09/02/20 09/02/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy:y: from nenew york, ththis s democracy now! >> i am here in san francisco wherend we are floating oil is being store that no one wants andnd we have n nor to put. >> i'm not babanning fracking. let me say again, i am not bannnning frackingng. amy: as the corovivirus pandemic contributeteto a glut t of fossl fuels, groroups like greenenpeae are calling on democratic

presidential candidate biden to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaigngn and administratin if he wins. in massasachusetts, green new dl haspion another ed markey won his primary against challenger joe kennedy. we'll look at whether "the end of oil is near" with reporter antonia juhasz. then unions representing teachers and principals in new york avert a strike as they reach a deal with the mayor over the reopening of the largest public school system in the united states. >> what we have agreed to is to make sure that health measures are in place, to make sure thehe is time e for the appropriatate preparation for our educators, to make sure that we can have the smoothest beginning of the school year even under extraordinarily challenging conditions. and to move forward in the spirit of unity. amy: as president trump visits kenosha without saying jacob

blake's name once, we will speak with digital editor of "kenosha news" who just resigned his position in protest of a headline he says mischaracterized a rally for jacob blake. >> i did what i did because the day is about jacob blake. it is about his family. it is about moving forward together peacefully, and i saw that today. refused to change it, i quit. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. as the u.s. dedeath toll from covid-19 nears 185,000, the trump adadministration is refusg to join more than 170 countries in a global effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine. the administration opposes the effort in part because of the involvement of the world health organization. public health officials warn the move could leave the united

states without access to a vaccine if the global effort succeeds and u.s. efforts fail. kendall hoyt of dartmouth's school of medicine said -- "just from a simple risk-management perspective, this is s shortsighteded." in other public health news, a panel of experts at the national institutes of health said there is no evidence to show that convalescent plasma treatment works against the coronavirus. this directly contradicts the food and drug administration, which recently gave emergency use authorization for the treatment. trump triumphantly made the announcement on the eve of the republican national convention. the nih panel said -- "convalescent plasma should not be considered standard of care for the treatment of patients with covid-19." in other coronavirus news, flororida has ordedered state agencies to stop working with quest diagnostics after the lab mistakenly delayed reportingng 75,000 coronavirus test results to the state. some of the test results date back to apapril.

inin education news, new york cy has postponed the opening of schools until september 21 after teachers threatened to go on strike to protest unsafe work conditions due to the pandemic. new york city is the only major urban school district in the country planning to reopen classrooms in the fall, though many students have opted for remote learning. michael mulgrew, the president of the united federation of teachers, praised the city's new reopening plan delayed two weeks. >> i can say to you now because we have our independent medical experts have stamped this plan and we now can say that new york city's public school system has the most aggressive policies and greatest safeguards of anyy school system in the united states of f america. amy: we will speak with a new york schoolteacher later in the broadcast. in international news, russia has bebecome the fouourth counto surpass 1 mimillion reported covid-19 cases. meanwhile, india is on pace to soon surpass brazil as the world's second-most infected

nation behind the united states. in recent weeks, india has emerged as the new epicenter off the e pandemic. president trump traveled to kenosha, wisconsinin, tuesday despite fierce opposition to his visit by wisconsin's governor, lieutenant governor, and kenosha's mayor. kenosha erupted in protests last week after the police shot jacob blake in the back seven times at platelilike range, leaving hm paralyzed. during the protests, a 17-year-old white vigilante armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed two protesters and injured a third. killings. -- trump has refused to condemn the killings. during his visit to kenosha, trump did not t meet with jacob blake's fafamily or directctly mention his name publicly once. trump also reiterated his recent comparison of officers who shoot people with golfers who choke under pressure. pres. trump: we have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric. it is getting more and more --

it is very unfair. you have some bad apples. we all know that. and those will be taken care of through the system. and nobody is going to bee easy on thehem, either.r. and you people that choke. i said yesterday, i set it last night, they are under tremendous pressure. amy: during his visit to kenosha, trump also repeated the falsehood that he ordered the national guard to kenosha when in fact it was the state's governor. we'll go to kenosha later in the broadcast. in an apparent nod to the fafar-right qanon conspiracy theory, president trump has claimed democratic presidential nominee joe biden is being secretly controlled by people in the "dark shadows." trump made the comment during an interview with l laura ingrahamf fox news. pres. trump: i don't even like to mention biden because he is not controlling anything. clubs who do you think is pulling bidens strings? pres. trump: p people you've ner heard of. people that arare in the dark shadowows. >> that sounds like conspiracy

very. what is that? pres. trump: people that are on the streets, people that are controlling the streets. we had some to get on a plane from a certain city this weekend and in the plane, it was thomas completetely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with here and this and that. there in a plane. it is under investigation. amy: president trump provided no evidence to back up his claim about thugs on planes. he initially claimed the plane was headed to the republican national convention. on tuesday, he told reporters the plane was going from washington to "wherever." nbc reports trump's claim is very similar to a conspiracy theory started in june by a man in idaho that went viral within fafar-right circles onon social media.a. protests took place in los angeles for a second day on tuesday over the police killing of dijon kizzee, a 29-year-old black bicyclist who was shot dead after being pulled over for

an alleged bike violation on monday. kizzee was repeatedly shot in the back by los angeles sheriff deputies as he attempted to flee policece according to the sheriffff's account, kizzee had a gun but dropped it along with a bundle of clothing before the deputies started shooting him. community activist najee ali decried the police killing , saying -- "the deputies essentially exececuted a man riding his bicycle." in labor news, over 50 black former mcdonald's franchise owners have filed a lawsuit accusing the fast food giant of "systematic and cocovert racial discrimination." the plaintiffs argue mcdonald's intentionally placed their restaurants in locations with high poverty and crime, where the operating costs of running a franchise were higher while the sales were significantly lower , fostering what the lawsuit describes as a financial suicide mission. the centers for didisease contrl and preventionon has issued d a temporary order to halt residentntial evictions until te enend of t y year in an n effort

prevent the e further spread of covid-19. housing advovocates have w warns many as 40 million people could face eviction due to the economic crisis. under the cdc plan, most renters will be allowed to stay in their current property through the end of the year but will eventually be required to pay missed rent payments. in a major winin for progressis, massachusetts senator ed markey has defeated conongressman joe kennedy in the democratic senate primary. markey is the co-author of the green new deal and a leading advocate in washington for combating climate change. joe kennedy iii, who was endorsed by house speaker nancy pelosi, becomes the first member of the kennedy dynasty to lose an election in massachusetts. markey gave a victory speech on tuesday night. >> there will be no peace, no justice, and no prososperity unless we stop the march to climatee d destruction. this is s a matter of life andnd death. the very future of f our

civililization depends u upon i. there is no time for simplply doing what we can. there is no time for compromise on the existential threaeat to r time. we must pass a green new deal. amy: in another closely watched massachusetts race, congressman richard neal, the chair of the house ways and means committee, has defeated progressive challenger alex morse in the -- morse. neal benefited from a homophobic smear campaign that targrgeted morse, the openly gay mayor of the city of holyoke, massachusetts. in news from africa, the united nations is appealing for more aid for sudan after at least 90 people died in a historic flood in which the nile river rose to its highest level in over a century. 80,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. a prominent critic of the rwandadan government has been arrested after being abducted in dubabai and taken back to rwanda to face charges. paul rusesabagina is best known

for being portrayed in the film "hotel rwandnda" which tells the story of how he saved 1200 rwandans during the 1994 genocide by sheltering them in a hotel he managed. rusesabagina has lived in exile for years in belgium and the united s states. in immigration news, buzzfeed reports the trump administration pansion inollection of biometric datarom immigrants . according to the draft policy, the government could require eye scans, dna, voice prints, and photographs for facial recognition. andrea flores of the aclu criticize the proposal, saying -- "it will simply make it easier for the government to surveil and target our communities and to bring us closer to a dystopian nightmare." in texas, the totop commander at fort hood has been r removed frm his post as s public outcry gros over a sereries of killingngs ad accusations of sexual abuse at the army base. 13 fort hood soldiers have

reportedly disappeared or been killed this year. on tuesday, the army announced a new investigation into fort hood's chain of command related to the killing of soldier vanessa guillen, whose remains were found near the base last month. the main suspect in her death, another fort hood soldier, killed himself. last week the remains of another fort hood soldier, elderer fefernandes, were fofound near e base hanging from a tree. a new book by "n"new york times" reporter micichael schmidtdt cls vicece presidedent mike pence ws put on standby last november to take over the powers of the presidency when president trump had to make an unannounced visit to walter reed hospital. schmidt reports there was concern trump would need to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized. on tuesday, trump responded to the claim by writing on twitter he had not suffered a "series of mini-strokes" -- that's something schmidt does not allege in the book. pence says he does not recall being put on standby during the hospital visit. and in britain, at least 90

climate activists were arrested tuesday as the direct action group extinction rebellion kicked off a 10-day campaign to demand government action to combat the climate crisis. and those are someme of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. longtime massachusetts senator and green new deal champion ed markey won his primary against challenger congressmember joe kennedy iii tuesday, marking a victory for progressives and the first time a kennedy hasas lostn election in the state of massachusetts. senator markey secured 54% of the vote in a primary race seen by many as a showdown between the democratic establishment and its new and growing progressive wing. house speaker nancy pelosi endorsed kennedy, while markey had the support of new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez and the youth-led sunrise movement. the sunrise movement tweeted in response to the victory -- "after winning elections across the country, you think we're gonna stop now? they wish.

we will protest outside the halls of congress while our allies on the inside negotiate the green new deal." this comes as democratic presidential candidate joe biden said he would not ban fracking during his speech in pittsburgh. a group of 145 organizations including sunrise m movement td greenpeace, have released a letter calling on him to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaign and administration. the letter reads -- "to advance environmental justicice, you m must stand up o fossil fuel ceo's, stop the expansion of oil, gas s and coal production, and rarapidly transition us away from fofossil fuels." this comes as the global oil industry is in crisis with falling demand and crashing prices exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. despite this, fossil fuel companies continue to pump out an excess of oil -- much of it stored on tankers in the ocean. in may, as 390 million barrels

of oil and gasas sat in storagen the woworld's ococeans, greenpee activists sailed out along the san francisco bay, unfurling a banner saying "oil is over, the future is up to you." >> i am here in san francisco bay. we are floating. tankersrs. storage amy: despitete this, congrgresss poured billions of dollars of covid relief funds into bailing out the fossil fuel industry.. we go now to boulder, colorado where we're joined by antonia juhasz. oil and energy reporter, bertha fellow and investigative journalist. her recent cover piece for sierra magazine is headlined "the end of oil is near." along with another report, "bailout." she is the author of several books, most recently "black

tide: the devastating impact of the gulf oil spill." welcome back to democracy now! let's start with the pandemic and this glut of oil -- i don't know if people realize that some call them armadas of oil tankers , are docked off the coast frorm the united states to africa to asia. explain the pandemic, how it relates to the oil industry.y. >> i think the most important place to start -- thank you for having me on, amy. the problems that have been plaguing the oil industry that have led to the glut in oil we are expressing right now will proceed the covid-19 pandemic. but the pandemic has taken essentially everyry witness that already existed in the oil industry and then made each of them much,h, much worse. leaving t the oil industry y in situation where it is right now where i would argue it is at its

weakakt since itits inception, d essentiallll public popolicy and public will will now determine the fate of the oil industry period. and how we got to this place where the height of t this probm was in june with just oil tankers stacked up -- anyone who lived on a coast would have seen pretty much these armadas of oil tankers that were hololding oil. how we got to that place was, essentially, years of the oil industry obsessively overproducing g a product shrinking valuee and shrinking demand. 2015, the growth in d demand for oil worldwide started to fall and it fell precipitously from 2017 to 2019. the price of oil was falling, but ththe companies and the countries jusust kept producing

more and more and more with thee united statates one ofof the leg countries. at the same time, you have movements that are successfully weakening demand, desperarately trying to get out this product, increaeasing the value and accessibility of alternatives, reducicing the politicical payof for supporting the oil industry, and the economic payoffs just dwindling. the companies falling in profits, falling in share value, investors not wanting to put .oney back in these companinies and a worse and worse and worse financncial situation f forhe companies and the countries producing it, buthey kept producing. so you have this glut build up. then comes covid-19. we are all in lockdown. demand for oil products just craters into the ground. at the same t time, the companis

and the countries keep producing more oil, which led to an even greater glut which led to the oil being stored offshore in tankers. amy: and yet you have covid-19 money, with how many teams are of people out of work, people desperate forr support, small businesses. so much of that covid money is going to bailout the largest corporations -- oil corporations. >> so you first hadad the trump administration say and trump himself say, we're going to design a balallot specifically r the oil and gas industry. there was tremendous pushback against t that in the public and democrats in congress said, no, that is not going to happen. instead, we ended up getting essentially three steaealth mechanisms that have really heavily tried to prop up this industry that left without that

support, we would see a much greater shrinkage than we are seeing right now -- although, we are already seeing a good deal of shrinkage. so these three mechanisms were first in the cares act, paycheck protection program, documented research organizatation, did researchoror me for r my magazie articles t that found 7000 oil d gas companies receiving as much as $7 billion in paycheck protection program money. because the oil and gas s indusy is dominateded by white men, globally andnd nationally, t the are the pepeople t that own the companies, and in the u.s. a good deal of the workforce is white e men, that also conontrid to the overall bias of the ppp program toward white male owned businesses, so they got paycheck protection money which has propped up a lot of companies that certain he would not have made it on their own. then you have tatax loopholes snuck into the cares act which

democrats are trying to close this next version of the cares act that allowed over $3 billiln to go to at least 50 publicly traded oil and gas c companies d probably many, manyy more becaue wewe only know about the publicy tradaded ones because theyey hao and private companies don't have to do that. but i would say the most problematic pot t is this unprecedented move to have ththe federal reserveve for the first me, the federal reserve, for the first time, now become o owners and d the oil cocompany debt. so the federal reserve set up through blackrock several different mechanisms to try to prop up the e economy. and through two measures come the oil industry has received inordinate s support. the research group looked at one

of these mechanisms and found the federal reserve's funding is overweighted in apostle fuels. you and i,blackrock, the americican taxpayer, are not owners in debt to the fed of exxon, chevron, of energy transfer partners, phillips 66, of slumber jacobob a comfy that just moved itselelf out of u.s. fracking altogether after we bought up theirir debt. so we e are literally through te federal reserve propping up p te --il industry at a time when for huge host of reasons, climate crisis, environment of , the lives of people who lived next oil and gas facililities -- that we need to allow this industry to do what it would be doing on its own anyway, which is going away is trying andrld

is trying and succeeding

standard oil o of new jersey, which means essentialllly the standard oil companinies, the ororiginal oil and

they said i guess we will figure out how to make aa profit doing somemething else. u.s. companies don't haveve to o that. exxon and c chevron did not have to report those same typype of losses and they did not have to say how they're going to make

money and what they said was, we will keep making it up oil and natural l gas because that is wt we do. us is that t oil is increasinglgly work less andd the companies that have to tell us that did. thatit doesn't tell us is what we should be doing moving forward is trusting the o oil companies to change appropriatately to address the proboblem at hand. because even in 10 years, bp is still planning to have over 60% of its operations be from oil and gas. and bpbp has a already started seselling the oil and gas assets but that doesn't mean it is keeping that oil in the ground, it just means it has sold them to other companies which are already producing them. to live up to the obligations which the united nations and governmentntal panel on climate change has told us that at least some 80% of fossil

fuels, that is goining have to happppen through government policy. it is in equity and justice. so those nations that can go first do and go the fastest. experiencing the harms of oil extraction without enjoying the benefits also go first and are helped to be transitioned away ile they''re keeping fosossil fuels under the ground in the world and nations support each other in this process through national green new deal, through a global green new deal, through polilicies that make it clear tt we are in this together as we make this difficult transition, but we will do it and we will do it promptly. the last thing i would say is -- dylan amy: i want to ask about the group of 145 organizations

releasing this letter calling on democratic presidential candidate joe biden to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaign and administration. the letter reads -- "nearly half of americans now breathe polluted air, the vast majority of which comes from burning fossil fuels. to advance environmental justice, you must stand up to fossil fuel ceo's, stop the expansion of oil, gas and coal production, and rapidly transition us away from fossil fuels." during his speech in pennsylvania monday, joe biden said he will not ban fracking. >> i am not banning fracking. let me say that again. i am not banning fracking. amy: if you can respond this. despite the fact the trump administration, could not get no administration more pro-oil, he attacked joe biden recently talking about him being against oil, gas, guns, and god. can you talk about biden's record as well as kamala harris, his running mate? >> absolutely. here is a place where kamala

harris and joe biden put forth diametrically opposed pledges. kamala harris pledged to end fracking in her campaign. joe biden hass said hehe won't. in a play wills between kamala harris and joe bidenen, i'm m gg to go withth kamala harris and also will go with the public that, essentially what joe biden is going to need to continue to push, just as the entntire environment and social justice movemements have said they will. biden to go further in the any s set of candididate that made it this f, biden's pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies for the industry, biden and kamel here''s took no -- kamala harris accepted no fossil fuel money in their campaigns stop here's also pledged no fossil fuel susubsidies. biden and harris also put pledged no new leasing on public

lens for oil and gas and offshore for oil and gas. those are all criticalllly important fossil fuel policies and there keep it in the ground. to pursue a global negotiation for the managed client of fossil fuel production around the world. i can't overemphasize what a shift that would be how imimportant that would be. submitted for during the ,ampaiaign and after thehe campn biden administratition is goingo need to continue to hear loudly on what it wants, not just on addressing the climate crisis, but addressing fossil fuels in order to succeed at addressing the climate crisis. and i think kamala harris is going to be the stronger ally in that and to keep that pressure on biden and the biden administration, and during the are now.as groups

amy: we only have a minute to go, i want to ask two questions. one, the significance of the inmary win of senator markey massachusetts, and, two, the issue of how this bailout should -- whatng forward should be e bailed out and what should be allowed to die? >> the markey win is a victory across the board for the green -- deal, for contracting confronting the climate crisis, progressive politics. markey has been out front on so many of these issues. when i was writing on the bp horizon disaster, his work was so key in exposing not just bps operations, but the federal government. he would consistently hold the obama administration to account on its failures on the vp crisis. so his victory is tremendous moving forward with the green new deal. how the baililout money should e spent? first of all, to make sure we are clear on what is on the

board, the trumpet ministrations i don't blame i and that he has put -- unemployment plan is coming out of federal hurricane recovery money. that should not be happening. what we should be doing is moving into a direction that is going to support workers moving forward, that will support our economy, and support rebuilding. and that is not doubling down on an industry that is failing. that is looking forward to localized, small-scale building up of the green noble, sustainable, will really only distributed energy and transportation solutions -- equitably owned and distributed energy and transportation solutions. jobsreen economies, green trump fossil fuels by 41. amy: antonia juhasz, thank you

for being with us oil and energy , reporter. bertha fellow in investigative journalism. her recent cover piece for sierra magazine is headlined "the end of oil is near." and "black tide: the devastating impact of the gulf oil spill." next upcoming unions representing teachers and principals in new york city avert a strike as they reach a deal to delay the reopening of the largegest public school sysm in the united states. you'll find out what it is. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "pomp and priride" by toots and the maytals. get well, toots. he is inin the hospital right n. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to new york, where unions representing teachers and principals have reached a deal with the city to avert the strike by delaying the reopening of the largest public school system in the united states. new york is the only urban district in the country to reopen under the fall though many have opted for remote learning. the powerful united federation of teachers union had expressed concern over the lack of testing for teachers, the lack of protective gear, the condition of school buildings that lack good ventilation. the union's executive committee was considering a strike as late as monday. but after negotiations, new york city mayor bill de blasio announced yesterday that new york's 1.1 million schoolchildren will now start in-person instruction 10 days later than originally scheduled.

on september 21. >> and what we have agreed to is to make sure that the health measures are in place, to make sure there is time the appropriate preparation for our educators, to make sure that we can have the smoothest beginning of the school year even under extraordinarily challenging conditions, and to move forward in the spirit of unity. amy: agreeing to a major union demand, mayor de blasio said the city would r require m monthly, random testing of between 10 and -- 10% and 20% of students and staff in all city school buildings starting in october, with results ready within 48 hours. for more on what this means here in new york and how it compares to school districts around the country, we are joined b by two guguests. aixa rododriguez is a brx-x-base high school english h as a secod lalanguage, orslsl, teacheher ie new york city school system, and member of the united federation of teachers' more caucus -- the movement of rank and file educators.

and eric blanc is a reporter for jacobin and the nation, and author of the book "red state revolt: the teachers' strike wave and working-class politics." aixa, let's begin wiwith you. how do you feel that your union did not go outut on s strike yestererday and has agreeded tos to be delay? -- cacan yous jumped hehear me? all ofofs jumped on a conversation right a afterwardwe feelel betrayeyed and we feel f it is inadequate plplan. amy: explain what is happening in n new york city. >> this s was rushed. they broke f faith and broke trtrust. we have no faith in them since mamarch, sinince the sick out tt we wer forced toto have e to cle schohools. we u understand that t the same problem stilllixist, we're just being told in hyperbolic language how everyining is going to be taking care of. we have not seen the rereceipt f all the e repairs s that are suppososed to happen,, and we 't

think it will h happen in 10 da. no way. amy: talk about who your students are. >> my students are immmmigrants fromom all over the worldld. in my classroom, i have at least five continents represented. for me, it is a reality check that any infection thahat would happen between me and them or them and me could h have seriois conseqequences. i lost my grgrandmotheher to co. my mother was hospitalizized. we were,e, and t teame -- quarantine in puerto rico.o. i could d have pasassed it to my students in five different boroughs. i coululd have been the youou te would marry the different boroughs and multiple images that are vulnerable. this is a real situation for me because of the nature of who my students are. what youyou talk about have s said thatat this makes yu question whether black lives matter?

i mean, mamany parents off color are also deeply concecerned and feel the other way, that they want their kidids to be reconnected and be in school. your thoughts? >> i d don't li r remote learnr, either. i w want to be in school, but i know ver well l that the schools that many ofof thehese studentse attetending have been neglected fofor decades. they do o not have the filters that are necessary. the windows do not open. they are claiming to have fixexd it all but the reaeality is that the teachers who have beenen in these buildingfofor a longng tie reremember the times t ting to x the windows andnd we stillll knw that mold and all l those things have been happening for r years. these t things are nonot g gng e remedied immediately, and the kidsds are going t to be put in these envivironments where there is noo soap, n no hot water,hehe ds c cannot wawash the hands.. the kids will be sitting in rows. itit will nonot be thehe same. itit will bebe two days out ofoe

week.. amy: the airir circulation? >> testingng t air circulati with full ofof paper t to see tt it is coming out does not m mean it is actuallyly good air. i workrked in the martin luther king building come the same buildiding wre that video of the toilet paper test was h happenig was not in fafact, that room was on the fourth h floor around the corner frorom my rm. we cannot even handle basic issues in the room when it comes to smells after g gym or lunch d having to have the door open, having to have a fan in that room under regular circumstances, let alone dederstanding we're talalking about t the spread of covid. me ask a question, a major union demand, or did agrereed to, which is the city would require monthly random testing between 10% and 20% of students and staff in all city schoolol buildings starting in octobeber with results back in 8 hours. when you go o back in, you're nt

being tested? >> not automatically. we got emailils suggesting thate do. holly suggesting -- a suggestion.. it is a hint. there's is no actual plan to make it happen before we set foot in there. it is a highly suggestive thing til theyey get the systemm runnnning, which is y y we feltt thisis is not a deal. like, what i is this? -- oh,vevery perbolic where the greatest school, we're going to do the greatest plan and we did the greatest this. then we find out nothing is in place. nothing. amy: that is i important to talk about, not just talking about teachers, but the janitor staff, the n nurses -- all of the staff that keep the schools going. explain how it works. our kids going back every day or a portion of every week?? cakids opt tototal remote? >> kidids can opt total remote.

the kids who opted for blended, parents w want to go back to wo. they will come two days of the days kidsh the other will come the other two days. it is not like a five day week. lot appearance brought u up, my job doesn't f function o o ds a week.. i still hahave to find some sort of supervision for the other three days. it is a false normal. it is still remote, regardless of something that will b be in person. three days out of the week still be remote. a caucusare with more, of uft. uft has agreed with and applauded the mayor for delaying the reopening of the schools but moving forward with that, threatening a strike. are you talking g about a wildlt strike? >> the feeling of betrayal is very, very big. and the e fear of life and death

is still there. is unityn, the reality caucus has been in charge e for0 bers and w we expected to betrayed a and your we are again getting g our hopes up, we s see changes and fixexes an then not evenen a vote. processy y undemoatic to eveven vote for a vote. to even n y we're goingo hahave a vote -- with less s than 24 hours, n no chahances for delegs to talk to theheir chapters andd discuss i it with the rank-and-file. so t there are many rank-and-fie who really f feel as if they hae no choice becausese their son hs chchemo andnd is sickck and th'e not allowed to get a medical accommodation because it is not ththeir condition that is ththe proboblem. amy: verery quickly, at the beginning of the pandemic, how did the city deal with h the pandemic? do you know how many

staff and how many students died here in new york city? >> here's the questionon. we got something from 79 to 100 teachers and the way taperer -- teachersrs or educators weree labeled, they y did not give a full picture because they stararted to chop u up the grou. school safety agents werere lisd under nypd. anyone under d.c. 37, cafeteria workers, custodial, listed under 150. if you add up all the different pieces, psi, administration, the educators that are teachers come also pararrofessionanals it wasa significant number, 300 to 400 pele. have no clclue about the fromnts just anecdotally here and there because a lot of the kids survived you're still around but now have health conditions that are lingering from covid. being talalkedrs

about is not a phone number because we are not including everybody who works in the school. if we were to talk about everybybody who works in the school, including every singngle one of those more populations, that is a biggerer number than e 79 t to 100 we arere told were t and number. amy: which is still horrifying. will need tolanc, i put new york international context. "red state revolt: the teachers' strike wave and working-class politics." talk about new york being the only school district opting to stay open, the power of the teachers around the country and what is happening. only major school district in the e country. this is the first thing thatt needed to o be highlighted i ist all l other big cities in the united states right now have begun wiwith remote lelearning,d therere's a asonon for thahat -s not safe to open schools in the

middle of a a raging pandemic. florida is a good example.e. ththis is one of the exceptions. florida open their schools.. in the last 2.5 weeks, 23% rise in transmission rates amonong children. just recenently, a six-year-old girl died from the virus. when educatotors in new york are ising kids n n go bacack, it born out of looking at whatat happens whenen you open the schohools. other major cities have closed, thankflyly, becaususe of this movement we have seeeen across e country -- unprecedented upsusurge. even higherr than the strikes in 2018, 2019 in was virginia, chicago, lososs angeles. educators upsurge because of the fighting because they understand this is life or death not for themselves but their students and parents, the community. i see everyday new districtsts d a red states, blue states in which teachers are organizing actions, speaking with parents and saying, we wawant to go back to our restrooms but only when it is s safe.

that m means fully f funding our states, taxing the rich so we can have safe and equitable schools. amy: how responsive have the unioion leadership i into the rank-and-f-file around the country? >> it is verery uneven. thankfully y you see really progressive unions like in chicago,o, los angeles, taking e lead of organizizing with the rarank-and-file, meeting witith parents, a and buiuilding the kd of social justice together with the ranks and parents to makaket so that they were able to k keep the s schools remote e learningn e f fall and race demands on behalf of parents so schools are not just open safely before the funded. so when you say progressive union leadership in line in the rank-and-file, the changes have been major. unfortunately, their examples in new york in which union leaders oftentimes leaning morore toward anan alliance with democratic politicians rather than their

own memberships. that pitttted the leadership agaiainst the ranks because the ranks understand probably better than a anyone else t the fearsrf the parents and the understanding that the way yoyou win against billionaires and the politicians that are bought off isis not by b backroom deals but through o organizing. if n necessary, taking disruptpe action to force the politicians to do ththe right thing. where union leaders have had th s stance, t that had tremends susupport with the ranks. where they haven't, of seen conflict. i think that is what you're seeing in new york right now. amy: what is this pushed open schools and what about the disparity in learning of wealthier kids who can do it online, have good internet, have computerss, have spapace, and poorer kids and how you deal with this?s? >> there's a tremendous amount of hypocrisy. noononly the r reason the schoos are beining reopenened iss politicicians are saying it t is placing an inordininate burden n

workinclasass pararents -- the's some truth that remote learning herds. but who are the parents in new york city love e the opportunity right now to keep their kids a t home? parerents who o are richcher and whititer and have the money to hire child care or stay on thememselves.. who will suffer from premature opening? working-class commmmunities of color who are forced byby necessity to send their kids into the schools. the reality is, this crisis is a racial justice and equity prices because youu have 118 billionaires in new york alolone who o have seen their r wealth increasesed by $4$45 billioion s the beginning of the pandemic. why are they paying their fair share? if we tax x them sufficiently, e will have enough money so working-class parents, community's of color, could d he a safe reopening so evereryone could d feel s safe. the fact that we are not t taxig the rich like we should means it is a lose/lose situation.

remote learning is not given even more catastrophic to premature reopening. amy: eric blanc,, thank you for being with us, reporter withh jacobin and the natition. aixa rodriguez is a bronx-based high school englisish as a s sed language teacher member of the , united federation of teacher'' more caucus -- the movement of rank and file educators. next, president trump visits without name once. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is dememocracy now!, democracynow.org, the quararante report. i'm amy y goodman. president trump traveled to kekenosha, wisconsin, tuesday despite fierce opposition to his visit by wisconsin's governor, first black lieutenant governor, and kenosha's mayor. kenosha erupted in protests last week after the police shot jacob inke at poininblank range

the back at least seven times, leaving him paralyzed. during the protests, a 17-year-old white vigilante armed with an semi-aututomatic rifle e killed two p protestersd injured a thirird. trump has refused to condemn the killings. during his visit to kenosha, trump did not meet with jacob blake's family or directly jacob blake's name. trump also reiterated his recent comparison of cops who shoot with golfers who choke under pressure. pres. trump: we had to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric. it is getting more and more e -- it is very unfair. some bad apples. we all know that. and those will be taken care of through the system. and nobody is going to be easy on them, either. and you people that choke. amy: that word "choke" is not lost on many. on many in the mainstream media talk about golfers choking over

a three foot putt, many are talking about george floyd being choked to death and eric garner and some the other african-americans in the custody of police, choked by police. during his visit, trump also repeated the falsehood that he ordered the national guard to kenosha, when in fact it was the state's governor. this is jacob blake's uncle, justin blake, speaking at a rally in kenosha, as trump visited. >> we don't have any words for the orange man. all i ask is that he keep his disrespect, his fouling which far away from our family. we need a president that is going to unite our country and take us in different direction. our nephew was shot seven times in the back. nothing can justify that. he had no weapon. he is paralyzed right now in the hospital. our family is thanking everyone around the world for all the well wishes and prayers.

amy: for more, we go to kenosha, wisconsin, where we are joined resigned thompson who from "kenosha news" he was the only full-time black staff member at the paper. daniel, welcome to democracy now! explain what happened. why did you quit? >> they give for having me. -- thank you for having me. i quit because i went to the event as a citizen. i was on vacation from the paper. the event itself was very peaceful. there was one speaker that did thequotete the paper put in the headline. you could tell a lot of people in the crowd did not agree with that. thatrsonal opinion is speaker should never have been was peaceful. it was beautiful. i had pictures of children. children playing with each other. there was a child that was

helping to hold a peace sign banner with me that i did not even know. they just wanted to help hold the banner. i let them hold it with me. calalledblake's father for a night t of peace acrcrosse nanation. a lot t of the speakers did tha. the funny thing is i got home and i was feeling really good about the event and i had completely almost forgotten about the quote. it was at the froront of my mind becaususe it wasn't such a prominent part. amy: just to say the headline itself that the kenosha news ran was "kenosha speaker: 'if you kill one of us, it's time for us to kill one of yours." >> yes. something to that effect. i have a screenshot of it. yes, the person said that. they might have also been a s that ihat led a chant cringed at. when i got home and saw the newspapers headline, at first i

thoughght it might have been a national story that had been caught up in the website but when i realized it was a story about the event i was at, t that is whehen i contacted d my bossd you can see how that exchange went. amy: talked about how that exchange went. they changed the headline, what ththey changed it to come and wy you quit. >> what happened was, basically when i saw the headline and i read or starteted reading the story and realized -- i was pretty livid immediately. itad screenshot it and send to not only mymy boss,s, my forr two ofb heisse, but also the reporting step to let them know. by that point i was already talking myself down from just quitting. chanced to give bob the to address it because the thing is, me and bob heisse did not have about working relationship at all. in fact, we had conversations

like this multiple times in the newsroom aboutut various topici. most of the time we were able to compromise or he wouldld listeno me. when i he e defended it, was almostsponse, it immediate -- it was a 20 minute time period between me contacting him initially and me settingg my letter of resignation. amy: they changed it to "kenosha speaker strays from message at rella," but it only had the speaker's remarks and the video's caption still is the previous headline. we only have two minutes but can you talk since media can so much shape public opinion,, overall, how you feel "kenosha news" contributed to what you were concerned about a climate misrepresented inn kenosha, in yoyour town? >> i've been following protests

since the first night f followig the shooting of george floyd. local been among these protesters and i have gotten to know a lot of them. over time, i started to see are two groups,e protesters and counterprotesters, but you really have multiple groups and some are violent and some are not. ever before the media, it is important to get a full accurate picture and i think there is also o there's se impulse now because more companies are moving to digital and trying to get digital subscriptions, or seeing more sensational headlines now to get more page views. i don't think the situation happens out of any malicious intent. i think it was ignorant and a lack of diversity or diverse voices that were part of the decision. amy: are you going to keep writing?

how are you going to let people know what is going on, framing it in your own perspective? >> yes. since i resigned - -- i think of this as a leap of faith. i had nowhere to go from kenosha news. but i took that leap of faith and the community that i have been covering, which is kenosha, and if you look at my gofundme for an employment time over $21,000 and i only asked for $5,000. i do plan on whatever the in total is my september 14 to donate half back to the uptown neighborhood, which was babadly destroyed throughout this. will be in kenosha. i will stay in kenosha and be retorting. amy: and you hope to start any independent media company in kenosha? >> yes. amy: danieiel thompson, , thankr being with us. i wantnt to updadate people, wtj reports declining president trump photo op so a former owner

had to come in and replace him. daniel thompson, former digital editor at "kenosha news," resigned his position in protest of a headline he says mischaracterized a rally for jacob blake.