122/20 12/02/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the pandemic and economic fallout, together have caused so had damage for so many that a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable among us. amy: president-elect biden's proposed economic team has addressed the nation for the first time, vowing to combat growing inequality and the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. we will look at the role of the

financial giant blackrock in the biden administration and speak to bernie sanders' former press secretary about why she opposes neera tanden to run the office of management and budget. >> question the value of representation of politics, bu is important to he appointees o actually represent the interest of the communities of eir -- because of what they look like. that is what is being ntested right now, in parcular, neera tanden, o has demonrated over the course of her careea real willingnesso change wit the political wind and support lot of conservativeolicies keutto the global safety net th would n benit a majority of americans are facing an unprecedented crisis in this moment. amy: than "the deadre arising: the life of malcolm x." >> to bring about the

independence of people of african descent here in the western hemisphere and here in the uned states. and bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary. amy: we will look at a major new lateaphy of written by the pioneering journalist les payne who died in 2018. we will speak to his daughter, tamara payne, who helped research and write the book which just won a national book award. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. britain has become the first country to approve use of the pfizer-biontech coronavirus vaccine. pfizer has said the vaccine is 95% effective at preventing covid-19 in a large clinical trial. authorities said the first 800,000 doses will become

available across britain starting next week. british health minister matt hancock spoke earlr today. >> we will start with those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus, and then once we the started -- protected most vulnerable, it will help us all get back to normal and back to all the things that we love. amy: the u.k. has europe's highest covid-19 death toll, nearing and over 1.6 million 60,000 confirmed cases. here in the united states, food and drug administration commissioner dr. stephen hahn was summoned to the white house on tuesday to explain why the fda has not yet approved a vaccine. meanwhil an adsory pan at the cents fodiseascontrol and prevention voted to recommend healthcare workers, residents and staff at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities should be the first ones to receive the vaccine once it is approved. in other cid news, me informion has co to ligh

about e early ys of th pandic. a new sty revealcovi19 was likely aeady in e united states in mid-december of 2019, weeks before it was first identified in china. this all comes as the u.s. death toll from the virus has topped 270,000 -- by far the highest total in the world. pressure is growing on congress to pass a new covid-19 stimulus bill. on tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a $908 billion proposal. meanwhile, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has proposed including some covid-19 relief inside a larger spending package that is needed to prevent a government shutdown. the house approved a $2.2 trillion stimulus plan in october but the republican-led senate opposes the legislation. on tuesday, president-elect joe biden introduced his economic team.

treasury secretary nominee janet yellen said the nation must act with urgency. jobs, smalls, lost businesses struggling to stay alive or closed for good. so many people struggling to put billsn the table and pay and rent. it is an american tragedy and it is essential that we move with urgency. inaction will produce a self reinforcing downturn, causing yet more devastation. amy: multiple news organizations are reporting president trump has discussed preemptively pardoning several members of his family, including his three oldest children -- donald jr., ivanka, and eric -- as well as his son-in-law jared kushner and his attorney rudy giuliani. a presidential pardon would give them protection from federal crimes but not state and local crimes.

meanwhile, new unsealed court documents have revealed the justice department is investigating a bribery-for-pardon scheme where lobbyists allegedly made substantial political contributions in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence. most details of the alleged scheme were redacted, including the identity of participants. attorney general william barr said tuesday the justice department has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. he told the associated press -- "to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election." the statement is a rare act of defiance for barr, a staunch trump loyalist, as the president continues to make baseless claims of voter fraud even as his multiple lawsuits have failed. senate minority leader chuck schumer responded to barr's statement.

attorneyin response to general bill barr, i guess he is the next one to be fired since he now, too, says there is no fraud -- trump seems to fire anyone in that regard. amy: meanwhile, as control of the senate rests on two january run-off elections in georgia, a high-level state election official slammed trump for inciting violence against election workers. like. president, it looks you likely lost the state of georgia. we are investigating, there's always a possibility, get it you have the right to go to the court. you don't have the ability, and you need to say this, is stuff inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. someone is going to get hurt. someone is going to get shot. somebody is going to get killed. amy: gabriel sterling is georgia's voting system limitation manager. he is a republican. he also took aim at georgia's two republican senators, david perdue and kelly loeffler, for not condemning the violent

threats coming from trump supporters. kelly loeffler and jon ossoff will have a debate on sunday night. kelly loeffler and raphael warnock will have their debate on sunday night. the united nations says it has reached a deal with ethiopia's government to allow humanitarian access to the northern tigray region and start providing aid to some 6 million people caught in the crossfire of the deadly conflict. on tuesday, the u.n. warned food has run out for tens of thousands of eritrean refugees in tigray camps. ethiopian prime minister abiy ahmed launched military action against regional forces one month ago, setting off a bloody conflict and adding to the already alarming number of displaced people and refugees in the country and neighboring nations. ethiopia declared victory over the weekend after announcing it took control of the capital of tigray, but the tigray people's

liberation front say they are continuing to fight. in uganda, presidential candidate bobi wine suspended his campaign after members of his team were injured and his car was shot at. wine told reporters his campaign team was being "tortured by security institutions," adding "our campaign is affected by police brutality." the rapper-turned-politician was seeking to unseat president yoweri museveni, who's been in power for 36 years, in next month's election. according to the government, 54 people have died in protests wine was arrested last month and detained for two days. hong kong, prominent activist joshua wong has been sentenced to 13.5 months in prison on charges of illegal assembly for a protest he organized last year. fellow pro-democracy activists agnes chow and ivan lam also received slightly shorter sentences for their involvement in the protest. rights groups condemned the sentencing. amnesty international said --

"by targeting well-known activists from hong kong's largely leaderless protest movement, authorities are sending a warning to anyone who dares openly criticize the government that they could be next." in the hague, climate justice is open their case against fossil fuel giant shell. the case is led by friends of the earth and back by over 17,000 dutch citizens and six other climate justice organizations. the plaintiffs argue shell has broken dutch law and is committing a human rights violation by knowingly sabotaging the netherlands's phase out of fossil fuels. shall ofalso alleges being aware for decades of the damage it has inflicted to the planet. this is roger cox. >> contributes to the realization of great danger to

the humanit human rights, future generations, the environment, and nature. the plaintiffs conclude that royal dutch shell's corporate policy is on a collision course with the global climate target. amy: in australia, firefighters continue to battle a massive bushfire that's destroyed half of queenland's fraser island -- the world largest sand island and a unesco world heritage site. environmentalists warn of catastrophic consequences for the habitats and wildlife on the island as the blaze is now approaching an area inhabid by trees that aret least 10 years ol the fire started six weeks ago in mid-october, triggered by an illegal campfire and amid a record-breaking heatwave. new zealand has declared a climate emergency and has pledged to have a carbon-neutral government by 2025. this is prime minister jacinda ardern. nowt is a declaration serves as a directive to all aspects of the public service

around the urgency that we as a government require and the urgency that we require around action. it acts as a catalyst for change. amy: 32 other nations have declared a climate emergency, often as a symbolic act to spur top-down action on the climate crisis. rights groups have condemned saudi arabia over the decision to try prominent women's rights activist loujain al-hathloul in terrorism court. last week, al-halthloul embarked on her second hunger strike over the past year. she was arrested in may 2018 after leading a movement to lift a ban on women drivers and to overhaul the male guardianship system in saudi arabia. advocates have been calling for her release, along with at least five other saudi women's rights activists who are behind bars. back in the united states, the supreme court heard arguments tuesday in a case pitting six former child slave laborers agains@@nestlé usa and cargill. the men were trafficked from mali as children and forced to

work on cocoa plantations in ivory coast, where they were routinely tortured. the farms supplied to the u.s. corporations, who the plaintiffs say were complicit in their enslavement. in oregon, a white man has been charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting a black 19-year-old, aidan ellison, for playing music too loudly at a hotel parking lot in the city of ashland last week. the white man, robert paul keegan, reportedly left his hotel room when he heard the music and started a confrontation with the teenager before pulling out a gun and shooting him in the chest. in response to ellison's shooting, civil rights advocate and attorney ben crump wrote on twitter -- "this was not about music. that's false justification for killing a black teen! this was a racially motivated shooting by a suspected white supremacist!" hollywood star elliot page has come out as transgender.

page, who has starred in hits including "juno" and "inception" and is currently in the netflix series "umbrella academy," posted a heartfelt statement on social media, writing -- "i can't begin to express how is remarkable it feels to finally love who i am enough to pursue my authentic self." page thanked the trans community in his post and also highlighted the ongoing violence and murders of trans people, especially trans women of color. following the news, the transgender journalist association urged media outlets to stop the practice of deadnaming. that is referring to someone by their former name. foundi member of the group, oliver-ash kleine said -- "this is extremely disrespectful and dehumanizing. it undermines the person's autonomy, gender, and identity." and put reagan poet, writer, and founder of the legendary nuyorican poets cafe miguel algarín has died at the age of 79. algarín was born in puerto rico before moving to new york as a child.

he co-founded the nuyorican poets cafe on the lower east side of manhattan after the poetry salon he started from his own living room outgrew the space. for decades, a community of poets and artists have performed in the iconic venue. algarín taught at rutgers university for over 30 years and is the recipient of three american book awards. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, we look at president-elect biden's proposed economic team. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new

jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: with stimulus talks in a stalemate amid a devastating economic crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic and how it has been dealt with, president-elect joe biden announced his top economic advisers tuesday, setting the tone for his incoming administration's recovery plan. speaking in wilmington, delaware, biden introduced janet yellen as his treasury secretary pick. yellen led the federal reserve from 2014 to 2018. if confirmed by the senate, she will be the first woman to lead the treasury in its 231-year history. this is janet yellen. >> the pandemic and economic fallout together have caused so much damage for so many that have had a disproportionate

impact on the most vulnerable among us. lost lives, lost jobs, small businesses struggling to stay alive or closed for good. so many people struggling to put food on the table and pay bills and rent. it is an american tragedy. and it is essential that we move with urgency. a selfon to produce reinforcing downturn, causing yet more devastation. amy: president-elect biden also noted that wally adeyemo, his pick to be second in command to yellen, would be the highest-ranking african american in the history of the treasury department. other new economic advisors on biden's team include princeton university economist cecilia rouse, who will be the first black woman to lead the council of economic advisers, and brian deese, an executive at investment giant blackrock, as director of the national economic council.

he was not present on the stage tuesday. in a move that is drawing outrage from progressives, biden also announced neera tanden, president of the center for american progress thinktank, as his pick for head of the office of management and budget. while tanden would be the first woman of color and the first south asian woman in the role, critics oppose her organization's cozy relationship with corporate funders, her record of antagonizing and undermining progressive democrats -- including then-presidential candidate bernie sanders -- and her aggressive foreign policy positions. this is neera tanden speaking tuesday. mr. president elect, madame vice president elect, i am here today thanks to my mother's great but also thanks to a ,ountry that has faith in us that invested in her humanity and in our dream. i am here today because of social programs, because of

budgetary choices, because of a government that saw my mother's dignity and gave her a chance. now it is my profound honor to help shape those budgets and programs to keep lifting americans up, to pull families back from the brink, to give everybody the fair chance my mom got. amy: biden's cabinet nominees still face approval by the senate, and the daily beast reports tandem has now deleted more than 1000 of her own tweets, some of which were critical of the senators who would vote on whether to confirm her. republican senator john cornyn of texas has said her nomination is "radioactive." to look more at biden's incoming cabinet, we are joined by briahna joy gray, former national press secretary for bernie sanders 2020, co-host of bad faith podcast, and contributing editor to current affairs. welcome back to democracy now!

it is great to have you with us. neerastart off with tanden. you were tweeting up a storm, tweets you did not delete. can you talk about your thoughts on the person proposed to be head of the office of management and budget? >> there's a lot of talk ever announcedn officially the nominations about the effort to unify the democratic party and his efforts to reach out to the left. a lot of his pix have been characterized as to the weather has not been a lot of substances behind the characterizations. what you see in the latest slate of pix is a lot of emphasis on the identity of the individual's pick. lotta first in the gro. traditionalst characters have gone as far as the struggles of their stepfather's family. i think thats intentional

because led to believe several individuals have real problems and none of them truly represent a progressivend of most americans especially those who identified wh bernie sanders. and neera tanden is someone in particular who was very notorious openly techno stick a senator satyrs -- antagonistic a bernie sanders. perhaps most notorious, physically assaulting bernie sanders campaign manager when he was in employee -- and editor at the progress, i media institution. you, i would like to ask the "new york times" and "washington post" of sort of talked about these nominees as basically being prolabor and friendly to labor unions. could you talk about this

emphasis on the policies toward labor, supposedly, that all of these folks represent? >> the thing i would say that most accurately characterized neera tanden is she is fundentally a party loyalist. even her mother has described her as someone be aggressive and devoted, in particular the 2016, hillary clinton. she repeatedly has represented herself as open to the kind of moderate, i would describe it as democrats, to cut entitlements, for instance. that entitlements had to be on the table. that is in stark contrast with the portrait of a woman whose mother sympathetically relied on public assistance in her youth and has used that experience to try to shield herself against the criticism that she spent open to medicare cuts, social

security cuts, and has spoken about these things, even using the language "entitlement" in a way that is not typical of someone you would describe as progressive. which is distressing to th extent oeconomic crisis this country is in now. amy: let me go to that comment neera tanden made around the issue of slashing social security. this is tanden speaking to c-span after the 2010 midterms. >> put forward ideas and proposals to perform the beneficiary structure of social security from progressive allies , aren't as excited as we are, but we have put those ideas on the table. amy: she is talking about her grip the center for american progress. >> yeah, look, all of the emphasis on the firsts, the diversity of this crew, but less emphasis on whether or not these individuals represent the

interes of the group they are assumed to represent because of what they look like, right? we live in a country where 50% of african-americans rely on social security for upward of 90% of their income. yep someone being put forward by joe biden -- joe biden relate overwhelmingly on the support of african-americans to clinch the nomination -- speaking in cavalier terms about cutting one of the most important social safety net programs. i think rightly distressing to a lot of progressives on top of interpersonal issues and lack of decorum she is demonstrated on the internet. questions clearly, especially among young people in this country, is how the biden economic team will deal with the issue of student debt, which is now into the trillions of dollars. any since that you have from these pix far where the direction of his policies might go in that area? >> i'm not

overly optimistic. i don't know neera tanden or any of the others have spoken directly on this issue but she is someone who over the course of her career has emphasized moderation. back which was working for hillary clinton 2016, she was one of her advisors advising her against adopting a $15 minimum wage. saids on record as having we will never have medicare for all becse people are gog to be unwilling to let go of their private health insurance. this at a time where i believe we are up to 14 million americans losing their employer-based health insurance because of the covid crisis and unemployment. in a world where you have loan debt, especially in the course of the primary, still characterized by the overwhelming bulk of democratic candidates is something that was a far-left inappropriate policy to pursue, in which even in the context of joe biden is still being framed as something that

should be pushed in a minimalist way come aright? is the power to cancel all student debt on day one but is talking about canceling a maximum $10,000 and others are pushing for more. i'm not overly optimistic that this policy, one of those that biden has control over, will be dealt in the maximized way the crisis compels. amy: i would to look at brian deese, former advisor to barack obama, to be the director of the national economic council. deese was not present on the stage tuesday when biden announced his economic nominees. after leaving the white house, deese became global head of sustainable investing at the investment giant blackrock. this is deese speaking to christiane amanpour earlier this year about blackrock's climate plan. >> the most important thing to identifys not necessarily are you going to divest from entire sectors segment but in bed, where are those companies and where are those business models

that are most prepared transition? but we spent a lot of time asking the question not necessarily are you going to exit the entire oil and gas industry or all utilities globally, but instead within the sectors, which other companies that are must prepare that are investing the most in the clean technologies of the future? and which of those companies are less prepared? of also hashe ideal ties to blackrock. use the former chief of staff to blackrock's chief executive larry fink. in addition to briahna joy gray, i want to bring in kate aronoff, a staff writer at the new republic. her latest piece is headlined "the problem with putting a blackrock alum in charge of greening the economy" and follows-up on her story in june that asked "is blackrock the new vampire squid?" she is the co-author of "a planet to win: why we need a green new deal." kate, if you can talk about the ?hoice of brian deese

>> sure, thank you for having me. brian deese has spent a lot of time in washington and a lot of time at blackrock. a lot of the talk about brian deese's nomination in the last couple of days is sort of rumors came out about him being appointed to nec, focused on if he is a good person, that he spent time in the obama administration working on things like the paris agreement and conservation work. i think like many of the a realsives who have put question about his record out there don't necessarily think that is enough. for someone to serve one of the -- in the world. blackrock has smartly cultivated its represented -- reputation as

a good guy on wall street, just handle the money of retirees, exit integer. -- as a manager. time after time they have -- green washed their image. put out this idea that blackrock has taken the climate crisis seriously. all the while continuing to at an in fossil fuels enormous rate. it doesn't necessarily matter so much whether brian deese is personally a good person. he may well be. i don't know brian deese personally. but i think it deserves looking at blackrock submission, the kind of power they're trying to amass any governments both here and the european union, which we can talk about, and also brian

deese's on record. he works more on climate issues for blackrock now than he ever did. the obama administration. was by all accounts a very thewart defender -- in obama administration. we see nothing to suggest he has changed. he doesn't support all of the above. what he did in the obama administration, going back to arctic drilling, praising the fact will production had been expended under obama's tenure. there's not enough evidence out there to think brian deese's ok after can overcome the danger of putting one of the largest companies in the world in charge of the year, very important economic -- in the u.s. juan: specifically to that point, the one of the largest financial companies of the world, most people are not familiar with blackrock.

they certainly are familiar with citigroup or goldman shs or chase. can you talk a little about the tent of micro's financial -- blackrock's financial prowess around the world? and if you can comment on the choice of john kerry as a limit envoy by joe biden? a to talk about blackrock little bit, they control $70 worth of assets. that is grown enormously in the last 10 years. prior to the great recession ,hen interest rates were higher investors like pension funds with put their money into treasury bonds which offer reliable returns, right? with interest rates down, the response to the crisis of the financial crisis, that has become a less attractive option. you have these big institutional investors who are seeking reliable returns. the products that blackrock offers like other asset managers

have become very attractive, particularly these passive funds which are managed by algorithms and notably are not subject to the sort of sustainability screens that brian deese -- is last four years at blackrock talking about. these are enormously powerful sort of bodies, institutional investors generally, these big asset managers generally have had become sort of bigger than anyone would have imagined. blackrock in particular is a monopoly provider risk management -- aladdin come central banks around the world. in the lastged -- financial crisis and the most recent recession. toy have really tried accumulate an enormous amount of

power. by all accounts, they are very much striving to be a fourth branch of government, which alumnid hiring obama era to create a sort of positive reputation among democrats, especially, and with the full knowledge of these people may get hired back, which has borne -- i thinthere are a lot of questions. [indiscernible] briefly -- we have seen this before. we have seen [indiscernible] met not just for the country, not just putting forth for much too small stimulus like clear summers push for in 2008 when he was head of the national

government counsel, but electorally. inocrats lost in a blowout 2010 and continue to lose every branch of government because they pursued austerity, pursued -- that righties preached news the deputy and acting director. a dangerous strategy and democrats own self interest. i will talk a little about john kerry now. he was appointed to head this new climate envoy on the national security council. this is a win that there is a cabinet level post for climate. that is nothing to take for granted. it is a huge step forward in terms of how seriously this administration is claiming to take the climate crisis. but a lot of questions are remaining about whether john kerry has changed his view since

the obama administration where he was very vocal defender of the transpacific partnership, which would have open up the isla localllenges -- purses to sue governments for things like environmental protection. he consistently has preached climate change primarily a national security threat, which i think combined withhe position as is envoy post and the rest abide's foreign policy hocks on foreign policy. not asee this crisis is threat to humanity but a threat to u.s. military assets, which i think is a sort of dangerous way to view this problem. amy: can you also comment on cedric richmond, the louisiana congressmember, former congressional black caucus chair that biden has named to lead the white house office on public engagement? the sunrise movement

called the move a betrayal combating richmond has "taken more donations from the fossil fuel industry during his congressional career than nearly any other democrat cozied up to big oil and gas, stayed silent, ignored with organizations in meeting his own community while they suffered from toxic pollution and sea-level rise." if you can talk about blackrock 's well as cedric richmond appointment and the whole issue of who is making up this cabinet -- what does this say to the progressive wing of the democratic party that feels they threw in their lot wholeheartedly and pushed hard for the biden-harris ticket and are wondering what kind of sway they have at this point. >> i think the statement from onrise about richmond's spot .

cancer alley in louisiana, which has been inundated by pollution from chemical companies in the petrochemical industry and oil companies, and has ignored concerns from his constituents about the fact many of their neighbors are coming down with cancer that they did not need to have because these companies are not being held accountable for polluting the communities. -- for theis a real folks who worked to elect joe biden. people made a lot of phone calls for joe biden, knocked on doors for joe biden. progressives in places like the hunt omar press ps -- ilhan omar's district. with the point is like brian cedric richmond, they're not getting anything. for a candidate

who is not their choice, was not the person they wanted to see in the white house, and yet knew that it was important to have the democrats and get donald trump out of office. they are not really seeing any get from the biden administration. giant --we have a which i personally am not so confident that biden's picks so far will take on the scale that crisis desires, but also that why would you so actively try to turn -- the biggest part of the democratic base in the coming years? if you look back to the history of the democratic party, when was the party winning big majorities? one was controlling congress for decades on end. it delivered for

people, build coalitions, sought to expand the space. certainly not when it tried to target tiny slivers of suburban white women to win them over with the most talking points they could find. i think there is on lack of self reflection from people have been doing politics is a way for 20 years at a time when the democratic already really faced a crisis in terms of who the base is moving forward. i think it is concerning for all those reasons. i would like democrats to control the senate. i would like strong democratic majority to push the climate action. i'm not sure that is really the goal of joe biden. kate, i just want to ask givena joy gray, can you us a sense whether you believe there still a role for bernie sanders in biden administration?

amy: could you start again? >> it is difficult is say even if there were a role that bernie sanders could have any significant influence given the overwhelming assault of the picks so far and what joe biden has firmly committed to throughout his campaign, which is that nothing will fundamentally change. it is not clear to me that bernie will have more leverage or influence within biden's administration that he would have as a relative outsider in the senate. moreover, iteems by every indication that joe bide doesn't have any interest in a giving anything over to the left, offering anything to the left. you see all the branches republicans, cindy mccain, republicans given a

platform at the national convention. i think that is a trend that should continue, not interested in offering much to the base of the democratic party. amy: we want to thank you both for being with us. these conversations will continue. briahna joy gray, former national press secretary for bernie sanders 2020, co-host of bad faith podcast, and contributing editor to current affairs. and thank you to kr and off, staff -- kate aronoff staff , writer at the new republic, where her latest piece is co-author of "a planet to wi why we need a green new deal." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. with juan gonzalez. as we turn right now to "the dead are arising." that's the name of a new biography of malcolm x that was just awarded t national book award for nonfiction last month. the sweeping account of malcolm x's life by the late journalist les payne and his daughter tamara payne has been called a "fiercely analytical examination of the radical revolutionary as a human being." "the new york times" says -- "nobody has written a more poetic account." the book is based on decades of research by les payne, who died in 2018. it weaves together hundreds of interviews with malcolm x's family, friends, colleagues and enemies to tell his life story -- from his early years in omaha , neaska, to his rise to

prominence in the nation of islam to his assassination at the the audubon ballroom in new york city on february 21, 1965. he was only 39 years old. just like dr. martin luther king when he was assassinated. this is malcolm x in his own words, speaking at the audubon ballroom in 1964, about half a year before he was assassinated. the speech was called "by any means nessary." >> one of the firsthings the independent african naons did of to form an organization african unity. afro-american unity, which has the same aim and objective to in our way --gets [applause] bring about the complete independence of people of

two african descent here in the western hemisphere, and first here in the united states, and bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary. y: thawas lcolm x in his own words, speaking the audubon ballroom in 1964. just a year earlier, les payne heard malcolm x speak at bushnell memorial hall in juned, connecticut, 1963. at the time, les payne was one of only 60 african american students at the university of connecticut out of enrolled 10,000 students. this is les payne reading his essay "the night i stopped being a negro," about his experience hearing malcolm x speak. >> by the end of the lecture, i in me knew that something had changed. this time irreversibly. blacks, mosterior,

important i, myself, would no longer be inferr. this cardinal message powerfully delivered to millions would make malcolm x a treasure for black liberation and a serious threat to white america. previously, my own condition since of self-loathing had proved is difficult to remove as tattoo and here it was finally washed away by malcolm's acid bath, primer on racial conditioning, and tough love logic. until this june night, i had been imprisoned. ,ut malcolm x shook my dungeons and as a poet said, my chains fell off. i had entered bushnell hall as a ando with a capital"n"

wandered out into the parking lot as a black man. amy: that was the late journalist phyllis are prize-winning reporter from editor at newsday in new york, les payne, author of "the dead are arising: the life of malcolm x." the book is based on decades of research. including a secret meeting had with the ku klux klan the mysterious death of his father in 1931. for more, we're joined by les payne's daughter tamara payne, co-author of "the dead are arising." she is joining us from new york city. it is going to have you with us. congratulations on the national book award. it must have been so poignant for you. you finishing and also researching with your father this book and then posthumously winning the national book award.

talk about first the title "the dead are arising: the life of malcolm x," and this joint project you did with your father, why malcolm x? onthank you for inviting me to talk about this. dad was a big fan of your show democracy now! and would listen to it every day and definitely see the video of it. dead the book itself, "the are arising" comes from the language the members of the nations of amlo -- islam would use to describe people when they were joining the nation. the people outside the nation were dead and did not know their trueelves. once they came into the knowledge of who they were, they family membersd of the nation. but the process was becoming conscious and learning about fee you are and accepting and

embracing that doing that through elisha mohammed as well of the nationphy of islam he was promoting at the time. he was an admirer of malcolm x. 1941, bn the jim crow south moved up to connecticut with his family at the age of 12. he was aware what was going on in the 1960's and the civil rights movement. he was living it. he was at that age. he was very much aware. knowack people, wanting to how to overcome the obstacles that a placed in front of us d inside of us to thrive in this coury. he listened to martin 13, listened to the preachers, malcm x. themalcolm x in particular y he would analyze what was going on their condition and society as black people, dad

admired that. he also admired martin luther king. the reason why he admired malcolm was because malcolm was dealing with the conditions that black people were facing even internally and how we view ourselves in theituation. as he played the clip of him --aking, he talked about how when he saw malcolm speak in 1963. but he originally did not want to write a book about malcolm because he felt we had everything to know because of the speeches, thautobiogphy ready,ut he hadhe oprtunitto meet malcolm's brothers. he met one in detroit who is being treated by good friend of his that he grew up with, a surgeon. he met one of the brothers,

talked with him aninterviewed him, even. he learned about malcolm's childhood life. when he came back, he spoke with a fellow journalist who helped -- hosts a show "like it is" who , i met one ofgil malcolm's brothers and i learned stuff we don't kno i have not seen this in the autobiography. asked him, which when did you meet? he said, don't know was filbert was malcolm's older brother by two years. wilfrid iturns out is now comes older brother by six years but also was malcolm's best friend. dad went back and went to meet wilfrid was ableo interview him for eight hours and recorded these interviews. he was processing this. it was from that that it started. what he learn -- he is a

journalist to the court -- he learned there's a lot about malcolm we don't know most of his family life. who is this person? malcolm is presented to us fully formed and angry. but that is not what happened. he has a family. he is lineage. where was that coming from? also, what was this world that malcolm is born into? he did not just spring out of nowhere. even if he does have a family, did not just come out of the family angry. what was that about? dad was interested in exploring that and that is what he did with this book. juan: is a masterfully written book. i want to congratulate you. but i want to ask about if you could talk somewhat about the approach that you and your father took in this book because obviously it is more of an investigative reporting approach marable's say manning

book a few years ago just more of a history. can you talk about the approach her father took? obviously, he was one of the pioneers of african-american late 20ths in the century who broke in a mainstream media. i think of people like chuck stone, mentor of mine, earl caldwell, bob maynard -- these were all the giants and your father was among them, who sort of set the mold for the modern of color.s can you talk about his approach to this book as opposed to many of the other books that have been written about malcolm in the past? >> dad's view, he was a journalist, and journalists deal in source material. meaning they do interviews. -- notnt to get necessarily drawn to stories that have already been reported out. dad has stated even when talking about this project that he was to interested in writing a book

of his vie of what is already known. what he wanted to do was talk about what was not known and investigate and port that out. so we have the informaon. the world onational role of a journalist is to provide this information so we can make more informed decisions. that is how dad approach this. in doing that that meant going to commit starting with the andhers and malcolm sisters giving their stories and learning about their childhoods and expanding that out to who their friends were, who malcolm socialized with when he was taken from the house in an incide in mason and learning out that. learning about -- reading malcolm jarvis and what those years were like. hustling in new york and mting the people in new york who he spoke with. dad met and i also would

transcribe a lot of these interviews -- in other cases, and also got to me these people, joe. one person i met through one of our interviews was very helpful generous with introducing me to people she knew. she was a member of the afro-american unity. she lived in harlem. she was very much a part of the struggle movement and very generous with hetime and her connection. introduced me to a lot of people i did not know. and i would get their stori. amy: yuri was there cradling malcolm after he was st? >> she was there at the audubon with her oldest son. amy: another person who was there when he was assassinated who was up there like your coach, was jean roberts, the new york police informant for the

undercover detective. can you talk about him? >> he trained in the mitary. he was a medic in the military. when you came t of the military, he ended ujoining the police. he did not go through police training officially, but they brought him -- what is interesting about this is blacks in the 1960's were not necessarily brought into the police to walk the beat of the streets. they were brought ino be an performance. to do the undercover stuff. jean roberts was one of them. he was college educated, smart guy had served in the military. he had these different clearances. he was an informant. he fit the mold. he took that seriously. -- got thened assignment to infiltrate malcolm's organization, he did

that enjoyed security force and ended up being on malcolm security. he was on security when malcolm was assassinated in the audubon. amy: and your father and your father's reviewed him extensively. in the last 30 seconds and then we will do part two, if you could talk about what most surprised you and the work you did with your father on malcolm x's life. >> working on this book for 30 years. i mean, there are a lot of things that came out that were interesting. i think for me it was more that where this path of where the work was taking us -- not so much it was surprising, but learning and understanding about that time. this is a time before i was born. so this is history that is hugely impactful to us most of amy: we have to leave it there but we are not leaving it there

because we're going to do a post-show interview and put it online at democracynow.org. tamara payne, daughter of the late journalist les payne and co-author of his book "the dead are arising: the life of malcolm x." xxxxxxdñooooooooooooooo