08/31/20 08/31/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy:y: from new w york, this is democracy now! >> i stand here today knowing that my howard university education prepared me to play jackie robinson. marshall,n, ththurgood and t'challa. amy: the beloved actor chadwick boseman has died at the age of 43 after a secret four-year battle with colon cancer. boseman is best known for his iconic role as king t'challa in

the grou-b-breakg "b"bla panther"ililm. his firsleleadin role was playing jackie rininson thehe film " "." give me uniform, give me a nunumbern my bacack and i will give you the guts. amy: chadwick boseman died on friday. we will speak to cancer survivor, author, and professor ibram x. kendi. friday marked two years since he underwent surgery to remove tumors. it is a day he calls his second birthday. we will talk about chadwick boseman, his own fight against cancer, racial disparities in health care, trump, white supremacy, and how -- "how to be an anti-racist." >> we can't just talk about racism as an original sin. we have to talk about racism as the original cancer that is been

killing america. it is a must prevented americans from coming together and forming a uninion at its founding. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, ththe quarante report. i'm amy goodman. protests are continuing in kenosha, wisconsin, whwhen we gt to thehe police shooting of jacb blake and days after a white 17 euros militia member killed two black lives matter protesters. at least 1000 national guard troops were on the ground in kenosha during we rallies. reports have emerged of what are believed to be unidentified federal agents abducting protesters before detaining them without charges. when asked by a reporter in new hampshire, president trump addressed the shooting of jacob

blake friday, defending the police officer who shot him. trump said "people can make a mistake that doesn't make them bad, they choked. trump is set to visit kenosha even after the governor pleaded with him sunday to reconsider. evers wrote "i'm concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. i am concerned your presence will only delay our work to governordivision," the said. in portland, oregon, one person was shot dead at a pro-trump caravan rally. the man who was killed was wearing a hat with the insigniaa of far rightht group patriot prayer. the identity of the shooter is still unknown. before the fatal shooting, the pro-trump caravan of hundreds clashed with antiracist protesters who have been taking to the streets for three straight months following the police killing of george floyd. in the span of several hours early sunday, president trump unleashed a tweetstorm in which he, among other things,

retweeted conspiracy theories about the protests being a could remove him from office. he also attacked portland mayor ted wheeler. this is mayor wheeler responding to trump sunday. >> it is you who have created hate and the division. it is you who have not found a way to say the names of black people killed by police officers , even as people in law enforcement have. it is you who claimed that white supremacists are good people. your campaign of fear is as antidemocratic as anything you have done to create hate and vitriol in our beautiful country. amy: in related news, an appeals court last week halted an order protecting journalists and legal observers in portland from being removed byby federal agegents. the number of confirmed covid 19 cases in the united states has topped 6 million with the death

toll over 183,0,000. more than a million people testeded positive ovover the pat three weekeks in the uninited stateses. a a number of ststates are now reporting record number of cases including iowa, north dakota and south dakota. over americans died of covid-19 4000 during last week's republican national convention. that is more than the total number of people killed in the 9/11 attack. but president trump is attempting to downplay the death toll. on sunday, he retweeted a message from a far-right website falsely claiming that just 9000 people have died from covid-19. twitter deleted the original tweet saying it violated its rules. in education news, more than students at the university of 1200 alabama have tested positive since classes resumed in august. nationwide, cnn is reporting 8700 total cases have already been reported on college causes nationwide.

in medical n new thehe fd andd drug administration haapapprov thuse ofofemdesivir for all paenents hpitatalid withth covid- d despi thehe lk of publhehed scntifificupportrt meanwhile, t f fda h oususte its top spokwowoman d a a pr consultant jt t daysfterer f commsioner sphen hahn apologiz f for orstatinghe potive rests of usg blood plasma aa treatmt for cod-19. der enenmous pressure frfr presentt trump, who with others in the administration, call ee a papartf that ep state, the fda recentnt gave emergency us authorization for the plasma treaenent. the fdaheheap i is mitting e a may consider emergencysese approval for cidid-19 vaccine beforehase thr tals are colete. the numb of repoed covid9 caseacacrosshe globeas surpasse2525 milonon. more tha84840,00people he di.

onunday, iia repord nearly 79,0 new cas -- the ghest single day tally for any country inin the wororld. authorities in gaza have extended a lockdowown amid fears of a broader covid-19 outbreak in the occupied territory. in news from latin america, peru now has the highest number of deaths from covid-19 per capita in the world. nearly 29,000 people have died in peru from the virus. meanwhile, in germany, more than 300 people, including many far right activists, have been arrested following a large demonstration in berlin protesting against public health measuresaken to combat the pandemic. some protesters attempted to storm the reichstag building, german's parliament. -- germany's s parliament. tributes conontinue to pour in r beloved actor chadwick boseman after he died friday at the age of 43, after a four-year battle with colon cancer. boseman is b best known for his iconic role as king t'challa in

the ground-breaking "black panther" -- the first mainstream black superhero movie. he was also widely acclaimed for his portrayal of major historic f figur likike urgoodod marshall, memes brn, a and jackie robinn.n. this ibobosemaspeaeaki alongse e the "like panther" cast as they accepted the screen actors guild awards. >> we all know what it is like to be told there is not a place for you to be featured, yet you're young, gifted, and black. wewe know whwhat it isis like te toldld there is not a screen for you to b be featureded on, a ste you to be featured on. we k know what it is like toto e the tail end of the head, t to e beneath and d not abobove. and that is what we went to work knenewery day because we not that we would be around during award season if it were

to m make a billion dollars, but we knew we had something special ththat we wanted to geget the w, that we cocould be full human beings and the roles we were playing, that we could create a world that exemplifies world that we wananted to see. amy: that was chadwick boseman after headlines, we will spspend the hour talking about boseman, black panther, president trump, white supremacy with another cancer survivor. we will speaeak with prorofessor kendndi. ins of thousands gathered washington, d.c., friday, on the 57th anniversary of the march on washington. the rally was to protest and brutality. >> we will hold court today.

we will hold court on systematic racism. we're going to have court right now. guilty. guilty. guilty. against all of us. guilty. guilty. racism against trayvon martin. we find them guilty. racism against george e floyd. we find them guilty. amy: martin luther king junior's 12-year-old granddaughter also spoke. heless than a year before was assassinated, my grandfather predicted thihis very moment. he said that we were moving into a new phase of the struggle. the first phase was the civil rights and t the new phase is

genuine of qualityty. amy: l lebanon's abbasid are to germany has been test with forming the new government following the resignation ofof e prime e minister amimidst meltig public rage over the devastating explosion at the port of beirut that killed 200 people and injured thousasands. he has served as lebanon's ambassador to germany since 2013 and has received the backing from the country sunni muslim political leaders. in belarus, mass prorotest omitting the resignation of president alexander lukashenko continued this weekend, three weeks after what many have called a rigged election amidst a brutal government crackdown. military tanks could be seen positioned in the capital minsk. at least 19 journalists who work for foreign media outlets had their accreditation revoked, and two associated press reporters were deported. at least 400 refugees are stranded in the mediterranean sea as european officials are

denying rescue ships permission to come ashore. many of those stranded migrants have been traveling on a ship funded by british street artist banksy who is accused officials of a going distress calls from rescue vessels. in related news, at least three refugees died this week and when a caring around 20 people caught on fire on the southern coast of italy. in mauritius, tens of thousands protested saturday in the capital over the government's response to a catastrophic oil spill last mononth. the discovery of dozens of dead dolphins and melon-headed d whas has compounded public anger and demands for an impartial investigation. conservationists have warned the spill from the japanese fuel tanker mv wakashio has threatened protected coral reefs and a number of endangered species. in s sudan, the government and n alliance of rebel groups in darfur have signed a peace deal in hopes of putting an end to 17 years of cononflict. the deaeal covevers key issues around land ownenership, transitionalal justice,

power-sharing, a and return of people who fled because of war. it also paves the way for dismantling of rebel forces and for membebers to be intntegrated ininto the national army. the united nations is warning the life of congolese doctor nobel peace prize laureate is in danger after he received aa series of death threats. pansy h hospital and the democratic republic of congo, which trereats women requiriring surgrgery as a resuf sexual violence. he has been targeted for his work before and survived an assassination attempt in 2012. in pakisistan, torrential rainss have killeled at least 13 people and submerged large swells of pakistan's largest city. the record-breaking rains this month more are ten times the monthly average and the worst sisince record-keeping began soe 90 years ago. lastly, over eight inches fell in a period of just 12 hours. of thes in the midst coronavirus pandemic. back in the united states in

louisiana, immigrantnts detained at the lasalle a and parish cocorrectional centeter are denouncing unlivable conditions inside the ice prisons after hurricane laura battered the state. according to prisoners, the two jails have flooded with urine and feces, don't have electricity, clean food or water, and don't have air circulation forcing prisoners to sleep outside, many in their underwear. as louisiana residents now face a long road d recovery y from hurricicane laura, many also mak this weekend 15 years since hurricane katrina struck the gulf coast, , killing over 1800 people and devastating the city of new orleans. on friday, black organizers and leaders from around the country held theirtual blalack national conventionon. the event organized by the movement for black lives featured conversationsns on isss including electoral jusustice, criminal justice system, labor, the climate c crisis, d disabily justice, trans rights, f femini, and imimmigration. this is s the north rolina

activist bree newsome whoho was arrested fivive years ago for aling a 30 foot flagpgpole at the south carolina capital to remove thehe confederate flag. > we're trying toraransfo a a system in governmentnt that wawa funded around d our enslavement. we are alreaeady alienated in my ways frorom that b but even beyd s someone when we elelect whwho we can consider conrad o r somemeone who has gone ininto te office promimising to puput ford our agenda, again the rerealitys that the system m that they come up against is so highlyy organized tha it t we're not organized on our end to susuppot themem and continue pushing coce it will be very difffficult for that persoson to do anything. amy: democrats have slammed the announuncement by the director f national intelligence john ratcliffe friday that he is cacanceling in-person correction -- congressional election security briefings just over two month ahead of election day. the trumpet administration said the cancellation was in order to

prevent leaks and that written reports would be issued instead. in joint statetement, house speaker nancy pelosi andnd intelligence committee chair adam schiff called the change shockiking abdicication of respsponsibilities of the dni. and in new york, the family of layleen polanco -- a 27-year-old transgender afro-latinx woman who was found dead in a jail cell at rikers island last yeaer -- has been awarded an $5.9 million to settle a lawsuit against the city. polanco died from an epileptic seizure in june 2019 after she was left in solitary confinement for nine days. polanco was being held at rikers on $500 bail. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, demomocracynowow.org, the quarae report. i'm amy goodman. when we comeme back, we spend te .our with dr. ibram x x. kendi stay wh h us. ♪ [mumusibreak]k]

amy: from the soundtrackck to "black panther." thisis is democracy now!, democracynow.o.org, the e quarae report. i'm amy y goodman. chadwick boseman -- the world-renowned actor known best for his groundbreaking role in the 2018 blockbuster hit "black panther" -- died friday at the private3 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. news shocked the public and sparked a wave of tributes to the men who played jackie robinson, thurgood marshall -- the fit t blac justice on the u. s supre court, and of course, superhero king t'chlalah all whe e beintreaeatefor cancer. a statemenshsharedn bobosen's twitter said -- "a true fighter, chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much.

from 'marshall' to 'da 5 bloods,' august wilson's 'ma rainey's black bottom' and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. it was the honor of his career to bring king t'challa to life in 'black panther." twitter announced the post was the "most liked tweet ever. a tribute fit for a king. #wakandaforever." "black panther" is one of the highest grossing movies of all time, earning more than $1.3 billion around the world. it has been called a "defining moment for black america," as the first superhero movie with a majority black cast and an african lead character. this is a clip of the film's trailer. >> let me tell you something, what you know about wakonda?

>> is a thirdorld coury. [indiscernible] i am the only on who has seen . >> the world is chaing.

you are a go man with a go for good it is hard man to be -- delight amy: that was part of the trailer for "black panther." in 2018, chadwick boseman returned to his alma mater, the historically black college howard university, to give the 2018 commencement address. >> i stand here today knowing that my howard university education prepared me to play jackie robinson. james brown, thurgood marshahall come and t'challa. do when theo you principles that stand that were instilled in you here at howard clclose the doors in front of y?

sometimes you need to get not down before you can really figure out what your fight is and how you need to fight it. amy: boseman spoke as he was fighting for his life. a few people knew this at the time. according to the american cancer society, rates of colorectal cancer are higher among black people, who are 40% more likely to die from the disease due to later diagnosis and systemic racism. for more, we go to boston, massachusetts, where we are joined by anti-racist scholar dr. ibram x kendi who himself has battled colon cancer and on friday celebrated two years of being cancer-free. he tweeted friday, the anniversary of his operation for cancer -- "i see august 28 as my second birthday." ibram x kendi is founding director of the bu center for antiracist research, contributing writer r at the atlantic, and the author of many

books, including "stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america," "how to be an antiracist," and most recently, the children's book "antiracist baby." welcome back to democracy now! on friday, i was so thrilled to see your tweet. this was the 57th anniversary of the march on washington, which, by the way, that date was chosen because back in 1955, it was the day emmett till was killed but i was so thrilled to see you talking about this amazing moment for yourself, two years ago. talk about what happened and then the end of that night, learning the news about chadwick boseman. august 28 is always going to be a s second birthday for me. two years ago, i went u uer the knife -- liteterally, all day

long, not knowing, like many people who have stage four cortland -- colon cancer or other forms of cancer, whether that surgery would be the beginning of m my survival or whether theyey would find something that they did not expect. i did not know what was going to happppen. butt fortunately, the surgery ws successful. fortunately, t the surgeons did not actually see anymore cancer. fortununately, the pathololost when they totook out -- i should say when they studied with thee surgeons took out, they did not see any cancer cells. it was really the beginning of my sururvival. earlier than ii normally do. i woke up in the middle of the night to the news that chadwick had passed. at firirst i thought it was a ninightmare. like many people, i was shocked.

and then i camame to see ththatt was real. then i s saw that t he died of n cancer. and my first thought was,? why him? why not me? it was really -- it was crushing. it wasas crushing because of h w much a given the world, hohow mh i adored him. it was crushing because i know how beloved he was and still is. and it is still crushing. can you talk about the racial disparities in health care? well known by many for so long and at this country, but particularly focused on now as a result of the pandemic, the number of african-americans followed by latinx people, the percentage is so disproportionate to population in the united states who died of covid, not to mention cancer?

you write in your book "how to antiracist," african-american 25% more likely to die of cancer than whites. my father survived prostate cancer. breast cancer disproportioionaty kills black women. if you can talk further about this? statage 4 colon cancer. my wife has had breast cancer. my mother has had cancer. my father has had cancer, my granandfather died o of cancere. an uncle who died of cancer. cancncer, like h heart d diseass all sorts o of racial disparitis posted just as thehere are with covid-19 deaths. we literally had and h have had for some time people dying quietly.

an epidemic of death. as a result of racial help to verities. then we have an epidemic of people living those people, blaming those black people, blaming those brown people for dying and higher rate as opposed to thinking about our system as opposed to thinking about what policies can be changed, as opposed to thinking about why is it that black people, black and in particular die at higher rates from colon cancer because we are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage? what is happening in our society that is cauausing so much black death? why is black death so normal? how can people allow black ople to contininue to die of police violence, die of cancer day in and day out, year in d year out, and not be outraged? that is why people have been demonstrating for months. and d ey will be d demonstrating for years until this country takes black life seriously.

to go, before we talk about what is happening in kenosha, the police shooting of jacob blake, what is happening in portland, what is happening throughout this country, the issue of white supremacy and if president trump, i want to go to the significance of chadwick boseman in "blalack pananther,"d whwhat black pantherer meant f o many, not only u under this country, but around the world. even --'t know if i can i don't know i if it can be described in wordsds what black panther meant, what t'challa memeant, what many othose incredible chaharacterss meant, what will condiment, what it still means to black people. in particular, those of us who are striving to be antiracist, those of us who aree knowledgeable about precolonial west african empires, ththose of

whynow that the reason there is so mumuch poverty in africa is nott because therere's something wrong with african if not fort colonialism, if not for the slave trade, there may be a w akanda. i think like people in the united states and all over thee world, for them to see their selves in greatness and in excellence, for them to see themselves affirmed, i thinkasas st i incdible.e. i remember seeing bla panther when i was going thrgh chemothepypy. i hahaveeen didinosed weeks before the film came out. d d liketherer bck people who wento o see is film just as nonbla people, it gavee e the ability to step outsidof mymyse. that is outside of my world and imagine what is possible. there isis nothing more radical and critical to transforminthe

world than radical imagination. thinking about what is possible. i think "black panther" gave thatat to so many people. amy: i want to go to another clip from "black panther was quote where princess shurii is the sister of king t'challala, e chief technology officer responsible for committing much tech innovations. she is driving a car remotely from wakanda that black panther is ridg on in south korea as he's s being chased. activate.e system calm down.n -- let's go!

look at your suit. taking bullets. >> go around the truck. whwhere'd hehe go? >> show up. amy: that is princes shuri. if you can talk about the rolee of women in black panther." she's the chief technology officer and also the idea of not using any resources come in and the dutchurces in the film for war. the idea of what a country would look like if thehey did not f fr

theieir money into weapons. girl dad,ther, as a w women in "black panther" is certainly w what i admired the most from the chief technology officer to even the baddest person on the film, to me, the geneneral. it was my favavorite character d certainly my w wife's favorite character. butt then also, i just want to again e emphasize that this is possible. we currently have a tech industry where women and particulularly women of color ae far and away underrepresented or imagine it is not their place or imagine that they don't have the intellectual capacity -- these are all sexist and racist lies. and women, p particularly womenf color, can be the chief technolology officer of the baddest place, should say the most technologically advancedd

sort of companies or places on earth. that is possible. if we can create that type of society. so it is astounding that chadwick boseman did not only "black panther" and the d direcr wrote about this in his post this weekend, saying he himself, the director of "black panther" 'sd not t know about chad personal battle with cancer. twitter --moving

the words of ryan kugler. film "black panther" to actually speak the south african language. professor, isme, --is thatt right? >> yes. i am at the same time shocked to stilladwick was a able contntinue his craft,, particuly because it is a physically domain on the body, but at the same time, i'm nott shocked. diagnosed withas colon cancer, i was in the middle of writing "how to be in antiraracist," and allll i could think of was, i i wanted to do

this before i die. i wanted to leave this lelegacy. i wanted to leave this critically important book for people. soso i was really thinkingng a t ensuring that i finish h this before i passed away.. and i wowonder if that is what e was thinking, totoo, that he wanted to give as much as he could to the world because he knew his time wawas short. and it didid not matatter how uncomfortable it was. it did not matter how hard it was. it did n not matter r how papait was toto get out of beded. he was thinking about what he wanted to provide for the world. and it really just shows meme hs level of courage. it shows me e his level of commitment. it really shows me how much he loved humanity that he gave so much to us during his last few years. jamesa lakers star lebron

paid tribute to chadwick boseman before the lakers playoff game against the portland trip lasers by taking a knee during the national anthem and crossing his arms across his chest to give the wakanda forever salute. this is lebronon james spepeakig sundnday about chahadwick bosem. >> we are already limited in the sense that given n that type of powewer, that pepe of stage that thatte eecially industry.. you don't see manyny black male and female actotors being a abl- for him to be as transcendent as thatwas, be on the fact growing up as s a black kid,d, u had superheroes that you looked upup t tthere werere notot any . yet batman, superman, spider-man, and so on and so o . kugugler a and that

cast, for he himself to be able to make "black panther" even thoughgh we knew a fictional story, it actually felt r rl. it actually felt like we finally had our black superhero and nobody can touch us. amy: so that is lebron n james. i also went to add, of come if you could talk about wakanda being a country, what a an afrin country looks like that is not colonized. because fascinating that is possible. and certainly, before, anand is asian, some of the greatest most powerful and wealthiest and most technologigically and intellectually advanced empires in t the world were i in africa. and -- ia, mololly,

remember over the weekend whwhei think k it was forbess magazine stated jeff bezozos was the richchest men that ever lived ad a lot t of people cocorrected ad sasaid, no, actually, the king f malili was reportedly even wealthier than jeff b bezos. bubut a get -- indedeed, he gave away a lot of is well. hehe traveveled on thihis massie pilgrimage to egypt and hee gave so muchh gold in egypt, he literally destroy the e economy. but people donon't knowow the storories. we are not t taught about precolonial cash were not eveven about africa today. i remember going to africa for the first, people asking me the weirdest questions about africa and it just goes to show me how little we are taught about africa and how much wewe are tataught about europe. either we are a mumulticultural nation witith people who come fm

africa and america and asia and europe and we are goioing to really teach our children and teach about all these different places just as w we are teaching them about native american history and culture or we're are goining to focus on europe. and i don't think we should focus on europe because that is a demonstration to me of racism. about wanted to talk jackie robinson and the film "42," where major league baseball celebrated jackie robinson day on friday, august 28. it was on that day in 1945 -- before the march on washington on august 28, 1963, before emmett till was murdered on august 28, 1955 -- that baseball executive branch rickey met with jackie robinson and signed him to a contract with the minor leagues. two years later, he would become the black player in major league first baseball, where he wore jersey number 42. that's why in the midst of the protests for jacob blake, the new york mets and miami marlins stood for 42 seconds on

the field thursday and then left the field without playing the game, leaving behind a black lives matter t-shirt on home plate. well, chadwick boseman passed away on august 28, the day major league baseball celebrated jackie robinson, the legend that boseman played in his breakout role in the 2013 film, "42."." this is a clip. >> giveme a uniform. give me a number on myack k an i will give yothe guts. ♪ am just a blplayer. >> you are a hero. >> why don't yololook ithee mirror? this ia a whitman'n's game. >> i'm not goinanywhere

i'm right here! >> maybe tomrow we wl all wear 42. watchnd everyone should chadwick boseman in "42." before we take on james brown and then we will talk about what is happening in this country -- of course, it is all related, the history is integral to what is happening now. the role of major league nba, the women's basketball league, to the nba, to football players to baseball league which is now down to 10% comean-american, still across the board recognizing that they have to speak up. their significance this week and beyond, professor kendi? >> well, to compare this to chadwick a and even jackie f foron and even t'challa,

many people, particulalarly youg peopople, they see p professioil athletes - -- men n and women -s superheroes come as their heroes. so to see thosose heroes, to see those superheroes demonstrate against racism, speak out against p police brutality, decide, no, we're human, too. we are in paiain, too. we are suffering, too. we are outraged, too. so we can't play tonight. wewe can't play today. i think it was galvanizing for so many people and affirming for so many people. amy: now i wanted to go to the 2014 film "get on up" in which chadwick boseman played d james brown, known a as thgodfather of so. >> it!

everymanill stana little taller. i think we gomore funk in the trunk. ears.p your the man is a genius. amy: james brown, ibram kendi? >> i came to know chadwick's wowork through his portrayal of jackie robinson,n, but i actualy really loved hisis portrayal of james brown.n. and i don't know w whether it is i'm a student of black powower movement or r i don't know whetr it is because james brown is such a a fascinating, complelex ororder historicical character,r whether ththat james brown and particularly his song "say it loud, i'm black and proud,"," my

ways galvanizing f for black peoplele and b beloved by black people who l love themselelves,s black k panther, but therere is sosomething about that himim --i just think it is critically important for people to not sort of make it seen achadwick only did "black panther," becau he ss incredible in several other films. and more iorortant, hehe plad ese incdiblble rt of characters in the e compx characrs and theselalack m inarticucur who triumphed over so mh adversity dining exextremy didiffult tim. so i c can then see how he versonally couldriumph hi canr to be le to pl thosfinal role y: we're goingo go to eak and thenome back to whats haening tay. of course, chaick bosen also play thurgoo mshall come

first afran-american preme urt juste. were speakg with iam x. kendi, t andrew mellon profesr in theumanitieat boon univeity, or , and the founng direcr of theu centeror a antacist reararch. is is decracy no prident tru promiseto go to kenosha, wconsin, t tomorw. thovernor,he lieutant vernor, e pleading with him not to come. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "say no to the devil" by reverend gary davis. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we are spending the hour with boston university professor ibram x. kendi, founding director of the bu center for antiracist research, contributing writer at the atlantic, and author of many books including "stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america," which won the national book award for nonfiction, and "how to be an antiracist." as we said, on friday, thousands

gathered for the 57th march on washington on the national mall for an event organized by the national action network. among those who spoke were family members of victims of police violence. this is jacob blake sr., the father of jacob blake, followed by g george floyd's brother philonise floyd and the mother of breonna taylor, tamikika palmer. >> we're going to full-court today. we're going to hold court. --ystematic racism unsystematic racism. we're going to have court right now. guilty. guilty. l2. against all of us. guilty. racism against trayvon martin. we find them guilty. racism against george floyd. we find them guilty.

racism against jacob blake. wrong, alahe name forgive me. guilty. and we are not taking it anymore. >> i wish george were here to see this right now. that is who i am marching for. i am marching for george, for .reonna, for ahmad the marchthere you have on august 28, the anniversary of the march on washington. we are to turn right now to ibram x. kendi to talk about the signifificance of what has been taking place and president trump promising to go to kenosha, wisconsin, despite the pleading of the governor of wisconsin

evers, the lieutenant governor, the first african-american lieutenant governor mandela barnes. he says he is going to kenosha, wisconsin, tomorrow. can you talk about the latest, professor kendi, from kenosha to portland to the republican convention to the issue of white supremacy in this country? you have used the metaphor of cancer to describe what we are confronting in america today. >> yes, i mean, the united states iss facing a form of metastatic cancer, metastatic racismm in which literally hass s spread to evevery part oe biology cash body politics. how do we know t that? w we know that because racial inequities and injustices are all around us. and we see the pain that is stemming from that metastatic

racism. we see the people whose lives are being lost. that we have a president who is claiming that it doesn't exist. sr. chargesb blake, america with guilty, america -- particularly americans like trump -- are saying no, not guilty, not racist. meanwhile, so many people are because theid-19 administration trying to look the other way were so many black and brown and indigenous people are dying at disproportionate rates all the while people are saying "not racist." all the while, people are denying the existence of this spread. and what happens when you deny the existence of cancer, of the spread of cancer, of even certainly the spread of racism? it is only going to get worse.

we see what we have been seeing this summer, it is only going to get worse and it is only going to continue to get worse until we face it, until we admdmit it, ununtil we acknowlwledge that id we have racism that spreads to every part of the body politics. but then you have people who are aware of this but then they don't want to get the treatment because the treatment is painful, the treatment is uncomfortable. yes, the treatment is going to be painful and uncomfortable, but it is the only thing that is going to give us as a nation and as a people the chance to live. situation in a kenosha where a white police officer point-blank range last atday shoots jacob blake least seven times. jacob blake, whose father is also jacob blake, and his grandfather is also jacob blake. he is the well-known -- she was

the well-known pastor in a chicago who led the housing desegregation movement, an organization that he cofounded called now, has a housing complex name for income the jacob blake manor. the young 29-year-old now paralyzed, jacob blake, grew up, went to high school and middle school in evanston where his grandfather did his ministry and his civivil rights work. and then you have kyle rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who turned himself in -- i emphasize this because he was on the streets of kenosha. twounned down allegedly black lives matter protesters, murdered them on tuesday night. this is during the republican convention. the trump administration, neither pence nor president trump mentions this, illegally carrying a long gun, ar-15,

through the streets with his hands in the air. the police do not stop him a 70 protesters say "he just murdered people." or he is been accused charged with first-degree intentional homicide. but he drove home to illinois and turned himself in. that is what it took to get him to stop. your thoughts? he is a white militia member, 17 years old, want to be cop. >> first, the fact that he is a demonstrates the types of folks, particularly the types of white men who are currently attracted to american policing. so then n the questioion become, why are so many white disaffected racist young manan o want to shoot and kill and get away with this being attracted to american policing? i think k what is also fascinatg is that it is improbable, it is

toossible for a black person be holding an ar-15 and walking totoward the police and walking away from people who are saying they just shot someone. and for the police to let him go on by. i mean, that is impossible. but it is possible when it comes to white p people because even when white people are armed, they seem unarmed even to police officers. but when black people are unarmed, they are armed and dangerous. i think that is fundamentally the sickness of racist ideas that it allows for so many people who are unarmed and certainly not dangerous to die while so many people who are white who are armed and dangerous and just shot people to go to their home and sleep in

their bed and surly to not be harassed by the police. -- certainly cannott be arrest y the police. amy: in response to jacob blalae being hospitalized -- handcuffed to his hospital bed, you tweeted -- "an allegory of what racism has done to black communities, paralyzed economically a and politically, fighting hard to recover but inexplicably still shackleded." >> yeah,h, i mean, like so manyy people -- i was just outraged that jacob had not committed a crime, he was shot seven times in the back, he was paralyzed, d then on top of t that he is being sort of chained to a bed as if is the c criminal. that is papart of the problem. the black victim, the person who

was unarmed and shot t in the bk seven times is s still being framamed by ameririca or by the state or by police officicers as the cririminal. because of blackneness. it doesn't really matteter. i think that is what people are so outraged by. becaususe his life does not matr even w when he isis the victim a isl of gunfire and he paralyzed, he is still viewed a summit who is dangerous that needs to be shackled. amy: how's the work of antiracist protesters over the last decades, over the last centuries, what do you think people should be doing now in this absolutely critical period, what some call the most important moment, especially the election in this

u.s. history? >> percent for most no one should be f fooled by law and order rhetoric c that is coming from the trumpdministratation. when they speak of law and order, they're talking about the line orderer of racism anddlack death. that is what they want. support law and order, then you support the order of black death and racism. but i think more importantly, we should be joining organizations and supporting organizations that are challenging racism and racist policies and white supremacy. we should certainly be thinking very seriously about voting for fofolks who are striving to be antitiracist, bubut even more tn that, wewe should figurere out s to be physically engaged. every single one of us has power. we have the power to resist. we have the power to resist policies. we have the power to resist policymakers.

and one of the sort of guiding principles that antiracist acactivists have sort t of livey for centuries, for decades, for years, for m months, is thahat y have the power. because racist p power has been trying to convince us that t we don't have power, whetether it s enslslaved people or even people today who are trying to figure out what can they do in the face of this juggernaut of racism. don't think ever that you don't have the power. and the way we have power is by coming together, by organizing together, by challenging through our organization strength. amy: would you call president trump of white supremacist? >> witithout question. and anyone e in any way who c cn make a case ththat he is not a white s supremacicist based on t he says and based onon what he does and that he is s not a ract ,- again, i'm only stating this

if someone is pushing policy that leads to white supremacy, they are a white supremacist. amy: ibram x. kendi, thank you for spending this hour with us andrew w. mellon professor in , the humanities at boston university founding director of , the bu center for antiracist ..

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