Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20180207

Recent months, a new York City Taxi or live driver ha committed suicide as they face financial despair. Can uber and lyft be blamed . We will speak to the head of the new york taxi alliance. And in baltimore, one of the most startling Police Scandals in a generation. Elite officers accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, breaking into homes, selling drugs, and carrying bb guns. We will speak with Sherrilyn Ifill. Then a 16yearold girl who killed her abusive father is finally home from juvenile detention after her case sparked National Outcry over the treatment of Domestic Violence survivors. We will look at the case of of Bresha Meadows. Could have done something that as a scared 14yearold, bresha thought she had to do what she did to protect her family. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The United Nations is calling for an immediate onemonth ceasefire in syria after more than 85 people were killed on tuesday by Syrian Government bombing and artillery strikes against two rebelheld enclaves eastern ghouta, a suburb of the capital damascus, and the northern province of idlib. Tuesdays was the deadliest day so far in a weekslong escalation by the russianbacked Syrian Government against the two rebelheld areas. This is United Nations spokesman. Were talking about where we have about 2 Million People of concern. It was called the other day like a huge refugee camp. That is essentially what it is. There are hundreds of thousands of people who are internally displaced there, on the run, extremely vulnerable. Attack andme under under bombardment. That is cometely unacceptable. Amy with the 2018 Winter Olympics slated to begin on friday, north and south korea continue to use the games as an opportunity to deescalate tensions on the korean peninsula. North korea has sent a 500person delegation of athletes, musicians, and performers to pyeongchang, south korea, where the games are being held. North Korean Leader kim jonguns sister will also attend fridays opening ceremony. But as the peninsula tries to deescalate the threat of nuclear war, u. S. Vice president mike pence warned the u. S. Is slated to impose another round of sanctions against north korea. This is pence speaking in japan. Vice pres. Pence we will not allow korean propaganda to highlight the imagery of the own begins. We will intensify our maximum Pressure Campaign until north korea takes concrete steps toward complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization. Im announcing today that the United States of america will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on north korea ever. Amy President Trumps chief of staff john kelly has sparked outrage with his comments implying that young undocumented immigrants are lazy if they didnt sign up for daca, thats the deferred action for childhood arrivals pgram, which prident trp rescind la year. Se did not carabout th progra ha to belie, but o so were peaps onlyoncerned about gning up whenany ople ithe neigorhood signed up. Tw othree tes. , fine. But i t to telyou come t restf them w are now planni tven plning, have been eentiallyranted the predent,y who are come the cmpion r 1. People e now csidered daca, i ha to sasome of em prably shod have jt gotten up offhe couchnd signeup. Y immignt rightadvocate slamd kellys commts as ignorantpointingut that siing up f daca cos hundds of doars evertwo ars and quires nigating the prramcomplicad age and dateequiremes, which advocas say rericted f mo immigrants th kelly clmed. Theashingto post rorts presidt trump s given e peagon maring orrs to age a ssive miliry pare lar this yr. The post reports trump demanded the parade during a january 18 meeting with top military generals. Saidilitary ma official this is being worked at the highest levels of the military. In news on puerto rico, the federal Emergency Management agency, known as fema, is facing criticism after it was revealed only a fraction of the 30 million meals slated to be sent to the island after Hurricane Maria were actually delivered. Fema approved a 156 Million Contract for a onewoman company to deliver the 30 million meals. But in the end, fema canceled the contract after she delivered only 50,000 meals, in what fema called a logistical nightmare. Fema has also faced criticism for approving a 30 Million Contract for emergency tarps and plastic sheeting not a single tarp of which was ever delivered. On capitol hill, the house of representatives has passed a bill overhauling the secretive process for reporting Sexual Harassment in congress. The legislation would bar lawmakers accused of Sexual Harassment from using taxpayer money to settle lawsuits. Would pvide leg reprentationo thos allegin ey have en sexuall haraed. Under e currt system the accusesexual hassers a alrey provid a lawye criticsay thalegislatn tas away aevel of accotabilityy sidene the office ocongreional etcs, an indepennt watchdog agency. Las vegas casino mogul steve wynn has resigned from his company, wynn resorts, after being accused of sexually harassing women employees for decades in an explosive wall street journal article published last month. Wynn has also resigned as the fundraising chair for the Republican National committee. Wynn is a close friend of President Trump, who has also been accused of Sexual Harassment, misconduct, or assault by at least 16 women. In london, a judge ruled tuesday to uphold the british arrest warrant for wikileaks founder lian assge, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in london for more than five years. Assanges lawyers tried unsuccessfully to argue the british arrest warrant for jumping bail should be rescinded because it is related to a swedish Sexual Assault investigation against assange, which has since been dropped. Tuesdays ruling means assanges legal situation has not changed. After tuesdays ruling, ecuadorian president lenin moreno said ecuador would continue to protect assange. We are not afraid of anything. Of nothing other than those escape the respect of freedom, respect for dignity. That is the only thing we can fear. Mr. In sanchez is in inherited problem user assange is an inherited problem. However, weve made a commitment from the start to continue protecting the life of mr. Assange, which we think is in danger. Amy hong kongs highest court has thrown out the prison sentences for three democracy student organizers joshua wong, alex chow and nathan law. Tuesdays ruling reverses the august 2017 verdicts, in which the three were sentenced to months in prison for helping organize the 2014 prodemocracy Umbrella Movement protests. The activists, however, cautioned against celebrating the ruling, as the court warned them that any future organizing could result in imprisonment. This is joshua wong. According to the judgment handed down by the court of final appeal in the future, if there any similar actions, protesters will still receive prism it. I will not describe this as a win and do not see it is as a reason to celebrate. Amy back in the United States, new York City Taxi drivers held a vigil on tuesday to honor livery car driver Douglas Schifter, who killed himself in front of city hall on monday morning after writing a long Facebook Post condemning local politicians and wall streetbacked ap like uberor pushing him into financial rui in the post, schifter describes working 100 hour to 120 hours a week for the last 14 years. He went on to condemn the executives of the ridehailing apps for driving down rates, and wrote i will not be a slave working for chump change. I would rather be dead. Well have more on this story after headlines. In baltimore, maryland, closing arguments are slated to begin today for two Baltimore Police officers who face racketeering , conspiracy, and robbery charges as part of what the New York Times is calling one of the most startling Police Corruption scandals in a generation. The officers were part of an elite plainclothes unit called the Gun Trace Task force. Six other members of the task force have already plead guilty to an array of crimes. Prosecutors say the task force stole hundred of thousands of dollars from city residents, broke into peoples houses, stole drugs and then gave them to drug dealers, and even carried around bb guns they could use to plant on people they shot. Well have more on the case later in the broadcast. In san francisco, a federal court has upheld a 25 million settlement against President Trump over his nowdefunct Trump University. The ruling means the students defrauded by Trump University will finally get back some of their money back. Trumps lawyers settled the lawsuit after he won the 2016 election. And new York Congress person Nydia Velazquez has introduced a private immigration bill that, if passed, would provide new york city immigrant rights leader ravi ragbir with a path toward permanent immigration status. Ravi is the executive director of the new sanctuary coalition. He was detained last month by immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents at his ice checkin, and now faces the possibility of deportation as early as this saturday, february 10. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin todays show here in new york. On tuesday, taxi drivers held a vigil to remember a livery car driver who had committed suicide outside the gates of city hall monday. Douglas schifter is believed to be the third new York City Driver to commit suicide in the past three months. In aessage posted on facebook, schifter blamed city and state leaders and ridesharing apps like uber for pushing him and other taxi drivers into financial despair. He wrote i worked 100120 consecutive hours almost every week for the past plus years. 14 when the industry started in 1981, i averaged 4050 hours. I cannot survive any longer with working 120 hours i am not a slave and i refuse to be one. Bloomberg, the blasio, and andrew cuomo have each had their part in destroying a once thriving industry. There are over 100,000 of us suffering daily now. It is the new slavery. He went on to say there seems to be a strong bias by the mayor and governor in favor of uber. A company that is a known liar, cheat and thief. Over the past five years, the number of forhi cars has more than doubled in the city largely thanks to uber. But the soaring number of cars has resulted in a financial crisis for many longtime taxi drivers who now struggle to get customers. Schifter had warned about this in the pages of the publication black car news where he wrote a monthly column, but his wnings we ignored neil wss, owneof blackar ws, said hisife was rely falli art. Heouldnpay his use oror hicar. He w doing hisest to p for what he ed. We are jned rit now b bhravi des, execive rector a cofoundeof the new yo taxi rkers alance, which presentsver 1900 xi drive in new yo city. Lastpril, shtestifiebefore thtaxi andimousine commison and wned about e sing dpair amongrivers. Bhravi des, welcome ck to democracnow this trady that s just curred. Talkbout what ppened o moay. Whdouglas hifter w. He s a long time, or 30 profeional blk car drer in n york city. Had als been activi. Hes a prolif writer r the indust papers. He went rly morng in front of cy haland hshot hielf. Befo he hadhot himself, wre a postn facebk where he reay jt outlid, i ink, theeality tha over 0,00 drirs, professiona drivs in nework ty, are facing amy hat is tt realit it a race the botm. Evy day peop are gng deer and deeper to pover. This is e realitof the socald gig economy. It is about destroying what has been a fulltime pfession, rning it io parttim poverty y work. Way,d lyft by the they are absolutely the same. It is all one same business mol. They use their political might in 2016, uber and lyft combined spent more on lobbying than amazon and walmart combined. And microsoft as well. So they use the political might to when deregulation bills. Amy they used more money on lobbying than walmart, microsoft and amazon. Amy combined. Yes. Had 33 years ago, uber more lobbyist than walmart itself. The most amazing thing here is that what they are lobbying for his, first, exemption from existing taxi local rules and regulations. They go straight to the state level, so they are exempt from city level regulations. Once they win that deregulation, theyre able to flood the streets with vehicles in order the existing taxi industry. Amy explain what those regulations they no longer have to abide by our. Vehicle i requirements, you know, the number of inspections a vehicle has to go through. The amount of mileage that a vehicle can have as well as insurance requirements in cases of accidents as well as criminal background checks underwriters in the licensing process. Of course, any kind of a permit, like in new york city it is famous for the medallion, the number you see on top of the yellow cap which is its own capital. At one point here, costs close to 1 million for the corporate medallion. Injury to be cities with none of these expenses. It is obviously not a level playing field. What is also important to note is after theyre able to deregulate the taxi regulations and flood the streets with vehicles and the way they fled them is, they use wall street money to lower drivers with these high bonuses. As soon as the bonuses dry up, the driver start to plummet into poverty. In fact, the federal trade commission find uber 25 million for false advertising over these bonuses. Use the uber and lyft lobbying might to exempt themselves from existing labor laws. In 21 states them gotten exemptions that basically companies that are part of the socald gig economy. If the work is dispatched through an act, these companies would be exempt from any employer responsibility. They could cut the rates as low as they want, even if the drivers earned low minimum wage there is no protection for the driver. Theres dont economic floor for the workers. There is no economic floor for the drivers. Drivers like douglas r cigna profession just being economically crushed. There is the alternative for them. Amy a with to go back to another excerpt of what Douglas Schifter posted on facebook before he killed himself in front of New York City Hall on monday. He said he wrote on facebook and then killed himself. I have been organizing for over 20 years and the taxi industry. We were on the verge of it victory does before uber and lyft descended into town. Ive never seen drivers and more deeper despair, in crisis. Every day there are more vehicles that these Companies Put out onto the streets. What is important to note is that it is a revolving door. Uber itself has said that more than 50 of the drivers only stay with uber for six months at a time. A few years ago, the questions would be, are unions relevant . The question of the gate economy is, our work is relevant . Imagine youre working 12 hours, barely making 50 for yourself and the entire time youre hearing that autonation is right around the corner because first these copies are concerned, your earning 50 too many. Just because as far as these companies are concerned, your earning 50 to money. We know the economy is not accidental. It is not an act of god. It is not a natural disaster. Politically motivated divisions i get Corporate America and is wall street companies advantages and allow them a free world to destroy livelihood. Theours after hearing about threat to take away douglas , another man plunged from his roof after calling his wife in distress after the he owed. Fines Douglas Schifter is just the latest suicide. Douglas was the third suicide we know of within just two to three months. There is a crisis. There is a human crisis as a result of the political failure that have given these wall street companies a free hand. Lobbyist,most of the by the way, come out of the Democratic Party. Many of them went straight from the Obama White House to work for uber. , in talk about the role this case, were talking about new york. At this is happening around the country. Schifter specifically talked about bloomberg, whose family he said he had driven around, his mother and daughter. He talked about current mayor de blasio and he talked about Governor Cuomo. Governor cuomo has really been ubers biggest cheerleader in new york. Douglas main post talked about the saturation of vehicles will stop there is not enough they fares, it is a race to the bottom. A few years ago, mayor de blasio actually went to initiate a cap on the number of vehicles. It was the governor who intervened on behalf of uber and at that time said uber called it a startup. This is a company who at the time had a 40 billion valuation and continued to call it a startup. There has been a massive political failure. That things can change. The city and state can enact real change. By the way, Governor Cuomos realogy went as far as not only did he expedite regulation bill in albany, our capital, driverseously with uber themselves falling for unemployment, one of them i just filed because even though he week, 40 to 60 hours a there were weeks he took home a penny in his page check. He was considered unemployed by definition. Those claims gathered dust. We had to sue in federal court claims to evene be processed. So how on earth can workers not be made to feel expendable in this kind of a political economy . Amy did you win in that lawsuit . We did. The department of labor. When the investigations occur, these companies are found to be the employers that they are and their misclassification is held accountable. But new york has still not had a proper audit, even though the law judge found them to be an employer. Amy bhairavi desai, you say half my heart is just crushed. The other half is on fire. Talk about the drivers you represent. Where do they come from . Tell us the story of their communities. Over 90 of the drivers in new york city are immigrants. We have one of the largest muslim and sikh workforces. We have a proud union that went on strike in 2017 against the muslim band. We represent workers amy explain what you did for people are not familiar. Thousands race to air force to protest President Trumps muslim band. On january 28 last year, we at jfkn set down airport while protesters were at the terminal, our members in the middle of this economic turmoil and despair, you know, they took such an act of courage and consciousness and refused to leave the lot. They went out on strike in order to give the protesters at the solidarity. Amy what did uber do . Uber told the public they would lower their rates. Basically, trying to lure them. Amy at the airport at that moment. Yes, to destroy our strike. Lyft was no better. No company in the gig economy is no better. ,my it has been written about how the Democratic Party befriended a Group Corporation uber for its convention. At the number of people in the highlevel obama officials are does imple, people like think alternately has since left uber. There are so many. Everything the city and state they go into, the first thing they do is hire the former regulators. Our former tlc chairman went to work for lift. His policy director went to work for uber. It has been a revolving door. Are former regulators that know exactly how to destroy regulation and regulatory framework, including regulations that work set in place our movement for 20 years fought to protect the workers and are now being all destroyed. About what you see would be fair. The city has been flooded. It started with Something Like 19,000 cars . Yes. Today we have over 130,000. There used to be only about 13,000 yellow cabs in another 40,000 liveries and black cars combined. Now you have or 130,0. Nobodyan earn living. Amy wt muste done . Yopoint out the war. This is really a battle between wall street and a workforce that is literally dying to keep its profession alive. You know, they work so hard. They collectively serve one Million People every day in the city of new york. They do it with dignity and integrity and with sweat. They should not have to dust amy what you think are the three most important things that have to happen . There must be a cap on a number of vehicles and done in a way that protects fulltime work. Taxi meter is regulated must be the meter that is used across all of the sectors. So uber and lyft cannot continue to drop the fare. Healthere needs to be a and benefits fund that will take care of the drivers. On of the things that douglas said was, as he faced his poverty, he also lost his health care. It. Le cannot afford theres too much at stake here. And because i want to thank you so much for joining us, bhairavi desai, the executive director and cofounder of the new york taxi workers alliance, which represents over 19,000 taxi drivers in new york city. This is democracy now when we come back, one of the most significant Police Corruption cases in a generation and it is playing out in a baltimore urtroom. Stay with us. [music break] amy whitey on the moon gil scott heron. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to what has been described as one of the most startling Police Corruption scandals in a generation. In baltimore, maryland, closing arguments are scheduled to begin today for two Baltimore Police officers who face racketeering , conspiracy, and robbery charges. The officers were part of an elite plainclothes unit called the Gun Trace Task force, but according to prosecutors, the unit acted more like a criminal outfit. In his opening argument during the trial, the lead federal prosecutor leo wise said they were simply put, both cops and robbers. According to prosecutors, the officers stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from city residents. They broke into houses. They stole drugs and then gave them to drug dealers. They carried bb guns that they could plant on people they shot. Six members of the task force have already plead guilty. Baltimore states attorney has already dropped at least 125 criminal cases related to the task force, but many more convictions have been called into question. To talk more about this Massive Police scandal, we are joined by Sherrilyn Ifill. She is president and directorcounsel of the naacp Legal Defense fund. It is great to have you with us. Explain what is going on in this baltimore courtroom. You know, rachel sorry, amy. You described beautifully the scope of the case. I want to zero in on some of the unique points. This case was brought by ron rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney sessions, right before he left being the u. S. Attorney in baltimore this is the case he brought. He is the exact same line that you just said, that this is about cops who are also robbers. You brought the indictment thisst the six officers in unit. That is important to remember first of all that this was the republican u. S. Attorney now working for sessions who brought this case. Then all of the things you describe make this case really important. Were in the process of baltimore watching this process, this Consent Decree process that comes as the result of the pattern and practice investigation from the department of justice two years ago. Decreeaunch this consent process, we are hearing the revelations of this Gun Task Force unit. This is so important because what were hearing from these officers for testifying is precisely what we have been hearing from Community Residents about the reality of cops who are corrupt on the Baltimore Police force. You described it, robbing residents, robbing drug dealers. We heard about kids being arrested on third bikes when they are eight years old. It turns out these officers were selling dirt hikes. They were engaged with bill bondsman in Baltimore County across the city limits to engage in this drug activity. Even more startling, one officer who was scheduled to testify the next day in the trial involving this case was killed. Was killed in a baltimore alley. The first reports were that he was murdered. This is the town on edge. That was unclear whether he was murdered. Then was possible it was a suicide. The Baltimore City Police Department asked the fbi to get involved, who refused. This officer was overnight before he was to testify in the trial and we just learned this week one of the officers testified he used his deal money with this officer who was killed. We have an unsolved police killing. We dont know whether it was murder or suicide. We have all of these revelations and we have this process, this moment in which baltimore is supposed to be transforming its releasing. Amy talk about how long this went on for. Years. Toe say it may have been up 10 years but some say at least five years that this was going on. That is why it is important because this was not uncovered by the Baltimore States attorney. It was done and covered by city hall. It was not uncovered by internal affairs. The Police Officers who testified this week said internal affairs was part of the culture. This was only uncovered by a federal investigation into the Baltimore City Police Department. The questions on the table have to be, what are the structural changes the city is prepared to put in place, not only because of the concentric reprocess, but because her seems to be no way to find out that this kind of criminality was happening within the Police Department . Amy you keep mentioning the Consent Decree. They are under siege all over the country in during the trump. Explain what this is. As ae consent agreed came result of a federal investigation under the Obama Justice department of the Baltimore Police department. They laid out a pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing. The negotiator said, were suing you. A Consent Decree, a federally supervised settlement occurred. That Consent Decree is supposed to do certain kinds of things that will transform policing in baltimore. In the meantime we had a new election and mr. Trump guimond office. His attorney general Jeff Sessions does not believe in consent degrees. Right up at the moment the consent degree was to be fully approved by the federal judge, sessions try to pull out of the consent degree process. We tried to intervene in the case to make sure the process would go forward. The judge would not allow the department of justice out. They said you negotiated the decree, you are staying in this. We are closely monitoring the process to make sure the department of justice does its job but also to make sure the city and the department of justice are taking all of this into account in terms of thinking through what kind of transformation is needed in baltimore. Amy talk about the states attorney now dropping 125 cases and looking into many more. Think about all of the people who were arrested as a result of the officers in this task force. All of those convictions, all of those please. Even if you were not convicted, you have an arrest record. All of that has to come into question. The states attorney has a big job in front of her to deal with that. We have one other issue that has not dropped yet which is quite shocking. Was anorts are there assistant states attorney that caps off the officers they were under investigation. We have not heard the name of that states attorney yet but that is another issue amy explain. How to the officers find out . As someone with the officers nd out the feds found out officers had of the feds were looking into this. Amy companies officers on trial they would not accept a plea. So who tipped off the group of officers that they were being investigated . The rumor is there was an assistant state attorney that tipped them off. We have not heard the name yet. Were not had confirmation of that but that would once again heres something that ostensibly does now fall and the bounds of the decree but has to be taken up. There are a lot of different proposals in baltimore right now that baltimore needs a police commission. We need a full scrubbing from top to bottom. Many people are suggesting that we need an Ongoing Commission that oversees the Baltimore Police department, that it just can be the one police commissioner. The one of the things most important here is people have to learn out of this case that you to listen to the community. People have been talking about the officers in this force, have been talking about the kinds of corruption now being confirmed, and they were disbelieved. When people looked at the unrest after the death of freddie gray and said, why are people turning up their own community . Why are people responding in this way . Many of us were saying, this reflects the frustration of years of this community. It reflects the frustration of not being heard, of not being believed, of not believing that Police Officers in their community are fully engaged in Public Safety. Amy this is the city of freddie gray. So for those, i tweeted this week, where is the National Media on this . The National Media descended on baltimore when the unrest was happening to find out what was going on and why were people socalled rioting. The language used to describe these in people that they were thugs and so forth. It when you get this really important piece of the puzzle to explain what was really happening in these committees, the National Media is not in baltimore. They are not there to get the answers. I think this case is so important because to the extent were looking at this around the country, issues of policing and the need for policing reform, baltimore provides a perfect ways to look at it. This is not just about the community. This is also about officers. We talk about good apples and bad apples. If you are a good apple, i mean, what were hearing, suggests no good apple could prevail and that environment. Theres one officer who was a new trainee that went out with one of these seasoned officers. When it was clear that he would not rob drug dealers, he was no longer asked to be part of the task force. Police officers themselves, to those who have integrity and believe in Public Safety, should be interested in this case and care about this, and should want change to happen. Amy you also tweeted as you castigated the National Media saying, where are you, you said, this corruption trial has the potential to reframe our entire National Conversation about Law Enforcement and minority community. Folks absolutely. Confirmsested it, it so many things the community had been saying over years will stop and the reframing that needs to happen is to bring those voices to the table going to allow those voices to have air, to let them be believed that communities are a key part of the Public Safety narrative. Without question, baltimore has been the seized by Violent Crime over the past few years. I have been saying for some time until we resolve the issue of policing and trust between the distrust, the legitimate distrust that many members of for lawunity have enforcement, we cannot deal with issues of Public Safety. This demonstrates the way in which communities have been preyed upon by officers in ways that make them unwilling to trust the police. They will not call and say, this is what i saw. They will not be witnesses. They will not trust those who claim they need their help to solve crimes. So until we deal with that issue and the legitimate distrust of the community towards Law Enforcement because of officers like those in this task force, we cannot get to the Public Safety outcomes that everyone wants. Justyour organization has sent a letter to the u. S. Department of justice about baltimore and about the lack of training that has been exposed by an academy instructor. Explain what is going on. Heres the other shoe. Last friday, the officer charged with training the Police Recruits in legal standards that govern their conduct announced on friday that one third of the recruits such a graduate that weekend, last weekend, had failed the test, the basic scenario training test that knowledge of the legal standards under which they are to operate. That is probable cause for arrest and so forth. One third of the recruits. This is not Sherrilyn Ifill who said this. This is the officer charged with training the recruits who rings the alarm bell and warns that one third of them are not ready. They graduate anyway on saturday. So we sent a letter to the department of justice and to the mayor saying, no officer who has failed the test of constitutional policing should be patrolling our streets. This is not fair to the community. It is also not fair to those cadets. Retrain them. Train them until they can pass the test. Instead, they gave them an older, less rigorous test so they could all pass. This is the kind of this is happening while the trial is happening. And part of what we ask for is we want to integrate all of these processes. We want to bring this all to the table. This is a difficult job for the mayor and the new police chief, through the descent decree. But it begins with confronting the problem. The problem isnt just violence in the community, which is is often framed by the city leaders, but also problems in the Police Department. Even the fraternal order of police came out the same day that officers need better training to meet these constitutional standards. Amy they actually thanked the academy instructor, his name josh rosenblatt. He is quoted as saying were giving them a badge and a gun tomorrow. Lifeight to take someones if it calls for it. And am not demonstrated they can meet basic constitutional and legal standards. Can be more condemning . What a line. That comes out of the Police Department, not from the outside post a to me, that is a cry for help. For him to publicly say that, he is ringing the alarm bell that even the police union can hear, that anyone can hear. Yet those officers graduated anyway. So our letter really demands that the mayor and the police chief deal with these officers, make sure they are trained properly, reexamine the training they are even providing , and be able to say to the community of baltimore that we have but no officer on the street who has not been fully and adequately trained and who is not a mistreated his or her confidence in understanding confidence in understand the conduct. Govern a badge, shield, gun, taser, pepper spray. These are the implements that we give these individuals to walk through the community. Amy theres so many cases here and so many you been involved with. This is from former Baltimore Police detective who also said Deputy Commissioner deane calm your coached officers on what to say after a Fatal Shooting 2009, former gun squad detective janel ryan shot and killed Shawn Kennedy after a traffic stop. He said it was a close range shot and rhine was heard to say i just did not want to chase him. Yet another case. Said Deputy Commissioner resigned this week who says it is unrelated to this. Shawn kennedy was killed. It turns out it was at close range. Shockingly, this family received only 100,000 verdict in the wrongful death suit. Get another revelation that came out of this trial. I dont even know how to describe the depth of corruption that we have heard and lawlessness we have heard in this trial. This should be echoing throughout the nation. Not to dump on baltimore, to recognize the community has legitimate concerns that this is a Law Enforcement apparatus that needs real help and really to reinforce for as something that you race, amy, the importance of a federal presence. This would not have come to light without investigation by rod rosenstein, the u. S. Attorney amy i met under serious fabric President Trump right now. We would not have an apparatus for transformation without this federal consent agree that came as a result of the pattern and practice investigation by Loretta Lynch when she was attorney general. This all has come as the result of federal intervention. Yet we have a president and attorney general now who have turned off the tap on pattern of practice investigation and will no longer use the resources to engage in those kinds of investigations in communities and no longer even work with Police Departments cooperatively as they have been doing in some jurisdictions. You might have seen the city of san francisco, the state attorney general is now taking over the department of justice has kind of withdrawn. This narrative about what it really takes to transform Police Departments and the critical importance of federal intervention is part of the story of baltimore as well. Amy also you have enormous rise of activism. People at the grassroots trying to hold those accountable. Just this past weekend, you have in baltimore, organizers of a grassroots violence effort in baltimore declaring a successful ceasefire this past weekend. So while some baltimore pleaser on trial forcting like criminals, street organizers a keeping the peace. Explain. This is a movement that has sprung up from the grassroots. Baltimore leaders saying no more. It turns out third time is the charm. This is the third time that baltimore ceasefire has attempted to have a ceasefire weekend. The first two times, unfortunately, there were killings that happened during those weekends. Nevertheless, it was important for Community Leaders to speak out, to come out and say we wont have it will stop and this time im 72 hours, no murders. This was really important. Andhows that the community their own vision of what the community can be is an important part of the Public Safety equation. It is not just about Police Officers. It is about communities taking control of their neighborhoods as well as the amy Sherrilyn Ifill, another issue, tps. You are suing the government. Holepresident s famous sg comments. Talk about your challenge to the Trump Administration around removing the temporary protected status for haitian refugees. Istemporary protected status permitted under the immigration and nationality act and falls under the department of Homeland Security when there has been some incident that has produced conditions in a country that makes it impossible for the country to really receive back their nationals. The tps status was granted to haiti after the devastating earthquake that we all remember. It has been renewed several times since then. Was athe earthquake there cholera outbreak in haiti, then haiti suffered from the hurricane. So the conditions has simply not transformed enough, despite the fact haiti has been working diligently to try and bring itself back. Not sufficient enough to receive back the over 50,000 residents here in the United States who have tps status. But it was fake or the Trump Administration was set on rescinding tps status for haitians, not based as it is supposed to be by statute and the conditions in the country, but based on the fact this administration does not deem haitians to be worthy of staying in the u. S. I really want to point out we were working on this case before the shole comments. That is part of it, without question. You will see it in our complaint reveals the intentions of visit administration. But there are other actions the department of Homeland Security was engaged in the demonstrated they were planning to target this patient population, not based on the conditions at the statute allows. Any know the department of Homeland Security was seeking information about haitians involved in criminal activity. And curiously seeking information about the number of haitians in the u. S. Seeking public benefits. They were trying to create a narrative about haitians to justify to the public, not under the statute, but to the public as a Public Relations matter, why haitians should be removed from the country and no longer have temporary protected status. We filed suit in that case. Our client is the national naacp , on behalf of their members, who are haitian nationals and have tps status. And we will see how this case goes forward. The case is a claim of race discrimination. We claim essentially be administration is engaged in racial dissemination in denying and resending this tps status and violation of the constitution. The constitution protects all of us from Government Action is on race discrimination whether we are or noncitizens. Amy i want to thank you so much for being with us, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel of the naacp Legal Defense fund. Stay with us. [music break] and go god bless the child. This is democracy now , democracyn. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In ohio, a 16yearold girl who killed her abusive father is finally home from juvenile detention after her case sparked National Outcry over the treatment of Domestic Violence survivors. The young girl, Bresha Meadows, was just 14yearsold when she shot dead her abusive father, jonathan meadows, with a bullet to his head as he slept. Only two months earlier, bresha had run away from home, telling relatives that she was scared for her life because her father was beating her mother and threatening to kill the whole family. This is breshas aunt, sheri latessa, speaking to wkbn in cleveland in 2016. Nobody in tt county that we called would do anything. You tell the kids to tell, and what happens at t nobody did anything. She did whathe was supposed to do. This was wrong. She knew what was wrong going on her whole life and nobody helped her. Theres a murder charge against the child. She did it for her mother. She said, mom, now you are free. Amy breshas father, john meadows, reportedly made life for his family a living hell, routinely attacking his wife breshas mother by breaking her ribs, puncturing her blood vessels, blackening her eyes, and slashing her body. Meadows reportedly once punched his wife so hard that she heard her teeth crack. Later, she had to have those teeth removed. He also apparently slammed her head into the wall, stomped on her, and kicked her in the face. Preshow was sentenced to a year in bresha was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention, with credit for time served, as well as six months at a Mental Health treatment center. On sunday she was released to our family with two years of probation. Well, for more, were joined now by victoria law, a freelance journalist and author of resistance behind bars the struggles of incarcerated women. Victoria law, welcome to democracy now tell us in these last few minutes we have, very briefly, about what happened to bresha, what she faced in jail originally. I mean, this is a child. This is a child come as you said. She was 14 years old when she took the drastic step of student her father after systems repeatedly failed her. The police felt her. She and her family were unable to get away from this man. She originally faced the possibility of being tried as an adult is that this is a 14yearold child. If she had been convicted as an adult for murder, she would have faced life in prison. There was much outcry. There was much organizing from around the country. She had a fantastic pro bono lawyer who is willing to work with Domestic Violence in Family Violence advocates. After a complicated Legal Process and 10 months of her sitting in juvenile jail while this went backandforth, was able to get a plea bargain in which she was sentenced to one year in the juvenile jail with 10 months for time served, six months in a Mental Health facility, and then two years of probation, which she started when she was released. Amy at one point her mother was questioned by a social worker in front of her abusing husband . Yes. Nten child when breshas au called Child Protective Services, they visited the house and interview both parents together. Keep in mind, Child Protective Services can take children out of the home, which then leaves breshas mother sitting in the house with her husband who would be very angry at her telling social workers what he was doing. Amy you have long cover Domestic Violence cases. Can you talk about your reaction to why you got involved with the Bresha Meadows case, why you decided to coverage, and what about it most surprised you, and the significance of her being released now and where she goes from here . A long cover Domestic Violence cases. We dont often see girls as young as bresha being arrested and charged with shooting abusive parents. Oftentimes what we do see our young girls criminalized for trying to escape abuse. Running away, cutting school, trying to get out of the home and that often lands them in juvenile amy she did not claim he physically attacked her at that point, right . Home, but she grew up in a where there was a emotional violence, verbal violence towards her, and seeing her mother being beaten every single day or nearly every day. And that has got to leave so many scars on a young child. m glad she is free i dont think she ever should have been incarcerated in the first place. That never shouldve been on the table. This was a child who honestly suffered a lifetime of violent obviously suffered a lifetime of violence before she took that action. I am glad there was an outpouring of support that enabled her to be tried as a child, which also meets her record will be sealed and expunged. So she doesnt have to check a box that says ive a criminal conviction when she applies did college or jobs. Right now she is on probation. She is under state supervision, which means all the silly things that 16 euros do, she faces more scrutiny and more repercussions like staying out late, hanging out in the park, getting stopped by police for being a young black girl all have greater repercussions for her than they would for somebody not on probation. Amy what do you think we can most learned from breshas case and what you most concerned about four bresha in the family now . What we can learn is while she is free, there still is epidemic of criminalizing women and girls who fight back against domestic and Family Violence. So while preshow may be an outlier in the fact that not many young teenagers are charged with killing her abusive parents, we also dont know how many mothers are the women are charged with killing their abusive spouses or husbands in new york state there is a call for Governor Cuomo to grant, the two Domestic Violence survivors behind bars. Governor brown has done this in california. This is his last year in office. Even before his last year in office, he started looking at, cheaper Domestic Violence survivors. People are calling on Governor Cuomo to do the same thing. We will leave it there. We will link to your piece resistance behind bars the struggles of incarcerated women. That is her book. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to severine theres so many of you. [laughter] um, my name is severine. He gave me a few more directorships than i deserve, but well let the ship sail for now. Um, push. Im severine. Im coming to you from northern new york, from the adirondacks, on lake champlain. Audience whoo, whoo severine thats my land, um, that i love. And i think in this room are some people who love land. [cheers and applause]