Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20171220

That 2016 election. Among the actions that attention drew their was steins attendance at a 2015 dinner in moscow sponsored by russian staterun Television Network rt, where she sat at a table with russian president Vladimir Putin. Also there, another american, general michael flynn. Well get response from stein , who says shes the focus of a new mccarthyism. Of receipt taylor. Then the rape of recy taylor. Amy we look at what happened in 1944 with a 24yearold black mother and sharecropper was gave rate by six white teens in alabama. She refused to be silenced. She spoke up with the help of the naacps chief rape investigator, none other than rosa parks, who rallied support for taylor, triggering a movement to seek justice 11 buss before the montgomery boycott. We will speak with the films director Nancy Buirski and with yale historian crystal feimster. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Congress is on the cusp of approving a massive rewrite of the u. S. Tax code that will overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the wealthiest americans, while ending a central pillar of president obamas Signature Healthcare law. Just past midnight, the senate voted 51 to 48 along party lines on a final version of the tax bill as protests erupted in the gallery, with chants of kill the bill, dont kill us briefly interrupting proceedings. The senate vote came despite overwhelming public opposition to the measure. An nbc news wall street journal poll found fewer than onequarter of americans think the tax plan is a good idea, while twothirds of those surveyed said its designed mostly to help corporations and the wealthy. This is Republican Senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. This, if we cant sell this to the american people, we ought to go into another line of work. I think this is an important accomplishment for the country that people will value and appreciate. Obviously, it requires us to continue the discussion with the american people. Amy all 48 members of the senates Democratic Caucus voted against the bill. During debate, ohio democrat senator Sherrod Brown opened the doors to the Senate Chamber and pointed to lobbyists walking in and out of the offices of republican leader mitch mcconnell, saying they were responsible for a bill that will enrich millionaires and corporations while taking away healthcare from ordinary americans. I want my colleagues to think about this picture. This stream of lobbyists in and out of senator mcconnells office, the stream from the largest and richest companies, tobacco companies, insurance companies, the companies that tend to run this government. I want you to think of that. Are you on the side of the workers who are doing the heavy work who cant work until they are 70 . Or are you on the side of ceos and politicians who do the bidding of these ceos . Amy his comments to rebuke from an assistant to senator mitch mcconnell, who said they lacked decorum will stop the senates passage of the tax bill came hours after the house of representatives voted 227203 in favor of the measure, with zero democrats and 227 republicans voting yes. 191 democrats and 12 republicans voting against the tax bill. However, parliamentary procedures will require the house to vote again today after small technical changes were made to the legislation. This is Georgia Democratic congress member, civil rights leader john lewis. This is not fair. It is not just. And it is below the dignity of this body. Mr. Speaker has said on many occasions that you cannot get blood from a turnip. You cannot justify robbing poor peter to pay billionaire paul. , when the bill comes due, the chickens will come home to roost. Colleagues tomy be on the right side of history and vote against this act. Amy an analysis by the Tax Policy Institute found that by 2027, the tax bill would give the wealthiest 1 of americans 83 of the tax cut. The bill would also end of the federal Health Insurance mandate, endangering the Affordable Care act. It will open up drilling in Arctic National wildlife refuge. President trump has called a 1 00 p. M. News Conference Today where he is expected to celebrate his first major legislative victory. In yemen, the u. S. Backed Saudi Coalition said tuesday it had shot down a missile fired by Houthi Rebels aimed at the heart of the saudi kingdom. Video posted by houthi militants showed the launch of the shortrange ballistic missile, which the rebels said was aimed at the royal palace in riyadh. Saudi officials immediately blamed iran for supplying the missile, a charge denied by both tehran and the Houthi Rebels. The escalating tensions came as the u. N. s top human rights official said u. S. Backed, Saudiled Coalition airstrikes have killed at least 136 civilians and noncombatants in the past two weeks alone, including seven air strikes on a prison that killed 45 people, and an assault on a farmhouse that killed 14 children and six adults. In the occupied palestinian territories, human Rights Groups are warning that Israeli Forces are increasingly arresting and detaining children sometimes holding them without trial as protests continue to rage over president trumps decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capital. On tuesday, Israeli Soldiers and Border Police raided the home of prominent 16yearold palestinian activist nariman tamimi, a day after video showing her confronting Israeli Soldiers went viral. After ahed tamimis arrest, the girls mother, nariman tamimi, was detained at an Israeli Police station as she inquired about the status of her daughter. In another case, witnesses say 17yearold Abdul Khalik Burnat was arrested earlier this week when he went out for pizza with friends. Burnats father is iyad burnat, a leader of a nonviolent Palestinian Resistance group whose work was highlighted in the oscarnominated documentary five broken cameras. The arrests came as the u. N. s top human rights official condemned the killing of 29yearold Palestinian Ibrahim abu thuraya, who was shot in the head by an israeli sniper last friday during a protest in the gaza strip. Abu thuraya was a doubleamputee who lost both legs and a kidney in 2008 during an israeli airstrike and uses a wheelchair. This is rupert colville, spokesperson for the u. N. s office of the high commissioner for human rights. As far as we can see, theres nothing to suggest that he was ofing an imminent threat death or serious injury when he was killed. In the words of the high commissioner, given his severe disability, which must have been clearly visible to those who shot him, his killing is incomprehensible and is truly shocking act. Amy in news from china, sounding the alarm after authorities in the southern Guangdong Province held a public trial for 12 accused drug dealers before sentencing 10 of them to death. Thousands of residents of the city of lufeng looked on from a local sports stadium during saturdays spectacle, which saw prisoners paraded through the streets ahead of the executions. It was the third time that death sentences have been carried out publicly since june. In bournemouth, authorities have arrested a pair of reuters journalists who could face up to 14 years in prison for allegedly violating the countrys official secrets act. Wa lone and kyaw soe oo had been reporting on militarybacked violence against minority Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State before their arrest on december 12. December 12. Reuters editorinchief called the arrests a blatant attack on press freedom and Foreign Ministers around the world, jewelry, and handcuffed of prisoner who was shocked five times for refusing to sit on a bench. A warning to listeners and viewers, the footage is disturbing. [screaming] amy the videos prompted ohios Franklin County to settle a lawsuit that accused guards of sadistic and unconstitutional taser use beginning in 2008. But reuters reports neither turner nor any deputies were disciplined over the incidents, and that turner has since been promoted to the rank of major, and is now commander of the larger of the jails two main facilities. Among those demanding accountability is Ohio Democratic state senator charleta tavares. I think any time a stun gun is used inappropriate, particularly in the video where it looks as though it is just used over and over and it is more like a prod that people would use on an animal, that is criminal, in my opinion. Amy and in a major victory for environmentalists fighting climate change, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo said tuesday hell work with the state comptroller to divest new yorks Massive Public pension fund from fossil fuel companies. The socalled decarbonization roadmap seeks to phase out investments in companies that trade in coal, oil and gas, while investing in Green Technologies like solar and wind. New yorks common fund manages over 200 billion in Retirement Savings for more than a million new yorkers. It currently holds shares of more than 50 oil and gas companies, with over than a with over invested in 1 billion exxon mobil alone. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show with the expansion of the Senate Intelligence investigation into the trump campaigns suspected russia ties to include another 2016 president ial candidate the green partys jill stein. The Senate Intelligence committee has asked stein for documents as part of its probe of russian interference in the 2016 election. Committee chairman, republican richard burr of North Carolina said monday they are looking for potential collusion with the russians. Amy among the actions that reportedly drew the interest of investigators is dr. Steins attendance at a 2015 dinner in moscow that was sponsored by russian staterun Television Network rt, celebrating its 10th anniversary. A photo that was later widely shared shows stein sitting at a table with russian president Vladimir Putin during the dinner has been widely shared. Sitting across the table from stein was another american, michael flynn, who went on to become president Trumps National security advisor and has since entered into a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian Election interference, pleading guilty to a single felony count of lying to the fbi about his conversations with russias u. S. Ambassador. To respond to these two developments, dr. Jill stein joins us now from boston. Welcome back to democracy now can you tell us exactly what the Senate Intelligence committee is demanding of you and your 2016 president ial campaign . It is great to be with you this morning. The Senate Intelligence committee contacted us and basically sent a letter requesting documents that we might have that would shed light on potential russian interference in the election. And they were very clear in their letter that they were not targeting us. They were not blaming us. There was no suspicion of collusion. And this was also clarified in their dialogue with our legal team. Then suddenly when it hit the press two days ago, suddenly, the Senate Intelligence committee changed its story and now suddenly we were being investigated for collusion. So this has been kind of a surprise. We are cooperating with the study. With the investigation. Our Campaign Takes very seriously the issue of interference in our elections. That is why we ourselves launched an inquiry into potential interference in the actual vote, the Voting Machines in the software. A socalled recounts campaign. But it is more than recounting, it is essentially an effort to examine the technology of the vote and to answer the question once and for all whether or not our votes were tempered with. Unbeknownst to the public, the Voting Machines and the software has never undergone a forensic examination. So when they use the term there is no evidence of interference, that actually mean and factors the physical evidence. Oureast to the knowledge computer expert advisors who have also been testifying before congress. Just to make the point that we take very seriously the issue of interference. In fact, would not restrict interference. We think any interference, foreign, domestic, by government, by gangster network, but corporations that control of voting software, none of that is likewise, interference with the right to vote with the passage of voter id laws with Corporate Media that only covers certain candidates and not others in the public is clamoring for more information. To my mind, all of that is interference, which is not good. Nonetheless, we support this limited inquiry into interference targeting particular russian interference. Important. Y is very we have agreed from the beginning to cooperate with the legitimate and important aims of the committee and its mission. On the other hand, i think were in a perilous moment for democracy. It is very important that this padiry not be a launching for political intimidation and for the effort to silence political opposition. That is a very dangerous proposition. Have youl stein, already begun handing over documents or are you seeking clarification of the difference between the public statements versus what the letter to you from the Intelligence Committee said . So from what i understand, our legal team is discussing with the committee exactly what the focus of the search will be. So were in the process of determining that and hope to begin doing that search in turning over documents within the next couple of weeks, certainly,s fast as we possibly can. Amy Glenn Greenwald tweeted tuesday click on jill stein thats trending youll see countless leading dems with large platforms strongly implying if not outright stating shes a kremlin agent all because of a congressional inquiry. They couldnt better replicate mccarthyism if they tried. Glenn greenwald made a similar point lastugust on docracy no to me, any of us who grew up in politics or came age as an american in the 1960s or 1970s ,r 1980s or even the 1990s knows that central to american political discourse has always been trying to tie your political opponents to russia, to demonizing the kremlin as the ultimate evil, and then trying to insinuate that your political adversaries are somehow secretly sympathetic to or even controlled by russianeaders and kremlin operatives and russian intelligence agencies. This was not just the mccarthyism, but even long after, this is typically a publican tactiused against democrats. If democrats advocated greater detente with the russians, arms deals come or other negotiations with russia to decrease tensions or decrease conflict, republicans would immediately accuse those liberals and democrats of advocating that of either being having the allegiance to the kremlin or being useful or stooges of russian leaders. Juan that was Glenn Greenwald speaking to democracy now in august. On tuesday, think progress ran a story headlined the prokremlin talking points of jill stein trump wasnt the only one promoting prokremlin talking points last year. In it, Casey Michael writes steins willingness to praise russian propaganda outlets and push kremlin talking points didnt end in moscow. Indeed, she challenged and arguably surpassed trump in crafting the most moscowfriendly campaign of 2016. It also claims you seemed more than willing to spout kremlin talking points at every turn and all, it appears, for free. Your response to this think progress statements . Well, you know, this is the podesta organization speaking through think progress. Basically they are the maps these for the podesta organization, which is very closely tied to the democratic already john podesta, Hillary Clintons campaign manager, funded by saudi arabia and large, nefarious corporate interests. This is the kind of shameful journalistic standard that we , whatome to expect from shall we say, those who have a political ax to grind and who i really been conducting a Smear Campaign against our campaign for the long haul here. This russia smear, essentially, dnc emails,r the the Democratic Party emails were exposed showing the collusion on the part of the Democratic Party to sabotage bernie sanders, how that primary was rigged, which then attorneys for the Democratic Party testified in court that they had a right to essentially rigged the election and determine the outcome as they pleased. And that the appearance of a democratic process was coming you know, essentially a sham and coverup. Of course they were very alarmed by those emails. And that is when the Smear Campaign began in earnest. It is not only thinkprogress, the New York Times an article yesterday that began with the Democratic Party spokesperson essentially establishing the framework for the investigation, which is that democrats are whatus at my campaign for they think was our audacity to vote on behalf of our agendas against war, against off shoring of our jobs, against the attack on the climate whether by fracking or by. Or by coal. They said this is outrageous. Democrats are furious at me. I think it speaks volumes about where this is coming from. Not to say that this is only democrats. The chair of the committee the committee is run largely by republicans out, there is a bipartisan benefit here to smearing, intimidating, and silencing third parties. Law for the democrats, this validates while for the democrats, this validates their framing russia as sort of the prime mover in the major issue in our Politics Today for the republicans, it enables them to committee focused on someone else besides trump. So there are all kinds of ulterior political motive fear that are not a service to our democracy. Our democracy is threatened by interference in our election. Our democracy is also threatened by this climate in which our First Amendment rights, our rights to political independence , to free political speech, the right to protest with the j20 20 trials that you have cover which are so outrageous in an effort to intimidate and frighten people out of our right to protest, with people who just happen to be standing on a Street Corner j at the20 inauguration protest, in the wrong place at the wrong time, you got kettled and charged with a felony riot and threatened with up to 50 years or more in jail for just being on a Street Corner. Essentially without evidence. Theres a real assault going on right now. Not only the danger of fascism that we see out in the streets of charlottesville and so on going amy jill stein, we have to go to break but i want doesnt really come back, we want to ask about the dinner that you attended. We have spoken about this on democracy now not been subpoenaed, but if you are, what does this mean . What kind of resources to have to put into dealing with this . Askedll stein, now being to hand over documents by the Senate Intelligence committee. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan the Senate Intelligence committee has asked 2016 green Party President candidate jill stein for documents as part of its probe of russian interference in the 2016 election. Committee chairman republican richard berg of North Carolina said monday they are looking for potential with the russians. Amy among the actions that reportedly drew the interest of investigators was steins attendance at a 2015 dinner in moscow that was sponsored by russian staterun Television Network rt, celebrating its 10th anniversary. A photo that was labor who later widely shared stein sitting at a table with russian president Vladimir Putin during the dinner stop sitting across the table from stein was another american, michael flynn, who went on to become president Trumps National security adviser, and has since entered into a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian Election interference. Recently played guilty to a single felony count of lying to the fbi about his conversations with russias u. S. Ambassador. So jill stein, talk about why you are in moscow at the table of president putin and you feel you should have to explain why you were at this table . Let me just say i have explained a thousand times why i was at the table. We have been completely transparent all along he. We raised money in order to get there because we were not going to accept money from a foreign government, even in the form of, you know, sponsoring a transportation or our hotel fees or food and so on. We raised the money to get there. We were very public in our emails to our supporters, in our website, and press releases about the fact we were going, about the fact that i hoped to meet with russian officials when i was there in order to address our agenda, essentially, for peace and climate security and Nuclear Weapons abolition which are Critical Issues that needed to be raised in our campaign here and need to be raised as matters of foreign policy. This information has been up on our website for all of two years. Somehow if the Intelligence Committees have failed to see it , maybe they have not done their homework yet. We have been completely transparent about everything that went on. At the dinner itself, which we sent pictures of and reported on, at the dinner the dinner was really a nonevent because there were no translators at the table. Only there briefly. He walked in with his entourage, which i thought were his bodyguards. I later learned they were actually his chief of staff and head of communications. But no one was introduced to anyone. Putin was there briefly before he gave a speech and russian. There were no translators at the table. I spent the entire dinner speaking to the person on my right. The person on my left did not speak english. The person on my right was a german former diplomat. We talked a little bit about International Relations and international law. Other than that, theres nothing substantive at the dinner. The new yorker reported that exchanged onen sentence, which went something to the effect of hows it going . Ok. The one person who spoke both english and russian was sitting next to flynn. Flynn introduced himself to me just before we sat down at the dinner. I thought it was curious there was curious theres a military person at his comments that largely seem to be peace advocates, and i should mention, by the way, ray mcgovern was there, rocky anderson, jesse ventura, thom hartmann, max blumenthal. It was really a whos who of the Peace Community that regrettably has to resort to a foreign tv network in order to be heard in this country. ,uan jill, i want to ask you you mentioned the foreign tv network. Your response to the attempt to essentially ostracize rt tv in the united states, having them declared just registering as a foreign agency. Your sense of what is happening in the campaign against rt tv . It interesting. I do not watch rt myself, except there are some programs i find very interesting and informative. There are several newscasters who were thrown out of u. S. Corporate media because they opposed the war. Chris hedges, who refused to accept the disinformation by the Intelligence Community in the runup to the iraq war coming is a program. Featured. Thal is thom hartmann. There are good programs on rt. Hillary clinton is on record praising rt several years back saying when she is out of the country, she watches rt and recommended it. What is going on here . If you actually read the Intelligence Community report, it criticizes rt for saying things like that our democracy is flawed, that our elections forblematic, that lifting of the voices of the antifracking community, for saying wall street greed is a problem. If that is the basis for requiring rt for ostracizing rt, then we are lucky that democracy now has not been ostracized yet because many of those same issues, i daresay, are also prominent in democracy now s coverage. This is part of the effort to demonize, to vilify the social movements who are likewise characterized as russian assets. That black lives matter, that thattanding rock protests, antifracking movements and so on are essentially russian instigated. So if this isnt an effort to explain away social movements and social unrest, i dont know what is. Amy jill stein, just explain technically, you have only been requested documents now. What is the difference between that request and a subpoena . And are your lawyers, do they know if youre going to be subpoenaed and will you have to testify . We dont know. We intend to cooperate because there is now this presumption of guilt that has been created by this ongoing Smear Campaign. Theres a presumption of guilt and the air needs to be cleared. We are offer transportation. Our documents have been what we have been doing, who we have been talking to and what we have been talking about has been public in real time and continues to be public. No harm for us to gather up those documents and put them all in one place and make it possible for everyone finally to examine them. We have been trying to draw attention to the actual facts of smearse ever since the began. I dont think anything is really going to change here. There will be some administrative emails. Our communications with rt about what time im going to show up and was studio i will be at. I dont think they will have much content in them. Amy finally, jill stein, i want to ask you an entirely different question. Your the 20 62 president ial nominee for the green party. House the senate and poised to finalize the tax bill, which some call a tax hike, which some call the largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top that we have seen in decades. As a president ial nominee, your comments on what is happening today . Commentarya shameful , not only on the republican party, but i would say on all of congress. On the bipartisan establishment, which has come you know, the public is for valley opposed to this bill. It is Something Like a support level that is down at the 30 level. It is really pathetic that congress is as unresponsive as it is and that the socalled Opposition Party in the form of the democrats have been focusing on russia and not focusing on the harm being done right here in our own country. This is why, to my mind, the crisis of our democracy now is a crisis of economic survival, of economic security, of our climate, of the endless war, which is also costing us more than half of our discretionary budget. It is not working. This is why the public is in political revolt right now, which speaks volumes about why these committees are now turning to suppress political opposition. I encourage people to go to our drjillstein in the part of standing up at this critical time for our democracy. Amy dr. Jill stein, thank you for being with us, 2016 green Party President ial nominee. The Intelligence Committee is now questioning the campaign and dr. Jill stein asking for connectionbout her and involvement with anything to do with russia. Jill stein, thank you for joining us from boston. When we come back, a remarkable new documentary about a black woman sharecropper raped in the 1940s in alabama. And what does rosa parks have to do with investigating it . Stay with us. [music break] amy go tell it on the mountain. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We turn now to a new film that looks at what happened in 1944 when a 24year old black mother and sharecropper was raped gangraped in alabama, and refused to be silenced. This is a clip from the trailer of the documentary, the rape of recy taylor. Car pulled up behind me nothing abouty what they were going to do to me. Car thenme in the blindfold me. I was begging them to leave me alone. Dont shoot me. I got to go home to see about my babies. They would not let me go. Truth, help but tell the what they done to me. Juan that was recy taylor herself, describing what happened the night six white boys abducted and brutally raped her as she walked home from a Church Service in abbeville, alabama. After the men raped taylor, they left her on the side of a deserted road where she was found by her father. This is another clip from the film the rape of recy taylor this starts with her brother, followed by her sister. They explained what happened to recy taylor the net she was raped. What they did to her you know my sister did not have no more kids after that . And never got pregnant after that . Just haveidnt only sex with her, after they got through mutilating her, they played in her body. I dont know she was feeling pain or what. That was after they kept her hours out in five the woods. Same guys, one night. They said they wanted her to act just like she was going to be with her husband. Amy the boys had warned taylor repeatedly they would kill her she spoke out. Despite the threats, recy taylor identified her rapists post up few women spoke up in fear of their lives. Whitepe of black women by men was so common in jim crow south that the naacp had a chief rape investigator. That person was none other than rosa parks. When rosa parks went to interview recy taylor, talking 11 years before the montgomery bus boycott, the local sheriff cap driving by the house and eventually burst in, threatening rosa parks with arrested she did not leave town. Parks left and watched the Alabama Committee free will. Ustice for mrs. Recy taylor again, 11 years before rosa parks became that civil rights hero for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, watching the boycott. For more, we are joined by Nancy Buirski and professor crystal feimster. Shes interviewed in the film and author of the book southern horrors women and the politics of rape and lynching. We welcome you both to democracy now Nancy Buirski, lets begin with you. Why you took on this film, what an amazing moment for it to be shown in the midst of the metoo movement. Again, amplify the story of recy Taylor Taylor and what ultimately happened to her. Recy taylor is amazingly courageous for speaking up will step as you mentioned, very few women did that. They were ready afraid for their lives. Their families would be threatened and their friends livelihoods would be threatened. What she did was extraordinary. We made this home before this metoo movement. We had no idea. As i look back on it, recy stories the first link in a long chain. Not even the first link. It goes like to slavery. But it is a very pivotal link in a chain that goes right through the civil rights movement, right up through black power, and obviously is resolved today. Amy recy taylor, what happened now go what were the investigations . You have rosa parks, this amazing story of rosa parks going to abbeville. This is what motivated rosa parks, what propelled her. They had a grand jury investigation soon after the rape. I think it displays in october. The rape took place in september. She did not get justice. She identified her rapists, but to no one surprise, these guys were not indicted. That is when rosa parks steps in and says we have to put more pressure on the governor. We have to get some kind of justice. She comes to abbeville and interviews recy taylor. Townets kicked out of the by the sheriff. She comes back and interviews are again. She takes her up to montgomery, worship forms a committee for equal justice for mrs. Recy taylor. Basically, this triggers the black newspapers to write about this story. Black newspapers were the only newspapers that were writing these stories in those days. Note newspapers did suppress it, they just ignored it. It was an important. The film highlights the role of the black press that it played in documenting and publicizing what happened to recy taylor. This clip begins with journalist and activist Esther Cooper jackson, followed by danielle mcguire. Mcguire is the author of at the dark end of the street, the book that inspired the film. The only place we really were able to publish articles about recy and ellis was through the chicago defenders career, the amsterdam news, the baltimore, etc. The black press. It is part of the infrastructure of injustice where the white press ignores these kinds of crimes and then there is no record of them happening, which gives judges and juries plausible deniability of any knowledge and maybe this is a rumor, not even in the newspaper, and that is why it is so important the black press publishes these stories. Historian was danielle mcguire. Were also joined by crystal feimster, so supervisor of africanamerican studies at yale university, author of southern horrors women and the politics of rape and lynching. Could you talk about the role of the africanamerican press . Papers like the pittsburgh courier and others that were exposing a lot of what was happening in the jim crow south because they were in the north and were able to do that . Right. The africanamerican press played a huge role in exposing white violence, particularly against africanamericans women and men throughout the jim crow south. Most often the stories were stories about rape told through the stories about lynching. And that is what my work is focused on. That longer history. We cant think about the present not think about Frederick Douglass newspaper, the antilynching campaign and how black folks have mobilized the press. We can think about, in this current moment, how folks mobilize social media as an outlet, but, yes, africanamericans in the black press were key not just do recys case, but the work like the naacp were doing in the early 20th century. So, yes. Amy can you talk about what happened to her . What happened to recy taylor, the astonishing fearlessness they tellis raped and her we will kill you unless you promise not to say a word. She immediately spoke out. Talk about the investigations that led to over the decades this story haunted alabama for decades cost of them what happen in 2011 and the Alabama State legislature . So much of what we know about recy taylor in her case comes from daniel maguires research from the dark end of the street and also from what Robert Corbitt tells us what recuy continues to tell us and testify about even today and then we get to hear her voice in nancys beautiful film. But we know that recy comes home. We know that she tells her husband, her father what happens to her. She goes before two grand jurys to testify and identify the young boys who gang raped her that night. As we know, Esther Cooper comes in and does investigation. There is a letter writing campaign. Organize,unions that as we have already mentioned, the black press picks up the story and it is there that the story moves. It becomes not just a national story, but an international story, right . And the campaign through recy continues. But ultimately, after those two grand jurys refused to indict, on behalf of recys case, as mcguires shows, it moves on. That does not say they are no longer investigating rape cases of black women, but the cases give coming. There are new cases every day a black women being assaulted by white men. So they take on new cases. They try to push those cases forward. And recy, you know, goes back to her life and her family and continues to live, but has a hard life. We know her daughter dies in a tragic car accident. We know that her marriage falls apart. But she continues to live, to live her life, and to speak out about what happened to her. She never shies away from that story. I think she says it eloquently in the film that she had to speak the truth about what happened to her. And just because there wasnt justice in the case, she wasnt silenced. In many women who spoke up after her refused to be silenced. I think there is a long tradition of black women speaking to Sexual Assault and Sexual Violence, even when justice isnt an option. Juan Nancy Buirski him in the film, you also include a letter from rosa parks where she talks about an attempted rape against someone in 1931, much earlier. Correct. She is a nanny and a white home. Of course, the seven frugally to nannies where the caretaker mean, she was a caretaker, so she is approached by person in the neighborhood and she persuades him not to rape her. This is what is extraordinary. She actually talks in out of it. That later reflects ideology and what she basically says to him. Amy lets go to that letter. Rosa parks herself, the man whom she called mr. Charlie, had come into the house where she worked while the family was out for the evening. He has a drink, puts his hand on her waist, and propositions her. This is the film. I knew no matter what happened, i would never yield to this white mans beastie out what he. I was ready and willing to die. Begin any consent . Never. Amy that is rosa parks who goes on to write if he wanted to kill me and rape a dead body, he was welcome but he would have to kill me first. It is extraordinary when you think even she didnt speak up immediately. This letter is written letters after the incident took place. She used it in an essay to convey what had happened to her to many more people, ideally, empower other people to speak up finally. But that is an example to me of how difficult it was to speak up in those days. One of the reasons we know so little about this entire what epic history the few women who spoke up, it was often not reported. We did not find out about it. When lynching took place in the deep south, that was meant to be visible. It was a fool of terrorism and make the tell people where their place was, africanamericans. But women were not treated the same way. They were raped also as a tool of terrorism, but it was also a right of passage for a lot of these guys. They had been brought up with the mentality that you have a right to do this. You a right to take advantage of a black womans body. The women only did not speak up, but neither did their husbands because if their husbands flyback, they would be lynched. Im sorry, go ahead. I was going to say i also think what rosa parks letter revealed and what the film reveals in the sort of longer history on Sexual Violence against black women reveals is that while black women may not have had a public platform in which to speak out and to have an audience, that black women resisted Sexual Assault. In the way they spoke out often was in their behavior, in the way they fought back. And we see that resilient and that outspokenness in rosa parks question feet word to dust rosa parks word to mr. Charlie. That is where historians find a wealth of knowledge about how women protested because they did not have traditional outlet, the white press, or an audience that was favorable or interested in Sexual Assault and violence against black women. They had to find alternative ways to fight back and to speak back. And sometimes that was through the way that they resisted the violence. And sometimes it was taking those cases to the local sheriff. Oftentimes, with little or no result, right . So i think there may be a way to kind of think about the sort of spectrum in which ways that women do speak out, even though it doesnt sort of fit how we think women should be speaking out and kind of this metoo moment. We all know that these things happen, right . And there is a silence. But there is a way that that silence often speaks volumes. I think it is important. And i think both danielle and nancys work reveals the kind of diverse ways in which women speak out in protest. Juan nancy, what kind of pushback did you get when you went to the alabama town where this all occurred to try to interview people about it, people who were still alive . We try to interview many more people than what who you see in the film. There were white businessmen we wanted to speak with, and they shut us out, basically. You see in the film a few relatives of the rapists who speak to us, frankly, im surprised they did. I think on some level, there in some kind of denial because they use euphemisms to talk about what their brothers had done. So im not quite sure either they dont accept what they did or they dont how to talk about it. In terms of the africanamericans, there were more than happy to speak. I just want to draw attention to the incredible courage of the brother of recy taylor, robert, who has made it his mission to expose this story even today. Amy what happened in Alabama Legislature in 2011 . They issued an apology. Amy that it . Thats it. The families believe it is too little too late, but they will accept it. Theres a tremendous amount of dignity and that family. They will continue speaking of this. They will continue sending this message that this kind of thing should not happen. One of the things that is really important to know is that no one felt any shame. Recy taylor felt no shame. Theres no reason to. She knew there was recy taylor a legacy join amy and she is alive today recy taylor, for in alabama. I want to thank Nancy Buirski, director and producer of the rape of recy taylor. And crystal feimster associate , professor of African American studies at yale university. Author of southern horrors women and the politics of rape and lynching. Shes interviewed in the film the rape of recy taylor. Tarana burke, the person who founded it about a decade ago, be releasing the new years eve ball. Democracy now is looking for feedback fro i am lidia bastianinich, and teaching you about italian food has always been my passion. I want to always make it prettier and better and tastier, but this doesnt need a single thing. Now its time to learn the basics of the italian kitchen. So join me and master all things italian. 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