05/07/21 05/07/21 [captioning made possible by mocracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! ifeellike a dream thiss finallhappenin i'm ally goi to beeunified wither. can't believit. am this ek four rents fr hondurasguatemal and mico were rnited wi their ildren ithe unit states in

an efft by theiden ministtion to ing togeer famies separed underormer esident ump. erare thoundmore to . weill eak to col anne donohoe and aclu attorney lee gelernt, who was at one of the reunifications. >> it was incredibly emotional. the y now is can we get this skilled up so can get more than 1000 families reunited for the 5500 to hunt have been separated? amy: then we speak to julia wright, the daughter of the celebrated african-american writer richard wright, the author of "native son" and "black boy." he died over 60 years ago but he has a new novel out, "the man who lived underground." the manuscript was rejected by publishers in the because of its

1940's detailed descriptions of racist police violence. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. florida republican governor ron desantis has signed a sweeping voter suppression bill that would make it harder to vote by mail, limit ballot drop boxes, impose new voter id requirements, and criminalize giving food and water to voters waiting in line at polling places. desantis signed the bill in a private ceremony thursday that was broadcast on "fox & friends." spokesperson for the governor barred reporters and other camera crews from observing the ceremony, telling at least one reporter the event was a fox news exclusive. desantis was surrounded by a group of republican lawmakers -- none of them african-american. >> right now i have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the

country. i'm going to sign it right here. it is going to take effect. there you go. the bill is signed. amy: florida state senator shevrin jones responded -- "this blatant voter suppression is jim crow 2.0 and will make it harder for voters -- from low-income rural white communities to the elderly to communities of color -- to have their voices heard. it is clearly part of a coordinated, targeted assault strategy as florida joins a long list of states pursuing similar disenfranchisement efforts in recent months." this comes as texas' house of representatives passed a republican-backed voter suppression bill after an all-night session. the house bill will have to be reconciled with a senate voter suppression bill before heading to the desk of republican governor greg abbot, who has signaled he'll sign the legislation. meanwhile, republicans in ohio have introduced a bill that would put severe restrictions on ballot drop boxes and absentee voting.

in international news, india reported nearly 4000 covid-19 deaths friday, with over 414,000 new infections -- breaking the world record it set one day earlie in india's southwestern state of goa, more than half of all people tested have coronavirus infections, one of the highest test positivity rates of the pandemic. japan has extended a nationwide state of emergency as infections surge less than 80 days before the start of the olympics. an online petition titled "cancel the tokyo olympics to protect our lives" gathered aeá quarter-million signatures in its first two days. meanwhile, a new study from the university of washington estimates the true toll of the pandemic is far higher than governments have reported. researchers at the institute for health metrics and evaluation say covid-19 has caused about 6.9 million deaths worldwide, more than double the official figure.

topping the list is the united states with over 900,000 deaths, followed by india with more than 650,000 deaths. the researchers projecteabout 600,000 deaths each in mexico, brazil, and russia. german chancellor angela merkel said thursday she opposes a push at the world trade organization to waive patent rights for covid-19 vaccines. since the wto operates by consensus, germany's opposition could derail efforts to transfer vaccine technology to factories in places like india and brazil. over 100 nations, led by south africa and india, say the move is desperately needed to increase the availability of vaccines in the global south. they were given a boost wednesy whenredentiden saide woulno longer oppose a waiver. french president emanuel macron on thursday joined the call to waive patent rights on covid vaccines, while european commission president ursula von der leyen said the 27-nation

bloc was open to debate on the issue. >> the european union is also ady to discuss any proposal that addresses the crisis in an effective and pragmatic manner. and that is why we are ready to discuss how u.s. proposal for waybright intellectual property protection for covid vaccines could help achieve that objective. amy: in brazil, at least 25 people were killed thursday as heavily armed police raided onea of rio de janeiro's largest favelas. the assault by anti-narcotics officers came despite a brazilian supreme court order prohibiting such raids during the pandemic. it was the deadliest single police assault in rio's history. residents of the jacarezhinho favela said police arrived with guns blazing. >> thepointeagain me om

a rle. isked whe my son's bodyas. >> your child die today? let's die. amy: human rights groups condemned the raid as a massacre with clear signs of execution-style killings, citing video showing bloodstained mattresses and blood-soaked stairwells. two passengers on a passing commuter train were injured by stray gunfire. amnesty international condemned the raid saying it's "completely unacceptable that security forces keep committing grave human rights violations against residents of the favelas, who are mostly black and live in poverty." the pentagon has sent military reinforcements to afghanistan to oversee the withdrawal of u.s. and coalition forces. president biden announced u.s. troops will be out of afghanistan by september 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. but violence has been surging in the already-volatile country in recent weeks as the taliban condemned the u.s. failure to

respect the earlier, may 1 deadline for pullout, agreed to by president trump. "the new york times" reports at least 139 government forces and 44 civilians were killed in the past week, the highest weekly death toll since october. meanwhile, human rights watch is warng afghan women's access to healthcare is at rk due to cuts in international aid. the group said -- "donors are locked in a waiting game to see whether the withdrawal of foreign troops will result in the taliban gaining greater control of the country. but this is no excuse for cutting funds for essential services that aid groups have managed to deliver in insecure and taliban-controlled areas." in virginia, codepink co-founder medea benjamin interrupted a shareholder meeting of general dynamics wednesday to protest the company's arms sales to saudi arabia and other countries. medea benjamin addressed general dynamics ceo phebe novakovic, who she says has personally

pocketed $21 million a year. >> need wars to make money, something fundamentally wrong with this company and you want to have more reflection about how you or your billions of dollars. -- you earn your billions of dollars. amy: the justice department is warning arizona's republican-ordered recount of the 2020 presidential election results in maricopa county could be violating federal voting and civil rights laws. secretary of state katie hobbs said observers have witnessed ballots and laptops left unattended, and untrained workers using inconsistent procedures. the private company hired by the arizona republican party to carry out the audit, called cyber ninjas, also says it has been directly contacting voters to verify voter registraons, which could constitute voter intimidation. in addition, cyber ninjas --

whose ceo has openly promoted conspiracy theories about the election, including from prominent qanon figures -- is far behind the may 14 deadline to finish the audit. as of wednesday, only about 10% of the 2.1 million ballots had been counted. the veterans memorial coliseum at the arizona state fairgrounds said all elections materials must be vacated on may 14, but auditors now say they will just pause then resume the count if needed. meanwhile, new york congressmember elise stefanik, whom top republicans have backed to replace liz cheney in her leadership role, said on steve bannon's podcast thursday she supports the arizona recount. at colorado republican lawmaker was reprimanded thursday after he used a racist term during a debate in the colorado general assembly. the representative referred to a colleague as buckwheat

wednesday. >> i'm getting there, buckwheat. i'm down. what i would like to say -- that is an enduring term, by the way. >> representative, we must have order in here and not refer to any individuals other than -- in any appropriate manner. amy: rushing to the podium to confront him over his racist remarks as the general assembly broke for recess. new york's attorney general says the nation's largest broadbd companies funded a secret campaign to influence the fcc's repeal of net neutrality rules. attorney general letitia james said thursday an investigation by her office found that -- "the broadband industry hired marketing companies that co-opted and created identities and filed nearly 18 million fake comments with the fcc and sent over half a million fake letters to congress in support of the repeal."

supporters of net neutrality say protections are needed to preserve an open internet and to bar internet service providers from stopping or slowing down the delivery of websites. former malves president mohamed nasheed was injured in a suspected bomb attack thursday. 53-year-old nasheed, who is the current speaker of the maldives parliament, became the country's first democratically elected president in 2008 but was ousted in a 2012 coup and was granted asylum in britain before he returned to the maldives in 2018. he put the fight against the climate crisis front and center of his presidency and has been hailed as a climate hero. thursday's attack has sent shockwaves throughout the islands and is being investigated as an act of terrorism. to see our interviews with president mohamed nasheed, go to democracynow.org. and indigenous leaders and climate activists are holding a global day of action today to

halt and defund the enbridge line 3 pipeline in northern minnesota. protests are taking place at banks in cities across the u.s., as well as in japan, switzerland, sierra leone, costa rica, canada, and across europe. this is jackie fielder of stop the money pipeline. >> and so we have more than 50 actions across the u.s. and actions across seven other countries as well as three other continents, protesting the things that are underwriting loans to and bridge come of the company behind the line 3 pipeline. line 3 would result in an additional 193 million tons of greenhouse gases every single year and indigenous rights and the right to free, prior, informed consent. amy: on thursday, water protectors blockaded a so-called man camp at the enbridge site to mark "missing or murdered indigenous women, girls, and 2-spirit" awareness week.

indigenous activists said, "the violence committed on our land becomes the violence committed on our people." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, four parents from honduras, guatemala, and mexico were reunited with their children in the united states after being separated under the trump administration. there are still thousands to go. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. you can sign up for our daily digest, news, every day by texting democracynow to 66866.

this week four parents from honduras, guatemala, and mexico were reunited with their childr in the uned states ter being separated under former president trump's zero tolerance policy. they are the first families to be reunited on u. soil sin the den adminiration beg its unificatioprocess. at least two of the mothers were separated from their children sie 2017. biden initially agreed to reunit35 paren with thei ildren out of more than youths 1000 who remain separated. the immigrt justice oup al otroado, in enish, "the otheside," saithe departnt of homeland security did nothi to facilitate the return of the four parents it was groups like theirs that had to negotiate their travel visas, paid for theiairline tickets and arrange for the reunification's. al otro lado shared with us this

video of the dramatic reificatioof 18- yr-old yan chávez ase was reited wi his mother ndra ort thiseek. this came ree year seven monthsand four day aer they were sarated. in 27, lastords sdra hear befo customs rder otectionfficers ok him awayere, "sagoodbye to your n becausyou'll ner see him agn." tuesdaythree yes, seven mohs, and ur days ter be sepatedhey we reuned at saysidro bder ossing -the veryame plac where th were first serated with bry holding bouquet of balons thatead "besmom er."

ose itee le a drm. i was inhe c and ias like, this i finly hapning. a be w palet me kw this wek- ey lete know is wee i c't beeve it. am aually gog to s her toy. i wasn the caand i wa thking, th is unreal that 'm gog to seher afteall ofhese days, aftethinki all o ts, how s doing? i watalkg to runhe phone but not seeg her inerson, not beg able tgive her g. doesn't feelike the dre? thend of aightmare yes amy: tt is 18-ar-old ban chavez bng reunid with h moth sandra tiz on tsday. hadeen livi with relativein califnia and enrolledn high sool afte the u.s.eported s mothero

mexo when h was 1 is sundais moth's dain e unitedtates, a the holiday is celebrad mondayn xico, elalvador,nd guemala. for morewe are jned by col anne dohoe, maging attney r el otrlado's faly reunication oject. anlee gelet, deputdirector of the au immigrts'ights project d the atrney leang the acl's lauit overamily sepations. we welco you botto democcy no i want to begin with carol anne donohoe. talk about this moment with bryan and his mother, the moment that has the country crying, both his poignancy and also why it took so long for them to come back together, more important, when they -why they were separated to begin with. >> as far as this moment, as the reporter asked him, it is the

end of a nhtmarethe begiing of areamthis is culmationf yea ofrauma. analthoughe loveo see th reunificions and they e very moving, have to keep mind at led t that and tt i shld nev have haened in the firsplace, l alone wt they're goingo have t overme in thyears ahe t heal from erything that was ne to th. an cope can you explain what happened to bryan when he was 15 with his mother at the same port of entry? >> yes. that is one thing, sandra, when we told her about the reunification, she did not realize she would be entering into the very same port of entry that- ere sheas sepated om her s. they ented seekisylum. erwereepared after a

couple o day theyere toldas you sai she s tolto say gdbye to r child, they were toldo say odbye toheir chirenhat they we not gog to seehem agn. cording toandra,he said theyereold, do't be otionaabout ito yourids don't reac for two we she hado idea where heas. had nidea what ha hpene to her enhe was depord bk to the harm she fled. she has en in hiding ever since. amy: and how was that they were reunited, carol anne donohoe? >> well, this is the culmination of years worth of effort and a lot of work done to the steering committee of organizations on the ground.

sandra was referred to us by the steering committee to represent her in her reunification. that was july 2020. so that is how long we have bee representing her. the border was under trump effectively clod. it wasn't a question of being able to brg her to the border like we had previously with a group of unifying parents. there was no way the government was going to allow them in. so we had to ask them to be patient. you have to remember that throughout that time, we all went to the pandemic. there was one long was nosure if she should bring her child back to the harm because her father had died of covid and she said, what if i never see my child again? what if i die of covid and i ver see r again? e enduredwo hricanes i houras.

we hado wait, holding our breath durg the electn, to see the tcome of thabefore we couldvenave so selance hope. so once bidenas elected -- i ha to be car that if th re not t case,e would t be havg is conversatn righow. we as otro la, the filies we repsent, weave been preping f this mont. weave st beewaiting for the so whenhe timeame wherthe govement gavus the , that ty can be proceed throh the pof eny, we were rea. wead done e prep wk. theyold uso ve them ven da note and wgave them seven days notice. amy: what happens now? is sandra allowed to stay in the country? >> what happens now is one of

the biggest concerns. these parents will tell you what they're concerned about are the other parents who are still separated from their children and also the uncertainty around what will happen to them now. we heard yesterday secretary mayorkas say they're looking into legal permanent status, but that is not something that can guarantee. i can't say that without permanent legal status, without some sort of guarantee they are going to be able to stay and not have to go through our adversarial process, they're just going to be in limbo and continuously re-traumatize. i have to center this, that the families -- it is easy to talk abstractly, but they were,

according to physicians for human rights's own report, they were tortured. we need to remedy the fact our government tortured children and their mothers and fathers. unfortunately, the executive branch is limid in what ey can as far as givg permanentatus, buthe nator blumthal and representative castro just reintroduced the family's alum together act, which would do a lot to remedy the harm. we ask congress to act on that. amy: lee gelernt, you've been working on this for years, since the family started getting separated. are we at this point talking about thousands more children? >> well, there were 5500 -- at least 5500 children separated by trump. we believe there are

likely more than 1000 who still need to be reunited. we have not even found the parents of 455 children. our best estimate is now the government has joined us that there are likely more than 1000 left to be reunited. we a thrild for these first four famie i was one of e reunions philadphia. that kind of emotion is indescribable. amy: can you describe that one to us, though? >> the best i can. there's a great "new yorker" piece and there is video that people should look on their website. it is an intense emotional moment that i have not witnessed in my professionalareer ouide of these reunifications. i think there is an elent of

never seeing each othergain. it is not just that they have not seen each other for 3.5 year but thaliering not l the timwe may never see eachther aga in perso the moth who rnited in philadelphia actually surprised her kids. i was there atheyalked in e door. they hugged each other for what seemed like an eternity, just sobbing. and thesare teeners now, boys were separated when they were teenagers. and i've had to adjust to america on their own, the cuure, the languag the stnge pce witthe trauma being separated. i have teenage boys and ihink, is hardnoh ithe bestf circstances tse years in a teene boys lif ing it ia strang land wiout your mother is unbelievable -- a stament to is familthat they persevered amy: we are showing the video of

bel's chiren. they came from honduras feing violce. she ent two yes in ice detention in all pesek, texas, before bei depord back to honduras. the boys weren detentn centerefore ultitely ending up with the family in philadelphia. they cannot let gof the mother. >> exaly. exactly. amy:o ahead th what yowere sayi. >> i tnk now t questio is going forward, hopefully the process has been developed -- we would have liked to sn it go quicr, but ware where we are. hopelly, the pcess the govement has deloped ove this initial time is scalable so the thousands -- the 1000ark can breuniteduch more qukly. i thk the on reification, what we are pressing for in ese

gotiatio, try to mphensivelsettle our lawsuiagainst the trump adnistration, is not jus unificatn, socl services incling meal healt traa and her soci services, compentionn the form o damages, legal peant stat. will neve me these familieshole aga, but w have t try. we havto give em permanency, legal atus he, a saf pla they cabegin tovercom th trauma. the medical community has been so clear that without real care, these families may not stand a realistic chance of leading healthy, productive life going forward. amy: like sandra in san ysidro, mabel from honduras, can stately used for three years in desk and stay, at least at this point, for three years in philadelphia. how are you pushing the biden administration on this?

it has been months and four families have been reunited and you say there are over 1000 ago. also, is the government doing this? let me put this question to carol anne donohoe. is the government doing this or are your groups like al otro lado doing this? it sounds like you are paying for their reunification and yet it was the government of the united states that separated them and did the damage. >> i just want to be clear that what we are referring to in that case are the particular families of the four that reunited this week, al otro lado represend three and although they were not all mexican nationals, they were all in mexico. so we did the legwork to get them there. again, it was because we are in constant contact with these parents and since the urgency

not only is it torture for them to snd one more day thout their children, but they are in physical danger. they are back to where they are in hiding. they are hiding from the persecutors. we understood the urgency. while we cannot ask them to wait while policy and process was debated,o we just took that action. but going forward, as lee said, they're working on a process for the larger group. we don't anticipate that is going to be our role moving forward. but in this case, as i said, we just wanted to get them there as quickly as possible. amy: i want to go to the secretary of the department of homeland security all hundred mayorkas speaking to nbc news's jacob soboroff in an interview thursday that the biden administration cannot guarantee a path to permanent residency

for families separated by trump. >> we are very much focused on providing stability to the reunited families. not just for her, but for the family as a unit. it is not something we can guarantee at this point in time, but we dedicated to achieving more than what we have delivered thus far. this is a temporary measure. reunite the family and let's work together with those representing the fily to see what we can achieve under the law. and i think what these families need and deserve. amy: today the department of public security will visit a -- today the department of homeland security will visit a tent facility for unaccompanied migrant children at the border in donna, texas. this week, dhs released pictures of their tents there, which had previously been packed with children. democratic congressmember henry

cuellar said the photos are misleading because the children are still at the same compound, but are now being held in tents run by dhhs, department of health and human services. news outlet border report visited the compound wednesday and said it now full of white tents and everything is surrounded by black fencing that prevents anyone outside from looking in. lee gelernt, can you talk about this? >> i just want to return quickly to the prior segment. we are working with the government but they will ultimately pay for all of the transportation, including reimbursing the ngos that paid for these initial four. beyond that estimate, the unaccompanied minors being held, we are very concerned with how they're being held but we believe the biden administration is starting to turn a corner. they got caught off guard by the numbers but they want to get them out of there ugly. we are going to continue

monitoring that if they're not able to. ultimately, they need to speed up the process and get these on a copy minors to relatives or even parents who are in the united states. overwhelmingly, these children are coming to join parents or family. we will see how long it takes. they have been making progress. the vita administration has been making progress but it needs to continue. amy: carol anne donohoe, apparently, the biden administration has gotten down by 90% the number of kids in customs and border patrol custody. i think now at 735 children. but more than 22,000 are in dhhs custody. what is the difference and what do you think needs to happen to speed up this process? >> can't speak directly to that process, but i can just say as lee said, it appears they're working very hard to get

children certainly out of cbp custody. we hope they were just as hard to get them out of hhs custody. i would argue the overwhelming thread in this particular discussion is that we need to end title 42, which was the trump era policy that supposedly had a public health rationale for expelling immigrants, asylum-seekers. unfortunately, one of the ramifications of that is families are being forced to make the awful decision about sending their children over without them because the parents would be expelled or as a family they would be expeed. so we really neeto look at how our overall policies are affecting asylum-seekers across the board. amy: and the class-action suit, lee gelernt, if you could

explain it more fully the aclu has brought? >> we are negotiating both on family separation and on title 42. the trumpcare policy said no asylum-seekers were expelled without due process or without an asylum hearing. unfortunately, the biden administration has kept of her that for families. we are now in negotiations with the vita administration. i think we are getting a little impatient they're continuing to expelled families. we believe there is no public health rationale. there never was. we areispelling families if they need to test people. so be it. if they need to quarantine people. that might be necessary at times but you cannot use the public health laws as a pretext to send people back to danger.

the biden administration is allowing us to get the most vulnerable families in. but as carol anne donohoe said, often the family cannot get in. they're making thisorrendou choi deciding ether thei child shld go forwardnd at ast save thchild oreep the chilwith them. is creang this coercive self separation. there are families in real danger wh littlehildren beinsentack to rlly hoible sittions, dangers situatio in centl america haiti ter theyave fl dang. we need the bid admistration to stop this. we nd the cdc step up a say, we are not going to let cbp be used in this way. ump overde the- the ite hoe overrodehe cdc. the der is ultately in cdc plus name. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. lee gelernt, deputy director of the aclu immigrants' rights

project and the attorney leading the aclu's lawsuit over family separations. and carol anne donohoe is the managing attorney for the family reunification project at el otro lado. when we come back, that man who lived underground. we will go to portugal to speak with julia wright about how she unearthed an unpublished novel about racist police violence written by her father, the legendary african-american writer richard wright, who wrote "native son" and "black boy." ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "oldman river" who had his passport taken by the u.s. government, who was blacklisted in this country, and was a friend of richard wright. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

you can watch, listen, and read transcripts using our ios and android apps. download them for free from the apple app store or google play store today. over 80 years ago, richard wright became one of the famous black writers in the united states with the publication of his novel "native son." it sold over 200,000 copies in the first three weeks and inspired a generation of black writers. amiri baraka once said -- "wright was one of the people who made me conscious of the need to struggle." in 1941, richard wright wrote a follow-up novel titled "the man who lived underground" who centered on a black man that was forced to live in the city sewer system after being tortured until he fossil emitted 200 a white couple. but publishers rejected it.

portions were turned into a short story of the same name but the full novel, including the graphic descriptions of police brutality, went unpublished until now. richard wright once said of the novel, "i have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration or executed any piece of writing in a deeper feeling of imaginative freedom, or expressed myself in a way that flowed more naturally from my own personal background, reading, experiences and feelings." but his manuscript was largely forgotten until his daughter julia wright unearthed it at the rare book & manuscript library at yale university. she worked with the library of america to have the book finally published nearly 80 years after it was written and 60 years after richard wright died at the age of 52 in paris, where he had taken his family to live since 1946. julia wright is joining us now from portugal, longtime

anti-death penalty activist, supporter of mumia blue jamaal -- many of jamaal and his writing a blog or free of her father. she is the executrix of his estate. we welcome you back to democracy now! is great to have you back after all of these years. can you talk about the significance of what you found d how youinally have had it published? >> thank you for having me back on the show. yes, it was a very exciting discovery. i was living in paris at the end of the 1990's, during the early years of 2000. i was learning the ropes of the estate with my mother ellen. i was also freelancing as a journalist there.

the time came after my mother's death to publish another work by my father. so since i would travel to the united states to visit death row and visit death row prisoners there like mumia abu-jamal, whose human rights were being so systematically violated, i would take the plane, landed in the united states, go through cities likeew york for philadelphia, and go to death row. but on my way to death row, i

would encounter another type of death sentence. and that is the shootings of unarmed black and brown people in our streets, also of vulnerable minorities like mentally challenged people. and i remember being absolutely shocked, for instance, by what happened to james byrd down in texas who was dragged behind -- i believe there were three of them, three white supremacists -- van until he was dismembered while he was still alive.

i remember abner in new york and his solemnization. i remember those years. by the police, always by the police and i remember amadou diallo shot 40 times, not because he is the one suspected of rate, it was someone else, but he was a convenient black target. so when i got to yale -- i have this memory of entering this very plush, comfortable

air-conditioned library in july 2010 to look for manuscript to publish. and i saw the long version of "the man who lived underground." it leapt out at me -- i don't know what to say, time bomb? i time machine? something that had to be published yesterday. i was so driven about it that i took it back to paris and approached libraries of america. in those days, it was still fax. that is how the idea began. amy: talk about the book.

talk about the descriptions of police violence. talk about the man who would underground, who lived in the sewer system. it was published as a short story from n as a book because the publishers did not want the graphic descriptions. >> the publishers were white. it was controlled -- white-controlled. did not want those descriptions of white supremacist police violence upon a black man because it was too close to home. as one editor rejected the long version of the manuscript said, it is too unbearable -- "too

unbearable, too untenable, too comfortable." it is a bit like lifting the stone and not wanting the racist words underneath to be seen. very interestingly, kevin powell , a new york writer, very promising writer, commented on the long version the other day. what if those first 50 pages on police brutality had been accepted back in the day? all the discourse around that narrative that would have taken place all those years ago would

peaps have changed something. but it didn't. amy: i'm looking at a quote from "the man who lived underground." he says, "outside of time and space, he looked down upon the earth and saw each fleeting day was a day of dying, that men died slowly with each passing moment as much as they did in war. that human grief and sorrow were utterly insufficient to this vast, dreary spectacle. thinking about the time we live in right now i should look across the atlantic at your country the united states, what happened to george floyd last year, the police murder of george floyd and then the trial, your thoughts? >> my thoughts about the video that was taken by darnella frazier, such a young girl,

fearlessly, even while she was being threatened, is a central, fundamental thing to our culture because as injuring crump said -- benjamin crump said, as she did it, she recaptured part of our narrative that escaped us. and that narrative is the narrative of our death. because that goes back to slavery, goes back to the lynchings. it goes back to "black boy chapter two when richard can aged eight or nine, realizes the grown-ups who were whispering above him are whispering about

the lynching of his uncle silas hoskins. and he does not understand. he wonders where the body is. he wonders why there are no flowers, why there is no funeral. and he says to his mother, "why didn't we do anything about it?" and those words reverberate through all these decades and seemed to have reached darnella as she found george floyd's last moments. she did something about it. she filmed his last moments. she gave us a new narrative. amy: we are talking to julia wright, the daughter of the literary giant richard wright,

so famous for his books "native son" and "black boy." in 1951, richard wright starred in a film version of "native son" and played the main character bigger thomas. this is a clip from the trailer. >> all mlife aret a bck mabeing kied becau of whe girland theri was >> darlinggive up. mightake it easr. >> i feltree d was no sced no mor i waback homagain. therwas my fher. the white folkkill wn i waa kid. how n help y now? go home. now you can hit me like the

others. amy: that is richard wright playing bigger thomas. in the film version of his book, the blockbuster bestseller at the time "native son" and then his kind of literary biography "black boy." julia, especially for the younger generation, if you could give us a thumbnail biography of your father come of where your father grew up, how he moved north, how he wrote these books and ultimately -- i don't know if you would describe it as fl eed, but fled the united states with you and your mother. he fled new york, fled the racism come as james baldwin would do later, ended up in paris. >> difficult because i am so close to what he did, i don't

have that birdseye view that i would like to have. but i would say that maybe he would prefer the word "expatriate" and would prefer the word "escape" to "flight." there are more active words and he thought of himself as more endowed with agency as time went on. everytng he did was to gain more freedom in his ability to create. you showed a clip of the film he

invested so much of his energy into -- writing, cowriting the script, being part producer, ting bigger. in the end, that filmas censored because it came out during mccarthyism. that was one of the reasons why he could not stay and create freely in a land where the pages he wrote about police brutality would be dismembered from his book. the way james byrd would be dismembered. i mean, i use the word habit

violently but -- a bit violently, but in a way, it is the same thing. he needed freedom in all senses, in all meaning of the term. so he went where he felt he could find it. amy: if you could talk about what he experienced here, also the hearings, watching paul robeson being destroyed by the u.s. government -- this enormous talents, this giant figure. then taking his passport. the anti-communist fervor of the time. not wanting the fbi to come -- try to get him to spy on his

colleagues. his relationships with james baldwin and ralph ellison and paul robeson, the significance of this period? >> it was the cold war, and culture, academics, writers were used in the cold war against one another. it was a terrible cloak and dagg period, but it was to the death. to the death of creativity but also to the death of life. it was terrible. i remember my father's best iend ollie harington, who was

the creator o-- amy: the communist party. close yes. the creator of bootsy, a very famous cartoon and he was my father's best friend to the end. my father used to tell ollie, "the apartment is bogged." ollie used to laugh at my father. this was in paris at the end. he would laugh and say, no way. you're being paranoid, richard. but richard insisted so ollie brought technicians in and they found bugs.

amy: we are going -- we have to leave it there but people can pick up this latest book of the great literary giant richard wright. thank you so much to his daughter julia wright.