[captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now! amy: from new york, this is democry now! >> united states congress pushing austerity measur in puerto rico where we cannot handle these types of disasters. the seconds puerto rico is on the frontlines of climate

disaster. amy: the island of puerto rico is in the dark after hurricane fiona triggers flash floods and landslides after crashing into the island just before the fifth anniversary of hurricane maria, which killed thoands of people and devastated puerto rico's electral grid. we will get an update from juan carlos dávila in san juan. and from the former mayor carmen yulín cruz. this comes as climate week kicks off in new york city, alongside the united nations general assembly. we will also speak with climate scientist michael mann of the university of pennsylvania, author of "the new climate war: the fight to take back our planet." then to london for the state funeral of queen elizabeth ii. we will speak with kehinde andrews, the uk's first professor of black studies. author of "the new age of empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the

world." he says his grandmother would have mourned the queen, but he finds that difficult. >> i guess it depends on what you think being a good job of being queen is. if it is to represent white supremacy and the elite of colonialism, she has done it very well. if you consider the royal family -- weathered some heavy storms including prince andrew. how she kept the images of the royal family established, then yes she ascended good job. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. more than a million residents of puerto rico remain without power a day after hurricane fiona smashed into the island,

bringing 100 mile an hour winds and up to 30 inches of rain to part of the island. on sunday, puerto rico's entire electrical grid collapsed as fiona's eye roared across the island's southwestern coast, triggeri flash floods and landslides and washing away at least one major bridge. governor pedro pierluisi described the damage as catastrophic. fiona hit just two days before the fifth anniversary of hurricane maria, which killed thousands of people and devastated puerto rico's electrical grid and other infrastructure. alaska's governor has declared a state of emergency after the remnants of typhoon merbok brought a 1000-mile-wide path of destruction to the state's pacific coastline. the massive storm system spawned flooding, prompted evacuations, knocked buildings off their foundations, washed away bridges and roads, and brought power

outages to many remote alaskan communities. merbok was alaska's worst storm in a half century, the most intense september storm ever observed in the bering sea and one of the strongest storms ever to hit alaska. in japan, 9 million people have been ordered to evacuate their homes as one of the largest typhoons ever to hit japan made landfall on the southern island of kyushu sunday night with winds topping 110 miles per hour. the storm is forecast to bring flooding and landslides to japan's main island of honshu through wednesday morning. the japan meteorological agency classified the typhoon as "violent," its most severe category, and prime minister fumio kishida urged people to seek shelter. >> do not go your daerous area if you feel you're in danger, do

not hesitate to evacuate. please evacuate to safe areas while there is still light. amy: here in new york, the 77th united nations general assembly opens today with the climate emergency and the war in ukraine taking center stage. ahead of the gathering, secretary-general antónio guterres called out nations for failing to protect future generations, decrying the "sheer inadequacy of the global response to the climate crisis." today is also the start of climate week here in new york, with dozens of protests and climate-related activities scheduled around the city. bells tolled in london today 96 times as a state funeral for queen elizabeth was held at westminster abbey. more than 500 foreign dignitaries attended the funeral, including president biden, leaders from commonwealth nations, many members of other royal families, including the

emperor and empress of japan. the funeral was conducted by the dean of westminster the very reverend dr david hoyle. >> we come to this house of god to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope our sacred duties. here where queen elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the commonwealth, and from the nations of the world to mourn bank our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service. amy: the queen's funeral was the largest police operation in u.k. history. police reported placing sharpshooters on the roofs of every building within a mile of westminster abbey. in other news about the royal family, king charles iii was confronted directly by a protester during a stop in cardiff. the man shouted at him, "not my king."

>> charles -- not my king. amy: we will have more on the queen and her legacy later in the program. we will speak with kehinde andrews, the uk's first professor of black studies, author of "the new age of empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the world." the white house has denounced florida governor ron desantis and texas governor greg abbott for busing and flying asylum seekers to liberal states. this is white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. >> they use them as political pines, treated them like chattel in a cruel premeditated political stunt. amy: the white house criticism came after florida governor ron desantis flew 50 venezuelan asylum seekers to martha's vineyard, an island off the coast of massachusetts.

authorities in massachusetts have since moved the asylum seekers to a military base in cape cod. on friday, massachusetts senator ed markey and six members of the massachusetts congressional delegation called on the treasury department to investigate desantis for using federal covid-19 relief funds to fly the asylum seekers to martha's vineyard. domingo garcia, president of lulac, the league of united latin american citizens, denounced the republican effort to send asylum seekers to the island, new york city, and washington, d.c. >> i was in washington dc yesterday and we had one immigrant who went into shock because he was diabetic. he had to go to the hospital. there was a baby that also went to the hospital with respiratory issues. they have been on a bus for 16 hours. it is unchristian, un-american,

and untexan. amy: indian prime minister narendra modi told russia president vladimir putin that "today's era is not one for war." modi's remarks at the shanghai cooperation organization summit in uzbekistan have been widely interpreted as criticism of russia's invasion of ukraine. modi's comments on friday came a -- came after chinese leader xi jinping also voiced questions and concerns to putin about the war. despite modi's comment, trade between india and russia has soared since the invasion of ukraine despite western sanctions. india now imrts about 750,000 barrels of oil per day from russia. that's up from about 20,000 barrels a day a year ago. on friday, russian president vladimir putin acknowledged modi's concerns about the war. >> i know your stains on the

conflict in ukraine. i know about the concerns you voice constantly. we will do everything in order to stop as soon as possible. unfortunately, the leadership of the opposing side, ukraine, as stated they refuse to hold talks and want to reach their goals militarily, or as they say, on the battlefield. amy: the united nations has announced plans to investigate reports that mass graves have been discovered in the kharkiv region and areas occupied by russia until ukraine's recent counter offensive. liz throssel, a spokesperson of the u.n. office of the high commissioner for human rights, spoke friday. >> have seen reports about possible mass graves, what we call collective grades. we areware of reports 400 bodies were found in the collective grave in izyum. we are following up on these allegations. they are aiming at organizing a monitoring visit to determine

the circumstances of the dths of the individua. amy: durg ukrai's recent counter offensive it recaptured about 3400 square miles of land. that's more land than russia had captured over the past five months. in other news on the war in ukraine, ukrainian's state nuclear agency says a russia military strike has hit the south ukraine nuclear power plant. no damage was reported to the plant's reactors. the facility is ukraine's second largest nuclear power plant. meanwhile, the 35-nation board of the international atomic energy agency has approved a resolution demanding russia end its occupation of zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in europe. a russian-brokered truce between azerbaijan and armenia is continuing to hold after fighting between the two nations left 200 people dead last week. over the weekend, u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi visited armenia and accused azerbaijan of initiating the latest round of violence.

azerbaijan and armenia have been locked in a decades long dispute over control of the nagorno-karabakh region. in news from central asia, nearly 100 people have died in fighting between kyrgyzstan and tajikistan over the past week. a ceasefire between the former soviet states was reached friday but both sides say some shelling has continued. israel has bombed the damascus international airport in syria again. according to the syrian observatory for human rights, the bombing killed five syrian soldiers and two members of iran-backed groups. the united nations recently revealed that an israeli strike on the damascus international airport in june prevented the u.n. from flying in humanitarian aid for two weeks. in recent years, israel has carried out hundreds of attacks inside syria, including multiple attacks targeting airports. president biden has vowed again to defend taiwan if it was attacked by china. biden made the comment during an

interview on cbs's "60 minutes." pres. biden: we agree with what we signed on to a long time ago. if there is a one china policy and how one makes their o judgment about independence, we are not moving as we are not encouraging. that is their decision. >> would u.s. forces defend the island? i'm too if there was an unprecedented attack. >> i like ukraine, to be clear, u.s. men and women would defend taiwan in the event of a chinese invasion? >> pres. biden: yes. amy: after the interview aired, the white house issued a statement trying to walk back biden's comments claiming u.s. policy on taiwan has not changed. china criticized biden's remarks saying it "severely violates" u.s. policy over taiwan which china sees as a breakaway province. during the same interview on "60 minutes," president biden said the pandemic was over when asked by cbs's scott pelley. >> is the pandemic over?

pres. biden: the pandemic is over. we still have a problem with covid. we are still doing a lot of work on it. but the pandemic is over. amy: many public health officials criticized biden's comments, which, as the white house is pushing people to receive the new covid-19 booster shots. according to data collected by johns hopkins, covid killed over 13,000 people across the u.s. over the past month. that is 2.2 million new infections reported. west virginia republican governor jim justice has signed a near total ban on abortion, making his state the second to outlaw abortion care since the supreme court struck down roe v. wade in june. under west virginia's new law, licensed providers can lose their licenses if they perform band abortions while unlicensed providers could face felony charges and up to a decade in

prison. there are very limited exceptions for medical emergencies or if a pregnant person can prove they are survivor of rape or inces. a 34 euro man has pleaded guilty -- a 34-year-old has pleaded guilty to blow up company's offices in new york city and springfield, massachusetts, after it updated as definitions of "girl," "woman," "trans woman," and other gender terms. meanwhile, a massachusetts woman has been arrested for making a false bomb threat against boston children's hospital. the hospital has come under attack recently by right-wing groups for establishing the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the united states. 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, the island of puerto rico is in the dark after

hurricane fiona smashed into the island, causing flash floods and landslides. this on the fifth anniversary of hurricane maria. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in puerto rico, where more than 1.4 million residents remain without power after hurricane fiona brought 100 mile an hour winds and up to 30 inches of rain to parts of the island. on sunday, fiona's eye roared across the island's southwestern coast, triggering flash floods and landslides, washing away at least one major bridge. governor pedro pierluisi described the damage as "catastrophic." fiona hit just two days before the fifth anniversary of hurricane maria, which killed thousands of people and

devastated puerto rico's electrical grid. this time, the island-wide blackout reportedly happened before hurcane fiona made landfall. puerto rico's power company luma blamed the bad weather and high winds and vowed to restore power sooner than it did after hurricane maria, when thousands went for months without electricity. some of the few homes and businesses that have power now are running on rooftop solar power or using generators. president biden has approved an emergency declaration. the situation could worsen today as the national hurricane center says parts of puerto rico could see 25 inches of rain. meanwhile, hurricane irma is also set to cause major rain and mudslides as it move on to the -- as it moved onto the dominican republictop for more, we are joined by two guests. carmen yulín cruz is the former mayor of san juan, puerto rico, and joins us now from massachusetts where she is a

weissman fellow at mount holyoke college. and in san juan, puerto rico, we are joined by juan carlos dávila, a filmmaker and democracy now! correspondent. we welcome you both to democracy now! juan carlos, can you describe where you are, how you even have power when the whole island is out? hello, amy. thank you for having me on the show. the little power that i have this because i have been preparing for this kind of situation. my journalistic work, i have a system that i connected the car so i can plug in the essential electronics to do my work. is for just a couple of hours and go back and charged again. like myself, many people have

found different ways to cope with the situation because we kn we cannot rely on the national electric grid that is now privatized and people will find many ways to come up with solutions to deal -- the real problems we are seeing or the real situati is its very unequal. the people who have more power and more money have been able to get -- inall sor panels, disconnect from the grid. meanwhil the people who are poor a working-class have been left with the electrical system that basically does not work. amy: for people to be clear, and i also made a mistake of saying irma's some point, this is hurricane fiona but it is so

reminiscent of what happened five years ago with maria and also with hurricane irma. now the hurricane is moved onto the dominican republic which does not mean the devastation of puerto rico is over by any means, especially with information cut off from the inner parts of the island. juan carlos, if you can talk about the fact the energy, the electricity went out before -- talk more about that -- the island was even hit on sunday. >> yes. one of the -- puerto rico is a very complicated left will system. one of the main features is the weather. when the resolution of the energy company was under prepa and people who managed the electrical grid where the workers -- whenever there was rain or bad weather -- a

quickly. in ts sense, something we have been experiencing for more than a year now, operating last year in 2021, whenever there is a very small wind or bad weather for just a couple of hours or even minutes, then the system collapses very quickly. the problem is -- takes longer. it has to be, the problem is ever since the beginning -- before the storm started, did not have the personnel ready to deal with this kind of situation. it happens on a weekly, daily basis for many communities that people just experiment that. so whether it was related directly or not, it could have

been any wind gust or something that created that before the hurricane really made landfall. amy: when i was with you in puerto rico after maria, if you remember, we were sleeping in this house that was dark completely, no electricity, after the storms. and next to us was a fully electrified that and breakfast because they were using solar power on the roof. talk about the use of solar power right now in dealing with fiona. >> i think if you might even look at -- you see puerto rico is an advanced country. what is happening is there is the industry of solar panels is profiting from the disasters that are happening in puerto rico. so there is solar panel industry driven by capitalism.

the big issue, like i was mentioning earlier, is the solution has become -- the solution has become unequal. people have the power, privilege, and the money have been able to discoect from the grid. you see it in the ads for puerto rico. we are really normalizing the situation. but in that normalization, what is happening is that people who can't afford it are the people who can't deal with such an event happens. and it is something the government is promoting. it is not only promoting the privatization throughout the electrical grid, but also promoting all of these industries of solo panels rather than really finding a way of

community-oriented solution solar panels like community microgrids. this is something organizations with proposals [indiscernible] environment organizations are putting forward a new plan for the country to deal withhis, which it made on rooftop solar. but connected with microgrids. this is -- the problem is going to continue because what is going to happen is the prices for electricity are going to continue to increase for regular pele, and people let myself are not disconnected from the grid are going -- we are right now paying the highest in the united states when it comes to

relationship our income, the biggest -- the highest energy bills with the worst energy system. amy: juan carlos, i want to bring into the conversation carmen yulín cruz, the former mayor of san juan, porter co., w weissman fellow at mou holyoke college. it is great to have you with us but go back five years to the images of you chest high in water as you are trying to help people with president trump coming down to puerto rico hurling paper towels at the people who had come to see him. your thoughts on how far or not how far puerto rico has come today? >> well, what we are seeing is tragedy unravel once again. we are seeing it again in front of our eyes. puerto rico, what happens when

climate change goes wrong, but it can also be like when carlos mentioned an example of what can happen when solutions are put into place that puts people at the community level and disenfranchise first. not only rich people are putting solar panels, people are going into considerable debt in order to have one or two panels in their homes to be able to deal with ailing family members. people that need respirators. another thing that is important is in puerto rico and there is no power, no electrical power -- we have no power the colony of the u.s. -- when there is no electrical power, there is also no water. so right now about 750,000 people have no water services in puerto rico. because water needs to be pumped up to the taller parts of puerto rico and without the electrical energy, that does not happen.

puerto ricans have been told by the puerto rican government that they are generators in all of these water treatment plants. and the plates, tour the water gets to the different places. now as you saw five years ago, almost to the day, tomorrow will be the anniversary of horrendous maria, now people start not having clean water and they start washing dishes in the creeks and rivers. of course, that is leading to another wave of crisis. hurricane is a crisis that begets another crisis. leptospirosis, people getting sick from not having the appropriate drinking water. so the biden administration here has an opportunity -- the president declared a state of emergency but i think the biden administration has an opportunity to show the world

what the goal is, not one life lost. as you mentioned with maria, close to 4000 people lost their lives because the inefficiency where the guiding principle, that the aide was weaponized. what needs to happen, in my opinion, number one, send the aid directly to all municipalities. it doesn't matter -- the municipality's for other political parties have members in the municipal legislatures. make them also be part of the distribution of aid. that distribution has to be from us -- robust it has to be people-centered and community-centered. not only give the aid from to the government but religious

organizations and community organizations that know exactly where each one of the people are and how much do they need. and the third thing i think of the outmost importance is everyone must be deployed, whether it is people from different electrical authorities within the u. must bdeployed immediately as soon as the winds subside, with one goal, to lift up the electrical grid in puerto rico and to make sure from now on when we -- this is embarrassing. last week it was mentioned in congress that out of 9 billion dollars that have been allocated for the reconstruction of the grid, only $40 million has been used. so congress has to make fema accountable and has to make luma accountable. a plan has to be set forth, a

blueprint for transformation of the system, making sure resources are made available like they are in massachusetts where the state case for you to have your home completely sell the rest. that needs to happen in the accountability needs to be very, very transparent for everyone to see. luma just saithis morning, what hundred thousand people have gotten her electrical power back. this needs to be detailed information so that the people of puerto rico also become not only people that are surviving, but also people that hold 30 tutees accountable for not taking the disaster worse than nature has already made. amy: juan carlos, what is expected right now? the island has said -- people may be in the dark for days, maybe weeks once

again. your final thought? >> i think what we're seeing right now is how effective it is going to be, this luma contract. it is the first time it is been put to the test. this is a category one bag hurrican in puerto rico we have had many storms like this in the past and it is very difficult to see -- it is not as horrible as maria, but it has collapsed the entire country. the national grid like this of electricity collapses, it really collapses the entire country. so we are really right now going to really know how bad the contract is and how complete the company luma is providing electrical service to the people of puerto rico.

one more thing i want to add, the united states can be sending to puerto rico aid right now. but you really think about the long-term solution for puerto rico, we have to address colonialism. colonialism in puerto rico is right now embodied to the figure of the fiscal control board, controlled by the united states congress. and this board has been the one responsible for cutting public funding and other sources to the people of puerto rico. it includes the privatization of the electrical grid and gives the contract to a company that really doesn't know how to handle the electrical grid in puerto rico. it has created a crisis because really the agencies -- the government agencies of puerto rico do not have the resources to deal with this as they could have some decades ago. the problem right w is also

the people of puerto rico, the agencies of puerto rico do not have the resources. the main reason is the u.s. congress has to put forward a fiscal conol board that has been -- has eliminated a lot of funding for agencies to deal with this typef situation. it is tied to colonialism. the resources we don't have. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. we will continue to follow juan this developing story. juan carlos dávila, democracy now!'s correspondent in san juan. carmen yulín cruz, former mayor of san juan, puerto rico, now at mount holyoke college. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, democracy now! the war peace report.

today marks the start of climate week here in new york city were more than 150 world leaders are gathering for the united nations general assembly. some of them are coming directly from the funeral of queen elizabeth the ii, including president biden who is set to address the forum wednesday, one day later than usual. on thursday, the barbados prime minister is set to speak about her proposal for a new financial settlement for vulnerable countries struggling to pay off debt from climate disasters. governments are also facing pressure to address their pledges to end fossil fuel subsidies amid soaring energy bills. ahead of the 77th session of the u.n. general assembly secretary-general antónio , guterres spoke about the need -- had this morning. >> climate change seems thave moved out of the priorities for many decision-makers around the world and this is a suicide. we see emissions growing and we see fossiluels become fashionable again. when we know they are mainly

responsible for the progressive war against nature that we have been wagg in our history. amy: activists have also planned a week of actions at year's climate week, which comes after a summer of heat waves and floods around the world. as pakistan reels from one of the worst climate disasters in history, one third of pakistan is underwater. hurricane season is underway again with hurricane fiona battering puerto rico as we just described, as well as typhoon merbok, which flooded parts of western alaska in what some are calling the state's worst storm in half a century. meanwhile million people have , nine been ordered to evacuate their homes in japan where one of largest typhoons ever to hit the country made landfall sunday night. to talk about all of this, we are joined by michael mann, the presidential distinguished professor & director of the penn center for science, sustainability & the media at the university of pennsylvania.

his most recent book, "the new climate war: the fighto take back our planet." professor, welcome back to democracy now! you just heard the descriptions of puerto rico. we have japan, alaska, pakistan. explain what is happening. >> i wouldn't say it is good to be with you but we rarely have good news to discuss. with these catastrophic events that we see playing out now in real-time, we are witnessing the devastating consequences of climate change now. this is not 10 years into the future, it is not way off in the arctic, it is where we live now we are experiencing devastating consequences of past climate and action. it really drives home the imports of taking action now. the physics isn't that difficult. you make the planet warmer, you're going to get more heat, more intense and more frequent heat waves like we have seen this summer and every summer in

recent history. you make yet mr. warmer, it holds moisture. -- you make the atmosphere warmer, it holds moisture. you get the devastating flooding that we are seeing right now with these landfall and hurricanes. you make the soils warmer i had the summer, you dry them out more so you get more drought. what we see out west, the heat, drought combined to give us those devastating wildfires. so this is not rocket science. the physics here is very basic, and it tells us we are reaping what we have sown. we are now experiencing devastating climate impacts. amy: so can you talk about right now what you feel needs to be done? and the significance, you are a scientist now at the university pennsylvania, the way climate science was disparaged now, i

think, so much more embraced all over the world, but what has to happen at this moment in the midst of climate week here in new york and right before the u.n. cop, what you countries have to commit to? >> the worst thing that can avenue is a climate scientist's predictions come true. and that is what we are seeing happen. those used to denied the reality of climate change, they can't anymore. we are now seeing the impacts were their own two eyes. that doesn't mean they have given up polluters, they're still using every tool in the book, anthat is what my book is about, to try to prevent the actions that are necessary. what we need to do? look, we need to recognize we have made some real progress here. the inflation reduction act is the most conference of climate that has passed in the united states. limit warming beyond.

it starts to get us on that path but does not quite get there. we need to go further. we need to reduce carbon emissions u.s. by at least 50% by 2030. the ira inflation reduction act maybe gives us about 40%. we have to go further than that. right now the gatekeeper for clime legislation in the united states is joe manchin. that is why voters need to turn out in droves in these midterm elections are looking at a large enough majority of climate advocates, democrats, others who support climate action in congress so we can go further, so we can get more aggressive climate legislation passed that will put a price on carbon, provide more subsidies for renewable energy, that will block you fossil fuel

infrastructure. don't listen to iaea. no cheerleader for renewable energy has said that if we are to keep warming below that catastrophic level of three degrees fahrenheit, there could be no fossil fuel infrastructure. that means we can't continue to fund new pipeline projects as we are currently doing here in the united states. amy: why is a category 2 hurricane like fiona that just swept through puerto rico -- we don't even know the extent of the damage as it moves on to the dominican republic -- causing so much damage i knew puerto rico compared to a category 5 hurricane maria? also, what is the significance of it appearing so late in hurricane season? and also, why the hurricane that as -- now the typhoon that is hit japan is considered like the worst in half a century? what is causing this? >> again, it is pretty basic, the warming of the oceans come

the plans warming of the oceans warming up, meaning there is more energy, more evaporation from the oceans and it is that evaporation that provides the energy to intensify those storms and what provides all of that moisture. so we get stronger, more intense storms and they contain a lot more rainfall. so we get much more flooding. that is what we are seeing over time. the big reason of any particular storm -- we can't say this drum would not have happened if not for climate change. what we can say is this particular storm was stronger, wetter, and it was more damaging than it would have been because of climate change. amy: and the comparison of the atlantic storm to pacific storms? >> this is a global -- the physics here don't respect individual ocean basins. everywhere you go, warmer oceans means more intense hurricanes or typhoons, as we call them over there, and worse flooding's with these storms. that is what we are seeing.

this is just the tip of the iceberg. the good news is we can prevent is all from getting worse if we bring those carbon emissions down, as i said, 50% within the next decade, down to zero by mid century, we can prevent further warming of the planet and worsening of these effects. if we continue to burn fossil fuels, all of this only gets worse. this only becomes a glimpse of what is to come. amy: michael mann, thank you for been with us, presidential distinguished professor and director of the penn center for science, sustainability & the media at the university of pennsylvania. his most recent book, "the new climate war: the fight to take back our planet." next up, the state funeral of queen elizabeth ii. we will speak with kehinde andrews, the uk's first professor of black studies, author of "the new age of empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the world." stay with us.

♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in london, where the coffin caring queen elizabeth ii has just placed in a hearse bound for windsor counsel -- windsor castle. more than 500 foreign dignitaries attended the funeral, including president biden, leaders from commonwealth nations and many members of other royal families, including the emperor and empress of japan. the funeral was the largest police operation in u.k. history. police reported placed sharpshooters on the roofs of every building within a mile of westminster abbey. the funeral was conducted by the dean of westminster the very reverend dr. david hoyle. >> the house of god, to the place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope our

sacred duties. here where queen elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the commonwealth, and from the nations of the world to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service. amy: in related news, king charles iii was confronted directly by a protester over the weekend during a stop in cardiff who shouted at him, "not my king." >> [indiscernible] not my king. amy: for more, we go to birmingham, england, where we're joined by kehinde andrews, professor of black studies in the school of social sciences at birmingham city university. he is actually the u.k.'s first professor of black studies.

author of "the new age of empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the world." his recent piece for politico is headlined "i don't mourn the queen." in it, he writes -- "my paternal grandmother was born in colonial jamaica in 1914 and was raised on the fairy tales of the mother country and nobility of british royalty. she migrated to britain in search of better opportunities in the mid 50's as part of the so called windrush generation, who helped to rebuild the nation after the second world war. a picture of the queen had pride of place in her front room and were she alive today, she would have wholeheartedly joined in the collective grief. but my father grew up in the 1960's, facing the cold realities of british racism and could never feel any warmth to either the nation or its figure head." professor kehinde andrews, welcome to democracy now! instead of me reading your words, why don't you tell us that story and talk about the

coverage of the queen and what the queen's passing means, not only for britain, but the commonwealth and the realms? do you think this could mean the end of empire? can you hear me, professor? >> yes sorry. i think you captured a lot of it. what is happening today, the collective grief of the country. [indiscernible] sometimes they just clash so much you feel alienated. people queuing 24 hours. it just seems like the country has gone kind of collectively mad.

[indiscernible] who never saw the queen son who represented them -- saw the queen is representative of them. amy: talk about the windrush generation. your paternal grandmother came to britain as a part of that from jamaica. can you explain that more to people who are not familiar with what happened? >> my family was part of the british in part -- remember, what made britain great included jamaica or my family was from. in jamaica, slavery -- african americans take into america. my grandmother's generation, they were born in britain. they british education. they were told the queen is great and it is a wonderful. my grandmother grew up loving the queen.

should a picture of the queen on her wall when she died. the reality was very different en she got here, one my dad got here as a young man. all of the same racism that americans experience. brutality in the schools. we grew up not sing a connection . amy: your father chose to leave britain and go back to jamaica? >> he retired a few years ago. [indiscernible] the queen is the head of the nation.

racism is as british as a cup of tea. amy: very interesting how you talked about black brits and black americans, here the other states you're talking about seeing racism every day on a daily basis and i britain it is not only in britain, but it is the empire, it is the commonwealth that is not so often. it was exported to the colonies. >> yeah, the big difference between america and britain is britain is said racial violence [indiscernible] in the caribbean, in india. in america, there are black people in america before there was an america -- britain, it is different.

the problems are exactly the same. britain racism and american racism are exactly the same. it can seem like racism is different, but it is not. amy: gold, tobacco, sugar, cotton. queen elizabeth i, you say, launched britain's slave trade. talk about these commodities and what they meant for the people, where they were grown, those that brought that wealth to britain that we are seeing transferred from one generation to the next in the royal family. >> what made britain britain prior to the 16th century before the british empire, it was a small country the north atlantic. what made britain take off was its involvement in the slave trade.

enslaving more africans. britain was a premier slave trading nation. what made britain britain, gold and silver and the stock market, etc., tobacco. [indiscernible] on one hand you have britain making massive strides, becoming this great nation, and then look what happens to the people in the caribbean, where my family is from. major produce all this sugar -- made to produce all this sugar. [indiscernible] one of the poorest economies in the world. that is no accident. the big example of this is when they ended slavery in 1838, the

largest payment ever, the equivalent to about 100 billion pounds to slave owners, and the got nothing. -- the slaves got nothing. they had to prove they were fit to be free. amy: if you can talk about expressing dissent today in britain. the whole issue of whether you can say you are against the monarchy, that you want it to end? >> it is interesting. [indiscernible] i've done interviews -- there's been wall-to-wall coverage of the funeral on any tv and no dissent, no questioning the future of the monarchy. [indiscernible]

the way the protesters are being dealt with. [indiscernible] people sadist at the right time. when would be a better time to question the marchy? -- people say it is not the right time. we would be a better time to question the monarchy? [indiscernible] even in britain, this is an old institution. it needs to go. this is the perfect time. amy: if you could also address the issue of those who talk about the queen, like the conservative commentator candace owens speaking about british colonization of africa on her show the daily wire earlier this month? >> the real truth or the reason

why people hate the queen has nothing to do the colonization -- which, by the way, to be clear, there brits invading africa actually represents -- this is going to get in trouble -- but it was, if you look at how ford brought the african colonies, it ended up being a net positive. now, this is of course -- this will get me in trouble because people somehow the africans were living happily ever after and things were great and the horrible english, british dissented upon them and murdered everybody in the fridge murdered everybody. and that isn't the truth. the african nations has leverage just like the european nations had slavery. amy: professor kehinde andrews, if you could respond? >> well, unfortunate, so people like to make money for white racism and candace has a good history -- that is a nonsensical view.

when britain came -- [indiscernible] image affect to enslaved people the main will your takes over is draining africans to get the commodities. it enriches europe so your can colonize. -- so europe colonize. [indiscernible] look at global -- the poorest parts of the world, sub-saharan africa.

the lowest life expectancy, sub-saharan africa. [indiscernible] amy: as we wrap up to show, we have 30 seconds, kehinde andrews , what would you like to see now? you have the song "god save the queen" is now changed to "god save the king" with now king charles iii. your thoughts? >> it is time now to end the british monarchy. [indiscernible] at that many countries will think about removing the queen, including my own country of jamaica. i think also in britain. if you want to include the millions of children, have to get rid of the monarchy. amy: kehinde andrews, thank you for being with us, professor of

black studies in the school of social sciences at birmingham city university. author of "the new age of empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the world." we will link to your piece in politico "i don't mourn the queen."

o;o; ó7 [tom cruise impersonation] tom cruise: my fellow americans, you deserve the truth and i know you can handle it. i won't be your next president. that point has been made crystal clear. [president barack obama impersonation] barack obama: we're entering an era in whi our enemies can make it look like anyone is saying anything at any point in time. like, president trump is a total and complete d--. ♪♪♪ [jeremy fernandez impersonation] jeremy fernandez: hello, welcome to "foreign correspondent." i'm jeremy fernandez. well, it took a global pandemic to force us all indoors and to increasingly rely on video screens to connect our lives.