[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york this is democracy now! >> writers are striking because we are wearing this industry is not one that will be able to sustain a career. we are worried about things that most worries -- workers are world about like corporate living, corporate cannibalism and stagnant wages. amy: for the first time in 15 years, hollywood writers go on strike.

we will speak to a writer who works on the abc hit comedy " abbott elementary." then to texas after another mass shooting. a man with an ar-15 shot dead five of his neighbors including a nine-year-old boy. instead of calling for gun reform, texas governor greg abbott is accused of dehumanizing the victims by calling the dead "illegal immigrants." the children's crusade in birmingham alabama again 60 years ago today. >> it was young children, 11, 12, 13, 14 years old, some as young as nine or 10 who faced police dogs, and faced high power water hoses, and went to jail for our sake. amy: we will hear birmingham native angela davis describing this pivotal moment in.

and we will speak to longtime activist janice kelsey who took part in the children's crusade. and paul kix, author of the new book “you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live: ten weeks in birmingham that changed america." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. medical workers in sudan are warning of a mounting health catastrophe, as air strikes continued to rock khartoum despite a declared ceasefire between sudan's army and a rival paramilitary group. 18 days into the fighting, sudan's healthcare system has largely collapsed, and aid workers are describing increasingly desperate scenes with bodies piled in the streets of the capital and critical shortages of water, food, and fuel. the united nations refugee agency warned monday that, without an immediate end to the

fighting, more than 800,000 people may flee sudan. this is raouf mazou, the u.n.'s assistant high commissioner for refugees. >> without a quick resolution of this crisis, we will continue to see more people forced to flee in search of safety and basic assistance. thus far, about 73,000 people have arrived in neighboring countries. amy: ukraine's government says a fresh wave of russian missile attacks has destroyed an ammunition depot and injured dozens of civilians. this follows russian attacks over the weekend blamed for two dozen civilian deaths. on monday, ukraine's military struck inside russian territory, derailing a freight train in the russian border region of bryansk, whose governor also said ukrainian shelling on a russian village killed four civilians. on saturday, ukrainian drone strikes blew up an oil depot in the russian-annexed crimean peninsula. meanwhile the leader of the private russian mercenary firm wagner group has threatened mutiny, unless moscow agrees to send his forces more ammunition

as they battle for control of bakhmut, in eastern ukraine. yevgeny prigozhin lashed out against russia's military establishment in a video posted on a russian social media channel. >> happy birthday and happy birthday to wagner group. it is destined to die. it will not be at the hands of ukrainian or nato army but at the hands of our hero kratz. --bureaucrats. amy: on monday the biden administration said russia has suffered 100,000 casualties since december, with more than 20,000 russian fighters killed in action. many of the dead and wounded are russian convicts whose sentences were pardoned in exchange for joining wagner's mercenary army. president biden welcomed philippines president ferdinand marcos jr. to the white house monday, saying the united states remains "ironclad" in its defense of the philippines, including the south china sea. the meeting came after marcos granted the pentagon access to four more of the philippines' military bases, and after the united states and the

philippines wrapped up their largest-ever joint war games in the south china sea. protesters gathered outside the white house on monday to denounce the military alliance . this is nina macapinlac of the group bayan usa. >> we know -- amy: treasury secretary janet yellen has warned the united states could default on its debts as early as june 1st, unless congress takes action to raise the limit on the national debt. yellen's warning came a week after house republicans approved a bill to raise the debt limit in exchange for a 13% cut in discretionary spending with huge

cuts to programs including student debt relief, food assistance, medicaid, and renewable energy. on monday, senate majority leader chuck schumer pressed ahead with a two-year suspension of the federal debt ceiling that would not contain federal spending limits. the senate is set to hold a hearing on the debt ceiling this thursday, and president biden has called house speaker kevin mccarthy and other congressional leaders to a white house meeting on may 9th. the senate judiciary committee is holding a hearing on supreme court ethics reform today, amid a mounting series of scandals among justices. in recent weeks, it's been revealed that justice neil gorsuch sold a property he co-owned to the head of a major law firm that has since had 22 cases before the supreme court. and propublica reports justice clarence thomas failed to disclose undisclosed gifts and payments from texas billionaire and conservative activist harlan crow. in the latest revelations, business insider reports the wife of u.s. supreme court chief

justice john roberts was paid $10.3 million in commissions as a job recruiter placing lawyers at elite law firms. jane sullivan roberts earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from at least one law firm that argued a case before chief justice roberts. syria's government says one soldier was killed and seven people wounded earlier today as israeli war planes bombed the main airport in the northern city of aleppo, knocking it out of service. this follows hundreds of israeli attacks on syria in recent years, including two similar israeli airstrikes on aleppo's airport in march. the airport is key to efforts to ship humanitarian relief to northern syria following the devastating february 6th earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people, including over 6,000 syrians. palestinian prisoner khader adnan has died in an israeli prison following an 87-day hunger strike. adnan began refusing food in

february to protest his arrest under israel's so-called "administrative detention" program, the policy of holding palestinians without charge for up to years at a time. human rights groups say israel is holding more than 1,000 palestinians prisoner under the policy. in brazil, at least three yanomami indigenous leaders were killed over the weekend after heavily armed, masked illegal miners stormed a village. the attack comes as brazil's government continues its operation targeting illegal miners in yanomami territory, . the efforts were launched by president luiz inacio lula da silva as part of his campaign to protect the amazon and indigenous communities. lula has legally recognized six indigenous territories, a move crucial to protecting indigenous land from illegal miners and loggers. this is lula speaking last friday. >> i do not want any indigenous land to remain an de-market it during my time in office.

it's a commitment i've made to you and since my campaign. we cannot allow what happened in the yanomami lands to happen again to any of the indigenous people. amy: hollywood writers have gone on strike for the first time in 15 years. writers guild of america says pay and working conditions have deteriorated in recent years due to the rising of streaming services like netflix and amazon prime. after headlines, we will go to hollywood for the latest. millions of people took to the streets around the world to mark may day, calling for livable wages and stronger labor protections. in latin arica, works in guemala denoced corrupon d intensifying repssion in the countr in chile, police clashed with protesters in the capital santiago. thousas also raled in argenta and veneela, where u.s. sanctions have exacerbated poverty. in canada, tens of thousands of federal workers have reached a deal with the government that

includes higher wages, ending one of canada's largest public sector strike for about 100,000 workers and revenue workers are still in negotiations. in lebanon, migrant domestic workers led a march in beirut demanding better working conditions and protections. in sri lanka, workers protested a bailout agreement with the international monetary fund as the country faces its worst economic crisis in history. in the united kingdom, nurses and other workers with the national health service walked off the job as they continue to demand higher wages. in more news from europe, hundreds of thousands took to the streets across france as opposition grows against president emmanuel macron's move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. close to 300 protesters were arrested as violence erupted in several cities including paris with police firing tear gas at demonstrators. this is a protester in paris. >> am more determined than ever.

macron has to stay on for four more years, we will go on for four more years. we don't win in the end. i'm convinced. -- we ll win in the end am and in erto rico, protters raled outsi the sajuan offes of th nancial ersight d nagementoard, a n-electe body imped by thu.s. govement thacontrolshe isnd'budget. rkers dended theoard's expulsiofrom pueo rico a debt hased to unecedente austery measur includi cuts tpublic ecation, pensio, and woers benets. is is a acher fr vieques wherprotesrs pusd out th s. navy years ago, at t may daaction isan juan >> thiis aeflectioof what happenin the rt of the countr it ialso the reflectioof the greatestattle inhe count. as we y tod, the u. navy did not whdraw,e took tm ou we need to take them out.

amy: and those are some of the headlines this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. for the first time in 15 years, over 11,000 hollywood tv and movie writers have gone on strike. strike again began at midnight pacific time after contract negotiations failed. in a statement, the writers guild of america said "writers are facing and existential crisis in part because pay and working conditions have deteriorated in recent years due to the rise of streaming services like netflix and amazon prime." the union said "the company's behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in these negotiations have further devalued the profession of writing." the strike is expected to help hollywood productions and force late-night tv shows to go dark. they will run tape.

on monday, jimmy fallon, the host of the tonight show, voiced support of the writers ahead of the strike. >> i support my writers. we have a lot of staff and crew that will be affected by this. they have to get a fair deal. i will do whatever i can to support them. hopefully they can figure out a deal. i need my writers real bad. i have no show without my writers. amy: that was jimmy fallon at the met gala where quinto brunson also spoke, the creator of "abbott elementary." >> i'm a member of wga, support wga. us in getting what we need. no one wants to strike, but i hope that we are able to rectify this, whatever that means. amy: that was the creator of the award-winning comedy "abbott elementary."

we are joined by brittani nichols, who is a writer for " abbott elementary." brittani, will come. the strike is just hours old. also congratulations on "abbott elementary." what a fantastic show about the philadelphia schools and the amazing teachers and kids inside. i wanted to ask you started with what is happening right now, what you are demanding as you go to the picket line. brittani: we are demanding that this industry be one that can sustain a career. it is as simple as that. we have a consistently profitable business, but right now, the actions of the studios seem to only care about wall street, chasing a rabbit they will never catch. in that pursuit, they are running over the workers of the industry. amy: explain exactly how it works. people want to these tv shows

and movies nonstop but have little idea of what goes into making them. and why exactly streaming -- you talk about creating a gig economy. explain what you mean. brittani: the studios have devaions they have shifted the industry to prioritize streaming while not following that up with the actions of making sure that our pay reflects those changes. a lot of the ways that writers are able to sustain a career are three residuals. -- through residuals. that means we are taking part in that profit when a show is henry aird, a movie is weird. that is when we get a little bit of that pie. the amount that we are given in streaming is almost nonexistent. amy: talk about the various

streaming companies, who you are actually negotiating with. name names. brittani: hulu, peacock, hbo max, paramount plus, apple tv, netflix, amazon, i believe are the big ones. amy: explain the position they are taking. brittani: they are taking the position of rejecting our proposals and refusing to make a counter. with all of our major proposals, that is the feedback we have gotten so far. they have forced us to go on strike by not engaging. they have said we do not care that you all can no longer make a career in this industry. they just want to continue to get as much work out of us for the least amount of money. i think that is something not unique to our industry. it is something that has been

happening, will continue to happen, and we are standing up to it. we have to take a stand or there will not be television writers anymore. they will negotiate us out of existence. amy: explain how the networks are connected to the streaming services. it is not entirely two separate spheres. brittani: studios own these services. writers did not come up with these streaming services. they came up with them. that is a large part of the profit that they are now bringing in. they continue to invest in these services. every three years, you hear these studios behave as if they are these mom-and-pop businesses as they rake in billions in profits, but they are the ones that cause the shift, so they should be responsible for paying the workers that are providing the product that they continue to churn out and put on these streaming services. amy: in march, you shared a

graph of writers working at mba minimum. mba stands for minimum basic agreement. talk about the problems with compensation in your industry, especially for writers of color like yourself. you also tweeted, "our minimum wage has become our ceiling." brittani: yes. 10 years ago, one third of writers were working at that baseline. now, half of our writers are working at that baseline. tv writer pay has fallen 30% when you adjust for inflation. it is really affecting every writer, from staff writer all the way to show runners. it is a product of this corporate cannibalization, and our stagnant wages are making it impossible for anyone to put a career together. amy: can you talk about what happens next?

for people who watch tv, late-night shows will know go to tape. you have people likecolbert and others expressing support for the writers guild of america. colbert is a member of the writers guild of america, saying we cannot do it without them. what happens today as you take part in the picket lines across the country? brittani: writers are the backbone of this industry. nothing gets made without us. i think the studios will be in for quite a rude surprise when they realize, although they don't value us or our contributions, they do not have a product without us. we will be at the studios picketing, joining each other in solidarity so that we could all go through this as a guild. we are committed to make sure that all of our writers make it to the other side. we know there will be an other

side because we know we will win. there is no industry without writers. we are the only generative people in this industry. everything else is based on what is on that page. if we are not putting anything on that page, there is nothing anybody else can do. amy: can you talk about the shows being affected or is it everything across the board? how does this affect the later season, putting pressure on the producers, the people demanding these shows. what happens with deadlines? do they move them up to get written before the strike? brittani: that was up to each individual writer, how much they would do with people looking to have the materials turned in by yesterday. a lot of people wanted to turn their stuff in, so if you complete your assignment, they have to pay you. even though you are on strike,

you will have completed your contract. there is pressure on writers. that shows exactly whatever labor is worth. when we withhold our labor, people panic. people are scared there is not anything in the pipeline to go out and create, and that is true. we are going to continue to withhold our labor. that means everything from not taking meetings, not putting anything in the pipeline, not showing up for work. that means shows may get delayed. “abbott elementary" was supposed to go back to the room this week. we are a show that rights while we air. if the strike goes on for a significant amount of time, our show on the go out on time. that could affect the number of episodes, which i'm sure people will be upset about. it could affect a lot of things because there will not be things going into that pipeline. there will not be us participating in anything that will bring profit to this industry, and that is going to

cause a disruption. that is what we are counting on. amy: finally, the 2007-2008 strike went on for 100 days. what did you gain from that strike, what did you accomplish? brittani: i was not a part of that strike. i think i was still a teenager at that point. [laughter] one of the things that we gained is wins on the internet. that is when all of these streams were popping up, and the studios were saying that you should not have any payment for anything that goes online. we are used to them saying that we should not have access to our fair cut of the pipe because they have done it every three years, the entirety of the existence of our union. if we had not made those gains, gone on strike and put our foot

down back then, there would not be television writers now. we have already seen how important it is for us to stand up for ourselves. could you imagine all of the streaming shows that you know and love, writers not making any money off of those? that was the future that the studios wanted. they wanted to continue to push us down and bully us. it is not a matter of we don't want it to happen, we cannot let it to happen, or television writers will no longer be a thing. television staff will not be a thing because nobody can afford it. amy: if you could talk about your own show, the amazing “abbott elementary," about the philadelphia teachers. the show's first season was nominated for prime time emmys, winning three. why is it so important to see shows like yours? brittani: you know, right now a

lot of workers are feeling really down trodden. the issues we are facing our rampant across this country. a show like abbott where you see working-class people trying to do their best, a show where you can get some form of relief. that is important. people want to be able to enjoy the time off they have from performing labor. we are lucky enough that our labor is what allows people to do that. we want to get back to doing that, providing people and outlet. letting people have something to enjoy, look forward to. amy: brittani nichols, thank you for being with us. the los angeles-based captain of the writers guild of america west, writer for “abbott elementary." 60 years ago today, the children's crusade in birmingham, alabama began. stay with us.

♪♪ [music break] amy: "people have the power" by patti smith.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to look back at an historic protest in birmingham, alabama 60 years ago today. beginning may 2, 1960 3,000 of children begin a weeks long series of protests against segregation in birmingham. the campaign came known as the children's crusade. when the children took to the streets, the local head of the police bull connor used high-pressure firehoses and dogs to attack the children, many of whom were arrested. images of the police violence was broadcast around the world. one photograph captured the moment when a white police officer allowed a large german shepherd dog to attack a young black boy. the childrens crusade began at

the sixteenth street baptist church. four months after the protest began, the ku klux klan bombed the church, killing four young girls -- addie mae collins, carole robertson, cynthia wesley, and denise mcnair. in a moment, we will be joined by two guests to talk about the children's crusade in birmingham, but first, i want to turn to the scholar and activist angela davis, who grew up in birmingham. this is angela speaking in 2013. angela: how many of us remember that it was young children, 11, 12, 13, 14, some as young as nine or 10, who faced police dogs and faced high water hoses, and went to jail for our sake. and so, there is deep symbolism

in the fact that these four young girls' lives were consumed by that bombing. it was children who were urging us to imagine a future that would be a future of equality and justice. amy: that was angela davis in 2013. we are joined now by two guests. paul kix is a writer and author of the new book “you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live: ten weeks in birmingham that changed america.” he is joining us from his home in connecticut. and in birmingham is the longtime civil rights activist janice kelsey who joined the children's crusade as a 16-year-old in 1963. she wrote about her experience in her own book, "i woke up with my mind on freedom.”

we welcome you both. janice kelsey, let's begin with you. 60 years ago today. i am sure for you it does not seem that long ago. talk about what happened. janice: i remember, 60 years ago today, i woke up with my mind on freedom. i had attended nonviolent student workshops, and i was prepared because i finally understood that it was more than just segregation, it was inequality. reverend james bevel empowered us youth to do something about it, and i was willing to do that. amy: talk about what you did, what it meant to take to the streets, and the police violence in response. janice: well, in the preparation

sessions that were held at 16th street baptist church, we had seen film of demonstrations in other places, so i saw people being hit, being called the names, being mistreated for demonstrating. we were told that if you participate, some of this may happen to you, but this is a nonviolent movement and you cannot respond, except to pray or sing a freedom song. iin it knowing there may be some level of danger but i was so incensed at having them mistreating them all of these years until i was willing to sacrifice whatever was necessary, to take steps to change the environment. amy: just over four months

later, the beginning of that children's crusade, the 16th street baptist church was bound. four little girls, young women were killed. one of them was cynthia wesley. you share the last name. explain what happened. janice: that sunday morning, i was at the church where i attended. we had a speaker up. our pastor interrupted the speaker and announced that 16th street baptist church had been bombed, that there were some casualties. that meant someone died. he said a prayer and then dismissed church.

when we got home, people were calling our home. i have a large family. there were nine siblings. my mom was not allowing anyone to answer the phone. i kept on hearing her say, no, not our family. finally, when the national news came on, they identified the casualties. cynthia wesley was one. i met cynthia in elementary school when she was adopted by claude and gertrude wesley, educators and friends of our family but not related. i was invited to come to their home for lawn parties. we would go on field trips together. cynthia had just come to my high school, she was a ninth grader, i was an 11th grader. i did not know anyone in my age group die, let alone be killed

at church. i was devastated to hear cynthia had died. but there was a connection with the other girls, as well. carol robinson's father alvin robinson was my bandit teacher in elementary school. -- band teacher in elementary school. his wife taught at the same school that my teacher taught -- sister taught me they were friends. denise mcnair was 11 and his father, chris mcnair, was our milkman. he would deliver milk and juice to our home. addie collins, i didn't know her family, but she had a sister in the same class as one of my brothers. i was just devastated. i thought people were proud of

the courage that we had displayed in the spring that year. i didn't know it made someone so angry that they would react in such a violent way. amy: let's bring paul kix into the conversation, who has just published the book today, “you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live: ten weeks in birmingham that changed america." paul, if you could talk about why you wrote this book. talk about your interracial family, george floyd, how that connects to what began 60 years ago today. paul: i will take the last part first. from emancipation in 1863 to 1963, there was no equality, no sense of anything. that spring changed everything. to have somebody like janice the able to share -- to be able to

share the segment with somebody like her gives me goosebumps. behind me you see my twin boys. i married my wife so you in a jim crow state of texas. we live on a street where nobody harasses us.because of who we are that is because of what janice did. not only your ability to put your life on the line at the moment to think about people in the future that might benefit from your actions in birmingham. my wife sonia grew up in inner-city houston, one neighborhood away from where george floyd grew up. her cousins went to the same high school as george. sonja was the same age when george was murdered, 46. that is a long way to say that we did not shield our kids from that sort of coverage. it was the first time they had seen something like that happen, where an innocent black man was killed by police officers.

my twin boys, in that photo, they were nine at the time. they had a lot of questions about what that meant for america. the latter half of 2020 an incredibly difficult time. the boys would often run from the room in tears because of what i saw with george floyd. jacob blake was another person that was shot. one of my boys ran from the room saying why do they keep trying to kill us? it was a hard time, 2020. i was on a book project that quickly became a family project, a way to inspire our three kids about how they might have courage in their own lives. that extends back to what i see as the most pivotal period in the whole of the 20th century, and that is the spring of 1963 in birmingham, alabama. in particular, what happened on may 2, third, and may 4, and through that weekend, the

children's crusade. amy: in 2008, i interviewed vincent harding, the pioneering theologian and civil rights activist. in 1963, martin luther king invited him to come to birmingham, alabama to help in the campaign. >> king came especially to birmingham because there was a whole development in which many of the protesters were young people. in some cases, children, who played a crucial role in leading the struggle against segregation , partly because many of the adults were afraid to, could not afford to, where worried about what would happen to them and their livelihoods if they did it. so the children took the role.

they were arrested after the dogs and fire hoses. they were put in jail. they were not able after a wild, scoc could not get all of the bond money that was needed to get everybody out. king, i remember very much, one friday afternoon in his motel room simply said, i don't know what i can do to get the money to get these folks out, young and old. but i do know that what i can do is to go in there with them. so, he then led a march that was against the lords of time, and

he was arrested and put in jail. it was in that context that he took the opportunity to work with the now famous letter from birmingham jail. amy: that was vincent harding in 2008, the great historian, scholar, pastor. he helped to write king's famous antiwar speech beyond vietnam. this is dr. martin luther king reading part of his letter from the birmingham jail from the documentary "king." >> you deploy the demonstrations taking place in birmingham, let your state, i'm sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the united states. it's ugly record of uta that he

is widely known -- brutality is widely known. there have been more unsolved bombings of meager homes and churches in birmingham than in any other city in the nation. these are the hard, brutal facts of the case. you may well ask why direct action? whysit-ins, marches, and so forth? isn't negotiation a better path? nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. you speak of our activity in birmingham as extreme. was not jesus an extremist for love? love your enemies.

do good to them, pray for them which persecute you. we are the extremist for the preservation of justice, for the extension of justice. i have no despair about the future. i have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in birmingham. even if our motives are at present misunderstood. we will reach the goal of freedom in birmingham and all over the nation. because the goal of america is freedom. we will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of the almighty god. amy: from the documentary "king." dr. martin luther king reading his birmingham letter which he

had written just weeks before the children's crusade. paul kix, you talk about d-day, double d-day, the horrific picture that begins your book, this image from may 3, 1963. a 14-year-old african-american boy, a german shepherd biting his stomach. he has such poise, does not seem to be responding but with dignity. talk about d-day, double d-day. paul: it altered everything. janice was talking moments ago about reverend james bevel. d-day and double d-day, effectively there was no other choice. birmingham adults were not going to protest. they were likely to lose their jobs. that is what james bevel realized.

we have seen those images. we have seen people like janice being attacked with fire hoses. what i just want to frame for the audience what that actually meant. those fire hoses were mounted on metal tripods that frankly looked like they were meant for artillery. it could knockmortar loose from a brick, it could strip him bark from a tree from a distance of 100 feet. a lot of times, kids were hit at 50 feet. some of the raw footage from double d-day shows just horrific violence. kids clothes disintegrating on them as the water hits them. kids back flipping into the air as the water hits their face or chest. kids writhing in pain as the birmingham fire department and police department keep the water

hose right on them at a distance, again, 15 feet. i will never forget this. there was a girl in birmingham who slid down the street by the power of the firehose as she is just writhing in pain, screaming in terror, 50, 60, 70 feet. the camera crews that watch her go past. then the german shepherd, the boy you referenced a moment ago. the violence was so grotesque, there were literally war photographers who had been there, seen battle in war war two, -- world war ii, and said this was as bad as anything he had seen. there was a famed photographer who said, in all of his years, he had never seen anything like the images out of double d-day,

may 3, 1963. he had never seen that level of violence anywhere else in his life. that is what happened on that day. the courage that those kids showed that day, the faith that they showed, that these images would alter america. it led me to wte this book because i believe so fiercely that does 10 weeks, that week in particular, altered america forever, and for the better. amy: we are talking to paul kix, author of “you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live: ten weeks in birmingham that changed america ." and janice kelsey, longtime civil rights activist. she was 16 when she participated in the children's crusade. we are going to go to break and then come back to talk about this pivotal moment in history. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "alabama" by john coltrane.

recorded in 1963 after the september bombing of the 16th street baptist church that killed four little girls. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in 2013, i interviewed sarah collins rudolph, who survived the bombing of the 16th street baptist church in birmingham, alabama. she was 12 years old. hit with shards of glass, lost and, hospitalized. her older sister addie mae collins died in the blast. sarah describes what happened. >> i remember the niece and carole walking inside the lounge area where the stalls were.

when they came out, denise asked her about her dress. i was across from them at the sink. when denise asked her, i was looking at her, when she began. all of a sudden, boom. i never saw her finish tying it. all i could do was cry out, jesus! i didn't know what that sound was. then i called up for my sister, addie, addie. she didn't answer me so i thought the girls had ran the other side of the church where the sunday school area was. all of a sudden i hear a voice saying somebody bombed the 16th street church.

it was so clear to me, as if this person was right there, but they were outside where the crater was, where they had put a hole in the church. all the debris came rushing in. i was hit in my face with glass, and both of my eyes. when the man came in, his name was samuel, he picked me up and carried me out. the ambulance was out there waiting. they rushed me to the hospital. it is now uab hospital. they rushed me up to the operating room, operated on both of my eyes, took the glass from

out of my face. i had glass in my chest, stomach. they operated on me. i went back to the room and i stayed in the hospital for about two and a half months. at the time, when they took the bandages off my eyes, the doctor asked me what do i see out of my right eye? i told him that i could not see anything. when he took it off of my left eye, all i could see was just a little bit of light. amy: you lost your older sister as well, addie mae collins. did you feel like you could not find a safe place? after all, you were bombed in a church, the place that you go for sanctuary. >> you would think that going to church was a safe place but it

wasn't. somebody that would put a bomb in a church and kill four innocent girls, that is the work of the devil. none of that should have happened. we were waiting for a youth service. with the bomb going off, we did not get the chance to attend youth service. amy: that graphic description of the bombing that happened a little more than four months after the children's crusade. we are continuing with janice kelsey, whose name is similar to cynthia wesley, one of the girls killed, so people called condolences to her family thinking it was her. but she was active in the children's crusade at the age of 16 in birmingham, alabama. and we are joined by paul kix, author of “you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live: ten weeks in birmingham that changed america" which chronicles this moment in u.s. history.

janice kelsey, after the protests, you were arrested in this period 60 years ago? janice: 60 years ago today i was arrested for parading without a permit. amy: did you ever get slammed by those water hoses or were you arrested before? janice: i was arrested before the water hoses and dogs. amy: to show how powerful your protest was, if you could talk about those who criticized king and the other leaders, saying you should not put children on the front lines. i think that was malcolm x who said real men do not put their children on the farming lines. robert kennedy also criticized strategy.

your response to them? janice: we did not have any other choice. if our parents had protested, they could have lost their jobs, they would have gone to jail, there was no one to take care of us. but as bevel pointed out to us, we didn't have anything to lose. we were getting a second-class education. we had all kinds of inequities put on us. if we wanted that to change, we had to be the change agents. we didn't have anything to lose. amy: paul kix, if you could talk about a secret meeting that was held that included james bevel and dr. king, and then the unbelievable fundraiser that was held in harry belafonte's apartment, who we just lost at the age of 96, and what that

meant for this movement. paul: in january of 1963, the sclc had a secret meeting in dorchester, georgia. they didn't even invite all of the executive directors. martin luther king didn't even invite his own father to the meeting because they wanted to discuss what they called the most dangerous idea in the civil rights movement, and that was should we go to birmingham? and it was a huge risk because the sclc was broke. the sclc have been criticized for years for ineffective leadership. just one year prior, they had staged a massive and absolutely abysmal failure of a campaign in albany, georgia. the sclc was smeared out by other civil rights groups, at the same time by the press, the northern or southern press. this campaign, and that secret

meeting in dorchester, they decided we are either going to break segregation in birmingham or we are going to be broken by it. there was a real concern that the sclc would die as a result of this. in fact, there was a concern that a lot of the sclc members would die in birmingham taking part. king even deliveredmock eulogies in preparation for what they thought birmingham would be like. amy: that is where king and abernathy had the secret meeting. paul: the accounts vary about how many there were, some of between 11 and 15 people. but yes, there was a core group of people. fred shuttlesworth, james bevel, king, and another person who

ended up being the protagonist in my book. another huge character in the campaign was harry belafonte. this meeting happened in 1960. just days before project confrontation. that was a secret name for it in birmingham. just days before that campaign launched, there was just as large of a gamble of they were going to finance it. they go to harry belafonte's apartment in new york. while they are there, fred shuttlesworth, who was kind of a regionally known civil-rights activist -- janice would know who he was -- what he was a birmingham pastor who was absolutely fearless. he wowed the donors last night.just stories of his courage and bravery and

faith. at the end of his speech, he said you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live. and that was the line that just amazed the donors. that night in his apartment, they raised $475,000 fine birmingham campaign. i don't have a calculator with me but that is something like $4 million in modern-day currency. it was the largest ever fundraiser in the sclc's history, and that was the money they used, orchestrated almost entirely by harry belafonte to then go on to birmingham. amy: janice kelsey, we just have a minute but i wanted to end with your voice. 60 years ago today you were arrested in the children's crusade. your thoughts in this moment, message about what is happening today? janice: it is very discouraging

and frightening to see leaders and legislation, governors who are trying to push back on the gains that were made due to the tremendous sacrifices that were made by young people 60 years ago. not just people like me who went to jail, but people like the four girls who were killed at church, and the four young men who were killed in the communities that same sunday. a lot of blood sacrifice went for, in order for us to gain the measures that were gained. it is frightening to see the big push by people in leadership positions to return to the way we were. i am hoping and praying that our

young people will step up again and say, no, we are not going back. like what those two legislators did. amy: thank you for being with us, longtime civil rights

hello. welcome welcome back to nhk "newsline." russian commanders have seen their troops fire countless shells. some complain they're running out of ammunition and are threatening to pull out. but those higher up in the chain of command have reassured them more rounds are on the way. mercen