08/28/23 08/28/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed. we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. amy: 60 years ago today,

reverend martin luther king, jr. gave his historic "i have a dream" speech at the 1963 march on washington. on saturday, thousands gathered in washington to mark the anniversary, but the day was marred by news that a white supremacist gunman had shot dead three black people at a store in dollar jacksonville, florida. >> this is a dark day in jacksonville's history. the hate that motivated the shootings free as an additional layer of heartbreak. amy: we will speak to the prize winning journalist gary younge about racism in america, gun violence, and the 60th anniversary of the march on washington. then the city of white plains, new york, has agreed to a $5 million settlement with the family of kenneth chamberlain, a black 68-year-old former marine who was shot dead by police in his own apartment after he -- they came to him for a wellness check when he accidentally triggered his medical alert pendant.

we will speak to his son kenneth chamberlain, jr.. >> i think people are coming together and they are saying summary executions of unarmed black men, women, and children is no longer going to be tolerated. i mean, crimes against humanity for decades. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in jacksonville, florida, a gunman shot and killed three black people saturday in a racist attack which the u.s. justice department is investigating as a hate crime. the three victims, who were killed in front of and inside a dollar store, were identified as 52-year-old angela michelle carr, 19-year-old anolt joseph, known as a.j., laguerre, jr., and 29-year-old jerrald de'shaun gallion. the shooter was identified as

ryan palmeter, a 21-year-old white man, who died by suicide after his rampage. this is jacksonville sheriff t.k. waters. >> the shooter had authored several manifestoes. want to his parents, one to the media, and one to federal agents. portions detail the shooter's disgusting ideology of hate. plainly put, the shooting was racially motivated and he hated black people. amy: the gunman had no criminal history and legally purchased the two weapons he used earlier this year, a glock handgun and an ar-15-style rifle. the guns had swastikas drawn on them. before the attack, the shooter was seen at edward waters university, a historically black college. he drove away after a security guard turned him back. on sunday, governor ron desantis spoke at a vigil where he was booed by crowds. one attendee shouted out, "your policies caused this!"

florida governor desantis and florida republicans have imposed racist laws, including rolling back diversity and inclusion policies and attacking black american studies. desantis also opposes gun laws reform. as the massacre in jacksonville was unfolding, in washington, d.c., tens of thousands of people gathered for the 60th anniversary of the march on washington, where martin luther king, jr. delivered his "i have a dream" speech. gregory jackson of the community justice action fund addressed gun violence in his speech. >> every year over 138,000 people are killed from this crisis. this is the number one cause of death for all youth in america, for all black in america, the number two cause for all black women in america but yet we have not seen action to deal with the biggest health crisis of our time. in the past 30 years, we have only seen one law passed to

address gun violence. one law. and yet our bodies are laying on the pavement every day. every eight minutes, another life is lost. amy: in zimbabwe, president emmerson mnangagwa was declared the winner of last week's election, securing another five-year term after a delay in polls and accusations of a rigged election. european election observers said the vote fell short of established standards, noting "acts of violence and intimidation resulted ultimately in a climate of fear." zimbabwean opposition leader nelson chamisa called the election a gigantic fraud and asked neighboring countries to intervene. >> it is clear we are rejecting the election as a sham, the result. the process itself -- we reject the sham results and flawed process. amy: the western african nation

of gabon shut down internet access and imposed a curfew following its national elections saturday amid voting delays and as opposition leader albert ondo ossa denounced fraud in his challenge against incumbent president ali bongo ondimba. bongo has already served two seven-year terms and his family has been in power for over a half-century. critics accuse bongo of not using gabon's oil wealth to improve the lives of the third -- one third of the population living in poverty. in niger, military coup leaders ordered armed forces on maximum alert as they warned of a heightened threat of attack by ecowas troops. the west african bloc has readied their forces to intervene if a diplomatic resolution to the coup is not reached. meanwhile, niger's junta ordered the french ambassador to leave the country. demonstrators rallied friday to show support for the military rulers month after the july 26 , one coup.

century were someone has to impose or did kate to us what we should do. this is about our independence. i believe the decision must be respected. france must realize this is no long are the colonial era. france must learn to respect our ideals if it wants things to move forward together. amy: in haiti, at least seven people were killed after gang members armed with machine guns opened fire on protesters in canaan sunday. the rally against worsening gang violence had been organized by a local church. canaan is a makeshift town near the capital port-au-prince built by people who lost their homes in haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake. survivors of sunday's attacks also place blame on the pass-through organize the rally and even continued the rally after the shooting broke out. >> they opened fire on us with all sorts of guns. the pastor's followers believed what he told him. he said they were bulletproof, that those who were wounded had no faith.

i was there. i saw everything with my own eyes. they were firing and that pastor was walking. amy: hundreds of thousands of haitians have enforced to evacuate or migrate. the u.n. reported some 8700 residents are taking shelter in a crowded sports center in port-au-prince. russian authorities say genetic analysis has confirmed wagner group chief yevgeny prigozhin died in wednesday's plane crash, along with some of wagner's top officials. the kremlin has denied responsibility for the crash, which happened just two months after prigozhin led a mutiny against russia's military and president vladimir putin vowed to punish the act. in guatemala, a former military colonel has been convicted of crimes against humanity for his involvement in the killing of over two dozen indigenous people in 1982. juan ovalle salazar was sentenced to 20 years in prison. the massacre of 25 maya achi people, most of them children, took place during some of the bloodiest years of guatemala's

u.s.-funded war and came under the ruling of u.s.-backed military dictator efrain rios montt. eight former members of the guatemalan armed forces were acquitted. rights activists continue to demand justice. >> we want those responsible for the massacre of our brothers to be sentenced by the judges as we have always said as long as there's no justice in guatemala, peace cannot be built. amy: rios montt was convicted of genocide in a historic 2013 trial. that ruling was later overturned by a higher court. in related news, judging guatemala city has granted former president's request to be released from prison and be placed on house arrest. the former president has to pay several find totaling about $1.3 million. he was forced to resign following protest in 2015. he was convicted of corruption and running a multimillion

dollar bribe skiing and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2022. he served as regional command under rios montt using a different name. back in the u.s., a texas ban on gender-affirming care for youth is set to go into effect this week, on friday, despite an injunction issued last week against the ban. the travis county judge said in her ruling the law would cause friday patients and providers to "suffer probable, imminent, and irreparable injury." but texas' attorney general

immediately appealed, staying the decision. meanwhile, a missouri judge allowed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and some adults to take effect starting today. the law is currently being challenged by rights groups on behalf of doctors, groups serving the trans community, and affected families. in georgia, a federal judge in atlanta is hearing arguments today from the legal team of donald trump's former chief-of-staff mark meadows as he attempts to move his charges to federal court where meadows could claim immunity due to his position in government at the time of the offenses. the outcome could implications for trump and other co-defendants in fulton county's racketeering indictment over trump and his allies' attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss. all 19 defendants have now surrendered. fulton county d.a. fani willis is expected to set up her case against the co-conspirators during arguments today. separately, a trial date is expected to be announced in trump's federal election interference case. his lawyers are attempting to postpone his trial until 2026 while federal prosecutors have proposed a january start date. the european union's sweeping new rules on large tech companies kicked in friday as lawmakers seek to reign in harmful and illegal content and digital monopolies. the new legislation regulates social media, targeted advertising, user privacy policies, and fake or illicit products from e-commerce sites. among the affected companies are amazon, apple, google, meta,

microsoft, snapchat, and tiktok. violations could lead to billions of dollars in fines. and here in the united states, donald trump made his return to x, formerly known as twitter, thursday with a fundraising post featuring his mugshot. trump had been banned from twitter following the january 6 insurrection, but that ban was lifted after elon musk purchased twitter. earlier this month, rights groups and users of x sounded the alarm after reports that paying subscribers to the platform will have to send their i.d. and a selfie for verification to an israeli software company. the firm au10tix was founded by former israeli intelligence officers and has been implicated in israel's surveillance of palestinians. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up, we talk with the prize-winning journalist gary younge about saturday's racially motivated shooting in jacksonville and the 60th anniversary of the march on

washington. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: amy: "how i got over" performed by mahalia jackson. the original march on washington in 1963. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 60 years ago today the reverend martin luther king, jr. gave his historic "i have a dream" speech at the 1963 march on washington. on saturday, thousands gathered in d.c. to mark the anniversary, but the day was marred by the news that a white supremacist gunman had shot dead three black people at a store in jacksonville, florida. authorities say the gunman initially tried to enter the historically black college edward waters university, but he was turned away by a security guard. the gunman then drove to a dollar general store where he shut ed 52-year-old angela michelle carr, 19-year-old a.j.

laguerre, jr., and 29-year-old jerrald de'shaun gallion. the gunman was armed with a glock handgun and an ar-15-style rifle. it had a swastika drawn on it. he purchased the gun lately even though he had been held involuntarily for mental health examination in the gunman later 2017. fatally shot himself. the justice department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. police said the shooter had written racist manifestoes prior to the shooting. president biden said in a statement, "we must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in america." this is jacksonville sheriff t.k. waters. >> the weapons the shooter used today are a glock and ar-15-style rifle. this is a dark day in jacksonville's history. any loss of life is tragic, but

the hate that motivated the shooter's killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak. there's no place for hate in our community and this is not jacksonville. amy: jacksonville sheriff t.k. waters. we're joined now by gary younge, prize-winning journalist, professor of sociology at the university of manchester. author of several books, including "the speech: the story behind dr. martin luther king, jr.'s dream," which was just updated with a new introduction for this 60th anniversary of that historic day in washington. gary younge's most recent book is "dispatches from the diaspora: from nelson mandela to black lives matter." he is also the author of "another day in the death of america." younge worked for the guardian for 26 years, including 12 years as u.s. correspondent. welcome back to democracy now! before we move on to the 60th

anniversary of that famous march on washington and dr. king's "i have a dream" speech, if you can respond to what happened at just about the same time as the anniversary rally in washington on saturday in jacksonville? talk about the white supremacist gunman using guns that he had legally gotten even though he had been in voluntary -- involuntarily evaluated for mental health issues in 2017, he had that clock and ar for dean. >> thank you for having me on the show. good morning to you. a few things come to mind. the first is that america has all the same problems that the rest of certainly western europe has in terms of racism.

i am talking to you from italy. it has inequality, people with mental health problems. it has racism. the thing it also has which none of these other places have is easy access to weapons which can be weapons of significant destruction. that makes everything in america more lethal. it makes racism more lethal, domestic violence more lethal, in a kind of social -- any kind of social dispute or a direction more lethal. it makes suicide more lethal because if you really want to commit suicide, a gun will do it much more effectively than anything else. you don't have a chance to change your mind. in a range of ways, we see a more lethal manifestation of

racism. the second thing i think is the hate from this young man did not come from nowhere. certainly, a context in which these murders, this mass shooting took lace. if you're surrounded by the kind of hate, the kind of hateful speech, the kind of political machinations, the banning of books, the suppression of elections, the decision of some people's votes don't matter, that really vicious political -- racist political culture that has become embedded at the heart

of american politics, then that has an effect. it is supposed to have an effect. this is one of the offshoot of that effect. there have always been hate crimes in america, but there has been a significant increase. one has to be able to connect that to the political situation that surrounds us. the final thing i would say is that it is consistent. there have been particularly since george floyd's murder, there has been a rise in antiracist consciousness. there has been an increase in capacity, antiracist thinking. and just like with the march on

washington where within about a month i think they had firebombs -- 16th street church in birmingham, killed four little girls, injured many as they were on their way -- on their break from sunday school. it was to the backlash. the violent, desperate, and ultimately kind of defeated lashing out of the racist community. so it is consistent in a range of ways. it should shift our understanding when there is this notion of the king's dream speech as being folded into america's liberal pathology.

america's o is getting better, getting more wonderful. in a range of ways, it is. this should be corrected to any kind of happy talk that there might be around the 60th anniversary that does not take into account the realities of now and the fact as things can go forward, so can they go back and. -- accord. amy: let's be clear on that march on washington. in fact, it was on august 28 1963, which was observing the anniversary of the death of emmett till, 14-year-old boy who was killed, lynched by white, taken from his uncles home in the middle of the night. >> that's right.

took place honoring that anniversary and evoking a range of violent acts that have taken place throughout the decade or so prior. but that has also seen a huge swelling of resistance that said, you know, not that african-americans ever just accepted that, but the organization and the level of resistance have been ramped up in that decade or so since till's murder. and that in someone's, the march on washington was -- some way, the march on washington was a kind of symbolic crescendo to that period of resistance.

amy: i want to go from jacksonville to the 60th anniversary of the 63 march on washington. people often don't realize its official title was the march on washington for jobs and freedom. these were the words of the reverend martin luther king 60 years ago today. >> i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed -- we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. i have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at

the table of brotherhood. amy: on saturday, thousands gathered in washington to mark the 60th anniversary. organizers included the reverend al sharpton of the national action network. >> 60 years ago, martin luther king talked about a dream. 60 years later, we are the dreamers. the problem is we are facing the screamers. dreamers on one side, schemers on the other. the dreamers are fighting for voting rights. the skimmers are changing voter regulations and states. the dreamers are standing up for women's right to choose, the schemers are arguing whether they're going to make you stop at 16 weeks -- six weeks or 16 weeks. the dreamers are saying if your lgbtq or trends you have a right to her life. the schemers are saying we are going to make you look like you

are something that should not be tolerated in human society. it is the dreamers against the schemers. the dreamers are in washington, d.c. the schemers are being booked in atlanta, georgia, in the fulton county jail. the dreamers will win. the dreamers will march. the dreamers will stand up black , white, jewish, lgbtq. we are the dreamers. we are the children of the dream. amy: that is al sharpton on the 60th anniversary of the march on washington. let's go back to the original 1963 march and that famous speech, the one you, gary younge, wrote a book about "the speech: the story behind dr. martin luther king, jr.'s dream." we chose that clip of "the dream" because in fact it was not going to be in the speech. is that right? talk about his close ally, the person who was with him the

night before -- she was with a group of his allies talking about what he should say i'm of the reverend wyatt walker. >> that's right. reverend wyatt walker said to king because the dream sequence have been used in several speeches previously, best heard i think in detroit not long before. white walker said to him, don't use the dream. you have done it over and over again. it is tired. do something new. amy: let's talk about this, gary. you write about this so eloquently. he had just talked about it addressing the association of america and before that a few weeks before in detroit. >> that's right. i think in chicago.

king had given a lot of speeches during that time, but you have to remember most people did not have television and so this was his chance to speak both to america and to the world. probably had not heard him speak . he was worried that it would sound hackneyed, too trite. that is what walker said, it is trite. if you listen to the speech, he is winding down and he used to say when he was speaking, it was like looking for a place to land. like he was a pilot looking for a place to land. you can hear him go back -- he is looking for a place to land.

it is mahalia jackson whose voice we heard at the beginning who was at the detroit marjorie said, tell about the dream most tell about the dream. clarence jones who had written the first draft -- the draft that was printed of the speech but doesn't have the dream in that he saw king and his body shift from a politician to a preacher and he said, these people don't know they're about to go to church. then king starts on his dream sequence, which becomes the thing that is best known about what is called the dream speech for reason. amy: gary younge, let's talk about another addition that he was warned -- you said this before, don't say it again. i want to play the clip of dr.

king talking about the bad check. >> in a sense, we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the constitution and the declaration of independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every american was to fall heir. this note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. it is obvious today that america has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.

instead of honoring this sacred obligation, america has given the negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds. amy: martin luther king 60 years ago today. talk about the bad check and how it made it into this speech, gary. >> he was very keen that there was some kind of analogy or description that would span from slavery straight to the 1960's and make it clear in as an accessible what is possible that short of talking about reparations, which would not have really worked in that kind

of venue, that america owes us. it owes us morally but also materially. there were some who were not keen on that analogy. they thought it went too far. they thought it was too crude. but actually, in some ways, i think it is -- it is not the most florid piece of the speech, but in some ways it is the most important because it speaks to now, that the checks keep bouncing. in fact, in a way, things are going backwards. look at the rolling back of voting rights and affirmative action and so on. one has to think in some of the people i spoke to for the book said this how people would

understand this differently if it was understood the bad check speech as the promissory note speech, how that might shift their understanding. because action what happens with this speech is that all sorts of people, awful people and good people, but the awful will take a moment from this speech and claimant, including ron desantis and his anti-woke bill. that one line about children being judged by the content of their character and the color of their skin come that is the only line that white winners and republicans know. even talking about banning books, that would refer to the roots of the struggle come it evokes martin luther king. which is why -- i felt he and the speech had to be reclaimed

in this respect and i wanted to make a contribution to that. in talking about the bad check, the issue of the insufficient funds, it reinforces the name of this speech, the march on washington for jobs and freedom, not just for freedom, talking about the economic plight of a population that had been formerly enslaved. if you can also talk about what is most misunderstood about august 28, 1963, about this gathering were early in the morning, reporters were on radio and television saying, it looks like not that many people are going to come out. you have the amazing organizers of this speech a. philip randolph, bayard rustin. you write about taking out his watch in a blink paper when

reporter say does not look like you're going to have anyone coming to the speech and he said, "no, we are right on schedule." the paper was blank. >> first of all, we have to understand a march of this size had never been organized before. the state assumed there would be violence and militarized the capitol to a huge extent and the end there was no violence. as you have pointed out, it was a march of jobs and freedom, organized jointly civil rights movement and the labor movement. implicit i think understanding that to try and understand racism without class or class oppression without race is to really misunderstand both

completely. that makes it a march for jobs and freedom. this force of energy that is bayard rustin, this gay african-american man who stands at the heart of the organizational excellence in getting everyone into the city and out of the city to the extent them a new show went to telling people, don't bring mayonnaise sandwiches, it will be hot, they're only so many toilets. that is the kind of extent to the organization that there was. a coalition which included some of the more conservative elements in the unions were some of the conservative elements and sncc, the late john lewis whose

speech was the subject of frantic last-minute negotiations because he wanted to talk about the -- amy: we have a clip of john lewis speaking at the march. he was the youngest speaker. he was 23 years old. this is john lewis. >> be patient and wait -- we do not want our freedom gradually. we want our freedom now. [applause] we are tired. we are tired of seeing our people locked up.

we're told to be patient. we want our freedom and we won it now. amy: "we want our freedom and we want it now" john lewis said at the age of 23, leader of the student nonviolent coordinating committee known as sncc. he originally wrote for the speech as you're talking about these frantic negotiations forcing him to rewrite his speech, he originally wrote "we cannot depend on any political party for both the democrats and the republicans had betrayed the basic principles of the declaration of independence. we will march to the south, through the heart of dixie, the way sherman did. we shall pursue our own scorched earth policy and burn jim crow to the ground nonviolently." take it from there, gary. >> you see the energy of what will soon become the black power movement. you see the negotiations with a more religious and older generation and the union

movement. in the end, it is a. philip randolph who says i have been waiting for this moment because he sought to organize a march on washington i think in 1943. it may have been 1942. but it was in order to ensure that black people could work in a munitions factory. he only called it off when roosevelt relented and issued an executive order. and he said to john lewis, young man, i've been waiting for this all of my life. please, please, do this for me. and lewis relents. but also that energy from lewis also kind of tells a story about what happened during that year. at the beginning of that year, only randolph and rustin really wanted a march.

the naacp, the urban league, they did not want anything to do with it. sncc thought it would be like a big show come a march in washington where as they wanted to march on washington. it is really the events in birmingham, alabama, earlier in the year which forced the leadership -- this comes from the grassroots. it forces the leadership to say, well, now we have to have a march. we have to do something. the story of that year is the leaders literally -- figuratively running to catch up which on the day they literally did because they go to meet the people in congress and the march start without them. they have to kind of run to catch up. the picture that looks like they're leading the march, they are near the front but they are not at the front. they just cleared people to make it look as though it was.

there is an interesting moment where king and randolph and others are in -- speaking to kennedy a week or so before the march. kennedy is trying to get them to call it off. randolph says, "we what legislation on the hill, not a big show, not negroes in the streets." randolph says, "the negr are already on the streetoes and i doubt if we call the they will call it off." that gives you a clear indication of who was driving. amy: gary younge, thank you so much for being with us, professor of sociology at the university of manchester come in italy. he is the author of several books, including "the speech: the story behind dr. martin luther king jr.'s dream," which has just been updated with a new

prologue for this 60th anniversary of that historic day in washington. gary younge's forthcoming book is "dispatches from the diaspora: from nelson mandela to black lives matter." coming up, the city of white plains, new york, has agreed to a $5 million settlement with the family of kenneth chamberlain, the black 68-year-old former marine shot dead in his own apartment after he accidentally triggered his medical alert pendant and they came for a wellness check. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "o freedom" performed by odetta. she performed the song 60 years ago at the march on washington. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the city of white plains, new york, has agreed to a $5 million settlement for the family of kenneth chamberlain, a black 68-year-old former marine shot dead by police in his own apartment. the tragic case occurred early on the morning of the member 19, 2011. kenneth chamberlain accidentally pressed the button on his medical alert system while sleeping. it was 5:22 a.m. responding to the alert, white plains police arrived to his apartment in a public housing complex for a wellness check. by the time the police left the apartment just after 7:00 a.m.,

kenneth chamberlain was dead. they shot him twice in the chest. a police officer shot him inside his own home. police gained entry to his apartment only after they took his front door off the hinges. officers first shot him with a taser and then a beanbag shotgun and then with live ammunition. in a moment, we will be joined by his son and by the attorney for the chamberlain family. first, we want to turn to the remarkable series of audio and video recordings from the morning of his death. a warning, these recordings are disturbing. he told an operator from lifeaid that made the pendant that he was not sick and that he did not need assistance. lifeaid operator: this is your help center for lifeaid, mr. chamberlain. do you need help? kenneth chamberlain sr.: yes, this is an emergency! i have the white plains police department banging on my door, and i did not call them, and i am not sick!

lifeaid operator: everything's all right, sir? kenneth chamberlain sr.: no, it is not all right. i need help. the white plains police department are banging on my door! lifeaid operator: mr. chamberlain, go to your door.

amy: at a separate video, one of the separate -- one of the officers is hurling the n-word. then you hear chamberlain say they have come to kill me.

amy: despite kinne chambliss, that he had a bad heart, police broke down his door and they shot him with a taser. it was 2011. 12 years later, the city has agreed to a $5 million settlement. we're joined right now by

kenneth chamberlain, jr. and mayo bartlett, attorney for the family. he is the former chief of the bias crimes unit of the westchester county district attorney's office and the former chair of the westchester county human rights commission. we welcome you both to democracy now! kenneth chamberlain, jr., i am sorry to play all of that for you come even 12 years later. the agony that your father went through and now you have this settlement. can you talk about what it means to you? >> good morning, amy. the settlement itself -- not just speaking for my family but for other families as well -- while it may provide some form of redress, it does not really address the broader issues. we're talking about police misconduct and criminality. i have always said, yes, this should be part of the process but it does not equate to accountability. amy: how did you arrive at this

settlement and what have the police admitted they did and for any police officers charged for your father's death? >> well, no police officers have been charged to date. as far as statements that have been made, i only know of one state that was made by the pba where they said this settlement in no way is an admission of wrongdoing. my response to that is very simple, if we are going to go with that statement that they made, there is one way we can prove if there is been any wrongdoing or any bias and that would be to unseal the grand jury minutes and let's see what the instructions were to the grand jury in formal charges. amy: explain what you're asking for more specifically about the grand jury. >> so what i'm asking for is

since my father was killed in may 2012, they came back with no true bill. they said there was not sufficient enough evidence to charge the officers in the killing of my father. my argument were my question has always been, what were the charges that were put on the table? did they put intentional murder? did they put a hate crime for the fact they call my father the n-word? were there any other charges, lesser charges, criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter? we don't know. and because the grand jury secrecy laws, they have not revealed that to us. i have been asking that those minutes be unsealed now. we know the witnesses were police officers. this should not be an issue with regard to unsealing them. amy: mayo bartlett, we talked about officer hart. he died in a car crash come is that right, and was going to

testify -- what have testified on behalf of of kenneth chamberlain. can you talk about that controversy around the use of the epithet, the n-word, when they were going after mr. chamberlain? >> absolutely. amy, first, he would have testified on behalf of the white plains city, the city of white plains. but we believe his testimony would have been favorable because his testimony would have shot at the time of the shooting, mr. chamberlain was on his back and they could see the souls of issues. with respect to the epithet, we don't know if he is the one who has used that slur. we have been told that by the city but we are not certain. he did die in a car accident, enforcement, died before we were even able to take a deposition that would allow him at trial to testify. amy: what happened with officer anthony correll? explain who it was who shot mr.

chamberlain dead. >> officer correll he was the point officer so he was an officer who was there to make sure the other officers would be safe if there was an interaction that became violent. he is the one who ultimately fired the shot that killed mr. chamberlain. in our estimation -- amy: to be clear, this was not a taser. >> we think but for the behavior of the supervisors, he never would have been there. they were there on a medical call and on any medical call, it is hard to believe law-enforcement is the first to arrive. in fact, during the entire interaction, no medical personnel were ever given an opportunity to even meet with mr. chamberlain or to speak with mr. chamberlain. amy: this is truly astounding. kenneth chamberlain, jr., your aunt was in the hallway, mr. chamberlain's sister? and she told the police that he was suffering from mental health

issues, from ptsd, and they had to be very careful. is that right? >> well, my aunt was on the phone speaking to them. it was my cousin tanya who was in the hallway. you hear in the audio when they ask, do you have family? you hear her very loudly say, yes, he does," but they totally ignored her. they acted as if she wasn't even there. amy: you have come to devote your life, kenneth chamberlain, jr., to dealing with the issue of police utility. talk about the group you formed and how you have been dealing with this over the last more than a decade. >> after the killing of my father, we formed a coalition -- the bottom line, we're looking at transparency. we want to work with local law

enforcement agencies in order to build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. it even bigger than that now, what i want do is create a foundation in my father's name where we are really going to look at best practices and really push so the rule of law is adhered to. meaning the government agents and officials will be held to the same set of rules that enables affair and functioning society. so we're going to be pushing to put laws in place and different mechanism so god permit any other family has to deal situations like this, we will have something real in place. and we want to be trying to figure out how to put a blueprint together. we will have a blueprint. amy: mayo bartlett, as this one of the largest settlements the city of white plains has ever made with the victim of police brutality? >> yes, my understanding is this is the largest settlement.

amy: you are the former chief of the bias crimes unit of the westchester das office, also former chair of the westchester county human rights commission. do you feel that the situation is getting any better? what kind of regulation of police is there? >> well, it is interesting. in new york state, only 25% of the police department's are actually certified. so the fact we have that in westchester county only 50% is a significant problem. it means there is no uniform training, don't have an expectation that any particular police department is going to behave the way another wood. what we are asking for is unified standards. we think also it can't come in the form of an executive order, but structural change.

it has to be codified in law and police themselves should be required to have a license as to accountants, lawyers, doctors. and if they engage in certain misconduct, they would lose that license not be able to simply resign and go to another police department. too often we rely on executive orders. executive orders, although they may be a great stopgap, go away once the next administration comes into power. amy: the white plains police benevolent association is said to be clear this settlement is not a finding of misconduct or wrongdoing by the officers who responded to this call. our members are asked to place their lives in jeopardy each and every day, as they were on the date of this incident. i would like you each to respond as we begin to wrap up this conversation, beginning with mayo bartlett. >> i think it is unfortunate that sometimes pba's miss

opportunities to bring people together. when you consistently find no wrongdoing irrespective of the conduct, whether you're watching 20 officers or more beat rodney king or watching other clear missteps and atrocities, to always that we have done nothing wrong i think does not invite the conversation that we can have which can bridge the gap and build confidence through transparency. the city itself made a very different statement and their statement was they want to continue to improve the department, they want to have more training, and they want to take steps to make sure that things like what happened to mr. chamblee don't happen again. i think that is a more accurate and helpful statement. unfortunately, the statement of the pba, in my opinion, does not benefit the officers who work and the city of white plains or anywhere else. amy: kenneth chamberlain, i want to give you the last word, kenneth chamberlain come on that issue and any other you want to address right now. >> i would simply say that two

years ago, the current district attorney conducted a review around the killing of my father to see if there could be any new charges brought forth. but that means they reviewed what the original charges were. so i would simply ask that they give us the actual review and unseal the grand jury minutes. although we know it is that what you know it is what you can prove, i believe if you do unseal these things, they will see there was bias in favor of law enforcement. other than that, maybe accountability for -- may there be accountability for kenneth chamber senior and others invited by police violence. amy: our condolences. they are never too late, i personally. kenneth chamberlain, jr.,'s father was shot dead by police in white plains new york, november 2011. mayo bartlett, attorney for the

chamberlain family. the city of white plains, new york, has agreed to a $5 million settlement with the chamberlain family, the largest settlement around police violence in white plains ever. that does it for our show.

hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. u.s. and chinese officials have chipped away at each other in discussions over trade. but they're making efforts to mend their frayed ties, and they say they're working toward more stable relations. the chinese minister