For president of the United States. Amy its official donald trump is the Republican Party president ial nominee. However, much of the convention has not focused on trump, but on his opponent, hilillary clinton. Governor Chris Christie even staged a mock trial. Gov. Christie putting herself ahead of america, guilty or not guilty guilty. Delegates chanted lock her up, lock her up, we will look at how governor christie is immersed in his own scandal. One of his close allies has just pled guilty to federal library chargeges bribery charges. We will also speak to some of the Street Vendors sending trumprelated items in cleveland. Make americaring great hats. Do you support donald trump . To get aust trying better understanding of where he is coming from. I see a lot of nice people around here. I will probably not vote for him. It is really business. Why and we wont look at students at Case Western University are protesting the decision to have nearly 2000 and policeard officers in the campus dormitory during the rnc. Up. Of that and more, coming this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are breaking with convention war, peace, and the presidency. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from cleveland, ohio. Its official donald trump is the Republican Party president ial nominee. House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his nomination, following a roll call vote on the floor of the republican rnc. Speaker ryan the chair announces that donald j. Trump, having received the majority of the votes entitled to be cast at the convention, has been selected as the Republican Party nominee for president of the United States. [applause] amy thats house Speaker Paul Ryan, announcing trumps official party nomination. This comes only one day after delegates from the Never Trump Movement briefly staged a revolt against trumps nomination on nomination. The rebellion threw the first day of the convention into chaos, but the effort was quashed by party leadership. Some dissenting g delegates bood during tuesdays roll call vote. The second day of the rnc was dubbed make america work few address that issue. Aboutre speakers spoke former secretary of state Hillary Clinton than discussions of creating jobs. Retired brain surgeon and former president ial nominee ben carson used his medical expertise to criticize potential clinton voters, saying quote, theyre not using their godgiven brain to think about what they are saying, unquote. New jersey governor Chris Christie also criticized clinton. Gov. Christie answer me now, is she guilty or not guilty . Guilty. Amy thats the audience, chanting lock her up, lock her up. But arizona senator jeff flake, who has chosen not to come to the rnc, tweeted, quote, hillaryclinton now belongs in prison . Cmon. We can make the case that she shouldnt be elected without jumping the shark, he tweeted. To hear our conversation with nation magazine john nichols, go to democracynow. Org. Meanwhile, controverersy contins over Melania Trumps speech inin which she plagiarized severeral lines s from michelle e obamas speech in 2008. Bararack and i were raised with h so many y of the e values, like you work hard for what you want in life. Ms. Trump that you work hard for what you want t in life. Mrs. Obamama that your wordrd s your bond, and youou do what you are gogoing to say you do. Ms. Trp p that yourur word is yoyour bond. We want the children to know the only limits to the height of your achievement is the height of your dream and a willingness to work hard for them. Ms. Trump because we want the chilildren in this nation to knw ththat the only limit of your achievement t is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them. Speechlania trump in her monday night at the rnc, and Michelle Obama in her speech at the dnc in 2008. Trump campaign has denied allegations of plagiarism. Ms. Pierson these are our values Republican Values of respect. That is Melania Trump. This conceptpt that michelle oba invented the english language is absurd. Amy that was trump spokeswoman katrina pierson. Rnc chief strategist sean spicer, meanwhile, said melanias speech used common phrases and compared lines from her speech to dialogue in the animated tv series my little pony. Mr. Spicer twilight sparkle said this is your dream anything you can do in your dream you can do now. Amy that was rnc chief strategist sean spicer speaking on cnn. But journalists and experienced speech writers widely agree Melania Trump did plagiarize parts of the speech. At least someone did the speech she read. According to the new york times, months before the rnc, the Trump Campaign hired two speechwriters Matthew Scully and John Mcconnell to draft Melania Trumps. Text. But Melania Trump disregarded this draft a and instead asked r help from former ballet t dancer meredith mciver. She had helped trump w with his book think like a billionaire. At a protest outside the rnc, activist jul johnsonon criticized Melania Trump for plagiarizing Michelle Obama. Ms. Johnson stealing from a black woman it is ridiculous how much this country is based off the exploitation of labor, people of color, oppressed people, poor people. I am sure she thought would that she would get away with it and nobody would care. Amy protests continued in cleveland outside of the rnc. Flagpoleists scaled a near the rock n roll hall of fame and unveileled a massive fg calling republicans not to trump local l communities. Stopso read dan fracking, climate ininjustice, and tear dn the wall. In another protest, the antiwar group code p pink delivered 500 tennis balls to the front steps, protesting the fact that you can bring semi automatic rifles, but not tennis balls into the area around the Republican National convention. Democracynow was at the protest. To see our coverage, go to democracynow. Org. The band queen is criticizing donald trump for using the song we are the champions, for his dramatic entrance. Tweetedeeted queen and unauthorized use. The lead singer, freddie mercury, died of aids in 1981. Roger ailes lawyers have confirmed hes in negotiations to step down as fox news chairman chair amidst multiple accusations of sexual assault. Former Fox Gretchen Carlson has sued ailes. Now, foxs megyn kelly has also accused him of harassment. Others have come forward, including one who said she was to and when she refused perform oral sex, he chased around the on office before allowing her to leave the room. Cnn is reporting a former marine who killed three Baton Rouge Police officers suffered from posttraumatic stress this order. Gavin long was on her discharged in 2010. He had failed an antiexec inled an antianxiety drug 2012. Lebanon isation of about 6 million. Half of the refugees are children. Even though lebanon allows for the enrollment of syrians in its public schools, a shortage of seats and laws restricting Refugees Movement prevent them from attending. Iraqs southern wetlands, thought by some to be the biblical garden of eden, have been named a unesco World Heritage site. Saddam hussein dammed and drained the marshes in the 1990s to flush out rebels hiding in the reeds. After the u. S. Led invasion in 2003, locals destroyed dams to let water back in, restoring the marsh ecosystem within a few years. Many of the marshes inhabitants are subsistence fishermen, and the area is an important stop for r migratory birds. The marshes are,e, however, once more threatened by new dams as well as by climate change. Right now come in washington, livesmembers of black matter are content to shut down offices activists have locked themselves to the steps of the fraternal order of police with chains, while others have blocked intersections surrounding the headquarters. The activists are the manning Police Officers stopped paying dues to the private unions they accuse of defending police use of brutality. Fraternalzer says the order of police acts like a College Fraternity and is responsible for maintaining the harmful, we feel, and unaccountable culture of where families are left to mourn with little if any semblance of justice. And those are some of the headlines. Ththis is democracy now, democracynow. Org, breaking with convention war, peace and the presidency. Im amy goodman. It is now official, dononald trp has become the official president ial nominee of the Republican Party. Trump trumps son, donald junior, cast a vote for the new york delegation that put trump over the top of the needed 1237 dedelegates. Junior it is my honor to be able to throw donald trump overthetop in the delegate count tonight with 89 delegates, and another 64 john kasich. Congratulations, dad. We love you. Is expected tomp accept the nomination thursday night, but he briefly spoke to delegates from the trump tower. Mr. Trump we are going to rebuild our jobs, rebuild our depleted military, and take care of our great veterans. Were going to have strong borders. Were going t to get ririd of i. We going to restore law and order we have to restore, and quickly. Law and order. Amy one of the most animated moments came by a speech from Chris Christie who is a finalist was a finalist to be mr. Trumps running mate. He staged a mock trial of Hillary Clinton. Gov. Christie another question for you as to Hillary Clinton lying to the American People about her selfish, awful judgment in making our secrets and, what is your verdict, guilty or not guilty . Guilty. Time, timeie now after time after time, the facts lead you to the same verdicts, both around the world and here at home. In libya and nigeria guilty. In china and syria a guilty. Gov. Christie in iran, russia, and cuba guilty. Gov. Christie and here at home, for risking americas secretetso keep her own, and lying to cover it all up guilty. Amy during governor chrisistis speech about clinton, republican delegagates repeatedly broke ino chants of the of lock her up. To the charge of putting herself ahead of america, guilty or not guilty . Guilty. Lock her up. While delegates chanted, governor and former prosecutor Chris Christie is immersed in his own scandal. One of his close allies has pled guilty to federal bribery charges. After his speech, Hillery Clinton Hillary Clinton tweeted if you think chris lecture to anyone on ethics, we have a bridge to sell you. Robert hened by nelly. Good to see. I saw you last night. Mr. Hennelly you hadadot been arrested yet. Amy though had to deal with Police Taking of protesters because they had tennis balls, tennis balls are not allowed in the area, but semi automatic rifles are. On the issue of what was come frominside, you new jersey to you have been governing covering governor christie and the scandal there. Talk about the significance of what he did last night, staging a mock trial of Hillary Clinton. Think first, i they said the agenda was make america work again, and that is something americans want to hear it has been very slow. These eight years have been slow for working people. When he went into that ad hominem attacks, it did take on the vibe it felt like a lynch mob, it felt t menacing people e of the things that is ironic is governor christie is at the center of this huge ridge it scandal, which we have covered. Amy explain briefly for a global audience. Mr. Hennelly back on the eve of what look k like to be an easy reelection, some of his minions decided they would punish h the mayorr of fort lee, a dedemocra, for not endorsing governor christie. So, on the actual anniversary of september 11, when tensions are pretty high, the george w the George Washington bridge, which is considered a terrorist target, they closed the lanes four days. It was the first day of school for kids. It was dramatic. The governor said he did not know anything about it. It went on and on. Eventually, his chief of staff fell on the sword, and it turned out there was enough information in emails the u. S. Attorney was able to see that thisis was a conspiracy a among at least his close confidence, both inside the Port Authority and at the highest levels of the menstruation to do something very petty with an important asset on a very serious day. Of that what has come why did you end up writing the piece Chris Christies week from hell, talking about this past week . Year,nnelly we had last the highranking authority in the Port Authority, a close confidant of governor christie was indicted. Another close confidant within the Port Authority. He pled guilty. Its set into motion the idea that you have someone now making admissions to the government. Last week, david sampson, a former attorney general, head of his Transition Team, one of the most powerful lawyers in new jersey, pled guilty for, of all things, taking a bribe in the form of 27 flights on an scheduled ford him once a week call the chairmans f flight, a and he wd control l the agenda a on behalf united. And justst for the cherry on the sunday, the transportation commissioner under Chris Christie was also charged. Needless to say, for a u. S. Attorney, which Chris Christie is a former these werere strange development, plus he cannot find his cell phone and delete it texts in the process of it all this. Amy so, the significance of where he spent i want to see if we can go to a clip. Governorhance to see christie the first night when he first came into the hall, embracing the delegates from the new jersey delegation, and i only had one quick second two ask him a question, so this is what i asked him. Governor christie, do you feel betrayed by donald trump . Gov. Christie not at all. I am the chairman of his transition. Feelso, i asked him if he betrayed. Rumor had it he was one of the finalists for Vice President , Vice President ial nominee, running mate of donald trump. He did not get it. Tonight, governor pence will be formally nominated. His answer was no, i dont feel bebetrayeded, i am the head ofoe transisition team. What is the Transition Team at this p point . Mr. Hennelly it is like a tatalent scoutut, and with donad trump, with Chris Christie making five picks that are in the attention of prosecutors like prosecutors amy you think he is vying for attorney general . Mr. Hennelly the way he did that performance, it would seem so, and being chief of staff is nothing to sneeze at, but of course the prerequisite would be donald trump would have to win for it to have any meaning. Amy and the relationsnship they have, which h he emphahasized lt night. Mr. Hennelly it isis funny. I didid have an opportunity to talk to donald trump. At one period i was trying to get a response about devastation for Atlantic City and small businesses. The way he casted in the elections, this is something from where banks took a haircut. He does not like that. I called ministers and said if you had congregants that were injured economically please have them call me. I heard from florists, had allrs, scholars who been ripped off by donald trump. I sent the comments to Donald Trumps lawyer. He called me back, and he said they make money with me on the way up, they got clilipped on te way down. About spoke with him christy, i did not g get a sense there was a tremendous admiration. Remember, new jersey is a basket case economically. We h have the highest foreclosue rate. The state has not regained any of itsts jobs at a r rate of new york or anyone else around the state. It is still in freefall. Course donaldld trump h has a close relationship with the state of new jersey. It is where his four bankruptcies took place in Atlantic City. And he wasy right, identified with the up years when it came to casino gambling. Amy you have looked at cleveland what was the group the Economic Innovation Group says cleveland is the most distressed big city in america. Mr. Hennelly right. Well, this is actually true of all of urban america. One of things you have to understand is Corporate Media denies us a sense of our circumstance of what is happening. Is importrtant to knonow the National Association of counties, not a marxist front group, says only 7 of the counties have expressed a recovery. That means this country is continuing to economically unravel. 2. 5 million homes, 6000 of them here in cleveland, that are empty, abandoned, and continuing to lose value. People of color in cleveland have seen an 80 destruction in their household wewealth. Thatat means under president oba we have seen the largest level of africanamerican Household Wealth destruction in the history of the republic, and for whatever reason, the democrats dont want to mention it. Bernie sanders did not want to mention it, but it is still out there is a reality. , there are some areas were 50 of the children live under the poverty line, and philadelphia is no picnic. Amy and lead poisoning we talk about it in flint, but in cleveland, this old city thehennelly in n the 1960s, industrialization in cleveland you have gentntrification, efforts to tun it around. Amy we will hear from people in the streets who actually live here some of the vendors trying to make money while the public and National Convention is here. Bob hanley, thank you for henley bobbob lly, thank you for joining us. This is democracy now, breaking with convention. Stay with us. [music break] i want it all by queen here on democracy now, democracynow. Org, breaking with convention. Make america work again that was the theme tuesday night here at the rnc in cleveland. Will went outrla to the street to talk about some of the vendors selling everything from make america cereal called a trump flakes. Mr. Solomon my name is king solomon, and i am from cleveland, ohio, and i am actually vending. Im a barber by trade. Entrepreneur i am an owner and operator. Nddo that fulltime, and i ve around United States parttime. What is your political affiliation . Mr. Solomon i dont have one. Carla do you welcome the Republican National convention . Mr. Solomon actually, 100 . It is an opportunity to take part in capital gain. Problemou find no selling republican merchandise or merchandise that has Donald Trumps image on it . Mr. Solomon not at all. I think it is an opportunity for people like myself to take part in capitalism. It is free enterprise. I am all for the rnc 2016 in cleveland, ohio, just as much as i was for the Cleveland Cavaliers winning the National Championship in cleveland, ohio. It is a capitalistic society. I am all for it. Carla you dont have any issues with donald trump . Mr. Solomon no comment. No comment. You dont have anything good to say, they say dont say anything good at all. Me and him might cross paths one day, so i dont want to be recorded on tape saying something against donald trump. It is what it is. Anyone has their own thought process. I dont know. Im a vendor. I feel great about trouble. He was not running, i would not be selling these rnc shirts, these pictures with his face on it. I am from california, riverside. , tell itn on trump is like it is, and tell the truth. If youre going to bring jobs, bring jobs. If not, youre going to lose voters. Bring jobs, do what you are saying youre going to do. Carla who are you supporting for president . Mr. Jackson no comment. When you are selling merchandise for one person and one comment carla what did you say . When you are selling merchandise for one candidate say who you are supporting we are trying to get new basketball jerseys and things like that. Carla how have people been responding to you so far . Ok, but when it happens, it is a lot. They might give 20, but only one water. It is running slow, but when it happens, it happens big. Im ok with that. Carla what are your thoughts about donald trump . Heath he is an arrogant person. I dont think he needs to be in the position right now. I did nothing to him when he made he made fairly, and i do not think he deserves to be in the white house. Are old enoughu to vote you would not be voting for him . Mr. Heath no. Carla are you supporting Hillary Clinton . Mr. Heath she is not much better, but i would vote for her over donald trump. Carla you have no problem being with all these are public and . Mr. Heath the only time i have is how many people are rooting for donald trump he not see the poison they he is feeding to america. I want to get the money we need and get away from this area. With that many donald trump fans and things like that, it makes my stomach sick. I am from dallas, texas. I am helping an old boss of mine for two hours, im never doing this again. I have never done this before. I consider myself a political satirist, humorist. The fact that i am here selling bobbleheads is the height of irony. I do not know if i can take myself seriously. I am worried someone will see me who saw me doing satire and think i am a trump supporter. Selling realre hope and change, obama, you are fired how does that align with your politics and how you feel when people say this is great. Friendulkaltis i o my 20. That explains part of the story. I do not want to be of too much i will sell my soul for money it is two hours. It is not that big of a deal. It is funny. I am sitting here, telling people love him or hate him, this is an interesting novel item. It almost trivializes him. I do not think even republicans can take this nominee seriously. Even the ones that really do support him there are part of themselves that know this is so silly. Look howfinally silly this we finally did it. There is something so goofy about it. The fact that it is a bobblehead, and not a pamphlet i do not feel like i am trying to encourage people to drink the koolaid too much. Daniel i am out here selling shirts. I have been doing good. I like it. Carla what are your thoughts about being here the Republican National convention . Daniel a lot of people i did not think were going to be so nice. Carla and you are wearing Donald Trumps make America Great again had. Do you support donald trump . Mr. Lionel it is more of an advertisement. Im trying to get a better understanding of where he is coming from it i see nice people around here. I probably will not vote for him, but it is really busy. With the recent Police Killings of africanamerican men, what you think and donald Trump Presidency would mean for someone like yourself . Lie, mynot going to homey got smoked by police, he didnt do anything, but i feel that maybe if he didnt do what he did, maybe that wouldnt happen. I wasnt there to tell what happened, but i have a lot of homeys that lost their life to police. I dont like them personally. You have to live and learn. Life goes on. Born and raised in cleveland, ohio, and i have a store called the fun. Carla talk about some of the stuff you have in store here. It is the rnc i will have republican memorabilia, but some democratic. One of the best items of all time, the Hillary Clinton nutcracker, which back in the day, and im talking about eight years ago, one of the bestselling items. Still a good selling item. You could sell this to a person that was very prodemocratic, and someone who was not a friend of hillary, and both parties would buy it. We like this dualpurpose item bipartisanship at its best. Carla and your thoughts about donald trump you have some donald trump memorabilia here. Mr. Presser is this goioing too live after the convention so i can run out . . I have some serious issues of what he espouses. I am from the generation of peace, love, and understanding, and i hahave diffificulty understanding how a politician is going to be running for the presidency of the United States and couldd speww such vitriol, such hate, could be so antagonistic, and cause people to really come out of their shells. Carla we met a lot of vendors whose politics may not necessarily align with donald trump, but they are selling donald trump memorabilia vote trump teachers, protruck memorabilia. Tshirts, protrump memorabilia. What you think about those that are selling not aligning with their own politics . Just inser it is and question. When push comes to shove, humans, like animals, like everybody else, has to be protective of their own family curse someone needs to pay the bills, make sure the gas and electric stay on. I understand appeared political stuff, i have always found to be fun. Ofave always been a big fun nixon not nixon per se, but collecting nixon, and for me, and hopefully he will not be elected, but i find trump is the new nixon. Their physical features the orange the hair, the loudness the crazy stuff that comes out of the individual. He could be my new nixon. Carla can you tell us what youre holding . Mr. Presser this is the donald trump talking pen. One of the items you have to hate and you have to love. Mr. Trump i will be the greatest president god ever created. Look, i am really rich. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and i will have mexico pay for that wall. I dont wear a to pay. It is my hair. I swear. I love china. I just sold an apartment for 15 million to somebody from china. Mr. Presser there you go, and as my friend said, anytime you can make money off of a republican, it is a good sign. By democracyort nows carla wills. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org breaking with convention, war, peace,e, d the presidency. We will be back in a a minute. [music break] many rivers to cross by jimmy cliff. Im amy goodman, as we turn now to this city of cleveland to remember tamir rice, the 12 euros boy who was shot dead by police in november, 2014, while he was playing in a local park with a toy pellet gun. A 911 caller reported seeing rice with a weapopon, but notedt was probably fake. The informatation was s not reld to the officers. Cleveland officials agreed to pay 6 millioion to settle a lawsuit by the family. At the beginning of this week when we firstst came to clevela, i spoke to former ohio state. Enator nina turner i asked her to talk about what happened. Turner a gentleman made a phone call, sitting under this breezeway here, and he made a call because he saw tamir rice walking back and forth with what appeared to be a gun, and he said to the dispatcher clearly that it might be a toy gun, and the person i am describing might be a child, but he is scaring the hell out of people was how he framed it on that day. The Police Officers came here, and it appears they slid up because of the ice and snow, they saw what they thought was a real gun, and they opened fire in less than 10 seconds of them getting on the scene. What makes it so gutwrenching despite the fact that tamir rice was 12 years old, if you look at the video footage, tamir rice never had a chance to respond to the police being there. There was no put up your hands, put the gun down. None of that he was shot instantaneously. I talked to a lot of Cleveland Police and other experts, and they really believe it has to do with how the Police Officers pulled up on the scene. Amy and explain how they pulled up and what then happened with t said mr. Cop sister, who was just 14 years old at the time. They pulled up on the scene in a way where it does not appears they used the tactics they were taught. Youre supposed to take cover, i am told. I lived with two Police Officers. They put themselves in danger if that gun had been real, but what they did not allow is for tamir rice to recognize they were on the scene. The Police Officer on the passenger side shot tamir rice in less than two seconds from the car hitting the scene. Tamir rices sister came on the scene, they tackled her, and placed her in a car right next to her brothers body no sensitivity whatsoever. Amy as he lay dying. Senator turner no sensitivity. They did not perform cpr. An fbi agent doing some work within the city of cleveland got the call over the radio, and he actually came here and started the cpr on tamir rice. Again, no sense of we are going to try to save his life or to see what is going on with him. It was just come in my mind, a cavalier attitude police had at the time when they entered the scene. Whyoes back to what do black lives the whole slogan, do black lives matter, and how do we respond as a nation and as a community when black folks lay dying. Amy it turns out the record of the officer that pulled the trigger was forced out. Senator turner and had Cleveland Police investigating his record earlier, one of his Commanding Officer said he was nervous around guns. Impulset he had low control. Senator turner in hindsight, he should never have been hired. Everyone can go back and monday morning quarterback, but knowing what we know now, he should never have been hired. Caseand the officer had a of Excessive Force against him that ended up in a sixfigure settlement against the victim. Senator turner he did, and it is these kinds of patterns that cause the Africanamerican Community pause, that cause people that believe in justice and equality for all to step back and say wait a minute, justice and equality does not happen for africanamerican folks. I know you interviewed eddie gold. He talks about how we have a value gap the fact that africanamerican lives are not asas valued as the lives of whie sisters and brothers in this country and we need to come to grips with this pure what happened to tamir rice is one example of that, notwithstanding i must say the gun looked real. I get that. The biggest problem is the way the Police Officers rolled up on the scene, they never give the little boy a chance to respond to their presence. Police officers are not judge, jury, and executioner. You are supposed to bring the person in. Had they not rolled up on the scene in this way, and if tamir rice would have been given the command drop your weapon, i think he would have done just that, and now it turns out a 12yearold boy is dead because he did not get a chance, and that is at the crux of this. Again, this was right before thanksgiving. My heart was heavy. I was sending my term in the senate, and i called governor kasich happened to call me the day before thanksgiving, and he wanted to know what is happening in cleveland, how are people feeling, and i was able to say to the governor, people are feeling heavy, and i just wrote i am notter and writing a letter as a senator. I am writing a letter as an american as an africanamerican mother of an africanamerican son, who i have fear for his life every single day and his father and i taught him as a black man in america dont make sudden moves. Listen to the Police Officers. A lot of other parents dont necessarily have to teach that lesson to their child, but every black mother has to teach that listen to their child because, again, they are seen as more criminal than anybody else. My heart aches. The governor said you know, i said i have some recommendations, and he said come and see me. That is how the task force was born. The governor cared about what happened here. About speaking to europe in son, who is an africanamerican Police Officer son, speaking to your who with a napkin american Police Officer now. Fortor turner i understand those that fear for their children, and as my husband reminds me when im behind the wheel and i get stopped, it is me as a black male. To be the wife of an africanamerican, the wife of an africanamerican, i feel that pain every day, the burden, the fear that their loved one might not come home alive. They are africanamerican walking while black, talking while black, breathing while black, sandra bland smoking while black even though she it ist die in her car, where can you be, who you are in this country. On the other side of the equation, i do understand how the spouses, parents of Law Enforcement field. They want their spells it to come home every day, and that gives me a unique perspective. It is probably one of the reasons why the governor made me cochair of his task force to bring that perspective to bear, to come into communities across the state and to allow citizens from all walks of life to talk about their experiences, both good and bad, when it comes to Law Enforcement. We have to have a day of reckoning, and that has to happen right now, because given what has happened in dallas, and today, baton rouge just as we got together, we hear three, maybe four Police Officers gunned down in an ambush. Senator turner gunned down. Here i am, with a heavy heart for those families, and immediately calling my son, saying are you ok, and he is performing his duties at the rnc, and even separate and apart from what happened in baton rouge, there will be people with different ideologies converging on cleveland. Were not sure if it will be peaceful or not. I hope it is peaceful because cleveland worked hard to earn the rnc. These times call for an Immediate Response from all elected and Civic Leaders in this country and also people who are not elected for all of us to come together and say were going to do our part, not tomorrow, not when a new president comes in, but right now. Amy that t was former ohio stae senator nina turner, who represented cleveland, speaking about the death of tamir rice, whose killing by police sparked protests around the country. He would have been 14 on june 25. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org. Right now in new york city and washington, d. C. , activists are attempting to shut down the office of two major Police Unions. Projecttivists with 100, and black lives matter have locked themselves to the stepsp. In new york city, activists have locked thehemselves to each h or using pvc pipes at the entrance of the pba. The activists are demanding Police Officer stop paying dues to the private unions they accuse of defending officers accused of brutality. For more, we go directly to washington, d. C. , to speak with samantha master, who is a member of the di p100. Samantha, what is happening right now . Samantha we are standing outside at the fraternal office of police, demanding that the state give us freedom now, and that Police Officers stopped paying dues to the sop and Police Unions as they are pushing active legislation that told make that would lead further protest that are any folksolice who are targeted im so sorry. What is happening right now is protesters are blocking the streets. Samantha, can you tell l me where thesese actions arare takg place. You are in washington dc. There is a major protest right now in new york city. Are there other places . Ms. Master actually, all of the nation, young black people are rising up to say no more of the unethical, toxic culture of protects killer cops and those that name civilians without accountability. Amy will follow the protester. Thank you, samantha mastech, from byp 100 dc, speaking to us from a major washington, d d. C. Protest. This is democracy now pit we are broadcasting from cleveland, covering democracy now. We are broadcasting from cleveland covering what is happening in her public and National Convention, and what is happening in the streets. Right now, students at Case Western Reserve University are protesting the universitys decision to house 1,900 armed Police Officers and National Guardsmen in campus dormitories during the rnc. The Security Officers are part of an auxiliary force assisting the Cleveland Police department during the convention. Students have expressed their concerns in a change. Org petition student safety during riot Police Occupation of Case Western Reserve University. Last monday, the university announced a virtual shutdown of its operations during the convention, citing concerns that the recent shootings in dallas, louisiana, and minnesota, could provoke a significant degree of conflict in the city. Case western reserve university is located nearly five miles from the arena hosting the Republican National convention here in cleveland. Were joined now by taru taylor, a Case Western Reserve University law student who coauthored the petition objecting to the Police Presence on campus during the rnc. Welcome to democracy now. Talk about how many police were talking about, how many state troopers, and what has happened at case. Mr. Taylor initially we were informed by a whistleblower there would be 1500 Police Officers, and that prompted our petition peers subsequently we found out there would be 1700 Police Officers, and 200 members of the National Guard that would be housed, essentially quartered at our university during the rnc. Amy what was your problem with that . Mr. Taylor well, essentially, it is a thirdamendment violation that these outofstate Police Officers are coming into our university and, essentially, that there is no consent that president decidedr unilaterally to house these Police Officers, and no one at the university know about this not no one, but students and many members of the faculty did not know about this, and so that is what prompted, again, our petition, just to bring awareness to the campus community, and also to voice some of our concern that these Police Officers coming into town would be under the auspices of the Cleveland Police department. And, so, some of our concerns had to do with the fact t that n december of 2014 the department of justice did i issue a report saying that there was a pattern or practice of Unreasonable Force and unconstitutional policing, especially with regard to the fourth amendment, and so this pattern of p practice is goingg on all over the United States. So, those were some of our concererns. So, for example, we wanted Police Officers not to have their weapons on campus, so as to follow the policies and procedures of case western reserve. Amy well, i want to ask about case western reserve president snyders explanation of her use of the term profiling in a message sent to the case western community. After she was criticized for suggesting that the University Community was profiling the police she clarified her use of writing in that email, i urged that members of our community not stereotype all Police Officers as violent or prejudiced. Nevertheless, given the Current National context i regret that i , described such behavior as profiling, and that i was not more careful with my language. What is your response to that . Mr. Taylor well, when she basically accused us or suggested that we were reversed profiling, it was a way to marginalize our concern that, first of all, we were not saying that every single Police Officer is prone to violence. It only takes one Police Officer of 1500 Police Officers a and one is prone to violence, catastrophe. I would say these officers are not very happy there are officers from all over the country i am not sure if they were at case, but a group of them that have the badge from the louisville Police Department, we asked where they were saying, they said at university there is no airconditioning, they were packed in there, they drove for manyny hours to get here, and ty were very frustrated. That does not help. Mr. Taylor right, and i want to add that there seems to be a general denial for example, what happened with tamir rice, melinda williams, and timothy russell, whose car had accidentally backfired, and there was a car chase, and they were chased around the streets of cleveland 100 Police Officers, onethird of police fired 130 shots into the car. The department of justice spoke of this as part of a pattern or practice, yet there is this want to make this as if this is an isolated incident, or as if these are isolated circumstances. Again, this is a pattern. So, these were some of our concerns. Amy where are the officers from, and the state troopers well, that is one of the questions that we asked where these officers coming from. University was less than forthcoming when we did ask about we also asked about vetting have the Police Officers then that it into been vetted in terms of individual Police Officers having a history of unconstitutional policing and use of force, but there was not that that aim. Etting. Seen v i have seen from florida, tennessee texas amy indiana, louisisville, kentucky where are all the students now . Were they tossed out of the university for police to be moved in . Mr. Taylor well, students were offered an option to go home, essentially, or that the university would sponsor plane tickets for them to go elsewhere because of the overall shutdown of the campus. , where isly, taru this discussion and dialogue going you live here in cleveland, offcampus, but has this sparked universitywife discussion about the role of police and the relationship with students like you . Sure. Ylor one thing we wanted to emphasize as well is the univerersity is essentially aiding and abetting these police, who, at least since 1999 in seattle with the wto protests, have been suppressing peoples First Amendment right to peaceful assembly. We also saw it in 1968 in the democratic National Convention, that since the militarization of police, especially with the advent of the war on drugs, there has been this sense in asch police have been acting military that the framers of the constitution were concerned with the rise of a standing army, and their specific concern was with military enforcing domestic law, and they did put up barriers to prevent military what aboutololice, but Police Acting as military swat teams, the 1033 program, through which the government has been giving more and more military equipment. Interestingly, i think cleveland got 15 million. 20 million will be in various kinds of agreement the Police Department will have even after the Republican National convention. Mr. Taylor right. Amy we will leave it there. Taru taylor thank you, for joining us. That does it for our show. I will be doing a report back from the republican and democratic conventions friday the 29th of july in provincetown, massachusetts, at a town hall, and also saturday, july 30 at marthas vineyard. Check our website for details. Follow our team for the latest updates from the rnc, and special thanks to Dennis Moynahan nnnnnnnnn
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