Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240714

Amy from new york, this is democracy now do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose bussing in america . Do you agree . I did not oppose bussing in america. I opposed bussing ordered by the department of education. That is what i opposed. The failure of states to enter Public Schools in america, that is where the federal government must step in. That is where we got the Voting Rights act and the civil rights act. Amy senator Kamala Harris takes former Vice President biden in the second night of the democratic primary debate. First well play highlights. But first, the Supreme Court hands down two major decisions one a major victory for republicans allowing extreme partisan gerrymandering to continue. The other temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from adding a Citizenship Question on the 2020 census. And its the 50th anniversary of the stonewall uprising that launched the modernday Lgbtq Movement. Today i am a 38yearold drug cleaned drag queen. I think it my long hair, pluck my eyebrows come and work wherever the hell i want. Im not going to change for anybody. If i change, then i feel that i am losing what 1969 brought into my life. Free. W to be totly y we wi hear leaders of the stonewall uprising in their own words. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In a major setback for Voting Rights, the Supreme Court has ruled partisan gerrymandering cannot be challenged in federal courts. The decision came down in a 54 ruling on ideological lines with chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority decision. In her dissent, Justice Elena kagan wrote the practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the courts role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. The decision will likely benefit republicans since they control the majority of state legislatures, which draw election maps in most states. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump Administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. Chief Justice Roberts sided with the liberal wing of the court saying the Trump Administrations explanation for why the question was needed appears to have been contrived. But the court did not rule out allowing a Citizenship Question to be added in the future. President trump responded by threatening to delay next years constitutionally mandated census. We will have more on both these rulings after headlines. California senator Kamala Harris and former Vice President joe biden sparred on thursday in the second night of the first democratic president ial debate. Harris criticized bidens recent comments about working with segregationists in the senate and for his opposition to busing students in an effort to integrate schools in the 1970s. It was hurtful to hear you oftwobout the reputations United States senators who built the reputation and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. There was a little girl in california who was part of the second class to integrate her public school. And she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me. Amy after biden accused harris of mischaracterizing his record, she directly asked him about his opposition to busing. Vice president biden, do you agree today do you agree today that you are wrong to oppose bussing in america . I did not oppose busing in america. Order by theing department of education. Amy but that is not what he said in 1975, telling a delaware newspaper i oppose busing. Its an asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me. Ive gotten to the point where i think our only recourse to eliminate busing may be a constitutional amendment. That is what biden said in 1975. We will have more on the debate after headlines. In news from capitol hill, 129 Democratic House lawmakers joined republicans in passing a 4. 6 billion bill for emergency aid at the southern border. The vote came after House Speaker nancy pelosi reversed her earlier pledge to push for more protections for Migrant Children to be included in the bill. 95 democrats opposed the bill, including congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez of new york, who spoke out on cnn. The problem right now and the question at hand is Mitch Mcconnell sent us a bill and were just putting a big check mark on it instead of trying to negotiate. Amy the Congressional Hispanic Caucus issued a statement saying when the Congressional Hispanic Caucus members see suffering at the border, we see our children and our grandchildren. What happened today is unacceptable, and we will not forget this betrayal. Environmental groups are accusing the United States, saudi arabia and iran of blocking progress at a Key International Climate Summit to discuss how to implement the landmark 2015 paris climate accord. The summit was held in bonn in the midst of record heat waves being recorded across europe. France has issued its first ever red weather alert as temperatures are predicted to reach as high as 113 degrees fahrenheit today. In parts of spain, the temperature is expected to top 109 degrees fahrenheit as catalonia is battling its largest wildfires in decades. Authorities believe the fire began when a heap of manure self ignited in the high heat. World leaders gathered in japan today for the opening of the twoday g20 summit which is expected to focus on iran and the u. S. China trade war. Earlier today, President Trump met with russian president vladimir putin. When a reporter asked if trump would raise russias meddling in u. S. Elections, trump smirked and then pointed his finger at putin in a lighthearted way telling him, dont meddle in the election. Amy dont meddle in the election he said twice, pointing his finger at putin. Heres a shakeup on terms trumps team. Resigning after he was accused aroundying out a whip his office and intimidating staff. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is facing a new crisis after a Brazilian Air force officer was arrested for attempting to smuggle 86 pounds of cocaine into spain. The officer had flown into the country on a president ial plane that was headed to the g20. Bolsonaro, who was not on board the flight, had campaigned on vowing to crack down on drug traffickers. A pregnant woman in alabama who was shot in the stomach has been charged with manslaughter herself because the shooting caused her pregnancy to end. Marshae jones, a 28yearold africanamerican woman, was charged on wednesday and released thursday after posting 50,000 bond. Local police accused jones of starting the fight that led to the shooting in the parking lot of a Dollar General store outside of birmingham. The case has alarmed reproductive rights activists. The National Abortion Federation Said this is how people, especially women of color, are already being punished and having their pregnancies criminalized. Alabama is one of 38 states to have a fetal homicide law. In news from womens world cup, the cocaptain of the u. S. Womens soccer team, Megan Rapinoe, is standing by her remarks that she would refuse to go to the white house if invited. Rapinoe first told eight by eight magazine i am not going to the fing white house. No. Im not going to the white house ever. We are not going to be invited. Amy on thursday, Megan Rapinoe stood by her comments ahead of todays world cup quarterfinal match against france. I dont think that i would want to go and i would encourage my teammates to think hard about having that coopted by in a administration that does not feel the same way and does not fight for the same things that we fight for. Amy Megan Rapinoe has also made headlines during the world cup for refusing to sing the National Anthem and put her hand on her heart ahead of games. In kansas city, missouri, the body of a 32yearold trans woman of color was found on tuesday morning. Brooklyn lindsey is believed to be at least the 11th trans woman of color to be murdered this year. The kansas city antiviolence project is holding a vigil for her this weekend. And today marks the 50th anniversary of the stonewall uprising. On this day in 1969, the new York Police Department raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay and transfriendly bar in manhattans Greenwich Village. It triggered an uprising and helped launch the modernday lgbtq Rights Movement. In new york two jor mahes our plan for sday thnew york cy herita of prid para and thelternati, nocorporatqueer liration march. We will ok back the stewall upsing lat in the show. Anthose arsome of e helines. Is is decracy no, decracynowrg, the r and peace rert. m amgoodman. In a devtating bw to votg rights, e supremcourt rud thursd federalourts caot strike dn gerrymdered congressnal maps. In a narw 54 opion by t courts consvative mority, chiejustice hn rober wrote thaterrymanding is irconcilab with decratic prciples, t that ts does not me the solions are with the fedal judicry. The desion leas in pla gerrymandered districts in North Carolina and maryland, where the party in power drew districts to weaken the opposing party. The ruling now leaves confronting gerrymandering to the states. In a powerful dissent, Justice Elena kagan wrote in giving such gerrymanders a pass from judicial review, the majority goes tragically wrong. Is that how american democracy is supposed to work . I have yet to meet the person who thinks so. She continued partisan gerrymandering can make elections meaningless. At its most extreme as in North Carolina and maryland the practice amounts to rigging elections. this comes as the Supreme Court unexpectedly blocked the Trump Administration from adding a citizenship status question on the 2020 census, arguing the government had lied when it said the question was added to enforce the Voting Rights act. But the court did not strike the question down, either. On thursday, President Trump threatened to delay next years census. Well, for more, were joined by ari berman, a Senior Writer at mother jones, a reporting fellow at the nation author of give us , the ballot the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. His new piece why its almost , impossible for the Citizenship Question to make it onto the census. Lets start with the high court saying they would not, at this moment, allow the Citizenship Question because the Trump Administration could not explain why it wanted it. It was a surprising opinion because a lot of people expected the conservative majority to uphold the Citizenship Question despite all of the evidence showing this was discriminatory and a necessary and would suppress immigrant communities. Basically what john roberts said, the Trump Administration could ask a question about citizenship, but they had have a good reason to do so. And their reason that this was needed to enforce the Voting Rights act, and roberts words, seems to be contrived. This was obvious from the beginning. The trumpet administration is not filed a single lawsuit so they have no interest in enforcing the Voting Rights act but it was embracing here john roberts say this. Now what happens is the administration has to come back with a better rationale. Even if they do, time is running out. Bureau says they need to finalize the forms by the end of this month because the census is a 10 billion to 15 billion effort. New york and maryland are looking at smoking gun evidence that a gop redistricting strategy pushed this question to help gop and whites. If the courts look at more evidence, that is not when reflect well on the Trump Administration. Amy the Trump Administration is asking for a delay. What does this mean . As you say, it is constitutionally mandated that every 10 years the census takes place. The Justice Department will try to ask for more time. The trump trump says he wants to delay the census, which is unprecedented and unconstitutional. Becauset be delayed donald trump does not get the question he wants on the form. Amy now lets turn to the other decision, writing for the majority, john roberts said the rafters of the constitution realized that politics would influence how election districts are drawn when they gave that job to state legislatures. He said judges are not in the position to question lawmakers decisions. Roberts wrote we conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts. Facilitate massive election rigging in the future. He is saying no matter how much strain the maps, courts not only cannot strike them down, they cannot even review them. That is such a radical position. Weve seen such extreme gerrymandering passed in 2010 in places like wisconsin more republicans have gotten 46 of the votes but 64 of seats. That is so deeply undemocratic. And now entering a new redistricting cycle in 2021. The Supreme Court basically says you guys can do with everyone. That means the maps past in 2021 in the next cycle could be even more extreme than those we saw after 2010. Amy what about North Carolina and maryland exactly . Basically, the court says you need to vacate the Lower Court Decisions mistrusting down these gerrymanders. Courts overwhelmingly have struck down gerrymandered maps in the lower courts. Those decisions if they happen in federal court, the Supreme Court says this is a state issue. A gimme dont in state courts it can be dealt with in state courts. Some states wont do with it. For decades, people that have been disenfranchised have look to the federal work in the Supreme Court in particular for protection. Now they cannot do that any longer. Amy weve had tonight the president ial debate. We will be playing any excerpts around Voting Rights. And this is distressing. We have 25 debates in 2016, two so far in 2020 and not a single question about the gutting of the Voting Rights act or the attack on Voting Rights. We have huge Supreme Court decisions yesterday that will shape democracy for a decade will step not one question in the debate last night about the media keeps treating the right to vote as a fringe issue as opposed to the right that makes all other rights possible. If we continue to ignore this and make it seem like it does not matter, we will see the effects of our democracy, to the voter suppression, the rigging of the census that has occurred in the past. That is going to get even worse now Going Forward if we do not deal with this issue. The debates are huge platform that many people who do not follow politics are paying attention to. If they dont hear about gerrymandering, voter suppression, they might not even know it is going on. At these the future democratic forums, this comes up. The democrats theyre talking about voter suppression, talking about gerrymandering, the census, but it needs to come up in the debates when the most people are paying attention. Amy ari berman, thank you for joining us Senior Writer at , mother jones, a reporting fellow at the type media center, and author of give us the ballot the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. New piece why its almost , impossible for the Citizenship Question to make it onto the census. Coming up, Kamala Harris takes on joe biden in the second night of the first democratic president ial debate. We will have Rashad Robinson and andrea mercado. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to the second night of the first democratic president ial debate, which was billed as a faceoff between frontrunners former Vice President biden and senator Bernie Sanders, but thats not how it turned out. It was california senator Kamala Harris who took command of the stage as she sparred with thursday night over his recent comments about working with segregationists in the senate and for his opposition to delawares attempts to bus students in an effort to integrate its schools in the 1970s. To direct this at Vice President biden. I do believe you are a racist and i agree with you when you commit your self to the importance of finding common ground, but i also believe it is personal. It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputation of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And you know, there was a little girl in california who was part of the second class to integrate her Public Schools and she was bussed to School School every day and that little girl was me. That is a mischaracterization of my board. I did not praise racists. That is not true. Number two, if we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights and whether i did or not, im happy to do that. I was a public defender. I didnt become a prosecutor. I came out and i left a Good Law Firm to become a public defender. In terms of busing, you would never have been able to go to school the exact same way because it was a local decision made by your city council. That is fine. That is one thing we argued for, we should be breaking down these lines. So the bottom line here is, look, everything ive done in my career iran because of civil rights. I continue to think we have to make fundamental changes in civil rights. And those civil rights, by the way, include not just african americans, but the lgbt community. Vice president biden, do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in american then . Do you agree . I did not oppose busing in america. What i opposed is bussing ordered by the department of education. Thats what i opposed. The failure of states to integrate Public Schools in america. I was part of the second class to integrate, berkley, mustornia, Public Schools two decades after brown be board of education. Because your city council made that decision. It was a local decision. Thats where the federal government must step in. That is why we need to pass the equality act. That is why we need to pass the e. R. A. Because there are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people. I supported the e. R. A. From the very beginning. 30 seconds. I want to bring other people in. Im the guy that extended the Voting Rights act for 25 years. We got to the place where we got 98 out of 98 votes in the United States senate doing it. I have also argued very strongly that we in fact deal with the notion of denying people access to the ballot box. I agree that everybody once they in fact my time is up. Im sorry. Amy but that is not what biden said in 1975, telling a delaware newspaper i oppose busing, it is an asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me. Ive gotten to the point where i think our only recourse to eliminate busing may be a constitutional amendment. The attack from harris came after biden made headlines last week when he fondly reminisced about his civil relationship in the 1970s and 1980s with segregationist senators James Eastland of mississippi and Herman Talmadge of georgia. In the thensenator biden was 1970s, also a fierce critic of delawares attempts to bus students in an effort to integrate its schools. Earlier this week, we spoke with National Book awardwinning author Jonathan Kozol about bidens record. Kozal recently wrote a piece for the nation when joe biden collaborated with segregationists. Joe biden simply did not reach out in consensus, some kind of stability to the. Outhern racist senators it was not hard for him to reach out because he shared their views in the first place. He did not just support legislation introduced by james. Astland, jesse helms he thanked them for supporting his legislation. His own antibusing legislation. He called busing asinine. That, at onen point he even came to the point of saying, i want to get his words exact, of saying ive got to the point where i think our only recourse to eliminate busing is a constitutional amendment. Stunning words. Last week he said he has no apologies. Media has quoted him repeatedly saying, ive been involved with civil rights my whole career. But this is simply i dont know how to word this politely, but this is simply not the truth. To the extent he is been involved with civil rights, it has not been as an advocate, it has been as an opponent. Amy it has that been as an advocate, it has been as an opponent to busing, the words of former teacher, education activist, awardwinning author Jonathan Kozol. For more, were joined in new york by Rashad Robinson, president of color of change. So this was held as the bidenbernie debate and that is not what happened. Talk about this challenge that senator harris uses to take down joe biden. Again, is biden, once trying to run a modern campaign. Ith old set of tactics it simply does not work because we have no way to fully operationalize it. On thee president when stage last night and argued for states rights. He argued for local control. Any of us who see any images, whether just in the month of february black history month, of the history of black children being walked into school with crowded white people chanting at them come is about the federal government having to step in to do things when the local governments would not do it. Someone running for president that is basically arguing that that is not a role for the federal government should scare all of us. I do think that biden against dust needs to explain what he meant, what he meant then and what he believes now. At the big challenge that we continue to have here is the inability to apologize, whether it was anita hill, whether it was for the remarks with segregationists this inability to say, i was wrong then. He was given a lifeline when it came to the crime bill and Hillary Clinton apologized multiple times for her engagement in the crime bill back in 2016. Amy maybe he sees that as an example of, well, she lost. But she also lost as someone who leans on experience as her chief sort of claim to fame. Biden, talking about his experience in the 1970s, i just think the feeding a guy in the white house, a 70yearold man who is deeply out of church with workingclass people, everyday people, and refuses to apologize and acknowledge that he is wrong, is not going to be beaten by putting up the less version of that. I do think that theres a lot of opportunity for biden. As a civil rights leader and running a next generation Civil Rights Organization that has 1. 7 million members, we reached out to meet with many of the campaigns and met with most of the top tier campaigns. Biden we have not heard back from. Amy have you spoken the Kamala Harris . Multiple times. One thing we talked about that did not come out last because the renault questions about mass incarceration last night, one thing we have weve talked about is we do think she is to get very clear about her role as a prosecutor. A comedyn slipped in people might out of got he said, i was a prosecutor. I think it is harder for him to go much further given his role in the crime bill. But i think her closing statement about being progressive prosecutor. I think she won last night and she won it in a way that really sets her into a new tier of candidates. Be ank theres going to new look for her role as a prosecutor. The question is, the country has changed from when she was a prosecutor in san francisco. We have seen progressive prosecutors driven by a movement, everyday people philadelphia, chicago, right here in new york and queens, all around the country people standing up and trying to change the rules of prosecution in this country. The question is, what has she learned . How has she changed . As president , what will she do to incentivize a new incentive structure for prosecutors who have so much vast power over the criminal justice system, they decide so much that singular power. The fact is, unlike the president which has to do all of these things to change things in the criminal justice, well over 80 of people in this country are incarcerated at the local level. Das control it. Right now nearly eight a percent of district attorneys run unopposed. 90 percent are white. There are 2400 district attorneys but lots of federal funding goes into those communities. Or dn incentivize incentivize certain behaviors. I want to hear from her, as someone who was in that role, what types of things should be done to change the way mass incarceration works in this country, and that has to be something we have to hear more from. Amy she was attorney general of california. I want to go back to the democratic president ial primary debate thursday night when nbc anchor Savannah Guthrie asked candidates if the Government Health care plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants. They all raised their hands. Regime hand of your government plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants. You, mayort with buttigieg, why . Because our country is healthier when everybody is healthier. And remember, were talking about something people are getting a given a chance to buy into. In the same way that there are undocumented immigrants in my community who pay, they pay sales taxes, they pay property taxes directly or indirectly. This is not about a handout. This is an insurance program. And we do ourselves no favor by having 11 million undocumented people in our country be unable to access healthcare. But of course, the real problem is we shouldnt have 11 million undocumented people with no pathway to citizenship. It makes no sense. And the American People [applause] the American People agree on what to do. This is the crazy thing. If leadership consists of of forming a consensus around a divisive issue, this white house has divided us around a consensus issue. The American People want a pathway to citizenship. They wanted protections for dreamers. We need to clean up the lawful immigration system, like how my father immigrated to this country. And as part of a compromise, we can do whatever commonsense measures are needed at the border. Mayor but washington cant deliver on something the American People want. What does that tell you about the system were living in . It tells you it needs profound mayor, thank you structural reform. Vice president biden, i believe you said your Health Care Plan would not cover undocumented immigrants. Could you explain your position . I believe at the show of hands you did not raise her hand. Did you raise your hand . Oh, no, i did. Sorry. So you said that they would be covered under your plan which is different than obama care. You cannot let as the mayor said, you cannot let people who are sick, no matter where they come from, no matter what their status, go uncovered. You cant do that. Its just going to be taking care of, period. You have to. Its the humane thing to do. But heres the deal. The deal is that hes right about three things. Number one, they in fact contribute to the wellbeing of the country, but they also for example, theyve increased the lifespan of Social Security because theyre they have a job. Theyre paying the Social Security tax. Thats what theyre doing. Its increase the lifespan. They would do the same thing in terms of reducing the overall cost of healthcare by them being able to be treated and not wait until they are in extremis. The other thing is, folks, look, we can deal with these Insurance Companies. We can deal with Insurance Companies by, number one, putting insurance executives in jail for their misleading their misleading advertising, what theyre doing on opioids, what theyre doing paying doctors to prescribe. We could be doing this by making sure everyone who is on medicare that the government should be able to negotiate the price for whatever the drug costs are. We can do this by making sure that were in a position that we in fact allow people you mean times up . Amy that was joe biden. For more, we go to miami, where were joined by andrea mercado, executive director of the new florida majority. What was and was not raised in these two nights of debates. You Whose Organization is part of a number of organizations that were responsible, for example, for bringing a number of these candidates, less than an hour away, to homestead, where the caliburn detention facility is, where more than 2000 children, Migrant Children, are incarcerated. Among those who went there was Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, senator warren, eric swalwell. Not Kamala Harris, but a new global sure theres amy klobuchar. Missed on a lot immigration the past two nights. A real conversation around decriminalizing our criminal system. Is a conversation at many of us and immigrant Rights Movement could not imagine president ial candidates engaging in a few years ago. I think it is heartening to see that. And at the same time, we see this back and forth between senator harris and biden, with senator harris pointing to secure communities and the need for victims of crime to be able to reach out to police when they need help and not to fear their deportation. Pushingbiden and senator biden on the obama administrations record of the deportations that we saw under that administration. And just like he needs to answer the 1994 crime bill, they also have to talk about the deportation of immigrants under that administration and how were going to advance forward as a country at this moment where we are witnessing unspeakable horrors at the border with the incarceration of children in homestead just a few miles away. I would say to of the topics that really were not discussed in the last two nights debates, we did not see much attention to Climate Change. We did not see robust conversation about what we need to do to protect this planet for future generations. Here in florida we are ground zero for some of the impacts of Climate Change in the u. S. We have over 10,000 people in the panhandle devastated by hurricane michael. Just like we have over 3000 people in puerto rico who died because of the negligence of the Trump Administration. So i think we need to see candidates having much more substantive conversations about Climate Change. Amy on the issue of immigration of providing health care to undocumented immigrants, President Trump has already tweeted, even though he is in all now, at the g20, democrats just raise their hands for giving millions of legal aliens Unlimited Health care. How about taking government and citizens first. That is the end of that race trump playbook. The Republican Party invest millions of dollars in deporting immigrants, and scapegoating immigrants for economic insecurity and the fact our families are struggling to make ins meet and survive in workingclass communitys across this nation. Theyre trying to confuse us and distract us from the fact all of the policies that this a administration are promoting and republicans are passing are to benefit the richest americans, the top 1 , the biggest corporations i do irrevocable and to our democracy wellbeing. Amy the significance of florida as a swing state . It is clear the path to the white house goes through florida. The whitecan has won house without winning florida since, i dont know, and the 1920s. Republicans are investing heavily in building out their infrastructure. Theyve been winning elections in florida by less than half are percent in a state with 22 million people. To win in florida, we really need the Democratic Party to show up and to engage their base. The africanamericans, their most loyal voters in the heart of the Democratic Party, as well as latinos whose votes are critical in this state. We need to see that engagement early and often, and candidates need to not be complacent about just standing against trump. I think that was a real misstep biden made last night. We need candidates that are going to speak to the issues that our families face. Amy i want to go back to thursday and estimate credit debate to the exchange between Vice President biden and senator Bernie Sanders on the issue of iraq. It begins with Rachel Maddow. Experience in foreign policy, a pillar of your campaign, but when the time came to say yes or no on one of the most consequential foreignpolicy decisions of the last century you voted for the iraq war. You have sent said you regret that vote, but why should voters trust your judgment when it comes to making a decision about taking the country to war the next time . Because once we once bush abused that power, what happened was we got elected after that. I made sure the president turned to me and said joe, get our combat troops out of iraq. I was responsible for getting 150,000 combat troops out of iraq and my son was one of them. I also think we should not have combat troops in afghanistan. Its long overdue. It should end. And i thirdly i believe that you are not going to find anybody who has pulled together more of our alliances to deal with what is the real stateless threat out there. We cannot go it alone in terms of dealing with terrorism. So i would eliminate the the act that allowed us to go into war and not the au and fan make sure that it could only be used for what its intended what its intent was and that is to go after terrorists but never do it alone. That is why we have to repair our alliances. We put together 65 countries to make sure we dealt with isis in iraq and other places. That is what i would do. That is what i have done and i know how to do it. Senator sanders, 30 seconds. One of the differences one of the differences that joe and i have in our record is joe voted for that war, i helped lead the opposition to that war, which was a total disaster. Second of all, i helped lead the effort for the first time to utilize the war powers act to get the United States out of the saudiled intervention in yemen, which is the most horrific humanitarian disaster on earth. And thirdly, let me be very clear. I will do everything i can to prevent a war with iran which would be far worse than disastrous war with iraq. Amy it is interesting you Bernie Sanders, not only raising the issue of iraq, but yemen. This debate was on nbc and msnbc. Noted in 2017, msnbc ran only one segment that focused on the u. S. Role in yemen, zero in the second half of the year. In 2018, so far they wrote msnbc has not run a single segment on yemen, much less the u. S. Role in it. Rashad robinson, the significance of the bidenBernie Sanders sparring around the issue of war . I think it is really important. This is why we have debates. People need to get clear about where folks stand. Back in 2008, Hillary Clintons support of that war, inability to talk about it, was one of the things that helped obama catapult to toptier status, especially among progressive folks. This goes back to what i was saying earlier. We need to understand what biden has learned during his decades of service. How he has changed. What made a politician someone we might vote for in the 1990s, what made a politician someone that a young black person might ise for in the early 2000s, very different than today. He is going to have to walk as through what he has learned while being in office and now he is change. Reallynately, he did not answer the question. Amy i want to go quickly to south bend, indiana, Rachel Maddow questioning mayor Pete Buttigieg about the Police Shooting of eric logan, a black man last month. Uttigieg is then interrupted mayor buttigieg, and the last five years, civil rights activists have led a National Debate over race and the criminal justice system. Your community of south bend, indiana, has recently been in uproar over an officer involved shooting. The police force in south bend is now 6 black in a city that is 26 black. Why has that not improved over your two terms as mayor . Because i could not get it done. My community is in anguish right now because of an officer involved shooting. A black man, eric logan, killed by a white officer. And im not allowed to take sides until the investigation comes back. The officer said he was attacked with a knife, but he didnt have his body camera on. Amy Rashad Robinson . He said he could not get the job done. The question is, why are you running for president . Im looking for to sitting down and hearing that from him but the question really is, in south bend, indiana right now, the black community is hurting. They want their mayor to stand up and figure out how he is going to make safety and justice a reality. Amy i went in with people who to judges closing comments. Pete buttigiegs closing comments. Well, i dont think we have it. Here we go. Experience of writing a letter to my family, putting it in an envelope marked just in case and leaving it where they would know where to find it in case i did not come back from afghanistan. I have expense of being in a marriage that exists by the single vote of a your supreme we just aboutamy to go into the anniversary of stonewall. Activist. Known lgbtq there will be millions of people on the street. Those were powerful words from mayor pete. Can being on the stage, as a leader of a National Black Civil Rights Organization, i know that i sit on the shoulders of folks like marceau p johnson who through that first stone, folks like so many other black gay people who were proud, unapologetic, and amended this country live up to everything it possibly could be. I hope we celebrate stonewall, but i also hope we understand we celebrate what is under it. And that every single day in order to make our country whole, in order to make justice and democracy real, with the translate the presence of these issues into the power to change the rules, to make everyday people heard, counted, and visible. Amy Rashad Robinson, thank you for being with us president of , color of change. And andrea mercado. We will be back in 20 seconds. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today, it was just after midnight at 1 30 in the morning of june 20 8, 1969, new York City Police officers raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn, located on christopher street in Greenwich Village. As the police began dragging some of the patrons out, members of the Gay Community fought back, sparking three days of rioting. It launched the modernday Lgbtq Movement known as the stonewall uprising. We turn to some of the original voices of those people who love the uprising. The stock major produced by dave isay i 1989, remembing stonewall. Im 80. I am bce. I donknow if is real truebut now ople to rurn refero us ashe two oldt me in an erica. I thinwe have ybe a rerd relationship of almos60 yea togeth. Beg gefore onewall s a ry diffilt propotion becae weelt inrder to surve, we had to tryo look and actsugged d manly poible tget by ithe cietyhat waseally ve much agast us. My me is ran. I s the fit openlyay peon to apar onadio i 1962nd on televion in 196 as aelf idenfied homexual. The year before stonewall, people felt a need to hide legale of the precarious position they were in. They would lose their jobs. There was a great hostility socially speaking in the fence people found out you were gay they would assume you were a communist or child molester or another dozen stereotypes rampant in the public media at the time. Gerry, 80 years old. I started a gay lifestyle in 1948. I was around 39 or 40. At that time, if there was even a suspicion that you were a lesbian, you were fired from your job and you are in such a position of disgrace that you slunk out without saying goodbye even to the people who like to and you liked. Never even bothered to clean your desk, you just disappeared. You went quietly because you were afraid of what would come if you stood there, protested would be worse than just leaving. My name is sylvia rivera. My name before that was ray rivera angela started dressing in drag in 1961. Era. E stonewall was a hard there was always the gay bashing on the drag queens by heterosexual men, women, and the police. We learned to live with it because it was part of the lifestyle at that time, i guess. But none of us were very happy about it. My name is seymour pine. In 1968, i was assigned a step to inspector in charge of public morals in the First Division of the Police Department which covered the Greenwich Village area. It was the duty of public morals to enforce all laws concerning vice and game with, including prostitution, narcotics, and laws and regulations concerning homosexuality. The part of the penal code which applied to drag queens was 4. Tion 240. 35, section being masked or in any manner of disguise by unusual or a natural ,ttire or facial alteration loiters, remains, or congregate in a public place at that time we lived near the hotel. We would sit around, just try to figure out when this harassment would come to an end. We would always dream that one day it would come to an end. We prayed and we looked we wanted to be human beings. Evening, june 27, 1969, about 11 45, eight officers from new york citys public morals squad loaded into four Unmarked Police cars and headed to the Stonewall Inn here at 7th avenue and christopher street. The local precinct had just received a new Commanding Officer who initiated a series of raids on gay bars. The stonewall was an inviting target. Operated by the gambino crime family without a liquor license, june of group of hustlers and minors. Many of spent the early part of the day outside the Frank Campbell funeral home were judy garlands funeral was held. She had died this unable for. It was always precisely at midnight that the morals squad pulled up to the Stonewall Inn, led by debit inspector seymour pine. There was never even any reason to feel anything of any unusual situation would occur at night. You could feel it in the air. You really could. I guess judy garland step really just really helped us. As we were bringing the prisonerout, they were resisting. People started gathering in front of the park across the street from stonewall. People were upset. No, were not going to go. People started screaming and hollering. One drag queen, as we put her in the car, opened the door on the other side and jumped out. At which time we had to chase that person. He was caught, put back into the car, made another attempt to get out the same door the other door. At that point, we had to handcuff the person. From this point , things really begano get crazy. My name is robert rivera. Is bertie. Ive been crossdressing all my life. The night of the riot, police were escorting queens out of the bar and into the paddy wagon. There was a particularly. Utrageous beautiful queen she was asking them not to push her. They pushed her and she turned its a cop with her high heel. She knocked him down and proceeded to frisk and for the keys the handcuffs. She ended herself and passed them to another queen behind her. All hell broke loose at that time. We had to get back into the stonewall. My name is martin. In 1969, i was a drag queen. Night, we on that sang a song we are the village girls, we wear our hair in curls, it we wear our dungarees about our knees. Police went crazy and admittedly rushed us. My name is rudy. The night of stonewall, i was 18. That nht i w doingore running an fightg. I remember loing back from 10th street and there on waverly street, there was Police Believe a cop on his stomach in his tactical uniform with helmet and everything else, a drag queen straddling him post up she was beating the hell out of him with her shoe. It was hysterical. Mama jean. Is im a lesbian. I remember on that night i was in a gay bar, a womans bar, called cookie. We were coming out of the bar going towards its street. That is when we saw everything happen. People getting beat up. Police coming from every direction. Hitting women as well as men with their nightsticks. Gay men running down the street with bod all or their face. We decided right then and there, scared or not, we just jumped in. Going completely bananas, hitting the windshield. The next thing you know, the taxicab was being turned over. Cars were being turned over. Windows were shattering all over the place. Fires were burning around the place. It was beautiful. It really was. I remember one cop coming at me, hitting me in the back of my legs. I broke loose and went after him. I grabbed his night stick. Mike over and was behind him. She was strong. I wanted him to feel the same pain i felt and i kept saying, how do you like the pain . Do you like it . I kept on hitting him. I was angry. I wanted to kill him. At that particular minute, i wanted to kill him. I wanted to do every destructive thing i could think of at that time to hurt anyone that had hurt us through the years. It is like when you see him and protecting his own wife. They were men fighting for their lives. Of heads were bashed. Truet did not hurt their feelings. They all came back for more and more. When you could tell nothing could stop us at that time or at any time in the future. When stonewall happened, bruce and i were still in the closet where we had been for nearly 40 years. This was aized tremendous thing that happened at stonewall. It gave us a feeling that we were not going to be remaining closeted for much longer. And soon thereafter, we did come out of the closet. 1969, i was in the convent. When stonewall hit the press, it hit me with able to of lightning. It was as if i had an incredible release of my own outrage at having to sequester so much of my life. I made my way down. I seem to recall and subsequent nights being just in the periphery looking, observer, clearly an observer, clearly longing to have that courage to come out. As i recall, it was only a matter of weeks before i left the convent and started a new life. I am henry. In 1969, house and the was army, stationed near saigon in vietnam. I remember i was having lunch in the army mess reading the armed forces new summary of the day and there was a short paragraph describing the riot led by homosexuals in Greenwich Village against the police. My heart was filled with joy. I thought about what i had read frequently but i had no one to discuss it with. Secretly within myself, i decided that when i came back stateside, if i should survive to come back stateside, i would come out as a gay person and i did. For those of us in public morals come after the stonewall incident, things were completely changed from what they had previously been. Were notenly submissive anymore. They now suddenly had gained a courage. Of current it seemed as if they did not care anymore about whether their identities were made known. We were now dealing with human beings. Today im a 38yearold drag queen. I can keep my long hair, i can pluck my eyebrows, and i can hell ierever the want. Im not when you change for anybody. If i change, i feel i am losing ,hat 1969 brought into my life and that was to be totally free. Amy that last boys, sylvia rivera. In the documentary remembering stonewall what is in 1989 by dave isay and michael scherker. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the stonewall uprising that began just after midnight tonight 50 ors ago in Greenwich Village and launched the modernday lgbtq. That does it for our show. Democracy now is looking en hu] yaffa [speaks russian] welcome