joining me, phillip agnew. mark, i'd like to start with you. i remember growing up in new york in the 1980s and '90s and there was a sooez of incidents of police brutality, culminating with the rodney king incident and the riots after that. have things gotten better in the 30 years, or i guess 20 years since rodney king? have things gotten better in terms of police are trained, about how they interact, about what they do, about whether they're held accountable? >> no, actually there's been a significant shift in many police models across the nation. and that is as far away as possible toward community policing and more toward this more militarized show of force, use of force type policing. it's been increase fwli about producing numbers, arrest numbers and showing force in communities as opposed to relating to communities, and defusing situations prior to them happening. >> you think the trajectory is actually getting worse?absolute. there's no question about it. you show the image, for example, of police officers in full military r military re

you have been listening to phillip agnew, head of dream defenders.e just came in to ferguson, missouri from florida. as people are gathering there, deeply concerned about racial justice in this country. we will also be joined by jamala of the organization for black struggle. on the streets of ferguson, missouri. stay with us. [♪] [music break] fruit," mosttrange often sung by billy holiday, she said she threw up every time she sang it. democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. back to the streets of ferguson, missouri, joined by jamala rogers, founder and past chair of the organization for black struggle in st. louis, missouri. innessed the 1968 riots kansas city. her recent piece is called "kerner commission warning comes two societies, separate and unequal." the call by about so many, why the delay in information coming from the police. except information they released, allegedly, about michael brown shoplifting. being pushed hard to release the name of darren wilson, the police officer. asking why there is no act

policing equity, jamelle bouie, a staff writer, just back from reporting in ferguson, missouri, and phillip agnewocial change. hold for me just a second, phillip. i want to go to you first, jamelle, did you talk to young people there and what are they telling you. >> i did talk with young people. i asked everyone i talked to but especially young people what are your encounters with the police like and to a person everyone had a story. everyone could say i get stopped five or six times a month, nine or ten times a month. i can't walk to my apartment without them asking where i'm going. i can't really do anything. when i got to ferguson wednesday morning, the guy at the counter, who was maybe a little older, a little younger than me, told me, yo, i have a toyota that i can't drive with the rims that are on it because the police will stop me. so in this area it seems that being a young black person just means the police are part of your daily life in a very antagonistic way which i think is so hard for a lot of people white americans, i grew up in a mostly white area. it was hard for me to understan

how is it that phillip agnew didn't get a chance to talk? well, it was after dinner probably. but if you have a young leaders' led march, that would never happen because we need to stand back. >> we need to step aside. we need to move over, let them speak, let us organize. >> thank you. >> folks, the dream defenders step up. we ain't got to worry about. they are stepping up. belafonte has mentored hundreds of young leaders, the hip-hop caucus. rosa. the malcolm x grassroots movements, students against incarceration. cal e-mail, leaders of a beautiful struggle. thealgia gras, the conscious ones and yes, the howard university government association is in the house, and they are organizing students all over the country. so let the word go out. move over. step aside, reverend sharpton and other civil rights leaders. let the young people take the lead. young people must take the lead. i close with this quote from malcolm x. we are on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society on this earth in this day, w

. >>> joining me now, phillip agnew. it feels like there's a step happening, michael brown's family will be traveling to new york to participate in a march there over the death of eric garner, who died. do you think there's a moment here that will zoom out into something larger around the way policing happens in this country and criminal justice more broadly? >> right. we need to talk about demands right now. i think we're in a position to have a conversation with our officials about what we want. we have departments around this country that have killed black men in front of their families, in front of stores and nothing has happened. we want federal investigations. eric holder is down here now. we want federal investigations into all of those police departments. it's happening in miami, it's happening in chicago, in l.a., it's happening in new york. and we're seeing it. just in the past month. we want a federal investigation into all of those police departments. we want mcculloch off the case, too. it's like having a bl

outside agitators, nelson pierce, lead organizer for amos project, federation of congregations, and phillip agnew "all in" know well. you guys are from ferguson, bu you're down here. what do you say to people, you're not from here, you're coming to rush to the cameras and cause trouble? >> right. >> the big thing for me is, we are here to kind of add a megaphone to the voices of the people on the ground. the fact is that the issues that the people are experiencing are deep and they're important and they're not just here to ferguson, they're in cincinnati, they're in miami, they're all over the country. and so when we have capacity that we can add or we have a megaphone that we can add to help the voices on the ground, i think that's a critical need. >> phillip, you -- these are the kind of issues -- i mean, you guys started -- >> yeah. >> -- around trayvon martin when you really got galvanizing. you've been talking about a number of young men in florida. >> yes. >> who met their death at the hands of florida police. this is something you've been organizing all around the country. >> this is happe