patrisse khan—cullors, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me.you typed #blacklivesmatter to the bottom of your friend's facebook post, what were you thinking? i was thinking that our generation wasn't going to allow george zimmerman to have the end of the story in trayvon martin's death. george zimmerman was the man acquitted of the death of trayvon martin. the moment he was acquitted, i was full of despair but rather quickly understood there had to be a new conversation about anti—black racism in this country and arguably in the world. but there must have been cases before that irritated you and irritated others. what made it about that moment that made you feel that and made it travel as it did? i think it was witnessing george zimmerman and the trial against him actually be a trial against trayvon martin. i think it was spending an entire year waiting for a justice system that has historically been terrible to black communities give this white—passing person a pass to go home after murdering a child. i think it was spending time in my life se

amy: common and andra day were joined on stage by black lives matter co-founder patrisse khan-cullors, #metoo founder tarana burke, and legendary civil-rights activist dolores huerta. planned parenthood cecille richards. despite the displays on stage, many of the night's top winners were still white men. among the exceptions come the film "get out" which won best original screenplay for its writer, the director jordan peele, the top winner of the night was "the shape of water" which won best actor and best director award for its mexican director guillermo del toro. we will have more on the sears oscars and why the oscars are still so white and male later in the broadcast. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. schools across west virginia are closed for an eighth day as more than 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school staffers remain on strike demanding higher wages and better healthcare. th