To the Global Economy . The same financial portunits. Introducing libra, a new global currency. Amy in a move that could reshape the worlds financial system, facebook has unveiled plans to launch a new Global Digital currency called libra. But regulators and lawmakers are already pushing back. Are we seeing a corporate effort to wrest Monetary Policy away from individual nations and their Central Banks . Then we go to phoenix, where police held an africanamerican family at gunpoint because their fouryearold daughter had allegedly taken a doll from a Family Dollar store. I was very much in fear for my families life in my life. I thought we were all going to be executed. It is very sad it suld not ppen ovea do. Amy we ll be ined by e family andheir sposperso th we lookt a high ntestedistrictttorneys wherequeensnew york one of the candidates is making headlines by bowing to radically shape theriminal stice system. Im a gridatina fr a rkingcls family we a with thsystem itrying toeep down. Im running to bring justice to working people. Amy we will speak to Tiffany Caban. All of that in more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Acting secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan withdrew himself from consideration for the permanent head of the department. Reports of Domestic Violence against his exwife circulated. Reports included details on a 2011 attack by shanahans then 17yearold son who beat his mother with a baseball bat. She was left unconscious with a fractured skull and internal injuries that required surgery. Patrick shanahan then wrote a memo arguing his son was acting in selfdefense after his mother verbally harassed him. He is also believed to have delayed his sons surrender to police. Shanahan apologize for the memo saying that was only intended for his sons attorneys. According to the washington post, Court Records reveal a previous incident in which they allege they were assaulted by one another. Lawmakers are raising questions about the vetting process toward ministration officials and whether the white house new a deliberately withheld allegations against shanahan as beingas 2017 when he was confirmed as deputy secretary of defense. President trump, who met with him earlier yesterday, said he did not request that shanahan withdraw. Pres. Trump were a great vetting process but this is something that came up a little bit over the last short period of time. As you know, pat was acting. Acting gives you much better flexibility, greater ease to do things. Amy the pentagon has not had a permanent head since james mattis resigned in december. Both democratic and republican lawmakers have urged for the position to be filled by a permanent head as soon as possible. Shanahan was never formally nominated by trump. Shanahan is a former boeing executive. You worked there for over 30 years. You will be replaced by mark esper, another former aerospace executive and top lobbyist for raytheon. In a highly anticipated report released wednesday, a u. N. Expert has called for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to be investigated for the death of journalist jamal khashoggi, citing credible evidence that he and other top saudi officials are individually liable for the october murder. Special rapporteur Agnes Callamard wrote that khashoggis death constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the state of the kingdom of saudi arabia is responsible. Call for targeted sanctions against the crown prince. In other news on saudi arabia, reuters reports that u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo has blocked the kingdom from being included on a list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing expert findings that saudi arabia has used child fighters in yemen. The u. S. Spec saudi led war in yemen has led to the worst humanitarian crisis. 80 of the population, over 24 million people, need some form of assistance. New concerns over the justice departments impartiality are emerging following reports that attorney general William Barrs top deputy intervened to prevent trumps former Campaign ManagerPaul Manafort from being transferred to Rikers Island while he awaits another trial. Manafort is now expected instead to be held at a federal prison in manhattan after he was transferred from a pennsylvania federal prison, where he is currently serving a 7. 5 year sentence on criminal conspiracy charges and charges of bank fraud and tax evasion. Katharine gorka, a Homeland Security adviser and wife of farright former trump adviser sebastian gorka, has been tapped to become the new press secretary at customs and border protection, according to cnn. Katharine gorka, a political appointee who previously wrote for breitbart, is known for her antimuslim views. At the dhs, gorka was involved in cutting funding to groups that assist people who want to leave white supremacist groups. Sebastian gorka left the white house in 2017 after reports emerged of his ties to a naziallied group and racist paramilitary militia while he served as a hungarian politician. In related news, the acting head of citizenship and immigration services, ken cuccinelli, sent an email tuesday directing asylum officers to deny entry to Asylum Seekers who express credible fear but do not have a significant possibility of receiving a grant of asylum. The letter also said that many of the claims are frivolous. Staffers say the letter read like a threat against asylum agents in a likely effort to push them towards accepting fewer migrants based on initial assessments. While asylum agents are charged with determining an applicants credible fear claim, judges ultimately determine whether the asylum will be granted after due process. New york congressmember alexandria ocasiocortez has come under fire for comments made in an Instagram Video monday, in which she called immigrant prisons concentration camps. The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border. And that is exactly what they are. Concentration camps. Amy the congressmember defended her remarks tuesday, tweeting and for the shrieking republicans who dont know the difference concentration camps are not the same as death camps. Concentration camps are considered by experts as the mass detention of civilians without trial. and thats exactly what this administration is doing. In more news about alexandria ocasiocortez, amazon responded to comments made by the Congress Member to abc news sunday, in which she said that Ceo Jeff Bezos fortune is built on amazons practice of paying starvation wages and denying healthcare to its workers. Amazon tweeted aoc is just wrong. Amazon is a leader on pay at 15 min wage full benefits from day one. We also lobby to raise federal min wage. Amazon has been criticized for its poor working conditions and efforts to suppress unionization. The company did not pay any federal taxes last year, despite making over 11 billion in profits. Jeff bezos is the worlds richest man with a net worth 131 billion. In mali, armed men killed at least 40 people in two villages monday in the latest deadly attack to hit the country amid mounting ethnic tensions between dogon and fulani fighters. The mayor of one of the villages, which are populated by ethnic dogons, says around 100 gunmen on motorbikes stormed both towns, opening fire at residents. The attack comes just a week after another deadly raid on a dogon village. In march, suspected dogon militias killed over 150 fulani in two villages in central mali. The u. N. Warned earlier this month the atrocities in central mali are likely to continue unless immediate action is taken. Back in u. S. , President Trump kicked off his 2020 president ial bid with a keep America Great rally in orlando, florida, tuesday evening. He attacked immigrants as 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton and cnn and democratic lawmakers, accusing them of flooding the country with illegal immigrants. David cicilline tweeted, it was a hate rally. Bernie sanders called trump a racist, sexist, and xenophobia and accused him of neglecting climate change, gun violence, and inequality. The House Judiciary Panel will hold a hearing today on reparations for slavery, the first hearing in over a decade on the subject. Among others, writer Tanehisi Coates and actor and activist danny glover are set to testify. The question of reparations is expected to be a key issue as the 2020 president ial Campaign Rolls out. Ahead of todays hearing, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell was asked by reporter eva mckend whether the government should issue a public apology slavery. Apology for slavery. I dont think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, for whom none of us currently living a responsible, is a good idea. Amy todays hearing coincides with juneteenth, a day which commemorates june 19, 1865, when slaves in galveston, texas, finally learned that the emancipation proclamation had abolished slavery. As the fallout mounts over the handling of the 1989 central park 5 case, President Trump refused to apologize for his actions at the time. Trump ran full page ads during the 1989 case, calling for the Death Penalty for the five teenage boys of color who were wrongfully accused and convicted of raping a white woman in central park. They were eventually exonerated and the case has been brought back into the spotlight following the release of Ava Duvernays netflix miniseries when they see us. Longtime White House Correspondent april ryan asked trump if he would apologize for his actions. Pres. Trump you have people on both sides of that that admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein and some of the prosecutors, they think the city should never have settled that case. We will even at that. Amy the city settled with the five teenagers for 41 million. Former prosecutor Linda Fairstein was dropped by her publisher and forced to step down from several nonprofit and education boards in recent weeks. Meanwhile, new yorks public advocate Jumaane Williams has backed a call from activists to reopen the cases. District attorney cyrus vance has so far refused. In a 54 decision, Supreme Court justices ruled monday along partisan lines that new york citys publicaccess station mnn is not bound by the first amendment, which would protect producers from editorial control or censorship by the network. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion for the conservative majority. The case against the nonprofit cable channel Manhattan Neighborhood Network known as mnn was brought by independent producer deedee halleck, who said she and her coproducer were suspended after submitting a video accusing the station of neglecting the east harlem area, where one of its production facilities is located. Mnn alleged she was suspended because her video contained footage in which her coproducer made statements intended to incite violence and harassed staff in violation of mnn Program Content restrictions. In her dissent, Justice Sonia sotomayor, wrote new york city opened up a public forum on publicaccess channels in which it has a property interest. It asked mnn to run that public forum, and mnn accepted the job. That makes mnn subject to the first amendment, just as if the city had decided to run the public forum itself. In california, pacific gas and electric has agreed to pay the town of paradise, butte county, and other surrounding municipalities 1 billion for its role in destructive wildfires in northern california, including last years recordbreaking camp fire, which killed 85 people and burned the town of paradise to the ground. Last month, california fire investigators concluded that pg e was to blame for the camp fire, which started after electrical transmission lines ignited by dry vegetation in at least two spots. And canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau approved tuesday the expansion of trans mountain pipeline, which the canadian government took purchased from Kinder Morgan last year, despite Major Concerns by environmental and indigenous rights groups, and multiple legal challenges against the pipeline. Construction on the pipeline, which carries crude oil from albertas tar sands to british columbias pacific coast, will resume this year. First nations groups have said they will continue to challenge the expansion, which was previously halted by the courts in 2016. This is khelsilem of the Squamish Nation council. It is unfortunate this government that run on the promise of doing things differently decides to behave this way. But our interests as a people is to protect our community, our territory, the livelihood of our generations living today and the ones to come. And we are committed to fighting this Climate Emergency and the climate crisis, but we have a government that does not seem to want to be leaders when it comes to fighting the Climate Emergency. Climate leaders do not build pipelines. Amy 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. In a move that could reshape the worlds financial system, facebook has unveiled plans to launch a new Global Digital currency called libra. Facebook announced its plans on tuesday after secretly working on the cryptocurrency for more than a year. It plans to launch libra next year in partnership with other large companies. Among them visa, mastercard, paypal, and uber. Facebook said it wants to create a simple global currency and infrastructure that empowers billions of people. David rcus, fabooks cryptocuency chi, appeared on cnbc on tuesday. If you want to compare libra with traditional cryptocurrency, the first thing in the first big difference is that typically cryptocurrency is Investment Vehicle or Investment Assets rather than being great medium of exchange. And this is really designed from the ground up to be a great medium of exchange, a very high quality form of digital money that you can use for everyday payments and crossborder payments, margaret transactions, and all kind of different things. Amy facebooks plan has already come under fierce criticism from financial regulators and lawmakers. French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said libra must not become a sovereign currency. In washington, the chair of the House Financial Services committee, congresswoman maxine waters, called on facebook to pause its development of libra until lawmakers and regulators have an opportunity to examine these issues and take action. Democratic senator Sherrod Brown tweeted facebook is already too big and too powerful, and it has used that power to exploit users data without protecting their privacy. We cannot allow facebook to run a risky new cryptocurrency out of a Swiss Bank Account without oversight. To talk more about facebooks plans for a new digital currency, we are joined by david dayen, executive editor of the american prospect. He recently wrote a piece for the new republic headlined, the final battle in big techs war to dominate your world. Welcome to democracy now talk about these major developments, david dayen. Explain exactly what libra is and what facebook is trying to do. Libra, as facebook describes it, is a currency a cryptocurrency. When you talk about that, you think of Something Like bitcoin. But this would actually have reserves, so they call it sort of a stable coin. It is backed by actual money that is various International Currencies and also government securities. So that should prevent volatility from the unit of exchange, libra going up or down very much. It will fluctuate a little, but not in the ways we think of when we think of bitcoin. So according to facebook, that is the way this can be used to purchase goods on the facebook app or any other app or website that offers payment in libra. It is a way to transfer money to other people in the facebook app. We have over 2 billion people that use facebook. It is a way to transfer something of value between those users. Because it is backed by International Currencies and can be used across borders, it is really supplanting theeed to change money fromont have to go dollars to euros, necessarily, you can just pay in libra. So that is sort of the pitch that facebook would make. The other side of this is that there is no real regulatory set up. It is displacing global currencies in some ways. There are serious Monetary Policy concerns, serious regulatory concerns. Could this be used to facilitate Money Laundering or tax evasion . There are a whole host of Unanswered Questions around this. , this will dayen issue of a bunch of private companies were not just talking about facebook. They initiated it, but they have gotten the by and from credit card companies, paypal, uber, from a variety of very powerful companies, mostly american companies. In essence, your creed in a private organization creating a private organization to run a money system that would stretch across borders. I spent a couple of hours going on their website yesterday trying to understand even the governance situation. It is very detailed. They have been working on this for quite some time in secret. They talk about creating a Libra Association council where if youre going to be a founding member, you have to invest at least 10 million and supposedly no one company can control this counsel because youre limited to a 1 voting share no matter how much money you invest. But if you invest a lot of money, you can designate universities or nonprofits to vote for you on this counsel. So in effect, the more money you invest, even though you may not have direct power over how the association functions, you can still have enormous influence on the voting block of what would in essence be a new international currency. Im wondering what are regulators going to say about this . There are syrians govern serious governance questions and financial questions. The way this works, there is this investment of 10 million up to 100 companies, talking about 1 billion and so if somebody buys libra, they are paying that money into this. Eserve and they get libra back that money can be used to be invested, these reserves that Facebook Says in very low risk securities, but that money is not returned to the individual. If you think about a bank, you get interest on your money that you deposit with the bank that the bank can use for any purpose they wish. In this case, the interest stays with these companies. A financial incentive for these companies to get involved in this. ,f you think about the scale the potential scale of Something Like this, talking about 2 also users, this is almost an operating system for money. Any organization can build something to create Payment Services in this fashion. The possibilities are in less. The financial possibilities are also endless. Howgovernance questions of this currency will be managed, how capital flows will be understood and facilitated you have a country that is experiencing an economic downturn and libra is an Excellent Way for capital flight, which is something we dont really want when a country is in financial trouble. How is that going to be mitigated or managed . As i said, there are way too many Unanswered Questions. Juan what about the issue, for instance, of countries that may be in conflict with each other . The United States and iran right now, United States and venezuela. The impact on the geopolitical conflicts and the ability of nations to control their own currencies . Yeah, i mean, it is hard to know house insurance will work under this setup. It is hard to know how any kind of antimoneylaundering, usually a banquet have to create some suspicious activity report. Will libra be a buddha do that . This for ways to harm other countries through removing that currency into libra. That would be done obviously at the individual level, but usually, as you say, countries are in control of their own currency. If they have the sort of safety valve, this global currency that would displace them in some way which in individual could use to make all of the purchases it needs to make and not use the currency denominated in that particular country it is almost unknown. We have no precedent for this. It is hard to say was some of the implications will be. I think that is why regulators to politicians are asking really slow down so this can sort of be studied. Amy on tuesday, facebook releed a promotional video what if everyone was invited to the Global Economy with access to the same financial opportunities . Inoducingibra, w global currencyesigned for the digital world, backed by the simple money should be and sece. It is powered by block chain, making it safe and aessibl no matter w you a or where you are from. Amy david dayen, if you can respond to this and also why libra will be based in switzerland. Does it have to do with it being a banking center, tax haven . Yeah. I mean, the truth is, if you were able to create some sort of digital wallet that could be used in any country and purchase and make microtransfers and things like that, it would be convenient. That is what facebook is ban king on. Right now the u. S. Payment system is pretty clunky, particularly with International Transfers that take several days to clear. There would be a convenience angle here. Of course, facebook believes if they can get you on their website and using their digital wallet, which they control directly there is this Libra Association based in switzerland, probably for tax purposes, that is controlling the government of the currency. Which david marcus is running, is a digital wallet run by subsidiary that is whollyowned by facebook. Becomes ubiquitous, if it it becomes this thing you really need to make purchases, then you have Something Like wechat, the app in china that has become so much a part of peoples lives that it is very hard use paper money in china. This is a social media app, a app. Tool, and a purchase i think that is facebooks end goal. If you add payment onto the social Media Application that is incredibly dominant, you basically lock people into facebook. If you have done that, then whether youre taking a little bit out of every transaction that 2 billion people make on a daily basis or whether you are just locking people onto the site knowing what purchases they have made and then selling very datarich ads based on that, you have a prospect of real domination. I really think either this thing is going to knock not get off the ground because to any regulators and politicians will have an easiness about it or we will look act 20 years and this will be the week where this thing was announced i created Global Company that is an indispensable digital partner kind of walking you through life. Juan the whole issue of security. Facebook is currently a poster child for the violations of privacy data rights of individuals. They are insisting that they are going to build calibra will be a separate subsidiary, that it wont share the user information of facebook itself system thatyment they set up. Doesmost seems like were seem like facebook is basically transferring its monopoly position of social media to then enter the Financial Transactions world. Yeah. Do you trust Mark Zuckerberg with anything around privacy at this point after years and years of these revelations . Second of all, it is a bit of a red herring. It is entirely possible, lets take facebook at their word, the Financial Data and the social data will be separate. Well, in order to access purchases on libra, youre still going to have to make a click within the facebook app or within whatsapp or wherever to searchur purchase or to for a business that you want to solicit or things like that. And that information is certainly going to be available to facebook. So the idea that there is no extra data you would be grabbing here through facebook is really not true. If you are spending more time on the app, if youre clicking around things to finding if youre clicking around to find things to buy, which is the what people typically do on facebook, the net is just more data that facebook will be able used to target at and do whatever else it once. Amy finally, the title of your piece, the final battle in big techs war to dominate your world. Fill that out. Sure, so we have been seeing over the last several months the big tech companies, google, apple, amazon, and facebook try to figure out how to become that sort of one partner. You have apple that put out this thing that is a credit card called the apple card. You have amazon partnering with other global Payment Systems on what they call world pay or amazon pay, i should say. Google has its own digital wallet. And now you have facebook with this thing that who knows what it is . Prepaid card,a digital wallet, global currency . You have all of these companies that were kind of competing separately are now all moving into the payment space and also moving into other spaces that are overlapping like entertainment to become that thing that is sort of the only kind of digital tool that you will need. So you can make all of your purchases, talk to your friends, access your entertainment, and do everything that you wish inside this world, whether it is facebook, google, amazon, or apple. And that is really their intention. That is why i call it a war of all against all, like the final battle for global domination here. Of that shakes out is sort indeterminate at this point. But what we know is if you are creating this we are ready have these companies that are monopolies in their own sort of personal spaces if they combine sort of together a lot asdifferent options for you an individual, then you just have this absolute dominant behemoth. There are serious concerns tound giving that much power one company. Amy we will continue to follow this. David dayen is the executive editor of the american prospect. We willing to your piece in the new republic the final battle in big techs war to dominate your world. Coming up, we go to arizona to speak with an africanamerican family held by police because their fouryearold daughter allegedly took a doll from a Family Dollar store. Theyre now talking about suing for 10 million. At first, we look at a highly contested District Attorneys race here in new york in queens where one of the candidates is making headlines by vowing to radically reshape the criminal Justice System. Her name is Tiffany Caban. Stay with us. [music break] amy sometimes i feel like a motherless child by jeanne lee and ran blake. This is democracy now , im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan its been nearly a year since alexandria ocasiocortez won the 2018 democratic primary, toppling joe crowley one of the most powerful democrats in the house of representatives and upending the political machine here in new york city overnight. Since that historic win, ocasiocortez has gone from outsider to one of the most influential politicians on capitol hill. Now another young queens candidate is trying to pull off a historic upset, Tiffany Caban a 31yearold queer latina public defender running to end cash go, stop prosecuting low level offenses, decriminalize sex work, and go after bad landlords, cops and immigrations customs enforcement. Her election would mark a massive shift in the queens criminal Justice System, and yet again set an example for the country. To win, caban will have to beat out a crowded field of seven candidates who are all claiming theyll reform the system, including Queens Borough president melinda katz, who is backed by the queens mocraticarty estlishment thiss tiffancabans campai ad. If yohave moneyyou know how to gamthe syst, you ca do wtever yowant in the city if you a a persoof color youroor, a iigrantno one is on yo side. My famy is fm puerto ro and my parts workehard to make endmeet. No matte how harthey word fr the sysm caremore abo protting the wlthy. In queeratina fr a woingclasfamily. Peopleike us e exactlwho e systems trying to ke down at is y i beca a publito sit dender, tprotect counity. I defend ovea thousa clies you cod not affor t dendhemsels who re thwn in rirs becau they did not ve moneyor bl. I runni for disict torney o qens toring juste to worng peopl ce totop crimalizing verty, rede recidism, to decrinalize sexork, to d ca bail. Theorrupt qens polical machindoes not want to win becausthey getich off foreclosures, taking millions from developers, and i cannot be bought and controlled. Amy since announcing her campaign in january, Tiffany Caban has gone from longshot outsider to key contender in a race thats garnered national attention. Progressive District Attorneys Larry Krasner of philadelphia and Rachael Rollins of boston have endorsed caban. The New York Times just endorsed her writing , the success of any prosecutor, and of the city itself, depends on keeping people safe. Ms. Caban is the democrat best poised to become one of a growing number of prosecutors to show that can be done without infringing on civil liberties, criminalizing black and hispanic americans, and mistaking pushment f the onlform of justic thdemocratic primarys june 25 for more, we are joined here in studio by Tiffany Caban. Welcome to democracy now it is great to have you with us. You have taken queens by storm. Queens, the most diverse borough in the world. You are the youngest in the crowded race for District Attorney. Youre the only public defender. Talk about why you chose to run for District Attorney and give us your history. Thank you for having me. One, i never thought it was something i would be doing when i talk about being a public defender. It is so tied to my identity. It is the same way as they, queer woman, latina, a public defender. I think that is what a lot of public defenders feel like. For me, we are in a moment of time where running for District Attorney, becoming the distribute attorney barry much feels like a continuation of the work ive always done. It is been formed by my personal expenses growing up in queens. My parents grew up in the housing projects. Intainly, my experiences over policed, resourcestarved communities, that has shaped the work i do and what i been fighting for my entire career. That is why i became a public defender and why im running now. Every day in court was a constant reminder our Justice System is the single most powerful driver of the continued oppression of our black and brown, low income come immigrant, lgbtqia communitys. If you have money, the right political ties, the right pockets, you can get away with doing a lot of harm in our communities. For me, one of the drivers for thisng also was we are in third cycle of the socalled progressive prosecutor races. Folks know the right thing to say. I have been practicing criminal law in manhattan and sing the District Attorney come out with the socalled progressive policies and recognizing theres next to thoserisk policies. My claims continue to be the exception to the rule. One of the things that stands out to me or ive told a lot during this campaign, when he said he was not going to prosecute turnstile jones. A week later, i picked up a turnstile jump that was litigated for a year and went to trial. Of overperfect example criminalizing our black and brown importunities that does not serve public safety. This felt incredibly important to do. Juan i want to ask you about the race for District Attorney. In new york there is been a tradition that people get into the District Attorneys position whether it is queens, brooklyn, manhattan, the bronx, and they stay for decades, whether it was heinz in brookline or morgan thought in manhattan and richard orwn, who died last year there for overas 25 years. I remember when he was appointed by mario cuomo to fill a vacancy in the first act he did was to vacate the charges against a group of Police Officers who had choked to death a young puerto rican in queens in an attempted arrest, the stepson of a famous singer. He was killed. Richard browns first act was to vacate the charges against those cops because he wanted the support of the police union when he would run for election because he was only an appointed position at first. This whole issue of District Attorneys relationships with bullies, where they depend on so much, i am wondering how you see that and if you are elected, what you will be alerted do to change the historic relationship between das and cops . I think were in is really special moment in time where we are seeing the course will prosecutors committed to keeping people within the committed of access to resources and support being elected all around the country. Defense attorneys being elected into these positions. And also being able to navigate relationships with Police Departments coming in, were sort of adversarial. But theres a lot of Common Ground to be had. We can say were going to hold Police Officers accountable through having into print of prosecutors, making sure our system District Attorneys are not the people then prosecuting them when they step over the line. And saying if you have a long history of misconduct and a case is relying on your testimony, we are not going to take those cases. But also finding ways to work in partnership. There is a real opportunity which has not been taken advantage of where the das office could be keeping data and sharing it not with just the community by the Police Department to say, when you make these kinds of arrest, they better serve public safety. One of the things i would love understand this is a system within we are working that has its own constraints. We can talk about how our system of prosecuting, our system of policing historically has worked to a press certain communities certain communities, but learned there are ways that we can do some better work will stop the idea we could be partnering and working on Law Enforcement diversion, things were seeing in seattle, albany that are working that give Police Officers the opportunity to make the decision not to make an arrest and just usto provide support. They are seeing violence between officers and civilians go down exponentially. There are places for partnership and places for accountability. Amy there was a debate between the seven queens District Attorney candidates. Queens borough president melinda katz said she is the best for criminal justice reform. Is so crucial. Im the only candidate in this race that has worked top to theom, east to west, with drug abuse clinics, Mental Health clinics come and gone neighborhood by neighborhood to make sure we are actually keeping people out of the system before they get into the system. You can have justice for defendants but the real secret here is to make sure we are stopping anyone from going into the system. Are melinda katz, whom you running against. Can you respond to what she says . Aoc. The backing by you said she has inspired you to run. In the powerhouse she has become. You said you thought of yo a defender, what made you decide you could cross over and what is it mean without the managerial experience that someone like linda katz has . A lot to unpack. Even just respond directly to melinda katzs messaging, i think what we talk about experience, what is the most important type of experience and being on ground in the court every day when we see these things playing out. It also includes our approaches stopversion programs will programs. May lean a summit who died in custody, a debt that was completely avoidable. We were criminalizing the very things that made her already so vulnerable. She is someone who is participating in a diversion. When you look when youre on the ground in court every day, you realize these programs and the way they are put into place do more to destabilize rather than stabilize and healed. Being able to pinpoint those things and say sometimes it is even better to have people out of the system period so were not criminalizing poverty, meant to help, substance use, or criminalizing already marginalized communitys. So having those experiences are incredibly important. Just personally being endorsed by alexandria ocasiocortez. Folks like her, senator ron most, julio salazar. For me, it moved me and a way that said, well, i can do this. I cant enter this space and have an impact. Latinayearold queer from a workingclass family, never in a million years did i think i would be entering a space like this. I feel not only that i have the right experience, but that we are so wellequipped to get the job done. I have talked about the fact is literally started with four women sitting round a table saying we are going to change the system. And six months later, we have built something massive. Not on the local level. Were doing a lot in queens, but this is part of a bigger national conversation. We have grown to hundreds and hundreds of volunteers. To have such a beautiful theres intersectionality. A powerful moment was we were doing a rally a month ago and formerly incarcerated folks and sex workers think im going to support a District Attorney candidate because were doing things so differently. That, having the support of communitybased organizations, elected officials like senator ramos and alexandria ocasiocortez, but also National Criminal justice advocates. Amy we will continue to follow all of this. Thank you for being with us Tiffany Caban, public defender , and outsider candidate running for queens District Attorney. Has just gone the endorsement of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and the New York Times. When we come back, we will speak with an africanamerican family held at gunpoint by police because their fouryearold daughter allegedly took a doll from famildollar sre. Ay with. [muc break] amy this is democracy now , im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we go now to phoenix, arizona, where an africanamerican family is suing the city after police held them at gunpoint because their fouryearold daughter had allegedly taken a doll from a Family Dollar store. Shocking video shows officers pointing guns and yelling at the family outside the store. One officer even threatened to shoot the girls father in the face. [bleep] are you recording it . Yeah, im recording it. Put your hands up. Put your hands up. Juan in the video, the fouryearold girls mother iesha harper is heard saying she is unable to hold her hands up because she is holding a child, and that she is pregnant. On monday, iesha harper and her fiance dravon ames spoke about what happened. I was very much in fear for my families life and my life. I thought we were all going to be executed. And by the look of god or by grace, someone was there to video it. Even if we were going to be executed, someone would have it on film. Honestly, i dont think it would have helped or anything. It was very traumatizing. With all of this going on, i still have to see the video. It is very sad. It should not have happened over casey doll or whatever the may be that they want to say, does not justify their actions. Amy phoenixs mayor and police chief have both apologized for what happened and criticized how the Police Officers handled the situation. Activists in phoenix say this is just the latest incident in a Police Department plagued by issues of Police Violence and killings. Last year, the city had 44 Police Shootings, nearly double that of the previous year, and led the nation in Police Shootings among cities of its size. Well, for more, were joined by the family. Dravon ames and iesha harper, along with family spokesperson reverend jarrett maupin, of the National Action network. On monday, the couple filed a 10 Million Dollar lawsuit against the city. Welcome to democracy now this is an astounding story. Iesha harper, talk about when this happened. The video just came out for the public to see. But when this happened and the Police Officers surrounding you all. Explain what they told you to do. You have a fouryearold who they say took a doll from the dollar store. And your one year old. You were holding your oneyearold in the car . Yes. Well, she was in her car seat. I was getting her out of her car seat when the officer runs to the drivers side door and was being very aggressive. Knowat moment, i did not what was going on. I already had her in my hands. He is screaming and yelling and my other daughter jumps on me like she did not know what was going on. It all started like that before Everything Else escalated. Amy they are telling you to put your hands up when youre holding your child . You are telling them, you are overdoing this. Yes. Because i just thought i did not know what they were doing and if we were the right people. Juan dravon ames, where were you specifically and what was the interaction with you . Seat. As in the driver he first came to my door and opened the door no problem. He tells me to put my hands up. I do that instantly because he and guns drawn. E did not know who he was i dont know if im being mugged, rock, or anything, im just hands up, trying not to die with my family. At one point,ideo an officer is seen kicking her legs out from under you. Could you talk about what happened subsequently . Yes. Car andd me out of the then he throws me to the ground c,uffed me. I am fully compliant. Hits my head against the car door and throws me against the car and then he says, spread your legs. In the video, you see my legs are spread. Then he just kicks me and blows my leg out. At that point, im still complying. Ok, he wants to get he is try to provoke me to do something so he can justify this. Im just showing him i can at least hold my composure a little bit more to show he is fully wrong. Happened towhat your children, your fouryear old and your oneyearold . You were holding the one year old. What did you do with her . I had to give her to the police complete stranger because the officer was being so aggressive and loud and yelling and he tried to grab her under my arms, which i did not want to give her to the aggressive officer. I gave her to a complete stranger. Who came up. Er we see the bystander footage and one of the people who is behind filming is saying, i will take the child. I will take the child. So you handed her to a stranger. How is your fouryear old processing this . All she kept doing was trying to watch me. She did not know what was going on. She had no clue. Like, it is all about her taking a barbie doll. She is so shocked and shook. Juan reverendj, put this in a broader context with the phoenix Police Department what the africanamerican latina communitys there have experienced at the hands of the Police Department and what this case signifies for you. And areme violations complete disregard for their inherent dignity as human beings. 44 shootings and killings last more 15 more this year than 60 substantiated complaints of brutality and excessive force. But nothing as shocking as what we saw on this videotape with this family. That was a complete failure to respect any of their rights. If you listen to the beginning of the tape when the officers approached the car with been , oneg, they tell dravon says, put your hands up in the other says, open the door. That is a perfect commendation for an execution. These officers were intent on violating this family. Officer myers, sort of the lead thug in this, has a terrible track record. At the rally last night, young men came aboard to say he had a videotape shared of officer myers abusing him. You have police with records of abuse to continue to be employed by the department. Phoenix has the highest number of police on the ready list than any other city. More Police Violence against people of color in phoenix been cities of comparable size. It is larger than philadelphia. It is systemic and institutional the violence, the racism. The Police Department is 73 white. No diversity training, no sensitivity training, nobody no body cameras. No hope. We must have something change. It takes advocacy and litigation, but intervention. If we had been under president obama and attorney general Departments Police would be in receivership of the department of justice. Amy saturday, the phoenix mayor issued a statement saying i, like many others, am sick over what i have seen in the video depicting Phoenix Police interacting with family and young children. It was completely inappropriate and clearly unprofessional. There is no situation in which this behavior is ever close to acceptable. As a mother myself, seeing these children placed in such a terrifying situation is beyond upsetting. I am deeply sorry for what this family went through, and i apologize to our community. This is not who we are, and i refuse to allow this type of behavior to go unchallenged. Reverend, what has happened to the Police Officers . Are they have they all been taken off the streets . Fired. Have not been they have been suspended with pay, which is an insult of the family. The mayor, her apology is lacking all substance. By not onlyejected this family, but the entire community, especially the civil rights community. She lied to the national media. She said by august, all precincts in the city would have body cameras. Theres a difference between all precincts having a handful of cameras and all patrol officers having a body camera that they are required to use. Who cares about precinct has 15 cameras and 60 officers . There were 10 officers that responded, including a lieutenant and not one had a body camera, even know they came from a precinct that was a test precinct for body cameras in the city. We have a police union that exercises tremendous control over the city council it is easier to fire the police chief or the city manager than it is to fire a rankandfile officer. Something is wrong. What the city needs to look at. The mayor and the chief have seen fit to come through our community and ask as for answers. Just 44 shootings, 15 more this year, on rallies, marches, lawsuit, they know what we want. The mayor represented South Phoenix district 8 years before she was elected mayor. The highest concentration of black residents in the city. She was a stranger to us then. But she knows what we are demanding. This is the policy of playstation and smoke and cation and smoke. It is a shame. That she is a black woman as of the other day she gets how people feel. I would hope so. But that doesnt mean she is doing anything about it. Sometimes a black sheep is the best when addressing sometimes a black chief is the best window. Amy we will do part two and posted online at democracynow. Org. I shall harbor, thank you for being with us, suing the city of phoenix arizona for 10 million after being stopped and held at gunpoint by police because their fouryearold allegedly took thank you for joining