trump told xi jinping during a private meeting last year at g20 in japan that he supported china's rationale for building of massive detention camps to hold uighur muslims. bolton writes -- "according to our interpreter, trump said that xi should go ahead with building the camps, which trump thought was exactly the right thing to do." the report made headlines s on wednesday on the same day president trump signed the uyghur human rights policycy act that imposes sanctionsns on chinesese officials s involved n the e detentioion program. house democrats have launched a probe into the trump administratition's secretivive

diststributionon of $500 billioo businesses as papart of a massie coronavirus bailout package. treasury secretary steven mnuchin has refused to release details about where the taxpayer money has gone, claiming it is proprietary and confidential information. at least four members of congress benefited directly from the program, including two republicans -- congressmembers roger williams of texas and vicky hartzler of missouri -- who both opposed a bill to force the small business association to disclose details on all loans over $2 million. one unlikely recipipient of the loans has been publiclcly funded charter schools. the group network for public education has tracked nearly $50 million going to 27 charter schools across the country. authororities arare now probinge recent hangingngs of six peoplef cocolor in fouour states. ofofficials have r ruled every e to be a a suicide but ma f fear someme of the deaths mightht be modedern-day l lynchings. on wednesdayay, police found a

17-year-old african-american boy hanging g from a tree in an elementary school playground. on monday, a latino man was found hanging i in houston. hangings have alalso been repord in new york city, poportland, oregegon, and d in the californa cities o of victorviville and papalmdale. meanwhile,e, a hate crcrime proe has began in o oakland, california, , after five nooses were found hanging from trees in the city.. a number of food manufacturers haveve announcnced plans to reme racist imagery from its packaging. the products include aunt jemima syrup and pancake mix, uncle ben's rice, and mrs. butterworth's pancake syrup. they are saying they will retire those names. a grgroup of 50 human rightsts experts at the united nanations hahave condemned israel's plan o annex 30% of the occupied wewest bank, describing it as a "vision of a 21st century apartheid." this comes just days after a group of more than 400 jewish and israel studies academics

denounced the annexation. in a letter, the academics write -- "under these conditions, annexation of palestinian territories will cement into place an anti-democratic system of separate and unequal law and systemic discrimination against the palestinian population." in britain, the governors of oxford university have voted to remove a statue of the victorian era colonizer cecil rhodes who helped pave the way for south africa's apartheieid system. anand move 9 member dedelbert aa has died at the age of 74 just months after being released from prison after serving 42 years locked up. he was arrested in philadelphia with eight others following a 1978 police raid on the house of move, a radical, anti-police-brutality and largely african-american organization. during his arrest, philadelphia police officers were filmed repeatedly kicking him in the head as he lay on the ground.

video of the beating wasas aired acrossss the country. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the ququarante rereport. i am amy goodman in new york city with nermeen shaikh who iss broadcasting from her hohome. nermeen: good morning. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from aroround the country and around the world.. amy: we're going to go r right away to atlanta where prosecutors have charged former atlanta polilice officer garrett rolfe with 11 counts, including felony murder, for the shooting death of 27-year-old rayshard brooks, who he shot twice in the back outside a wendy's restaurant on june 12. this is fulton county district attorney paul howard announcing the charges wednesday. >> these 11 charges against officer rolfe. the first is felony murder. that is thedebt result of an underlying felony and in this case, the underlying

felony is aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. the possible sentence is for a felony conviction would be life, life without parole, or the death penalty. amy: fulton county district attorney paul howard went on to say a second officer involved in the killing, devin brosnan, will be charged with aggravated assault. close because officer brosnan has now become a state's witness, he has decided to testify on behalf of the stake in this case. what he has said to us that is within a matter of days, he plans to make a statement regarding the culpability of officer rolfe, that he indicated he is not psychologically willing to give that statement today. officer brosnan, however, has

admitted that he was in fact bodying on mr. brooks' immediately after the shooting. amy: on wednesday, howard revealed a photo of garrett rolfe kicking brooks as he lay dying on the ground, saying both officers failed to give brooks any medical attention for more than two minutes.. >> during the two minutes and 12 seconds that officer rolfe actualally kicked mr.. brooks we he laid on the ground, while he was there fightining for his li. from the videotape, we were able to see that the other officer, officer b brosnan, actually y sd hemr. brooks' shoulder while was there ruruggli foror h lili. amy: this comes as n numbeof atnta a poce offffers staged a "sick ou w wedneay n nig and just to presest the filing of

crcrimin chaharg. the guardian reportsfffficer gagarrett lfe was previously accused of covering up a 2015 poli shooting alonwith two other ofcers, roe the oer ofcers reptedly oped fire on a man nam hris whil chasg up orriving atolen truck. e office hitarris on, puncturing hisung but ver ported t shootin the jue invold callethe ca a dasterr and t wildest case 've sn in my years here, shsaid. meanile, newideo hasmerged of rayard broo speakakg in his n words out his struggs with t criminal justicsystem. the expeence of ining loed up in pron, he says, lefhihim deep in bt and suggling y court es and rtitution even as emplers turned him ay due this s crinal recd. brooks spoke in n february with ththe group reconnect. some of the like system could, you know, look at us as individuals.

we do have lives, you know. it is a mistake we made. if know, not just do us as we are animals. amy: for more ononhe chargeses against the e two polilice offis for the death of rayshard brooks anand much more, we're joined by rashad robinson, president of color of change. welcome back to democracy now! let's start with these charges. the first officer, who shot brooks in the back twice, killing him, faces the death penalty. in the second officer -- it is confusing because the da said he is now turned a state's witness but his lawyer insists he hasn't. areow looks like there images of him ststandingng on te back rayshard brooks asas he lay dydying. yoyour response? >> i thihi it is reaeally sort f

eerie to hear rayshard in his own voice talk about t not being treated d like an animal and to see these imagages and two, you know, see the video frorom the very beginning. in so many ways, what we're seeing with these charges is a deep sort of recognitition of te power of a movement. the power of a movement toto puh an exact consequenences. we have e to recognize a at thed of t the day, we h have to raise what is acceptable and keep a deeperer vision for whwhat human rights looks like. i t think in thee states ththate failed to prosecute police time and time again, to hohold police accountable, instead of calling a tow truck, we calll police, ae now sort of puputting things in place like the death penalty -- which is onene of the most inhumanene sort of exercises of how we sort of move toward consnsequences and pununishmentn this couountry. i think all of this is important

in terms of getting justice forr the family and at the same time, we havave to continue to k keepr eye on the ways the system realizes out, protect itself, and really here those words o of rayshard brookoks about bebeing treated likeke an animal and recognize that there are so many others that are continuing to be treated like animals, enemy combatants, and their own neighborhoods by police. nermeen: could you talk about what you w would like to see happen? you have called for defunding the police. can you talk about that? in particular, you h have spspon about t the role of f police un. representice unions some kind of possible o obstacle to defunding the police? thiss the last 20 years in cocountry, violent crime has basically steadily went downwn. at the samame time, police bubus have continued to rise. continue to expand.

we have militarized police. if you l look at communitieses e there a are a lot of polilice, e oftentimes nototice is therere s not healthy fooood, not goodd schools, not health care, not paparks. police basically have put in plalace of all of the things ththat we know that communititis that are whole and safe and healthy actually have. budgets aret that moral documements -- they say wt we actually belilie, what we care, , what our valueues are. when we put 50 plus percent of our budget, voting plus percent of our budget into policing in cities and don't put it into things that actually make communities safe, we are saying something about how we value those people. we have talked about what this would look like to invest in communities and divest from policing. what does it look like at that wendy's where rayshard brooks dealt with those police? what would it look like to call

a tow truck? what would it look like if we don't send someone with a gun when someone p passes a bad chek or w we are dealing with homeles or dealing with so many other issues where we don't need to send someone with a gun? unions,t about police it is really that we don't have -- whether your for defunding the police and thinking about the fact that police have failed in their fundamental responsibility to keep us safe and as a result we have to take away so much of their power because they haven't kept our community safe, whether you believe in that or you believe in some sort of reform that i feel like we have tried and have not actually measured -- hasn't worked, we don't have any idea gap. on the others have all of these issues spends the paternal order of police and police unions which at every single terms stands in the way of any type of change. chokeholdsds are illegal in new york. they were illegal when eric on camera.c choked

police union can step in and dedefend at every turn. i remember going to the white house in the obama administration and we would have conversations about reform and making changes. i remember at a meeting after philando castile and thehe dalls police officers were killed, having this meeting were obama pulled together about 30 folks from arounund the country must civil-rights leaders, law enforcement, mayors, religious leaders. we got around thee table and we hahad to put our phones out. it was notot the specter of even being in the public spotlight. i remember talking about racial profiling. the head of the fraternal order of police interrupted me and said, all of this talk of racial profilining is new to meme. what i'm m trying to say is not that he said that "i"i go to grp your p policies, i thinknk you'e askiking too much," what he sasd "racial profiling basasically essentntially doesn't exixist,"t we are making claims i don'tt exist. when we have politicians who say

theyey stand with us, when they say y black lives matteter, th'e on our side or w what reform and then they take money from the police unionon, that means s we can't actualllly trust you. thatat meansns you can't say yoe gunreducing guns or r ending violence and take money from the nra. we are c creating a new litmus test around whatat does it meano actually standnd with u us on te issusues that you can't ststandh a a group of peoeople who have treated our community like enemy combatantsts, that have called tamimir rice a menace, then help ththat police officer get a new job somewhere else.. we have e to hold a standard for what it means to stand with us. if you don't stand with us as aa politician or political leader, we're going to hohold you accountable. amy: the people who undermine regressive prosecutors, that is the headline of any op-ed you wrote "the new yorork t times." you wrote thisis a year ago? >> i started writing a year ago and it took forever to get published because you knoww the

process of getting published in the process of actuallyy meetitg -- "the new york times -- amy: a got published when the movements rose up in the

corporate media making it relevant. >> yes, absolutely. you will talk about these issues all the time. but yes, having the corporate media say, oh, now it is time, was important. one of the things i wrote about was the issue around fraternal order of police and was able to tell the story after talking with the set of da's about some of the real barriers. the barriers of prisons lobbying against the reforms because they don't want to reduce the size or the towns that need and rely on prisons, whether it is the judges that don't want their legacies under minded by prosecutors who are actually looking at a new vision for safety and justice, and a 4% of the world population and 25% of the world's incarcerated population. all of the stories i told in the op-ed piece about the fraternal countyf police in cook who marched on the first lap woman leader, reported by the chicago sun-n-times. they marched on her in front of her office. they took insurers of kim foxx's face and rub those pictures on their crotch in front of her office. these police officers with their guns and badges go back into our communities. we are expected to trust them while they make threats and attacks on a a black womanan law enforcement official, the elected officialal in the county that the peoplple sent there to actually deliver safety and justice -- this is what our communitity consistently has to deal with. in terms of people who are given authority to kill us, have no rules,s, and respect for us. and thatat has to change. the public of all races has to stand up and join us because

polilice have too much contrtrof our lives. in particular, blalack people's lives, b but all of our lilives. ththey had failed inin their fundamental responsibilityy, and no when is given the ability to violate so many rules and laws and get away with it. it is not just the rules they violate when they have their badge and gun on. it is the domestic violence that the unions stand with, the polilice officers withth, when y commit outside of uniform. it is all the ways in which these folks are given a different level of pass. we can no lononger accept it. people have been killed and people a are dying in our communities are not safe as a result. we are: rashad robinson, talking about ththe extraordinay police violence against people of color. you haveve mentioned the incarceration rates in the u.s., whicich alsoisprproportiononatey target people of color.

then of course, we are in the midst of this pandemic, which again n has disproportionately impacted african-americans and other communities of color. but i would like to ask also about what we reported in headlines, which i is authoritis are now investigatingng six peoe of color who have e been found hanging in four states. unbelievable.tely could you respond to this and also give us some sense -- i mean, isis this somemething thas happppened continuouslyly in u.. historory or is this a recurrene that has something to do with the protests and what is happening today in t the u.s.s.? that from thew is great work of brent s stevenson and so many others, , the sort f history and lelegacy of lynchin,

violencece and visual a anti-te. some of this is connected to law enforcement. att we know is we contntinue color of change -- i have been at the organization for nine yeyears now. every y year we get a cocouple f the stories thatt don't fit right. it is hard becauause you don't t the full reporting from law enforcement. there are gaps. you get the stotories where the community is c clear that theres something is wrong. we have a couple ofof the storis thatat bubbled up out of the soh where young black man was dating a white woman and magically fofound hanging from a trtree and they sayay he commitd suicide but his familyly was li, he w was a happy person and -- they pushed b back against t the idea of suicide anand knew ththe were folksks that were sort of threatened and n not happy with the how h he was engagingng in a community, how he was breaking sort of and violating the rules and norms of how a black person is supposed to go about their

day today. -- day to day. we have a problem because we cannotot tru law enforcement. accocording to the fbi -- the fi has even published reports aut the rise of white n nationalism and white supremacy ininside of lalaw enforcement. and the factct of the matter i , because law enfoforcement wantso tell us on one hand it h has bad apapples but on ththe other hane know for a facact that it is a system and structure which has both welcomedd w white supremact intoto their fold and prototectd them at every tururn to the ways in which the fraternal order of police and other police unions have been able to create a commununity and all sorts of structures to prevent anany accountability, what we know iss people when situations come and ofofficials tell us what thehey think happened, w we have no reason to bebelieve them because at every singlee turn they havee viviolated our trurust. and even whehen we had video of police officerers shooting and

killining us, they telell storis and lies abouout it while w we n see what actually happened with our own eyes. so we are at a really challenging kind of position in that we see these incidents happening, we know they're happening, we know the legacy of violence and t terror on our commununy. and thenen they are just there s not the avenue one would expect in 2022 actually deal with these incidentnts and investigigate tm and ensure that those who may hahave beenesponsibible or mayy have been involved are held accountatable. amy: w we're talking to rashshad robinson, head of color off change, just let a campaign to cancel the tv program "cops." and it h has happenened. after 33 years, the e reality tv show has been canceled. ♪

amy: rashad robinson, in 2013, color of change launched a campaign to cancel "cops." the show also led to the a&e channel's show "live pd," which has also been cancel now after widespread protest against police abuse and racism. "livive pd" was filming a year o when javier ambler died after police in austin, texas, repeatedly tased him during a traffific stop while ambler told the officers, "i have congestive heart failure" and "i i can't breathe.e." ambler was pulled over after he allegedly failed to dim his headlights to oncoming traffic. "live pd" was right there filming, an entertainment show. the footage was never publicly released. now they say it was erased.

that is two storieies here. "cops" c canceled and "live pd" cancnceled. >> bothth of these were shohowst we pushed on. in 2013, we got the show canceleded from fox only to a couple o of monthths under it ed up in syndication. media campaign is a little tougher the deal syndication and track them and try to get them removed, but gettiting it off a primimetime o on fox was import. the thining about the showss i s that call themseselves reality progogramming but there only frm ththe vision o of the police ofofficers. "live pd" is a perfecect example of how the realility would hav bebeen -- a real reality show would have s showed all of the ways in which those police ofofficers the responsibility. ththere would have ststill been footage. but these showswsave serveded aa prpr arm for law enfororcement. i remember the conversation with fox in 2013, and they said, well, we could diversify some of the images that we are showing.

i instantly said, if you're telling us you're going to show more poor white people and that is supposed to make us happy as a racial justice organization, you pick the wrong racial justice organization. unless you're going to show cops -- show them where crime happens that really impacts on a deep structural level, then i'm not really interested in you going into poor communities that have been targeted by the war on drugs, by austerity, by unfair tech structures, and bring cameras and show people at their very worst for our own entertainment while we don't do anything to actually build the type of structures and invest in those communities afterward. onee shows that present side onlnly as the herero and te other siside only as the villain for our entertainment and for corporate profit have to go. we are happy the networks have finally woken up.

a&e was a network we have been pushing around the show for a while. "cops" was finally off the air. netflix has a show about border patrols that has to go as well. this is part of a larger set of work we're are doing at color of change. we recognize people want to o be entertaiained and they're a arel rtrts of ways s in which the public a actually needs to haver storieie about how police actually do operate. let's tell the full story of how our communities are treated inn the narratives that hurt us. bubut it changehohoywood.org,g,e did a a full report onon the 22 crime proceduralal shows, , the narratative dramas come the lawn pd.r and spu's s and chicago these shows that have so muchh diversity on airir but all white writers. these shshows where rates existn the world but racism seems not to exist, were them more black judges on those shows than ever exist in the real world but those judges sortt of act as symbolic standards for white

writers to send messages of justicice through elderly statey like people who are symbolsls bt actually don't have back stories. all of this is papart of a rerecognition thatat is -- as mh as we are working to change the writitten roles off policy and w criminal justice is delivered in our cocommunity and how policing happens, we have to change those unwritten rules of c culture. and all of thohose narratives -- as i said before, while violent crime is going down the last 20 news, daschle andnd nermeen: i'm sorry to o a directorory but we want to talk ababout the issue of corporate co-optation in particular nowow, campaign a asking that advertiss boycottt facebooook, you havave raisised a concern especially about -- could you talk about your concerns about these cocorporations coming ostensibly in support of black lives matter protests?

go ahead. >> thesese companinies are sayig black livess m matter but all of their popolicies and practices make it clear they don't actually think black lives d do matttter. we have worked and pushed facebobook for theheast several years to enact policies around content mododeratioion, around g come arounund the ways of harassssment impactsts our communities. facebook h has 2.3 billilion u , more f followers than chchriianinity. privateuckerberg is a person w who operates a a public square. blackrock k has so many sort of connections to law enforcement in terms of theieir investstmen. its resources in ways t that actually keep its hands onon the skill of corporate power that really prevents black people from being able to grow our communities in a way that we shouldld. thesese c corporations and so my others have to do more than simply s say black liveses matt. that to the policies andnd practices if thehey want to be n the right side o of history. shout outs accept

from the stage. the only thing we're goioing to chile except is the changing of the rules that far too often have heldd us back and benefited so few people. amy: thank you for joining uss rashad robinson,n, president of , color of change. ththis is democracy now!, democracynow.org, , the quarante report. when we come back, thehe use of tear gas aroround ththe worldldd what is happening in seattle. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. at protests against police brutality and racism in recent weeks, nearly 100 law enforcement agencies used tear gas. that's according to a new analysis by "the new york times." this comes as amnesty international has published a new report called "tear gas: an investigation" that exposes how the global trade of tear gas is fueling police human rights violations against peaceful protesters on a global scale. they looked at 80 events in 22 different countries and territories and found the misuse of tear gas by security forces worldwide has resulted in severe injury and death. for more, we're joined by brian castner, amnesty internanation's senior crisis advisor on arms and military operations. welcome to democracy now! if you could lay out for us the global usese of tear gas and thn we w will talk about t the unitd states. >> sure.

i i think we he seseen with h te protests around the world, esespecially we sougught in e beginning -- the end of last year, there were protests all over the world, erect, hongng kokong, latin america, andnd for many of those cases, tear used by police. what w we saw is thibrbroad tre, not just being used, but i it is being misused, anand how quicy it i is being ed. unfofortunately, many y of t tys of incidents, some of the worst misuse we have seen overseas, we are now seeing in the united states as well. one is using tear gas in confined spaces, where people are trapped, where they can't get away from the tear gas. we saw this in hong kong but we've also seen it in seattle, philadelphia, a terrible incicident where people were trapped against a highway embankment and could not get over a fence. we have also seen where tear gas grenades are fired directly at

people, directly at their heads. in a rack inin baghdad last year come this killed dozens of people. in the u.s., we have seen that as well. it is not killed anyone but that is not because of how it is being misused, it is because the products are different. inin iraq, they were using t the much heavier grenade. i've spent the last couple off weeks looking at hundreds of videos o of incidences all over and it is all over the country, not just new york, seattle, philadelphia. his is murfreesboro, tenennesse, iowa city, albuquerque. police are just very quick to use tear gas, which is not as a product, can cause real injuries. nermeen: b brian, you mentioned the use e of tear gas against protesters in iraq and hong kong. as you pointed out, tear gas there hahas been impororted from serbrbia or iran i in those

particularar instances. whereaeas here in the u.u.s., mt of the teaear gasas that has ben issed against protesters u.s.-made. could you talk about the significance o of that and what obstacles that presents for banning its use in the u.s.? >> that is a really good point. in iraq,, baghdad, itit was sern and rainy and grenadedes used. in hong kongng, it was mostly americanan weapons until eventually mainly c chinese weweapons were usesed. in the united states, thehere ia couple of f major manufufacturef tear gas. theyey sell domesticall thesese are largely privatatelyd companies. they d don't have shareholders o report to. they donon't makeublic c e exact ingredieients in their tear gass grenadades in many cases. there a realal challenge of transparency. there is no standard for what goes i in everyone of these products, , either dosagage ratf amount gas itself, the

of the other chemicals that go into it that help it t burn or sililicon whwhicmakekes it sticn the atmosphere. i think k it is tellinththat may of thehese compapanies are privy held. i think they realize on aa certain level that their products reaeally do har people. ofo there have b be layayer's nonreporting bicically to o make it palalpable. onee of the e largestt manufacts in the united d stateses, safari land, just announced they were divesting themselves of the tear gas business. this is perhaps a trend we might see is -- as we see across the country y of just howw it is beg misused, companies don't want to be involved in the wrong product. nenermeen: one of the problems u pointed out, while we don't know what exactly tear gas contains, is that therere are no o set international tear gas trade rules. why is that? is that common with weapons that

are depeployed by police forcesr security forces? and hahas the ususe of tear s bn bannedutrighght in anyny countr? >> thosese are good questions. tear gas is a weapon. let's not sugararcoat that. itit is a weapon thahat foster t of t the interernationonal reguy cracks. it is covered by the convention but only for use in wartime and there is very vague language which allows its use in domestic policing, which for many people it strikes them as odd that it is not ok for use on the battlefield, why would it be ok for police to use it against his own citizens? there''s a real lack of transparency, both in what e eah of these products conontains, wo is trading at to whom, who is buying it and what quantities, etc. i should say there is no rule

that police have to use tear gas. it is not an absolutely essential weapon. some countries like the united kingdom and germany have effectively banned its use in policing because they realize there are other tools and there are better ways for police to engage protesters and engage crowds and make sure everybody is safe. amy: especially horrifying is it isis being used during this time of the pandemimic in this county and around the world, which so deeply affects the lungs. before we go, brian, we want to ask you about a piece you wrote i hopope -- of what the new york " the police and whahat it means. i i insisted on pleased for another journalist -- i assisted another jojournalist most of the weapons arare similar to paintbl gun's exexce thehey're calleled pepper balls, is what is actually fired. ininstead of having a little bit

ofof paint insnside, neither has pepepper sprayay or tear g gas. on one levevel, th a actuallyy could be an advancemenent for safety becausese it hits with ls foforce and the isis less s pepr or t tear gas. unfofortunately, the way we e he seen i it being used acrcross te couny ththe last c couple of wes is that ininstead of speakakingo citizens, to prorotesters, polie tend to use e or seem to usese n many cases t the pepper balls aa form ococommunatation. instead of directiting people where to go,o, they shshoot at m oror shoot at the groundnd nearm to try to get them to move in a certain way. pepper balls are a use of force like any other use of force. if you would not just hit someone instead ofof speaking to themem, you should not be firing pepepper balls of themem, eithe. amy: we will continue to follow the story which is critical. brian caststner is amnty inteternationanal's s senior c s advivisor on arms and military operations. former air force officer who servrved three tours of duty in the middle east, two of them in

iraq as the head of expxplosive ordnance disposal unit. when we come back, we go to seattle, which has just banned tear gas. we will talk about trump's threat to bring in the u.s. military. stay wh us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "i won't t be silent" by stephan said & the c clarion. their new video supports black futures lab and features video and d images f from prototests s the country. this is democracy y now!, i'm amy goodman. we t turn to the fight to demilitarize and defund the police i in seattltle, where the kiking countnty labor council vd to expel the seattle police union. on monday, seattle city council voted unanimously to ban police use of tear gas and chokeholds it wouldks of protests seattltle pololice sport ououtre ususing pepper spray, tear g ga, and flashbang grenades on demonstrators and reporters. the police eventually abandoned seattle's capitol hill precinct which has been taken over by activists who set up the capitol

hill baton mazzone. on fox news wednesday, president trump called for a crackdown on seattle. pres. trump: these people that are taking over this incredible piece of real esestate are alwas leave very good at real estate, maybe better than i was because they pay nothing. they just took it over. told note are somehohow to be there. i'm sure they do a good job, were told to do a good job. i assume they are properly trained. but we would go in there and we will take it back very quickly. it should neverer be allowed to fester like it is festering right now.w. amy: "we will go in there," trump says and previously talked about sending in the military. for more, we go to seattle to speak with socialist city councilmlmember kshama sawant, o is calling for a section of downtown known as s the capitol hill a autonomous zone to remain permanentltly in community control.

can you respond to presesident trump threatening to call in the troops? >> it is terrific the threats that donaltrump is making to call in the troops, the military on seattle. it iss no surprise to me he is doing that becausese the success of t the peaceful protest movemt in seattle and hopefully followed by other cities is threating to the e reactitionary regigime of donald t trump and o shshows donald trumpmp is a cowd and movements worork. i think this is an exple of hohow when we build p protest movements, when we build social movements we are within unity of the working class, we can win and we can become a real threat to the right wing, which absolutely i is -- movement. nermeen: you proposed legislation to have tear gas and chokeholds band in seaeattle. what did it take to do thahat?

what kind of response have you received? >> a aolutely. this is what has happed. this monday is h historic. our movement w was able to forca unananimous vote on the e seatte city council whichch is dominatd by the demococratic partyy establisisent to make seattle the first cicity in the e natioo whenen a comprehensive ban on te usend purchasase o of chemical weapons another barbaricic weaps useded against protest movement. so tear gas, mace, , pepper spr, boboat -- rubber bullets, water cannons. these are horrific weaeapons tht aree beingng deployed agagainsta peaceful movement. a ban against police use of chokeholds. what it took to win was an absolutely determined and united movement on the ground. despite all the co-opting of the sove and by the democratic

saying black lives matter, despite all of that, there was a shameful attempt on the democratic establishment to drive a truck size amendment into the bill, basically gutting the bill. we were able to force them to back down because of the ferocity of the movement where we said, absolutely not. this is that bare minimum you need to do. you need to make seattle the first city, have other cities follow, make this the national trend. defund the police by at least 50%. amy: what have e you done about ththe lilice uon i in seattle? >> that is a very important thing. i am glad you brought this out. this shows the movement the -- thee momentum the e movement iss having. w w these hisistoric bands weapons andehemical chokeholds.

many groups s want to expel s eattle police blesessing theres a racist police . the labor movovement itself was built on the understananding tht ininjury to onee is anan injuryo all. you cannot build a working-class resistance against capitalism exportation unless the working class comes together against all forms of oppression, like racism and sexual violence. that is the only basis on which we can all unite against economic inequality as well. i think that is why these demands have to also be connected to ultimately in addition to winning defunding the police, at least 50%, we also need to fight for an independently electric community oversight board with full powers of the police, including hiring, firing, subpoena powers because

not a single police officer responsible for their murders are black and brown people at the hands of the police has been held accountable because they are serving at the behest -- the police are serving at the behest of the democratic establishment and itself is complicit in these crimes. thes not a coincidence side removing of the seattle police from the labor council, there is also a demand within the rank-and-file and the labor movement and within the democratic party, actually, to demand that democratic establishment mayor durkan resign. this really calls for the labor movement to break from the democratic establishment itself and build independent political parties for the working class. nenermeen: you're also calling r the imposition o of attacks on amazon. coululd you t talk ababout whaty are asking foror and how you thk that is c connected to thesee prototests in pport fofor black lives mamatter? >> i think it is very important. as black c community members, aa

momovement is self that h has bn out in ththe wake of george floyd's brutal murder in minneapolilis, the move and assign, ththe police have a knke on the nececk of the black cocommunitity, but the s systemf has its knenee on the neck of te black commumunity and furthermo, the vast majorities of marginalized commumunities and e woworking-g-class. police violence,ack off affordable housing -- if youou look at the epidemic of the eviction, economic eviions becae of skyrocketing rerent in seate and historically black neighborhood t that we live -- that i live in right now, thehe commununity hahas been diluted f its back population bebecause of skococketing r rent. it is crucial l that alongngside defundnding the police e at let 50%, the movovement isis also dedemanding the e city councilil passeded a very strong amazononx comeme attacks onn b big bubusinesses every yeaear so wen fufund a masassive expansion of

publblicly owned, permanently affordabable social housing and public sector ununionized jobsb. that is puputting real dollllarn the table t to address racisist gentrifification and racisism ir city. just to give you a senense of fw much solidararity there is, in e 15 d days of the protetests thae broken o out in thee city, we he collected 15,000 signatureres fr the tax amazozon ballot initiate because people are making the link -- amy: we e want to end with your call to keep the chaz personally in c community control. does that m mean the polilice precinct what t return and what does thihis mean? for pain seconds. >> i think the police andd establishment -- we are demandinthe east precinct be taken permanently and to commity control and be converted to sociaially constructitive purposes, not for the police to oppressed people. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, kshama sawant,

socialist city councilmember in seattle. that does it for our broadcast. 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!]

♪ hello. thank you for joining us on nhk "newsline." beyond borders. we begin here in japan where travel restrictions across prefectural borders due to the coronavirus have been lifted. friday is also seeing the launch of the country's first virus-tracking smartphone app. the government had asked people the avoid