05/12/21 05/12/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i rejted a lo te ago the oy purposof crimil justice sysm is to punh. >> voterin philalphia ha chen aew distrt attney. >> shockwaves ross the country. >> i am careerivil rigs lawy was oover two 800 convictions byorrupt police

ficers. y: fouyears ago, lgtime vil rits lawyelarry krasner ocked thcity of philelphia bbeinelected dirict attney whilvowing to endass incaeration. thnew pbs ries "phly d.a." gives annside lo at krasr 's attet to erhaul t das office a the broer movement tond cash il and rorm the probatn stem. >>ycle o traa,ain. the fects arerreversie. we jt wanto giv a fair psychi chance to prove ourselves -- faisecond cnce anprove ouelves. amy: we ll speako two ofhe crtors of hilly d.," as well a fmerly inrcerated actist who n worksith the philadelph communi bail nd, pl a longte phadelphia journist on krasner's reco and hisight

stay inffice. he fac a sti priry challenge next week from a former prosecutor who he fired upon taking office. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. in gaza, the death toll has risen to at least 48 palestinians as israeli forces continued their bombing attack on the besieged territory. at least 14 children have been killed. hundreds have been wounded@@ in the occupied west bank, israeli forces have killed two palestinians including a palestinian teenager who wish i dead during a raid. israel reported six deaths and at least 100 injured in hamas-led strikes. on tuesday, a 13-story residential tower block in gaza collapsed after an israeli air raid but no casualties were reported as residents were able to vacate the building before it was hit.

israeli rockets attacked a nine-story building in gaza early today. this is a resident of gaza city speaking in front of a car that was hit by israeli rocket fire, killing multiple people. >> what should i say? this is a crime. they were civilians. a woman, children, and shop owner. these were people at the scene. we are civilians sleeping in our homes. amy: the deadly attacks come after hundreds of palestinians were injured in jerusalem and the west bank by israeli security forces monday and over the weekend, including during crackdowns at the mosque in jerusalem and over ongoing protests to stop the expulsion of palestinians from the shaikh jurong neighborhood. the international criminal court has said recent violence in the occupied territories may constitute war crimes. on tuesday, the u.s. blocked a

u.n. security council statement calling for a ceasefire. the security council is holding more meetings today. president biden has yet to publicly address the situation. at an increasing number of democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about abuses committed by israel. sitter chris van hollen of maryland said, "evictions at families and east jerusalem would violate international law if the biden administration puts the rule of law and human rights at the heart of its foreign policy. this is not a moment protected statements." -- moment for tepid statements." meanwhile, protests in solidarity with the palestinian people have been taking place across the u.s. and the world. these are two protesters who attended a massive rally here in new york city tuesday. >> i am here in solidarity with the people in palestine who are obviously under a brutal situation from the occupation

anthe pointless acts of terrorism perpetrated by the israeli military. >> going above and beyond, harassing. this gathering today among palestinians in solidarity from people -- hispanic, latino, chinese, everybody here in support of the palestinians. the palestinians are not alone by themselves. amy: india has topped 23 million covid-19 cases as the nation reported a record 4200 deaths today, bringing its total official death toll to over a quarter of a million. as india continues to grapple with its devastating second wave, the red cross is warning coronavirus cases are exploding across the world, and in particular, throughout asia and the pacific. the group says the region represents sent out of the 10 countries with the fastest --

seven out of the 10 countries with the fastest rising caseloads. meanwhile, the world health organizations says the indian coronavirus variant has now spread to almost 50 countries, with britain reporting the highest number of cases related to the variant. the u.n. warned tuday against the crackdown on freedom of speech in algeria after authorities moved to ban demonstrations ahead of parliamentary elections in june. ongoing protests by the hirak movement are seeking end to the entrenched political establishment and ruling military leadership. the protest movement, which led to the resignation of president abdelaziz bouteflika in 2019, resumed earlier this year after taking a break due to the pandemic. >> we want independence. the army must give power to the people. people are tired. it is enough. amy: a french court has thrown out a lawsuit by a french-vietnamese activist against over a dozen companies,

including dow chemical and monsanto, that produced and sold agent orange, which waused by the u.s. military during the vietnam war. the case was brought by tran to nga, herself a victim of agent orange. she vowed to appeal the decision. >> the cause is just because truth is on our side. it is for justice. it is for the truth. it is for people more fortunate than us that we continue on. amy: u.s. warplanes dumped about 18 million gallons of the poisonous chemical during the vietnam war, leaving millions of people with disabilities and illnesses including cancer, heart and birth defects. back in the united states, the family of andrew brown, jr., a 42-year-old black man shot dead by north carolina sheriff's deputies last month, viewed more footage of his killing tuesday. lawyers for the family say the nearly 20 minutes of tape only

confirmed that brown, who was shot in his car, never threatened the officers, or even made contact with them. this is brown family attorney bakari sellers. >> what we saw on that video was an unjustified killing. what we saw on that video is something we believe also denotes further investigation and does have some criminal liability. amy: in georgia, the three white men indicted in the killing of ahmaud arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was chased down and shot to death while out for a jog last year, have pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges. the men -- retired police officer greg mcmichael, his son travis, and their friend william bryan -- also face numerous charges in georgia, including felony murder. in related news, georgia republican governor brian kemp on monday signed legislation repealing the 1863 citizen's

arrest law that's being used to defend the three men. the law allowed citizens to arrest another person if an alleged crime was being committed. the men who killed arbery claimed without any evidence he had coitted a burglary. arizona has become the latest state to pass new voter suppression laws. on tuesday, republican governor doug ducey signed a bill that would remove over 100,000 voters from the state's early mail- in voting list. ducey signed the bill just hours after the state senate passed the new measure. voters who did not cast ballots by mail in two consecutive election cycles will be removed from the early voting list, and no longer automatically receive ballots unless they respond to a notice from county officials. this comes as a republican-ordered recount in the 2020 presidential election continues in arizona, overseen by cyber ninjas, whose ceo has

espoused conspiracy theories claiming the election was stolen from former president trump. in related news, former acting attorneyeneral jeffrey rosen is expected to tell a congressional committee today that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. lawmakers are investigating the response to the deadly january 6 riot by a trump and republican-incited mob. house republicans are voting today on whether to oust wyoming congressmember liz cheney om her leadership role for her criticisms of former president trump and his lies about election fraud and voting to impeach him earlier this year. on tuesday, cheney addressed her republican colleagues from the house floor. >> today we face a threat to american has never seen before. a former president who provoke a violent attack on this capitol in an effort to still the election has resumed his

aggressive effort to convince americans of the election was stolen from him. he risks inciting further violence. millions of americans have been misled by the former president. the election is over stop that is the rule of law. that is our constitutional process. those who refuse to accept the rulings of our court are at war with the constitution. amy: a federal judge dismissed the national rifle association's bid to declare bankruptcy tuesday, meaning a lawsuit filed last year by new york's attorney general can go ahead. the judge says the group filed in bad faith. the nra was hoping to use bankruptcy as a strategy to evade the potential dissolution of the group by new york officials, who are accusing the nra and its ceo wayne lapierre of financial misconduct. new york attorney general letitia james tweeted -- "the nra does not get to dictate if and where it will answer for

its actions, and our case will continue in new york court. no one is above the law." prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and enhanced hate crime charges for the massacre at three atlanta-area spas in march that killed eight people, six of them asian women. robert aaron long, a white man, was indicted tuesday on murder charges. georgia's hate crimes law was passed last year in the wake of ahmaud arbery's killing. this case will be the first test of the new law. in immigration news, the associated press is reporting the biden administration is currently detaining over 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children, including toddlers, across more than 200 facilities in two dozen states with little to no oversight. in at least five so-called shelters, over 1000 children are being held in extremely crowded conditions during the pandemic. some of the facilities are run by contractors facing lawsuits

and accusations of physical and sexual abuse. the government is also using about a dozen unlicensed facilities, including former military installations, to hold children. advocates and attorneys are sounding the alarm on the health and safety of the children, who are at times detained without their parents knowing where they are. the number of migrant children detained by the biden administration has more than doubled in the past two months as asylum seekers continue to flee extreme poverty, violence, and the effects of the climate crisis -- all issues that have been exacerbated by u.s. foreign policy in central america, the caribbean, and other regions. and a new study finds nearly 18,000 premature deaths in the united states are caused each year by pollution generated by farms. animal farming is the leading culprit. particulate matter created by gases from manure and animal feed, which can mix with other pollutants in the atmosphere, is

highly irritating to han lungs and accounts for more deaths than pollution from coal power plants. scientists say more sustainable farming practices and reducing our consumption of meat would sharply reduce mortality from agricultural air pollution. 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 gonzalez in new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: four years ago, the longtime civil rights attorney larry krasner shocked the political establishment in philadelphia by being elected strict aorney. asner, w had suethe philelphia pice depament times ding his reer, wa suddenlyhe city's top osecutorfter runng on a plform vowing to e mass incarcation. rry krner isowp for reeltion ands fang a rmer procutowho heired next we's mocratic imary.

krasner's unexcted 201 viory anhis effort to overhaulhe d.a.'s offi is the focuof a newight-pt ries on e pbs prram ndepennt lens." this is trailefor the series. >> i have rected a lg ti o the oy purpos of th crimal justi system is to push. >>oters philalphia ve osen a progrsive as new dirict attney. >> i am a care civil right lawyerhe onlattorneyeed a histy of thicity to overrn 800 conctions a corruppolice oicers. krasners a ro to nd and bump to hers. >>f this are t workin om t inside,e nd to ing somee from t outside >> what you thinke is tryg to aomplish? >> anarc. >>herere more people of color prisoor on pale

th islavery the end o the cil war. >>arrys bringg in criminogist, aivist. >> thiwill bcontroveial. policiethat foc on rehalitationecond chces at thpole. >> we e in phidelphia. there are murds and robberies. >>he d.a.'s office has en tooozy th the fternal der of pice. h corrupto you thk the ty is? there a secrets we nd to fi out whe the secretare. you he to be -- you have to be kidding me. thereas noteen osecutioof pole miscduct i this d.'s officfor 30 years. >> right n phillpolice ficersre suddey waitin downn favor --

>>f you're too crupt toe inourt, y're t corru to policehe stree. lks we want oureighboood ck. >> y try to ke the right decisis. >>n the cle of traum pain. >>hereo mass iarcerati. >> he goingo tell y he is on o tea i sugge you don't shoot r peop in the ck. >> you do't ve t destroy the system to get the results you want. amy: the tiler for the new eight-part independent lens series "philly d.a." the series was created by ted passon, yoni brook, and nicole salazar. ted and nicole join us now. welcome to democracy now! this is an astounding eight part series. ted, can you talk about why you

decided to take on this project? >> sure. thank you again for having us. i have been interested in criminal justice issues for a long time. dierent members of my family have been locked up at different times so it was something i was always interested in looking at stuff i heard larry krasner's name for many years. i had never met him. one day a friend called and said, that guy larry krasner is running for district attorney. it was said like, can you believe it? isn't that ridiculous? it felt absurd. never di ixpeche was going in. buthe caaign ielf seem like aeally grt opportuni to talk out throle of the precutor, theole of the distri attorne and sumptis we he alwa made out what it w and now thinki aut what it could be an sometng that s totall diffent. ittarted out as t idea of thisight be short filabout a stunt campaign

when he actuly won, was likeok, this sry is suenly a lot bier. it inow aboutre we ing to be ae to do this stf? is chae poible? whor why hot -- not? it turned into a multipart series. juan: why do you think krasner did when the initial campaign and what his message resonated with philadelphia voters? could you also talk about when he came in office because now you're filming him in terms of the decisions he had to make as soon as he got into office to remake that agency? >> i think the reason that he attracted so much attention in the beginning and ended up bringing out a much laer voter turnout and we had had 20 yea prior, 50,000 more turned out

and prior, i think it shows the effecthiladelphia criminal justice system has been notoriously pite for ma years. itas justhe deult. i think a t of peoe in phadelphiaanted thachange and nted someoneo bsaying e thinghe was sing on t campairail butust assud iwas never going thappen. i think people had given up in terms o the eleion for district aorney and just assumed nobody was ever going to come and speak to the things they wanteto hear,peak about form in e wayhey want. iteemed imssible. e factomebody w saying e things hwas saying ihink cited a t of peopleho had gotten o of the processere given up terms of what we're watchg them do,eah, ayou see in th series they hi t ground runng. you got theense frohim and everyby in his tm thathey uld n believehey weren e offe so the wergoing to

do as ch as poible. it almt felt le tre w this " are goi to found out soeetter huy up a do asuch as wcan as qckly a we can in the sers, we foow that and we s how the powerf the district attorney is huge an s attentive discretion. there's a lot i district attorn can do with absolutely no check on that power, but there are limits. we see krasner and his team run up against those limits in the series as well. juan: i would like to bring nicole into the conversation. this week's of zone focuses on juvenile lifers. could you talk about the significance of that issue and what larry krasner has promised when it comes to that? >> sure. this week's episode looks at juvenile lifers which basically has to do with children

incarcerated for crimes they committed as children and over the last 20 years or so, we have seen presidents come out of that -- precedents comeut of that supreme court, brains of young people not being develed as adults, eir impue contro d abityo conser consequees is not develop as adus. for 20 years we ha seen th sueme courmove awafrom so ofhese most pitive nishment includi the dea penay a up unl recentl e possibity of le in ison whout the possibility of parol iladelia has bn the leader the coury in tes of sentcing chiren to life in prison whout pare. pennlvaniand philalphia spificlyou see in 16 th supremeourtecisn that basilly saidot only n children t longer be sentenced

to le withouthe possility of pare, buthe distrt torne's officescrosshe untry ha to re-stence al of thehildren o had be alread senteed to th senten. you e slowlyver the yrs, resentcing of ese foer cas. basicay thatns t distct attory's ve to revisit e case looat wha kind o rehabilation happen er the crse of t decades or yrs thaperson m have en in isn, and off i kw sentce for t judge to cept or n accept. in phidelpa, lar krasn had committed onhe campan trl to senncing junile fers to less te in prin and some of the sentences y were sing. yowereaying factor fe prisonennces. it w not uommon. tween th senncesrom th prio d.anda kraer sai

theirentences- we flow in episode ve whi aed las nit the ca of jose chamberlain, who wasentend r the murder of man wh he wa15 yearsld. you see w the coue of the episod josephaving tgo up ainst thparoleoard and make h case the pare board and e d.a.'sffice concerng his ce and evtuly h releaserom prison we ao foll theamily es e paren of the y that h killed. ere vingo grple with e case and deal withhe nsequees ohis relee. am i want goo a clip of "pil d.a." is the role that the new venile senncing reform policy. it begins with e first assistant district attory who

wabrought into the office by d.a. larry krasner. >>ometim it tas to leershipo implemt that vion. weaveeached that int. an onion of cross-seion of lks undethis rooto give alice he- to getolicy do ght. >> sck to since everne mu come heo ma a fferen. >>hat doou thi makes t mo sense? hooks diantle so of the dyunction. >> iisad young ople endp god kws whe. >> ts is a m of the differenocatns whe you n be senin thetate of pennlvania. you ght asell be sding some of ese kids tcanada >> suld we u yth were a child? >> i tnk juvile has come rogatory

wheverord you e its ing to bome derotory. we'ot askg for raom ugcreens othe coition of probatnnless ey he bn consered a pblem. >> makg the system aller an lessamagin >> an altnative tdetentn. los of woocriminaling normallbeit wanted adolesceehavio >> cost soon are we going to roll this out? -- how soon are we going to roll is out? amy: nicole salazar, if you could comment on this and the supreme court case and finally the critical issues that you felt you are seeing not onlyló d.a. larry krasner do with the progressive d.a.'s around the country. >> one last thing i should have mentioned previously is last month there was a new decision by the supreme court that

basically was a u-turn from all of those prior cases i was mentioning that were limiting the punitive nature of sentencing for juvenile -- for children convicted as juveniles. while there are 25 states i believe that have outlawed life without the possibility of parole for juveniles, in the other states come that sort of pattern we have been seeing of these cases being restenced, all of that is now open for question. some of those individuals very well might die in prison because of the new case that was ruled 6-3 in the opinion written by brett kavanaugh a few weeks ago. the clip you showed was -- had to do with otheruvenile policies under the office and what we track in this series is not so much the specifics under the pocies putng forward but the tensions between the new guard between krasner's team and

the existing prosecutors in the office. part of what is interesting about trying to track institutional chges understanding even wheyou have a leadership change like you did in phidelphia at wasuite amaticthis is an offic o 60people. there are 0 attorns. ile krner@@ did fe 30 prosutors wh he camen offi, there e many people who areart the exiing system thawere doi the wor dain and outa lot of details ofheystewere sti in the office we usethe deba and diussionround venile policies to get at what that tension is, how different people coming from different perspectives were sort of forced to work together and not work together and see how that unfolds. amy: we're going to break for a moment and come back to this discussion. nicole salazar and ted passon the cook creators of the pbs series "philly d.a." nicole is also a former producer at democracy now!

when we come back, we will be joined by one of the peach bowl -- one of the people featured in "pilly d.a." became an activist helping people who are arrested to navigate the bail review system. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now, democracynow.org the quarantine report. i am amy goodman with juan nzalez. the fourthpisode o"philly d.a." cuses onrobationnd pale -- wh philadehia d. larrkrasnerefers tas mass pervisio the evitwin o mass iarcerati. e episodtells the oryf tonya mys, a forrly inrceratederson, bomes an activi who hel people

arrestedavigate e bail view sysm. this ip, myeraddressea pesylvania state senate hearing on probation refor >> whin the st 18 mohs, i s ae to starschool, art counity colle -i apogize, 'm aittle rvous. i s able tind my vce and come an advate, tbe part of theolution d not th prlem. tnk when icomes true pration form, yostart wi the cture in atrobation departnt. it is not o that is encouragg. is t emporment. when iot on pbation, all i was to was i had tcome in here weey and rert. i was loed at aseing highisk becausof an algorith what i accplished that e wod never ange. cle ofrauma an pain. me of e effes can be irreveible.

stant to get trueair second chance to prove ourlves and ild our communities of. thank you. amy:hat is a clip fm "philly d.a." of activist latonymyers testifying. this ianother clip. >>o tohe probaon offic pressions evething. althey knois what ey read on tha paper. got toake a go impressn. she got my lifen her has. i'm inhe wroimpresonshe migh me the wrg decion or e wrong sumptionyou know? in aelationship, canalk ay. u can't walk ay from ts.

it w a coue of dayafter my 12th birthda i ke up at morni and my mom' bfriend to cobet and driv -- courbeand dragd it ready onhe sps. he w out ocontro i ought could prect my mom. pick up inour fresner n and i t him wihe he wen to payphonecalled the police. when i s the cop i thought they wld underand whatas gog on. i was charged wh aggraved asult firs dege. that w the fir time was

er in jail. for thredays, i d not know ere my m was that, io not know iyou knewy familynew where i waat. i wasust ther it was so har finall my lawy pulled to e side aays,ake ts prationtop go bko ja to fighthis case. i am9 andhat fit felony from wn i was years o is at gets brout up timand ti again. the only felony on my record -- that i should not even have. amy: that is linn washington -- that is latonya myers.

she joins us now. she is also the founder of the organization above all odds. still with us is nicole salazar, a director and producer of the pbs series "philly d.a." the figures are absolutely astounding. you have philadelphia as the second-most supervised state under the country after georgia. new york has 12,000 people under probation and parole, six times larger than philadelphia. philadelphia has 40,000 people under probation and parole. your storyells the story of what so many people are going through. if you can take us from those clips to why he became an activist on this issue, why you think it is a critical civil rights issue in this country right now. >> first i will just say thank you so mh for allong me to be on this segment today to talk about these issues that impact

us so greatly. we talk about probation and parole, that is a strght line to mass incarceration. the reason i was inspired in being an advate, iound my purpose through my pain. i s arrested. i did not ow what advocate or activist was until i started to voice -- raise the voices of our concern and there it was a community of organizers, community of people that understood and explained to me this was systematically happening on purpose. so i just wanted to lift up those voices of those that wasn't being heard. people know we arelosest to the problem, closest to the solution. no longer allow anyone to tell us we can't and w't change if given the opportunity, nor nform to the negative stigma that is attached to us as returning citizens. this work has became my life and

my purpose. to help others. juan: a lot of people are not aware how the parole and probation system works in terms of mass incarceration. in pennsylvania, more than half of the people admitted into the prison system as a result of violations of probation or parole? what has been done to attempt to reform that system? >> so there have been many attempts statewide, bipartisan efforts. i know 1700 early termination petitions have been filed. 85% of them which has been individuals granted early termination. but this is on a case-by-case basis. we need something more robust, or statewide. in philadelphia, judge can sentence you until you cease to

live on this earth or to be on probation or parole. 20 and 30 plus year sentences. i think that needs to stop. i am happy to hear the efforts the association is doing but particularly the efforts that assroots organizations and impact people are doing to let individuals know they want to be part of the conversation, we need to be part of the change. we need people to know our narrative of what is. we just wanto be citizens. we want to be heard. we want to be supported and endorsed like anyone else in orde to be succeful. we nd peopleupport a understaing thate just what a partf the amicanream but has not been american dream, ihas been the erican ghtmare. y: nicole lazar, a of the filmarry krasnays one 14 aican-amecan philadelphia arender

probatn or pare. theignificae of what n only the.a.'s doing but tried toressure judges? tt's a grea question. i thk pbation andarole is one of e areas wheryou rely see how the d.a. h a lot ofiscretion d powerut also lot of mits owhat they can do. e of theain drirs of supervisn is sta law. seencing laws at are formulat in suchay yet basically ainim a maximum you can beentencedo a fiv to0 year seence i pennsylvia where is another state yomight gea ft for your sentee and maybe se probion on t of that it pnsylvanibecause is in the foulation of to xx, if you're released after your minimum of 10 years, will serve the same amount on role so that would be 10 years in prison, 10 years on parole and possibly

pleasant additional probation sentence on top of that. that is baked into pennsylvania lawton something on a local county level in pennsylvania -- local country level if his mind you change. they do have more probation until assigned. they may efforts -- what you see in the film is basically a two-pronged effo of what they're trying to do. one is for cases going forward they're trying to limit overall supervision toarole plus probation to three years for feny casesnd an avage of 18 f misdemeor cases th have tremendo amount discreon because natnally, 95% of all cminal ses are resoed tough notiate plse. at basally mea the osecutornd the dense attorneyome togeth with th prosed sennce they presen to theudge. r the most part, judges will accept those pleas because if they didn't have every case goes to trial, hear this all the time

come the system would literally collapse of thousands of cases coming to the system every year being handled by 60 odd jges phidelphia, if they all went to trial, the system would collapse. there's a lot of pressure for judges to accept the negotiated pleas so that is where the discretionary power comes into play. d we see aot of puback fr the juds in theilm, ey would likon a lar sca visiso manyf the 40,000 peopleho aren probaon or parole in philelph who are doing we, like lonya mye s saying, have em termited allyrom th probati. here'where we neecoopation between e judgesnd the d. 's oice and plic defeers office bause what they we hoping to do was look on a broad data scale insanity peop do we have on probation and how well are they doing? are there people with the signing of a pen where we coul sign t formsnd g a lot o

peopleff probaon at on? wh you see is the judiary does n want to ve that quicy. th are still manmarrieto this idea of being a probation pro-pubc safetyeven thou there's lot of compelling edence th sws whbeing onrobati can be iminal gic becau of the hurdles at a being putor 70o be oprobation andtill mainta other aectsf thei li, job, famy. you e under the film the judiciary is not ready to take this step, not able to do it on a broad scale. there was hope at some point even latonya mye'sase would be includut hgo forwa. think there ne judgeat e time athe end of that episode who say ok, wwill d mes early rminatioin termof our iividual lt and th process is still ongog but it wasn't as robust as thewere hing fo

am latonya, if y can tal about yourwn organizion ainst aldds anwhat yo're hopi to see ght now? and a pgressi d.a. lely krasr who isp for reelection real does ke a dference philadphia, wh does itook li to you working wh so man people on pration anparole o are captured by this syem? >> well, i just nt to say thanyou fothat question. i think when nicole ought up a od point all throu the epode, herhe juds saying "we don'tant th to breathe stem syst."e goi to breathe e system nee to be alished ordero restor and heal our mmunity cause it tearing our famies apart i st hopourommuty contins to be enged. pe pple lookt this fm and wille inspid to kno they c advoce, to thei

local repsentativ, vocate for themlves in e courtrm. weave to knowe havthe power to uplt th vces that makes empt. weave toepend and underand were the fce that makeshe wer. c put i in one peon' hand. wean make re our vces are hed anur narrativeare coect. want to bring hope an healinback to r communi, t harm. i want to say anyou to a th people ere wereble to support me in t community and i wantthers to support oer pele and i want our orgazation tbe able pport peopl to ve the resours, to ve the cmunity impact wn peopleo in the courtrms alonethey don't have to it alon we have a communy of people at can crect thi narrati at is trying keep us furtheentangle in thsystem. i sthink -- ink the lm

crew averyon for havinthe opportuny to insre. stay stron understd wean -- y are not your worst mistake. i d andou can d. any suprt i hadi want people to bable to- we haveople th lost thr life, lost their j, lost family memrs we are slowly waiting fothe syem to change d be mor compassnate and upfting. they spe 344 milon dolla on iarcerate iividualsn pesylvan for civil violations that th do not even cage thease. if we invest tt into dressing issues aso y pele c'make it the probatn appoinent onime, whis it ha for them to fd housg whent is dcriminated

on housi applicationfor employnt? if theare boxeout of oprtunities toive in bter nehborhos or even opportunities to get pell grants to go ba tochoo how can they reay tnk -- if 're not ableo beith thsame sourcesnd theame opunities others? ght now philadehia, the commissioners reqsting750 million for the poce budge 50 milli that ritow she is jtifyg our ci council to allot this fothe budg. ther is noa percenge -how ch is itoing to ke fors as a commuty to revest int theroblem a n lockings up? th is whate ask foas a

counity fopeople tallow us to be inhese spaces and lk abouresourcethat we nd that imost helul. i nt indivuals to be upfted, scificay peoplef coloand egb comnity. i want tm to ow thawe ext. areighting d yoare hed and u' not alone. and y cano the sa thing that did witthe cmunity suppor let'keep on vicngagemt d indivials findg their voices a sittingt the table of power, speaking truth to that power. amy: latonya myers, thank you for being with us, formerly incarcerated person who became an activist to support others going through the system. support for nader with the philadelphia community bail fund, founder of the organization above all odds. thank you to nicole salazar, cocreator of the pbs series "philly d.a." when we come back, we look at how larry krasner faces reelection. stay with us.

♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

philadelphia district attorney larry krasner is fighting to stay in office. next week he faces a challenge in the democratic primary by carlos vega, former homicide prosecutor who is one of three dozen veteran prosecutors fired by krasner when he took office in 2018. during a debate last week, he criticized krasner's record and blamed him for a spike in shootings and murders in philadelphia. >> we don't need to make a choice between reform and safety. we need both. we deserve both. mr. krasner, a blood on your hands. a young man walking his dog. a six-year-old boy beaten to death. a seven-year-old boy killed on his porch. corporal o'connor, killed in the line of duty. a domestic violence victim shot in front of her house. the young men shot in the mall. just a few of the victims we can directly put on larry krasner. amy: incbent d.a. larry

krasner defeed his first term saying he followed through on his promise to reform philadelphia's kernel justice system. >> first of all, let a crisis in shootings with fatal and nonfatal shootings. the truth is we have been nearly 85% conviction rate with those cases, among the highest in five years. comparable to other cities in a favorable way, hi rick -- high rate. we did without cheating. we were dealing with an office when my opponent was there when the tree did not matter. if you can convict someone, you convicted them. it might be the wrong person and they might sit in jumper 25 years. that did not get us anywhere. we have to bring things that work and we have done that. amy: for more, we're joined in philadelphia by investigative journalist linn washington, who has covered the city's criminal justice system for decades, recently wrote a column for whyy headlined "krasner's stance on mumia won't cost him reelection. but it will stain his reputation as a reformer."

still with us is ted passon, co-creator and director and -- of the pbs series d.a. -- "pilly d.a." if you could talk about his opponent, supported by the fop, fraternal order of police. >> i think the endorsement by the fop for the challenger of larry krasner, mr. vega, is very telling. the fop represents the very worst regressive approach the criminal justice system, the very elements that mr. krasner is trying to reform. and here is mr. vega who has claimed he is different, aligning himself with the very ideology as well as individuals who have created the problems we

now have under the city of philadelphia where we have a justice system that is not operating in a just manner. the prime ethical mandate for prosecutors is to seek justice, not convictions. this has been a part of pesylvania case law since 1889 when the pits of any supreme court decision came down that enunciated the role of prosecutors is justice. juan: linn, first of all, greetings. we were former colleagues and years ago. i went to ask you, some people are saying, krasner, crime has risen and violence has risen during his time in office. the reality is across the nation, there have been spikes in crime in many cities. many people, myself included,

believe we are witnessing a police slowdown that is occurring across the country as police are chafing at the attempts to control the way they need out of use of citizens. i'm wondering your sense of will this stick on krasner that he is responsible for the rise in crime and shootings in philadelphia? >> the reality is, yes, he has been assigned that label an assignment that label falsely. from the day he stepped into office, the fraternal order least in persons like his challenger mr. vega said under larry krasner, crime is going to be off the charts. reform will make people and say. not true. as you indicated, crime has gone up across the country. as crime has gone up, there is been a decrease in policing.

in philadelphia, the vast majority of the crimes, in particular homicides, are unsolved. if the police are not making any arrests, and prosecutors can't prosecute the cases. so it is intellectually improper to say you're not prosecuting homicide cases when inact the poli are not bringing the cases to them. accordg to . krasne the ses brout to himre fraht with lacof evidee. kraer is trng to do someing different from what was the policy and practice and prtice in the office for decades where ey would just go inrrespecte up in crew goodies and edence -- incoruities evidenc that woul put people iprison, at is their job -th is wron and th is wt larry ksner has beenightinggainst yete has been,uiterankly, tarre

but t on t fop, bu consertive policians a even ding his me inffice the then.s. attorney in philadph was ver critical the refms. this is person o is the chief enfcement oicer for the fedel governmt, should nohave bn taken kind of posture y you he to derstandhe ctext. heasith the umpet adminiration. whe the prident enly enrsed reality ithe namef law and order. juan: i wanted to ask you better criticism you have had of krasner, his handling of the weave ujamaa case, arguably the most -- we illusion mall, arguing the most famous prisoner worldwide and you conducted more than 10 years ago a ballistics test and i think ted passon film

thn terms of raisi questis abouwhat happened th the edence in the mumia abu-jamacase. n you ta about theritici ofrasner a his faire to t on ts case? >> t column id out tt mr. krasnehas donwhat his predecesso have nodone and that iseek justi, thus his reversed the cvictionsf about 20 pele so fa theris a vt number mark shou be butou have give m creditor what did. and each those itances, there ha beeery car and compelng evidee of miscduct notnly byolice in initlnvtigationut precutors how man instances theerseted the cases. how es that ply to the u-jamal se? thevidencehat led ksner's fice to seek reveal of

convictis for people so far, commeably, is far less than the evidence of misconduct by police prosecutors and judges in the abuja mall case. if you are a reformer, as krasner is, then it is easy to take on certain cases but the real dividing line is when you take on the hard case. reality, there is any institutional bias against abu-jamal that goes from the police officers on the beat and it philadelphia all the way up through the justices on the supreme court of the united states. so that was the essence of the column that when you look at the evidence that is supposedly underlined abuja mall's conviction, see gross errors in there and you don't need a law degree or a phd to see those.

one of which is what you just mentioned, the protest we did. according to prosecution, abu-jamal straddled the officer who was convicted of shooting, only hitting the officer once. if in fact it happened that way, then he was the bullet marks in the sidewalk and all of the crimscene photos that were produced in court, there were no buet marks. we tk those crime scene photossent theto aerson in the jet prulsion loratory whose jois to enhce photos omeep spaclike satn and uranusay out ithe sola syem, thaterson anazed ese phot with a supercomter and fnd no bulletarks. if there is no bullet mar from the scenario of abuja ml's shooting those bullets, then that is exhibit a of the heirs in that case most of amy: we

have to leave it there. i want to thank you so much for being with us and also ted passon and nicole salazar, directors and producers, cocreator's of the pbs series "pilly d.a." it is airing n

every city has been through a phase or phases of transformation. for millennia, if we discount war or natural disaster, change was often gradual. things are different now. we've seen, over the past few decades, that urban change can be fast and even brutal. the city of hamilton, ontario is a city with proud, working-class roots. for generations, it's been known as "steel town." but this city has suffered from economic decline and deindustrialization, like so many cities in the region and across north america. hamilton is desperately trying to figure out how to adapt, and how, perhaps, to reinvent itself. this is also a medium-sized city, one living in the shadow