08/18/20 08/18/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this i is democracy now! >> so let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can, donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.

it is what it t is. amy: former first lady michelle obama delivers a searing critique of president trump on the opening night of the virtual democratic national convention. we will air highlights, including the remarks of an arizona in-person woman whose father died of covid-19 in june. >> my dad was a healthy 65-year-old. his only pre-existing condition was trusting donald trump. and fofor that, he paid with his life. amy: plus, w we will hear senatr bernie sanders' address to the nation. fiddled while rome burned. trump calls. his actions feel this pandemic, resulting in over 170,000 deaths and a nation still i'm prepared to protect its people. amy: we will also speak to former presidential candidate

hooley and castro, who -- julian castro who was not invited to speak in primetime at the dnc. and we will mark the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution, guaranteeing women's right to vote. the many black women would not enjoy that decades. we will speak to martha jones, author of the forthcoming book "vanguard: how black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all." all that and more, coming up. welcome to demococracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. former first lady michchelle oba and d former presidential candidate senator bernie sanders headlined the opening night of a virtual democratic national convention on monday. throughout the evening, president trump was denounced by both democrats and some former republican officials, including former ohio governor john kasich. michelle obama urged the nation to vote for joe biden. >> so if you take one thing from

my words tonight, it is this -- if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. if we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for joe biden like our lives depend on it. amy: s sator berninie sanders, o ran against biden in the primaries, warned that trurump s leleading the nation towardd authoritarianism. >> we are facing the worst public health crisis in 100 years and the worst economic collapse sincece the grereat depression. we are confronting systemic racism and the enormous threat to our planet of climate change. and in the midst of all of this, we have a president who is not only incapable of addressing these crises, but is leading us down the path of authoritarianism. amy: the republican national convention will take place next week. trump says he will give his

nomination acceptance speech live from thehe white hououse grounds, which some chararges a violation of thehe hatch act. we will hahave more on the dncnc after headnes.s. a surge in cororonavirus cases t the university of north carolina chapel hill has forcedhe university to switch entiry to remote learning afr 177 students tested positive for covid-19 during the first week of in-person classes. the student newspaper, "the daily tar heel," ran an editorial titled "unc has a cluster f-- on its hands." but they still that the word. at georgia tech, dozens of students staged a die-in on the first day of classes to protest the school's coronavirus safety standards. meanwhile on monday, top white house coronavirus adviseser dr. deborah birx said she wished the u.s. had instituted a stricter lockckdown earlier this year.

>> i wish when we went into lockdown we looked like -- looked like italy. when italy lockdown, people were not allowed out of their houses. they could only come out once every two weeks for certificates for one hour and had have certificates. americans do not react welell to thatat kind of prohibition.. amy: meanwhile, , data show that the number of black and lalatinx participants in coronavirus vavaccintrtrials is very l low,n though black and latinx communities are disproportionately hit by the virus. researchers say this disparity could delay the development of a vaccinine. in internationalal news, another 684 pepeople have died i in bral from covid-19 bringing the death toll to nearly 109,000 -- the second highest in the world after r the unit s states. on monday, dozens of indigenous protesters blocked a major highway in the amazon to push the brazilian government to do more to protect indigenous communities during the pandemic.

south korea is facing its worst covid-19 outbreak in five months. more than 400 cases have been linked to a church run by a conservative pastor who tested positive just days after he took part in an anti-government protest in seoul. meanwhile, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that hit masbate province in central philippines earlier today, killing at least one person, caused significant damage to a coronavirus quarantine center. the philippines, which has the highest caseload in southeast asia with nearly 170,000 cases, is easing a second lockdown on its capital manila starting this week. popostmaster generalououis dejoy has agreeded to testify before congress next week amid the uproar over changes at the u.s. postal service that democrats say are designed to interfere with the november election by making it harder to vote by mail. louis dejoy is a major trump donor.

house democrats are planning to return to capitol hill on saturday to vote on legislation blocking the recent changes. over a dozen states are now expected to sue the trump administration, and california congressmember ted lieu is calling on the fbi to launch ann investigation into the slowing down of the mail. in the netherlands, a u.n.-backed court is handing down the long-awaited rulings over the 2005 killing of former lebanese prime minister rafik al-hariri. four men have been on trial for the truck bomb assassination, which had been attributed to hezbollah, though it has denied involvement. >> the trial chamber is of the view that syria and hezbollah may have had motive to eliminate him and some of his political allies. however, there was no evidence that hezbollah leadership had any involvement in the murder of mr. mariri and there is no direct involvement in it.

amy: the verdict was originally scheduled for earlier this month, but was postponed due to the catastrophic explosion at the port of beirirut on august . in chile, protests continue in solidarity with celestino cordova, an indigenous mapuche spiritual leader who has been on a hunger strike for over 100 days demanding he be transferred from prison to house arrest due to the coronavirus pandemic. the united nations has sent an -- the united nations high commissioner recently set investigative unit to the region to visit cordoba who is currently hospitalized in critical condition. he is serving an 18-year sentence for his alleged role in the arson death of two landowners in 2013 b but his defefenders sasay the charges ae popolitically motivated. in spain, the royal familyly confnfirmed monday former r king juan carlolos has been lining in the united arab emirates since august 3. his whereabouts were unknown to the public since going into exile earlier this month, amid a growing corruption scandal around his involvement with a

saudi rail contract, for which he reportedly received $100 million. juan carlos abdicated the throne in 2014 amid another corruption scscandal. he is the father of the current king. back in the united states, the trump administration finalized plans monday to open up the arctic national wildlife refuge, one of the world's last pristine wilderness regions, to oil and fracked gas drilling. the arctic refuge is rich in biodiversity and has been home to indigenous people for thousands of years. the move will allow oil and gas rights to be auctioned off across more than a million-and-a-half acres of the arctic refuge coastal plains. interior secretary david rnhardt isis a former oil lobbyist who has been accused of ethihics violalations and making popolicy decisions that directly benefited former clients. in california, the thermometer in death valley hit 130 degrees fahrenheit sunday, which may be the highest temperature ever recorded on earth. scientists are working to confirm the reading but say that the increase in record-breaking temperatures around the world is due to global heating.

this comes as california's battttling 30 wildfiress amidsta recocord-breaking he way. scientists have found greenland's ice sheet has shrunk past the point of return even if global efforts are enacted to slow down the climate catastrophe. the melting of greenland's ice is steadily pushing sea levels higher as records show the arctic is warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the world. one of the authors of the recent study in the journal nature communications earth & environment said -- "greenland is going to be the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is already pretty much dead at this point." the former c chief of stafaff ae department of homeland security under president trump has publicly endorsed joe biden as president. in a video for republican voters against trump, miles taylor said trump wanted to exploit dhs to fuel his own agenda. >> t the things he wanted to do were not only impossible, but in many cases it was illegal. he did not want us to tell hi they weree illegal.

he knew he had magagical authority. hehe was one of the most unfocud and u undisciplinined senior executives i have ever encountered. amy: a a warning to o our audiee ---- the following stotory conts graphic footage ofololice viviolence. in minnesota, newly released video sheds light on the events leading up to george floyd's killing by minneapolis police officers on may 25. the body camera footage shows then-officer tou thao confronting a crowd of bystanders that grew increasingly vocal and angry as they watched officer derrick chauvin pressing his knee into floyd's neck for over nine minutes. officer thao ignored the protests of onlookers and repeatedly forced them back onto the sidewalk. >> back off! get off the street! >> he is not responsive right now, bro. look at him. he is not responsive right now.

amy: thao and two otother offifs face charges of aiding and abetting seconond-degreeee murd, carried out t by officicer derrk chauvin. in louisiana, , a parole board s set an october hearing for fair wayne bryant, a 62-year-old black man who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1997 burglary of hedge clippers. earlier this month, five white members of louisiana's supreme court upheld the sentence, saying it was permitted by a louisiana "habitual offender law." inin a scathing dissent, the court's only black member, chief justice bernette johnson, blasted mandatory minimum sentences under the law as a modern manifestationon of segregationistst legislation passed after the civil war. in north carolina, the state supreme court has reinstated a life sentence for marcus robinson, a 47-year-old black man who had been sentenced to death for a 1994 murder. robinson successfully employed north carolina's racial justice act to show race was a significant factor in hihis deah sentence.

and inin texas, the auststin ciy council is rededirectingng $2500 from i its police department to support a program offering logigiical servivices for abortn accessss. anand those are some of thee headlines. thisis is democracy now!, dedemocracynow.org, the quarante report. i am amy goodman in new york with my cohohost juan gonzalez joining us from his home in new jersey.. juan: welcomome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: forormer first lady michele obama and former presisidential candidate senator bernie sanders headlined the opening night of a virtual democratic natioional convention m monday. the dnc was originalally schedud to be held in milwaukee, wisconsin, but it was moved entirelyly online due to public health concerns. michelle obama gave the keynote address. >> when my husband left office with joe biden at his side, we had a record-breaking stretch of

job creation. we'd secured the right to health care for 20 million people. we were respected around the world, rallying our allies to confront climate change. and our leaders had worked hand-in-hand with scientists to help prevent an ebola outbreak from becoming a global pandemic. four years later, the state of this nation is very different. more than 150,000 people have died and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long. it has left millions of people jobless. too many have lost their health care. too many are struggling to take care of basic necessities like food and rent. too many communities have been left in the lurch to grapple

with whether and how to open our schools safely. internationally, we've turned our back, not just on agreements forged by my husband, but on alliances championed by presidents like reagan and eisenhower. and here at home, as george floyd, breonna taylor, and a never-ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office. because whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy. so let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can.

donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. now, i understand that my message won't be heard by some people. we live in a nation that is deeply divided, and i am a black woman speaking at the democratic convention. but enough of you know me by now. you know that i tell you exactly what i'm feeling. you know i hate politics. but you also know that i care about this nation. you know how much i care about all of our children. so if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this -- if you think things cannot possibly

get worse, trust me, they can. and they will if we don't make a change in this election. if we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for joe biden like our lives depend on it. and if we want a chance to pursue any of these goals, any of these most basic requirements for a functioning society, we have to vote for joe biden in numbers that cannot be ignored. because right now, folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting. they're closing down polling places in minority neighborhoods. they're purging voter rolls. they're sending people out to intimidate voters, and they're lying about the security of our ballots. amy: former first lady michelle

obama speaking at the virtual democratic national convention on the first night. former presidential candidate senator bernrnie sanders also assailed trumpmp over his hemmig of the coronavirus pandemic and much more. >> our great nation is now living in an unprecedented moment. we're facing the worst public health crisis and it 100 years and the worst economic collapse since the great depression. we are confronting systemic racism and the enormous threat to our planet with climate change. and in the midst of all of this, we have a president who is not only incapable of addressing these crises, but is leading us down the path of authoritarianism. this election is the most important in the modern history of this country. in response to the unprecedented crises we face, we need an unprecedented response, a movement like never before, of

people who are prepared to stand up and fight for democracy and decency and against greed, oligarchy, and bigotry. and we need joe biden as our next president. let me take this opportunity to say a word to the millions of people who supported my campaign this year and in 2016 -- my friends, thank you for your trust, or support, and the love you showed jane, me, and our family. together we have moved this country in a bold new direction, showing that all of us -- black and white, latino, native american, asian american, gay and straight, nativeborn and immigrant -- yearn for a nation based on the principles of justice, love, and compassion.

our campaign ended several months ago, but our movement continues and is getting stronger every day. many of the ideas we fought for that just a few years ago were considered radical are now mainstream. but let us be clear. it donald trump is reelected, all of the progress we have made will be in jeopardy. and at its most basic, this election is about preserving our democracy. during this president's term, the unthinkable has become normal. he has tried to prevent people from voting, undermined u.s. postal service, deployed the military and federal agents against peaceful protesters, threatened to delay the election, and suggested that he will not leave office if he loses. , and we mustormal

never treat it is. administration, authoritarianism has taken root in our country. i and my family and many of yours know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency, and humidity. as long as i am here, i will work with progressives, with moderates, and, yes, with conservatives, to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat. this president is not just a threat to our democracy, but by rejecting science he has put our lives and health in jeopardy. trump has attacked doctors and scientists trying to protect us from the pandemic, while refusing to take strong action

to produce the masks, gowns, and gloves our health care workers desperately need. nero fiddled while rome burned. trump golfs most of his actions spend this pandemic resulting in nation0,000 deaths and a still unprepared to protect its people. furthermore, trump's negligence has exacerbated the economic crisis we are now experiencing. since this pandemic began, over 30 million people have lost their jobs and many have lost their health insurance. millions of working families are wondering how they will feed their kids and they're worried that they will be evicted from their homes. how has trump responded? instead of maintaining the $600 week unemployment supplement

that workers were receiving and the $1200 emergency checks that many of you received, instead of helping small businesses, trump concocted fraudulent executive orders that do virtually nothing to address the crisis while threatening the very future of social security and medicare. but the truth is that even before trump's negligence response to this pandemic, too many hard-working families have been caught on an economic treadmill with no hope of ever getting ahead. nationr, we must build a that is more equitable, more compassionate, and more inclusive. i know that joe biden will begin that fight on day one. let me offer you just a few examples of how joe will move us forward.

joe supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. this will give 40 million workers a pay raise and push the wage scale up for everyone else. joe will also make it easier for workers to join unions, create 12 weeks of paid family leave, fund universal pre-k for three-year-olds and four-year-olds come and make childcare affordable for millions of families. joe will rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and fight the threat of climate change by transitioning us to 100% clean electricity over the next 15 years. these initiatives will create allions of good paying jobs across our country. as you know, we are the only industrialized nation not guarantee health care for all people. while joe and i disagree on the

best path to get universal coverage, he has a plan that will greatly expand health care and cut the cost of prescription drugs. further, he will lower the eligibility age of medicare from 65 down to 60. to help reform our broken criminal justice system, joe and and private prisons attention centers, cash bail, and the school to prison pipeline. and to heal the soul of our nation, joe biden will end the hate and the vision trump has created. he will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the rhesus dog whistling, the religious bigotry, and the ugly attacks on men. my friends, i say to you come to everyone who supported other

candidates in the primary and to those who may have voted for donald trump in the last election, the future of our democracy is at stake. the future of our economy is at stake. the future of our planet is at stake. , defeatcome together donald trump, elect joe biden and, harris as our next president and vice president. my friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine. thank k you. amy: f former presidentialal candidate senator bernie sanders participating in the virtutual democratic national convention. whwh we come back, we will speak to a another former presidential candidate, julian castro. unlike many of his rivals, he was not given a primetime spot at t the conventioion. he recently lost his mother to covid-1919.

first, his stepmotheher to covid-19. but first we will hear from aa young mexican-american woman who did address s the convention. she lost her father to covid in june. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

a amy: "land of confusion" by genesis. we are breaking with convention. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman n and juanan gonzalez. as we cocontinue to air r highls from the opening night of the virtual democratic national convention, one of the most moving speeches was delivered by a young mexican-american woman whose father died of covid-19 in arizona in june.e. >> i am kristin urquiza. i'm one of many who has lost a loved one to covid. my dad, mark anthony urquiza, should be here today, but he isn't. he had faith in donald trump.

he voted for h him, listened too hihim, believed him and hiss mouthpieces s when they sasaid t coronavirus was under control and going to disappear, that it was ok to end social distancing rules before it was safe, and that if you had no underlying health conditions you'd probably be fine.e. so in late may, after the stay-at-home order was lifted in arizona, my dad went to a karaoke bar with his friends. a few weeks later, he was on a veveilator.. and after five agonizing days, he died alone in the icu with a nurse holding his hand. my dad was a healthy 65-year-old. his only pre-existing condition was trusting donald trump. and for that, he paid with his life. i am not alone. once i told my story, a lot of people reached out to me to share theirs. they asked me to help keep the community safe, especialally

commmmunities of color, which he bebeen disproportionately affefected. they asked me, a normamal perso, to help because donald trump won't. the coronavirus has made it clear that there are two americas -- the america that donald trump lives in and the america a that my father dieied. enough is enough. donald trump may notot have caud the coronavirus, but his dishonestyty and his irresponsie actions made it so m much worse. we need a leader who has a national, coordidinated, data-driven response to stop t e pandemic from claiming more lives and safely reopen ththe cocountry. we need a leader who will step in on day one and do his job -- to care. one of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of donald trump. anand so when i cast my vote for joe biden, i will do it t for my

dad. amy: kristin urquiza speaking at the democratic natational convention on its kikickoff nig. as the dnc began the four day convention monday night with a focus on racial j justice and president trump's mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, the democric partyaced cricism for a la of diversity in his pretime liup with lyly a ndful ofatinx spkers and no musm speake while rerepuicans li formemeohio gogoveor johohn sich wergiven slots. it was moderated by the actress eveva longoria.. new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez is sest to s speak for tonight for 60 seconds. for more, we are joined by former 2020 democratic presidential candidate julian castro -- the only latinx candidate who was in the race. castro served as secretary of housing and urban development under president obama, from 2014-2017. he was not invited to speak in primetime at the dnc. he joins us from san antonio,

texas, which may be a battleground state this november. welcome back to democracy now! our condolences on ththe loss of your stepmother to covid-19. >> t thank you very y much. it is good to be with you. thatat testimony you played that was shown last night from kristin wasas tremendously powerful and i think resonatates with a lot of peoplele out ther. i know for me and my family, we certaiainly understatand the seriousness of this virus and also understand that a lot of this could have been prevented. i i want toan castro,, asask you your initial reactiono the first night of the espspecially many of the s speaks we are talkingng that -- wewere talking aboutut y was imimportant to votote agagat donald trump, the decency of j e

bibiden, and hisis experience ad his respect for r science. but t bernie sanders is one of e fefew who actutually went t inte content ofof what e biden i is standing for, his platform, why it is important for progressives to vote for him.m. >> i think that senator sanders did a wonderful job. i think michelle obama very powerful last night. you are right with senator sanders that, look, one of the things i noticed out there right now is whether people are liberal oror conservative, republican, democrat, independent, what they want our solutions. i think what bernie did well in highlighting was this is what electing joe biden is going to mean for you and your family -- raising the minimum wage, health care, number of other thingngs that wilill make people'e's livs better. that is what i think people want to know. how is t this person goioing toe my life anand thee life of my family in n the country better than it is today? i think we have got to a point

that because t there's so m much back a and forth on cable news, because people are so polarized, that folks that don't love politics, that don't follow it all the time,, thehey tend totoy away from it even more than usual right now, shy away from the conversation. in t the best way i think to get their attention is to say, ok, this is how it is going to be different in a positive way. and he did thahat, whihich was great. juan: one of the big issues of the night and o obviously of ths election seaeason is the issue f the riright to vote,e, whether s under assault or not, and also maiail-in ballots. a recent p poll showed in your state of texas, a mamajority of latinos would d prefer to vovotn mail-inher thahan b by ballllot. i'm wondering your sense of this issue and arare there -- independently of what t you may think o of president trump,p, ae there concernsns a about all man

ballot in teterms of being ableo assure the integrity of the vote? >> look, what i believe his people should have options during this time period. they should d not have to o choe between theieir right to vote ad risking their health. so universal mail-in ballots should be available. voting, is in-person that he made the safest possible. you are righght. growing up here in a largely mexican american community in san anantonio, i can tell you wt i would hear along the way is, "oh, i'm not going to vote early. i'm goining to vote in person." ofthis practice kind proceeds the controversy that we are having around mail-in ballot thing. at the same time, we could not ignore the fact that this president who is trying to suppress the vote as a strategy to read this election. there are going to be a lot more people that want to use the mail

to cast their vote this time and theieir states likike colorado t rely on universal mail-in ballot as her sole form of voting. we have to make sure the post office is well invested in, that it is functioning properly, that it can handle a greater volume than usual of mail-in ballots. amy: the brothers of george floyd led a momoment of silence during monday y night's broadcat of the democratic national convention in honor of their brother and otother victims of policece violence. this is philonise. >> my brother george was selfless. he always made sacrifices for his family, friends, and even complete strangers. george had a giving spirit, a spirit that has shown up on streets around our nation and around the world. people of all races, all ages, all genders, all backgrounds peacefully protesting in the

name of love and unity. it is a fitting legacy for our brother, for george to be alive today, breonna taylor should be alive today, ahmaud arbery should be alive today, stefan clark, touchy young jefferson, sandra bland should all be alive today. so it is up to us to carry on the fight for justice. amy: and with that, , they wento a momoment of silelence at the convention. another part of the e dnc last night, joe biden in conversation with a number ofof people, including gwen carr, the activist andnd mother of eric garner. this is part of f what they sai. >> most cops are good, but the fact is, the bad ones have to be identified and prosecuted and out. period. when, how are you doing? >> i'm doing pretty well, as

well as can be expected. that the words of george floyd "i can't breathe" were not new to you and echo in your mind every single day. six years ago when your son died. what you think the next thing we have to do is, gwen? >> first of all, i know when my son was murdered, there was a big uprising. but then it settled down. we can't let thingngs settle do. we have to go to politicians and we have to hold their feet to the fire. becaususe otherwise, the e g uprising iss not going to mean a lolot. so i'm just asking that if you become the president that you national that we get law as well as state and localal law,w, especialllly when i it co police brutality. because that has been an age-old problem.

>, be kidding myself, but i think people are ready. we just haveve to keep pushingn. wewe can't let up. amy: so that is joe biden speaking to gwen carr, the mother of eric garner. julian castro, i think you are the earliest plan for dealing with police. can you lay that out and what you think the democratic candidates need to do right now? what joe biden needs to do to deal with this critical issue of police brutality? >> well, first, i would say i see thatglad to exchange last night and the fact that vice president biden andnd thee campaign are dealing squarely with this issue, n not shying a away from it, not walkg away from it, not letting up on it. can't let itd, we

settle back down. i thought those were some of the most powerful words in the entire convention from last night because that is ususually what happens. fortunately, vice president biden very early on after the murder of george floyd put forward a series of policy proposals from painting chokeholds to national use of force s standards, more transparency that he called a down payment on change. many of those are reflected in the george floyd justice and policing at the house of representatives task on top of that, glad to s see local communities across the countryry that are engaging in deeper thinking about investing in mental health counseling, social workers, housing opportunity callse some of the -- 700 for police e officers to respspd to or people that t have a m mel health issue, homeless, they

don't need any armed cop. the vast majority of f them aree not violent. theyey need serervices so thahay can get onto a better life. and cities across the country, whether we're talking about los angeles or san francisco or austin, texas, just up the road for me, are moving inin that direction. joe biden has said he wants to work with local communities as they are doing that. all of that is positive. as he said, we need to keep pushshing. juan: julian c castro, you may e reluctant to talkk about your on personal r role in ththis, but t must be bittttersweet to s see l of this emphasis now of the national partytyn the issue of police abuse after the murder of gegeorge floydyd when you are ot there eaearly in the campaign raisising this issue and a alsot you in a pest c convention have been a keynonote spepeaker of te democratic conventionn and now

many latino leaders feel you have been slighted in the lineup of the four days of the convention. your thougughts onon that? >> look, i know they have a very difficult challenge because the networks c condensed the amountf time that they're giving the parties this year. i think that one or two hourursa night -- usually ththat is three or fouour hours.s. it is understandable thahat you will have a limitited number of speakers. and more importantly than me or anyone person speaking, politician speaking, i think you get valueue, that the voters get value, the people get value from heheing the powerful stories gwen's that's and really connect why it is important to elect joe biden to the lives of everyday people out there. i think that isis the most important thing. i think that is polititically te most effective thing. so i know i will have my timemeo spspeak whether it is on this sw or other shohows or other

opportunities, but amemerica nes to hearr how this president has badldly impacted the lives of people around this country. and morere important how joe bin is going to m make a popositive difference for them. amy: evenn talkiking about representation on the panel, following up on what juan said, the primimetime slots include ,,rnie sanders, kamala harris ghouta judge, , klobuchahar, wa, , though.ang, not you you asked? >> to speak in primetime? no, i was not. spoke a few years ago and had a wonderful time doing it. i'm going to continue to speak out on issues for our country and more portly, i'm going to do my part to help ensure thatat je

biden gegets elected and we deft donald trump in november. i agree with you on the issue of representation. last week i think the account had en that erere were 3 pretime e eakers and only three of them were in-person -- latinx. i raised a concern about t that and atat that time, like of representationon among nativee americans and d muslim americans because i don't believe that represents -- represented the coalition the democrats are put together. fortunately, in the day sincece then, over the weekend, theree were announcemements m made that was much more diverse, which is a positive -- and when you look at the programming, the non-politicians that are speaking -- which i think people may even pay attention to more -- they are very diverse, whether it is the family of thege floyd k orristin, woman who get testimony about her father passing from covivid-19, that is important.

amy: the polls do show, for example, texas hispanics favor joe biden but d donald trump stl leads statewide elelectorate in presidential race. just one headline. how should that be addressed, julian castro? what can joe biden do? what does he have to watch out for? what does he have to make sure he does not ignore, for example, like immigration? > wheheit comes to the latino community, i think the campaign needs to continue to invest in voter outreach, registration efefforts,s, speak to thee i iss that matter, and just recently the campaign released d a latino agenda f for america which i thought was a good thing to do and will resonate. also, all of the issues that people care about -- health care, small business, educational opportunities for their kids, addressing the fact

that the latinx community and other vulnerable communities have been the hardest hit during this pandemic. joe biden has been squarely addressing many of thohose issu. and i'm frfrom the campaign will continue to do that. on top of that, it wiwill requie a lolot of f other r work from e nonprofifit o organizations thau provide registration in a number of others to get folks out i in what is going to be a very unusual year in terms of the mechanics of votining. amy: you famouslsly said to bid, "i've learned the lessons of the past but you haven''t." do you think he has now? >> i hahave been n pleased witht vice president biden has put out in terms of his immigration plan and then also on health care. he and i did have ourr conversations on the debate stage, and that is the nature of primary debate, right? you're going to go back and forth on how you differ.

i don't expect that everybody -- everybody i support is going to agree with me completely. if they agreed with me completely, i would be that candidate, right? what i think it's important for folks to realize out there, and now i'm speaking directly to the latinx community, is t that it s night and day with joe b biden versus donald trump. donald trurump has been the crcruelest,, most ilill intentin president when it comes to not only immigrants, migrants, but ,he broader latinino community scapegoated the comommunity, uss it as a political piñata. and joe b biden is 70 who brings compassion, who brings understanding, and most important, because what you want toto judge politicians on is, wt are you goioing to do and what s your track record? has a track recocord of expandiding opportuy with barack obama, the affordable care act come

expanded health care to 4 millllion, more than 4 million latinx folks in this country on educational opportunity, violence against women, on housing opportunity. remember going to delaware with him -- i think it was veterans day of 2016 -- and marking the effective end of veteran homelessness in wilmington and singng how much that meant to h. so this isis somebody that iss going to w work to make life better for everyrybody in this country in a way that d donald trump, as michelle obama pointed out, donald trump is not up to it and doesn't wantnt to do it. finaljulian castro, our few moments thatat we have, i am wondering your assesessment goig back to texas, the second-most populist state in the nation, your assessment of governor greg abbott's decision to reopen the statate earlyy on? yourlso, can you tell us

thoughts for your fufuture? any possibility of a r run for governor at someme point? i mean, greg abbott has been in the same boat as donald trump and governors like to see in arizona and desantis in floriri. i ideology overng the e public heaealth and scien. so when he reopen the state in early may, he made three mistakes, reopening too early. when they reopened, they did not have two things in place that public h health expeperts tell s you need to have in place, which is robust testing and robust contact tracing. in fact, at ththe time, texas ranked 48th per capita in terms of the number of tests that were happening. third, when community is across the state begged the governor to tailor r their own safefety prececautions, require masks oro other things, t the govovernor d

no, my order supersedes you. you can dodo that. open up ththe bars and restauras and then basically m made it woe here in the state e of texas for everybody, and has hurt the economy because of that. and admitted, for instance, he made a mistake in opening thth bars up too early. rely in the middle of a global pandemic on people ththat arare putting theieir own politl ideology and interests had a basic science and the public'ss health. that is inin nobody's interest. ththat is exactly what greg abbt has done. this is the first time in a long time i'm nonot aiming for anany office. after i got out o of the obama administraration, i pretty much knew t that i was going to probably run for president. peopleow i'm working on first feature, which is an effort to support bold,

prprogressive candididates thahe running up and d down thee ballt for congress and the e school boards come to help build a venture progressives in our coununtry. i'm going to continue to use my voice to be supportive of joee biden and kamala harris to help get them elected. then we will see what happepens, whether by genvec c and a polils at some point soon or just wait for a while. right now i don't feel compelled necessarily to jump right back in. amy: julian castro, thank you for being with us, former 2020 democratic presidential candidate. served as secretary of housing and urban development under obama. prior to that, he was mayoror of sasan antonio. today marks 100th a anniversaryf the raratification o of the 19th amendmenent to the constitituti, guaranteeing women's right to vote. though many black womomen not enjoy that right for d decades. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: performrming here at democracy now! there's some feaeature durg g te

democrcratic national convention hispanic caucus meeting yestererday. this i is democracy now! i'm m amy goodman and juan gonzalez. convention.aking with 100 years s ago tododay, the 19h a minute to the constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women's right to vote, stating -- "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex." but the 19th amendment was not implemented equally. many states created laws to continue to deny women the vote, and african american women were subjected to the same jim crow laws that had already been used to deny the vote to rican-amererican men. for momore on this and how the movementnt for women's suffrage was connected to the movement to abolish slavery, we're joined by historian martha jones, author of the forthcoming book "vanguard: how black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all." she recently wrote an op-ed in "the new york times" headlined

"tackling a century-old mystery: did my grandmother vote?" she is the society of black alumni presidential professor and professor of history at johns hopkins university. professor, welcome back to democracy now! did your grandmother vote? tell us her story andnd how that fitsts i into this dayay, the df the 100th anniniversary y of the raticationon. andnd finishing "vangrdrd" realizeded i did not know my grandmother story in this it me on hold other quest. i will look for her in saint louis, m missouri, when black women werere coming to the polls in impmport numbers. i could not find her there. i followed her to greensboro, north carolina, where she and my ,randfather began a college bennett college, for african-american women in 1926. i could not find her there. the records of women's early vote in nortrth carolina havevet survived, and i could not tell that story.

but i followed her untilil t the 191950's and 1960's, where i see herr alongside the yououng womef bennett collelege, now part of e modern civil rights erera, organizing and knocking on doors and getting black americans registered to vote as part of the civil rights revolution, as she putt it, it was "thrilling." it was thrilling for me to find r there but it was s a reminder that to look for african-american women in their history of the v vote in 1920'ss missed. the important chapters that begins in the 1920 does not culminate until the voting rights act is adopted i in 1965. juan: professosor jones, right n ththe book that blacack women ng rights activists actualllly predatated the famous whitite suffragists. what you title your bookok "vanguard"? >> i titled it "vanguard"

because as early as the first decades of the 19th century, black women are developing a political philosophy, a critique of the united states. it is a view that says no raracism, no sexism in american politics. for a very long time, african-american women are quite alone in carrying those principleses forward, holding ge bar high for this natation i called them the vavanguard becae indeed they lead us to a 21st century in which i think it is fair to say that view, while it may not be held by all americans, certainly has a place , an important place in our political agenda. black women lead us there. it is a lonely, lonely track for much of our history. bubut here in the 21st t ntury whenen we say no racism m and no sexism in politics, sounds very present but it turns out it is a

very o old set of ideas. amy: in the last minute we have, martha jones, can you tell us some of the early black suffragists, long before the cynical falls convention of 1848 and how they ultimately lead toward the 19th mm weree oftften erased from that history that we learned? >> i w went to introduce you to mariah stewart who in the early 1830''s s is in boston, once an intentions -- indentured servant, who takes first her pen to the pages of "the liberator" into the podiums of boston where she makes the case for black women's place in politics. she decries the sexism and the racism that keep her in women like her from shaping the futute of their communities and the future of the nation. mariah stewart is the v very fit american woman to speak from the podium about politics.s. we don''t remember her.

i am very pleleased in n the anniversrsary year to richer dus or to american audiences. and clark? >> the women of the courageous women who put their bodiess and lives, their families and commitities on t the line in t e modedern civil rights era, , we would not be e in this moment totoday without that extraordiny vision, but also tha extraordinary risk-taking. the violence was persistent and the courage was phenomenal. amy: martha jones, thank you so much for being with us. there is so much more to talk about. august 26 6 is the actual congressional certification of the 100th anniversary of thee congress certifyinin thehe 19th amendment. wewe will contininue the conversation then. martha jones, author of the

forthcoming book "vanguard: how black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all." that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible byby

xxxx . ♪ >> yeah! asia championship. >> in may 2019, hong kong hosted the preliminary round of an internat