02/21/23 02/21/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the reason why you have crime that has spiraled out of control in so many areas is because you have politicians putting woke ideology ahead of public safety. amy: republican governor ron desantis was in chicago monday to address chicago's police union which has endorsed one of the nine democrats running for

mayor in next tuesday's pivotal chicago election. we will look at how the candidates are addressing public safety and much more with juan gonzales in chicago, barbara ransby and retired illinois congressmember luis gutiérrez. we will also speak with longtime chicago activist frank chapman about how a chicago police murder of like panther leader fred hampton in 1969 is linked to a measure on next tuesday's ballot in chicago that establishes community control of the police to cal police councils. and it was 58 years agooday malcolm x was assassinated in harlem. >> the history of unpunished violence against our people clearly indicates we must be prared to defend oselves or will continue to be a defenselesseople at theercy

of a ruthlesand violent, racist mob. amy: we will look at the life d legacy of malcolm x with dr. angela davis. she is giving a keynote address tonight at the center which is the side of the audubon ballroom where malcolm x was gund down 58 years ago. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in turkey, at least six people were killed monday as two powerful earthquakes shook the southern province of hatay. the magnitude 6.3 and 5.8 quakes were felt across turkey's border region and into rthern syria, sparking panic among survivors of two even more massive quakes earlier this month which killed more than 47,000 people in both countries, a toll that's rtain to rise in the days and weeks

ahead. on monday, istanbul's mayor warned about 90,000 buildings are at risk of collapse if a massive earthquake were to strike turkey's largest city. meanwhile, a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed turkey's bab al-hawa border crossing into syria on monday, two days after the head of the world food programme criticized syrian authorities for blocking access to the area. aid workers say they are now contending with a shortage of tents for thousands of people in need. >> the united nations and relief agencies have not reached us. in shelters, there are some 200,000 -- 200 or 300 families. there are not tents available. if there are available, the prices have doubled. amy: russian president vladimir putin has promised to withdraw from the new start treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms

control agreement between the united states and russia. putin made the pledge during his annual state of the nation address earlier today, where he gave no sign russia is preparing to end the war in ukraine. putin accused western nations of provoking the conflict. >> the western elites do not conceal their goals as they say, it is a direct quote to bring russia a strategic -- what does that mean for us? it means to end us once and for all. they plan to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation. we understand it like that. we will react accordingly. this is because in this case it is about theery existence of our country. amy: meanwhile, president biden is in warsaw, poland, today where he's giving a major address on u.s. support for ukraine ahead of the anniversary first of russia's invasion. biden is also meeting with leaders of the nine countries on nato's eastern flank, including polish president andrei duda.

biden's trip to poland comes one day after he announced a $500 million worth of additional u.s. weaponry for ukraine during a surprise visit to kyiv. the frch armyas left rkina faso, offially ending its military operation in the west african country less than a nth after leaders asked france to withdraw its contingent of hundreds of troops. their departure mks a significanstep in scing down ance's mitary presee in africa's sahel region. protesrs had long denounced a 2018 military accord that allowed french soldiers to fight armed groups in burkina faso, st. francis's -- saying fran's ar had donlittle to actually tackle violence that's engulfed the country in recent years. >> we n't want themn r territory. when they are here and our people die, they do nothing to stop the0's ould expec us theirase because we are going to go there.

amy: the medical humanitarian group doctors without borders has suspended its work in burkina faso after armed assailants killed two staff members earlier this month. in mexico, at least 17 asylum seekers were killed in a bus crash in the state of puebla sunday afternoon. most of them came from venezuela, colombia, and central america. the bus was carrying 45 passengers when it turned over on the highway as it headed north toward mexico city. this comes just days after a bus carrying 66 u.s.-bound migrants plunged off a cliff in panama last week killing at least 39 people, including children. rights groups warn cambodia is ratcheting up its crackdown on free speech and human rights after prime minister hun sen ordered one of cambodia's last independent news organizations to shut down last week. he accused the outlet voice of democracy of attacking him and his son, who is also his presumed successor. this is sothoeuth ith, media director at voice of democracy.

>> bringing the voice to the voiceless. bringing the issues to the government. we are afraid this will be -- amy: in iraq, prominent environmentalist jassim al-asadi was released last week, two weeks after he was kidnapped near baghdad. the motivation for his abductions remains unclear. the goldman prize-winning activist is head of the group nature iraq, which fights for the protection of the country's southern wetlands as they face increasing challenges due to the climate crisis. in ohio, one person was killed and 12 others injured monday as a large explosion tore through a metal factory outside cleveland, shattering windows, scattering debris around the site, and setting vehicles on fire. residents of oakwood village reported a scent like burning

oil after the explosion, which sent a huge plume of smoke billowing into the sky. records from the occupational safety and health administration show the factory's operator i. schumann & company was recently cited in several complaints. in one instance, a worker suffered third-degree burns, another was labeled a serious violation regarding the control of hazardous energy. meanwhile, the ohio department of health is opening a health clinic today for residents of east palestine, who've reported health effects following the february 3 derailment of a norfolk southern train. the crash led to a massive fire and the release of toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride. the head of the environmental protection agency michael regan is headed back to east palestine today. his trip comes as transportation secretary pete buttigieg is coming under fire for not visiting the crash site. buttigieg told reporters on monday -- "when the time is right, i do

plan to visit east palestine. i don't have a date for you right now." to see our coverage of the ohio rail disaster, visit our website democracynow.org. students at michigan state university returned to classes on monday, one week after a gunman's rampage left three students dead and five others critically wounded. many msu students and faculty reported they weren't ready to resume classes and need more time to heal. meanwhile, hundreds of students and their supporters gathered at the michigan state capitol monday for a sit-in protest demanding michigan legislature put new limits on guns. this is msu senior mahek khangura. >> i texted my family, friends, and loved ones for a what i thought would be the last time ever. the wi-fi kept going in and out. i thought i was going to die. i did not think i was going to make it out alive anymore.

while i am standing here before you today lucky to be alive, i should not be lucky to be alive. the right to bear arms should never come before our right to live. my life matters more than guns. amy: and journalism's prestigious george polk awards have been announced. i'm on the 2022innerss form democracyow! producer sharif ael kouddous and executivproducer lla al-arian f the remarble documenty "the killing of shireen abu akleh." the markable documentary investigates the killing of palestinian american journalist and longtime al jazeera correspoent shireeabu akle by israeli forces last may during a raid in the occupied west bank. itraws on vios and eyewitness accounts of abu akleh's killing to establish that she was fatally shot in the

head by an israeli sniper finding supported by numerous , a other press investigations. shireen and other reporters were wearing blue helmets and blue flak jackets clearly emblazoned with the word "press." sharif abdel kouddous and laila were worng for al jazeera's faultlines. to see ournterew with them, you can go to our website democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, republican florida governor ron desantis, expected 2024 presidential aspirant, was in chicago to address chicago's police union, which has endorsed one of the nine democrats running for mayor in next tuesday's pivotal chicago election. we will look at how the

candidates are addressing public safety and much more in a minute. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "save the children" by devon gilfillian, jamila woods, jason eskridge. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york,

in chicago is juan zoll is joining us in a minute. we begin today's show in chicago, where a key mayoral race is just a week away on february 28. voters are being courted by nine democratic candidates. but on monday, republican governor florida governor ron desantis waded into the race from florida when he gave a speech in the chicago suburbs at an event hosted by the chicago fraternal order of police. >> the reason why you have crime that has spiraled out of control in so many of these different areas is because you have politicians putting woke ideology ahead of public safety. amy: chicago's democratic mayoral candidates tried to distance themselves from desantis, including paul vallas, who is endorsed by the chicago fraternal order of police. he is the former superintendent

of chicago public schools. also running for mayor, incumbent mayor lori lightfoot, congressmember chuy garcía, cook county commissioner brandon johnson, and businessman willie wilson. next tuesday's election is an off-cycle election and voter turnout could be low. if there is no clear majority, two candidates will go to a run-off election on april 4. for more, we go to chicago, we are joined by two guests. luis gutiérrez is a former democratic congressmember for illinois who served from 1993 until his retirement in 2019. he was a member of the congressional progressive caucus. he was also a member of the chicago city council from 1986 until his election to congress. we should note he is supporting chuy garcía. also with us is barbara ransby,

historian, author, and activist who is supporting johnson. ransby is a professor of black studies, gender and women's studies and history at the university of illinois, chicago. her latest book is "making all black lives matter: reimining freedom in the twenty-first century." her recent piece for truthout is headlined "ron desantis's attack on black studies is book -- is textbook proto-fascism." we welcome you both back to democracy now! barbara ransby, let's begin with you. can you talk about why this chicago mayoral race is important for people to understand all over the couny? what is at stake? >> thank you for having me and for covering this desantis issue because that is important, too. chicago is at a crossroads. chicago is a city historically steeped in racism, deeply divided by both race and class.

we have had some pretty awful mayors over the years. it has been the site of police violence and torture for many years and communities have been traumatized by that. this mayoral election, we have an opportunity to have a truly aggressiveandidate, truly progressive mayor. that sets responsibility and away we have not seen in a very long time. i would say it is a complicated race. there are nine people in it. some of their demands to overlap, some of their platforms overlap. one of the reasons i'm supporting brandon johnson -- and i supported chuy last time. rated is the movement candidate in this election. he is supported by the leftist and the city council. the unions -- the teachers

unions all over the country have been an inspiration. the chicago teachers union has been a particular inspiration, and that is the movement that brandon comes out of. most important, i really have been won over by young grassroots organizers, kids in the streets to protest laquan mcdonald's murder, who have been marching and demanding jobs, demanding attention to a neglected and abandoned community. they have been marching in the streets, sit ins at city hall over the years. the cycle they are knocking and phone banking for brandon johnson. he can speak to and excite our young black and brown people, to me is a real opportunity to point chicago in a different direction and not have it be the place where rogue cops run the

town and rich people feel comfortable and poor people are afraid. so that is why it is an important election. we are hoping for a good outcome this week. amy: former congressmember luis gutiérrez, great to see you again. you are supporting chuy garcía. can you address why you are? neither of you are supporting the current mayor lori lightfoot. >> we both supported lori lightfoot. we looked at her as a true reformer four years ago. she has turned out to be a failure. abysmal failure with property taxes skyrocketing in chicago, crime has skyrocketed. guess what? so has pollution in the latino community. she said she was going to be against the asphalt company and then give them $50 million. she blew up a chimney in the middle of covid, causing environment hazards chart community that we still don't

know. that is lori lightfoot. who is garcia? -- karen lewis called garcia and said, which you carry on the progressive movement, president of the ctu? he is the same jesus garcia today, a progressive leader who has crisscrossed this country for bernie sanders. we all know he is a national spokesperson for him. we know where he is at on immigration. we know where he is at on crime, on income inequality. we learned from him, the first progressive mayor of the city of chicago, the first black mayor of the city of chicago where we built a coalition of black and white and latinos. i am proud to say latinos, over 60% of us, in 1983, and subsequently in 1987, voted to

build such a coalition. who led the coalition? jesús "chuy" garcía. chuy has been a commissioner for eight years, state senator for eight years, a member of congress for five years, a city councilmember for seven years. he has over 34 years of experience. he is the experienced candidate and he can build coalitions as he has in the past. addressing the issue of crime. i think we have to understand something. i don't go by the polls. i don't go by the rhetoric of the politicians. i go by speaking to people every day in their homes. over 600 households i have sat in their homes, speaking to them. they are afraid to go out and let their children play. they are afraid to go grocery shopping. they will not come down south.

they are afraid. we need to bring a leader to the city of chicago that is going to free them from that. jesús "chuy" garcía is the one person that can finally make sure that policeman are held accountable to the highest standards when they go wrong. laquan mcdonald, that will not go in vain. laquan mcdonald, he lived 17 precious years and they put 16 bullets into him. that should not happen in the city of chicago where seven times more likely if you are black to be shot by chicago police officer, three times more if you are a latino. we are going to make sure the community and the men and women that put on that blue uniform each day are speaking to each other, are fighting together to reestablish order in our community and to reestablish security in our community. amy: juan gonzalez is joining

us. last week on february 8, you cohosted an mayoral forum with many of the candidates and now this week you have the backdrop of the presidential aspirant not yet declared florida's governor ron desantis coming to chicago addressing the fraternal order of police. they are endorsing one of the candidates that is running in the democratic race. can you talk about having moved from the east coast to chicago why this is all so critical? juan: obviously, you're talking about one of the largest cities in the nation and the issues that are being raised here in the chicago race are similar to many occurring in the new york mayoral race in many local races around the country, the issue of how progressive police

accountability will occur, what will be the nature of the empowerment of local communities in their governance. so these are some of the similar issues that are playing here. but i what to ask barbara, in allikelihood, if the -- unless the polls are way off, none of the nine candidates, including the current mayor, will get a majority of the vote here in this first round. your sense of -- clearly, the business community is largely lining up behind paul vallas, the only white candidate of the nine in the race. i am wondering what your sense, depending on who ins up as the two facing each other in a runoff, what -- will the progressive movement be able to come together again if one of the progressi candidas ends

up among the two? >> i think, yes, we will. we choose our candidate, the person we think is the best person to mov a progressive agenda at any given moment in time and then we do with the political reality with the hands we are dealt. none of us are going to vote and feel like our job is done. whoever is elecd, we will have to fight to hold them accountable and push them from all sides. i think the movement will come together in a runoff for the most progressive candidate. paul vallas is our worst nightmare. the fact desantis has come has a fire under some people who may have been less excited about voting and the cycle, although i think there is a lot of motivation a a lot of excitement, because i think he really shows us the authoritarian future and neofascist future. he is reminding us of the worst case scenario desantis -- of course, he is aligned with folks

who are aligned with paul vaas. i think we take that threat seriously. i want to go back to the question of police and crime. we saw the largest mobilization in this country's history in 2020 after the murder of george floyd. that was not an isolated incident. people feel terrorized in their homes not just by crime but also by what the police will do if they go out of their homes, what will happen to their so and daughters if they're coming back from a party and get pulled over by police what willappen in pole, and indiscriminately dide who is a criminal and who is not. so there are a lot of fears. we have to have complex answers to complex problems. we all want simple solutions. cops sound like a good answer to people because that is what we have been socialized to listen for, but that is not a solution. what i am looking to in this race and all hoping for is a set

of solutio from housing to jobs to de-escalation in our communitieto viable schools that really give children, young people turn it is. we are looking for that who ever lanes in the city hall of chicago. we will unite around the most progressive candidate or the least harmful candidate when this thing settles. that we have higher hopes than that. juan: luis gutiérrez, i wanted to ask you, clearly, chuy garcía is the only latino official running in this race yet some of the polls are indicating that he is not even registering majority support among the latino electorate. i'm wondering your thoughts about that? are the polls way off or is the latino community developed to the point where it does not matter whether you are the same

ethnicity but looking at your political views primarily? >> number one, there was a pull put out 10 days ago showing chuy garcía in second place. he has always been an first or second place in every scientific poll, not survey. and he deserves to be there. i don't know what the pol say, but i invite you to my home. last night i called a latino movement. she is 72 years old. you know she told me? she said tell chuy i have never heard such an endorsement of a candidate. i am his. i wish people could understand the impact of those words and what they had on me. he is going to carry -- let me make it clear, when he ran against rahm emanuel, he carried the latino community. not only in the first set of

elections -- there is going to be a runoff -- he carried even or overwhelmingly in the runoff and that was eight years ago. since then, he has stood up. i want to talk a little bit about progressive politics. who is a progressive candidate in this race? there may be more than one. i remember 1986. gay-rights ordinance. chuy and i had just arrived to the city council. the cardinal of the city of chicago threatened with excommunication. chuy is catholic. i am catholic. he comes from a community that is catholic and yet he voted for the gay-rights ordinance. it was defeated. it was in 1986. we did not have the power to pass it. subsequently passed it in chicago city council and we moved forward. chuy has always been standing by women and reproductive rights. he has a history of doing this for 34 years as a cook county commissioner, as a state

legislator, state senator, as a member of congress. he has also been for immigrant rights. unfortunately, too many times in the progressive movement, immigrant rights are always put at the bottom of the shelf. chuy will make sure those immigrants are heard and many people say, well, maybe because they are latino. yes, but there also haitian also irish, also polish. there also asian. they come from all over the world. the 11 and document a workers every day go to work in this country, build this country but have no rights in this country. she we will --chuy will put a bright light on those workers. the magic about jesus garcia, he sees everyone. he was nurtured by harold washington, the first black mayor of the city of chicago. as harold said to us, i see everybody.

i will treat everybody fairly. i also see people that have been unseen in the past. juan: barbara ransby, we just have about 30 seconds. i am wondering your sense of the impact of other questions in this race? for instance, the elections of the new police council -- community councils at the district level? will this have an impact on turnout? what is your sense of what the turnout will be like? >> i am hoping the turnout will be great. brandon's numbers are going up. i was at a community meeting yesterday and people could not get in the room. i want to speak to the question experience as we wp up this conversation. i come frothe same generation as chuy andluis. we'll have more experience that our younger colleagues and comrades. but experience can be measured in many ways. i try to be a humble elder in this movement. there are experiences i have not

had. brandon has been a teacher in public schools, one of the sit-in leaders fighting for education for all our children. we worked together on a coalition reimagining chicago. in that coalition, there were folks fighting for immigrant rights, labor rights, lgbtq rights. that big tent for this generation. sometimes they have a different lexicon and all kinds of since abilities that my generation did not have. i am seeing brandon as a candidate and future. we all loved harold washington. brandon was only sen or eight then. we c't hold him accountable for not being there then. whoever's the most progressive candidate we will support in the final runoff, but i'm hoping the mo movement-affiliated candidate in this round, which i think is brandon johnson, will prevail. we need chuy to fight that fight

in congress. amy: barbara ransby, we thank you so much for being with us, historian, author, and activist. luis gutiérrez is a former democratic congress member from illinois. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are going to stay in chicago as we look at how former chicago black panther leader fred hampton is linked to a measure on the ballot in tuesday's election. it was december 4, 1969 when chicago police raided black panther leader fred hampton's apartment and shot and killed him in his own bed. hampton was just 21 years old. evidence shows the fbi, the cook county state's attorney's office, and the chicago police had conspired to assassinate him. the demand for police accountability for hampton's murder has grown in the 50 years that followed. it reached a turning point in 2014 with the chicago police murdered black teenager laquan mcdonald. dash camera video of the murder

shows police shot mcdonald 16 times and tried to cover it up. this and other killings by chicago police, and the protests that followed, reinvigorated a local movement for community control of the police. now as part of theebruary election, chicago residents will have a chance to vote for candidates to local police councils. they will choose three representatives from each of the city's 22 police districts to have a say on community-policing issues. seven will be part of a community commission for public safety and accountability that plays a role in police oversight bodies and setting police department policy. for more, we are joined by frank chapman, longtime chicago activist and field organizer and education director of the chicago alliance against racist and political repression, and a leader in the campaign for an elected civilian police accountability council. welcome to democracy now! it has been half a century in coming to this point where the

mayoral race will also have these elections taking place. frank, explain the significance. >> i think you have explained it to some extent already. this is the first time in history, first time ever in the united states that our people have been given a democratic option to say who polices their communities and how their communities are policed. as you pointed out in your introduction, this particular chapter was opened up by fred hampton and the black panther party in 1969 and they put this on the black agenda. today, we have made a lot of progress since then. today we have any ordinance in effect called empowering committees for public safety. on february 28, we are going to elect people to the police

district councils. these are people, mainly working-class people, most are black and brown, and none are professional politicians. this is a very democratic grassroots movement most of these people are going to be holding the police accountable going forward. nothing like this has ever happened in u.s. history. it will be an history making event on february 28 when we elect these representatives to the district councils to hold the police accountable for what they do and don't do. juan: frank, if you could explain some of what the actual powers or responsibilities of these district community groups will be? i see that they have had enforcement or measures to directly hold the police accountable other than communicating with them on a regular basis. >> but they do.

what the district councils will do, they will nominate 14 people who will be sent to the mayor to be appointed to citywide commission. she has to pick seven people out of those 14. she can't dismiss the 14. she has to pick seven -- four he has to, whoever the mayor is. what happens after that is that these seven people, two representatives of the west, east, north, they will have oversight over all police policy. everything the police do, and we will hire and fire whoever is head of the investigative body.

he will have powers to look at all police policies and portion them and make initiatives of our own as we think all is should be changed. for example, no-knock warrant, stop and frisk. we can change all of that. we will have the power once this election is over and we get our people into place. juan: there are some reports some law enforcement groups are also backing candidates in these races? could you talk about that as well? close sure. the fop has been opposed to this from the beginning. so they are running candidates means only one thing, they're going to try to torpedo our ability to implement this

ordinance. we know who the candidates are. we are going to expose them. we know what their agenda is. their agenda is this law not be forced. we are going to confront them. most of the people on the ballot, and you can't vote for somebody if they are not on the ballot. most of the people on the ballot are our people. i have already explained who they are, mainly black and brown, working-class people who have no background in being politicians or things of that sort. these are community, grassroots people who want to see a change, who want to hold police accountable for the crimes they commit. amy: as we wrap up, frank, our next guest is angela davis, who you know well. you fought for her freedom and then she fought for yours. introduce her for us as we move

into this last segment, which is about the assassination, this 58th anniversary of the assassination of malcolm x. >> well, she fought for my freedom. she got out before i did. i was doing life and 50 years when angela was freed. after she was freed in 1971, in 1976i came home. that would not have happened had it not been for angela davis and the movement built around her which was united committees -- i am eternally grateful for her and the movement for my own freedom. america frank, we thank you for being with us, frank chapman, longtime chicago activist, field organizer and education director of the chicago alliance against racist and political repression, and a leader of the campaign for an elected civilian police

accountability council. next up, we speak with the professor, activist, with the author angela davis. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

ellen amy: nina simone would have been 90 years old today. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. 58 years ago today on february 21, 1965, malcolm x was shot dead as he spoke at the audubon ballroom in harlem. he had just taken the stage when shots rang out, riddling his body with bullets. malcolm x was 39 years old. just like martin luther king three years later when he was assassinated, 39 years old.

we spendhe rest of the are today looking at a life and legacy of malcolm x with renowned activist and scholar angela davis who is giving a keynote address tonight at the shabbat center, the side of the audubon ballroom in harlem where malcolm x was assassinated as a center launches a new malcolm x education curriculum. angela davis, welcome back to [captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now! talk about the significance of this day 58 years ago malcolm x gunned down. >> first of all, thank you, amy, for inviting me to spend some time reflecting on the legacy of malcolm x on this day, his birthday. unfortunately, malcolm has been relegated to the position of

ready much being the opposite of martin luther king. we know king as the advocate of nonviolence. we know malcolm as the militant, the revolutionary. i think it is important to think more deeply about the legacy of malcolm x. for example, think about is internationalism. one of the things we confront in this country is the kind of u.s.-centric position of so many and the issues we address and the ways even activists, even radical activists tend to look at the u.s. as the center of the world.

malcolm emphasized human rights as opposed to simply civil rights because he argued it was not simply a question of this particular nation state, it was about the world. it was about africa and latin america, it was about asia. he very specifically emphasized the importce of afro asian solidarity in connection with been doom. there is so much we can learn from reflecting on the legacy of malcolm x, especially now we need to pay attention to the wa in which he insisted on pport of solidarity with the palestinian people. juan: angela, the nationally renowned civil rights attorney benjamin crump tweeted he will

file a "notice of claim with intent to sue government agencies and the nypd for the alleged assassination and fraudulent concealment of evidence surrounding malcolm x, murder." you're going to be speaking at what was once the audubon ballroom. your sense of question that remains unresolved in terms of the killing of malcolm? >> of course we all assume the government had something to do with the assassination of malcolm. it is actually quite remarkable that 58 years later, we are still addressing the question of who was responsible for his death.

that is an important issue, but as i was saying previously, i think even more important is to examine the ways in which malcolm advocated political positions and a vision of the future, which was much more capacious, which was broad, which was international. and i think we have a great deal to learn with respect to the activism that we are developing today. the whole question of police crimes, racist policing which we saw in the previous segment on the situation in chicago.

malcolm always placed these issues in a larger context. and i think we can learn a great deal from that legacy today. amy: i want to turn to republican governor ron desantis of florida. the reason we want to turn to him on this day is the question is, what will the students of tomorrow be learning about not just african-american history, but american history? this is governor desantis telling reporters why he opposed the original ap african american studies course. >> this course on black history, what is one of the lessons about? queer theory. who would say an important part of black history is queer theory? that is 70 pushing an agenda on

our kids. when you look to see they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prison, that is a political agenda. amy: there's a lot to chew on here, angela davis. we just had barbara ransby talking about the shock congo mayoral race. -- chicago mayoral race. you, barbara ransby, thanh hussey codes, as well as many other african-american scholars have now been excised from the required ap african-american studies curriculum that was released by the college board on the first day of black history month for gray first. emails have come out that show the college board and florida department of education were communicating through the last year. if you can respond to governor desantis, which is not just responding to the governor of florida but state after state are cracking down on what we learned about american history? >> amy, i think what we're

noticing -- witnessing is an attempt to prevent the consolidation of the games we have achieved over the last period. during the covid pandemic, vast numbers of people became aware of the need to shift their understanding of racism from a context that emphasized individual agency, character flaws, character defects, to a structural understanding of racism. i think given the fact we are also involved in this conversation about malcolm x -- malcolm emphasized the structural nature, the systemic, and positional nature of racism precisely because of their is

now a more collective consciousness of the ways in which racism is embedded in the structures and systems of society desantis and others are attempting to turn the clock back on that. this is actually the significance of naming of this process, critical race theory, because critical race theory is also insistent on understanding racism as a structural phenomenon. so it is inevitable that whenever we move in a progressive direction, there are going to be countervailing forces that attempt to push us back. and this is precisely what is happening in connection with

governor desantis' efforts to characterize studies as a way of making white children feel guilty or the actual ridiculous ways i which what is supposed to be education is actually presented as ideology. juan: angela, when you talk about the exposing the structural basis of racism, we have sn in the last few years in response to the immense upsurge of the black lives matter movement, the efforts by universities, by foundations, by corporations to increasingly trumpet promote diversity, equity, and inclusion as the

solution and yet a lot of that often focuses on individual biases, not structural biases of. i am wondering your thoughts of the dangers and the directions of the so-called de i movement is heading in? >> that is very complicated because on the one hand, it is good to see people are trying to take active measures to begin to root out racism within institutions, corporations, educational institutions, etc. but at the same time, when we consider that this strategy, which is, i would say, sometimes a rather simplistic strategy, is

not going to be successful in addressing the kind of embedded racism that has its roots in slavery and colonialism. one of the things many of us have been saying is that when this collective awareness arose in connection with the police lynching of george floyd and the police murder of breonna taylor during that period of the covid pandemic, it was over 100 years too late. this process should have begun in the immediate aftermath of slavery. and now we are playing catch-up. it is not going to happen as a result of one strategy. but of course, in this country, we tend to rely on what is the

easiest method, what is the simplest method. i am hoping that people who are involved in thisdei move it will recognize it cannot only be about diversity and equity and inclusion, it has to be about justice. it has to be also about transforming the institutions that are responsible for the exclusion and are responsible for the racist structures in the first place. juan: and i am wondering also, in terms of -- you mentioned the issue of the impacts of colonialism and imperialism around the world. we are seeing increasingly the people of the global south going in a different direction from

the european powers and their conflicts. we are seeing, for instance, latin america now becoming a real focal point of progressive government -- governance throughout the continents. your thoughts about how the anticolonial struggle is affecting people here in the united states -- or is it at all? are people aware of what is going on in other parts of the global south? >> well, of course we need to raise our awareness of what is happening in latin america is so central to our struggles for more radical democracy, for socialism. the fact lula won in brazil is a sign i think of more radical

movements to come. i think the fact someone like francie and marques could be vice president of colombia is a sign of the impact of progressive and radical movements. let me point back to the fact on this day, malcolm x's birthday -- america death day, his assassination day. >> i'm sare, the birthday is may 19. the assassination on forever 23rd. thank you so much, amy. for very 21st, this day. the insistence on imagining ourselves as a part of larger movements, a planetary concern

which means we also have to take into consideration of what is happening to the environment of the world. i am hoping in our campaigns, our local campaigns such as what is happening in chicago right now, we don't lose sight of the fact that we are a part of a larger context, a planet that will have no future, if we are not successful in some of these radical democratic struggles. amy: angela davis, thank you for being with us, world-renowned abolitionist, author, activist and distinguished professor emerita at the university of california, santa cruz. author of many books, including an updated edition of her autobiography "angela davis." tonight she will be giving the

keynote address at the audubon all room, which is now the shabazz enter. democracynow.org will link to the youtube stream. ben crump to be speaking. i will be saying a few words. and malcolm x's daughter will also be speaking as well. go to democracynow.org