11/16/20 11/16/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the secretary-general remains committed to doing his utmost to prevent the collapse of the cease-fire that has been in place since september 6, 1991. and he is determined to do everything possible to remove all obstacles to the resumption of the political process. amy: a nearly three-decade old

ceasefire has ended in occupied western sahara after morocco launched a military operation friday, just hours after a meeting between high-ranking military generals from the united states and morocco. fighting has now broken out in several areas between morocco and the pro-independence osorio front. morocco has occupied the territory since 1975 in defiance of the united nations and the international community. we will get the latest and re-air part of the democracy now! documentary "four days in western sahara: africa's last colony." >> if we don't speak out, especially us as victims who have suffered all of this come if we don't speak out and defend our cause, this problem will remain.

amy: than 44 years. that is how long ronnie, an african-american man, spent behind bars for a crime he did not commit. he was released in august. >> i am disappointed, really, in a system that is supposed to be about right and wrong. amy: ronnie long recently voted for the first time. , at lastalk to him free, in his home in north carolina. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the united states has topped 11 casesn confirmed covid-19 thus than a -- less than a week after it passed the 10 million

cases milestone. a record 70,000 people are now hospitalized. with the surge affecting every part of the country, michael osterholm, a top adviser on president-elect joe biden's coronavirus taskforce, said the u.s. is having "many mini-epidemics." ates are rolling out new measures to combat the surge. wisconsin and chicago have issued new stay-at-home orders. vermont has barred all gatherings outside of members of the same household. washington state has also set strict res on gatherings outside of household members, limited capacity at restaurants and prohibited indoor service at gyms, museums, and movie theaters. utah and north dakota are the latest states to mandate mask wearing. meanwhile, in south dakota, where the covid-19 death rate is among the worst in the world, governor kristi noem, a close trump ally, has said she would not enforce a mask mandate even if ordered by future president joe biden. a new survey by national nurses

united found that hospitals are still failing to provide adequate ppe and workplace protections. nurses say hospitals are unprepared as the surge is only expected to get worse during the flu season and the healthcare industry's pursuit of profit is at the center of its failures. nurses also report mental health struggles related to the pandemic. meanwhile, north dakota's republican governor said infected but asymptomatic health care workers should still treat covid-19 patients at hospitals. a new report has found prisoners organized over 100 strikes between march and june in response to dangerous conditions inside jails and prisons amid the pandemic. perilous, a digital research and media group that authored the report, said prisoners rose up across 39 states, with most protests happening inside immigrant prisons. since the beginning of the

pandemic, over 250,000 people in jails and prisons have tested positive for the coronavirus, and over 1400 prisoners and staffers have died. perilous referred to the uprisings as "clearly one of the most massive waves of prisoner resistance in the past decade." in other prison-related news, in el paso, texas, prisoners are being paid just two dollars an hour to move the bodies of people who have died of covid-19 to mobile morgues as the number of cases and deaths has completely overwhelmed local hospitals. the drug maker moderna says early results from a large clinical trial show its coronavirus vaccine is nearly 95% effective at preventg covid-19. researchers caution that moderna's finding is not yet peer-reviewed and that it could be months before the company's vaccine might be widely

available -- if it's proven to be safe. but the news builds on other preliminary findings that dozens of coronavirus vaccines under development are highly effective at preventing disease. "the washington post" reports over 130 secret service officers have been ordered to self-isolate or quarantine. the coronavirus has sidelined around 10% of the agency's security team and is partially linked to working on the campaign trail at trump's many rallies. in international news, british prime minister boris johnson is in self-isolation after coming into contact with a lawmaker who tested positive for covid-19. johnson was hospitalized in april and was put in the icu as he battled covid-19 himself months ago. over one week after all major networks projected joe biden won the presidential election, his team remains shut out of key

funding and access normally granted to incoming administrations. on friday, the two remaining states to project a winner were called, with north carolina going to trump and biden taking the win in georgia -- although that race is now undergoing a hand recount. biden has won 306 electoral votes to trump's 232, and biden has amassed over 5.5 million more votes in the popular count. in 2016, when trump won the election with 306 electoral votes, he declared his victory a laslide. but trump has yet to concede the race, delaying the transition for biden's team, and further inflaming trump's base of supporters who believe his lies that the election was rigged against him. a sunday morning tweet by trump appeared to show he acknowledged biden's win by saying, "he won because the election was

rigged" -- though he quickly walked it back by tweeting less than two hours later, "i concede nothing!" trump's many legal challenges to alter the outcome of the election continue to falter. on friday, a judge declined to block the certification of election results in detroit, michigan. and pennsylvania's secretary of state said she will not order a recount of votes since biden's lead is too wide. on sunday, the trump campaign scrapped major parts of its case in pennsylvania. several law firms representing the trump campaign have either withdrawn from lawsuits or said they would not get involved in additional litigation. meanwhile, as the fate of the senate hangs on the two runoffs in georgia in january, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is pushing to pack the courts with more right-wing judges before trump leaves office -- 12 judicial nominations are currently awaiting a senate vote and 23 are awaiting committee hearings.

on saturday, tens of thousands of trump supporters rallied in d.c. at least 20 people were arrested as the pro-trump protesters clashed with counter-protesters, resulting in a hospitalization for a stabbing. an independent journalist also reported being stabbed saturday by someone who appeared to be a member of the far-right proud boys. in a victory for young undocumented people, daca, or deferred action for childhood arrivals program, has been restored to near-full operation after another federal judge ruled acting homeland security secretary chad wolf was not appointed to serve in his role, therefore did not have the authority to issue restrictions on dhaka. javier valdés of make the road new york, one of the organizational plaintiffs in the case, said -- "this victory is just the beginning. not only must the biden administration immediately

protect daca & tps holders & reverse all of trump's nativist polices, but also provide swift relief & a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented families across the country." peru is facing another leadership vacuum after interim president manuel merino resigned just days after being appointed, and following days of mass protests, in which at least two protesters were killed. over 100 others have been injured and at least 41 people are missing as police violently crack down on some of the largest protests peru has seen in decades. merino's appointment came after what opponents are calling a legislative coup against former president martín vizcarra, who was impeached and removed as he's being investigated for corruption allegations. at least half of peru's congress members are also under investigation for corruption. on sunday, the father of one of the killed protesters spoke out. us mothers and fathers in

peru are in the situation. nobody wants what has happened but also no one is free because the bombs being thrown in central lima, just imagine that and what does it say about the government? amy: in ethiopia, forces from the country's northern tigray region fired missiles at eritrea's capital asmara saturday, marking a major new escalation in the conflict which erupted when ethiopian prime minister abiy ahmed launched a military offensive in tigray earlier this month. meanwhile, the united nations is warning of a growing humanitarian crisis as at least 25,000 people have already fled the tigray region into neighboring sudan. this is an ethiopian refugee speaking from the sudanese border town of hamdayat. >> there is no food. the is lting. we lost our belongings. i lost my siblings. we came to sudan on foot and my

children are not meeting. amy: in the southern caucasus mountains, thousands of ethnic armenians have set their homes on fire as they began a mass exodus from the disputed territory of nagorno-karabakh, making way for azerbaijani forces to take control of the region. the civilian withdrawal began as russian peacekeepers arrived to oversee the transfer of power in nagorno-karabakh to azerbaijan, the victor of a war with armenia that broke out on september 27. it was the worst fighting in nagorno-karrabakh since the breakup of the soviet union in the early 1990's, when conflict killed some 20,000 and displaced a million people -- most of them azeris. china, japan, and 13 other countries have signed a deal to set up the world's largest trading bloc encompassing nearly a third of the global economy. the regional comprehensive economic partnership, or rcep, also includes several southeast asian countries, australia, new zealand, and south korea.

the trump administration is pushing through plans to auction off drilling rights in the arctic national wildlife refuge before president-elect joe biden takes office in january. though, they won't admit he will it's unclear what would hpen to any deals made by the tru administtion sinceiden has vowed to blo oil exploration in the alaskan refuge. the arctic refuge is extremely rich in biodiversity and has been home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years. michigan's democratic governor gretchen whitmer has ordered enbridge to close decades-old pipelines that carry oil and gas under the straits of mackinac, a fragile waterway connecting lake huron and lake michigan. in a statement, governor whitmer said enbridge's line 5 pipelines have repeatedly violated terms of an easement granted in 1953, adding -- "enbridge has routinely refused to take action to protect our great lakes and the millions of

americans who depend on them for clean drinking water and good jobs." tropical storm iota has strengthened into a category 4 hurricane and is expected to make landfall tonight on the coasts of nicaragua and honduras, as much of central america is still reeling from the devastation left by hurricane eta. which displaced at least 210,000 people. meanwhile, storm vamco, downgraded from a typhoon, battered vietnam sunday after leaving 67 people dead in the philippines as the country's deadliest storm this year. and anti-nuclear activist martha hennessy was sentenced to 10 months in prison, the sixth member of the kings bay plowshares to receive a sentence after the seven activists broke into the kings bay naval submarine base in 2018 to protest u.s. nuclear weapons programs. hennessy is the granddaughter of dorothy day come the founder of the catholic worker movement. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, a nearly three decade old cease-fire has ended in occupied western sahara. after morocco launched a military operation friday. we will get the latest. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the late singer from western sahara. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a nearly three-decade-old ceasefire has ended in occupied western sahara. morocco has occupied the territory since 1975 in defiance of the united nations and the international community. western sahara is widely considered to be africa's last colony.

over the weekend, fighting broke out in several areas between the moroccan military and the polisario front, the sahrawi liberation movement seeking independence. meanwhile, morocco has intensified its repression in the occupied western sahara, raiding the homes of independence activists and cracking down on protests. moroccan military drones were reportedly spotted in the city of dajla. the ceasefire ended friday after the moroccan military broke into a no-go buffer zone in southern western sahara and exchanged fire with the polisario front. for the past three weeks, sahrawi civilian protesters had blocked a morocco-built road in the area that sahrawis consider to be illegal. the peaceful blockade backed up traffic for miles and cut off trade between morocco and mauritania to the south. the moroccan military entered the buffer zone friday morning to disperse the civilians, who were evacuated to safety by the polisario front.

rocco took military action just hours after u.s. major general andrew rolling met in morocco with the commander of the royal moroccan armed forces southern zone, which includes occupied western sahara. at the united nations, a spokesperson for u.n. secretary general antonio guterres warned against further violations of the ceasefire. >> the secretary-general remains committed to doing his utmost to avoid the collapse of the cease-fire that has been in 1991.since september 6, and he is determined to do everything possible to remove all obstacles to the resumption of the political process. amy: the poliasario front says hundreds of sahrawi volunteers have signed up and left for the front over the weekend from the refugee camps in algeria. sidi omar, the polisario front's

representative to the united nations, said -- "for us, it is an open war." in the streets of laayoune, the largest city in western sahara, sahrawis protesters took to the streets in a night-time demonstration for independence. sahrawis also demonstrated over the weekend in other cities including occupied dajla. protests in solidarity with sahrawi independence also occurred over the weekend in spain and new zealand where activists with extinction rebellion and other groups protested at a fertilizer company which buys phosphate from occupied western sahara. in a moment, we will speak to

professor jacob mundy at colgate university about the end of the ceasefire. but first, let's take a look at the roots of the crisis. in 2016, democracy now! broke the media blockade and reported from inside occupied western sahara. we were the first international news team to report from the occupied territory in years. this is an excerpt from our documentary "four days in western sahara: africa's last colony." western sahara, where peaceful protesters led by women are beaten in the streets. thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed, and disappeared while resisting the moroccan occupation. >> he jabbed right at my eye with his baton. i was yelling at him, "hey, you moroccan! you pulled out my eye!" amy: where nural resoues are plundered, from phosphates to fish.

>> i sayhat our damnion comefrom the natural resources we have here. if it wasn't for these natural resources, morco never wld have invaded western sahara. amy: where a massive wall divides a people, the sahrawi, the native population, denied a vote for self-determination. >> if we don't speak out, especially us, as victims who have suffered all of this, if we don't speak out and defend our cause, this problem will remain. amy: western sahara -- the center of a 4-decades-ng struggle for independence from morocco, its neighbor to the north. morocco has occupied the territory since 1975 in defiance of the unid nations d the ternationacommunit the sty of weste sahara one of colonialism, plunder, and resistance. it's also a story rarely told in the international media.

weern saharanoam choms saidhe arab spring first began in late 20 befo the risings in tunisia and egypt. >> moroccan forces came in cities, a lottent of killed and wounded and so on, and then it spread. amy: but the struggle in western sahara dates back much longer. fonearly centurywestern hara wasolonizedy spain. but the spanish occupation ended in 1975, setting off a regional figh on october 31, 1975, both morocco from the north and mauritania from e south invaded western sahara as spain withdrew. days after moroccan troops invaded, king hassan ii ordered hundreds of thousands of moroccan citizens to enter western sahara in what became known as the green march. mauritania would withdraw less

than four years later, but morocco has remained to this day. just days after the moroccan invasion, secretary of state henry kissinger privately told president gerald ford he hoped for a "rigged u.n. vote" at the security council to confirm morocco'claim overestern saha. about lf of the hrawi population fled the invasion to neighboring algeria, where they settled in refugee camps in the middle of the desert. the moroccan iasion set f a 16-year-long war with the sahrawi libetion movemt known as the polisario front. rocco's army, with the help of u.s. military aid, drove the polisario to westernahara' easterdesert. morocco en created theorld's longest minefid and builthe second-longest wall on earth, with the help of u.s. weapons companies northrop and westinghouse. the nearly 1700-mile wall

divides sahrawis who remain under occupation from those who fled into exile. the moroccan government began decades of torture, disappeances, killg, a reession against prindependce sahras living in t occupieterritor in 1991, the u.n. sponsored a ceasefire and promised sahrawis a referendum on self-determination, organized by its peacekeeping mission known as minurso. since then, morocco has blocked attempts to organize the vote, and the u.n. security council has fused to ilement its own referendum plan or allow minurso to monitor the human rights situation in the territory. today, no country recognizes moroccan sovereignty over westersahara, onof the mos incessible pces in the world. and the international media has laely ignorethe occution, inart because morocchas routely blocked journalists from entering western sahara.

but in late 2016, democracy now! successfully broke the news blockade. we were in marrakech, morocco, for the united nations climate change conference. with u.n. credentials and u.s. passports, we decided to take a chance and attempt to do what no foreign television crew has done in years -- report from africa's last colony. ♪ amy: an excerpt from democracy now!'s documentary "four days in occupied western sahara -- a rare look inside africa's last colony." a special thanks. you can watch the full documentary at democracynow.org. on friday, and nearly three decade old cease-fire has ended any occupied western sahara after morocco launched an

military operation. we're now joined by jacob mundy, associate professor of peace & conflict studies and middle eastern and islamic studies at colgate university. he co-authored the book "western sahara: war, nationalism and conflict irresolution." professor, it is great to have you on democracy now! we just went deep dive into the history of what is happening in western sahara, africa's last colony, because so few people understand what is happening there. but this critical moment that took place last week when morocco violated the new buffer zone -- explain the significance of breaking this 29 year cease-fire stop >> we haven't seen fighting like this in western sahara since 1991. there been keeping -- periods due to like a progress, we have seen tensions on the rise but to havepen warfare like this is

very significant. the civilians that were blockading theoad, being really the only paved roa that connect west african to europe, was a significant tactical victory by poliasario and clearly aggravated morocco enough they launched a military incursion. morocco has had this was a military operation. what we have is moroccan forces causing -- crossing into restricted areas technically under poliasario sovereignty. this is a clear violation of the cease-fire. we have heard nothing from the security council. amy: so explain what the stakes are right now and also, what do you understand is the was involvement? we saw this tweet from sahrawi voice on the same to the moroccan army launched its week,ion yesterday, last u.s. army major general andrew rolling was meeting with moroccan general who is in

charge of morocco's army operations in western sahara. is it significance spirals out of control, you can see a very significant war between morocco and poliasario forces. for morocco to chase poliasario forces into of jury of, you could see third party, which is algeria, which is also on high alert right now and very coerned about th in terms of what it does for security across the sahara region, which we have seen in recent years has been a zone that has seen a lot of conflict and terrorism and importunate things like that. the connections between the moroccan military and u.s. military have grown in recent years, largely due to marcus cooperation with the construction of africa, as the u.s. military in africa. morocco hosts one of the largest training exercises organized by africom, were countries from all

over africa participate. in southern morocco, not too far from western zahara. it is not good objects they chose to lunch this incursion i violation of the u.n. cease-fire in the same day military commanders were in morocco preparing for the annual exercise. amy: can you talk about what happened when the united states was pushing for air of nations to recognize israel? uae, among others, jared kushner making a massive weapons deal with uae? and then we heard that morocco would be one of the countries that would do this as well. in 2019 in the trump administration, major weapons sales to morocco. and then we heard perhaps morocco would also recognize forel, perhaps in exchange

u.s. recognizing defect oh morocco's occupation, defect occupation of annexation of western sahara. reportede heard this in several locations. it has not happened yet thankfully. the state department has actually in some ways historically as an instituon been one of the more sober voices when it comes to these efforts within various user administration to push for moroccan sovereignty over western zahara. we saw this in the w. bush administration with elliott abrams seeking to get recognition and the state department pouring cold water over it. recently the state department is that this is not on the table in terms of morocco recognizing for recognition over western zahara. the bigger picture is, yes, morocco is using arms purchases

as a way of signaling its allegiance tea was interests in the region. not having had good relations with the trumpet administration -- 2016,n the morocco's had to try to find other ways to communicate to the white house this interest in strengthening the partnership. so one of the ways they did this was through massive arm purchases -- arms purchases. the number one arms purchaser for u.s. weaponry, their way of signaling to the administration that has been quite aggressive in terms of pushing u.s. weapons abroad and morocco has tried to get on that train so as to improve relations with the trumpet administration. amy: 2019, something like $1 million the was sold in missiles and other weaponry to morocco. what do you think it will take for another cease-fire right

now, professor yucca what can the united nations do? one of the leaders of the sahrawi people, many of these activists are in laayoune. there virtually under house arrest being monitored, has appealed to the u.n. security council. and south africa is now the security council that has long been an ally of the sahrawi people. >> well, we will take a major diplomatic initiative from the u.n.. the sahrawis are generally tired of the empty promises. the previous personal envoy who led the negotiation between morocco and poliasario left in 2019 has not been replaced in over a year and half and that just shows you the security council is willing to let this issue dripped and has drifted

back into open warfare. it is difficult to say what will back, since them 1975, about 180,000 of them in the refugee camps, are incredibly frustrated. they have been frustrated for decades. they always -- almost return were in 2001. hundreds voluntarily returned to algeria and prompted to join the fight. so you can imagine what 20 years later how many sahrawis are willing to go to war. there's really no reason for them to respect the words of the u.n. because the u.n. has been on the ground since 1991 promising a referendum and has done nothing to push forward with that. to enden you talk about of, were so many sahrawis are living in refugee camps for years, now it is from these refugee camps that young men,

hundreds of them, are leaving to go to this buffer zone to fight? >> exactly. there's a large youth population in refugee camp, especially young men. not a lot of economic at -- opportunities for them. military service is required. the reserves are being called up. more troops are heading to the area to reinforce them and continue the fight. morocco is pretending like nothing is happening in the media. not surprising. very unprepared and some positions were easily overrun by poliasario front. amy: i want to give or history

from our documentary "four days in occupied western sahara -- a rare look inside africa's last colony." while we were in western sahara in 2016, moroccan authorities violently broke up and independence protest led by sahrawi women. we traveled to meet with the women shortly after the protest ended. inside we find a number of women tending to an activist who is retching and vomiting from her injuries. should she go to a hospital? >> she said she can't go to a hospital, because they will not admit her, and she's also too scared to go there. amy: the activists have recorded video of their protest -- and the subsequent beatings by moccan fors -- on llphones and camcorders. what our cameras couldn't capture, citizen journalists' uld. we begin downloading their footage as activist mina bali describes what happened. >> because of your presence here, we wanted to have a protest and show you how things

are here, how we are treated. it's been about two years since any journalists have accessed the territory. we came chanting slogans, making peace signs with our fingers, as usual. and then they intervened against us in the street. they were a large group. they pushed us into a narrow street. they took me. one of them grabbed my hair, and he started beating me. he wounded me here, under my nose. he grabbed my breast and continued beating me against the wall. aziza was with me, and he struck her in the kidney and hit her head against the wall. and then she fell on the ground at my feet. and ghalia yimani was being dragged there. and sultana khaya. amy: i'm going to go with the

women to see their bruises. they're going to show me. and then we'll see what we can show the camera. we follow sultana khaya into a small bedroom. she pulls back her melhfa -- her traditional sahrawi robe -- and shows me fresh bruises on her leg, both arms, and on her breast. sultana, describe what happened to you. >> all of us were participating as sahrawis in the peaceful demonstrations for our right to self-determination. i watrying tgather m sisters fothe prott at 5:0 and e wholarea wasesieged. they were insulting us, beating us, dragging us and using violence to let us know that we weren't going to be able to protest. they tried to single us out and pushed us into narrow streets where they could beat us without anyone observing. what you saw today is nothing compared to what we've

witnessed over and over since 1975. but the news never gets out. as sahrawi women, we're not backing off until we get our final victory and liberate our homeland. the beatings will not deter us from continuing the fight. and even if we die, it will be a sacrifice so that our sons and future generations can live in the freedom that we've been denied. amy: that is an excerpt from our democracy now! documentary and we will post the whole thing at democracynow.org. "four days in occupied western sahara -- a rare look inside africa's last colony." , as weor jacob mundy wrap up, i mean, the women we talked to, for example mina, who ,ad just been beaten very badly under house siege right now in laayoune.

brenda human rights enter, out by had her eye poked moroccan police 10 years before and she was being beaten once again. where do you see this resistance going at this time? and could you see this becoming an outright major confrontation? and what chance does the poliasario have when it comes to military competition as opposed to solving this diplomatically? are good questions. the concern is, and we're seeing evidence that morocco is using this new context as a pretext to crackdown on sahrawi civil society. 're at the tenure anniversary of the events in the documentary you noted that noam chomsky called the protest, the first uprising of 2011. read anniversary of the courts accords.

it is a very strange situation we're in right now with these anniversaries. sahrawiificance is civil society has been under incredible pressure since the uprising. we have not seen anything significant terms of the popular manifestation. the blockade were we are at is one of the most significant acts of civil disobedience we have seen from sahrawis. it was significant enough to trigger moroccan military incursion that in turn triggered a polisario response that has now led to war. be difficult will for them to regain territory inside the occupied western zahara but they can do significant damage to moroccan forces along the defenses barrier for tens of thousands of troops are positioned. if thiswill see is

turns into a war of attrition or a tit-for-tat exchange and hopefully cooler heads from the u.n. will, in and make the usual promises and hopefully out of this we can get something more meaningful in terms of the peace process and something that can actually lead to self-determination. america jacob monday, thank you for being with us, associate professor of and conflict studies in middle eastern and islamic studies at colgate university, co-author of the book called "western sahara: war, nationalism and conflict irresolution." when we come back, 44 years. that is how long an african-american man in north carolina was held for a crime he did not commit. he recently got out of jail and voted for the first time. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to north carolina, which saw record voter turnout this year, including by its nearly 1.5 million african-american voters. among them, ronnie long. which doesn't make him unusual except that he had just come out

of prison after spending 44 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. he walked out of the albemarle correctional institute a free man on august 27. really comepointed, up in the system that is supposed to be about right and wrong. peopleappointed that you that want to do the right thing but they will do -- try to mislead you. do.live and die by what you you reap what you sow. difficulteve -- do a it is, one day i would be standing where i'm standing right now. and i ain't never given up that hope. amy: that was ronnie long speaking just after his release from prison earlier this year in august. his ordeal began in 1976 when he was convicted by an all-white

jury of raping a 54-year-old woman named sarah bost, who was a wealthy white widow. in 2015, his lawyers learned investigators had withheld exculpatory evidence proving his innocence -- including semen samples and fingerprints taken from the crime scene that did not match his own. the evidence was either withheld from his attorneys or disappeared while in government hands while witnesses for the state committed perjury at his trial. it would take several more years and a ruling by the fourth u.s. circuit court of appeals for long to win his freedom. at a virtual hearing in may, judge james wynn, asked -- "what is it about us that we want to prosecute and keep people in jail when we know evidence might exist that might lead to a different outcome? why is that so offensive to us now that we want to protect illegal activity from forty-four -- 44 years ago? when did justice leave the

process such that we let our rules blind us to the realities that we all can see?" ronnie long's mother, elizabeth, passed away just weeks before his release, which also came on the birthday of his wife, ashleigh. she had not seen her husband since when albemarle prison was march closed to visitors due to covid-19. ronnie long was 20 years old when he was wrongfully convicted. he is now 65 and has finally been exonerated. he joins us now from durham, north carolina. ronnie, welcome back -- welcome to democracy now! for the first time. how does it feel to be free? mean, really talking about coming out of restraints, being restrained and being able to get up and what you want to do without somebody telling you what to do? life right now as

it is? you have people here trying to adapt. i mean, it is great for me. it is a blessing. miraculous. blessed to even be sitting here right now. to votet was it like for the first time, ronnie long? blacks.ot a lot of they don't even believe in that vote thing. number one, they feel there is no use. they say capitalist. the capitalists, they're going to put who they want in there anyway. but this year was the first time i ever voted.

never been --i've been putting emphasis on it. older, likee become i said, i was locked up around 20 years old. ,s i got older, when i got out is in serioustem need for reform. i urge young blacks, older black people of color, all people to exercise their right that you have. even though you may think your vote don't make a difference, somewhere down the line, it to make athe" vote difference. amy: last month north carolina governor roy cooper said for the first time that he would consider the petition signed by more than 50,000 people calling for your pardon as well as three others.

this is what he said. from mr. long,n which i think was received a week or so ago, will receive careful consideration by me and by my office. power of theficant governor to be able to make decisions about what a judge and jury have done. and i take that power under the constitution very seriously. but will review that application , along with others. amy: that was north carolina governor roy cooper. i want to read more from the concurring opinion by judge james wynn of the fourth circuit court of appeals, which ruled to send your case back to the federal courts in north carolina. wynn is an african-american obama appointee who also grew up in a small north carolina town. the judge wrote --

"officers hid evidence despite knowing that doing so could lead directly to mr. long's death. such an action is repugnant in any context. but it takes on a particularly sinister meaning here, given our country's historical treatment of black men accused of raping white women." ronnie long, what are you demanding of governor cooper right now? my documents speak for themselves. the constitution violations in this case speak for itself. people thatve got have been victimized by the then youke myself, and turn around and put me back into a society and expect for me to

live a productive life. , if saying to roy cooper there is any kind of compassion in your heart, man, you talk you are a religious person, you talk about how you've got to do the -- right now i am struggling. years to come out to the street and continue to it that i'mat is asking roy cooper for that he can only -- i mean, he ain't to do nothing but sign his name and pardon me and three other brothers who have been victimized by corrupt judicial system here in the state of north carolina.

these people ain't crazy. "these people." i'm talking about these ople in the authoritarian physicians who don't want to do their jobs. me cooper needs to pardon and them other brothers so we can get on with our life on what little life we might have left. amy: so ronnie long, if you were to grant you a pardon, that would allow you to receive a maximum of $750,000 in compensation for being unjustly imprisoned. $750,000. i just took out a calculator. forhat is $70,000 a year cash $17,000 a year for the 44 years you were wrongly imprisoned. you haven't even gotten that. are you suing the state? >> this is being litigated right now. it is a subject litigated right

now. like i say, i've got a defense team. i have a team that is more or less going to go to work on this. you have to be realistic about this whole thing. this is one of put all my legal documents online -- this is why i put all of my legal documents online. you don't have to believe what i say. you don't have to accept what i say. online.ell you to go this is where i put my documents online because i want people to be able to go to my web address seelook at my documents and what the state of north carolina has done to me. not only me -- it did not stop with me. they are still doing it. policease, the chief of went to the county commissioners office, got the master list of

all perspective jurors that i was supposed to pick me a panel from and started deleting names off the master list. pool, the jury pool i picked my panel from, he picked we wanted to go in there but i did not find ouabout this until 30 years later. my thing, if anybody like roy cooper had kind of compassion in his heart, to do what is right for the people. pardon to try to get on with my life. amy: ronnie long, talk about those last months in prison. you were there during the

covid-19 lockdown. the dangers for you in prison -- i mean, you're in your 44th year. prison ththis others. the outbreak of covid-19. what was it like inside? like a can of sardines. aroundgot people laying on top of each other. come in and take your temperature. they will give you a mask and tell you to wear that. but the social distancing is not there. distance the prisoners from each other without reducing the prison population.

carolina? your mother died -- amy: ronnie, your mother died in the last weeks of your imprisonment. condolences on your loss. what did that mean to you before you got out? >> my mom and dad have always supported me. i was before and of ahite jury in front white jury for assaulting a white woman, me my family knew i was on my way to the penitentiary. aw you're going to send tainted jury pool for me to pick from. assaulting aly

pillar, a wealthy white female, in front of white jury, white da, and to a white jury. be and my family knew that i was on my way to the penitentiary. you'll thing we could do was try to outlast this storm i was going through. i talked to my mother every day on the phone. i talked to her every day because after i lost my father, i more or less was trying to feel that -- fill that empty void that was in my mother's life because they have been together for over 50 something years. my mother used to always tell me she was going to be there when i got out. "i'll be here when you get out." those 15, 20 minutes that those nine ass concorde police department came down to my house

, 15 to 20y mama minutes, that i would be back within that time, that i did not need anybody with me. those 15 to 20 minutes turn into 44 years. amy: you also married when you are in prison, running, you married your wife ashleigh. we just showedges of her greeting you aft you came out of prison after4 years. >> yes, that was her. [laughter] , i'm sitting in the cell watching tv. the officer, in and tell me to pack my stuff. my looking at him like, pack stuff or what? when i get to receiving, i've got a suit of close laying right there and people are telling me i'm going home. i almost passed out.

for eight years the very first eight years of this 44, i did not see anything but the sky. tall, you a wall so do not see nothing else but the sky. lived likeears i that. never lost focus. on what my mission was. amy: ronnie long, i want to thank you so much for being with us. ronnie long spent 44 years in a north carolina prison for a crime he did not commit. released in august after a federal appeals court vacated his conviction and the state finally dropped the case. we voted for the first time this year. his website is free

ronnielong.org. 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 by democracy now!] aañxxxxxxdñoooooooooooo.

trying