07/07/20 07/07/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! t to theis be a lesson fossil fuel industry that indigenonous peoples will l rest and are resisting all over the globe. that t this is a a fight for our future, our children's futures. i hopepe energy transfer p parts tells all of its fellow fossil filled destroyers that they lost this massive fight. amy: in a major victory for indigenous and environmental

activists, a federal judge has ordered the dakota access pipeline be shut down and emptied of all oil in the next 30 days pending an environmental review. we will speak to indigenous and ladonnaa houska brave bull allard, who helped lead the resistance at standing rock. plus, we will look at duke and dominion energy's decision to cancel plans to build the atlantic coast pipeline after years of protests. then we go inside the privately-owned otay mesa detention center in california to speak with a longtime u.s. resident who has helped lead two hunger strikes to protest dire condnditions and a deadly covid9 outbreak at the jail. disaster.in a the condition is still dire. the amount of detainees that have been infected with positive 250 at otay mesa is around

detainees. they still have not than anything to mitigate the situation. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome toto democracy now!, democracynow.org, ththe quarante report. i'm amy goodman. in a major victory for the standing rock sioux tribibe and indigenous and environmental activists, a judge has ordered the dakota access pipeline be shut down n and emptied of all l in the next 30 days pending an enviroronmental review. u.u. district t court judge jams boasberg said the e u.s. army corps of engineers had violated environmental law when it granted a pepermit for the pipeline without an extensive environmental assessment. the fight to stop dapl, led by indigenous land defefenders, catalyzed a major grassroots movement, with the 2016 resistance at standing rock watched by millions of people arouound the world.

we will have more on this story after headlines. in other pipeline news, the supreme coururt monday ruled constructition on the e keystonl pipeliline must reremain on hohd while itit undergoeses further regulation and a lengthy permitting process. ththe ruling w was a win f for enenvironmentatal and indidigens activists who have l long been fifighting the projectct. however, it was tempmpered by te justic concurrentltly clearing ththe way for a number of other pipelines to move forwrward undr a fast-trackck pertting procese. thousands of international students enrolled at universities in the united states could face deportation if their schools switch to online-only courses in the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. on monday, immigration and customs enforcement issued guidance stating -- "active students currently in the united states enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to

remain in lawful status." ice also said u.s. customs and border protection will not permit students to enterer the united states. ice released the guidance just hours after harvard university announced that all classes will be online. senator elizabeth warren slammed the move, writing on twitter -- "kicking international students out of the u.s. during a global pandemic because their colleges are moving classes online for physical distancing hurts students. it's senseless, cruel, and xenophobic." the american council on education described the ice guidance as "horrifying." one million international students attend u.s. colleges and universities. hospitals in parts of florida, texas, arizona, and california are running out of intensive care unit beds as coronavirus cases continue to surge.

in texas, the number of covid-19 hospitalizations has quadrupled over the past month. in st. petersburg, florida, five hospitals have run out of intensive care unit beds. in miami, indoor restaurants have been ordered to close agagn le t than two ntnths aer beieing reopened. nationwide, the death toll from covid-19 has topped 130,0,000 ad covid cases are rising i in 41 states. at least4 4 stat havave porteded single-day hhshs of cases recently. on monday, the nation's top infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci warned the unitetd stateses is stilill knee-deep ie first wave of f the pandemic.. >> series ofof circumstances associated with variouss states of cities trying to openen up in the sense e of getting back to some sorort of normality has led to a situation where we now have record-breaking cases. two days ago, it was 57,500.

so within a period of a week and a half, we have almost doubled the number of cases. in answer to your first question, we are still knee-deep in the first wave of this. amy:y: dr. fauci also said imninity provided by a antibodis mabe finine and that proteconon froany y pontiall vaccinmimight shohortived. the pandem continues to hit communities of color the hardest. newly released federal data show african american and latino people are nearly ththree times more likely to be infected and ice as likikely to die from the virus compared to their r white neighbors. in california, the top medical officer for the state's prison system has been ousted following the death of six prisoners from covid-19 at san quentin state prison, where more than 1300 prisoners have tested positive. meanwhile, atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms has announced she has tested positive for the

virus,s, as well as other membes of her family, including her husband. on the international front, toppedtal in brazil has 65,000 -- the second highest in the world behind the united states. on monday, brazil's far-right president jair bolsonaroro was tested for the virus after experiencing covid-19 symptoms. meanwhile in south africa, the number of confirmed cases has topped 200,000. in other news from africa, the world health organization warned monday that an additional 500,000 people could die from aids and related diseases in sub-saharan africa over the next two years due to interruption in services and treatment caused by ththe coronavirus pandemic. the world health organization said that shortage extends to scores of countries around ththe world. under enormous pressure, the trump administration has finally begun releasing details s on who benefited from a $660 billion

relilief program that wawas supd to help small businesses during the covid-19 pandemic. recipients of funds from the paycheck protection program include seven members of congress or their spouses, president trump's longtime personal lawyer marc kasowitz, jared kushner's family business, a sushi restaurant at trump international hotel, the anti-tax activist grover norquist, a number of private equity-backed restaurant chains, and a shipping business owned by the family of transportation secretary elaine chao -- the wife of the senate majority leader mitch mccononnell. for monthshs, treasury secretary steven mnuchinin opposed the release of these details claiming it was "proprietary informatioion." anti-asian american hate crimems arare soaring across the country following the outbreak of the coronavirus s pandemic. a new site tracking hate cririms reports over 2 2100 incidents he occurred since march.

the site was launched by the asian pacific policycy and planning council and chinese for affirmative action. bothth groups have crititicized president trump for describing covid-19 as the "chinese virus" and "kung-flu."" a warning to our v viewers, this story contaiains disturbing imimages. authorities in indianana are investigating an apparent racist attack on a black man thatat took place over ththe weekend. vauhxx booooker posted video off ththe disturbing encounter on social media, in which five men pinned him to a tree, beat him, and threatened to lynch him. the attack happened at lake monroe near bloomington on july 4. booker, a member of the monroe county human rights commission in bloomington, says he was able to get out of their grip after passers-by intervened to get the white attatackers off him. another warning to our viewewe, this s story also contains

sturbing f footage. outrage is mounting in phoeneni, arizona, over the fatal police shooting of 28-year-old james porter garcia while he was in a parked car in a residential driveway saturday. four officers around the car. at least two had their guns drawn and we did at the car. an eyewitness who filmed the shooting said garcia had been sleeping in the car and others who knew the victim say he was unarmed. but police officers claim he armed himself, which led to the officers shooting and killing him. protesters are demanding police release body cam footage. in new york, amy cooper, the white woman who called 911 and falsely claimed a black man in central park was threatening her, was charged monday with filing a false report. christian cooper, the man in question who was in the park bird-watching, had in fact simply asked amy cooper to leash her dog. chris coopop filmed ththe

interaction, which quickly went viral. in georgia, republican govovernr brian kemp declared a state of emergency monday, activating 1000 national guard members following weeks of unrest and a weekend marked by increased gun violence. five people were killed over the weekend, including an eight-year-old girl secoriea turner, who was killed saturday night in atlanta while riding in a car with her mother. secoriea turner was killed close to the wendy's where rayshard brooks was shot and killed by police last month in the parking lot. cnn is reporting a draft document to ban the display of confederate flags at military bases has been circulating at the pentagon. if such a policy goes ahead, it could create major tension between the military and trump, who has defended confederate symbols and threatened last week to veto the national defense authorization act if it includes a provision to rename bases that are named after confederate

leaders. a fire last week at t iran's natanz nuclear facacility has causused significant damage and set back the couountry's nuclear development program according to governmement officials. iranian security officials say they have uncovered the cause of the fire but have yet to release further details. "the new york times" cited a middle eastern intelligence official who says the site was destroyed by a bomb planted by israel. the fire at the uranium enrichment facility is the latest in a string of fires and explosions in iran, including a major blast at a military complex last month and an explosion at a medical clinic in tehran one week ago, which killed 19 people and was attributed to a gas leak. iraq, a l leading expert on t e islamic state and other extremist groups was shot dead monday by unidentified gunmen in frt t of his homome in baghdad. hisham al-hashimi was also an outspoken critic of iraq's political elite and corruption. on sunday, the day before he was killed, hashimi tweeted -- "the rights, blood and dignity of iraqis have been lost, and their money gone into the pockets of corrupt politicians."

sesecretary of state mike pompeo said the u.s. is considering banning tiktok and other c chine social media apps. pompeo suggested tikiktok useres could be handing over their private data to the chinese commmmunist party. the comments come amid increasing tension between the u.s. and china over the coronavirus and the situation in hong kong after chinina imposed its new national security law last week. tiktok said earlier monday it would stop running the app in hong kong in light of recent events. twitter, facebook and whatsapp also recently announced they will not process data requests from law enforcement agencies in hong kong. in the dominican republic, tourism industry leader luis abinader has been elected as the new president, putting an end to the ruling dominican liberation party's 16 years in power. the election had previously been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, but was held sunday with a high voter turnout despite the worsening outbreak

in the dominican republic. the country is one of the worst hit in the caribbean with over 38,000 cases and more than 800 deaths. lawmakerers in germany voted to phase out coal use e entirely by 2038, the first major economy to make such a commitment. germany has also said it wouldld eliminate nuclclear energy b bye end of 2022. but enviroronmental groups s sae moveveoes not gogo far enough to mitigate the climate crisis, pointing out germany burns more lignite coal than any other country. climate activists and the german green party say the government should phase out coal by 2030 at the latest. this is green party leader analeena bearbock. >> there would have been a chance to fight the climate crisis with the same determination we fought the coronavirus crisis. that we did not do. we did not do that. instead, you are defective presenting an 18 yearr financial

coal protection law. amy: in other election news, supreme court justices unanimously ruled monday states can compel electoral college members to support the candidates who won the state's popular vote in a presidential election. in 2016, there were 10 rogue or so-called "faithless" electors. they refuse to cast a v vote for the candidate they were pledged to supportrt. and campaigners are urging consumers to support "blackout day 2020" today. the campaign urges black americans to not spend any money to highlight their economic power and as means to pressure politicians and businesses to work toward ending systemic racism. those who need to make purchases are being encouraged to support black-owned businesses. the inittive waspearhead social dia persality an tivist cvin mart. jor compies incling octer & mble andisco systemems have announced support for the campaign. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, dedecracynow.o.org, the quarante report. i am amy goodman in new york with juan gonzalelez broadcastig

from his home in new jersesey. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. kay mcaleer going to turn now to our top story. in a massive win for the standing rock sioux tribe and indigenous organizers acroross e country, a federal judge has ordered the dakota access pipeline shut down and called freight to begin feet of all oil in the next 30 days pending an environmental review. u.s. district court judge james boasberg issued the decision monday, saying the u.s. army corps of engineers violated environmental law when it granted a permit for the pipeline without an extensive environmental assessment. that permit has now been revoked until an environmental review is conducted, a process that could take years. standing rock sioux tribe chairperson mike faith called the move historic and said in a statement -- "this pipeline should have never been built here. we told them that from the

beginning." energy transfer, the company that owns the pipeline, says it will appeal the decision. there ceo kelcy warren is a major supporter of president trump. the dakota access pipeline has been operating since 2017, carrying fracked petroleum from the bakken oil fields in north dakota through south dakota, iowa and illinois, for transfer to another pipeline to carry it onto the gulf coast. the standing rock sioux call the pipeline the black snake. monday's historic court order comes more than four years after the resistance at standing rock began in 2016, bringing tens of thousands of people to north dakota to oppose the pipeline's construction on sacred lands. democracy now! was there on the ground covering the struggle. on september 3, 2016, the dakota access pipeline company

unleashed dogs and pepper spray on native americans seeking to protect their sacred tribal burial site from destruction. this guy maced me in the face. look, it is all over my sunglasses. that woman over there, she was charging. >> the dog has blood in its nose and mouth. she is still standing here threatening. amy: why are you letting the dog go after the protesters? >> the dog. i was walking. without any warning. look at this. look at this. the dog did it. amy: to see the full report from 2016, you can go to

democracynow.org. but for more on this historic court order, we're joined by two guests. ladonna brave bull allard is a member of the standing rock sioux tribe and founder of sacred stone camp in resistance to the dakota access pipeline. and tara houska is an indigenous lawyer, activist, and founder of the giniw collective. she is ojibwe from couchiching first nation. we welcome you b both to democoy now! we're first going to go to ladonna brave bull allard speaking to us from her home right next to ththe cannonball river. in 2016pril 1 announced she was opening her property to the resistancnce, expectingng me some people might come. soon, tens of people, hundreds of people -- a and soon thousans of people leading to more resiststance camps all over the area. ladonna brave bull allard, can you share your response to judge

that at leasting for now the dakota access pipeline must be shut down and emptied of allll oil? you ever hahave a dream? a dream that comes true? that is what it is when i got up in the morning and see e that. i was oveverwhelmed. i am still overwhelmed.. understand hohow much i love my home, how much i love my land and my river. it is the greatest thihing in te whwhole world. it is going to be a long journey, but we are here for the long journey. it is not about who is right t r wronong, it is about how do we live in the future? , the last four years have been hard.

so this has been a grereat blessing. for t the judge, for the standing rock sioux tribe, for the lawyers, and for every whatat a protector t that stood up on n every front line, for every keyboard warrior, for .he support overwhelming. that is all i can say. and great thanks. i wouould like to ask k you to take us back to your dececision four yeaears ago to start the resistance camp. did you exct the struggle would be as long as it has been, especiallyly you being an historian of the statanding rock sioux tribe in termsms of how ts fits into the history of the fight of your people? so i did not think that all

i had thought, follow the law. the law says we protect sacred sites, buriaial sites. we do an environmentnt of assessment, according t to the law. and i just assumed they y would follow the law. is the first federal agency corporation that i worked with that didid not follow nono law. and so it was kind of shocking t the to be dealing with corruption. corporations. amy: tara houska, you were just with ladonna yesterday a and you're also dealing with covid-19 -- which we will talklk about in a a minute, north dakoa is s soaring.

but on this issue, can you talk about what the ruling was based on, the risk of contaminating the water? 2016,e on the ground in also a part ofof the resesistan. the significance of whwh boasberg has ruled? yeah, i guess without giving away too mucuch of the reactionf the actual lawyers on this case, i would say to me i see a very clear messasage of the fossil fl industry that trying to shohove through permitits againinst thel of the n nations that are impacd is just t not gog g to work any longer. that in this particular instance, they try to push throrough an environmental assessment, which is a low level environment a review, of a massive, massive pipeline project. over half a million barrels of oil a daday.

years of review and complications in consideration of sacred sites, cultural sites, all of these properties that have to be considered before approving a project of this size. is reallykelcy warren feeling that hurt right now because he was so oblivious to the suffering and pain he was causing on the ground, not only in the resistance movement, but just generally to the standing rock sioux tribe, to all of the tribal nations that have seen this happen time and time again when we say no and they move forward anyway. , where do yououska see this going out in terms of an appppeals process? is this a temporary delay? is it a delay of a few years or do you think this has the potential to k kill the projecet completely? >> i am hopeful that shareholders are looking up and

reconsidering their investment in the fossil fuel industry, banks of -- particularly in the expansion of the fossil fillet industry. we've seen keystone xl get trapped the years. the energy east tar sands pipeline gets scrapped. ins is a series of events resistance, particularly led by indigenous people across turtle island, that the expansion of the fossil fill industry just cannot happen anany longer. i ame t this moment is win, really hopeful the shareholders who really do control the bottom line are looking at this and not only reconsidering their indigenous people policy, their consent conformed instead of just consultation, but that they are reconsidering their entire outlook into what our energy economy looks like. amy: i want to turn to u.s.

energy secretary danan brouillee responding to news the dakota access will be shut down, pending review, and that the atlanticic coast pipeline is canceled.. he was interviewed on the fox business network by stuart varney. >> mr. secretary, in both of these cases, do you blame activists for essentially shutting them down? >> great to be with you. i do. i do, indeed. in both cases, i think it is applicable. >> it appears a lawsuit to prevent even though they don't know where it is or what it is for, just that blind opposition to anything that the energy industry tries to accomplish. >> that's correct. i would agree with that. i'm not quite sure what they are cheering except perhapss the los of jobs all throughout america. amy: that is the u.s. energy secretary crediting protests with the closing d down of these major p pipelines..

ladonna brave bull allard, did you ever dream on that to april 1, 2016, that so many people would come, not only to your property, the sacred stone camp, but to the red warrior camp, and just so many others, what this activism would mean and where do you think -- hohow do you t thit will manififest itself n now? idedea that so many people would come stand up. but after talkining to indigenos people from m all over the w wo, .e are all in the same position extraction industries coming in destroying water and land and ouour environment. in theow we are tinction rate of ananimals. we should not be here. peoplestarted talking to

from everywhere, , one of the ththings that i understood is it is a a time for change. the time is now. we cannot go any further with extraction. until we repair and allow the earth to heal again. that is the most important thing we have to do to live. we have to have clean water. we have to have clean environments to live. money beforeting lives, that is injustice. tara, i wouould like to ask you in terms of -- the pipipelie has been in operation. president trump made it a big part of his presidency to get it running. what has b been th impmpact on e

fact it has been running, although the judge says within 30 days it must stop? i went out toto the standing rock sioux tribe to o stand with ladonna a allard because i saw r on facebook and because i saw youth runners who ran from kanab all the washingtgton, d.c.. i packed my bags and went thatat way because i undererstood not only was this a moment where peop were tataking a real ststad and saying we're n not going to accept this,s, we're not going o accept you running over our rights yet again, but also this understanding that we are talking about the bulldozing of sacred sites, of places that can never be brought back. at the risk that drinking water of the standing rock sioux reservation. let's not forget this pipeline was supposed to go to the drinking water closer to bismarck but got rerouted closer to the reservation. andr, obvious racism

disregard for indigenous lives. it has been four years of knowing that that pipeline is right next -- is only a couple of hundred yards from the water intake of standing rock sioux reservation, of knowing a break could impact not only that reservation but the 17 million people that live along the missouri river. not to mention the continued extraction of fossil fuels from the ground, the continued impact to the environment, to greenhouse gas emissions, to the climate crisis that we know is happening all over the globe. this is a project that was one of many, but it is one that i think people recognize it is time to take a stand. we continue to fight on. amy: in statement energy transfer said --

if you couldld comment on enerey transfer parartners ceo, the billllionaire kelcy warren,n, a major supporter of president trump, recently hosted a fundraiser at his home in dallas and if you could t talk about hs role? somebodywarren was that was absolutely completely oblivious and outright dismissisive of humalilives on e ground. you mentioned at the beginning of the segment the fact t that energygy transferr partners prie security unleashed dogs on women and c children, unarmed people, that p people were bitten. i interviewed a young woman who had been bitten on the brbreast that day. that was a pattern of ongoing harm and extreme brutality that was unleashed onto unarmed women

and children and unarmed people that were trying to protect sacred sites from destruction. kelcy warren knew all of this. you know about the environment of racism russian. he knew about the fact there point0,000 people at one in this in camera in north dakota. the 13th largest city in the state. he knew what was happening. i knew in august shareholders were showing up in his financial backers, the 17 banks behind the project, were pulling out parts of their loans from the projects. his alignment with trump is similar to many fossil fuel industry insiders and executives that have eitherer been installd into the administration itself ceo -- the formrmer exxon many lobbyists havave estabablid themselves in the administrationon. i'm guessing they're pretty nervous about the upcoming election in the handling of the

covid-19 crisis by the trump administration. amy: and you're just giving out masks y yesterday, trying to mae surere people in north dakota ae protected, the e indigenous peoe of northth dakota like stataing rock? >> we represented the navajojo nation. i am on my way bacack up north. the navajo nation has s been a spot in n the united statetes tt has had some e of the worst covid-19 statistics s in the entire nion. so we were h handing out -- delivering boxeses of hand sanitizer, diapers, food, masks, everything we can give to help people thatat are already living in disparate conditions, alrlrey liviving without rununning wate, without electricity. and living with all of the inequities that already exist in this country. amy: tara houska, thank you for being with us, indigenous lawyer joining us from colorado. and ladononna brave bull allard,

member of the standing rock sioux tribe and founder of sacred stone camp in resistance to the dakota access pipeline. joining us from her home right along the cannonball river where she has experienced this enormous victory yesterday, a battle she has devoted her life totover these e last few years. we are wishing you the besest oo health, ladodonna, as you struge with brain cancer. he had b been an insnspiration o many of.f. yoyour final thoughts? >> we e have only just begun. i encourage e everybody to cocontinue to stand. there must be just as in this world and there m must be accountabibility. i truly bebelieve if we can have those twowo major componenents,n chchange for the better. wewe need a better s system in amererica. we need d a system thahat is eql and we need native

people to not t be invisible. we're only hehere to help. we are only here to teach you to love the land and the water. .my: ladonna, thank you so much the best of health to you. when we come back, we will look at duke and dominion energy's abrupt decision to cancer their plans in the atlantic coast pipeliline after yeaears of pros and we go inside a major detention facility. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: willie wrigight pererformig "right on for the darkness." wright passed away last week at the agage of 80. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we are going now from standing rock to appalachia, where anti-pipeline activists won another mamassive victory over e weekend when duke and dominion energy said they had canceled plans to build the atlantic coast pipeline, a 600-mile pipeline that would have carried fracked gas from west virginia to north carolina. indigenous leaders and environmental groups have opposed the project since it was announced in 2014, saying it threatened rural indigenous, black, and communities. ground communities. -- black and brown communities. the pipeline's planned route would have run through union hill, virginia, a historically

black community founded by freed slaves after the civil war and robeson county, north carolina, home to the lumbee tribe. the massive utility companies said lawsuits had increased costs for the pipeline by at least $3 billion, citing increased costs, ongoing delays, and potential future legal battles as reasons for canceling the project. well, for more on ththe canceled atlanticic coast pipeleline, weo to pembroke, north carolina, where we are joined by donna chavis, senior fossil fuel campaigner for friends of the earth and an elder of the lumbee nation. she e has called the fight agait the pipeline a "david versus goliath" struggle. welcome to democracy now! well, it looks like you have won the struggle, donna chavis. the decisionnd to and where you ththink it came from? >> enke for having me today, amy. ie e decision is something that was elated about. i was in the grgrocery store whn ii heard about it and had to go outsidide to celebebrate. where it came from? i think it came from a number of

sources. of couourse have duke and dominion's answer in that it became too expensive and all of the d delays caused by people on the ground forced thehem to pull out. and i i would have a agreeitith there wasthe sense that an awful lot of opposition to this. what the decision means is that the environment, the communities that would have suffered irrepaparable harm and thehe indigenousus black andnd other people of c color who wou h have been disprproportiononally impad are now -- now have that c cloud lifted from them.. i thinink there were sigigns tht this pipeline was not going to go anywhere. we call it the pipeline to nowhere. at least two years ago when all of the financial disarrayy relateted to the project began o

become appararent. , what a aboutavis the situation, , the energy m mt situation worldwide asas whale s , no longer seen -- fracked gas is no lononger seens a good investstment by y energy companies. you u think that combibined wite public pressure in the lawsuitit hadd something to dodo with it s well? >> absolutely. in fact, friends of the earth over the last 18 months, no less than three reports shows the risk of investing in this project. not just this project, but fossil fuels in general. gas and oil are no longer the atapest source for energy. least i in north h carolinana, decisions are supposed to be made about what is the best product for the citizens. in this case, gas and oil is not the best. as you just pointed out, the

price e for both off those has plplummeted. in the united states, we have a glut of both gas and oil. so even n though it was said tht it was going to be used in north carolina, in my case,e, it was clear this was going too be forr expoport. there wewere so many facactors t were involved with the calamities that happened,d, to e companies, anyway. they see it as a a calamityty. amy: in n 2017, unicorn riot interviewed d john laury, a lifelong resident of union hill, a historic black community founded by the descendants of freed slaves in the unincorporated buckingham coununty, virginia. residentnts of u union hill for years spoke out against the atlantic coast pipeline which would have cut right through union n hill. this is what he said. zone.arare in the zero in other words, we are first to go. poisonous will emit

gases. we knonow that.. anand we know that it will definitely contaminate the water . we are just beginning to find slave cemeteries. this community is perhaps 85% black. perhaps that's why y this area s no cultuture o or natural resou. which is both lies. lowery,t is john lifelong resident of union hill. donna chavis, if you could talk about the solidarity between indigenous people, the african-amererican community as wellll. what thehe solidararity meant in defefeating thehe p pipelines -e pipipeline >> solidarity was absolutely necessary. were in we sasaid we sacrifice owns.

i agree with everything mr. laurty said. and so many caseses, t the black communities, indigenous communities, are sometimes officiallyly declared sacrifice owns. and so as we were working up and down the pipeline and a resistance and opposition, we found ourselves in a wonderful situation of crossing the boundaries between race and class and bringiging together te indigenonous and africican-amern cocommunities. i will give you one example. --pton county, what i call is to call it the northern n gas of the pipeline coming into north carolina, it is geordie black community -- majority blacack community. give robinson county, majority native americacan and black cocommunity's together. along the pipipeline route,e, we wewere joining together the northern gate in the southern gate and all those in between to work agagainst this substantial

problems that we were facing. we held each o other up and kept gogoing until we werere on the e sunday calling and texting and email it all over the placece. i w wasnna c chavis, wowondering if you could tell ua little bit abouthe friends of the earth turnining its attentin now to aas storage facility in north c carolina? an area duke is plplanning to develolop? can you tetell us what t that is about? project a duke energy through pipiedmont natural gas company just a wholly-owned subsidiary. it will be a one billion cubic foot storage and distribution facility. s sitting smack dabab in a majority indigenenous communi.

-- nearly within the limits of the one mile that would have stopped d it from beg able to o be built. the impact is already being then in ththe cleaearcuttingngf forest that is there. kerry spencecer am flooding with all of the rains we still have. -- there has been some flooding with all of the rains we have. there is -- we have already b bn papaying attention to that projt anand now we willll just be ablo put even more of our resourcrces into approaching and assisting ththe community in its oppositi. amy: d donna chaviss, thank your being with us, senior fossil fuelel campaigigner for friendsf the earth and an elder of the lumbee natation. friends of the earth, speaking to us from pembroke, north carolina.

insideecome back, we go otayay mesa detention center, te jailil, , near san diego. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "all tomorrow's carry" by special ininterest. ththis is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. with juan gonzalez.z. the number of people jailed by immigration customs enforcement who have tested positive for the coronavirus continues to rise, with more than 2700 cases reported. among the hardest hit by the pandemic is the otay mesa detention center in california, where a a mass outbreak of covid-19 has infected at least 167 people and led to the death of 57-year-old carlos ernesto escobar mejia last month. immigrants detained the report dire conditions, lack of medical care, and the repeated use of pepper spray as retaliation. last week we reached immigrant and activist anthony alexandre, who is detained there. he spoke to us by phone. he is a longme resident of the united states, originally from haiti. he has led two hunger strikes inside.

i began by asking anthony to describe the conditions he and others are facing. in unmitigated disaster. the condition is still dire. the amount of detainees affected positive cases is around 250 detainees. donestill have not anything to mitigate the situation, the lack of health care -- we have between three to nine medical staff on any time on the premises. and we decided to hunger strike, because we were asking for basic dignity. and as a retaliation, they pepper-sprayed us. this was really hard for us. it was really hard to breathe. it was about 20 minutes when they came in and asked us that

they're going to put us in a unit that had 15 -- 15 detainees that had tested posisitive. we did not want to leave because our body was so feeble because we were on a hunger strike. and they decided to come in and pepepper spray us. there was like people on the floor. it was like 20 minutes, 20 minutes of pain. just like you could see floyd is struggling for air, that's how we were at this point. and they came in, dragged us out of our cell and put us to another unit to go to a pod where carlos escobar were. so they took 15 detainees that was on m pod to put them on l pod, that they just finished pepper-spraying. it was unbelievable. that's what made the situation so pernicious, because they took carlos at that time. we saw him gasping for air when they were putting him on l pod, which was the pod that we just left, they just finished pepper-spraying. they waited three days. after watching carlos escobar struggling for air, they waiting

-- they waited for three days to take him to outside medical. i could not believe that. that was something that is very negligent. and they decided after that to take us to a medical unit that had three other detainees that tested positive where we are sharing phone. they're not properly cleaning it. the cell where we were was dirty, filthy, dirty with bloodstain on walls, spit on the floor. i had to clean the cell myself when i was so weak. it was unbelievable, unbearable in this facility. juan: and, anthony, i wanted to asask you, back in april, the prisononers were tolold to sign contras ththat were writitten oy in english in exchange foror receiving facece masks. and i would assume that the vast majority of ththe detainees s te are of mexican o or central american origin. many of them don't speak english.h. what was your -- and then they were pepper-sprayed when some

refused? >> yes. the reason why this occurred is because they did not give us proper ppe at all. the mask they gave us was actually one-day use only. and they give you that twice what, months? two and we had to cut off pieces of clothing to make personal masks with that.t. so because those property belong to them, they pepper-sprayed us for cutting pieces of those clothing to put as mask. and they want you to sign to get those little instant masks that

i'm just discussing with you right now. and most of these detainees does not speak english. and you have to sign for it. i was the one that's trying to translate what it was, to make sure that everybody got one in mymy unit so they could be ableo protecect themselves. that is accurate. so, , yes, this is indicicativeo how they behave when you don't -- when they don't like you to do something, they just pepper-sprayed you. that's indicative to how theyy behave.. amy:y: anthony, i wanted to plpa video, a recording you made for the organization otay mesa detention resistance to play for california governor gavin newsom during a meetiting with h his sf last month. >> my name is anthony alexandre. i'm at otay mesa detention center. i'm a legal permanent resident for 30 years. i was born in haiti. governor, you have been a beacon of hope to all of us here. we believe that you are a pragmatic type of person, you will do the right thing. governor newsom, send the ag to investigate, or please tell us what step are you going to take to save ouour lives? amy: so, anthony alexandre, do you u know if the governor heard this? the conditions in the prison

now, is it -- are you still if youo sign a waiver get a mask, if you want to get a mask, that would absolve corecivic of liability? this is a for-profit detention company, prison n company, that runs otay mesa. describe what corecivic is and whether the governor has responded. >> the governor -- 40 detainees on my unit, we signed a letter to governor newsom and we sent it to their office. they sent back a letter saying that they wanted to speak to us, but we haven't heard back from them ever since we had the first conversation. now, at otay mesa detention center, the last time they gave us a mask was at least a month and a half ago. these are cloth masks they give us, not those, you know, instant masks anymore. so they give us two masks.

we have to wash them all the time. and, you know, most of the detainees are not wearing any mask anymore because we are back in our unit. we try to keep it clean. they don't allow us to go outside. they lock us up at least 18 hours a day now. and they're giviving us three times a day, fed bologna sandwiches. so, basically, corecivic is telling us they do not care about our health. they do not care about anything else but their bottom line. so this is not a place where you can be comfortable. they make it very difficult for you to breathe. they tell us that we have to, if you don't want to get infected -- first of all, they say they're not responsible for us if we get covid-19. and they tell us that if you don't want to test positive, you can sign for your deportation. so thehey're basically using the covid-19 to make usign for our deportation. th is not a ace where u

know they are doing -- taking measures to make sure that our health is up to date. so it is very difficult to be relaxed in a place like this -- stress everywhere, everybody's getting sick, and you know you have to make sure that you wear a mask every day and gloves to be -- i'm extremely vigilant because i suffer from an underlying condition. so every time i go out of this 7-by-12 cell, i have to put a mask, wear gloves to make sure that, you know, i don't get sick, because i suffer from an underlying condition. so everybody in here, we're all worried. everybody thinks that, you know, if something happened to us, we might die. some of these guys are signing letters to their family to say, you know, please -- because after escobar, we saw what had happened with escobar, we all thought maybe we won't make it because some of these guys, this condition is so bad. i remember seeing one guy slit

his own throat. there was one other guy that swallowed a battery, you know, because they don't want to go back to their country. and they don't want to leave -- they don't want them to stay here in the u.s. so this is very stressful being in here. amy: final words, asas we wrap , speaking to us from inside the otay mesa detention center, what the external solidarity means to you? you have the otay mesa resistance movement outside. how do they get word inside? how do you g get word out? >> well, this was difficult, because this is very important to hear. when i arrived here, i've been trying to vindicate my life and ice blocked me from vital information that would facilitate me to win my cases. they block numbers, like, for example, otay mesa resistance. they block their numbers for us to call because sometimes i

would need information, they are the ones to help me out. they block those numbers. they're making sure that we have -- you watch specific shows they want to watch. we're not allowed to speak to other detainees on the different units. it is like having their foot on our necks. they are not allowing us to do the things that needs basic -- basically, our right is violated. our first amendment right is violated. so, aclu has filed them -- filed a letter to let them know to cease-and-desist because, you know, they are not supposed to do that. so, basically, now they are allowing us to speak to the resistance again. so this is not united states of america. once you arrive here, you will basically have no rights. that's what they're telling us. this is civil detention. it cannot be -- we are both in a world -- we are all in a world that none of us have lived before, so it cannot be business as usual. you know, and ice cannot just

ignore basic, basic dignity and have us being in here, where we could be on ankle monitors with our family. there's no reason why they should keep us in here unless profiting from our suffering. amy: you're calling for otay mesa to be shut down, anthony? >> yes, because we all -- we don't have to be here. we all could be home with our family on ankle monitors to fight our cases on the outside. what's the point of being in here if it was just not for profit? amy: that is immigrant and activist anthony alexander speaking to us from inside thehe otayay mesa detention center yor sasan diego, california last we. one of the i ice jails that has been hardest hit by the pandemic. the jail is owned byby the prive prison c company corecivic, a ms outbreak there of covid 19 has infected att least 167 people ad led to the death o of one man

carlos ernesto escobar mejia last month. jojo stanwyck k has j joined dos and human rights advocates and groups calling for the immediate release of people in ice detention to stop the further spread of covid 19. in other immigration news, a federal l appeals court has strk down president trump's near-total ban on asylum-seekers at the u u.s.-mexico border.r. that's as it for today show. if you would like to sign up for our daily digest, you can text the word "democracynow" to 66866 . or you can go to our website at democracacynow.org & up there. you can also go there for all of our broadcast, transcripts, video, and the audio podcast. tell your friends about democracy now!

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♪ hello. thank you for joining us on nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. we begin with the latest in the extreme weather hitting japan as rain swamping kyushu in the southwest now extends into the central part of the country. the meteorolological agency has