02/26/21 02/26/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the police the criminals operation of the black movement because they have infiltrated a. amy: the fbi and new york police are facing new calls to finally open their records into malcolm x's assassination 56 years ago in the audubon ballroom in harlem.

this comes after the release of a deathbed confession of a former undercover new york police officer who admitted to being part of a police and fbi conspiracy targeting malcolm x. the officer was there when malcolm was killed. we will speak to a cousin of the former officer as well as malcolm's daughter, ilyasah shabazz. >> any evidence that provides greater insight into the truth behind that terrible tragedy should be thoroughly investigated. amy: we will also speak to civil rights attorney ben crump on the question reopen the probe into malcolm x's assassination, as well is the latest on the police killings have george floyd, daniel prude, and breonna taylor. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine

report. i'm amy goodman. u.s. air force fighter jets bombed buildings in eastern syria on thursday, with the pentagon claiming it successfully targeted iranian-backed militant groups. iranian media said the airstrikes killed 17 fighters. the pentagon called the assault a response to recent rocket attacks on u.s. forces in northern iraq. those attacks came more than a year after iq's parliament voted to expel u.s. troops, an order that's been ignored by both the trump and biden administrations. thursday's assault is the first of milary action ordered by president biden. california congressmember ro khanna condemned the attack, saying -- "there is absolutely no justification for a president to authorize a military strike that is not in self-defense against an imminent threat without congressional authorization. we need to extricate from the middle east, not escalate."

president biden spoke with saudi arabia's king salman thursday as the u.s. prepares to release an intelligence report on the 2018 murder of "washington post" columnist and saudi dissident jamal khashoggi. a white house readout of the call says biden reaffirmed the u.s. commitment to joint defense against "iranian-aligned grpsou," as well as the effort to end the war on yemen and the importance of human rights, commending the recent release of prominent women's rights activist loujain al-hathloul. the readout, however, does not mention jamal khashoggi or crown prince mohamed bin salman, who is widely thought to be responsible for khashoggi's assassination. brazil's covid-19 death toll has passed a quarter of a million -- the second-highest toll in the world after the united states and about 10% of all coronavirus deaths worldwide.

azilbr has vd accina vd st.6as t far-right president jair bolsonaro, a covide, t organization warned in a new hat millions of covid-19 survivors continue to suffuervir debilitating and lingering symptoms after their initial bout of the disease, with major social, health, and economic consequences. dr. hans kluge is the who's regional director for europe. >> the burden is real and it is significant. about one in 10 covid-19 sufferers remain unwell after 12 weeks and many for much longer. amy: the world health organizations report on so-called long covid was led by professor martin mckee of the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. >> those suffering from it described of mbination of chest pain, muscle pain,

fatigue, shortness of breath. but patients describe -- among many, many others. amy: the united states recorded another 77,000 coronavirus cases and 2400 covid-19 deaths on thursday. a seveday average of new infections has begun to tick up again after a sharp fallrofa.c s relax. we must keep washing our hands, stay socially distant, and for god sake, wear a mask. amy: the house of representatives holds a historic vote today on president biden's coronavirus relief bill, with majority democrats expected to approve the $1.9 trillion package. meanwhile, the senate's parliamentarian has advised democrats against including a boost in the minimum wage to $15

an hour federally as part of the stimulus bill, saying such a move is prohibited by senate rules. progressive democrats are calling on the senate's presiding officer, vice president kamala harris, to disregard the advice of the unelected parliamentarian in order to fulfill her campaign promise to more than double the minimum wage. since 2009, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 an hour and just $2.13 for millions of workers who receive tips. an estimated 32 million people would benefit from a minimum wage increase. the acting chief of the capitol police department warned a house panel pro-trump extremists who thursday attacked congress on january 6 are plotting more violence. chief yogananda pittman said a fortified security perimeter surrounding the capitol should remain in place based on credible threats. >> we know that members of the militia groups thatere present

on january 6 have stated their deres that they want to blow up the capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the state of the union. amy: in nigeria, up to 300 school girls are missing after gunmen raided a boarding school inorheste thnd a oinai d north-central nigeria, where one student was killed and 42 people were kidnapped and are still being held hostage. the u.s. house has passed landmark legislation that amends the 1964 civil rights act to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected groups. gender identity as protected groups. the equality act extends discrimination protections for lgbtq people at the workplace, housing, education, among other areas. this is democratic congressmember mondaire jones of

new york -- who is among the first black, openly gay men to be elected to congress -- speaking on the house floor thursday. >> to grow up poor, black, and gay is to not see yourself anywhere. it is also to feel completely unseen. as 70 people around you and y a y a y a around the country and around the world that they are seen, that they are valued, that thrat meanwhile, republican senator rand paul is facing backlash over his transphobic attacks against rachel levine during her historic confirmation hearing for assistant health and human services secretary. on thursday, senator paul repeatedly compared hormone therapy and transition surgery for trans people with genital mutilation. levine responded --

"transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care." if appointed, levine would be the first out trans official to be confirmed by the senate. this comes as far-right republican congressmember marjorie taylor greene is being condemned for hanging a poster outside her office that reads -- "there are two genders -- male and female. trust the science!" greene displayed the poster after democratic congresswoman marie newman of illinois raised a transgender pride flag outside her office, which is directly across from greene's. newman's daughter is transgender. a warning to our viewers, the next two stories contains descriptions of sexual violence. in new york, a former chief of staff to governor andrew cuomo is accusing him of sexual harassment and intimidation.

in an essay published wednesday in "medium," lindsey boylan says the governor went out of his way to touch her lower back, arms and legs, and accuses him of kissing her during a one-on-one meeting. boylan first made the accusations public in a twitter thread back in december where she wrote -- "yes, new york governor cuomo sexually harassed me for years. many saw it, and watched." boylan is currently running for to kesoy htr.im k president. in michigan, former u.s. olympic gymnastics coach john geddert died by suicide thursday, moments after he was charged with sexual assault and human trafficking. in addition to two charges of sexual assault againston thursdd

and abused little girls, myself included, more than 30 years and was able to cheat justice." and georgia state republicans have introduced sweeping voter suppression legislation which would strictly limit eligibility criteria for absentee ballots, as well as require witness signatures and proof of voter id for mail-in ballots. the measure also bars advanceesr get-out-the-vote efforts, known as "souls to the polls." georgia flipped blue in both the 2020 presidential race and the two senate run-offs, largely thanks to black voters and the work of black organizers. this is ame church bishop reginald thomas jackson speaking at a fair fight action virtual hearing on the bill. >> let's just be honest.

this bill is racist. this legislation is submitted because blacks exercised their right to vote and it turned out in huge numbers. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a1 hr audience, for segment today content graphic descriptions of police violence. the democratic-led house is expected to vote next week on na sweeping pole reform bill which would ban chokeholds, prohibit federal no-knock warrants, establish a national police misconduct registryan, dt otg in 2021 - african-american man who was killed last year by a white minneapolis police officer who

pressed is the intro floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. this comes as the trial of the officer derek chauvin, who has meanwhile, in rochester, new york, protests broke out this week after a grand jury decided not to file charges against the rochester police officers involved in the death of daniel prude. the black man died last march from asphyxiation while experiencing a mental health crisis. officers handchiexis. officers handcuffed him while he was naked, put a hood over his head in the freezingol ce d, thn pushed his face into the ground for two minutes while kneeling on his back. meanwhile, a kentucky, the state senate unanimously passed a bill on thursday to ban some no knock police warrants. this cea warrants.

this comes nearly a year after 26-year-old breonna taylor was shot to death in her own mobile home plainclothes officer serving a no-knock warrant. in georgia, the mother of ahmaud arbery has filed a multimillion dollar civil lawsuit against the white men who chased down and shot to death her 25-year-old son while out for a jog. the lawsuit also accuses law enforcement officials and local prosecutors of attempting to cover up evidence about the killing. tuesday marked the one year anniversary of arbery's murder. we begin today's show with one of the nation's leading civil rights attorneys benjamin crump, who has represented the families of george floyd, daniel prude, ahmaud arbery, and many other victims of police violence. welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. let's begin with this legislation that is going to be on the house of representatives next week, to be voted on.

can you talk about this george floyd bill? >> yes, m'am. thank you for having me, amy, and talking about these important historical matters that will hopefully change police in america, change the culture of policing in america. we need systematic reform. the george floyd justice and accountability policing act is so crucial. last year impasse the house of representatives, but mitch mcconnell, the leader of the senate at the time, refused to bring into the floor. so it is our hope that it will pass the house of representatives again next week, which we fully anticipate on thursday, and then it would go to the united states senate where we anticipate it may be a very partisan vote that vice

president kamala harris may have to be the deciding vote that gets it passed the united states senate. but the expeation is for president joe biden to sign this historic piece of legislation within his first 100 days of his administration. and that is crucial, amy, because aside from any chokeholds and no-knock warrants, it also speaks to having a national database from these police who are engaging in the excessive use of force and misconduct so they cannot simply be exposed for killing a black person or brutalizing a person of color and then go down the street in the next city and get another job -- as was the case with tamir rice, the 12-year-old kid was killed on the

playground. the officer that killed him, just three months prior, had been terminated from another police department where they said he was unfit to be a police officer. then he got a job in cleveland within two weeks and then killed this little 12-year-old child playing on the playground by himself. that is why we need this bill. also, it speaks to qualified immunity that the supreme court put forth, giving police officers a way to get out of jail past when they kill, especially the marginalized person of color. in two cases, were literally all the police has to do is say three little words and they will be testified in when they kilis

they say "out of fear" or "i feel threatened." the supreme court said, you are not there, you don't know what this objective was. but we have video. we have objective evidence saying this was an excessive use of force when you shoot yet again another black man in the back running away from you. how can you say you were in fear of your life? we have example after example where terence crutcher was walking away with his hands up, jacob blake junior trying to get away from the police, laquan mcdonald. in all of these situations, the police trying to say they were in fear of their life even though the black people were running away from them when they killed us. so that is why we have to pass this legislation and have systematic reform and a change in culture so we can truly say

that the courts respect black lives matter. amy: ben crump, i would ask about the new feral grand jury that has been impaneled in minneapolis and the justice department has called new witnesses as part of its investigation into derek chauvin, the former police officer who goes on trial next month. on the murder charge of george floyd. the significance of this and could this lead to more charges filed against chauvin? >> we certainly expect the feral government to bring charges against officer derek chauvin in violation of the civil rights of george floyd, who he tortured to death by putting his knee on his neck for eight minutes, 46 seconds. and as we all know, it was captured on video with citizens practically begging the officer to take his knee off his neck

while george floyd set "i can't breathe28 times. normally, the federal government in most of these black lives matter polic killings, they say there is not enough evidence for them to bring federal charges because it is such a high bar to have to prove that there was a violation of civil rights because they say they cannot infer what was in the mind of the police officer. well, here we know derek chauvin had ample time to take his knee off his neck and when asked by other officers that were there also restraining george floyd, real concern about him, maybe we should turn him over, his words were "no, we will keep him like

this." that tells us his mindset that he intended to continue to punish george floyd. and for what reason? we saw in the video, george floyd was very compliant with the police officers. they did not have to torture this human being to death. amy: i wanted to ask you, ben crump, that another case you're involved with, and that is the case of daniel prude, this horrific killing almost a year ago in rochester, major protestss this week because the grand jury refused to charge any of the officers involved. daniel prude's daughter to shower prude -- tashyrah prude, appeared on cnn in september calling for the officers involved in prude's killing to be fired and charged with murder. >> i would like to see them be fired and charged with murder. there is video footage of these

people suffocating my father. my father was murdered by these police. there's no reason why they should be on a paid suspension. they should be arrested and they should be tried as the killers that they are. amy: now this grand jury has refused to indict, despite the calls the charges to be brought by new york's attorney general letitia james whose office led the investigation. she said most recently, daniel prude was in the throes of a mental health crisis and what he needed was compassion, care, and help from trained professionals. tragically, he received none of those things. can you talk about the refusal to indict? >> yes. it is regrettable that many times because a grand jury proceedings are secret we don't

know what evidence was offered by the prosecutor to the jurors in making a determination. we must remember breonna taylor's case and michael brown in ferguson, missouri, case, one of the rare instances where we saw the inner workings of the grand jury, we saw that the prosecutors put forth a very weak case. when you put forth a weak case to get a prosecution, then you won't get the grand jury to decide. amy, it has been said that a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich because 99.999% of the time when a prosecutor once an indictment, a prosecutor gets an indictment. oftentimes the prosecutors, because they have a symbiotic relationship with law enforcement, will give greater

consideration to police officers and the unknown african-american or hispanic citizens that they have no relationship with when they go in the grand jury proceeding. we saw it so many times throughout the country. it is historical where they will try to wash the blood off their hands by saying "well, we presented to the grand jury and the grand jury found no probable cause." well, we don't buy that. we know that is part of the intellectual justification of discrimination that leads to the legalized genocide of black people in america, and that is why we have to have systemic reform to change the entire culture of criminal justice in america. as we said after michael brown grand jury decision was announced, the whole system needs to be indicted.

other than that, they will continue to kill black people with impunity. amy: wanda cooper-jones, the mother of ahmaud arbery, the noel, spoke to -- to you know well, spoke to waynesboro, georgia's tv station wrdw on the first anniversary of her son's killing. >> i have to take it day by day. [inaudible] >> what has been the hardest part? >> matching her life without ahmaud. -- imagining life without ahmaud . [inaudible] amy: can you talk about the substance of this lawsuit as we wrap up this segment of the show? >> i can come amy. this lawsuit was filed by a legal team to be able to make sure that this murderous father and son duo, travis and gregory

mcmichael, will be held accountable. but also, amy, attorneys, we want to make certain the government officials like the district attorney and the police department there in brunswick seem to have condoned at best and in ways participated or conspired to allow these murderers to face justice -- remember, amy, it to 10 months for them to just be arrested. we had to get the video released because even though the police saw the video of ahmaud arbery being lynched for jogging while black on the first day, they took the word of the lynch mob who said it was self-defense. it was not until we, the people, who saw the video when they finally arrested these murderers

after 10 months of them slipping in peace in their beds. that is why we continue to argue , whether the market x case or breonna taylor -- malcolm x case, breonna taylor, argue transparency, transparency, transparency. we won't let you kill our leaders and our people and then sweep it under the rug and say their lives did not matter. ahmaud arbery's life matters, george floyd's life matters, daniel prude's life matters, and malcolm x, who i argue was the personification of black lives matter, his life mattered. that is why we are demanding transparency plus accountability. that is the only way we get to justice most of amy: which brings us to our next segment. benjamin crump, we want you to stay with us, civil rights

attorney representing many families in all of these cases -- taylor and prudand floyd, the victims of police violence. he is staying with us after this short break afternoon calls to reopen the probe of malcolm x's assassination following the release of a deathbed confession a deathbed confession of former undercover new york police officer. we will be speaking with the officer's cousin. the officer admitted to be at the scene of malcolm x assassination, working undercover in an fbi police conspiracy targeting malcolm x. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "light on the hill" by merry clayton. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the fbi and new york police departments are facing new calls to finally open their records related to the assassination of malcolm x, shot dead 56 years

ago at the audubon ballroom in harlem on february 21, 1965. this comes after the release of a deathbed confession of a former undercover new york police officer who admitted to being part of a broad new york police and fbi conspiracy targeting malcolm. in the confession, former officer raymond wood, who died last year, admitted he entrapped two members of malcolm's security team in another crime -- a plot to blow up the statue of liberty -- just days before the assassination. on saturday, ray wood's cousin reggie wood read the letter at a news conference at the shabazz center in harlem. >> it was my assignment to draw the two men into a felonious federal ime so that they could be arrested by the fbi and kept away from managing malcolm x's

audubon ballroom door security on february 20 first, 1965. amy: in his letter, raymond wood also revealed he was inside the audubon ballroom at the time of malcolm's assassination. at least one other undercover new york police officer, gene roberts, was also inside after infiltrating the security team of the organization of afro-american unity -- the group malcolm founded after leaving the nation of islam. bothfficers, wood and roberts, were pt of the bureau of special services. or bossi, a secretive political intelligence unit of the nypd nicknamed the red squad. following malcolm's assassination, police arrested three members of the nation of islam for his murder. but questions about the guilt of the men have lingered for decades. in his letter, raymond wood openly says e of the men, thomas johnson, was innocent and was arrested to "protect my cover and the secrets of the fbi

and the nypd." ray wood's letter echoes claims in recent books by manning marable and les payne that some of malcolm's actual assassins were never charged. in a moment, we will be joined by raymond wood's cousin reggie wood, who released his deathbed confession. but first, i want to turn to the words of malcolm x himself speaking after his home in queens was firebombed on february 14, 1965 ju a week fore his assassination. >> my house was bombed by the black muslim movement upon the orders of elijah mohammed. they came around -- they planned to do it from the front and black so i cannot get out. they cover the front completely the front door, then they came to the back but instead of getting wrigley in the back of the house and throwing it this way come they stood at a 45 degree angle and tossed it at the window so it glanced and went off the ground. the fire at window and woke up my second oldest baby.

the fire burned on the outside of the house. had that one got through that window, it would have fallen on a six-year-old girl, a four-year-old girl, and a two-year-old girl. if it had done it, i would have taken my rifle and going after anybody insight. i would not wait. i say that because of this. e police no the criminals operation of the bck muslim movement because they have infiltrated. amy: "because they have thoroughly infiltrated it," the words of malcolm x right before he was assassinated, right after his house was firebombed in 1965. days later, he was shot seconds after he took the stage at the audubon ballroom. we are joined now by reggie wood, the cousin of raymond wood. he is author of the new book "the ray wood story: confessions of a black nypd cop in the assassination of malcolm x." still with us, ben crump, who

attended that news conference with reggie wood at the audubon ballroom. now the shabazz center, where malcolm x was assassinated 56 years ago. reggie, thank you so much for joining us. you read parts of the letter this weekend. talk about your cousin ray wood and what you understand happened, the conspiracy he alleges that he was a part of by the fbi and the new york police department to assassinate malcolm x. >> good morning. thank you for having me. ray was complicated man. i think based on his past experiences, he lived with a lot of fear and caution on a daily basis, which he instilled in me over the past 10 years. but ray was a person that lived

as a -- he lived as a very quiet and reserved person because of what he had experienced. he witnessed some horrible things firsthand and also realized he was a part of it after the fact. therefore, ray was told by his handlers not to repeat anything that he had seen or heard or he would join malcolm. therefore, for 46 years, ray separated himself from the family in fear that he would put us in danger. ray lived alone many years, and he finally -- in his final years, when he realized his cancer was reoccurring, he

wanted to reconnect with family because he did not want to die alone. so i volunteered to move him to florida so that i wife and i could take care of him and get him back and forth to cancer treatments and things of that nature. therefore, he trusted me enough to reveal this information. he asked me not to say anything until he passed away. at the same time, not to allow him to take it to his grave. amy: you right in your book, reggie wood, "he spent years living in relative obscurity wanting to ensure the cops would not preemptively act to silence him. he feared retribution from society and especially the black community. ray was ashamed of what he'd been a part of and felt he had betrayed his own people. due to his feelings about his actions and fear for what might be done to him in retaliation, this 2015 article deeply impacted right and he is talking

about this news coverage from -- he was talking about the article in "the guardian" that really laid out your cousin seminal involvement here and the fbi police involvement in the assassination. >> yes. that book really details everything that happened. after consulting with mr. crump, i was looking for the best way to put this information out there. i was not sure if it was safe to turn it over to authorities. therefore, i just wrote everything that ray told me into this memoir and made it available to the world so that everyone would see it and here it at the same time. i think that is the best way to do it. it is a load off my back because

i'm no longer in fear of the government trying to quiet me as well. amy: i want to turn the news coverage from february 1965 about the police are constricted plot to blow up the statue of liberty. this was just days before malcolm x's assassination. this might be news to many. in the video, raymond wood is seen and promoted for his role in that plot. >> the happy ending to the plot was written by rkie policeman who have been on the force only eight months when he infiltrated the extremist group. his work led to a quiet residential area where the dynamite have been hidden. another arrested was a man who police they went to the statue of liberty to buy a model and further the plot with the fourth conspirator. the hero cop, his face hidden for future undercover work, i

have a climax to a bizarre story. amy: the arrests were carried out on february 16, just days before malcolm x was assassinated. this is very significant, reggie wood, as you know, this so-called statue of liberty plot, because these men who were arrested were the security team of malcolm x -- meaning he would not have them there february 21, a few days later when he was assassinated. >> that is correct. as we were doing a research, my research anast reallhelped me puthe piecetogether we whiboarded erything y saidn anttempto nnect it to ft thathe fbi h releed a historianhad pued out. weork closy withome histians to y to corrobote the informaon tt s there.

on we were able too th, we we able to present that infoation tor. crump and show thisas aegitimate situation at needeto be ought toight. amy: in the 25 article i"the gudian," t histoan revea notewritte by the late japanese american activist yuri kochiyama. she was at the audubon ballroom -- she wrote -- a book rate was, said to have been seen running out of audubon, was one of two picked up by police, was the second person running out. this appears to substantiate some of the accounts of a second man taken into police custody after the assassination. i spent many hours with her talking to her and aetnas

assisted-living facility at the end of her life in oakland before she died. can you talk about what happened at the assassination? yuri was very close to malcolm x on the stage with him as the lead end as well after when he was shot. that your cousin right out and was taken away by police? >> yes. what ray basically explained to me was that once he saw what was going down and he realized what had actually happened, or spending time with mr. sayyed and mr. bo, he was there -- he reminisced or thought about the situation with him coming into the audubon without being checked. he thought about the fact those guys were in prison as we spoke. he decided he needed to get out

of there. as he was leaving, some individuals that knew him from his other undercover work -- he had been exposed somewhat from the bombing case -- saw him and that tempted to grab him. as they were grabbing him, trying to restrain him, a police officer intervened and grabbed ray and took him into the police car. from there, they took him to the precinct and put him into a cell where he sat for three hours to four hours not knowing what was going on. the only information he had was listening to the chatter on the radio while they were transporting him to the police station. and later that afternoon, the same two gentlemen that told him to go to the audubon came and removed him from his cell and drove him back home and told

him, "do not speak of this again." "or you will face similar consequences." amy: did he know gene roberts, the other undercover officer desperately's, one other that we know of who was there? >> no, he did not. he did not know him. he did not know he was an undercover. he assumed he was hard of malcolm x's team. amy: ben crump, into the last segment where we want to talk at the end of the segment, and that is the issue of what evidence is out there that the police or the fbi is hiding and what you are calling for -- it is interesting that last week a judge ruled, a court ruled the disciplinary records of new york police going back for years must be released. the mayor releasing them, not

clear if they are releasing them at this moment. that is disciplinary records. in the police units have been fighting this tooth and nail. what are you calling for in this case? >> amy, thank you for covering this important matter as well and to reggie wood who has put forth this kind declaration letter from his cousin, ray wood, and documented all of the corroborating evidence and the memoir that he researched to show everything in that letter is true. it is legitimate. and that is very important to help exonerate all of those black people who were wrongfully convicted by ray wood's work. all of those people who have been conspired against by the nypd and the fbi, whether that be walter bowe, khalid sayyed, whether it be thomas johnson who

was picked up -- was not even at the audubon ballroom -- to ensure that ray's cover would not be long, was arrested and served almost three decades in prison for a crime of killing malcolm x that the all-new he did not do. and also to >> occur's mother, part of the printer 21, who ray wood testified against saying they tried to blow up new york monuments and therefore, quite literally, she was imprisoned when she had her prince because of nypd and the fbi work in sparing this conspiring to wrongfully convict them. as ray wood said, their job was to discredit civil rights as asians and black leaders, and

that is why we are calling for a malcolm x commission to be convened by the united states congress of his daughters but also the people affected by these flown is actions of nypd and thfbi to target blood people can be exposed because, amy, the past is prologue. as reggie wood and i have often taught, the set when they targeted malcolm x percent that black people deserve equality by any means necessary, they are targeting young black lives matter activists today, labeling them as black identity extremists. so we need to have our federal government be held to account for trying to stop black people from exercising their first amendment rights. but more important, for being

able to declare that black lives matter over and over again. amy: benjamin crump, thank you for being with us, so for rights attorney, speaking to us from new orleans. and thank you to reggie wood, author of the new book "the ray wood story: confessions of a black nypd cop in the assassination of malcolm x." reggie wood speaking to us from tampa, florida. when we come back, we will get reaction from ilyasah shabazz, one of the six daughters of malcolm x, who herself has just written a young adult novel based on her father's time in jail. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "malcolm x" by dennis brown. this is democracy now!, democracynowrg, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. to talk more about the assassination of malcolm x, we are joined by his daughter, ilyasah shabazz. she joined reggie wood on saturday when he released the deathbed confession of his cousin conley undercover police officer raymond wood, who described to being part of a police and fbi conspiracy the targeted malcolm x, was there at his assassination. ilyasah shabazz is professor at john jay college of criminal justice in new york, community

organizer, motivational speaker, activist, and award winning author. ilyasah shabazz and tiffany jackson have cowritten a new book for young adults titled "the awakening of malcolm x." before we go back in time to the book and malcolm x's history, can you respond to this reggie just shared with us? >> wow. you know, i think it is deplorable but -- i think it is good that he came forward with this letter because many people just did not understand how intricately involved are people in powerful positions were to infiltrate organizations that set out to improve society.

amy:, and, true that reggie wood -- raymond wood not only infiltrated malcolm x's organization, but core, paper 21, all of these different groupings. now, you have dealt with this slow drip of revelations over the decades. you are malcolm x's daughter. can you talk about the effect on your family, what you're calling for now yes, do joined ben crump and fun for reopening of the investigation into your father's assassination? >> absolutely. we want the truth and covered. if the district attorney coming united states congress, we would like them to do a thorough investigation on the assassination of our father malcolm x. it was quite challenging, you n imane, fomyother, who

was a younwoman, pgnant with myoungt sist's,hewins come h four babs, to walk in the aubon exced to se her husba becse their home ve beenirebomd just aeek prioon the eveni of vantine's daynd f h to beble too and s her huand wither famil she must he walkednto that dubon suayfteroneally exted an lef shaered. when dcored thisetter, when i discovered rege wood th thi infmation, yoknow, i thoughof my moth and my father- ju a young man. all he wanted was r americto livep to herromise o libertand juste forll.

and he word quite ligently for 12ears loong for solutiono this ongoing problem. and he provided the biggest critiques of america. i am happy that the truth can finally be uncovered. so whatever it takes, i and my five sisters are supportive of that effort. amy: you were there 56 years ago, horrifyingly. how old were you, two years old? in the audubon ballroom where you returned this past week and. of course, have been there many times, now the shabbat center, 56 years ago you were there with your sisters and mom. >> that's right. that's right. i always go back to my mother. it had to have been so difficult for her and how she safeguarded her husband's legacy because, look, what most people are discovering now is that all of what they learned about malcolm x, it was absolutely inaccurate.

this past summer while young people were politicized because of his global pandemic, because of being forced to watch this horrific death of george floyd, going out into the streets, protesting, 50 states under this country, 18 countries abroad, we discovered my father was quoted 53.7 thousand times per hour in social media. this is the clearest indication that people wanted to know the truth about accomack's. they knew that malcolm spoke truth and that he provided strategy and tactics that they could employ to meet the socioeconomic challenges head on. take my hat off to these young people firm intelligent asell as well. amy: i want to go to next of the

speech dad gave at the audubon ballroombefore he was assassina. it is called "by any means necessary. >> one of the fit things independent african nation did waso form an organization called the organizion of african unity. the ppose of our organization of afro-american unity, which has the same name and objective to fight whoever gets in our way. [applause] bring about the complete independence of people of african descent here in the western and here in united stes. and bring about the freedom of his people by any means necessary. amy: that was not the maxn months before -- that was malcolm x in the month before he was assassinated. ilyasah shabazz, you have

written a book for young adults called "the awakening of malcolm x." tell us why you chose this period and what is so critical for young people to take from it. >> i wanted to first make sure that i showed malcolm did not go to jail and miraculously become malcolm x. his parents instilled specific values. it speaks to all the smart forward thinking adults that, you know, we have to provide guidance for our children. they need an education curriculum that teaches the truth. we cannot sit back and expect someone else to do these things for us. if our young people understood that, say in world history classes as i teach my students,

that africa is the cradle of the most advanced thriving civilization ever to exist in maind and if they also learned about the impressive kingdoms to the same degree that we teach them of ancient greece and rome, then we might better appreciate the beauty and magnificence of nonwhite civilizations in africa, asia, latin america. and we would have the opportunity to teach our children love, respect instead of instilling these values of hate and discrimination. rather, love and respect for ourselves and and for humanity. i think all of these things are strongly important. amy: write the book in the first person. what was it like to inhabit your father's perspective in this way?

>> well, talking about the values that were instilled in him by his parents and malcolm running from himself, running from his identity, running from the fact his father was lynched -- his father was the president of the chapter -- the chapter president of an organization that was came into my millions of followers in the 1920's, that he purchased land that was then reserved for whites only and, you know, the kkk lynched him. they targeted his family. his mother who was a recording secretary, instilling human compassion from a literary. all of these things we see in malcolm later in his life was put into an institution. the family was separated. the land was taken. when malcolm finds himself in jail, we find that malcolm is still smart. he ends up being a star debater on the debate team.

the prison debated against ivy league schools, harvard, m.i.t., boston university. malcolm debated about capital punishment. so we see his compassion. we see his wit, his ability to inform and engage others. what we find is malcolm studied the dictionary not so that he can learn how to read and write, but he studied the dictionary so he can learn the root word, so he could be his best. when we look at today the criminal justice system, we know there are over 3 million people behind bars that the u.s. spent $80 million of taxpayers not on

education or afterschool programs. the incarcerated population has increased by 700% and we wanted to focus on the humanity of these people behind bars. amy: and you dedicate the book to the incarcerated. ilyasah shabazz,xxk[