Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20151012

We are the kurds. We are the turks. We are the ones whod i, not you. Amy we will go to turkey to speak with a member of parliament who has only started attending funerals. Tens of thousands gather in washington for the 20th anniversary of the million man march organized by nation of islam leader. I am honored to be here in houseof this great, great ,hat was built by black slaves so i dont think i am byroaching on any americans wasding on the grounds that paid for with the sweat and the blood of our ancestors. Amy among the speakers, native american author gyasi ross. I am proud to be here on behalf of native american young people, young folk, standing in solidarity demanding justice, justice or else. Justice or else amy on this columbus day, we will be joined by gyasi ross and studio as well as larry hamm, head of the Peoples Organization for progress. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As many as 128 people died in turkey saturday when nearly simultaneous explosions ripped through a peace rally in the capital. More than 245 people were injured. The bombs exploded just as a large group of kurdish groups, trade unions, and leftist organizations were preparing to begin a march to protest the resumption of fighting between the turkish state and kurdish militants. Earlier today, turkeys Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed isil for carrying out the attacks. But march organizers have accused the government of failing to prevent the attack. Well have more on turkey later in the broadcast. Iranian state tv has reported Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian has been convicted in an espionage trial which ended two months ago. The decision can be appealed and the sentence remains unknown but the charges carry up to 20 years in prison. Rezaian has been held since july 2014 in irans evin prison. Washington post Foreign Editor douglas jehl said he is innocent. The only thing that has been clear in this case from the beginning is jasons innocence. Everything else has been under real shadow of darkness. Amy the pentagon is offering condolence payments to people injured and the family members of those killed by a u. S. Airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in kunduz, afghanistan. The strike killed 12 medical staff and 10 patients, among them, three children, while 33 people remain missing. Doctors without borders has called for an investigation under the geneva conventions into a possible war crime. Meanwhile, u. N. Data shows the talibans reach in afghanistan is wider than at any point since the 2001 u. S. Invasion. The New York Times reports the u. N. Assistance mission in the u. N. Assessment rates about half of afghanistans administrative districts as under a high or extreme taliban threat, an assessment which appears to conflict with statements by u. S. Commander John Campbell before Congress Last week. European ministers are meeting today in luxembourg to discuss the conflict in syria, as russian president Vladimir Putin has come out saying the goal of russian airstrikes is to defend syrian president Bashar Alassad. Speaking on russian state tv, putin said that russias support for assad was intended to prevent syria from being taken over by terrorist groups. Other countries, including the ited states, have demanded assads ouster. On monday, the European Unions Foreign Affairs chief called russias role a gamechanger. Two people have died in two separate University Shootings friday morning in arizona and texas, as president obama visited the families of those killed in the mass shooting at Umpqua Community college in roseburg, oregon, two weeks ago. Obama spoke out against gun violence later that day at a Campaign Event in seattle. We know we have got to do something to prevent the kind of gun massacres that we saw just last week and two months before that and two months before that and two months before that ite it is not normal is not inevitable. It doesnt just happen. It is a choice that we make. It is a choice that we can change. Amy in gaza, an israeli airstrike has killed a pregnant Palestinian Woman and her daughter sunday as Israeli Soldiers also killed a 13yearold palestinian boy in the west bank. This comes amid escalating violence across the region. Israeli soldiers shot and killed nine palestinians along the border with gaza over the weekend, as well as two palestinian boys in the west bank friday. At least two israelis have been killed and more wounded over the last two weeks in a series of stabbings by palestinians. This comes after the Fatal Shooting of israeli couple in the west bank on october 1. In the u. S. , two independent investigations have concluded cleveland, ohio, Police Officer Timothy Loehmann was justified in fatally shooting 12yearold African American boy tamir rice as he played with a toy gun in a park in november. Police pulled up and fatally shot rice within two seconds of their arrival. They failed to provide medical help and tackled tamirs 14yearold sister to the ground as she ran to his aid, then handcuffed her and put her in a cruiser. The independent probes were carried out by a colorado prosecutor and a former fbi agent. Ultimately, a grand jury will decide if officer loehmann faces criminal charges. When the 911 call came in talking about a young man in the park, the person who called in said that he was playing with a gun, but was probably a toy gun. Tens of thousands from across the country gathered on the National Mall in washington, d. C. Saturday for the 20th anniversary of the million man march. The rally commemorated the 1995 march called by nation of islam leader Louis Farrakhan. This years theme was, justice or else. Well have more on the march later in the broadcast. Republicans are reportedly seeking to recruit Wisconsin Congress member paul ryan for the post of house speaker, saying he is the only one who can unite the party, after john boehner announced his departure. California congressmember kevin mccarthy, the clear favorite, dropped out, leaving florida congressmember daniel webster, and utah congressmember jason ryan, who ran for Vice President alongside mitt romney and is known for backing deep budget cuts, has said he will reconsider his previous rejection of the post. Technically, the constitution does not require the speaker to be a member of the house, but all past speakers have been congress members. Just 158 families have provided nearly half of the funding so far in the 2016 president ial election. The New York Times found not since before watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the supreme courts Citizens United decision five years ago. Of those 158 families, all but 20 are backing republicans, and most made their fortunes in the financial or oil and gas industries. Wikileaks has released what appears to be the final negotiated text of the Transpacific Partnership or tpps intellectual property chapter after the United States and 11 other pacific rim nations finished negotiating the secret trade pact. The Digital Rights group fight for the future said the final text confirms advocates warnings that this deal poses a grave threat to Global Freedom of expression and basic access to things like medicine and information. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands marched in berlin, germany , saturday to protest a planned trade pact between the United States and european union. Critics say the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, or ttip, will undermine safety and environmental regulations to serve corporate interests just like the tpp. The peoples world conference on Climate Change and the defense of life has opened in bolivia, ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit in paris, which begins november 30. Bolivian president evo morales said the impact of Climate Change is being felt around the world. As governments, we have a responsibility to submit a document to the United Nations called the National Predetermined Contribution from the multinational state of olivia, a document prepared by bolivia to take care of the mother earth, because what is happening to the planet is very serious. Sometimes with drought, other times extreme cold. This year in the positive mother were times when we cannot tell if it was summer or winter. Because it snowed all year long. This is happening all over the world. Talks, expertshe say the pledges made by countries around the world to cut Carbon Emissions will fall far short of what is needed to stop the earth from exceeding the globally agreed upon limit of two degrees celsius. That could put the earth that risk of catastrophic sea level rises in Food Shortages and route. The 2015 nobel prize in economic aiences has been awarded to Princeton University professor for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare. His recent work focuses on the dynamics of poverty. In new york city, more than 100 warehouse workers have launched a campaign to unionize the largest nonchain photo store in the United States. The workers were alleging widespread racial discrimination, wage theft, and unsafe working conditions inside the nh to the brooklyn warehouses. Workers say they were locked inside one of the warehouses during a recent fire in an adjacent building. California has become the first date in the country to pass a law banning Public Schools from using the term redskins as a team name or mascot. The law impacts four high schools and comes amid growing opposition to the name, which native americans say is a racist slur. Today is columbus day, the federal holiday to commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the socalled new world in 1492, but a growing number of cities are recognizing today as Indigenous Peoples day instead. Well have more on that later in the broadcast. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As many as 128 people died in turkey saturday when nearly simultaneous explosions ripped through a propeace rally in the countrys capital of ankara. More than 245 people were injured. The bombs went off just as a large group of kurdish groups, trade unions, and leftist organizations were preparing to begin a march protesting the resumption of fighting between the turkish state and kurdish militants. Video from the rally shows activists peacefully chanting and Holding Signs in the moments before the explosions. Amy it is the deadliest terror attack in the history of the turkish republic. Eyewitnesses described the horrific aftermath of the bombings. We heard the sound of an explosion from where the hdp convoy was arriving. Amy earlier today, turkeys Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed isil for carrying out the attacks. But march organizers accused the government of failing to prevent the attack. The leader of the opposition hdp or Peoples Democratic party which organized saturdays march. Saturdays bombing occurred three weeks before turkeys snap parliamentary elections. Tensions in turkey have escalated since june when the ruling akp party lost its parliamentary majority in a major defeat for president recep tayyip erdogan. The opposition hdp party won 13 of the vote, securing seats in parliament for the first time. Since the elections, hostilities between Turkish Security forces and kurdish militants have sharply escalated. Hundreds of people have been killed, including dozens of security personnel. In july, turkey began an air campaign against camps run by the pkk in Northern Iraq. The fighting shattered a Peace Process launched to end a conflict thats killed more than 40,000 people since 1984. Hours after the bombing, the pkk as widely expected beforehand ordered its fighters to Halt Operations in turkey unless they faced attack. Turkey rejected the ceasefire and has continued to carry out air strikes against suspected pkk targets in Northern Iraq and southeastern turkey. To talk more about turkey we are , joined by two guests. Hisyar ozsoy is a member of Turkish Parliament. Asli bali, ucla professor and coeditor of turkey pages of jadaliyya. Before we go to our two guests, an eyewitness account of what took place. We heard the sound of an explosion from where the hdp convoy was arriving. Everybody was running away. My comrade was trying to calm people down when the second bomb went off. My comrade was closer to the place were the second bomb went off and i was near him. Two people behind me were ripped into pieces and my comrade suffered a head injury from a piece of shrapnel. He collapsed onto the ground and shortly after, he died. There were bits of flesh stuck to us. The ground was slippery because of the blood. As we try to carry the wounded away, Police Attacked as with tear gas canisters. For about half an hour, we tried to run away from the police. They were trying to prevent us from taking the wounded away. Promised 45 minutes, the wounded have to wait at the blast site. The ambulances did not come. In a way, they completed the mission of the bombers. The leader of the Democratic Party which organized the march described blamed the governments for failing to stop the attack. It is the capital turkey, even if a bird flies in the air, the state knows about it. A bird. This is the intelligence agencies stronghold. Theres a rally of 100 thousand people, yet theres not a single security measure. Not in alleyways, not a major streets. Theres not even one security measure. Lets take a look at the rallies. Security measures start taking place from 10 streets away. Today, it is as if they person two suicidelly let bombers inside a rally that wanted peace. There was nothing. The suicide bomber exploded himself. There were wounded people on the ground. 500 people almost. They are not in a position to breathe. The police were given orders to throw gas bombs. The wounded are close to death. They had to fight against your gas, too. Those who carried the wounded struggled with tear gas. They fought against the pressurized water thrown from Police Tactical units. 100 dead. 500 wounded on the ground and people had to struggle with tear gas and water. Is this your understanding of justice . Amy were going to go to hisyar ozsoy, member of the Turkish Parliament. Can you describe what is the reaction now to what to place and were you there at the anchor a piece of test . Protest . Peace know, i was in my hometown. We had a meeting scheduled for october 11, which was why we could not attend the rally. The situation is very grim. People are incredibly sad and also angry, very angry. Angry at the president of the country. There are demonstrations regarding the bombing incident. People are burying their dead. Two of the deceased were from my hometown. One of them was buried in his symbol, the other we buried last time, actually, a young engineer , 28yearold engineer who joined the rally. Is shock. There is panic. But there is also very striking commitment to continue the struggle for peace, to honor the peace martyrs, as people called them. Amy what do you know so far of these last blasts and who do you believe is behind them . There is an investigation ongoing by state authorities, but i think we need to hear from the larger perspective. It is not simply the bombing, it syrian policy, turkey support to all kinds of jihadist groups in syria, in andicular them a al nusra isil, turkeys contribution to the military conflict there and turkeys contribution to all of the support for groups fighting against the kurds in syria. The situation we have now, this bombing incident and ankara signkara is kind of a indicating turkey has turned into syria. And this is the end result of policy,ish military particularly to the kurds in the kurdish region of syria as we may no turkeys had a very adverse policy trying to prevent the kurds in the Northern Syria from gaining some kind of political status. And to this end, theyve support in all kinds of groups, the radical, islamist groups. They have provided them with ammunition, with weapons, with intelligence, with all kinds of dust with diplomacy. All kinds of networks for step despite the fact that turkey claims that have categorized isil as a terrorist organization, it is very much well known that turkey has been supporting these groups because they were fighting against the kurds. Kobani, turkey had very aggressive approach to the kurds. Even they said isil was better ,pydthe kurdish fighters in particular, that isil was much better than the kurdish groups and for them, the kurds are National Security issue, a Group Targeting the kurds, killing them, destroying them, undermining political status is National Ally of turkey. And we have warned them repeatedly their syrian policy and kurdish policy in syria, the governments kurdish policy in syria, would turn turkey into syria, that war would come to hear. And it is very dangerous. It is very dangerous to support to provide those kinds of groups with weapons. And one day, those weapons are going to turn to turkey. And now, unfortunately, theres that much difference between ankara, the capital of turkey, turkey wants to conquer syria, that is the he, that mr. Erdogan asked supports the groups in syria, and now, unfortunately, rather than conquering syria, now isil is in ankara and undermining the whole political system there. There is a lot of chaos now, a lot of panic, a lot of shock. And this is the end result of the policy. And this is why people blame erdogan. I mean, whether some sectors or some groups within the turkish , the were a part of this bombing incident, i dont know. We may never know that, but we know the turkey syrian policy, turkeys kurdish policy, has greeted a larger context created a larger context. In that sense, theyre responsible, particularly, the president erdogan. Amy were speaking to turkish member of parliament hisyar ozsoy. When we come back, he will be uclay you said professor asli bali. We will be back in a moment. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. To theurn right now turkish Prime Minister, the turkish Prime Minister davutoglu who said the suicide bombers may have been responsible. We will continue our investigation regarding at the moment, potential group second carry out such an attack are obvious. Pkk, leftist, Martin Luther king p, and others. Conference of Investigation Underway regarding potential suspects. Our ministers of health, justice and interior have given detailed information regarding the attack. According to the evidence we have, there are strong suggestions this attack was carried out by two suicide bombers. Amy speaking saturday, hdp leader condemned the remarks made by the turkish Prime Minister following the attacks. They came to a point in playing the hdp bond its own rallies and killed people to gain support the an votes. The Prime Minister talked about half an hour. Hes first 20 minutes insulting us. The Prime Ministers and half the time threatening me while talking about in event where 100 people lost our lives. Did you hear one word of condemnation from isis . , our guests are hisyar ozsoy member of the turkish of parliament speaking to us, and asli bali, ucla professor and coeditor of the turkey pages of jadaliyya. Professor, can you start off speaking about who organized the peace rally . There are many labor organizations involved in addition to the hdp, including the confederation of Public Sector trade unions, aggressive trade unions, turkish medical association, the chamber of the turkish engineers and architects and so forth. This was a left and kurdish demonstration designed to call denounce the to turn to government has overseen since the june 7 elections stored conflict escalation, polarization. Amy why was it called for this weekend . Talk about the significance of hdp, its progress, gaining seats in the parliament. The broader context is that on june 7 our parliamentary elections and the akp expected to win an outright majority as it has done in every election it has competed in since 2002. It was denied that. The reason was particularly interesting. For the last decade or so, weve had three parties in parliament. Ultranationalist party, secular republican party, and the akp. There had a stable vote shared among them with the akp having the largest share of seats. Parties that pull up to 9 are at least under 10 get that share of the vote, but failed to secure any seats in Parliament Post up next looted from parliament unless they gain 10 of the electoral share nationwide. This is a tactic that historically has been used to deny parties seats and parliament. The tactic failed spectacularly with respect to islamist parties in that they were able to exceed that threshold easily. Kurdish parties, particularly the constituencies were often concentrated in provinces were unable to exceed the threshold never not been able to to be seated in parliament. On june 7, Something Different happened and the hdp pulled 13 was able to not only be seated in parliament, but retain the entire block of its constituency which meant what or nearly happens is if a party is unable to get past the threshold, seats are distributed to the most Popular Party next which of in the akp at which thing gains all of those seeds. Not only to the hdp get it seats, deprive the akp of it seats is expected to have. Had led the akp, which already shown signs of abandoning the Peace Process from three years earlier, they had shown signs of abandoning that Peace Process when they began to isolate one of the movementf the kurdish in turkey who they have been negotiating with until that point. They started isolating him in the spring and showed signs of disinterest. All of this is connected to president erdogan class ambitions. He is currently president , but he wants to alter it to turn it into a president ial list system by which he means extraordinary relocation of power to the executive and particularly to the office of president itself to alter the turkish Constitutional Order from when it would have but the parliament and president and the president is relatively weak and powers from his perspective to one where much of the parliamentary power goes to the president. This would require a constitutional amendment. In order to secure that, the akp needs more than the vote share against. Share it gets. Acyclic, having a tit for tst with the kurds would be coalition around the Peace Process and also support these other ambitions of the akp and it became clear earlier this year that was not going to happen, the curtis committed was not going to support this ambition and the akp began turning its back on that Peace Process. Once the election deliver the stunning result of the hdp have been seated and got 13 of the in the akp wasut unable to secure majority in parliament for the first time, the direction turn extraordinarily sharply toward the escalation of a polarization driven by the president and targeting specifically the hdp internally in addition to the pkk as part of a military campaign. Amy how did this fit into the larger picture with syria . Wass hisyar ozsoy mentioning, the turkish government has long supported sunni extremist groups in syria against president Bashar Alassad of syria and has openly called for a song to be ousted, demanded he go and has insisted that is a precondition for any other kind of negotiation on syria. Anned its border, created incredibly porous border with syria enabling fighters to escape to turkey, enabling businessmen to engage and finance activities in arming of groups in syria in the southeast of turkey there was a terminus amount of back and forth across the border enabling Syrian Opposition groups, many of them islamist groups, to have a secure base in turkey from which to operate in cross into syria. In addition, the turkish government has been directly supporting some of these islamist fighters. That has been the broader picture of the Turkish Campaign until come again, this summer after the election. The turkish government had taken the position the United States could not used nato bases to engage in aerial bombardment of the Islamic State until july of this year. In july following a bombing, which targeted turkish activists and again was suspected to be the act of the Islamic State him at the turkish government decided to say it was going to join the antiIslamic State coalition run by the United States, opened its air bases to u. S. Planes come and join the air campaign. What ensued is, yes, the u. S. Has been able to use those bases but in terms of the air campaign amy [indiscernible] yes. Itterms of the air campaign, has been entirely against the pkk. There are basically been kind of proportion of attack on the Islamic State by turkey in a huge amy but they get money by the u. S. To attack isis but use it to attack their own enemy. They joined a coalition with the u. S. Allegedly against the Islamic State and use that cover of the coalition to go after pkk. Basically, they radically escalated the militarization of our own conflict with the pkk and this is in the broader context of u. S. Policy on syria which has enabled the turkish government to go forward with this campaign. Amy i want to go to more comments made by the hdp leader who addressed the turkish Prime Minister directly in his comments following saturdays attacks in ankara. As many as 120 people may have been killed. As Prime Minister without shame, you said you arrested the perpetrator of the bombing. You stated this in our an hour ago. Thesaid, we arrested perpetrator. In fact, the suicide bomber blew up into pieces. Whom did you arrest . To which judiciary system did you transfer him . Is it possible any good can come from someone who lies like this when addressing the nation . Has there even been one massacre in which you found the criminals responsible . You find who did the this massacre will not be brought to justice because there are no dockins behind it. Theyre conveying the message, we can kill you a blow you up into pieces in broad daylight in the middle of ankara. This is not just an attack on us. They want to give this message. We can kill anyone who stands up against us, akp. Is joining ozsoy us from turkey, member of the Turkish Parliament who has gone now to several funerals after this horrific terrorist attack on saturday where the government estimates i think theyre saying 97 people were killed, others wereaying 128 people killed. If you could respond to what the leader of the hdp just said, and as we wrap up, what you think needs to happen right now. Selahattin demirtaas is right in saying the government never investigated the previous attacks. Many people were killed. They only found the person who did it, but they never went deeper into the situation. I mean, who are the people who organize the event . It is not a simple event. There was the incident that happened and we dont really know what is happening i mean, behind what we see, young men did it, but who organized it, the whole event . Mean, the i government never investigates these types of attacks. Problem without some sort of help from turkish intelligence or some state authorities. It is not that easy to organize a massive event and kill more than 130 people. There isis the case if i mean, if there is no state involvement in the situation, mean, iteems that, i is not functioning. Theyre not able to protect their own citizens in the capital city and the attack happens about, like, three kilometers away from the Turkish Parliament. Amy what are people saying at the funerals . What are they demanding now . They are trying very hard, incredibly hard, not to somehow transform the soul situation into revenge. So they are angry. There is incredible anger, but theyre trying to prevent this from turning into a feeling every bench. And they are insisting in the kurdish and the kurdish state once war. In this event let me also clarify, this event happened on the day when pkk declared unilateral peace. Ceasefire what the was responded by this event. And the same night, on the date of the event nobody talks about this turkish air force, they attacked pkk bases in places close to my hometown and killed eight to 11 pkk militants who were fighting, who were just staying in their position because theres unilateral ceasefire, a truce, until after the elections. But wefight is going on, are insisting we insist on our demand, which is peace. And this is also for the memory of the people who we lost. It was aps rally. We are insisting on this. Peace the time of the states most aggressive and militaristic, and we dont know, really, we dont know whether we can survive or how we can counter this massive violence. Were trying to keep people calm and concentrate on the election. In three weeks we will have the election. And we want to stop erdogan is keeping usogan busy with all kinds of attacks and bombings and funerals. He chose to do the elections ,nder the shadow of this war and that is the regime of death. Some politics of these. Hopefully, on november 1, we will stop him again and people are committed, despite all this shock. Nd panic and we are trying to concentrate on our Election Campaign that was three days mourning period. We did not do anything with regards of elections, but tomorrow we start again. To stop erdogan in a democratic way by voting on november 1. Amy were going to have to leave it there but i want to thank you both for being with us. We will continue to follow what is taking place in turkey. Hisyar ozsoy is a member of Turkish Parliament with the hdp party and asli bali is International Law professor and incoming director of the Near Eastern Studies Center at ucla. When we come back, tens of thousands marched in washington, d. C. , 20th anniversary of the million man march. Fortoday is columbus day some, Indigenous Peoples day for others. We will be back. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Tens of thousands from across the country gathered on the National Mall in washington saturday for the 20th anniversary of the million man march. The rally commemorated the 1995 event when nation of islam leader Louis Farrakhan called africanamerican men to the Nations Capital for a day of atonement. This years rally, themed justice or else, was also organized by farrakhan, who this time invited women, whites, and other people of color. The march comes amid renewed concerns about Police Brutality and excessive use of force in the wake of the policeinvolved deaths of sandra bland, tamir rice, freddie gray, eric garner, Michael Brown and the list goes on, which certainly sparked the black lives Matter Movement going back to trayvon martin. Farrakhan praised black lives matter in a speech saturday. These are not just young people who happened to wake up one morning. Ferguson ignited it all. So all of the brothers and sisters from ferguson, all of the brothers and sisters that laid in the streets, all of the brothers and sisters that , we areed the tanks honored that you have come to and ourt our struggle demand. Amy organizers of this years march called for an end to Police Brutality and demanded justice for communities of color, women and the poor. Since the first event, the Unemployment Rate for africanamerican males has increased from 8. 1 to 8. 9 ,andr American Progress show that African Americans and latinos are unfairly targeted by the peace. Behalfoud to be here on of native american young people, young folks standing in. Olidarity, demanding Justice Justice or else. Justice or else. Justice, and injustice we must erect is at native folks must direct is that native folks who have been antagonized by the same monster that has antagonized so many people of color. The doctrine of discovery. Doctrine that is enslaved and has punished us for many, many years for centuries. We demand the Catholic Church revoke it and the racist doctrine of discovery. Moreover, we demand the Catholic Church rescinded the sainthood of juniper serra. Author,t was gyasi ross speaker, lawyer and storyteller. Ross is also a member of the blackfeet nation and the author of, how to say i love you in indian. He joins us in studio along with larry hamm chairman of the , Peoples Organization for progress. He was at the first million man march in 1995 and also attended the 20th anniversary march this weekend in washington, d. C. Lets start with you, larry hamm. How did this compared to what happened 20 years ago and why were you there was so many of the people from your organization . We had several hundred members there. We took judah packed buses from newark and members were on buses from throughout new jersey. I was a folks from new jersey had a very strong presence there. As we did in 1995. 1995 was a gathering of liberal goal proportions. Amy Something Like 1. 8 7 1. 8 million. Some say 2 million. It was unlike anything else we had experienced. Remember, it was not just the million man march, in was the world a of atonement that followed, the million family march, the 10th anniversary movement. This 20 anniversary is not actually part to death, it is more like part of an ongoing movement. I would say this was a time for people who were there in 1995 during new their spirit. It are so many young people who came to get that spirit so they could go back and organize in their communities. Amy today is also the federal holiday known as columbus day. It is a federal holiday that commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the socalled new world in 1492, but the holiday has long evoked sadness and anger among native americans who object to honoring the man who opened the door of this country to european or these lands to european colonization, this what tatian of native peoples. It has led to campaigns like this one. Columbus committed heinous crimes. Crimes against the Indigenous Peoples of the caribbean. Millions of natives. Columbus at the set slave trade. Please reconsider will stop if this is a many want to honor. Reconsider if you want to celebrate the crimes of columbus. Emaining neutral and pretending like it did not happen or does not still impact of today. Learn the whole story. Werelebrate the people who here first. Petition for National Recognized indigenous holiday. Citiesre and more are gouging the genocide and celebrity native americans. This year in oregon, st. Paul, minnesota, libya, washington, traverse city, michigan, albuquerque and Sandoval County new mexico are among the latest jurisdictions to decide to mark Indigenous Peoples day on the same day as columbus day. South dakota, the holiday celebrated is native american day while hawaii observes discoverers day, which honors polynesian explorers. Last year, the Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a resolution to celebrate the second monday in october as Indigenous Peoples day. Gyasi ross, your thoughts on whether we have made progress in this country . In california, the state has become the first, Governor Brown has just signed on to a bill that says Public Schools cannot use the term cant use the term redskins in mascots or names of teams. And the question is, did we make progress . Yeah, your try to change the narrative, and the narrative is one that has been color america loves myths. And the myth is, there is santa claus and that Abraham Lincoln was the great liberator and the Christopher Columbus discovered this nation. The truth is, if america wants to choose to acknowledge my theseths, thats fine, but it knowledge the people that were here first who already had structures, who art he had societies and who taught humanity and actually saved the lives of those first europeans who did land on this content. I think that is what the movement is. If america wants to continue that myth, then were not going to protest it. This isnt about a particular european im not even one to say his name this is about us, a day of love and a day of honoring our communities and our people. Amy you spoke yesterday. Saturday. How are you chosen to be one of the speakers at the million man march . What was your message . I message was specifically a, thejunipero ser recently canonized saint. Trucks when Bishop Francis came to the United States, the first canonization on u. S. Soil. And he was a monster. He is summey that absolutely enslaved california natives and did heinous things as many other members of the holy Roman Catholic and because the pope. Yes, the terrible things to the native american people. The doctrine of discovery is based upon dehumanizing both natives and black folks for the purpose of exportation, capitalism, slavery, etc. , etc. But overall, just by presence being there and all the native people, we had intrinsically and inextricably linked narrative. And that is because even arey forget history, we stuck with each other. And even today, native people as a matter of empirical data, are killed by Law Enforcement at a higher percentage than any other ethnic group. And that runs collateral, obviously, with the carnage that the black community is dealing with every single day at the hands of Law Enforcement. We are dealing with statesponsored violence that not only attacks our physical bodies, but our selfesteem and tells us that we have no value. And that is what thomas saturday, i believe, was about, justice or else. That is an injustice to us in our ancestry in our kids because if they dont believe they can safely navigate the streets like every other person in this country, then that is a huge injustice. Amy the democratic debate is coming up tomorrow in las vegas, the democratic president ial contenders will gather. You recently wrote a piece i support Bernie Sanders and i also support black lives matter. That is another one of those myths, that we have to have binaries, that after the black lives Movement Like lives movement took over, do the stage from Bernie Sanders, that we had to choose one or the other. And that is untrue. Bernie sanders, although he is an amazing a progressive and is been on the right side of history as a candidate that is beautiful. But he is still a white man who has unquestionably benefited from white privilege. And these young folks, these young black lives matter activists cost them just a little discomfort for about five minutes, and the world seemed to be shaken up. I was torn at that particular moment. I wrote in that piece that it was a weird moment. It in the grand scheme of things, 500 years of white domination, that is just a small adjustment that said, yes, you, too, are on notice that were paying attention to your actions and you need to communicate with is properly because this is bigger. This urgency absolutely comes from a real, tangible place and you have to recognize that urgency. Amy larry hamm, how are you dealing with the president ial campaign . What do you think the issues are that need to be injected . Do you think the black lives Matter Movement is for a significant in injecting these issues . Of course i think the black lives Matter Movement is significant and has done great work. This is one of the reasons we went to the anniversary of the million man march on saturday because two of the key issues at that time were Police Brutality and our brother spoke how that impacts the Indigenous Community and native American Community and Police Brutality in our own community and the high rates of homicide that exists in our community. Sheilarought with us reid, the mother of jerome reed, who was shot dead at point blank range by police amy in new jersey. This happened in december last year. The dash cam video went viral. And she went down with us. She went down and we also went kamalo campaign for abdul who was killed by police in new jersey and another who is killed rutherford and state police in new jersey and boy,a man who, 14yearold survived but was shot in the back seven times. This is an issue that must be raised by president ial candidates. People should not even come in our community and in our churches unless they are going to address these issues. Too many people can come in and say anything they want to say in our community and lead, and think they automatically have our support. Ministeris what the was talking about when he said justice or else. It is time for the or else part. With regard to politics, it will not be business as usual. Going to be is Holding People who are seeking office, running for office, holding them accountable and making them address our issues. Do you feel elect World Politics makes a difference in this country . I think it is absolutely important that people vote. Black folks, we fought and died for the right to vote. And it has had an impact. It is clear that voting alone is not going to solve our problem. I think we have to go back. Im so glad to hear minister Louis Farrakhan mention Martin Luther king in his speech full stop he called him a revolutionary. Remember, in the last days, dr. King said, we needed a radical transformation of our socioeconomic system. We needed a radical redistribution of power and wealth. So voting is one part. Boycotting an economic withdrawal is another. New yorkecipes in times best said the rally was a pageant for Louis Farrakhan in the nation of islam. Do you agree . I dont. I dont agree with the word pageant. It is clear the million man march and the marches that are part of the millions more movement that followed were organized by the nation of islam , which is still one of the strongest organizations in our community. Minister Louis Farrakhan has wide support in the black community because people see him as an uncompromising independent black leader. Been a pageant, then it would not have been opened up to all of the other racial and ethnic groups host of our brother here would not have been. Ble to speak another representatives of other organizations. It was organized by the nation of islam, clearly, but as part of a Broad Coalition to fight oppression in our communities. Amy we have to leave it there, but larry hamm, thank you for being with us chairman of the , Peoples Organization for progress. He was at the first million man march in 1995 and also attended the 20th anniversary march this weekend in washington, d. C. And gyasi ross, thank you so much. He was speaker at the march and also author, lawyer, storyteller, member of the blackfeet nation and author of how to say i love you in , indian. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] democracy now ] today on americas test kitchen, julia cooks perfect poached chicken breasts, adam reviews mandolins in the equipment corner, lisa reviews kid knives, and bridget makes carrotginger soup. Right here on americas test kitchen. Americas test kitchen is brought to you by dcs. Dcs manufacturers of professionally styled indoor and outdoor kitchen equipment. At dcs, our mission is design that delivers,