09/30/21 09/30/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> is about understanding the reason we have to do it is because we have done it before. we put $21 trillion into war since 9/11. and now some what to block a compromise plan just over three dollars trillion for 10 years? no.

no. the cost is too high. amy: is democrats try to avoid a government shutdown, and may fall short of a deal on president biden's $3.5 trillion social safety net and climate bill. we will look at the priorities with rev. dr. william barber, cochair of the poor people's campaign. about four women are killed by their partners every day in the united states. the coverage of the death of a young white woman gabby petito has gotten enormous amount of media coverage, but where is the coverage of the missing black women, of the missing native american women? >> the mainstream media does not care about black and brown. if we have learned anything over the past few weeks, we can't rely on the mainstream media to amplify the stories. we have to amplify them ourselves. amy: we will have a roundtable discussion with amara cofer,

host of the podcast black girl gone, melissa jeltsen, who covers violence against women, and attorney mary kathryn nagle. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. lawmakers in both the house and senate will vote today on a short-term spending bill that would fund the government into early december in a last-minute bid to avert the disastrous government shutdown before a midnight deadline. the vote comes as democratic leaders struggle to pass two major pieces of legislation, a one dollar trillion per structure bill and a build back better act, $3.5 trillion, tenure package that would expand the social safety net and combats climate change. on wednesday, house speaker nancy pelosi, huddled with

president biden in the oval office as fractures within the democratic party threatened to derail bidens legislative agenda. meanwhile, house democrats narrowly approved a bill to suspend the ceiling on the national debt until the end of 2022. the treasury department warns that without congressional action, the u.s. will begin defaulting on its debts in mid-october. house speaker nancy pelosi said wednesday the consequences would be catastrophic. >> nonpartisan -- these consequences could include a loss of 6 million jobs, the elimination of potentially 15 trillion dollars in household wealth, sending the unappointed rates surging to 9%, and a decline in the real gdp of our country by 4%. amy: after headlines, we will speak with rev. dr. william barber, cochair of the poor

people's campaign. the united states reported nearly 2500 covid-19 deaths on wednesday, even as hospitalizations and new cases edged down from a peak in early september. alaska is the hardest-hit state, with some of the highest infection rates in the world. on wednesday, a hospital in bethel became the second alaska hospital to begin rationing care due to a surge in unvaccinated covid-19 paties. youtube said wednesday it will ban all content claiming that government-approd vaccines do not rk or are harmful. youtube's crackdown will target not only covid-19 misinformation, but also anti-vaccine content about other immunizations, like for measles or hepatitis. meanwhile, the centers for disease control is urgently recommending pregnant people get vaccinated, warning less than a

third of expectant people have received a covid-19 shot. among african-americans, that rate is less than 16%. pregnant people are at much higher risk of hospitalization, mechanical ventilation, and death from covid-19 and the disease raises the risk of stillbirth, pre-term birth, and other complications. in maryland, public health activists staged a protest outside the home of white house chief of staff ron klain wednesday, calling on the biden administration to massively ramp up vaccine production and to transfer vaccine technology to the global south. activists placed a towering pile of fake human bones across from klain's home, representing millions of covid-19 deaths. the protest was led by james krellenstein, co-founder of the hiv/aids activist group prep4all. >> the billions of deaths that have occurred under this

presidents watch, they are all preventable deaths. this is no longer a scientific crisis. we are bringing these bones to the chief of staff's house because this is not just a political issue, this is a personal issue was of tens of millions of people come hundreds of millions, billions of people around the world whose lives are threatened by this man, by this presidency. amy: in massachusetts, over a dozen doctors linked to harvard medical school held a similar protest outside the boston home of moderna ceo stefan bancel, demanding his company share the recipe for its covid-19 vaccine with the world. bancel's net worth has soared to over $13 billion during the pandemic. university of washington researchers estimate more than 10.5 million people have died of covid-19 worldwide, with projections that number will exceed 12.3 million by the end of the year.

only 2% of people in low-income nations ha received even a single dosof a covid vaccine. the united nations is demanding urgent action to prevent famine in ethiopia's rebel-held tigray region. u.n. humanitarian chief martin griffiths called on ethiopia's government to end a de facto blkade of od, medica supplies, and fuel into tigray, caing the cris a "stain on our consciousness." a u.n. spokesperson said the crisis is affecting millions of people. >> 5.2 million people still require food aid with 400,000 people living in famine-like conditions. our colleagues a children -- child in trish is at the same level that at the outset of the 2011 somali famine. amy: top military commanders were questioned by lawmakers again wednesday on the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. general kenneth mckenzie, head of u.s. central command, said

they were aware within just hours that the august 29 drone u.s. -- u.s. drone strike in kabul had hit civilians, and knew few days ter that the target was a mistake. but it took the pentagon weeks good mid this afteinitially asserting e stke prevent an imminent threat by isis-k fighters. investigations qckly revead the viims were itead aid worker zemari ahmadi and his family members. ahmadi's boss at the california-based nonprofit nutrition and education international says the u.s. is still labeng the group as an isis safe house, putting even more civilian lives at risk. ecuador has declared a state of emergency throughout its prison system as the death toll from a deadly prison riot rose to 116. at least 80 other prisoners work injured after fighting broke out between rival gangs in the prison.

north korea said it tested a new hypersonic missile this week. hypersonic missiles are designed to defend against ballistic missiles and can potentially be fitted with a nuclear warhead. the u.n. security council is holding a meeting today on north korea's recent weapons tests. meanwhile, north korean leader kim jong un said today he is open to restoring an inter-korean hotline. in the canary islands, emergency crews are warning residents of the spanish island of la palma to seal their doors and windows after lava from a volcanic eruption reached the atlantic ocean, raising fears of toxic gas clouds. so far, no injuries have been reported but over 6000 people have been forced to evacuate. back in the united states, the house select committee probing the january 6 insurrection has issued subpoenas to 11 organizers of pro-trump rallies that preceded the attack on the u.s. capitol. among those subpoenaed is katrina pierson, who served as a trump campaign spokesperson in 2016.

she joined an oval office meeting with president trump two days before the capitol riot. baby food manufacturers allowed products contaminated with heavy metals to remain on store shelves even after dangerous levels of the toxic chemicals were detected in their products. that's according to a new congressional report released wednesday which found baby food makers failed to recall and fit rice serials tested have arsenic levels above fda limits. in minnesota, canadian pipeline company enbridge said construction on the contested line 3 crude oil pipeline is complete and oil will start flowing on friday. indigenous leaders and land and water defenders, who have been resisting line 3 for years, often putting their own bodies on the line, vowed to continue the fight against the pipeline. line 3 is set to carry over half a million barrels of tar sands every day, threatening local waters and lands and doubling minnesota's greenhouse gas emissions.

meanwhile, environmental activists celebrated the cancellation of the fracked gas penneast pipeline earlier this week. local residents, officials, and advocates in new jersey and pennsylvania led a years-long battle against the project. in canada, a judge has ended an injunction granted to logging company teal-jones, which the court says was used to crack down on activists at the fairy creek watershed blockade in a way that violated their civil liberties and infringed on press freedom. police have arrested over 1000 land defenders, often violently, as they fight to protect the remaining trees in vancouver island's ancient forests. the first nations-led protest is canada's largest act of civil disobedience. you can see our coverage of this issue at democracynow.org. meanwhile, on nearby wet'suwet'en territory, the gidimt'en clan has set up new blockades to prevent coastal gaslink from drilling on indigenous land to build their pipeline. earlier this week, canadian police arrested protesters at

the beaver dam blockade. this is a federal officer confronting an activist who had locked themselves to a bus. >> serve and protect. you put yourself and others endangers by being underneath a bus. t's go. let go. >> my leg! amy: policice had to call on coastal gas li workers to physically cut the protester out of the bus. and the winners for this year's right livelihood awards have been announced. the prize is often referred to as the "alternative nobel prize." unist'ot'en land defender freda huson was recognized "for her fearless dedication to reclaiming her people's culture and defending their land against disastrous pipeline projects" >> we have likely only 10% of

our traditional territory remaining is the reason why we were fighting so hard protect that last 10% so that we can continue to have clean water, continue to have salmon, continue to hunt eat the rries, collect the medicine. because that is who we are. the land sustains us. if we don't take care of the land, then we won't be able to sustain ourselves. amy: the other award recipients are marthe wandou, cameroonian peace activist fighting against sexual violence against women and girls, russian environmental leader vladimir slivyak, who has taken on the coal and nuclear industries, and the organization legal initiative for forest and environment, or life, which empowers communities in india to protect their resources in the pursuit of environmental democracy.

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, democrats could fall short of a deal on president biden's three point five dollars trillion social safety net and climate bill. -- $3.5 trillion social safety net and climate bill. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. democratic leaders are struggling to pass two major pieces of legislation. a one dollar trillion infrastructure bill and the build back better act, $3.5 trillion, 10 year package that

would expand the social safety net and combats the climate emergency. on wednesday, house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority leader chuck schumer huddled with president biden in the oval office as fractures within the democratic party threatened to derail biden's legislative agenda. progressive new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez spoke about the divisions on msnbc last night. >> we have two bills at present. one which covers -- underfunds most priorities across the board. so there are very few priorities that even get the full funding they even need. and then there is the larger what is known as the budget bill, reconciliation bill. that has the stuff you will feel in your everyday life. universal pre-k, talking about community colleges, expansion of

medicare. we are debating including vision and dental in medicare. conversations about lowering the age, robust climate energy. knowing what is known as the build back that i. we were discussing this earlier in the year. we have a vast majority of democrats come about 96% that are in agreement of the entire agenda. i very small handful of democrats, about 4% of the party, are trying to essentially split these two priorities up. i personally do not think it is an accident the ones that a lot of lobbyists love are in the much smaller, underfunded bill that do not make prescription drugs easier more affordable, etc.

they want to split them apart, force a vote on the first one, and because we have such narrow margins in the senate and the house, the read we have is that they will just dump the second one. leave the other went out to dry and just never actually book on it. that way we bring are two parts of the caucus together is by saying, you know what? my bill is bound up in your bill and yours is bound in mine. so do i love this what i would argue conservative underfunded bill? no. but i will vote for it if we pursue them both together. amy: that is new york commerce member alexandria ocasio-cortez on msnbc last night. for more, we're joined by rev. dr. william barber, cochair of the poor people's campaign and prident of repairers of the breach. last month the campaign met with speaker pelosi to "put a face on the urgent needs of this moment." i think, reverend barber, that

is what is missing. so often the orbit media, the mainstream media takes on the language -- i won't call the moderate democrats, i mean, you have senator manchin of west virginia, holding protests in his state, who was the largest recipient of oil and gas funds in any senator in the country. it is not that he is a moderate conservative corporate democrat perhaps come and then you have arizona senator sinema. some of the poorest states in the country. she has a fundraiser with those who are opposed to restoring taxes on the wealthiest people in this country, although she's to be ralph nader's campaign had in arizona. what do you make of this as she goes back and forth from fundraisers to the oval office but they don't lay out alternative plan versus as aoc

puts it, 96% of the democrats? close first of all, you' right, we have to stop using this language. this is not about that. this is about a moral isis in our nation, a crisis of our democracy. if you think right now, we have two senators blocking voter suppression, dealing with voter suppression and protecting the process to vote at 56 million americans used in the last election. those same two senators are working on behalf of corporate greed and the corporations to block the economic investment in the lives of poor and low wealth people in this country -- by the way, is not even what we need. we need $10 trillion over 10 years. then you have these two senators, one from arizona,

sinema, over 3 million people in her state are poor 1.2 million make less than $15 an hour. and it was virginia, 42% of the state is poor and low well come over 750,000 people, thread 50,000 make less than $15 an hour. we could have seen this coming went manchin and sinema block raising a wage earlier this yeas to the president and his handlers -- we often bring to the white house poor and low will people in a geographical area and diverse racially with moral and religious leaders, have a meeting in the white house and then for the people to come out and say, your voting against me, they need to have people who have living wages. they need to have health care, home care workers at the mic.

people that would benefit from childcare at the mic. people who need living wages at the mic. but instead, what we got trapped in is whether it is going to be three dollars -- $3.5 trillion. it is not like we don't have the money. we get trapped and whether it is $3.5 trillion or 2.1 illustrated rather than showing america with this is about. thiss about those who stand with you versus those who stand with the cporate greed and the koch brothers. i don't know why in the world democrats want to claim aays to care for low and poor people but they don't want low and poor wealth people to speak. someone told us the other day that they were afraid if they put poor and low wealth people out front, it might turn americans off.

that is absolutely ridiculous when 140 million people in this country are poor and low wealth in this nation today and 700 people are dying a day from poverty and more have fallen into poverty since covid. we have a crisis of civilization and a crisis of democracy and we have a serious messaging problem when it comes to democrats. it seems they would rather argue the numbers -- lastly, they say this is about whether or not you support the president. i love president biden. this is about whether you support the people who have been hurt the most during covid, the people who were the first to get affected, the first to die, the first who have suffered in poverty and low wealth for years. the question here is not what will it cost if we do this, what will it cost if we don't do this? that is the moral argument we should be raising at this time. it is not about moderate versus liberal versus conservative. it is about right versus wrong. amy: the whole issue of who is

represented -- i mean, i think the polls show more than 70% of the people of this country support the $3.5 trillion when asked about the issues the build back better act represents come issues of child care, health ca, pre-k, of climate action, helping small businesses as for restoring power to working-class people, poor people in the united states. this is overwhelmingly popular and it is so fascinating that the people who have come to the support of president biden in congress are the progressive caucus. by far the largest caucus in the u.s. congress, about 100 members from -- pramila jayapal has that. and they're not necessarily the people that supported biden as a candidate but they are his

fiercest offenders right now when it comes back to this bill and saying if you don't support this now, it is going to fall by the wayside and instead roads and bridges will be paved -- pay for but not all the other stuff that benefits the vast majority of people in this country. >> and roads and bridges and most of that mon will go to the corporations and the people know that. manchin what's bridges but does not want to help the 350,000 people in his own state who make less than $15 an hour, the people we have met with in the state who were protesting were poor and the wealth from appalachia. jamila piped -- privilege i paul and barbara the and others have come to the rescue and their raising the right issues that this is not about the normal washington, d.c. moments. we are in the middle of covid, a pandemic where hundreds of thousands of pple have died and this covid has exposed the

fishers of poverty and race and if there's ever been a time we want to take a step in the right direction, we think the poor people's campaign, should be more but we at least ought to take this step. the big problem is, you keep saying this is who you are for but you'd output the who in front of the neck of people. go to west virginia and we the people in appalachia who have benefit -- go in the heart of it. you're theresident of united states. go to texas, arizona, meet with those people and then come back and go to the will of the congress like abraham lioln did, roosevelt did in johnson indicated he and say, there are three infrastructures we must protect. this is not democrat versus republican, this is about this country and the people of this

country first. the infrastructure of our democracy, which is voting rights. second, infrastructure of our daily lives, health care and wages and education and protecting the climate and warehousing. the third infrastructure is the infrastructure of our bridges and waters and technologies. we are not going to separate it because this is who it will hurt. then you point to t balcony and yet people and you tell their stories come you have that poor farmer, the person from appalachia, the person from the delta, mississippi, the pers from the poor areas of the industrialized states of michigan and ohio. you put face on this so it is not just about numbers, but it is about real people. and you give the people the mic. imagine if america right now was hearing press conferences were the democrats and those supporting it and the president was not just meeting with sinema

four times, but he actually had in his white house people from their state and meeting with them and telling them, and then those people came out and advocated for the bill. those people came out in front of the mic. that is the kind of moral power that port and the will people have. i don't understand why his handlers have been blocking this. we have offered it to them for months. i don't understand why in the world they don't let the people speak. abraham lincoln, when we met with colusa, she said public sentiment is everything. this notion of holding the line. you know that came from a woman from texas, women from west virginia that said it to nancy pelosi. hold the line. do not allow one of these bills to happen with the other. do not throw was under the bus. do not run over us. we have already been hit hard through covid. these are the people they should speak. i pray if this goes past this week, democrats will retool

their messaging or their focuses and let the people speak. we can help them. we can bring the people that can turn a consciousness of this nation -- it is not about democrat -- moderate versus liberal, this is about what kind of democracy we are going to be and who we are going to be, and we need to get away from just isn't $3.5 trillion or $2.5 trillion. who will be hurt? what will happen if we don't do this? what is the cost long term if we do not do this, we do not lift the people that have been so beaten down even before covid and beaten down even worse after covid? that is the question of our day and that is the crisis of this democracy that we are in right now. amy: rev. dr. william barber, thank you for being with us, cochair of the poor people's campaign and president of repairers of the breach. when we come back, but out four women are killed by their

partners every day in the united states. the coverage of the death of a young white woman gabby petito has gotten enormous amount of media coverage. what about the coverage of the missing black women? of the missing native american women? we will host a roundtable discussion around the country. stay with us. mary kathryn nagle ♪♪ [music break] ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. for the past two weeks, much of the media in the united states is offered wall-to-wall coverage of the case of gabby petito, a 22-year-old white woman who went missing while she was traveling across the country with her

fiancé brian laundrie and documenting their trip on youtube. two weeks before she disappeared, her partner was seen hitting her on the street in moab, utah, as reported in this 911 call. >> i am on the corner of main street by moon flower. we are driving by and i went report a domestic dispute, florida license plate, white man van. they just drove off. they're going down main street. they made a right on a from moon flower. >> what were they doing? >> what did you say? >> what were you doing? >> the gentleman was slapping the girl. we stopped and they ran up and

down the sidewalk, he proceeded to hit her. they hopped in the car and drove off. >> white van? amy: that was a dime on one call to the moa police. police pulled over the couple's van soon after receiving the 911 call, but they concluded petito had tried to hit laundrie after she feared he might drive away without her. one officer said the couple appeared to be going through a "mental health crisis." this is part of the police body camera footage. >> i am going to cite for domestic violence. it was only going to be a class b misdemeanor. however, the domestic violence -- major pain in the butt. you're 22, rig? i'm choosing not to cite you. i want you guys to stay away

from each other. amy: what is astounding about this is the police officer was not saying to brian laundrie, "we're not going to charge with domestic abuse," he was saying it to gabby petito, who was crying in the backseat of the car, that he was not going to charge her and instead they should just work it out. this was in august. weeks later, gabby's family would report her missing on september 11, 10 days after brian laundrie returned home to his florida house in the van the couple had been driving in but without that he his fiancée. her body was found on september 19 in a national park in wyoming. her death was ruled a homicide. authorities are now searching for laundrie. they did not speak with him when he was at home with his family for many days, having come home

without gabby. he has been named as a person of interest in the case. amanda, gabby petito's father joe petito spoke to reporters at a press conference in bohemia, new york. >> i don't to dismiss the ridiculously hard work law enforcement did, but social media has been amazing and very influential. to be honest, she continue for other people, too. this same type of heightened awareness should be continued for everyone. everyone. it is on all of you come everyone in this room to do that. if you don't do that for other people that are missing, that is a shame. it is not just gabby deserves that. look to yourselves on why not that is not being done. amy: it was gabby's father who

raised this issue about the kind of attention that is not paid to other victims of domestic violence. some have called the issue the missing white woman syndrome. this comes as about four women are killed by their partners every day in the united states. the coverage the death of a gabby petito has gotten enormous amount of coverage. but what about the coverage of the missing black women? missing native american women who are overwhelmingly the nuer of missing women and girls in this country? an estimated 64,000 black women or girls are missing in the united states. in wyoming alone, the state where gabby was found murdered, at least 710 indigenous people were reported missing in the last decade, from 2011 to 2020. for more, we host a roundtable discussion. with us, amara cofer, host and executive producer of the

podcast black girl gone. we will speak with reporter melissa jeltsen, who covers violence against women. and mary kathryn nagle is a citizen of cherokee nation and a partner at pipestem & nagle law, law firm dedicated to the restoration of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction. democracy now! we welcomedemocracy now! you all to mary kathryn nagle, let's begin with you. >> first and foremost come out hearts are with gabby's family. no one should ever have to lose a loved one in this manner. horribly tragic but i think what it brings up for a lot of our native families who have lost loved ones is the complete disparity, thebvious is very between how the fbi behaves when a white woman behaves and when a

nave woman goes missing. when a native woman goes missing , and thousands to every year, the fbi did not do nothg. i often times families are told it i not a crime. oftentimes the fbi's only law enforcement agency with jurisdiction to investigate because it is complicated, but in 1978, the supreme court limited to tribal or jurisdiction over non-indians who come on the tribal lands and commit crimes. in many instances, the department of justice hazard to the majority of violent crimes are committed by non-indians but that means for the majority of those violent crimes committed against our native people, we are relying on the fbi to do its job and they are not. they are failing us. as a result, that is why native women are more likely to be murdered in this country than any other segment of the population. that disparity is painful for native peopleecau there is no explanation for why the fbi simply won't do its job when our women and girls go missing or

are murdered. amy: mary kathryn nagle, we spoke to you last about the case of olivia loan bear. i think the reason gabby petito's story hold so much power is because you are learning all the details of her life and some people identify. if that was the model of coverage for every young person who has gone missing or was murdered, we would probably have far less of this and of course it particularly we don't get this coverage with young people or older people of color. why don't you tell us the story once again of olivia lone bear. saying they were going to charge gabby with domestic violence. what about with olivia lone

bear? >> olivia's case is so devastating. i remember when i appeared on your show you also had her brother matthew on. at that time, matthew was begging the fbi to search for his sister. she t misng on a reservation, tribal reservation which means the fbi has jurisdiction and has the responsibility to investigate homicide of native people on that reservation. for almost an entire year, they refused to search for her body. her brother repeatedly said, "you should look in the lake." large bodies of water and her brother kept saying, please search those bodies of water for her vehicle because her truck was also missing. after almost an entire year, for some reason the federal authorities finally decided to do their job and did find her truck athe bottom of the lake. at that time, she was buckled

into the passenger side of her car. the federal authorities who finally followed her brothers advice and on her body said, well, she probably committed suicide. her brother said, she is a mother and never would have left those babies. how can you explain her driving her truck into the lake if she is see buckled into the passenger side? part of the problem when the fbi does not do its job or investigate, by the time the bodies are recovered, there is very little evidence left to investigate how the homicide took place. imagine if they pulled her body -- found her before she was dumped in the lake or within a matter of days as opposed to almost an entire year? it is a tragic case that shows the insane despair to between how the fbi response to the murder of a white woman versus a native woman. amy: the first native american cabinet secretary in u.s. history, interior secretary deb haaland, told the associated

press that gabby petito's case is reminder of missing native americans. she said -- "anytime a woman faces assault, rape, murder, kidnapping -- any of those things -- it's very difficult and my heart goes out to any family who has to endure that type of pain." "and so, of course, my heart goes out to the young woman who was found in wyoming. but where i can make a difference in particular is in addressing the missing and murdered indigenous peoples crisis, which has occurred since the beginning of colonization of indigenous people on this continent for about the last 500 years and it continues." you have used the example just of wyoming, mary kathryn nagle, where gabby's body was found, when it comes to missing, indigenous people. >> absolutely. in montana, their mistake my commission and they released a

report and from 2020, 20% -- basilly, o for the love the homicides in the state were of indigenous people. i can tell you as a result of historical practices in the united states, we are not one fit of the population today. i know native people to make up one fit of the population in wyoming was the for them to say us to be one fit of the murders and homicides in that state is outrageous. as many others who work inhis area have documented, we also have a real lack of data. for a lot of our native women an families, there's simply no point in reporting aeath. in many instances, corrupt law offices harass and such was all our native women. there's a case right now in the montana supreme court. we know the data out there is underreported as is, and it is a

huge crisis. i'm so thankful that democracy now! is willing to create space to talk about it. amy: we are talking to mary kathryn nagle, lawyer and citizen of cherokee nation. we're also joined by amara cofer , host and executive producer of the podcast black girl gone. i cannot help but think about simone biles when mary kathryn nagle was talking about the lack of fbi action. simone biles, who said she should not have even been in the last olympics considering how much she has suffered as a result of the sexual torture by the doctor larry nasser. the fbi was on to this. the fbi refused to investigate or stop him. as a result, he abused at least 100 more young women. this ties in. you have just begun a podcast

called black girl gone. talk about why. >> thank you for having me. the main reason why i started the black girl gone podcast was, number one, i was a fan of true crime. like many things in this country, there is any underrepresentation of black women, of women of color in these stories. what i noticed was consumers of true crime, especially podcasts, have been very intricate in solving cases having cases reopened or bringing attention to cold cases. but because the genre is nominated -- dominated by stories of white people and white women, those are the cases that get the attention and get the pressure, so i decided, what if i was able to do this but focusing on black women? potentially bringing that attention to these cases and helping to find these missing

women, helping to solve some of these cold cases by just getting the public interested in these women's stories? one of my anks was i wanted to humanize these victims because like you said, what of the things people feel connected to the gabby petito case, they can see her life, her pictures, and so they can see themselves in her. i feel it is important for people to also see themselves in women of color because we are also victims of these crimes, but we are mothers and sisters and daughters, college students -- we are all of these things that can be relatable to people. i felt it was important for this podcast to be out there and highlight these women and their stories. amy: can you tell us kyra's story? >> a young black woman missing from chicago, illinois. she was three months pregnant at the time should sing in october

2018 -- she went missing in october 2018. she was a postal worker. she had a doctors appointment the day she went missing. she was supposed to go -- he had an ultrasound appointment. she went was the her family spoke to her that day. she called out of work the next day i know has seen her since. there is a popular video out that had what the public thought for a long time was kyra in the video. in february it was revealed the entire time we thought it was her it was not. the police were aware of this. there's been no suspects named in her case. the father of her unborn child was a person of interest, but he was allowed to move out of state. there is been very little movement on the case in the past

few years. her family is still out there. the postal service had offered a reward for information about her disappearance, but there's been very little national coverage and there's been very little movement on the case in the past few years. amy: what about theamily that reached out to you because you're doing the podcast black girl gone, jennifer blackman? >> yes, jennifer is a mother missing from river road, michigan. i got a message from a friend of hers about two months into doing the podcast, asking me to cover the story of their friend who had been missing since december 2020. one of the things was they really wanted this to be out there. at the time when i did the episode, i did not have that big of a following but she just wanted someone to tell her friend's story and put the

information out there. jennifer has been missing from river road since december 2020. she is four children. her daughter just went off to college. she missed christmas. she missed adulation postal when i spoke to her friend last week, there's been no information, no movement on the case -- tt is nothing that is been happening wi these stories of these missing black women is that there is nothing. police are hedges to release information. suspects are allowed to disappear or move away. the families are left trying to do this on their own. amy: an estimated 64,000 black women or girls are missing in the united states. the national center for missing and asked what her children estimates out of 613,000 people reported missing in the u.s. last year, about 60% of people of color. i wanted to bring in the

conversation melissa jeltsen. you've been covering the issue of violence against women and girls for quite some time. there's also a case that is happening right now in britain where a police officer is about to be sentenced for killing a young white woman that has gotten enormous attention. talk about your coverage of these issues. what is covered, what isn't, and what are the issues that need to be raised? >> in gabby petito's case, it is an incredibly important story, especially because we have the body coverage -- body camera footage before she went missing. we know the victims of domestic violence are often caught up with the criminal justice laws on the books ended up being incarcerated themselves. for anyone who is not watch that footage, it is really revealing lesson of how our domestic violence laws are not working for many victims was stuck utah

has a mandatory arrest law on the books so when police got to the scene, they decided they needed to work out who was the primary aggressor and who should be sided for the incident. i think it is about training, but also complicated to work out what is going on and jail is not always the best solution. they saw her as the aggressor and then threatened her basically with jail time and left her alone in utah at a time when she really needed support. it is a revealing look at trying to understand our our laws working for us or against us? in the london case, give a young woman, sarah, who was killed by a police officer who actually used his police powers to pull her over. she was walking home during covi we believe he arrested her falsely because he said she was violating covid protocol. then he went on to rape and kill

her. in the aftermath of that death, a lot of activists pushed for more criminalization, more powers to the police, calling for sexual street harassment to be made illegal and make misogyny hate crime. when you really look at the consequences, what is a much bigger consequence, unintended consequence on minority populations and end up pulling more people into the criminal justice system. so i think one of the big things we need to think about when there's a lot of attention on a case like gabby petito's or sarah's, what are the things we're talking about that wld try to help makeeople ser and are the actually going to help make people safer or are they going to end up just giving even more power to police and prosecutors in the system that we know doesn't often work for victims? amy: there even racial

disparities in gabby petito's case. when brian laundrie comes home -- she is an obsessive youtube documenter of van life and suddenly completely falls off the map. he is there day after day, refuses to speak to the police, goes camping with his parents, apparently. comes back home. the neighbor see him out and about. then he disappears. if he were a young black man, do you think you would have been shielded in that way that the police could not have spoken him or he wouldn't be arrested? >> no, probably not. i think going back to the body camera footage come if you watch it, there's this level of camaraderie with him. the police do not see him as someone -- the police do not see him as someone that could potentially be dangerous. they give him like a fist pump before they leave. they set him up and a hotel room for the nigh he has seen a someone that is

safe and probably having like his paners just giving him a hard time. that ability to only see him as a good, respectable person who is not doing anything wrong has everything to do with how he was perceived by police and has to do with his race. amy: one of the police officers talks about his own ex-wife, so he commiserated with him. mary kathryn nagle, i went to bring you back into the conversation to talk about the violence against women act and what that means, what it is about, where it stands, and how it particularly relates to native american women. >> thank you so much. right now we are working very hard to get the violence against women act reauthorized in the senate. we got a bipartisan reauthorization out of the house and long time ago. we had been waiting to get it through the senate. this is critical. like i said, in 1978, the u.s.

supreme court illuminated tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-indians who commit crimes on tribal lands. in 2013 whenongress reauthorized the violence against women act and president obama signed it into law, restore three categories of not ended, jurisdiction on tribal lands was tough that is spifically domestic violence, dating violence, and violation of protective orders. what we are hoping to get is a further restoration of other areas ofriminal jurisdiction. for instance, in this dispute, the tribe may have jurdiction now over a non-indian domestic violence abuser in a home is abusing a native woman on tribal lands, but it does not cover child abuse. in 70 situations, children are also victims. -- in so many situations, children are also victims.

the u.s. attorney's offices do not take them because they are not a priority. there are other areas of tribal iminal jurisdiction we are advocating to have restored. we are very much hoping the sena will act weekly. i knothere are a lot of distractions, but we really do need a republican and democrat senators to relate act now because it is a matter of life and death for native women and children. amy: and treaties and sovereignty. hodoes that play into this issue? >> first of all, the u.s. would not beere today if i didot sign treaties with tribal nations. treaties gave the u.s. legitimacy when the rest of the world look at the u.s. and did not know whether the u.s. would be legitimate sovereign. the united states do what other countries were doing and sign treaties with tribal nations to establish sovereignty. they continue to sign treaties

to exchange lands. that is what we have to lands that comprise the united states. promises were made in exchange for land. in many cases, promises tribal nations would be able to maintain their sovereignty and jurisdiction, including the right to protect their own people within their own borders. the u.s. supreme cour decision infringes on that and violates that. i think will eventually be overturned. it is our plessy v ferguson. i secretaryaaland as noted, there is a duty responsibility sign in those treaties to protect our women and children and our people on our lands. that is why it is so devastating when the fbi completely disregards the murders of our native people. in this case, what is supreme court has defined as a treaty trust dating responsibly to protect our lives. i would argue congress has a treaty and trust duty responsibity to restore the

tribal criminal jurisdiction that the supreme in 1978 took away. amy: amara cofer, when african-american women and girls are talked about, there is a certain level of victim blaming. can you and our conversation by talking on taking on that? >> whenever stories of black women do make it to the mainstream media or even the local media where they are from, there is always the focus on their life, their lifestyles, things that made the justifications as why these things happen to them. that causes people to not care about these victims. it causes people to excuse why they're not sharing the missing pursing flyer are talking about the murder -- person flyer or talking about the murder. i try to humanize these victims and tell you who they were before they became victims and also helping to understand it does not matter what your

lifestyle is, whether you are a doctor, whether you are a -- your life matters and people -- amy: we have to leave it there. amara cofer, mary kathryn nagle#

. thank you for joining us. from our studio in tokyo this is nhk "newsline." business sentiment at large manufacturers has improved. that marks the fifth consecutive quarter of improvement. the index stood at plus 18, that's up 4 points from the previous quarter. that indicates an improvement in sentiment that had conti