12/30/20 12/30/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this is how black people get senthem hom y d they d't w to ght fo thselv. i put rward and i maintain, if i was white, i would not have to go through this. amy: "say her name: dr. susan moore." a black doctor in indiana has died from covid-19 two weeks after posting a video describing

racist treatment by medical staff. moore's chilling message has been compared to t video georgeloyd begng for h fe as was kild by nneapolipolice we will speak to two leading black women doctors fighting racial disparities in healthcare. then "the truth in black and white: an apology from the kansas city star," an influential newspaper apologizes for its 140 racist history from supporting segregation to largely ignoring the civil rights movement. --why didn't "the star" bigotry, for one. star" fit its times, the culture in this country, demeaned african-americans. kansas city was a segregated city.

amy: we will speak to the editor of "the kansas city star" and the african-american reporter who led the effort to examine the newspaper's coverage of the black community. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has blocked a democratic effort to force vote on upping direct payments to $2000 per person as part of the new coronavirus stimulus package. the house voted monday to approve the increase. with democratic and republican support. mcconnell said tuesday the senate may still consider the adder checks, but will trump's other demands to investigate unsubstantiated voter fraud in the presidential election and to remove liability protections for social media companies. but analysts say lumping all of trump's demands together makes

passage of thehecks ch more $2000 unlikely. meanwhile, the treasury said it is starting to send the $600 payments to americans. senators bernie sanders, ed markey and sherrod brown have vowed to filibuster a vote on overriding trump's veto of the $740 billion national defense authorization act if mcconnell refuses to hold a vote on the $2000 relief checks,orcing the senate tstay in session over the new year's holiday. this all comes as the u.s. reported 3725 coronavirus deaths tuesday, the highest daily death toll yet, and 124,000 hospitalizations -- also a world record. the centers for disease control and prevention is now predicting the u.s. will hit 400,000 covid-19 deaths by january 20, the day trump leaves office.

the first u.s. case of the coronavirus variant first detected in britain has been reported in colorado. the patient is in his 20's and has not traveled recently. health officials say they expect to see more cases of the variant soon. british health officials believe the variant is up to 70% more infectious, though this has not been experimentally verified. in los angeles, at least five hospitals had to declare an nterna dister e to oxyn supplyssues. in louiana, coressman-ect ke letlohas diedf covid- at t age of . was dueo be swo in on sunday. cod-19 ctinues i devastatg surge ong the s. ison pulation. datarom the sociated press d the mahall proct found one in every five prisoners has tested positive for the coronavirus -- a rate over four

times higher than the general population. at least 275,000 prisoners have been infected since the start of the pandemic. over 1700 have died. washington state has started vaccinating prisoners and staff in an effort to curb coronavirus outbreaks. meanwhile, new york state is temporarily suspending prison visitation amid the current surge. advocates say the move just inflicts more trauma on an already vulnerable population. president-elect joe biden slammed the trump administration tuesday for its slow rollout of the vaccine. mr. biden: i have directed my team, much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things back on track. we will find ways to boost the pace of vaccinations. amy: the u.s. has vaccinated around 2 million people -- far short of its goal to vaccinate 20 million before the end of the

year. biden reiterated his plan to ask americans to wear a mask for the first 100 days of his administration. he said he is working with local officials to implement mask mandates across the country and will require mask-wearing for federal workers, in federal facilities, and for communal interstate travel. meanwhile, vice president-elect kamala harris received her first dose of the moderna vaccine tuesday. ms. harris: i trust the science. it is the scientists who created .nd approved this vaccine i urge everyone, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. it is about saving our life, the life of your family members, and the life of your community. amy: vice president like harris received her shot from the daughter of guyanese immigrants. in other vaccine news, novavax has launched the late-stage u.s. trial of its covid vaccine.

in international news, britain has granted emergency authorization for the oxford and astrazeneca vaccine. the vaccine costs significantly less than the moderna and pfizer-biontech ones and does not require storage in ultra-cold freezers. some trials showed it had a lower efficacy rate. the u.k. registered a record 53,000 new cases tuesday, with meanwhile, china's sinopharm says its coronavirus vcine is 79% effectivand is seeking approval from regulators, although some one million or more people reportedly already received a sinopharm vaccine as part of an emergency use program. germany reported its highest daily death toll at over 1100 deaths. south korea also reported its own record of 40 deaths. the world health organization is warning the covid-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call and that an even more devastating pandemic could occur.

this pandec has been very severe. it has spread around the world extremely quickly and affected every corner of this planet. but this is not necessarily the big one. amy: in news from latin america, argentinian lawmakers have approved a bill to allow abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, becoming the third and largest latin american nation to roll back anti-choice laws. president alberto fernández, who introduced the legislation, is set to sign it into law. argentina is the home country of pope francis. reproductive rights activists who spent years campaigning for argentina's bill hope other predominantly catholic nations across latin america will follow suit by overturning harsh anti-abortion laws. a chinese court has sentenced 10 hong kong activists to between seven months and three years in jail for illegally crossing the border. two minors who are part of the group of 12 activists were

returned to hong kong to face a court there. the 12 were arrested at sea in august after they allegedly tried to reach taiwan by boat. in related news, 19-year-old activist tony chung was sentenced to four months in prison for insulting china's flag and unlawful assembly at a 2019 protest against the chinese extradition law. chung was arrested in october near the u.s. consulate in hong kong, where he reportedly was planning to request asylum. he also faces charges of secession, which carries a possible life sentence under the new national security law. in papua, new guinea, 15 people are missing and feared dead after heavy rains triggered a landslide near an informal gold mine in a remote rural area. three children are among those feared buried alive in their encampment at the base of a mountain, where miners would pan for gold to scratch out a living. some of the world's biggest mining companies, including rio tinto, have extracted vast mineral wealth from papua new guinea for decades, leaving a path of environmental

destruction behind, while most miners live in poverty. in bangladesh, authorities are moving a second group of over 1800 rohingya refugees to a remote island hours away from the mainland. around 1600 refugees were sent to the island earlier this month. activists say the refugees are forced into moving and that they were locked out of their homes at the camps in cox's bazar. international journalists have been barred from visiting the island. over 700,000 rohingya fled to bangladesh in 2017 after a brutal and deadly crackdown by burma's military. in croatia, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake killed at least seven people, injured scores of others, and leveled buildings in the central town of petrinja on tuesday. some 25,000 people were left with no running water or electricity following the earthquake and hospitals were forced to evacuate most of their patients. back in the united states in

kentucky, the louisville police department has terminated two more officers involved in the march 13 police killing of breonna taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency room technician who was shot to death in her own home in march. the officers are detective myles cosgrove, who fired the shot that killed taylor, and detective joshua jaynes, who prepared the search warrant that led to the fatal raid. former officer brett hankison was indicted by a grand jury in september for wanton endangerment for shooting into the apartment of a neighbor, but no one has been criminally liable for breonna taylor's death. the justice department says it will not pursue criminal charges against the officers who killed tamir rice in 2014. tamir was just 12 years old when then-cleveland police officer timothy loehmann fatally shot him and claimed he thought rice's toy gun was real.

rice was playing with a toy in park. in boston, a statue depicting a formerly enslaved man kneeling before president lincoln has been removed after the boston art commission voted unanimously to take it down during the summer at the height of the anti-racist nationwide uprising. the vote came after a campaign spearheaded by boston artist tory bullock, who responded tuesday to the removal. >> this is a great day for the city of boston. in case you did not know, the statue has been up for 141 years. and for boston to be the first place to come up with any kind of legitimate process to decommission these controversial statues in a respectful manner, it warms my heart and makes me proud. this is a proud day for me and my city. "the," one of the most influential newspapers in the midwest, has apologized for the paper's racist history. the paper's top editor admitted "the star" and a sister paper

had reinforced segregation, jim crow laws and redlining. the editor mike fannin wrote -- "decade after early decade it robbed an entire community of opportunity, dignity, justice and recognition." the paper went on to admit that its coverage had "disenfranchised, ignored and scorned generations" of black residents. later in the broadcast, we will speak with the editor in the african-american woman reporter who led the investigation of her own newspaper. in tennessee, police records show both local and federal authorities were aware that anthony quinn warner, nashville's christmas day bomber, was a possible threat for over a year. in august of last year, warner's girlfriend warned nashville police he was building bombs. the explosion last friday injured three people, destroyed dozens of buildings, and killed warner. georgia republican senator kelly loeffler faces fresh charges

that she and her husband personally benefited from regulatory decisions she made as a senator. mother jones reports that while serving on the senate's subcommittee on commodities, loeffler took several actions that impacted the fortune 500 company intercontinental exchange, known as ice. at the time, loeffler held millions of dollars of stock in ice and her husband jeffrey sprecher was its ceo. loeffler faces democrat reverend raphael warnock in january 5 runoff election that will determine which party controls the u.s. senate. so far 2.3 million people have cast ballots, which is already a record for early voting in a georgia runoff election. and here in new york, a boeing 737 max landed at laguardia airport tuesday in the jet's first commercial flight in the u.s. since it was grounded in march of last year following two deadly crashes which killed 346

people on board. the aircraft and updates to its automated flight-control system were cleared by regulators in november. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. as the united states reports world record deaths and hospitalizations from covid-19 in the final days of 2020, we look at how the pandemic that has ravaged the country this year has shone stark new light on racism in medical care. we begin with a now viral video recorded by black phician dr. susan moore and posted to her facebook earli this moh, in which she descbes raci treaent by medical sta at a hospital in indianapolis -- who did not respond to her pleas for care despite being in intense pain and being a doctor herself. dr. moore says she had to beg to

receive the antiviral drug remdesivir and pain medication and accuses a doctor at indiana university health north hospital of ignoring her pleas because she was black. this is dr. susan moore as she summoned the energy to speak from her hospital bed, days before she would die. she had an oxyg tube iner no. >> at th time i d only receivedwo treatmentsfhe mdesivir no, u don'ne it. yoareot even short breath i id, y, i am. thene wentn say, yo don't qualify stly because hadwo treatmen. , u should state

just go home rht n. d i do't fe comfortle givingou anymoarcotics i was ino much pn. bad. hurt i was ushed. he made meeel li i was dr addict d he knew was a ysician. i n't ke nartics. i surting spoke ta patien advoce . "there's not ch i can d"

so i srted askg, senme to anothehospit where ty n trea me bause they're not ing to tat me re properly. eed go to ather spital. know, img i nk witandfy thout corast. e c went wn intmy lungs and you uld se newulmonary infiltras, n -all rougho my nk. l of "s, wwill tre yr pa. yet show prf that y have mething ong withou. inrder to t the dicine. maintaiifand i was whi, i woulnot have t go tough ts. thother thg that wte d said wf i stayed, heould

se me homsaturdayt 10: m. in e dk. whdoes tt? who does that? th is hoblack ople get kiedwhen youend them home andhey n't ow how tfight r themselve i h to talko somebody maybe the mea. somebo. toet peopl kw how i ingreated ithis place. "knowdly tolde, u are a dr." did not want the bck docto ve no dici. thing. had theve to sat is cause of him, thnurse,hat i got the micin really becae of you? no. w about becse i hadhat

at ct imyeck that showe l of the iiltrat? ah, u did noknow abo that you did t have tt under e repo? tha's wh i said. mm-hm. m-hm. being black in here, this is what happens. amy: dr. susan moore died due to complications from covid-19 on december 20, just over two weeks after she recorded this video and posted it to her facebook page. she was 52 years old. her 19-year-old son henry muhammed is now left to care for her parents who are both suffering from dementia. the president and ceo of indiana university health issued a statement in response to her death, saying that the technical aspects of the treatment she received "may not have shown the level of compassion and respect we strive for in understanding

what matters most to patients." dr. morse chilling message has been compared to the video of george floyd begging for his life as he was killed by minneapolis police. will we come back, we will speak to two leading black women doctors fighting racial disparities in health care. they cover a piece in "the washington post" titled "say her name: dr. susan moore." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "ethereal soul" by keyon harrold. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. as we just reported, the death of a black doctor from covid-19 is shining stark new light on racism in medical care and how the virus is devastating black communities. the centers for disease control and prevention reports black and latinx people in the u.s. die at a rate of almost three times

that of white americans. earlier this month, dr. susan moore posted a nowiral video on febook, describing cist treatmenby medical staff who did norespond her ple for care dpite bei in intee painnd bei a doctoherself. e sa in the deo, "th is how blacpeople g killed. fomore, were joineby two of the bck femalphysicia o wrote "wasngton post" opinion piece headlined "say her name: dr. susan moore." in it, they write -- "if anyone knew how to fight for herself, it would have been moore. still, she was sent home. less than three weeks later, she was dead. the deaths of mr. george floyd and so many others mistreated, injured or killed at the hands of our policing system have made us accustomed to seeing the video. but injustice in health care is rarely broadcast from cellphone videos or shared for thousands to witness."

joining us in atlanta is dr. camara phyllis jones, family physician, epidemiologist, and past president of the american public health association. she teaches at emory rollins school of public health and the morehouse school of medicine in atlanta, georgia. and in washington, d.c., dr. joia crear perry is president of the national birth equity collaborative. we welcome you both to democracy now! seeing that video that we just played of dr. susan moore, she said "i put forth and i maintain if i was white, i would not have to go through that." dr. camara phyllis jones, if you would first talk about your response when you saw this heartbreaking come enraging video that dr. jones made -- that dr. moore made from her hospital bed just before she died? >> first of all, hearing it again is making me tense.

she was fighting for her life. many patients know they're not getting -- they feel a little devalued she knew exactly what she should have gotten and so she knew exactly how bad the treatment was. here she was calling out racism and the people there were intimidated, they said, in later statement, intimidated by her, intimidated by her asking to be valued for her own humanity? since when do we have to diminish ourselves and hope for scraps of care? i was angry then and i'm angry now. racism in another society. it is not limited to health care. racism is not limited to policing. it is woven throughout the fabric of this nation. it is foundational in our history. johns, dr. moore

described how i white dr. questioned the veracity of her pain. dr. moore said the doctor "made me feel like i was a drug addict " and "he did not even listen to my lungs. he did not touch me in any way." respond. >> that also is difficult. we know historically there are these ideas of biological differences between the races, which do not exist. we have mapped the human genome. there's is no basis in the human genome for biological -- perfected his surgical techniques on enslaved women without using anesthesia up to the neglect of people with sickle cell anemia when they are in with pain and disbelieved or undertreated or

people with kidney stones, it is a typical and ongoing devaluation of our lives and distrust of our word. amy: let me bring dr. joia crear perry into this conversation, president of the national birth equity collaborative. about both dr. moore saying that she felt like they were treating her as a drug addict instead of a doctor, even though they knew she was a fellow physician -- and it should not take that -- and what it means in your profession and what you see, the fact that african-americans like dr. moore are dying at an astronomical rate of covid-19? already, the country -- across the country, people are dying, the worst record for deaths in the world, but the african-american community is

particularly hard-hit. >> thank you so much. every time i hear the video, it upsets me again. it feels really familiar. the work we do with the national -- we found black patients are not valued, not listened to. it felt very familiar because i have heard it many times. the stories the last few years around the fact we are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than are white counterparts in places like new york city, eht to 10 times more likely to die. she's explaining how that happens. when you come to a place of people do not value what you for your pain, don't believe you. you have to have a ct scan to prove you have pain? that doesn't seem logical to most providers. that was a wasted resource. you don't need a ct scan to prove pain. we only do that to black patient s, the brown folks, the

indigenous folks. yet approved pain. that goes back to a dr. jones was talking about, that history of biological rates. studies have proved medical students believe we have -- thicker skin. professor saying so. i was tight in my own medical school that there were three biological races post mumbling, cubs weight, negroid. that believe there is a biological reason we don't feel pain and we're superhuman -- it is interesting to see she was fighting for herself. she knew the right words. he even threatened her. he said i will put you out at 10:00 at night. we have seen those things happen. where we tell patients, if you don't act right, we're not going to give you this epidural. this threat come if you don't behave t way i want you to, i will punish you because you are

asking to be valued and not be in pain, asking for things that are basically nded and therefore i don't think you need those so let me punish you for even asking. amy: in the piece that the four of you wrote them all african-american women doctors in "the washington post," you can present death of dr. susan ofre with the police killing george floyd. , you're notar perry only a doctor under the hospital's of this country, but you are in the streets protesting george floyd's death. can you talk about what you see is the connection? >> there is an overarching policing of blackness. about think deconstruction, people were told they should make sure that black folks don't go in certain neighborhoods. they were not allowed -- you see these videos recently in new

york cy, woman saw her phone was missing and assumed a black child had taken it. to attack aission 14-year-old. that believe we're supposed to be policed and organized and planned and controlled is embedded in policing and in health care. -- we police women's bodies women plus being black? gender and racism together gets the outcome we see. i don't want us to blame -- sometimes we will focus on the doctor who took care of dr. moore. perhaps he should get some accountability for his individual behavior, but the shark show racism is in our police system and health care system. the belief we need to control i'm of the belief to not value notot listen to people, having a cocreative plan. only talk about patients, we say we want to make sure we have

shared decision-making. if you don't believe in the person you're sharing the decision-making with, if you feel they're not fully capable, there is never any shared decision-making. it is authoritarian. that is the same thing that happens in policing. if we are going to undo the racism in this country, we have to start with historical truths about how we got here and kurt truths about what happens today. dr. susan moore's video gives us the same way the georgia video did, not looking at data. don'te see the people -- we want all people have justice? we wanted george floyd to be here in dr. susan moore to still be here so how do we use their legacy to build a better world for all of us? amy: i tuesday, kamala harris received a covid 19 vaccination on live tv at the united medical

center, in washington's predominantly black anacostia neighborhood. ms. harris: i have now been vaccinated. there's a big difference between the vaccine and vaccination. i want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine. it is relatively painless. it happens really quickly. it is safe. -- myderna, pfizer husband will have the vaccine today as well. i look forward to getting the second vaccine. literally, this is about saving lives. it is literally about saving lives. i trust the scientists. it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine. i urge everyone when it is your turn, get vaccinated. amy: of course, the vice president-elect kamala harris, the first african-american and african-american woman vice president in u.s. history, and

she was injected by patricia cummings. she was vaccinated by this african-american nurse who was the daughter of guyanese immigrants. significance, dr. joia crear perry, of seeing this image, clearly in the black community of washington, d.c., being vaccinated by a black woman, the black woman vice president, the assage that is being sent african-american studies show are perhaps 40% are now willing to get a vaccine -- what do you think needs to be overcome for the black communities to feel more comfortable with this vaccine, given the history you said, for example, marion sims, considered the father of modern gynecology, experimenting on enslaved women? >> the first thing is that we don't need to go out trying to convince people to get the

vaccine. we need to honor and hear their questions, answer the questions, and in some cases, the answer to the question could be "i don't know," because there is a lot we still don't know about the long-term effects of the vaccine or the rare effects. i do have to say when you look risks, inefits and the have decided that when my turn in line comes i will get the vaccine because even though there is uncertainty, there are things we don't know because the virus is new and that vaccine is newer -- we have not been studying at long war in a whole lot of people, but i am willing to live with the uncertainty associated with the vaccine as opposed to dying with covid-19 -- which is a much bigger risk. the whole issue is a risk -benefit analysis. but the pfizer and moderna vaccine's have shown themselves

to be highly, highly active. so what we need to do is not try to say, oh, those people, why don't think it over that? or, why do they have all these questions or distrust? first of all, we need to make the trustworthiness in our suit stems going forward. dr. moore's example of feeling -- the system was not trustworthy in her case. all of our systems, we want to convince people to get the vaccine, have to evidence themselves to be trustworthy. we as a nation need to say, we honor your lives not just to get the vaccine, but we honor your lives and will provide the support you need to safely shelter in place. we're going to provide regulations in the workplace that if you have to go to work, they are safe workplaces. we will provide you with the ppe you need for the bus driver or warehouse worker to keep you

say. it is not just,, now that we have the vaccine, we want to convince you to take the vaccine because maybe we are worried about herd immunity and not really worried about you at all but to get to herd immunity we need to do this. no, being trustworthy is about my people, my community, my health and always -- that is the evidence that is going to really convince people that, yes, maybe i should take the vaccine. on the individual level, right agree.sk benefits -- i i can live with the uncertainty because these two vaccines in particular have shown themselves to be highly efficacious. amy: i want to put this question to dr. joia crear perry. in 2018, tennis star serena reddits and her husband, co-founder alexis ohanian, welcomed into the world their daughter alexis olympia ohanian, jr. the baby was born by an emergency c-section. williams told "vogue" magazine

how she self-diagnosed a life-threatening emergency after giving birth. shortly after delivering, the tennis star suddenly felt out of breath and assumed she was having a pulmonary embolism given her history of blood clots. i want to read from the 2018 piece in "vogue" by rob haskell that describes serena williams's birth experience -- "she walked out of the hospital room so her mother wouldn't worry and told the nearest nurse, between gasps, that she needed a ct scan with contrast and iv heparin right away. the nurse thought her pain medicine might be making her confused. but serena insisted, and soon enough a doctor was performing an ultrasound of her legs. 'i was like, a doppler? i told you, i need a ct scan and a heparin drip,' she remembers telling the team. the ultrasound revealed nothing, so they sent her for the ct, and sure enough, several small blood clots had settled in her lungs. minutes later she was on the drip. i was like, listen to dr.

williams!" dr. joia crear perry, you're president of the national birth equity collaborative. talk about the significance of what serena williams brought to to postpartumomes dance of african-american women. show throught to dr. susan moore and serena williams, both are experts on their bodies and they were seen as not experts, right? they both said "this is what is happening, this is what i need." the more they articulated expertise, the more people ound them did not know what to do because there wereso accustomed to the bias inside of themselves saying, they don't know what they're talking about. i know better. i'm in control. that is what we see when it comes to racism in the structure. the structure of how this plays out. we knew when we found out about six years ago the amnesty international and the u.n.

ascension the united states come the fact we had e worst outcome for birthing people in the world and apply people were three to four times more likely to die within a year of childbirth thanheir whi counterparts, we saw -- we need the language is going to be, of course, they don't listen, they don't go to the doctor. the shiny that happens. happens.aming that they all live together and don't follow instruction. weekly not only other people's houses, but are houses. this idea blaming and shaming. it shows a person with wealth, with stature, with grace was once again not believed. since she was a child she knows her body better than anybody because she is a pfessional athlet

professional athletes know everything about their body because that is how they make money. for them to not listen to serena, man, what does that mean for susan moore or me or any of us? , thebirthing to eldercare disbelief of not having trust. from big to patients ones and little ones, everyone, what the patients want is to be trusted. they want you to think and know no matter their skin color or gender or where they live, they want justice -- ey' good historians, don't write things down lik noncompliant. your blaming and shaming the patient and not thinking about all the things that could be happening. rena talking about -- she also reminds so much around how she did not want to scare her familyembers. typical black woman. i don't anyone to get upset, but let me mention right quick might

be dying and this is what i need. she knew exactly the way susan moore did, this is the medicine i need, the testing 90. importantly, we show expertise to black people, because we have not historically been seen as experts about anything, people don't know what to do without. nurses and doctors, systems, cultures, when we show up as the expert, we can feel the nervous is others have around us. that is your bias not ours. seed you be an amazing to serena dr. moore come to see our patients who live in boba lucent, louisiana, anywhere, as experts on their own bodies, that they have value matter where you live or race or gender. that is what we learned. looking at your data, aggregate question, canout get their condition treated. you can do that.

we're not going to devalue people anymore. we see them and trust them and invest in them and make sure they can all be seen in the future. amy: talking about their lines as we wrap up, dr. joia crear perry, i think of erica garner, a guest on our show a number of times, fierce fighter against police brutality. erica was the daughter of eric garner was killed when police officers in staten island. erica would die after giving birth to her second child when she was just 27 years old. we did a show on erica and serena williams showing through line. as we wrap up come a final thought on the lancet study that you did, the respected international medical journal called "moving toward into recess practice in medicine." throught to highlight

line, she died from cardiomyopathy. her heart was enlarged. the stress of trying to fight for the value of her father for his death to not be ignored and hold a policeman accountable, ultimately caused her heart to weaken. the stress of fighting for humidity post of we like to blame genetics, looking for what the gene is to make people's heart weaker, but we know your stress, or mental health effects and physical health. racism isgh line of consistent for all of us. that is shortening all of our lives. we need that to end. that is what we talk about in this antiracism practice. if i was taught in medical school, as i was, the were three biological races, that is racism. god orwas not created by medicine. those things -- racism was created by people who wanted to

hold power and wealth. our job is to fight for equality and as say, how do we do these places inside medicine war was a black people have different longs or different kidney capacity for shades? i was told we have differt shapes of our pelvis. how can that be? the only difference is our melanin. those racist ideas we were all taught inside medicine to stamp out racism. amy: thank you for being with us, dr. joia crear perry, president of the national birth equity collaborative. dr. camara phyllis jones, family physician, epidemiologist, and past president of the american public health association. teaching at emory rollins school of public health and the morehouse school of medicine. we will link to the piece they co-authored with two african-american women doctors in "the washington post" piece, "say her name: dr. susan moore." when we come back, an apology

from "the kansas city star." stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "k.c. blues" by charlie parker. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. "the kansas city star," one of the most influential newspapers in the midwest, has apologized for the paper's 140 year racist history. the apology appeared in a recent

article titled "the truth in black and white." it began with these words -- "today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong. for 140 years, it has been one of the most influential forces in shaping kansas city and the region. and yet for much of its early history -- through sins of both commission and omission -- it disenfranchised, ignored and scorned generations of black kansas citians. it reinforced jim crow laws and redlining. decade after early decade it robbed an entire community of opportunity, dignity, justice and recognition. that business is the kansas city star." those were the opening lines of an apology from "the kansas city star." in a series of articles, the newspaper details how it largely ignored civil rights protests in the region and the illegal segregation of schools in kansas city decades after the supreme court's decision in brown v

board of education of topeka, kansas. during the civil rights era, the "star's" editor at the time reportedly said, "we don't need stories about these people." in 1968, five black men and a black teenager died in kansas city during unrest following the assassination of martin luther king. at least 4 -- and possibly all of them -- were killed by police but the paper failed to follow up on the killings or call for anyone to be held accountable. "the star" also ignored the cultural significance of african-american icons, including jazz legend charlie parker who was born in kansas city. parker's first significant headline in "the star" appeared when he died, but the paper misspelled his name and got his age was wrong. we are joined now by "kansas city star" editor mike fannin and mará rose williams, a african-american journalist who writes abo education at the paper. she led the effort to examine the newspaper's coverage of the black community.

we're going to begin with mará rose williams. talk about your research and what you took to the editor, who we will also speak with, to say we have got to do o own reckoningere. >> goomorning, amy. of 2020.e summer we all know what was happening at that time. -- i have known for newspapersmainstream across the country, not just "the kans city star," have not done a good job of covering the black community. the either ignored it, vered quickly or inaccurately. but it is one thing to be able to say to a community, we are sorry for that, but thought it was important that we be ablto show them what we were

ologizing for. after the timing deh of george floyd andhe protests happening around the country, i would to my etors and ggested to them that we make a public apology not only that,hat we go back and we find those places, examples of where we fell down as an thorganizaon and show the public what that looked likewhat that soundedike, so they could see -- you cod tell meone about ugliness over and over again that ione thing. but it is another thing to show em what that looks like what that sounds like. that is what he hopeto do. they did n blink. they picked it up and said, yes, let's do this. once other colleagues ard about this, they were eager als

to get involved. we jumped in and began to research. what we had to do was toind the stories we wanted to tell. we actually started with a task force of black community members and talk to them abo what it wawe wanted to d and we wanted to hear from tm their perception of "the kansas city star" over the years and how the kind job they thought weight be ing. we spent time talking to them first, and then came up wit-- were pinpoind several particular stories that we wanted to looat come areas we wanted to look at. we ban with -- because it did not ist. it was not in "the star" we went press to weekly

newspaper in ksas city and started to look to see how they had coved certain areas of litics, education, civil rights, entertainment,nd so forth. we compared that to what was done in "t kansas ty star," and began to do a series of research. wepent a lot of time going through cot documents, going througall kinds of historical societi, reading book after book about racism ana kansas substtiate various areas that we wanted toover. that is how it started. amy: i want to go to mike fannin . if you could pick it up from there. you have your education editor mará rose williams coming to you -- you are the editor and president of "the kansas city

star," extremely influential in the midwest as you cover all issues, but particularly kansas city, which spans two states, missouri and kansas. talk about when she came to you, your response and what this apology means to you. >> sure. andmara anda said, whole team, and she made a great point, which is we were speaking for a number of people at "the star," a number of people who were excited to be on the steam. when they came with this idea, the answer was easy. it was an absolute yes. the execution i think was difficult because as i wrote about in the column, as reporters really dug in and unearthed a t of these very human examples that really system --me how this systematic problem in our coverage had revealed itself in

stories we told and stories we did not tell, it was difficult to reconcile that with the sort of place we have come to love and appreciate. but we also understood that those frameworks, those historical frameworks for coverage are difficult to tear down. even though i think "the star" has been the last four years trying to tear them down, and had success in certain areas and spent a good deal of time writing about institutional racism in agencies and a kansas city like the fire department police department, we have never really turned that investigator power, that power of self-examination on ourselves. we never really turned and put ourselves under the microscope. and wyatt think it is important, what it means to me? mara and i have been doing shows for about a week and half and i've had a lot of time to sort

of think about the reaction we are getting and i think my concern was -- my only concern was sometimes when you are telling an historical story, can lose the audience. not everyoneas the interest in history we do. it clearly from the reaction we have gotten in kansas city and across theountry in comments that have come in v-8 emails and requests for us to do programs and not just this kind of programming but programming with other news outlets, it tells me that this is a story that still resonates today in kansas city and across america. here is why. there is still so much mistrust in these communities we have underserved. we as truth tellers should be lling to humble ourselves and reignite those conversations with a simple "i'm sorry." amy: i want to turn to a clip from a video "the kansas city

star" produced as part of its report featuring an interview with mickey sutherlin, whose father leroy adams died in the 1977 flood in kansas city. about thear" wrote death toll. they ran three or four articles about my father. they did that with the people that died, not the people that suffered. "they "the star" and times" and local tv news networks focused on the damage that was done to the plaza area and stuff, the businesses that were destroyed, not a lot about the residential neighborhoods. and those were black neighborhoods. amy: mará rose williams, the flood and what you have described as the racist coverage by "the kansas city star." explain. >> yeah, mean, i looked back and i w reading about the flood, i had hea from people i

interviewed that their stories were not told. when i began to do some research, i was able to find, for example, they would talk about the structural damag to homes and in the suburbs. we talked about how water flowed into people's homes in the suburbs andashed everything away and left th with nothing. but when we mentioned anything that had to do with the black community, they would just say there werelike, " homes damaged in the area." they did not talk to the people who suffered, never told their real story about what the loss meant to them and how vastating it was to them. sour readers did not get a otherembers of their community, members of the black community, and they, too, has suffered and the damage done to their homes.

theople felt invisible because their story was not being told. exist.as if ey did not i found thavery painful as i read that. that was seen in story after decade,cade afte as miked ability id, we did nothing or little to change the perception about who black americans work. amy: we will link to your whole series at democracynow.org. mará rose williams education writer at "the kansas city star" and mike fannin, president and editor at "the kansas city star." recently published apology for the racism. that does it for our show.

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!]