Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160922

Mack and artist and activist bree newsome who was in the streets last night in charlotte. Tulsa, oklahoma, or the community is reeling over video footage showing a white Police Officer shooting and killing 40yearold African American Terence Crutcher while his hands were in the air. This is what we know. We know there was no gun in the car. We know he was unarmed. We know he was moving slow. We knew he did not commit a crime like the new york bomber did who is still alive. We know all of these things, but my brother is dead. Amy we will go to tulsa to speak with activist marq lewis of we the people oklahoma, then we go back to 1921, the night tulsa burned. It was black wall street a white wench bob marotta through the streets killing hundreds of blacks in a thriving africanamerican business district. Blacks. Army then bombed wall street. We will speak with hannibal johnson, author of growth black wall street. In the connecticut state troopers unwittingly record themselves fabricating charges against a protester . Michael picard was reportedly peacefully protesting in West Hartford when a state trooper walked over and took his camera out of his hand, confiscated it, then to get back to his Police Cruiser but did not realize the camera was still recording. Youre not going to take my picture. It is public property it is illegal to take my picture. Amy we will speak with the legal director who is suing three state troopers for criminalng trumped up charges against the protester. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. North carolina governor pat mark kerry has declared a state of emergency in the city of sharlotte following protest wednesday night. Four officersid were injured, many demonstrators were also injured. The next protest included a civilian on civilian shooting that left one man critically wounded and at least seven more people injured. The governor has also begun abs to deploy the National Guard. This was the second night of protests in charlotte following the Fatal Police Shooting of 43yearold African American Keith Lamont Scott tuesday while the police claimed they tased and shot him because he was armed, scotts family says he was not armed except with a book in his hand. They say hed been sitting in his car waiting to pick up his son after school. This comes as protests continue in tulsa, oklahoma, after Police Shooting of 40 euros African American Terence Crutcher who was shot by white officer betty shelby while his hands were in the air. Solidarity protest to demand justice for the two men were held last night in other cities, including here in new york. In indianapolis, every player on the wnba team, the Indiana Fever knelt during the National Anthem protest to protest the killings. Meanwhile, Baltimore County states attorney Scott Shellenberger has announced no charges will be filed against the Police Officer who shot 23yearold korryn gaines, as well as her 5yearold son kodi. Gaines was killed by the Police Gunfire on august 1 after a swat team broke down her door and stormed her home in order to serve a warrant related to a traffic violation. Her son kodi was injured by Police Gunfire, but he survived. In the wake of the Fatal Police Shootings of Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott, donald trump has called for a nationwide stop and Frisk Program, while speaking at a town hall meeting in a black church in cleveland, hosted by fox news. There is been a lot of violence in the black committee. I want to know what you would do to stop that violence . You know, black on black crime . Stop and i would do frisk. We did it in new york and it worked incredibly well. You have to be proactive. You really help people sort of change their mind automatically. You understand. You have to have in my opinion, i see what is going on here and in chicago. I think stop and frisk in new york city, it was so incredible the way it worked. We had a very good mayor. New york city was incredible the way that worked. I think that would be one step. Amy in more news on this weekends bombings in new york and new jersey, a New York Times investigation has revealed that the main suspect ahmad khan rahami, was flagged , twice for federal scrutiny in 2014, but was never questioned by federal agents. The first flag came from custom officials after he returned from pakistan. The second flag came after his father called the fbi after rahami reportedly stabbed a family member. During that phone call, his father referred to rahami as a terrorist. Authorities now say rahami was carrying a notebook that suggests he was inspired by isis. Rahami has been charged in a Manhattan Federal Court with bombing, property destruction and the use of weapons of mass , destruction but not with any terrorism related charges, suggesting prosecutors have not been able to tie rahami to any nonstate terrorist organizations. In mandan, north dakota, hundreds gathered wednesday to call for the release of lakota land defender olowan martinez, who was arrested on september 13 during a land defense action in which she locked herself to a piece of heavy machinery to stop construction of the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Martinez has been held since then in the Morton County jail because she has a warrant out for her in nebraska where shes been fighting the presence of Liquor Stores in the small town of white clay, which is nearby her home on the Pine Ridge Reservation in south dakota. This is olowan martinez. She was speaking to democracy now would we were covering the standoff at standing rock. It is a small town on the edge or the border of south dakota and nebraska. It is quarter Liquor Stores, yes, Liquor Stores, you could call them. They make 4 billion in your just basically off the misery and suffering of my people who are struggling without all and alcoholism alcohol and ocalans him. Amy so it is sort of a town of Liquor Stores that sell to people on the Pine Ridge Reservation . Yes, the majority of the our call they sell comes from preserve or cap 344 and it is basically a very severe infection amongst our nation and some idea when we first heard fighting white clay was to heal the wound. Amy that is olowan martinez. Shes been held for over a week on her protest. On wednesday, Oglala Lakota land defenders also disrupted the north Dakota Petroleum Council Conference in minot. They took over t stage while department of Mineral Resources director lynn helms was speaking, demanding an end to the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. They were then escorted away by police. In your at a university hemispheric protested for a second day against a proposed 8 tuition hike for 2017. The students are demanding free education. Last year, massive student protests across south africa forced the university to back down from plans to increase tuition for this academic year. On tuesday, at least 30 students were arrested and several were injured by police. The protests have forced the university to close for the week. The university of cape town was also closed wednesday amid fear of protests. In the democratic republic of the congo, Security Forces have killed dozens of protesters, amid massive twoday demonstrations demanding president Joseph Kabila step down after his second term ends in december. Human rights watch says 37 protesters and six Police Officers have been killed so far during the weeks conflict. The protests were sparked by president kabilas announcement that this years president ial elections would be postponed. And this years right livelihood awards, known as the alternative nobel prize, have been announced in stockholm, sweden. This years winners are the volunteer rescue group the syria civil defense, known as the white helmets. Egyptian feminist mozn hassan. Russian human rights activist svetlana gannushkina. And turkish newspaper cumhuriyet, whose journalists have faced arrest, imprisonment and assassination attempts amid , turkeys increasing crackdown press. On the and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and im nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. North Carolina Governor Pat Mccrory has declared a state of emergency in the city of charlotte following protests wednesday night the police shot rubber bullets and pepper spray at protesters who threw fireworks and trash at officers in return. Authorities said quach officers were injured. Many demonstrators were also injured. The knights protest also included a civilian on civilian shooting that left one man critically wounded and at least seven more people injured. The governor has also begun steps to deploy the National Guard. Amy this was the second night of protests in the city following the Fatal Police Shooting of 43yearold African American Keith Lamont Scott on tuesday. The shooting happened around 4 00 p. M. Tuesday after Police Arrived to serve an arrest warrant for another person at scotts housing complex. Accounts of the shooting diverge sharply. While the police claim they first tased and then shot scott because he was armed and posed an imminent deadly threat, scotts family says he was not armed except with a book. They say hed been sitting in his car, waiting to pick up his son after school. Charlotte police chief kerr putney said the police did not see a book and that scott was seen entering a car with a gun. I can tell you a weapon was seized, a handgun. I can also tell you we did not find a book that has been made reference to. Amy an eyewitness disputed the claim that scott had a gun and not a book. This is caheshia williams. They took the book and replaced it with a gun. That man sits out here every day. His son goes to school with my daughter. That man sits out here every day and wait for his son to get off the bus. You understand how that baby had to come home to that . Amy for more were joined in charlotte, North Carolina, by two guests. Naacp mack , charlottemecklenburg branch. And with bree newsome. Lester she skill the 30 foot flagpole on the South Carolina State Capitol in columbia, South Carolina and unhooked the Confederate Flag as Police Officers shouted at her to come down. She shimmied to the top, took the Confederate Flag in her hand and shouted you come against me with hatred. I come against you in the name of god. This flag comes down today. She did this the day after the mass funeral for the nine parishioners and their minister who were gunned down by a white supremacist in their church control some, South Carolina. We welcome you both to democracy now corine mack, lets begin with you. Can you explain what took place on tuesday as you understand it, and the differing the differing accounts of what took place despite the fact that police do have video, but have not released it . Along with several other pastors, have been on the ground since mr. Scott was killed. And we spoke at linked with many, many people who live in the area and some who were eyewitnesses. And their account is in total arerast to what the police giving us. We were told mr. Scott was sitting in his car reading a book, as he had done many, many days throughout the course of his life. He was the person that picked up his son and also the person, many days, would pick up someone elses children if they could not make it. So it is interesting for us that ofan who had a daily regimen being seated in his car reading a book would now be seated in his car with a gun. Even more disturbed was the lack of transparency. In terms of the video i think it is important because of the climate we are in, the distrust of the Police Department and Law Enforcement that the video or those videos be shown to the entire citizenry of charlotte mecklenburg. Is a weit is important spent millions of dollars to ensure that each Police Officer had on a body cam. And or several cops on the day of this incident who did not. This is not something that has happened several times. It does happen far too often. Either they do not have on a body cam or they cut off their body cam. Amy but there were cops who did have the body cams . The Police Department has a video. Why dont they release that, as they did in oklahoma . That is our question, why wont you release it . I understand under the new house will, it doesnt truly go into effect until october 1. So if that is what theyre using to say as a deterrent for releasing the body cam, that cannot be sold because today is not october 1. Yesterday, surely was not october 1. We would like to see the video. Nermeen bree newsome, you are at the protest last night. Can you talk about what happened . Yes, so i actually got into town from illinois late last night. I got in after some of the protests around the omni hotel and the incident that happened which police are saying was a civilianoncivilian shooting. Theres some dispute about that. I cannot speak to that because i was not there personally. I did come in and the protest, yes. Amy can you describe those , whatook place . The governor has declared a state of emergency. Disputingll, im not there was some vandalism that occurred last night. But just to give you a sense of what the climate in the scene was, i parked my car and walked over by myself. So sometimes away these incidents are depicted on television makes it seem as though the violence is much more widespread than it actually is. I connected with several people who were down there protesting not just what has happened in charlotte, but the whole institution of holy thing as it exists in the United States right now. Lack ofcifically, the accountability. There is a system of accountability in place. There is no real oversight in place when it comes to policing. So this is a real issue that people have. Were living in a police state. What we are witnessing across america, whether it is ferguson, baltimore, charlotte, is an uprising of those who are most impacted by this police state that is, africanamericans, latinos, young people, and lgbtq people of color. , the naacprine mack is calling for the release of the police video. How has the Police Department in charlotte responded to that request . Exotic it would not be released. Several of the clergy in charlotte went to see the mayor. It was in reference to the video. We will continue to request those videos. I think it is so important, as i stated before, to begin to build trust with the citizenry we need to know what you know, see what you are saying. Amy i want to turn to an activist in charlotte who is calling for a boycott of the city. This is bj murphy. What were setting up or is our black manhood an hour black people who are being gunned down in the street and we dont get no justice. What im calling for and what we are calling for is an economic boycott of the whole city of charlotte. Since black lives do not matter for the city, do not black dollarship matter. N ourll keep our money pocket. Were watching modernday lynching on social media, on television, and it is affecting the psyche of black people. That is what you saw last night. Amy i am wondering, bree newsome, is that the general feeling . And if you could talk about the climate. According to reports this year, there have been six Police Killings of civilians. Yesterday when we first had you on, bree, you minutes you mention the killing of Jonathan Ferrell and the acquittal of the officer. There is definitely in economic connection as well between Police Brutality and these communities. Most impacted by Police Brutality are communities where the city has divested money for decades. Highly segregated communities. Our schools are now as segregated as they were in the 1960s. There were reports that just came out yesterday that wages twin black and white workers are now the same gap they were in 1979. What is happening is that cities and counties and states are using police as a catchall for all of the social fallout from their lack of investment. In education, and housing, in all of these things. So that is part of what people are responding to. One of the things we see consistently is that the city officials, the state officials seem to show more concern for property than for life. And thees the Cameras Police and everyone, they dont show up to show concern until a window get smashed, until a Police Cruiser gets jumped on and smashed. What is demonstrated in that is that money is valued over the lives of residents. And that is largely what people are responding to when they are calling for economic boycotts. Even the decision a protest in uptown last night this is clearly a decision to go to one of the economic centers, not just of the city, but of the state, to draw attention to what is happening here. Nermeen i want to go back to comments made by a woman who said she witnessed the shooting of keith scott. This is caheshia williams explaining what she saw happened. The man was sitting in his car minding his business. Heard please, dont do it. That is when i see the man standing there with the gun pointed at mr. Scott. Have telling them, i dont anything. Would you did that, you could hear four shots. That man hit the ground. Theyre just standing looking at him. I got it on video. I got it on my phone. Reporting what she saw on tuesday. One newsome, can you comment what you think happens next, what ought to happen and what you expect . There are twonk issues. One is the issue of justice in this particular case. As butlerat corinne that well. There has to be transparency, first of all. This distrust that is between the community and police is wellfounded and there are documented reasons to why there is that kind of mistrust. Then there is a larger issue of policing in general and the relationship between the police and the community. That is a large part of what people are protesting as well. Not only this most recent case with keith scott, it is about tulsa, baton rouge, it is about the entire system and the way that people are being systematically funneled into the prison system. As i said yesterday on the program, i think it can very well be argued that slavery in america chattel slavery ended, yes. But what was once chattel slavery has evolved into the prison industrial complex. A lot of these interactions that are happening between the police and the community are because we are living within a time and place were a lot of city municipalities are being funded by policing citizens, by locking citizens up, by charging them with fines. This inevitably leads to encounters that result in fatalities like this. Amy corine mack, i have a question for you. Every time there is a description of an africanamerican man being before ise adjective either armed or unarmed. Rahami e of whenever people have races in charlotte he was armed when he was caught. He actually shot the police. They shot back at him, but they did not kill him. As one protester in charlotte said, because they wanted to have him question. They wanted to keep them alive. As if armed means you are automatically guilty, isnt North Carolina an open carry state . Even after him as the police say though many content this isnt gun . That the victim had a i am consistently bringing that up. We have a Second Amendment right to carry. So is in fact mr. Scott had a gun, what was the crime in that . The responsibility of the police was to question him, to confirm he had a permit for the gun, and allow him to go on his merry way. At every encounter were hearing about when it pertains to an africanamerican man or woman, they are not allowed to walk away and go home to their families. They are killed. There is a coulter in the Police Department, and they are taught that when you engage in africanamerican, expect that be very different from our white counterparts. That in fact the probability is that they are criminal. Even more concerning for me is that every time an africanamerican is killed, they are not the victim. They are continually demonized. In the police that killed them are never held accountable. That is what you see the frustration. That is why you see the pain in our community. That is why you see the anger in our community. That is why we have daily youests and are committed right now. Enough is enough. We are being killed. We are being lynched. These are the modernday lynchings. We realize that. Amy bree newsome, are there plans for more protests today . Absolutely, especially considering what happened last night. According to some folks who were there, including james tyson few might remember he participated in the action with me last are to remove the Confederate Flag. He said what he witnessed was someone being shot at close range with a rubber bullet. I have heard that from several others. I was that present to witness that. Im just saying that part of what were seeing growing in the protest is not again, it is not only about the incident that happened tuesday, it is also about the continued Police Response which shows escalation and continually shows a disregard for the lives of the Committee Members and for how the Community Members feel. They witness this man they see every day sitting, waiting for his children. They witness to be shot and killed and regardless of what the facts are, we wont know until the Police Release the video, the fact is that there is reason for them to not trust what the police have said. Instead of responding and away that would address the concerns and away the community is feeling, the Police Respond with a swat team. It is like a continual escalation in disregard of how people are feeling and people reach a point where they feel they have no recourse at all. So until that is addressed, the protests will continue to grow not just here but around the country. Amy thank you for being with us, bree newsome artisan activist, climbed the for flagpole on the statehouse grounds in North Carolina and took on the Confederate Flag. I also want to thank corine mack , president of the naacp charlottemecklenburg branch. Im sure we will be speaking to you both again. When we come back, were going to tulsa, oklahoma. Stay with us. [music break] amy 41 shots by bruce springsteen. He composed and performed that for dialo who was killed in a hill of 41 Police Bullets in 1999 as he tried to enter his apartment after buying some fast food in new york city. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Nermeen we turn now to tulsa, oklahoma, where the community is reeling over video footage showing a white Police Officer shooting and killing 40yearold African American Terence Crutcher while his hands were in the air. Officer betty shelby shot crutcher around 8 00 p. M. On friday after his car broke down. Some of the video released monday came from Police Helicopter footage, in which one in a helicopter can be heard saying that looks like a bad dude, too. This is a clip from the police footage. This guy is still walking. Not following commands. Time for a taser, i think. I get a feeling that is about to happen. That looks like a bad dude, too. Which what are they facing . Westbound. I think he may have been tasered. Shots fired 321, shots fired. With one suspect down. Get eastboundo close down because theyre not going to be able to let anybody nermeen other footage from a Police Dashcam vehicle shows crutcher walking away from officers with his hands in the air, then putting his hands on the side of his own car as hes surrounded by officers. The video captures a voice coming over the police radio saying hes just been tasered, and then a womans voice yelling shots fired as the video shows crutchers arms falling to the pavement. Amy the Justice Department says its investigating the shooting of Terence Crutcher as a possible civil rights violation. On wednesday, members of crutchers family held a press conference. This is Terence Crutchers twin sister, tiffany. We know this is what we know. We know there was no gun in the car. We know he was unarmed. We know he was moving slow. We knew he did not commit a crime. Like the new york bomber did who is still alive. We know all of those things. But my brother is dead. Amy that News Conference held on tuesday. Tulsa is no stranger to racial strife. Just last year, tulsa was the scene of the Police Shooting of another unarmed black man, eric harris, shot by a reserve deputy. The city was terrorized in 2012 by a hate crime shooting spree by two white men targeting black neighborhoods. For more were going to start in tulsa with marq lewis founder , and a Community Organizer for we the people oklahoma, a tulsabased grassroots organization. Talk about what has taken place so far and what youre calling for. The killing actually took place last friday. The Police Released the footage from the helicopter just this past week, a few days ago, is that right . That was on monday, correct. They released the footage monday in this is day six will stop day six. We are at a standstill. No arrests. That is what were waiting on. Weve been protesting peacefully. We want to have officer betty to be arrested. Amy betty shelby, the officer . That is correct. Nermeen you spoke to the police chief yesterday. What did you learn . He could not talk too much about the case, but we wanted to talk more in reference to policies. We found out that as far as the deescalation policies are of times, and a lot for the blood testing policies, they are not mandatory. So those are things we wanted to make sure that we can implement. This is a work in progress. We did i did ask him in federally, are you going to arrest her . He said he couldnt talk about the case. But i did let him know that the communitys growing unrest. Something has to happen. Nermeen this shooting comes in the context of larger problems betweene does problems the pulleys and community in tulsa. The Police Department produces an internal Affairs Report every year. Could you tell us what those reports have found and what changes have taken place as a consequence . What we found is the areas that are predominantly africanamerican or heavy minority areas, they have a ge form of use of force more so than any other division. It is been that way every year. It is something we have not seen change. We have addressed it with the chief. We dont have a plan. We also found how all of the andtings began in happen were justified in town and policy. Were looking at their tactics, their policing. We are stressing that your over are overlyeas you policing areas that are heavily minority areas and that is a problem. Amy can you talk about the difference in response in charlotte, the mass protes taking place for the video to be released which it hasnt and in tulsa, where the Police Released the video monday . What caused them to release the video monday of the shooting that had taken place the previous friday . Of course, the video extremely damming and you see mr. Crutcher with his hands in the air walking very deliberately and slowly away from the officer towards his car and then putting his hand on the car. The officer, officer betty shelby, says she thought he was reaching into his car window which was up the whole car was sealed. Talk about this difference and why you think this different response in the two cities. Well, i love charlotte and i hate to see the city going shoe that. And i think a lot of it has to in the their politics city. Theyre losing economically. As the previous case with jonathan, they did not get justice. Here in tulsa, one of the things that has happened you mentioned about the previous eric harris that was shot and killed last year. We actually saw justice. We saw our community localize and we launched a grand jury investigation. I believe that is given our community some hope in some sense of concern some sense of relief. But seeing this video, it is tragic. He was in a surrender position. We a people who feel as if they do not want to be broken down in fear of their life. So theyre comparing, if we are will get shot. If we are laying down, we will get shot. If we are selling cds, we will get shot. Are we sending that you can just be black and get shot . Nermeen we are turning to an incident that occurred in tulsa on may 31, 1921 when a white mob killed as many as 300 people, most of them black. The violence broke out when a white lynch mob clashed with blacks who were protecting a black man accused of assaulting a white elevator operator. Days, white mobs set fires to homes, businesses and churches in greenwood, thriving africanamerican business district, known at the time as the black wall street of america. The when the smoke cleared aerial he in ruins. Many africanamericans left and never return. The National Guard rounded up thousands of africanamericans, held amid various locations around tulsa. , in what isy believed the first time, bombed black wall street. This is an excerpt from the History Channel document the with some ofurned the survivors, who were just children when the attack occurred, described what happened. This is George Monroe beginning. I will always remember four men coming in our house with torches, and my mother saw them ofing and she put the four us children under the bed. From under the bed, we could see them walking to the curtains and setting fire to the curtains to set our house on fire. We start hearing shots. My grandfather told us all to get up. We up and we could see could hear the shots. We were frightened nearly to death. , wes soon as daylight came looked outside. All of these people were coming down this railroad track. They just had clothes on. Thats all. They did not take anything. Amy for more were joined by hannibal johnson, author, attorney, consultant, and author of several books about the history of tulsas africanamerican community, including black wall street from rot to renaissance in tulsas historic greenwood district, up from the ashes, and images of america tulsas historic greenwood district. Welcome to democracy now , hannibal johnson, explain what took place all must century ago and how that shapes tulsa and black tulsa today. Pulls the was the site of the worst of the socalled race riots in American History in the early 20th century, made 31st through june 1 1921. This is really implement of what was going on in america generally because during that time, lynching was prevalent, the socalled incidents that were dubbed race riots but were really more adequately or properly described as assault on black communities for massacres, tulsa theres the dubious distinction of hosting the worst of those socalled events. This is a period that historians in sociologys call the low point of Race Relations in america. Historical of that trauma, that history that needs to be healed, there has been a legacy of distrust, particularly among africanamericans and whites in this committee. Forward,re you move explain what happened. The u. S. Army bombed this area called black wall street . According to the most authoritative source on the bombing issue, the question is still an open question. There are eyewitnesses who say the area was bombed with kerosene and or nitroglycerin bombs that caused the fires to rage more broadly. The official version is that there were in fact private planes that flew over the Greenwood Community and that they were on, since missions they were surveying the area to see what happened. So the question is, and you believe . Amy and it was called black wall street because . It is a reference to the proliferation of black entrepreneurs that thrived in early greenwood. And i shall he thrived even after the riot. What is remarkable is the people of greenwood who rebuilt the community and the face of seemingly insurmountable odds after the utter devastation of the 1921 tulsa race riot. Nermeen hannibal johnson, the current chief of police, chuck jordan, has made a public apology for the Police Departments dereliction of duty in the greenwood massacre. Could you talk about that . Clocks yes, about two years ago, chief jordan decided on his own initiative that it would be appropriate and helpful to the committee in terms of healing this history to make a public apology for the Police Departments role in the riot. Police and Law Enforcement generally during the riot we know deputized some of the white man who invaded the Greenwood Community. And they generally did not fulfill their role of protecting and serving the africanamerican citizenry in tulsa. So he felt income it upon the department in the modern era to acknowledge that dereliction of duty, to apologize for it, and to help us move forward. Now what still remains to be done generally is taking appropriate reparations, making amends for the damage that was done, and working to reconcile which means building relationships, engaging in dialogue, chipping away at systemic racism that exists here as it exists everywhere. , given before we end, chuck jordans apology for the greenwood massacre, how is the how has he responded to the recent shooting death of Terence Crutcher . Seenthink we have generally, sternly at the front end, unified front on the behalf of city leadership, including the mayor, the district attorney, the u. S. Attorney for one of our counselors who happens to be africanamerican. They have come forward fairly quickly and said, we want to be transparent. We want the investigation to be full and fair. And we want justice to be done. That is an appropriate, and i think a trust building type of statement, to make it the outset. What remains to be seen is what follows that. Amy and the reason you feel the difference in the response in tulsa and in charlotte . I think one of the things i love most about this city is the social capital that has been built over the course of the years. We have a very Strong Social infrastructure that involves nonprofits, committed you leadership word committed he leadership organizations, committed philanthropist who Work Together regularly and collaborate on initiatives that build a better the community. The Tulsa Race Riot Commission that was set up like 16 years ago in 2000 recommended reparations. What happened . They reprimand they recommended reparations including cast reparations for living survivors. That did not happen. Reparations for those who lost property. That did not happen. The establishment of a Scholarship Fund happen for a limited time. They recommended economic redevelopment initiatives in greenwood, set up a body to do that but did not find it so that did not really happen. They recommended a memorial that did happen. But what emerged from that was the John Hope Franklin center for reconciltion and park, which is a beautiful park in the greenwood area just across the frisco tracks from jail downtown. Some of what they recommended was done. Other parts of it remained to be down. Number of people who is believed to have died in 19 21 1921 as a result of this . Is likely somewhere between 100 and 300. Were not ever going have a definitive number for number of reasons. There are people who perhaps are buried in mass graves and that is still a possibly one or more mass graves here in tulsa. Ecords were poor at the time so for a number reasons, getting virtuallye count is impossible. But what we do know is that the count that was issued at the time, the official count of 37, is far from accurate. Amy hannibal johnson, thank you for being with us, author and attorney, author of black wall street. , we the people of oklahoma. When we come back, police take amends videocamera and dont realize it is still on. It records them plotting how to frame him. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. On wednesday, republican president ial candidate donald trump responded to a question about violence in the black community at a town hall meeting in a black church in cleveland hosted by fox news. Theres been a lot of violence in the black committee. I want to know what you would do to stop that violence coming of, black on black crime . Mr. Trump one thing i would do is i would do stop and frisk. I think you have to. We did it in new york and it worked incredibly well. You have to be proactive. Sort ofly help people change their mind automatically. You have to have in my opinion, i see what is going on. Ere and chicago i think stop and frisk a new york city amy you have been listening to donald trump speaking about the stop and Frisk Program. Meanwhile, former federal judge who ruled the controversial policing tactics unconstitutional in 2013 told buzz feed news stop and frisk was not beneficial, it was destructive. Talked about how it targeted the black and latino community. It is believed over a period of years, 4 million, particularly young black men and women and latino men and women were targeted. Joining us now is jean robinson. If you could talk about donald trump suggesting the stop and Frisk Program and overall what has been taking place from what ise to tolls a . Been taking Place Overall is the over policing of our communities, black people being treated like enemy combatants in their own neighborhoods. And donald trump, this is just donald trump continuing to shoot from the hip. Not having any facts, not having any data, not knowing how these policies actually play in two how people are treated in committee and police relationships. But it also speaks to the larger fact that donald trump is really not trying to get peoples black peoples votes. He is trying to appeal to white moderates. He is trying to appeal to white southerners. This is sort of a Sister Soldier moment a,la bill clinton during his 92 campaign of going into speakingmunities and with black folks. Is don kingip trump onfor donald wednesday at a meeting of black pastors in cleveland heights, ohio. Jackson, iichael said, if you are poor, you are a poor negro. Word. D use the n if youre rich, you are a rich negro. If you are an intelligent intellectual, you are an intelligent negro. If you are dancing and sliding i mean, negro, your dancing and sliding and gliding negro. Dare not alienate, because you cannot assimilate. Amy that is don king using the n words. Supporters behind donald white donald Trump Supporters behind him laughing. It is a joke. Don king and donald trump are cut from the same cloth. Theyre entertainers. They have made deals with folks were them gotten rich and other people have gotten poor, lost money. And to the point about the stop and frisk, wouldnt it be great if stop and frisk or actually implement it on white billionaires . To stop and frisk them for their foundation records, to stop and frisk them for their tax records . To stop and frisk them for the the ways in which the Housing Market was crashed and blackwell was lost. Black wealth was lost . Why do we have that type of stop and frisk . I think a lot of people would support that. Amy thank you for being with us, rashad robinson, executive director of color of change, speaking at the time of the wells fargo hearing. Certainly, very interesting question you have raised. As we turn now to our last segment. Nermeen did connecticut state troopers unwittingly record themselves fabricating charges against a protester . Thats what a new lawsuit filed by the aclu of connecticut claims. On september 11, 2015, connecticut resident Michael Picard was reportedly peacefully protesting at a traffic checkpoint in West Hartford when state trooper john barone walked over to picard and slapped picards camera out of his hand. Barone then confiscated picards legallycarried pistol and pistol permit. When picard picked up his camera and resumed filming, barone erroneously claimed that filming the police is illegal. He proceeded to confiscate picards camera and take it back to his Police Cruiser, placing it on the cars roof. What the troopers didnt realize was that the camera was still working, and recording their full conversation. In the recording, barone can be heard discussing with Sergeant John jacobi how to justify charging picard, saying at one point gotta cover our ass. Listen closely. Amy with the camera still rolling, the officers proceeded to call a hartford Police Officer to see if there was any grudges against picard; open an investigation of picard in the Police Database and discuss a , separate protest that he had organized at the State Capitol. The police eventually charged picard with reckless use of highway by a pedestrian and creating a public disturbance. Both charges were eventually dropped by the state after nearly a year in the Connecticut Superior Court system. Now the aclu of connecticut is representing picard in a lawsuit against three of the state Police Troopers involved in the incident john barone, patrick torneo, and john jacobi. For more we go now to hartford, connecticut where were joined by dan barrett. He is the legal director for the aclu of connecticut. Dan barrett, welcome to democracy now it is really hard to hear the video that they unwittingly had on as they were skimming. Can you say what is said and what you are calling for . Sure. A lot of the video is somewhat difficult to hear, but there many points in the video in which it is quite clear what is going on. As you say, after Michaels Camera was confiscated, the state troopers appeared to have a discussion in which they go over michaels past protests, even though michael had never met any of the three troopers there. They talk about which charges they could apply to michael. So the salient points to my untrained years are there in the video and we have a discussion about what appears to be retaliating against the protester for his activities. Nermeen could you explain what rights protesters have to film or photograph Police Officers . The person doing the filming is not interfering with the Police Officers, there is no prohibition, certainly in connecticut, against recording the Police Officers doing their work in public. And that is true, by the way, of any Government Employee. For me, the ridiculousness of the situation that michael faced is if you been recording a road crew are five department putting out a fire, it would be laughable for one of those Government Employees to come up and take away his camera. Generally speaking, to answer your question, if a person is not directly interfering with the Government Employee who is doing their job, then they are free to record what is going on on a public street. Amy so you have the Police Officer telling picard taking my picture is illegal and then have the recording capturing the troopers saying, one point, we really got to cover our asses. Thats right. The combination of those things is pretty galling, especially in connecticut where we recently our Legislature Passed a state law, in fact, that makes clear that people can record the police doing their jobs. So we have no prohibition against it. We have our state legislature saying quite clearly that it is permissible and that any Police Officer that gets in the way of a recording can be sued. Then we have a discussion about what might be done to a protester who is exercising his rights, both to protest and to record. Nermeen what do you think should happen to those Police Officers . Should they be criminally charged . Im not sure about criminal charges. There is a number of things that have to happen, all of which fall under the category of correction. This is something that the reason this case is so important is not just r e right to record and rig to protest for everyone in ti but so because we are at a moment in our history or i should say another sad moment in our history when we are trying to get control over the police and trying to get Police Department across the country to understand that they need to behave in a different way than business as usual. I think generally speaking what would be nice to happen is a correction to these troopers behavior. Intervention that would teach them what they did was wrong and it should never happen again. Amy how unusual is it for police to fabricate charges . I cant really say empirically. Im sure there are people who have some pretty strong opinions about that. It is really hard for me to tell. But in this case, it certainly seems from the evidence that what was going on is a discussion about what might be said and might be put into the record to support charges. Imhow does john amy just going fast because we have just a few seconds. How does how has this affected his life . He is been dealing with these charges against him in court for year . Having criminal charges above ones head is never a fun period. For a year, he was worried about what was going to happen in. And worried about what would happen is the charges are hanging over, how it affects his protest. He was worried about protesting. Would he make things worse for him in a criminal case. It was gut wrenching for michael. , thank you fort being with us, legal director of the aclu connecticut. A belated happy birthday to Amy Littlefield who hit a milestone yesterday. Happy 30, amy. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] rallo on this episode of eat drink italy well tour napoleons wine tunnels. Ill cook a wonderful tyrolean treat. Well visit one of wines dynamic couples. And guess what . Ill prepare a roasted cauliflower salad. My name is vic rallo, and i believe that italy is the best place on earth to eat and drink. Follow me, and ill prove it. Eat drink italy is brought to you by the asaro line of sicilian extravirgin and organic extravirgin olive oils, tomatoes, olives, and more. 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