03/09/21 03/09/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the officers took a great man, a great father, a great brother. he loved his daughter. she meant the world to him. and we will never get that back. amy: black lives matter

protesters take to the streets of minneapolis and other cities to the start of the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin for killing george floyd. we will go to minneapolis for the latest. then we go to texas, where republican governor greg abbott is defying public health experts by ordering texas to fully reopen and lifting a statewide mask mandate. >> all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%. [applause] amy: we will speak to a texas doctor who is recovering from covid. then we will look back at the one of the most stunning acts of defiance of the vietnam war era. >> let's break into any office, get their files, and get what they're doing in their own handwriting. amy: 50 years ago this week, eight activists -- including a cab driver, a daycare director, and two professors -- bre into an fbi office in media, pennsylvania, and stole every

document they found. the break-in exposed cointelpro, the fbi's secret counterintelligence program which had targeted civil rights, black power, and anti-war groups. we will speak to one of the burglars, bonnie raines, and paul coates, the pioneering black publisher and bookseller in baltimore who was targeted by cointelpro. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the centers for disease control and prevention said monday that fully vaccinated people can safely gather together in small groups without masks as long as everyone involved is at low-risk for severe covid-19. this is cdc director rochelle walensky. >> with more and more people gettinvaccined each day, we are starting to turn a corner. as more americans are

vaccinated, a growing body of evidence now tells us there are some activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk to themselves. amy: the cdc is still advising against long-distance travel, even for fully vaccinated people. it's not yet known how likely it is for vaccinated people to spread coronavirus, perhaps as asymptomatic carriers. the new recommendation came as the number of u.s. residents who have received at least one dose of a vaccine reached 60 million. over 700 new covid-19 deaths were reported across the u.s. monday, pushing the u.s. death toll over the past year to more than 525,000. tomorrow, texas is set to end its statewide mask mandate. we will speak to a long-haer, doctor, recovering from covid later in the broadcast. italy has passed 100,000 confirmed covid-19 deaths, the second european country after the u.k. to reach that toll. in peru, a 104-year-old woman on monday became that nation's

first elderly person vaccinate against covid. peru has recorded nearly 50,000 deaths from the disease, though the true number is likely significantly higher. vietnam also rolled out its vaccination campaign on monday. vietnam has recorded just 2500 cases and 35 deaths from covid-19 after running one of the world's most successful public health campaigns of the pandemic. meanwhile, cuba has begun late-stage trials of its soberana 2 vaccine, with 44,000 volunteers receiving shots this week. it's the first vaccine candidate produced in latin america to make it to a phase iii trial. -- phase two trial. in minnesota, jury selection in the murder trial of the former minneapolis police officer who killed george floyd was called off monday after an appeals court ordered the trial judge to consider reinstating a third degree murder charge. the judge plans to move forward with jury selection today unless ordered by the appeals court to halt the process.

derek chauvin faces second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for killing george floyd, african-american father, by kneeng on his neck for more than nine minutes on may 25, 2020. meanwhile, chauvin is also facing possible federal charges. "the new york times" recently revealed a federal grand jury in minneapolis has been hearing from witnesses. after the headlines, we will go to minneapolis for the latest on the derek chauvin murder trial. in kentucky, a judge has permanently dismissed all charges against breonna taylor's boyfriend kenneth walker for allegedly shooting and wounding a police officer serving a no-knock warrant in breonna taylor's home last march. walker has said the officers never identified themselves before entering the home and never attempted to save taylor as she lay dying after she was struck by a hail of police gunfire. last september, a grand jury failed to charge any of the three white louisville police officers involved in the killing of breonna taylor with her death.

in immigration news, a record 3200 children are being detained at u.s. border patrol facilities that resemble jail cells, with nearly half of them held for longer than the legal limit of three days. this comes as immigrant justice advocates are denouncing the biden administration's ongoing detention of unaccompanied children who are being held at government facilities, separated from their families for weeks on end. the children usually arrive to the u.s.-mexico border with a family member but are separated from them until federal officials confirm they are relatives. meanwhile, the biden administration has granted temporary protected status to thousands of venezuelans living in the u.s. the relief is expected to impact over 300,000 people. the federal government also plans to review its sanctions on venezuela. an economic and humanitarian crisis in venezuela -- greatly exacerbated by sanctions imposed by the u.s. government -- has forced over 5 million people to flee in recent years.

last month, a report published by a u.n. special rapporteur said sanctions on venezuela "constitute violations of international law" and inflict "a devastating effect on the broad scope of human rights, especially the right to food, right to health, right to life, right to education and right to development." in brazil, a judge has annulled all convictions against former president luiz inácio lula da silva. in 2018, lula was sentenced to 12 years in prison over a disputed corruption and money laundering conviction handed down by conservative judge sergio moro, a former ally of far-right brazilian president jair bolsonaro. moro allegedly colluded with prosecutors to seek lula's conviction. lula has long maintained his innocence and has vowed to challenge bolsonaro in the 2022 elections. at the time of his imprisonment, lula was leading the presidential polls. this er interview with lula, go to democracynow.org.

new york attorney general letitia james has named two attorneys to lead an inquiry into sexual harassment alletions against new york governor andrew cuomo. they are former federal prosecutor joon kim, and anne clark, an employment discrimination attorney. cuomo has resisted calls that he step down, including from prominent new york democrats, after four women accused him of inappropriate verbal and physical conduct. meanwhile, the crown publishing group told "the new york times" monday it will stop promoting and printing governor cuomo's book about new york's coronavirus outbreak. sales of "american crisis: leadership lessons from the covid-19 pandemic" were already plummeting following reports that cuomo's aides pressured state health officials to cover up the true number of covid deaths in new york's nursing -19 homes. missouri's long-serving republican senator roy blunt said monday he will not run for re-election in 2022 when his term expires. he's the fifth incumbent republican senator to announce plans not to run again, with two

others -- wisconsin's ron johnson and iowa's 87-year-old chuck grassley -- still undeclared. georgia's state senate has approved legislation that would end the right of voters to cast absentee ballots without excuses while toughening voter id requirements. it is one of more than 250 suppression laws being pushed by republicans in state legislatures around the u.s. in the wake of the 2020 election. on monday, iowa's republican governor kim reynolds signed a voter suppression bill that limits iowa's early voting period and closes polls one hour earlier on election day. elsewhere in iowa, a trial got underway monday for a des moines register reporter who was arrested last year while covering a black lives matter protest. andrea sahouri streamed this video from the back of a police wagon on may 31, 2020, shortly after she was arrested while coveng clashes between police and protesters in des moines.

>> i was sent, "i'm impressed, i press, i press." police took me, pepper sprayed my face, put me in zip ties? what are they called, zip ts? i was just doing my job as a journalist. amy: a police officer who testified at sahouri's trial said he did not realize she was a reporter. meanwhile, prosecutors have said sahouri's status as a journalist is irrelevant to her charges and arrest. amnesty international responded in a statement -- "treating media work as a crime is a human rights violation." south dakota's republican governor kristi noem said monday she's excited to sign a bill barring transgender women and girls from competing in high school and college sports. mississippi republican governor tate reeves has promised to sign similar legislation in mississippi. south dakota's aclu chapter responded -- "the date of this legislion

creates is real. the potential home to south dakota is significant and the stakes for transgender students are high. kids are hurting." and massive women-led marches continued around the world monday to commemorate international women's day. in mexo, thousandsf women from across the country gathered in mexico city's zócalo protesting skyrocketing femicide's. they are also protesting men obrador for a gubernatorial candidate for the state of guerrero who is accused of rape. protesters were met by police who used tear gas and batons to try to disperse the crowd. this is one of the protesters. >> my name is mercedes. i am proud to be a mexican woman . i come here for all of the women they have taken away from us, for every girl they have killed. i was raped in the age 4 to 9 in my family just offended my

attacker. the state also defended him. today i also cover my friends who have disappeared. i am proud to be here to just scream, "this has to end. they have to stop killing us, raping us, and assaulting us" and they just keep doing it. the pandemic has not stopped them. they just don't care. amy: in guatemala city, hundreds of women and girls took to the streets for a second day straight demanding justice for victims of femicides and survivors of violence. women mark the fourth year anniversary of the death of 41 girls who were burned alive at an orphanage near guatemala city after they protested violence at the facility. massive marches also took place in la paz, bolivia and in istanbul, turkey, where thousands took to the streets including uighur women and girls who led a demonstration protesting china's treatment of uighurs. and those are some of the headlines. 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: well, black lives matter protesters marched in minneapolis and other cities monday to mark what was supposed to be the start of the murder trial of derek chauvin. the former minneapolis police officer is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter for killing george floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes the killing of floyd on may 25, 2020, sparked protests across the world. jury selection was scheduled to begin monday but was delayed after an appeals court ordered the trial judge to consider reinstating a third degree murder charge against the white police officer. meanwhile, chavin is also facing possible additional federal charges. "the new york times" recently revealed a federal grand jury in minneapolis has been hearing from witnesses.

relatives of george floyd, including his sister bridgett, spoke outside the minneapolis courthouse monday. >> that officer took a great man, a great father, a great brother, a great uncle, and a great father. he really took a great father. he was so family-oriented. he loved his family. he loved his daughter. she meant the world to him. and we will never get that back. amy: over the weekend, george floyd's brother philonise floyd spoke at a news conference ahead of the trial in houston. >> brothers had "i can't breathe" multiple times while the officer sat on his neck with a smirk on his face. my brother screamed "tell my kids i love them" as his sole

left his body. he told me time and time, "my name will ring bells all around the world." i never thought it would be like this. i thought he would be somebody on a tv show or at a basketball game. i had no idea that i would have to watch my brother being buried in front of millions of people. it was devastating. amy: joining us from minneapolis is nekima levy-armstrong. she is a civil rights attorney, activist, founder of the racial justice network. executive director of the wayfinder foundation and former president of the minneapolis chapter of the naacp. welcome back to democracy now! i know you have been in the streets and you are an attorney. could you start off by talking out why the trial was delayed? >> the trial was delayed because the attorney general's office.

desk sought to reinstate the third-degree murder church against derek chauvin. the defense attorney filed an appeal to the court of appeals decision that said prosecutors could in fact add the charge back in the complaint against derek chauvin. defense attorneys are pushing for that change to occur in the opposite direction, so now the judge is waiting to hear what the appeals court was going to say. juan: could you talk about the jury selection process, concerns that may exist in the community about the previous make of juries in hennepin county? >> yes. a big part of the concern is whether or not there will be any

real diversity on the jury. of course, we have complicating factors such as covid-19 in terms of the impacts on the black community and other communities of color which may make it difficult for people to feel comfortable servingn a jury, especiallyor as long as the trial migh be. beyond that, the socioeconomic impacts of covid-19 have significantly impacted the black mmunity. additionally, the jury questionnaire had questions such as, how the potential jurors may feel about black lives matter, the defund the police movement, the blue lives matter movement -- all of those things are going to play a role in terms of whono are selected for the jury. juan: do you have any concerns about the possibility of the defense attorneys seeking to move the case somewhere else in minnesota? >> i absolutely have concerns

about that. i grew up in los angeles in the era of the rodney king beating. i recall the impacts of the case being moved out of l.a. county to simi valley, which was the home of a lot of retired police officers, as well as mostly middle income ite people. of crse, they acquitted those officers who beat rodney king. so our concern is something similar will happen in this case the venue is moved. hennepin county is one ofhe most diverse counties in the state of minnesota. minnesota is 84% white. if they move the case outside of hennepin county, it is even less likely there will be a diverse jury and it is also less likely there will be people who are empathetic to what george floyd experienced at the hands of derek chauvin and the other three officers and killed him. amy: nekima levy-armstrong, i

went to get back to the issue of why they're trying to add a lesser charge to the second-degree murder, the significance of this third-degree murder charge? you have the conviction of a previous minneapolis police officer marking the first guilty verdict for a fatal shooting by a nonduty cups in minnesota in a decades in 2018 -- 2019. can you talk about how that affects this trial and what could be the strategy of a prosecutors right now? >>s. as you all alluded to earlier, there is somewhat of delay because t prosecuto is seeking to reinstate the third-degree murder charge against derek chauvin. under minnesota law, third-degree murder charge typically applies if a person engages in imminently dangerous conduct without regard for the

life of others. typically, third-degree murder charge would apply in a circumstance in which someone opened fire in arena place like a movie theater or gas stion and they were not intending a target of certain individual -- specific individual post up in the case of mohammed noor, the former minneapolis police officer who killed a woman, he was charged with third-degree murder. he was convicted he is serving over 12 years in prison. a big part of that case has to do with the fact mohammed noor reached over his partner, shot out the window, shot justine. he just fired and she was killed. the court thus far has upheld

that third-degree murder conviction against mohammed noor. as a result of that, prosecutors in the derek chauvin case are making the decision that if for some reason they cannot seek -- get a conviction for second-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter, then third-degree murder charges give the jury another option. another aspect -- amy: let me ask you something we had early root of it on. public with the new york times" reporting recently that derek chauvin agreed to plead guilty last spring to third-degree murder and served 10 years in prison but attorney general william barr rected the plea deal. >> yes. for those of us who live in minnesota, we were not aware that a plea deal most even offered -- was even offered until about the new york times" report.

apparent, the hennepin county attorney made the deal derek chauvin to try to quiet things down and get the case over with. of course, we have had many concerns with his decision-making and the fact he routinely has let killer cops off the hook in hennepin county. juan: can you talk about the city's preparation for the trial, the fortification of downtown minneapolis and how the community is responding to efforts to limit protests and demonstrations during the trial? >> yes. we have had concerns about the city, the county, our governor, as well as our department of public safety with regard to their excessive focus on securing measures outside of the hennepin county government center. they have placed chain-link fencing, barricades, and barbed wire all around the government

center and there is only a small area in which protesters are actually able to gather. of course, this raises a number of concerns about our local government, our state government infringing upon our firs amendment rights to freedom of speech and peaceable assembly. we have publicly laid out those concerns, yet in the midst of the excessive focus on security, we have still continued to protest. we took to the streets on sunday. we took to the streets yesterday. i anticipate many more additionalrotests. one other aspect of security has to do with the joint task force of many police departments coming together and the head of public safety spoke about hundreds of officers from surrounding suburban police departments being recruited to be a part of that security force

, that large police foe in the event of civil unrest during the trial. amy: are you concerned about provocatuer's in -- police had issued like a year ago an arrest warrant for the man known as cumberland man, phil smashing windows of a dealership after the killing of floyd. investigators thing the med is a white supremacist who sought violence against protesters in the first fire, the setting of the fire of the police station also believed white supremacist? >> we are concerned about provocatuers. to this day we have not seen umbrella man taken into stody. there is he was engaging and the kind of activity that people caught him doing, breaking glass, being caught on camera doing so, very suspicious.

why isn't he in custody? we are also concerned about what other subs law enforcement may or may not be taking to track down provocatuers ahead of time. the overwhelming majority of our protests have been peaceful. this has been for over the last six years, since we have been taking to the streets demanding an end to police violence in the state of minnesota. amy: thank you for spending this time with us. i'm sure we will come back to you soon. nekima levy-armstrong, civ rights attorney, activist, founder of the racial justice network and executive director of the wayfinder foundation and former president of the minneapolis chapter of the naacp. next up, we go to texas where the republican governor is defined public health experts by ordering texas to fully reopen at 100% and lifting a statewide mask mandate. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "go up moses" by roberta flack. to get our daily jive just, you can go to -- digest, you can go to democracynow.org. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the centers for disease control and prevention said monday that fully vaccinated people can safely gather together in small groups without masks, as long as everyone involved is at low-risk for severe covid-19. the new recommendation comes as texas is set to lift its covid lockdown restrictions tomorrow for everyone, not just those who are vaccinated, including lifting its mask mandate, making it the largest state to do so. at least 35 states have kept their mask-wearing rules in place with various levels of enforcement, but texas joins mississippi, louisiana, and

michigan in announcing plans to lift restrictions. meanwhe, montana, iowa, north dakota, and ssissippi ve already lifted their mask-wearing mandates, and michigan has eased other lockdown rules. florida, georgia, and south carolina never enforced mask mandates. it was on the same day last week that cdc director dr. rochelle walensky sainow is not the time to listen restrictions because of an increase in covid cases and deaths, when texas governor greg abbott defied by issuing his executive order to end all covid-19 restrictions march he tweeted, "texas is open 10. 100%," drawing scorn from president biden, who accused him of "neanderthal thinking." abbott fought back by accusing the biden administration of releasing covid positive illegal immigrants in our state. this comes as cbs news reports over 3200 unaccompanied children were detained at border patrol

facilities along the texas-mexico border monday alone and nearly half were held for longer than the legal limit of 3 -- three days. for more, we go to houston where we are joined by dr. dona murphey, a physician scientist, community organizer and co-founder of the doctors in politics pac. dr. murphey is a survivor of covid-19 who for months experienced ongoing symptoms, a condition being described as long covid work long-hauler. she is helping to lead a campaign to demand texas reinstate the mask mandate. welcome to democracy now! can you respond to what governor abbott has done, lifting the mask mandate and opening texas 100% for business? close sure. i think is really important here to not be distracted by the fact this is completely politically motivated.

he made the announcement on texas independence day. we had dozens of deaths across the state from hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, fires with untold economic impact. he is pandering to this misguided conflation of the mask mandate with infringements of persal freedoms. within days, you alluded to come he rejected an oer for federal aid uncovered 19 testing us seekers, blaming them for infections in south texas. despite the test positivity among those migrants was lower than the population at largend cameron county, the county of injury. it is important we not get consumed by the front to scientific knowledge and our

understanding of this virus and how it is transmitted. th is not with this is about. juan: dr. murphey, could you talk about this continuing rift between the major cities of texas -- houston, dallas, senator young, el paso -- and the state leaders on the issue of how best to deal with the pandemic? >> yes, that has been super frustrating to witness. the political party of our od governor is one that ideologically committed to local ntrol. despite this, throughout the pandemic, repeatedly, the governor has tried to remove local authority in determining what to do with managing the pandemic. so a lot of our cities, which are democratically help cities, the leadership in those cities have often tried to do what is more consistent with what has been advised by the cdc, for

instance, and the governor has tried to pull that throughout. amy: can you tell us a little more, dr. murphey, on the issue of the border, you have him attacking immigrants saying they're bringing in covid yet at the same time he rejected money from the federal government to test immigrants who are coming in. >> that's right. it is actually the case they have been testing by the tens of thousands -- i have been very involved with work at the border throughout the migrant otectionrotocols in matamoros and brownsville remotely because i run a program in matamoros. i have been very plugged in to the medical -- and the efforts made by nongovernmental organitions as well as local government to attempt to mitigate the impact of covid among that population. as i said, this is a very

politicallyotivated maneuver. juan: i want to ask you if you could talk a little about your own personal experience with contracting covid-19 and if you could talk somewhat about the vaccine rollout in houston that you are aware of? there have been recent reports in the last day or two that there is a disproportionate exhibiting of side effects among women who received the vaccine compared to men. i'm wondering if you might have some thoughts on that as well? >> sure. my personal experience with covid, i was ironically involved in covid education and organizing advocacy about a month before i myself got sick with covid, unfortunately, and then became a covid long-hauler where i was grappling with moderate symptoms as one point that work cognitive and psychiatric.

this was not trivial at all. i also was not as disabled as of of my colleagues and others. i felt privileged i was not so disabled. but it was still very trying. there is still a lot of uncertainty about the long-term implications of covid. it has been a very difficult path for me and most recently this past week, i had significant symptoms that kept me from being able to write original material, at i do a lot of writing for my work in the advocacy that i do. as far as the relevant in texas, we he lesshan 20of tans who have been lly vaccated. me couies are appling th such lowates tt theyave opedp vaccinions to e genel publicithout restrictns -- thatells y someing. a lot of tho counties are in eased tax -east tas.

itas beevery proematic. as tthe dispportiona impa on won, i wanto be careful because it is hd to know unt you have symptoms to sewhat t side fects are and whether thereflect realit underlng reaties. wh i don't wa to do is dissde anyonrom gettinthe vaination. i have kt up wita lot of the si effect pfiles r pfiz an merna a johnson johnsohas recely bee releed we wi see what that oks like in general, e side eects are mild tmoderate i will telyou if t alteative is debt d peanendisabili, which a ve real psibilityor up to 30% of the populion exhibiting long-hauler symptoms, it is a risk worth taking. amy: have you been at vaccinated? for people have been covid, do you get one or two shots when it is a touche ideal? of course, johnson & johnson is just one shot. >> i have not yet been

vaccinated because i felthere is been a little pushback on physicians who do not see patients in person, which i do not. for as long as we don't have people having access to adequate access to the vaccines, i felt a little uncomfortable putting myself forward as someone who needs to get vaccinated as a "front-line worker." i've been waiting until it is opened up to the general population. i have thought to drive over to east texas where they have opened it up where i don't think i would be taking someone's place. i'm sorry, what was your second question? amy: one or two shots? >> a lot of people are saying in some countries globally they are suggesting that covid long-hauler's just get one shot. i don't know there is a lot of evidence about that yet. i was planning on getting the two shots either pfizer or

moderna and then the one shot with johnson & johnson. amy: there is a restaurant in houston that says they will keep the mask rules in place. people threatened to call eyes. can you talk about what happened there? it is called picos. talk about this rising anger in texas over pandemic restrictions and how abbott has fueled this, both the anti-science, racist, xenophobic misinformation around the pandemic? >> again, i think he is deliberately trying to direct our attention to a narrative that is consistent with his political thinking, which is that the cause of these problems is something that can be placed on others -- not us, but others. i think that is part of what happen here.

people unfortunately are following his modeling, and that is why thioccurred. houston is a very diverse and very inclusive place in many ways. i know picos. i used to go there before they moved to the current location. 70 was like they were going to call ice on the folks is a reflection of the impact that abbott has had on the narrative of who is responsible for the transmission of covid. in many ways i feel he is directly responsible and people following his example are responsible as well. amy: dr. dona murphey, thank you for joining us physician , scientist, community organizer and the co-founder of the doctors in politics pac. long-haul survivor of covid-19. it is the 50th anniversary of

one of the more audacious events that happened in protest and resistance around the vietnam war. it happened in -- it happened in a pennsylvania, media, pennsylvania. it was march 8, 1971. eight activists broke into an fbi office. stay tuned to hear what happened. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "breakaway" by toni basil. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. 50 years ago this week, a group of activists staged one of the most stunning acts of defiance of the vietnam war era. on march 8, 1971, eight activists -- including a cab driver, a daycare director, and two professors -- broke into an fbi office in media, pennsylvania, and stole every

document they found. they wanted to document how fbi director j. edgar hoover was spying on citizens and actively suppressing dissent. the break-in occurred as much of the nation was fixated on a boxing match between muhammad ali and joe frazier, which was billed as the "fight of the century." the identity of the burglars would remain a mystery for over 40 years. soon after stealing the documents, the activists, calling themselves the citizen'' commission to investigate the fbi, began leaking shocking details about fbi abuses to the media. the documents exposed cointelpro, the fbi's secret counterintelligence program, a global, clandestine, unconstitutional practice of surveillance, infiltration, and disruption of groups engaged in protest, dissent, and social change. targets included the reverend martin luther king jr., the black panthers, the american indian movement, the young lords, anti-war groups, black booksellers, and other

groups. the leaked documents triggered congressional investigations, increased oversight, and the eventual passage of the foreign intelligence surveillance act. the fbi never knew who was involved in the break-in until 2014 when several of the burglars made their identity public to coincide with the publication of "the burglary," a book by former "washington post" reporter betty medsger who had reported on the leaked documents back in 1971. in 2014, medsger appeared on democracy now! >> one of the things i remember most from those files was the truly blanket surveillance of african-american people that was described. it was in philadelphia, but it also prescribed national programs. and it was quite stunning. first, it described the surveillance. it took place in every place where people would gather -- churches, classrooms, stores down the street, just everything. but it also specifically prescribed that every fbi agent

was supposed to have an informer just for the purpose of coming back every two weeks and talking to them about what they had observed about black americans. and in washington, d.c., at the time, that was six informers for every fbi agent informing on black americans. the surveillance was so enormous that it led various people, rather sedate people in editorial offices and in congress, to compare it to the stasi, the dreaded secret police of east germany. amy: three of the burglars appeared on democracy now!no bak in in one of their first joint 2014 interviews. keith forsyth helped it would speed up the end of the vietnam war. >> escalating and de-escalating. i think what pushed me over the edge was shortly after the

invasion of cambodia, there were four students killed at kent state and two more killed at jackson state. i'm sorry, i'd think i'd have this down after all these years. and that really pushed me over the edge, that it was time to do more than just protest and just march with a sign. amy: john raines was another one of the burglars. at the time of the break-in, he was a professor of religion at temple university. >> the problem was, j edgar hoover was untouchable. he was a national icon. head presidents who were afraid of him. the people that we elected to oversee j edgar hoover's fbi were enamored of him or terrified of him. nobody was holding him accountable. that meant somebody had to get

objective evidence of what his fbi was doing, and that led us to the idea that bill suggested to us -- let's break into an fbi office, get their files come and get what they're doing in their own handwriting. amy: that was john raines speaking on democracy now! in 2014. he died in 2017. raines' wife bonnie also helped break in to the fbi office in media, pennsylvania, 50 years ago. at the time of the break-in, john and bonnie had three young children. she joins us now from her home in philadelphia. we are also joined by paul coates, the founder and director of black classic press and bcp digital printing. he is a former member and defense captain of the black panther party in baltimore. as a black bookseller, he was targeted by the fbi as part of its cointelpro. counterintelligence program. yes, he is also the father of the acclaimed writer ta-nehisi coates. we welcome you both to democracy

now! bonnie, you were the one who cased the joint. is that right? who went to these media fbi offices, media, pennsylvania, to get a sense of the blueprints of the two rooms, whatever it was? >> that's right. we had cased the exterior environment, so we knew what the police patrols were but -- we had to get inside the offices to see whether there were alarm systems and to see what the layout of the offices were, where the doors were that we hoped to get through. so i had to call and say i was a college student doing research on opportuties for women in the fbi and i wondered if i could have an interview with the head of the office. they very graciously gave me an appointment. i showed up trying to look not

at all like my usual identity. i disguised my parents as much as i possibly could. they were very gracious and ga me half an hour or so. that gave me the opportunity to get the lay out of the office to see there were no alarms, to see that the file cabinets were not locked, and to check out a second door that we might need to use to get through on the night of the robbery. juan: bonnie, you told will bunch in a recent interview that 50 years ago we were criminals and now we are heroes. could you talk about how your decision to get involved with this test at the time you're 29 years old, the mother of three? >> well, my husband and i have been involved in the draft resistance movement so-called catholic left, previously, going

into draft boards in the middle of the night and removing draft files to destroy them and try to disrupt the draft system. we like to say we got our burglary skills from nuns and priests. when all of the protests on the war against vietnam were not making any difference, we realized the government was lying to citizens about the war, we thought we needed to take another -- different kind of step in a civil disobedience and get proof to show what fbi agents were doing in the philadelphia area, things are unconstitutional, immoral, and illegal. and the only way to do that was to get our hands on documents. it seems like a rational thing to do to get the truth out to the american public.

juan: i want to bring paul coates in the conversation and ask you, paul, from your perspective, your involvement in the black panther party at the time, what the group looked like and what the impact of this break-in, these revelations about cointelpro had on you and your organization? >> the large impact i think at the time was we already knew that we were being infiltrated. we knew the provocatuers were throughout. we knew the fbi had is under cluster surveillance. but i don't think anyone at the time really knewhe full extent of the program, cointelpro. we saw the surveillance, saw the interference in the set ups that were being done ascts of t

vernment, thbroad government was doing. but the break-in -- i like to think of it as put flesh to the bones of what became known as cointelpro. and they did it in a way that come like they intended to do, they did it with the fbi's own documents. they named people. they named laces. and that documentation not only served as then, but it serves as an continues to serve as today. i think that is the major, major impact. it made visible what we knew was there but cannot really see. amy: this was the first time that cointelpro was being made known? these documents were putting out everywhere? and, paul, this whole story of not only the fbi's war on black

power movement, but specifically -- and this directly related to you -- black-owned bookstores? why they saw black-owned bookstores like yours as such a target? >> yeah, this is true, amy. i think a lot of that comes out of certain fbi history a following socialist groups and knowing the bookstores were critical information centers, as they were in our community. and the star we established certainly was because that was its intent. it was intended to be an informatiocenter, particularly for people -- not just panthers, the people who work incarcerated, coming out of jail, and becoming contributing members of the community. we felt we could do that with information. certainly, we came under a lot of pressure from the fbi, a lot of pressure from the state and the city at the time, who saw

this -- perceived this as a threat. the very thought that informatn, the very thought that knowledge could equip people to be better in the community and contributors in the community was a threat to them. amy: juan, at the beginning of the story, we talked about the people who were targeted -- like panthers come into war movement, peace activistss, and the young lords. you're one of the cofounders of the young lords. can you talk about what you understood at the time? juan: what paul is saying about we understood there were agents within our organizations, but we never understood how systematic and how widespread it was. i recall particularly about a year before the break-in of the fbi office in media, pennsylvania, i was traveling with another young boardmember. we secretly went to puerto rico

to look at the possibility of opening up new branches. we were on the airplane headed to san juan and suddenlsee a young african-american attorney who he knew from legal aid in east harlem. he came over and sat by us and started joking. we said, so, bobby, what are you doing? why are you to puerto rico? he said, well, i don't work for legal lady more. i work for the u.s. justice department and i have been assigned to the two of you and i want you to know -- you look at us directly in the eyes -- he said, i want you to know every second you are in puerto rico, you're going to be tailed by the agents of the -- the puerto rico equivalent of the red squad in puerto rico. wherever you go in puerto rico, we're going to be there. sure enough, there were not only following us, but interviewing anyone we talked to or met with because they saw the need to appear to be everywhere.

i would ask paul because people don't realize the psychological impact it has on these organizations to know there were agents within them but not know who they were. anoften people were targeted who were innocent people, but were mistaken for agents and the real agents were still providing information on a regul basis and crting dissension within the groups. >> juaou are so right, or so on. it was like a double whammy. on the one hd, you would have agents who would make themselves known a you knew there were plenty of other agents who were unknown but -- let's say if you're doing something today, information on that would be broadcast in multiple ways the next day. so you know somee from t inside did it. juan, you probably had this experience as well. certainly, cointelpro had its

impact when these eventsere taking place. but now we're talking about 50 years later. five decades later, juan, and we're still trying to figure out who were agents at the time. yes, that is going on, but also the rumors that were started. thidentification of people who weren't agents but were labeled as ages. even today, among comradein the panther party, have a conversation with someone, enable come up and youay, "you know he was a snitch, w?" and that may not be the case at all. we're still living through and tickinghrough the maneuvers that lerally split our movement at the time. we are still living through those movement at the time. amy: out also bring in bonnie raines to talk about the latest member of the media eight, the burglars, including you, who has just come forward in a piece in

"the san francisco chronicle." december fell matt reveals his role 50 years later. assessment for the pentagon papers, before edward snowden, a group of eight teamed up to steal fbi records from pennsylvania office. it goes on to say, ralph daniels squeezed themselves -- himself through the doors, looked across the room, taste the small office for months and now he was inside, roosevelt beckoned. this was the moment group of eight had planned. they were convinced these records would prove the malfeasance. daniel was 26 at the time. scooped up the files, his gloved hand shook. burglars had a hurry. they chose march 8, 1971 because muhammad ali's title fight against joe frazier would keep most of the country and world

and most importantly fbi agents and police glued to closed-circuit screens and radios for a few hours. one of the intruders could he their broadcast and a nearby apartment so they thought the sound of the fight would cover your actions, is that right? were you surprised to hear that ralph daniel has come forward? >> them delighted that ralph has. he played a key role. he was reluctant to come forward earlier because he was afraid it would affect his professional life. but he has always been in mmunication with us. it is great to have him be able to tell his story now, which is significant. we scooped up every single document. i think about 1000 documents. we didot leave anything you hind. going back to what we're are talking about a few minutes ago in the broadcast, one of the

memos that we discovered, document said that the agent should increase the paranoia among the left to have them believe that there is an fbi agent behind every mailbox. so they wanted to give this impression that everyone everywhere was under surveillance and no one could believe that the constitutional rights would be protected. juan: bonnie, the lessons for today for the black lives matter movement and other activists of this cntelpro era? >> well, we have come through a trump era and i think we saw the effects of lack of transparency and accountability and now we really have to insist that the powers that be are transparent and accountable. it is up to the average citizen to pay attention, be informed,

and be vigilant and then call the powers that be to account for their decisions most of amy: we have to leave it there. thank you so much for being with us, bonnie raines, one of the úú