07/02/20 07/02/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is demomocracy now! is a symbolol of white supremacy systematic racism i in society totoday and prpresident trump v visit to our territorory iss egregious in perpetuating white supremacy in america. amy: tribal governments are calling on president trump to tripl his independence day

to mount rushmore friday. we will look at why native americans have long pushed for the removal of the monument carved into the sacred black hills. the monument was designed by a sculptor with ties to the ku klux klan. we will speak to oglala sioux tribe activist nick tilsen. plus, we look at the disappearance and likely murder of vanessa guillen, a 20-year-old soldier at fort hood who was last seen in april. >> i sister vanessa guillen was sexually harassed. they always try y to cover her face.. why? my sister is a human, too. she deseserved respect. she deserveses to be heard. because if this can happen to my sister, it can happen to anyone else. amy: one suspect in vanessa guillen's disappearance, a soldier at fort hood, killed himself on tuesday. another has been arrested. plus, "our biden problem." that is the headline of an article by historian barbara

ransby who says social movements must defeat president trump while still organizing against biden's neoliberalism. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!,!, democracynow.org, the quarantine rereport. i'm amy y goodman. the united states has set another grim coronavavirus reco, confirming nearly 52,000 cases of covid-19 in just 24 hours. alaska, arizona, california, georgia, idaho, oklahoma, south carolina, tennessee, and texas all reported single-day record levels of the disease wednesday, with hospitals in some regions already overwhelmed with patients. in arizona, governor doug ducey ordered bars, gyms, movie theaters, and water parks closed for at least 30 days amid an exponential rise in new infections. >> our message to arizonans today is clear, they are safer at home.

if they do go out, you want them to mask up. we want them to physically distance. we want them to wash their hands. amy: governor ducey spoke to reporters after meeting vice president mike pence, the head of the coronavirus task force. pence is traveling to florida today for talks with republican governor ron desantis, who vowed this week he was not going back on reopening his state's economy despite an exponential rise in new infections. in california, governor gavin newsom on wednesday re-imposed coronavirus restrictions, shutting down bars and indoor dining in 19 counties, home to more than 70% of california's population. new york city has halted plans to reoeopen indoor dining at restaurants. new york, new jersey, and connecticut have ordered travelers from 16 states with high infection rates to self-quarantine upon their arrival. the official u u.s. death toll frfrom covovid-19 has now totopd 128,000, with nearly 2.7 million

confirmed cases, though public -- the w worst levels s in the d by far, though public health officials say both figures are significant underestimates. on wednesday, president trump once again claimed the coronavirus would soon disappear. pres. trump: and i think we're going to be very good with the coronavirus. i think at some point that is going to sort off jusust disapp, i hope. amy: trump, who is repeatedly refused to w wear a mask in pubc said, "i am offer masks. i think mask are good." but doubted a national mandate is needed. goldman sachs found a federal mask mandate c could slow the re of coronavirus infection and prevent new lockdowowns, avoidig a 5% drop in gross domestic product worth a staggering $1 trillion to the u.s. economy. on wednesday, pennsylvania tell secretary signed that allstate residents wearar masks in public

spaces. in texasas, at least five membms of a c choir and orchestrara ata dallas mega-church visited by mike pence last weekend tested positive for covid-19 ahead of the vice president's trip. that's according to buzzfeed news, which reported that church officials failed to quaranantine performers after their exposure to infected people, and instead, continued holding rehearsals for the rest of the month. over 2000 people attended sunday's event, where pence sat in the front row while the choir of over 100 people performed unmamasked in frfront of her lay unmasked audience. at least 20 people held at san quentin statate prisonon in califofornia launched a a hunger strike monday to protest inhumane conditions inside. over 1100 men have tested positive for covid 19 that is a third of san quentin's population. one person has died. among those testing positive is incarcerated journalist juan

moreno haines. he appeared on democracy now! in march warning about the likelihood of a covid outbrereak at san quentin if the president did not do something. such closein in the 13 years that i have been in san quentin, sick,ee somebody that is i'm going to get it. i i already know this. there is no avoiding it. amy: again, he has just tested positive for covid-19 inside san quentitin. in seattle, washington, heavily armed polilice officers haveve cleared a large protest encampment that grew over the past three weeks after the seattle police abandoned one of its police precincts. at least 44 people were arrested on wednesday. the area was known as capitol hill organized protest, or the capitol hill autonomous zone. authorities cracked down on the encampment following four

shootings that left two peopople deadad. in california, the los angeles city council voted overwhelmingly wednesday to cut the l.l.a. police departrtment's budget by $150 million while cutting back on hiring new officers. the move, which comes amid widespread protests demanding even deeper cuts to the lapd's budget, would reduce l.a.'s police force to fewer than 10,000 officers -- the lowest level since 2008. presidident trumump has called k lilives matter a " "symbol of f" he made the charge in a tweet attacking new york city mayor bill de blasio's plan to paint "black lives matter" in huge letters on fifth avenue near trump tower. the president said the city's plan is "denigrating this luxury avenue." the mayor ofof richmond, virgig, on wednesday ordereded the immediate reremoval of a monumet to confefederate general stotonl jackson from city grounds. mayor levar stoney said confederate statues pose an immediate and growing g threat o

public safety. >> since theend of richmond'd's years ago,nure 155 we have been burdened d with tht legacy post of the great weight of that burdrden has fallen on a residence of color, butut has ao placaced a weight on all ofof or brothers and sisters who sell the unmet potential for richmond to become an international example of a diverse, compasassionate, and inclusive community. amy: in massachusetts, the boston art commission voted tuesday to remove a copy of the "emancipation memorial" sculpture from public display. the statue portrays an enslaved man kneeling at the feet of abraham lincoln. in san antonio, texas, officials removed a statue o of chriristor columbus wednesday. a similar statueue was removed from outside city hall in ohio's capipital city, columbus, named after the 15th-century italian mercenary. in georgetown, delaware, city officials have removed an

eight-foot-high whipping postt from outside the sussex county courthouse. delaware was the last u.s. state to carry out public floggings -- as recently as 1952 -- with a highly disproportionate number of african-americans receiving the punishment. memeanwhile, president trump ththreatened t this week to vete national defense authorization act if it includes a provision to rename fort bragg, fort lee, and other military bases named after confederate leaders. on wednesday, the department of homeland security said it has set up a task force aimed at protecting monuments, memorials, statues, and federal facilities. in baltimore, maryland, an appeals s court has s reinstate8 million in damages to the family of korryn gaines, a 23-year-old black woman who was killed by baltimore county police in 2016. in a ruling late wednesday, the appeals court said a baltimore county judge was wrong to overturn a jury's decision to award the gaines' family millions in damages and that the lower court had abused its

discretion. gaines was killed in august 2016 by police gunfire after a swat team broke down her door and stormed her home in order to serve a warrant related to a traffic violation. her five-year-old son kodi was injured by police gunfire but he survived. no criminal charges were filed against the police officer who shot her. in california, the famamily of andres guardado, an 18-year-old salvadoran teen shot to death in june by a sheriff's deputy in the city of gardena, is demanding his autopsy report be immediately released. last week, the los angeles sheriff's department placed a so-called security hold on guardados' autopsy, barring public release of its findings. guardado was working as a security guard at an auto body shop when two officers approached him. one of his coworkers says he became scared and ran after an officer drew a gun. police claim guardado brandished

an illegal firearm. his family says he was shot in the back and that a handgun recovered by o officers didn't belong to him. in sacramento, california, family and friends of victims of police violence rallied at the california state capitol demanding lawmakers launch wednesday probes into the recent killings of their loved ones. among them was the family of 22-year-old sean monterrosa, who was shot outside a walgreens by police in the city of vallejo during a black lives matter protest. and the family of erik salgado is demanding a probe into why california highway patrol officers fired 40 rounds indiscriminately at salgado's vehicle during a traffic stop in oakland. sagado was killed and his pregnant girlfriend, brianna colombo, was badly injured. both passengers were unarmed. this is erik salgado's sister, amda majail-blanco put out a report that he di

this, he did that,t, he dihis. at is not theheoint. >> that's rit. >> was he a criminal? okok, that jtifies you have to shoot hianand hi unborn child? his by' mother wain the car. d did not have a weapon. he did not even get out of thee car.r. they shot him in the cacar in hs own neighborhood. amy: the family of vanessa guillen said wednesday her remains were likely found in shallow grave near the texas army base come in a painful search that began months earlier when guillen first went missing april 22. the army said wednesday y one suspect was in custody and a contention with her disappearance. a second suspect, soldier who has not yet been named, took his own life in killeen, texas, as officers apppproached him on tuesday. we wilill have more e on vanessa guillen'ss case later in thehe broadcast.t. in honduras,s, a tv reporter a d videographer were shot to death

wednesday in the northern city of la ceiba. german vallecillo and jorge posas were reportedly working when two gunmen inside a vehicle stopped and opened fire on them. five suspects have reportedly been arrested. the honduran association of journalists says 86 journalists have been killed in honduras since 2001 and only seven of those killings have resulted in prosecutions. violence against social leaders and journalists in honduras has skyrocketed since the u.s.-backed 2009 coup. u.s. cusustoms offfficials in nw york havave seized 13 tons of prproducts made from human hair from china. authorities s believe the products, which include hair weaves, come from imprisoned uighurs and other ethnic minorities held in camps in china's xinjiang province. election officials in russia say 78% of voters have backed a change in russia's constitution that could keep president vladimir putin in power for another 16 years. voting took place over the last week. the election monitoring

organization golos, which has received funding from the united states, described the vote as rigged. and in brarazil, new governmnmet data shows fires in the amazon region jumped by 20% in june to a 13-year high for the month. campaigners say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers with the encouragement of far-right president jair bolsonaro. environmentalist carlos soza, jr. says smoke from the fires could compound respiratory problems for brazilians who are alreready suffering fromom one f the world's worst outbreaks of covid-19. alreadylearing of land represent a serious health problem. if we had land clearing and covid-d-19 together, this could bring catastrophic consequences for the residents of the region. amy: and those are s some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynowow.org, , thquararae report.. i'm amamy goodman.

as the coronavirirus pandemic intensifies in the united states with a record 5252,000 cases in just 2 24 hours, president trump plans to hold an independence day celebration friday at mount rushmore in south dakota with a fighter jet flflyover and fireworks, w whi arere banned in the area due t to extreme forest fire potential. some 7500 people are expected, and south dakota governor kristi noem, a staunch trump ally, says people will not be required to wear a mask or to o remain six fefeet apart. >> we will be giving out free pass masks if they choose to wear one, but we will be social distancing. amy: trump's really comes amidst a national debate on how to deal with statues and symbols that enshrine systemic racism. ashmore itself is named after speculator. it features the sculpted heads

s blasted.s. president out of the ancient grain it between 1927 and 1941 back 400 workers, directed by sculptor gutzon borglum. earlier, he was recruited by the daughters of the confederacy to carve the huge stone mountain memorial to confederate leaders in georgia. borglum was close to the ku klux klan and was likely a member. not rushmore in the region, now known as the black hills, which is a sacred center of the lakota people's universe and the president of the oglala sioux tribe come has ordered trump to cancel friday's event. julian bear runner told the guardian -- "the lands on which that mountain is carved, the lands he's about to visit, belong to the great sioux nation under a treaty signed in 1851 and the fort laramie treaty of 1868. and have to tell him, he does not have permission from its original sovereign owners to enter the territory at this time."

the government acknowledged tribal sovereignty over the black hills in two separate treaties, committed the land "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupancy of the sioux." but gold was discovered there in the 1870's, and the army drove the indigenous people out. decades of armed indigenous resistance to the waves of settler colonists that followed ended with the army's brutal massacre of lakota women, children, and the elderly at wounded knee on december 29, 1890. all of this comes as indian countrtry has been p particulary hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemicic. well, for more, we go to rapid city, south dakota, not far from the black hills, where we're joined by nick tilsen, president and ceo of the ndn collective a national organization dedicated to building indigenous power. he's a citizen of the oglala lakota nation on pine ridge reservation in south dakota. nick, it is great to have e you back. can you describe the organizing

that is going on around president t trump's friday, july 3, visit and independence day celebration at mount rushmore and why your protesting? here,at to be back on amy. the organizing that is going on is a about building a collective resistance because there's is a narrative being pushed by the president and by the government haselebebrate democracy that not worked for as as indigenous peopople. it is also ignoring the deep white supremacy and oppression toward indigenous people. so we are actively organizing young and old indigenous people and our allies in bringing people together around buildingg power and ororganizing in the

community to counter that narrative and to counter the the shrhrine of dedemocracy when we feel likiket is a shrhrine of hypocrisysy. amy: you said to "the new york times," -- john "wherever you go to connect to gogod, that is what thehe black hills are t toe lakota." talk about the significance of nonot rushmore designed by sculptor with links to and maybe it was a member of the kkk. fourabout what these carvings of the heads of four presidents meansns. hills, it the black is a place we connecect to the creator, pick up medicines. people have been traveling thehe for years and following the actual star constellations to go to our sacred sites.

this place is very, very sacred to our people.e. so the act of, one, stealingng r land and thehen carving the facs of four white men who were colonizers, who committed genocide against indigenous people, is an egregious act of violence. and then furthermore, for it to bebe c celebrated as this shrinf democracy, you know, some people don't know -- many people talk about abraham lincoln as being one of the better presidents in the history of the country. well, peoplele don't reaealize t on one hand he signed the emancipation proclamation and he masso ordered the largest hanging in the history of the united states when he ordered the hanging of 38 to go after the uprising in dakota terrrrity in southern minnesota. so these parts of this history, the truth and ththe reality.

and is an actctf violence aggression against us and also pushing this falsehood narrative about imac and democracy when we actualally should be upliftingne truth of what happened throughout history and how those toths arere directly connected the disparities that exist today in society amongst indigigenous people. amy: kristi noem, the governor masks willkota, said not be required, though they will be given outcome and there will be no social distancing. thousands and thousands of people are expected to crowd in. event,llows the tulsa this catastrophe for president trump, where he said something like a million people might be turning out and something like 6000 people did inside and now we have the images of his campaign staff removing social distancing's knickers inside the -- distancing stickers inside

the arena. we know most of the campaign staff had to self-quarantined afterwards. moving from tulsa, where he had to move his event from juneteenth to the 20th because of outcry on t the 99th anniversary month of one of the worst massacres of african-americans in u.s. history, to mount rushmore. and president trump just this week calling for the protection of confederate soldiers in the images of black k lives matter symbols being symbols of hate. your thoughts of what he is trying to convey, especially now with this fireworks display -- fireworks are banned in the region because of forest fire potential? mean, it is astonishing to me but i guess [indiscernible]

pushing this falsehood narrative and trying to wrestle of his r rural pretending thahat america bacacks trump when rural america does not back trump. i think this makes it a very dangerous situation when he is pushing these narratives of white supremacy and he is digging in deeper and deeper and using g these symbols, these symbols of grave injustice and part of thehem as great american stotory and using it as an opportunity t to try to catatalyze thehe campaigign for. amy: your thoughts, nick, on trump putting "i will veto the defense e authorization bill if the elizabeth pocahontas amendment, available people.

which will lead to the renaming of fort bragg, fort robert e. lee, a and many other mililitary bases from which we won two world warsrs, is in n the bill." >> it is the reality that we have a white supremamacist is te current president. that is why when we mobilize and organize against these narrativives, we have to realize we are mobilizing and organizing for the betterment of our nation, not just resisting the racist president, but that we actually are pivoting jackson building power because we have to build a country that we collectively believe in and are fighting for. it is so important for us to come out not just in resistance of t t president, but in the protection for the future that we are all trying to buiuild together as a nationon. amy: when yoyou talk about protection, in early may, leaders s of the oglala sioux request frommed a

south dakotata's republican governor noem, close ally of trump, to remove checkpoints leading to the r reservation tht they say helped to protect the tribe from the coronavirus of course, especially navajo nation and new mexico, a hotspot for coronavirus. the showdown that has happened around coronavirus and now president trump and his ally governor noem saying will be no social d distancncing. >> the triribes have been doinga great job in its region for protecting our borders and using tribal sovovereignty to protecet our community and our people. and we have seen the act of aggression by governrnor kristii noem to try to limit sovereignty ' ability to tribes protect their own n community wn there is already legalal precedt inin place t that tribes already

have sovereignty to control who comes anand leaves in the reservation. we already have tribal sovereignty for the purpose o of protecting our c communities and our pepeople. that there isous this aggressive attempt and attacks on tribal sovereignty with the sole purpose of pushing a false narrative that a global pandemic is not happening. so we contntinue to dig in here and are tribal leaders of oglala sioux tribe and shihine river sioux tribe continue to step up to continue to protect thehe cocommunity center people againt these e false nanarratives and against thehe global pandemic. amy: nick tilsen, we've heard about white supremacist militias in the black hills. a couple of dozen n of these militias. we have heard about the massive klan march in the 1920's in this area of south dakota, one of the largest chapters of the klan

existed. if you can talk about that background and how you are organizing for tomorrow? >> the history white supupremact grgroups in this region is well-k-known. so has this been a hotbed for indigenous resistance. there has been extrememes h her. and so we willll c continue to organizeze and m march. we will do so without any fear but with caution. everybody tries to make threats to try to prevent people from organizing and protesting, but in our particular s situation, we hahae been fighting for our land for ththousands of years withh the intent to contntinue to fight fr our land regardless of threats and regardless owhite supremacist groups in the region because we believe in the power of the c creator and the power that exists amongst the elders

and the young people to help protecect our community. amy: what do o you want to see happen with mount rushmore? >> long-term, we want to o see mount rushmore closed as a a i in themonument decision-m-making power onon who dodo that neneeds to be transfed the t to the lakota people of region. amy: finally, your own family's remarkable historyry, gogoing back to your great-grandmother, the great writer? our family has been organizing f for generations on both sides of my family.y. you can hear in the black hills in the 1980, my father and motherer and many y other leades came together to organize the black hills survival gathering this region that was a convergence of a movement of the environmental movemement in the anti-nuclear movement.

there is still the roots of that organizing that continues to happen here. i am definitely honored to be a part of a family that has that generarational organizining takg place. amy: nick tilsen, thank you for being with us, president and ceo of the ndn collective a national organization dedicated to building indigenous power. he's a citizen of the oglala lakota nation on pine ridge reservation in south dakota. before we go to break, coming up, we're going to be talking about vice president, former vice president, presidential candidate joe biden. then we will talk about whaha happenened t to vanessa guillen. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

this s is democracy now!,

i'm amy goodman.n. as the anti-rarast uprisining ad movement to defund the police continues across the country, president trump called the phrase "black lives matter" a symbol of hate on wednesday. he made the charge in a tweet attacking new york city mayor bill de blasio's plan to paint "black lives matter" in huge, large letters on fifth avenue near trump tower. trump said the city's plan is "denigrating this luxury avenue." this came just days after the president approvingly retweeted a video sunday of a man in the villages retirement community in florida shouting "white power" at anti-racist protesters. trump shared the video with the caption ---- "thank you to the great people of the villages. the radical left do nothing democrats will fall in the fall." the man who shouted "white power" was driving a golf cart with a "trump 2020" sign on its windshield. the video was removed from trump's twitter feed about three hours later.

memeanwhile, trump is also doubling down on his defense of the statues of racists, slave owners, and colonizers that protesters have been pulling down across the country. last week, he signed an executive order to prosecute people who deface federal monuments and withhold federal funds from cities that don't protect the statues. on tuesday, he tweeded he wod veto any bill that renames military bases named after confederate general robert e lee or others. in the same tweet, he called senator elizabeth warren "pocahontas." cherokee writer rebecca nagle tweeted -- "just a reminder that when trump calls warren pocahontas the person being harmed isn't the white woman who spent most of her adult life falsely claiming to have native 'heritage'. it's native people, especially the powhatan." well, our next guest, a fierce advocate of black lives matter, says that while we must defeat trump in november, we also have to organize against joe biden. that's the focus of professor barbara ransby's latest piece for "in these times" headlined "our biden problem." in it, she writes --

"if biden is nobody's dream, trump is a nightmare. do we hold our noses yet again and support a candidate so grossly out of sync with our values, or do we sit on the sidelines and let an aspiring fascist hold power?" barbara ransby is a historian, author, and activist advisor to the movement for black lives. her latest book is "making all black lives matter: reimagining freedom in the 21st century." ,elcome back to democracy now! professor. as joe biden came out this week in delaware to get a speech, blasting trump's approach to the coronavirus -- if you can talk about the decision that people have to make in november and whatat you have decided? >> thank you for having me again.n. it is an important discussion and a difficult discusussion. biden,l votote for joe essentially, as a way to vote against trump, but i think we

need to be sober and clear about what we're doing and why we are doing it. i think it will be false to become cheerleaders for joe biden, and i think that is a lot of what electoral politics sort of transistor do. we have to defend our guy at all cost -- it is usually a guy, and we have to mute criticisms. i think people are tired of being lied to about politicians and by people who organize for politicians, and i think it is fair to say that joe biden is not our dream candidate by any means to gear ourselves up to both defeat trump but also to hold joe biden accountable for the progressive agenda that is in motion right now. i think the other lesson in this you know, presidential elections are important and i think this is probably the most important of our lives. i don't think anyone should sit it out. i don't think we have that luxury. so let me be clear about that. but what this moment also

teaches us is that people in the street are voting for a certain agenda, that whoever is elected is going to have to contend with. is championingp his racism and trying to mobilize his base around racist ideas, we are still making wins from minneapolis to new york to l.a. under one of the most racist presidents this country has seen. so i think in the same way that a movement arose under barack obama, even though that was a very different kind of historic presidential administration, we also see this movement and movement including a lot of white people rising up under trump and actctually moving g te needle on progressive change. we should be critical of joe biden. we should be ready to hold joe biden accountable come january, but we should be aware of the need to defeat trump in november. i think we can hold both of those things. amy: on wednesday, trump tweeted

-- nyc is cutting police $'s by one billion dollars, and yet the @nycmayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow black lives matter sign on fifth avenue, denigrating this luxury avenue. maybe our great police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won't let this symbol of hate be affixed to new york's greatest street." can you talk about president trump referred to black lives matter as a symbol of hate? >> yeah, it is just one of a litany of outrages coming from presesident trump. it is said to be provocative. it is said to be insulting. it is said to be denigrating. and it is nott surprising, sadl, because the mantra of his administration has been to stoke racism. so this is another example. to

is that black lives matter insulting is to underscore how little black lives actually matter to him. but what i also want to say about that, there is been the occupation a at city hall in new york, and a number of wonderful young activists who have been leading protests all across this country, including in new york it is the beginning of a conversation, not the end. i think the artists who have general's all across the country, the beautiful illustration and washington, d.c., which not only wrote black lives matter, but activists came along and wrote the same font come the same size letter, "defund the police." there's a specific message about defunidng the police but also funding our people. there's push around investment in all the kinds of social programs that have been defunded over the years that are causing such suffering among our people. amy: is the growing movement

calls for defundnding the polic, joe biden is pushing to increase police budgets. in an op-ed for "usa today," he called for $300 million more dollars to o go towards so-called community policing. biden wrote -- "i do not support defunding police. the better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms." earlier this month, last month, biden faced criticism for remarks he made about police training during a meeting with african american community leaders at bethehel a.m.e. c chh in wilmington, delaware. this is what he said. >> the idea instead of standing therere and teaching cups with n amy:rmed persoson -- dylan police s should shoot him in the leg," professor ransby. >> biden is so out of touch on this question and many others. it is really depressing. what we could hope for with the

biden administration is thatat e is surroundeded b by peoplele sr and more commimitted and clelear then hee is come and i hope that will be true. i think he can also be pushed. i was pushed -- heartened by the unity task force set up with people like alexandria ocasio-cortez and pramilala jayapal and others mr. nelson. i was hurt by that. i don't know what happened to those task forces. i see the new d&c platform ofmittee is not inclusive all of those progressive voices. that is extremely out of touch. there was a brilliant piece in "the new york times" a couple reeks ago, one of the forme chicago activists who is now in new york that is done research with many others around abolition, both of prisons and police, and she lays out the case that many of the reforms,

including bloating police budgets, has only pulled police forces toward more violence, toward both dangerous and incompetent interventions in situations where others feel -- and other interventions are necessary. i don't know that biden has read that literature, but i don't think it is a question of education. i think he has to be pushed with enormous resolve and enormous force by the movement that is growing that people want defund ing and funding of other kinds of services and interventions in our communities. amy: let me e ask you about thee primary victories and losses. i want to first go to jamaal bowman, the former middle school principal who defeated new york congressmember eliot engel, the 16-term foreign affairs committee chair, in an upset victory in last week's primary. bowman ran on a green new deal, medicare for all platform and recently joined protests demanding an end to racism and police brutality.

yesterday, he spoke about his win n and campaign tactics on democracy now! >> we connecected with thosese o have -- had bebeen mostly disenfranchised and igignored by congngress been engel in our popolitical system for decades. we wanted to connect with themm fifirst. we did not just t targetet thoso consistentntly vote in n i marr. we tarargeted everyone. those who are regisisteredd democrats s but have become disengaged from the system. we wanted to let them know that their vovoices matattered, thaty were important, and we needed their brililliance and expxperie to help us craft a policy that we are going to be fighting for in washington. amy: so you have the apparent victory of bowman in new york, but in kentucky, former marine fighter pilot amy mcgrath has been declared the winner over the progressive state representative charles booker in last week's closely watched democratic senate primary. mcgrath received 45.4% of the vote. booker received 42.6%.

it was incredibly close, even though mcgrath outspent booker by a margin of nearly 10 to 1. booker's popularity soared in recent weeks as he took part in black lives matter protests and spoke against police violence. mcgrath will now face senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in november. can you talk about what is happening in these races around the country? >> i think that is really important we talk about electoral work, amy. significantr win is and should not be underermined r should n not be minimized. isetimes we see wins absolute. the fact he was able to garner so much momentum i think is significant and speaks to futute winsns. jubail m moment, what a great candidate. if we couldd c clone more people lili him, former middle school principal, humble e guy, smart,

courageous, really not afraid to take a stand around prprogressie issues, incncluding foreign poly issues like palestine, which is often so controversial for politicians, so difficult for politicians to take a principal stand in support of palestine. so i think that is a major victory. here in chicago, several -- a couple of years ago, we were able to elect nine progressive, several socialists, to the city council and ththey have been abe to c create space for alall kinf discourse that simply would not have been possible otherwise. we have e not had the kind of ws we want to have just yet, but there are a a lot of this s in e works anand the cityty council, those elder people are working closely with movement activistss. when we look down ballot, look at the local level, there is really cause foror hope. i also want to say, these are not just rampant individuals who emerged out of nowhere. i want to give props to justice

democrats, to working families party, both of which endorsed jamaal bowman. i also want to give props to the people like kayla reed and jessica byrd coming out of the movement for black lives who have done so much of voter education and really pushed a lot of us on the left to take the electoral w work were seriously, to be ambitious for certain kinds of wins. while the democratic party is still wedded to corporate interests, there is a left flank and the democratic party. we will see how that plays out over time. people are pushing for victories small and large, and i think bowmanmovement -- jamaal a prosperous movement is a big one. amy: barbara ransby, historian, author and activist advisor to the movement for black lives. thank you so much for joining us. whwhen we come back, l look at e disappearance unlikely murder of vanessa guillen, 20-year-old soldier in fort h hood lasting n april. there have been arrests.

stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "there's s nothing left for me" by selena quintanilla. this is s democracacy now!, democracynynow.org, the quarante report. i am amy goodman. as we turn now to the devastating ststory of vanesessa guillen, the missing 20 year-old fort hood soldier whose family said wednesday that her remains were likely found in a shallow grave near the texas army base, tuesday, ending a painful search that began months earlier when guillen first went missing april 22. the army said wednesday that one suspect was in custody in connection with guillen's disappearance, describing her as the estranged wife of a former soldier at fort hood.

that suspect. a second suspect in the case, a soldier who has not yet been named, took his own life in killeen, texas, as officers approached him on tuesday. this news comes after months of anguish for vanessa guillen's family, who say she was sexually harassed by a higher up prior to her disappearance and that the military was slow to investigate when she went missing. family members gathered in washington, d.c., wednesday to demand justice for vanessa and to ask congress to launch an invesestigation i into the yog soldier'r's death. vanessa's sister lupe addressed the crowd. >> my sister vanessa guillen was sexually arrest. they always try to cover up for each othther. why? my s sister is a human, too. she deserves respepect. she deserves to be heard. because if this could happen to my sister, it could happen to

anyone else. how w can this happen on a military base? how can this happen while she was on duty? they don't care about us. my sister is an e example of it. my sister did not deserve to suffer. my sister did not deserve this. amy: mayra guillen, vanessa guillen's older sister, also addressed reporters, saying that she had met the suspect that reportedly died by suicide tuesday when she first visited the military base after her sister's disappearance. speak on whatn't my family feels at the moment. my mom, she could not make it. she is feeling really ill. they l ld to us sisince day one. when i firstst went up to that subject -- i met him. that he had something to do with it.

felt -- something was telling me that he did something and that i wasn't wrong, apparently. he still had the n nerve that se day to laugh in my face. amy: and this is vanessa guillen's mother gloria speaking at an emotional news conference last week outside fort hood army base in killeen, texas. too long in searching for my daughter. i begged them since the beginning to search from my daughter. from the beginning, i demanded the base to shut down to the more than 30,000 soldiers here would search for my daughter and they did nothing. i demand justice and respect for me and my daughter. god for bid, if my daughter is found dead, i will shut down this base. i will move heavens and oceans and this base will be shut down. base is -- they say

this is the best place. for what, to kidnap and rap? this is not fair. amy: leaders in fort hood are hosting a news conference on vanessa guillen's disappearance this afternoon. well for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we are joined by vanessa's family's attorney natalie khawam. emotional news comments yesterday. the family driving frfrom texaso washington, d.c., and then to learn army says they found remains. can you talk about what you understand happen to vanessa, natalie khawam? >> thahank youou. yes, we understand that vanessa ,as murdered by aaron robinson and he took her body over to that shallow grave site where he buried her. unfortunately, they just found her remains a couple of days ago. they are going to confirm this in the next 48 to 72 hours.

however, witness statements and the accomplice to this murder have discussed how it was done and they believe this is her remains because they also have her hair. explain -- can you explain whwhat vanessa was sayig leading up to her disappearance? her concerns? the very person who she said was harassing h her? > surure. the person that was harasassing her,r, this aararon robinson, ts was her sergeantnt. she was takingng a shower one ee and she was in the woman's locker room. he walked in and sat down and watched her while she was showering. she saw him and she said, "please, leave, it makes me very uncomfortable." she did not know how to report it. she did report itit to hereramiy and friends. she reported to the soldiers on base when they asked, why don't

you reported to your comommande, oror sergeants andnd stuff, shet said, it would not work. she w was afraid to repeport it. she e was afraid to lose her jo. they would demote her and s she knew of otheher instances where they did not take t those repors seriously and that would makeke her life more difffficult on the basese. amy: and h he is the one who tok hihis own life on tutuesday when theyey approached him? > that is correct. they had him on the base. they told hihim not to leave. he ran on n foot. yesterday we learn more information. i sat with the cid and the general until 8:00 p.m. last night and learned a lot of the details as to what occurred. we understand it was two hours later after he took off they were able to find him in the parking lot and he took his lifefe. amy:y: who is in custodydy? >> this is his accomplice. amy: and who is she? >> his girlfriend. amy: so why did it take this

long? you hear the emotional news conference of her mother outside fort hood -- of course, fort hood named for a confederate general -- but a massive base in texas. you have been pushing for answers now for months. was that the cry of the family to say, we want an independent congressional investigation -- actually coming to washington, d.c. -- that force the base to look for these remains, ultimately finding them, most likely? >> yeah, i think we had to make a lot of noise to be heard because her death -- it seems like they took that as just another person, another person that is missing on fort hood, another person that is sexually harassed. they did not take this case seriously. when i got into this case, i went headfirst and i said, this is not right. you're not being transparent.

you had opportunities more than once to give me answers. since you're not going to give me answers, i will get them, but you're not like the way i get them. we did what we had to do. i told the family to get here to d.c. they drove over. theyersonally, right when got to d.c., they found out they found vanessa's body and last night they told us a lot more ininformation. arehis point now, we demanding a congressional investigation. this should not happen. families who let their loved ones go and join the military, they wanted to serve their country. they don't go there to get sexually harassed or sexually assaulted. basically don't go there to go missing. amy: this is why tulsi gabbard, speaeaking at the news conferene yesterday in washington, d.c. close stand here for vanessa,, stand here for justice, we stand here for every other

servicemember who has experienced sexual harassment or assault and did not feel safe repoporting it out of fear of retaliation. i know and understand h how critical it is for our young troops, our young soldiers to and faith in their chain of commands, which is why these acts of abuse and harassment made from within that chain of command are so disruptive and have such a devastating impact on a y young soldier. amy: that was tulsi gabbard. natalie khawam, if you can talk about something you also mentioned yesterday at the news conference, talking about discourse of people who have died at fort hood -- in fact, as they're looking for thehe remais of natalie, they found other violent? >> the remains of vanessa? yes.

amy: the remains of vanessa, sorry. >> no problem. they found gregory marella's, another sosoldier that went missing last year. i tell you, within the last couple of years, there have been several incidences of soldiers killed on the base, missing on the base. there is major human trafficking going on at that pace. there is a ring of six prosecution -- six prosecution rings. i am reading and learning and i got phone calls. law -- thankrea of god for all of the people i have eyes and ears everywhere, but when i took on this case, i learned so much about fort hood and people contacting me and giving the informationon, examples, videos and saying, "i want you to see what goes on on this base." it is devastating to know our soldiers are on that base and they are so unsafe. yesterday widows meeting with the general and i asked about cameras, they said they did not

have any cameras. saying, this base that got shut up a few years ago, has no cameras? what are my insiders took me through the base and showed me cameras. he said there were not operational. i almost fell over. i said, we now have fake cameras as security? thank cameras? i don't know what to say other ththan that space needs to be looked into. they need a congressional investigation. this young woman who signed up to serve our country should not hahave gone mimissing. you can't tell me there are no cameras that you can't see how he murdered her bebecause there are no camereras. unacceptable. amy: lupe, her younger sister, call for the base to be shut down. if you can talk about the protests outside killeen right now and also the whole issue of the family finding out about the bones -- you said, from the media, not from the military? she is a soldier.

>> correct. post," text from "the and -- have you heard about the bones? i thought, what are they talking about? i thought this was frommorales. fewit seems like it t waa hours ago. as they come are youou sure? called nil her and said,, do you know anything abot these boneses? oh, yes, her body. wewe were walking on her body te entire time. i almost fell over. how do you talk to yourlient about this? i'm m getting phone calls from reporters before i'm getting phone e calls from the cid, befe and gegetting them from the bas. it is disheartening. it makes you think does anyone give a damn? how is this happening? thank youie khawam, for being here, the family for vanessa guillen, the missing

fort hood soldier who believe they have found her remains in a straw -- shallow grave near the army installation in texas. thank you so much for joining us. have a safe holiday. tomorrow, a democracy now! special cornell west and angela davis.

>> kokoro. it means "heart." >> stick with it, and "easy japanese" will give you all sorts of phrases you can use every day. > welcome back. thank you for joining us again on nhk " "newsline." we begin in tokyo where 107 -- in hong kong, where the new security law has led people to taking steps to protect themselves from being targeted. a prpro democracy