03/19/21 03/19/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> politicians in my home state and all across america and their craven lust for power of lost a full-fledged assault on budding rights. they are focused on winning at any cost, even the cost of democracy itself. amy: in his first speech from the senate floor, georgia democrat senator reverend

raphael warnock condemns republican voter suppression efforts as "jim crow in new clothes." we will air his moving address by the first black democrat elected to the senate from a former confederate state. then we speak to heather mcghee, author of "the sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together hardcover." dashcam prosper togethe" >> the story of my journey across the country. talking to americans of all backgrounds revealed to me the biggest impediment to our progress as a nation is the zero-sum ia that progress or people of color have to come at white folks expense. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

president biden and vice president kamala harris are meeting with local asian american leaders in atlanta today in the wake of tuesday's mass shooting in which a white man killed eight people, six of them women of asian descent. harris is the first asian american and the first woman vice president. at a congressional hearing thursday on the rise in anti-asian violence, california demoatic congressmember ted lieu called for an end to the racist rhetoric used by some politicians since the start of the pandemic, namely former president trump. >> you can say racist, stupid stuff if you want. but i'm asking you to please stop using racist think identifiers in describing this virus. i'm not a virus. when you say things like this, it hurts the asian-american community. amy: meanwhile, chip roy of texas decided to glorify lynchings at the hearing intended to combat racism and xenophobia.

>> their old sayings in texas about find all the rope in texas and find the tall oak tree. amy: new york congressmember grace meng responded to roy's comments. >> your president and your party and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country you want, but you don't have to do it by putting a bull's-eye on the back of asian americans. this hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community, to find solutions. and we will not let you take our voice away from us. amy: last week, congressmember meng reintroduced her resolution denouncing anti-asian hate crimes and discrimination amid the pandemic. meanwhile, former president obama called for commonsenseun control laws wednesday. biden has yet to raise the issue publicly since the shooting but called on congress last month to pass new gun control legislation.

about a dozen nations including germany, france, italy, and spain have resumed use of oxford's astrazeneca vaccine after europe's top regulator declared the shots safe and effective. e europe medicines agency investigated 25 cases of rare blood clots among some 20 million people who've received astrazeneca inoculations. it's not known whether the vaccine caused the blood clots, and health officials say its benefits far outweigh its risks. meanwhile, the biden administration said it plans to ship about 4 million doses of u.s.-made astrazena vaccine to mexico and canada. the vaccine is not yet approved for use in the u.s. and millions of vials have been piling up in u.s. warehouses, prompting criticism about vaccine hoarding. the white house says the vaccine shipments would have to be repaid, effectively making them a loan. on thursday, the united states recorded nearly 60,000 new coronavirus infections and over 1600 covid-19 deaths. daily infections have largely

plateaued and are rising in more than a dozen states, even as the white house marks its goal today of delivering 100 million doses administered in president biden's first 100 days. on capitol hill, chief white house medical advisor dr. anthony fauci clashed with kentucky republican senator rand paul over the use of masks. senator paul questioned why peop who've recovered from covid-19 -- or who've had the vaccine -- should continue to wear masks. >> give them a reward instead of telling them that it will be there for three more years and you have to wear a mask forever. there is no science behind it. >> let me just a for the record that masks are not the inner. masks are protective. >> if you already have community and you're wearing a mask, it is for coort for others. it is not because of science. >> totally disagree. amy: dr. fauci pushed back, saying there's not enough data on whether people with immunity to covid-19 can still spread the virus that causes the disease.

he also warned that new viral variants may be able to re-infect people who have immunity to earlier lineages of coronavirus. the senate narrowly confirmed sarah -- xavier becerra to lead the department of health and human services thursday with just one republican, maine's susan collins, voting in his favor. becerra will play a key role in the government's response to the pandemic. the senate also confirmed william burns as cia director. burns was involved in talks leading to the landmark iran nuclear deal under president obama. meanwhile, deb haaland was sworn in by vice president kamala harris thursday as head of the interior department, the first ever native american cabinet secretary. haaland, a member of the laguna pueblo tribe, wore a traditional indigenous ribbon skirt and moccasins for the occasion. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. [applause]

congratulations. congratulations. history is being made yet again. amy: the house of representatives passed two immigration bills that would establish a pathway to citizenship or legal residency for undocumented people brought to the u.s. as children, some immigrants with temporary protected status, as well as undocumented farmworkers. the american dream and promise act would largely apply to people with deferred action for childhood arrivals, daca, and would reportedly benefit some 2.5 million undocumented immigrants. the second bill, the farm workforce modernization act, would allow about 1 million undocumented farmworkers to get a green card if they pay a penalty and continue to work in the industry for four to eight more years. while some advocates have celebrated the bills, many are denouncing the exclusion of millions of other undocumented people including those who have been convicted of a crime. hacinta gonzález, senior campaign organizer at mijent said -- "if we learned anything in 2020, it's that the policing and mass incarceration systems in this country are fundamentally rigged against black and latinx people, and the american dream and

promise act is no exception. criminalization born of a racist system cannot be the measure by which we determine who belongs and who goes." the bills now head to the senate where they face an uphill battle as 10 republicans would have to vote with every democrat to pass the legislation. in more immigration news, more than 14,000 unaccompanied migrant children are now in the custody of u.s. officials. most are being detained at facilities run by health and human services, and some 4500 children are still in the custody of customs and border protection. meanwhile, the biden administration has stopped sending unaccompanied migrant teenagers to a recently-opened facility in midland, texas, amid growing safety and other concerns. the facility is a converted camp for oil field workers, where most of the red cross volunteers on site don't speak spanish or indigenous languages. already, over 50 teens, out of nearly 500 in custody at the -- in midland, have tested positive for covid-19.

the house of representatives voted thursday to award congressional go medals to all members of the capitol police force ov their re in battling the mob of trump supporters that attacked congress on january 6. a dozen pro-trump republicans vod against the measure, citing objections to lanage that referred tohe january 6 capitoassault an "insurrection." the u.s. and china traded tense verbal attacks as the first high-level talks between the two countries since the start of the biden administration kicked off in alaska thursday. this is secretary of state antony blinken. >> i have to tell you what i am hearing is very different from what you described. i am hearing deep satisfaction that the united states is back, that we are reengaged with our allies and parers. i am also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking. amy: the u.s. accused china of threatening global stability and raised human rights issues. china, meanwhile, said the u.s. is using its military and economic might to carry out its own national priorities and

"incite some countries to attack china." this is senior chinese diplomat yangiechi. >> so we hope that when talking about universal values or international political opinion on the part of the united states, we hope the u.s. side will think about whether it feels reassured saying those things because the u.s. does not represent the world it only represents the government of the united states. amy: and in egypt, prominent human rights activist sanaa seif has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after a court found her guilty of so-called spreading fake news. seif was detained last june and was later accused of making false claims regarding the massive spread of covid-19 inside egyptian prisons. amnesty international called her charges bogus and "stemming purely from her peaceful criticism." during the revolution in 2011, sanaa seif, who was then just 17 years old, spoke with democracy now!'s sharif abdel kouddous about publishing a newspaper in defiance of rules requiring government permission.

>> perfect timing to push the borders of freedom further. so we thought, why not make a newspaper and i get permission for that, let's just tell it in the streets? it is called "voices of jeffrey are -- "voices of tahrir." without the first copy has to be each one of us of the revolution has something to say. amy: she has been sentenced to a year and half in egyptian reason. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we, at, georgia democratic senator reverend raphael warnock condemns republican voter suppression efforts as "jim crow in new clothes" in his first speech from the senate floor.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: sweet honey in the rock "down by the riverside." performing in our old downtown studios in 2003 as we continue to dig into our archives during this 25 anniversary year of democracnow! this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. senate democrats have introduced sweeping voting rights legislation passed by the house of representatives earlier this month. the for the people act aims to improve voter registration and access to the polls, ends partisan and racial gerrymandering, forces the disclosure of dark money donors, increases public funding for candidates, and imposes strict ethical and reporting standards on members of congress and the u.s. supreme court. republicans have signaled they will use the filibuster to defeat the bill. this comes as voting rights are under attack in courthouses and statehouses across the ccrntry.

republican state lawmakers have introduced over 250 bills in 43 states to limit voter access. meanwhile, the supreme court appears poised to uphold controversial voting limits in arizona in a case that would further gut the voting rights act. we turn now to newly elected georgia democratic senator raphael warnock's first senate speech. he is the first black senator to represent georgia and the first black democrat to be elected to the senate in the south. rev. warnock is also a pastor of the ebenezer baptist church in atlanta, which was the spiritual home of dr. martin luther king, jr. now senator warnock focused on voting rights in his maiden floor speech, but he began by condemning the deadly shootings at three spas in the atlanta region on tuesday that left eight people dead, including seven women, six of whom were of asian descent. >> mr. president, before i begin

my formal remarks, i want to pause to condemn the hatred and violence that took eight precious lives last night in metropolitan atlanta. i agreed with georgians, with americans, with people of love all across the world. this unspeakable violence visited largely upon the asian community is one that causes all of us to recommit ourselves to the way of peace. an act of peace that prevents these kinds of tragedies from happening in the first place. pray for these families. mr. president, i rise here today as a proud american and as one of the newest members of the senate in awe of the journey

that has brought me to these hallowed halls. and within a dividing sense of reverence and gratitude, for the and sisters who paved the way, i am a proud son of the great state of georgia, born and raised in savannah -- a coastal city known for its cobblestone streets in town squares. towering oak trees, centuries-old and covered in great spanish moss stretched from one side of the street to the other, bend and beckon that lover of history and horticulture of this city by the sea. i was educated at morehouse college and i still serve in the pulpit of the ebenezer baptist church -- both in atlanta. the cradle of the civil rights movement. so like those oak trees in savannah my roots go down deep and they stretch wide.

in a word, i am georgia, a living example an embodiment of its history and its hope of its pain and promise the brutality and possibility. mr. president, at the time of my birth, george's two senators were richard b russell and hermann e talmage. both art segregationists -- adversaries of the civil rights movement. after the supreme court's ruling outline school segregation, talmage ward blood will run in the streets of atlanta. senator talmage plus father had famously

declared the south lowe's the negro in his place but his place is at the back door. when once ask how he and his supporters mikey black people away from the polls come he picked up a scrap of paper and wrote a single word on it "pistols." there is something in the american covenant in its charter documents at its jeffersonian ideals that bends toward freedom and led by a preacher in a patriot named king, americans of all races stood up. history vindicated the movement that sought to bring us closer to our ideals, to lengthen and

strengthen the cords of our democracy. and i now hold the seat, the senate seat where hermann e. talmage sat. and that is why i love america. i love america because we always have a path to make it better, to build a more perfect union. it is a place where a kid like me who grew up in public housing , first college graduate in my family, can now stand as united states senator. i had an older father. he was born in 1917. serving in the army during world war ii, he was once asked to give up his seat to a young teenager while wearing his soldiers uniform. they said making the world safe for democracy.

but he was never bitter. by the time i came along, he had already seen the ark of change in our country and he maintained his faith in god and in his family and in the american promise, and he passed that faith onto his children. my mother grew up in waycross, georgia. that is way across your job. [laughter] and like a lot of like teenagers in the 1950's, she spent her summer spending -- picking someone else's tobacco and cotton. because this is america, 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cut went to the polls in january and picked her youngest son to be a united states senator. ours is a land where possibility is born of democracy.

a vote, a voice, a chance to help determine the direction of a country in one's own destiny within it. possibility born of democracy. that is why this past november and january my mom and other citizens of georgia grabbed hold of that possibility and turned out in record numbers -- 5 million in november. 4.4 million in january. far more than ever in our state's history. turnout for typical runoff doubled. the people of georgia since the first african-american senator in first jewish senator, my brother jon ossoff. to these how load halls -- to these hallowed halls. but that would happen? some politicians did not approve

of the choice made by the majority of voters in a hard-fought election in which each side got the chance to make his case to the voters. and rather than adjusting their agenda rather than changing their message, they are busy trying to change the rules. we are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights, unlike anything we have ever seen since the jim crow era. this is jim crow in new clothes. since the january election, some 250 voter suppression bills have been introduced by state legislatures all across the country from georgia to arizona, from new hampshire to florida. using the big lie of voter fraud

as a pretext for voter suppression. the same big lie that led to a violent insurrection on this very capitol. the day after my election. within 24 hours, we elected george's first african-american and jewish senator and hours later, the capitol was assaulted. we see in a few precious hours, the tension very much alive in the soul of america and the question before all of us at the very moment, "what will we do to push us in the right direction?" and so politicians driven by that big lie aimed to severely

limit and in some cases eliminate automatic and same-day voter registration and absentee voting, early voting, weekend voting. they want to make it easier to purge voters from the voting role altogether. as a voting rights activist, i have seen up close just how draconian these measures can be. i hail from a state that purged 200,000 voters from the role one saturday night in the middle of the night. we know what is happening here. some people don't want some people to vote. i was honod on a few occasions to stand with hero and a person or john lewis. i was his pastor but i am clear he was my mentor.

more than one occasion, we boarded buses after sunday church services as part of our souls to the polls program encouraging the ebenezer church family and communities of faith to participate in the democratic process. now just a few months after congressman lewis' death, some even dared to praise his name, are now trying to get rid of sunday souls to the polls, making it a crime for people who pray together to get on a bus together in order to vote together. i think that is wrong. as a matter of fact, i think a vote is a kind of prayer. for the kind of world we desire for ourselves and for our children. our prayers are stronger when we pray together. to be sure we have seen these

kinds of voter suppression tactics before, they are a part of a long and shameful history in georgia and throughout our nation, but refusing to be denied. georgia citizens and citizens across our country brave the heat and the cold and the rain, some standing in line for five hours, six hours, 10 hours just to exercise the constitutional right to vote. young people, old people, sick people, working people, already underpaid forced to lose wages to pay a kind of poll tax while standing in line to vote. and now how do some politicians respond? well, they are trying to make it a crime to get people water and

a snack as they wait in lines that are obviously being made longer by their draconian actions. think about that. think about that. they are the ones making the lines longer through these draconian actions, and then they want to make it a crime to bring grandma some water was she is waiting in line that they are making longer. make no mistake, this is democracy in reverse. rather than voters being able to pick the politicians, the politicians are trying to cherry their voters. -- cherry pick their voters. i say this cannot stand. so i rise, mr. president,

because that sacred and noble idea, one person one vote, is being threatened right now. politicians in my home state and all across america in their craven lust for power have launched a full-fledged assault on voting rights. they are focused on winning at any cost, even the cost of the democracy itself. and i submit it is the job of each citizen to stand up for the voting rights of every citizen. and it is the job of this body to do all that it can to defend the viability of our democracy. and that is why i am a proud cosponsor of the for the people act, which we introduced today.

the for the people act is a major step in march toward our democratic ideals, making it easier not harder for eligible americans to vote by instituting common sense pro-democracy reforms. like establishing national automatic voter registration for every eligible citizen and allowing all americans to register to vote online and on election day. requiring states to offer at least two weeks of early voting, including weekends, in federal elections. keeping souls to the souls program alive. prohibiting states from stricking a person's ability to vote by mail or absentee and prevent the states from purging the voter rolls based solely on unreliable evidence like sums voting history. something we've seen in georgia

and other states in recent years. and it would and the dominance of big-money in our politics and insurer our public servants are there serving the public. amidst these voter suppression laws and tactics, including partisan and racial gerrymandering and in a system awash in dark money and the dominance of corporatist entries and politicians, who do their bidding, the voices of the american people have been increasingly drowned out and crowded out and squeezed out of their own democracy. we must pass for the peoples of the people might have a voice. your voice is your vote and your vote is your human dignity only that we must pass the john lewis

voting rights advancement act voting rights used to be about partisan issues. the last time the voting rights bill was authorized was 2006, george w. bush was president. it passes chamber 98-0. but in 2013, the supreme court rejected the successful formula for supervision and preclearance contained in the 1965 voting rights act, they asked congress to fix it. that was nearly eight years ago. and the american people are still waiting. stripped of protections, voter discrimination.

we americans have noisy and spirited debates about many things, and we should. that is what it means to live in a free country. but access to the ballot ought to be nonpartisan. i submit there should be 100 votes in this chamber for policies that will make it easier for americans to make their voices heard in our democracy. surely, there ought to be at least 60 in this chamber who believe as i do that the four most powerful words uttered in democracy are "the people have spoken." therefore, we must ensure all of the people can speak. but it's not.

we must still pass voting rights . the right to vote is preservative of all other rights. it is not just another issue alongside other issues, it is foundational. it is a reason why any of us has the privilege of standing here in the first place. it is about the covenant we have with one another as an american people. it above all else must be protected. so let's be clear, i am not here today to spiral into the procedural argument regarding whether the filibuster in general has merits or has outlived its usefulness. i am here to say that this issue is bigger than the filibuster. i stand before you saying this issue, access to voting and printing politicians efforts to restrict voting, is so

fundamental to our democracy that it is too important to be held hostage by senate rules. especially one historically used to restrict expansion of voting rights. it is a contradiction to say we must protect minority rights in the senate while refusing to protect an already rights in the society. colleagues onset rules no central should overrule the integrity of our democracy. we must find a way to pass voting rights whether we get rid of the filibuster or not. so as i close and nobody believes -- nobody believes a preacher when he says "as i close." let me say i as a man of faith, i believe that democracy is the

political enactment of a spiritual idea. the sacred word of all human beings, the notion that we all have within us a spark of the divine, a right to participate in the shaping of our destiny. humanity's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but humanity's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. john lewis understood that and was beaten on a bridge defending it. william boynton, like so many women not mention nearly enough, was gassed on that same bridge. a white woman named viola was killed.

medgar evers was killed in his own driveway. swarna, cheney, and goodman standing up for that sacred idea of democracy also paid the ultimate price. and we in this body would be stopped and stymied by partisan politics, short-term political gain, senate procedure? i say, let's get this done no matter what. urge my colleagues to pass these two bills, strengthen and lengthen the courts of our democracy comes secure our credibility as the premier voice for freedom loving people and democratic movements all over the world. and when the future for all of our children. mr. president, i yield the floor.

amy: that's -- that's a georgia new democratic senator the reverend raphael warnock giving his first speech on the senate floor in a rare display and in the senate was of the peoplen the room gave him a standing ovation. when we come back, we speak to heather mcghee, the author of the book "the sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "we'll never turn back" by mavis staples. the 81-year-old legend just got her second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president joe biden and vice president kamala harris go to atlanta today where they plan to

address tuesday's mass shootings at three spots that killed eight people, including seven women, six of whom were of asian descent. the trip to atlanta was originally scheduled as part of vines campaign promoting the nearly $2 trillion vendor can rescue plan. democrats healed the deal as the largest anti-poverty law in a generation. one study projects that will lift almost 14 million americans out of poverty, including 5.7 million children. while the relief plan has broad public support, not a single republican support of the legislation. we spend the rest of the hour with heather mcghee, author of the new book "the sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together." heather is the board chair of color of change and former president of the think tank demos. thank you so much for joining us, heather. congralations on your new book. >> thank you.

congratulations on 25 years. amy: thank you so much. the whole team at democracy now! and celebrating. hopefully soon, we can celebrate together. you just sat there and watched once again the rev. warnock. you tweeted while he was speaking and said everyone should do themselves a favor and watch this speech. can you talk about the significance of what happened in georgia? rev. warnock, the first black democrat to be elected from the former confederacy? >> it was so moving. i really think of the crucible of the 24 hours between january 5 and january 6 as american promise an american ril and a nutshell. first we saw a multiracial coalition, multiracial antiracist coalition that was standing up to four years of division, pain, and suffering

and putting that man who is the successor to reverend dr. martin luther king marching through the pews of that storied church and putting him in office along with jon ossoff. that was an historic moment. so many of the political class i come to georgia outcome and yet a coalition that went from black folks who have been organizing for years with stacey abrams and latosha brown to white women under the suburbs who turned away from the republican for the first time in generations, young people really overcoming a number of barriers to the ballots in the middle of a pandemic, did the impossible with the promise of relief from this pandemic itself a disease that has wreaked disproportionately on people of color but has shown our faiths

are inextricably linked. not 24 hours later, the dark spirit of american white supremacy, fueled by a bigie, that has as its core logic rasm, the idea, the common sense that of course a man who was rejected by the majority of people ofolor cou n possibly have lost the presidency, thatf course, people of color vote i somehow suspect andriminal. this -- i explore this tension in my book because fundamenlly, racism s been e most powerful tool wielde against the best of america, against american democracy, at across racial solidarity, against the american dream itself. we talked about how it has brought us inequality era and figures like rev. warnock who put into perspective, who in

their own lives have so much of the course of american history on display, are who we need to look to right now to remind us that that tool always robs this country of its best promise. amy: you mentioned stacey abrams, georgia state senate approved a bill that would in the right of voters to cast absentee ballots without excuse well toughening voter id requirements. georgia voting rights activists, former gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams, lasted the legislation on cnn. >> i agree it is racist. it is the redux of jim crow in suit and tie. we know the only thing to precipitator these changes is not there was a question of security, the secretary of state and the governor went to great pains to assure america that georgia selections were secure. the only connection that we can find is more people of color voted and it change the outcome of elections in the direction

republicans do not like. amy: that is stacey abrams. over 250 bills now introduced in legislatures around the country. the idea of the republicans come if you can't beat them, join them? like just legally stop them from voting. >> let's be very clear that this is the question that has bedeviled this nation since its founding. are we going to be a democracy or are we going to be a white supremacist state? our founders had a revolutionary idea to break with the european tradition of monarchy and bet on the radical idea of self-governance, and yet they compromise their own ideals from the start. the compromise was slavery. they drilled holes into the bedrock of american democracy at the beginning with compromises such as the electoral college to ensure a voice for slave states.

the 3/5 compromise. then of course, allowing the firs congress to delineate citizenship only to free white citizens, free white persons. so we have seen time and time again all of these tactics are from a very old playbook. they're from a playbook that is deployed by a narrow white elite . the thing i try to outline my bo, i ha a wholehapter o theayemocracyas alway been subrted b racism, deployed by a narrow white elite, is the cost of these kinds of voter suppression tactics -- both in the jim crow era and today -- of course hit their target, right? of course they first and worst impact black americans and brown and indigenous americans whom they are targeting, but they also impact young people.

of all races. they make it harder for white people to vote as well. this is why when do you most took a case -- demos took a case to the supreme court for the purging of people who had not voted into elections in a row, our lead plaintiff was a white middle-aged ohioan veteran. this is what happened. people get caught in a trap not set for them. during the jim crow era, the southern states suffered a slow death of civic life. it meant that working-class white people did not vote either in admit there was one party rule by a white segregationist elite that did not even have to compete for votes. so it did not invest in the south. it left the south lagging behind

on core public investment because when you don't have a functioning democracy, you don't have public goods. you don't have a thriving economy. that is the republicans vision. they want a plantation democracy and a plantation economy. we are not going to let them have that. amy: let's talk about the central image of your new book, the sum of us, what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together. let's talk about that swimming pool, a drain swimming pool, heather. >> my book is about the way that after 20 years of trying to do what i thought was very sensible, which is bring economic data to policymakers to get them to make better decisions, i left the think tank world went on a journey across the country and one of the first things -- trips, and to montgomery alabama.

there's a central park called oak park. a's to be the beating heart of the city. in the middle of oak park, used to be one of what was at one point nearly 2000 grand resort style public swimming pools. these were not just any kind of swimming pools. these held over 1000 swimmers at a time. they were built in a building boom of public amenities in the 1930's and 1940's in the new deal era where we saw a government need those that set it is the government's job to lift the standard of living of our people, to provide protections for workers, to invest in a heretofore completely unthought of idea which is that working-class people would be able to own a home with no down payment and stretching it out over 30 years. due to the g.i. bill, which was a massive investment and economic security and created a white mile class.

i say a white middle class because virtually all of those of the investments and protections that i just described were for white only either by design with the mortgage market and the redline housing mask to the g.i. bill, which was -- excluded millions of black gis. the swimming pools across the country and 70 other places not just for the south were also segregated and for whites only. women civil rights movement empowered black families to say, hey, those are our tax dollars. we want our kids just room, too. what could they do? all across the country but definitely where i vited, they drained the public pools brother than integrate the they took out the water, poured in dirt and seated it over with grass. they close the parks andrecked department for over a decade.

i went to oak park and i walked the ground. they never rebuilt the pools. for me, that was a perfect image of what happened to the american economy. as the majority of white voters turned their backs on the party of the new deal, the party that really guarantee middle-class security for white america when that promise was extended across the color line during the civil rights movement. lyndon johnson became the last democrat to win a majority of white voters even until today. amy: i want to go to bessemer, alabama, and this is an issue dear to your heart. amazon work is continuing to vote on whether to become the first unionized amazon warehouse in the country. they're demanding stronger covid safety measures and relief from impossibly high productivity standards that leave many unable to take even bathroom breaks. upwards of 80% of the bessemer workers are black and the majority are women.

last month, we spoke to jennifer bates, a worker and organizer at amazon's warehouse in bessemer. this is what she said on our show. >> the reason why we're organizing is we need an even playing fie. some of the conditions that are in there are being ignored by human resources, long work hours with only two breaks, long walks upstairs. we want to not be an order when we have issues. people are getting fired without having their opportunity to speak their side. amy: that is amazon organizer jennifer bates speaking to us from bessemer, from the union hall. can you tell us, heather mcghee, about the siificance of this battle? if they win, they will be the first warehouse to be in a nice most of amazon is pouring

millions into fighting, even trying to change the traffic light outside the warehouse because when people stop, organizers would go over and talk to them in their cars. can you talk about this and other places you visited that did not when in the strike -- in their unionizing attempts? >> i asked the question, why is it we cannot have nice things in america? by nice things i don't mean self-driving car's or laundry that doesn't itself. i mean things like wages they keep workers out of poverty. universal health care, child care, reliable infrastructure. for me, the right to bargain, which is a human right, is one of those nice things that we can't seem to have in america anymore. at its core, racism is the answer why. it has been the tool that bosses have used throughout our history to drive a wedge between black and white workers, to give white workers a sense that they are a

little superior to the black workeron the line and therefore to link arms together and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits in power for everyone. i want to mississippi in the wake of a field uaw unionizing drive at a nissan played in 2017. i talked to workers black, white, for and against the union, who told me so clearly the reason why the union vote failed was that race had been the tool to drive workers apart. that what workers mentality was at the blacks are forthcoming, against it. that itself -- the region of the country was the lowest ever standards. it is no surprise when you start a labor market in the south at exactly zero dollars in pay and a of course you're going to have $7.25 an hour two centuries later or one century later.

of course you're going to have some plantation economy, this jim crow economy. but what i have seen when talking to workers in the south is they know as the south goes, so goes the rest of the economy. the drive to low-wage work born really in the modern era in arkansas with walmart is now why there's so many factories and warehouses in the south where their right to work for less laws come antiunion oanizing by the political elite come and yet in bessemer, this is the crucible moment. this is the moment when we are going to see whether or not what is quickly becoming the dominant player in markets, labor market, consumer retail market has to answer to the power of its workers. has to share power with its people. even yes when those people are the people of the absolute bottom of the social and economic hierarchy. low-paid, black women workers.

i think the answer is going to be yes. i think it will reverberate across the economy. amy: heather mcghee, this is remarkable week where you have the passage of the american rescue plan in the last week, that is the close to $2 trillion really package that no republican voted for but already are touting it when they write fundraising letters and talk to their community about what they are bringing their communities. talk about both the issue of how many children will be brought out of poverty in this country, but also the stripping of an issue that you have spent years fighting for, and that is the fight for $15 an hour minimum wage. >> in "the sum of us," i visit with workers were fighting for $15, fast food workers make them

a little over seven dollars an hour, black and white, who were really at the vanguard of the movement in kansas city. the vision that they spelled out to me of black, white, and brown coming together to deceive the racism inherent in poverty wages, the racism inherent in having a strong union and collective bargaining that puts people on an even playing field and amplifies everybody's voice was what they needed to fight. bridget told me, she said, listen, i used to believe the us versus them about the immigrants feeling -- still in jobs and blood people committing crimes, but she says now i know as long as we are divided, we are conquered. and i tell that story about bridget and terry's in the way that racism is used as a wedge to divide workers from the common problems to common

solutions excuse me, to the common problems because that is what is on display right now. we had the american rescue plan which is the guest refilling of the public pool, the pool of public goods for the american people in my 40 years on this planet. it is a massive repudiation of the bipartisan austerity agenda that we have been left with in the wake of the civil rights movement that has degraded and eroded public goods, mostly because of white opposition. the public goods. a more diverse public. these are republicans do they could cavalierly vote against something that would help millions of white americans, as well as black and brown americans, because their messaging at the national level and in the right wing media is that this is about like and brown people.

republican congresswoman said, i'm going against this bill because joe biden is opening the border instead of opening schools. how's that helping our children? we saw immediately fox news pivot toward the one provision that was for black farmers who were left out of the trillions of dollars in aid that has been given over the past number of generations exclusively to white farmers, including the billions of dollars most recently in the trump administration where black farmers were discriminated out of their fair share. this is the divide and conquer. this is trend activate this zero-sum. the fact that we were not able to get t numeral wage bill and there is really about the failure of a multiracial coalition to have the kind of enduring power that we need to lift the wages for all working people. amy: heather mcghee, thank you for being with us. we will post part two online at democracynow.org.

author of the new book "the sum of us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together." heather mcghee, the board chair of color of change and former president of the think tank demos. happy birthday to tami woronoff÷

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