Iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the front, replacing former president and slave owner Andrew Jackson who will be moved to the back of the bill. But some say, to put Harriet Tubman on the 20 bill would be an insult to her legacy. Then, the untimely death of the legendary musician prince. Purple rain purple rain amy we will look at the life and legacy of prince. His gender bending performances, congress, and jazz. Then as we broadcast from colorado, marijuana is legal. We look at who stands to cash in on the billions generated by cannabis sales. We will speak with the first africanamerican woman in colorado to own a cannabis dispensary. She became politicized after her brother was arrested for marijuana and spent the next 4. 5 years picking cotton at a texas prison. And today is earth day. As leaders meet today to sign the paris climate agreement , we will look at a growing movement to stop the extraction of fossil fuels. Finally, boulder, colorado, debates whether to become a of the occupied west bank. The scope of the Human Rights Violations is enormous. This is not just based on israeli information. For those who claim they are appalled by human rights issues, they should be appalled by human rights issues. It is appalling. It is appalling the way israel is impoverishing the Palestinian People in the west bank and the gaza strip. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The world is mourning the loss of the music legend prince. Dearly beloved we are here to get through this thing called life oh, no, lets go amy thats prince, performing lets go crazy at the 2007 super bowl. He died at his home in minnesota thursday at the age of 57. He became a global music phenomenon in the 1980s, with albums such as 1999, purple rain and sign o the times. His inventive music spanned funk, rock and jazz while his genderbending performances shattered expectations of gender and sexuality. President obama released a statement saying today, the world lost a creative icon. Few artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent, he wrote. Across the country, fans and fellow artists celebrated princes legacy, including stevie wonder, who spoke with cnns anderson cooper. He just passionately loved music. It is like when musicians can jam, theres nothing like it in the whole world. I dont agree on the spot, but is any song you want to sing a little of work play a little of . I dont want to put you on the spot if youre not up for it. I think it would probably break down if i do a song right now. But you know, he was incredible. I am just glad that i was able to say to him, i love you the last time that i saw him. Amy today is earth day, and climate is on the worlds agenda as more than 60 heads of state are slated to meet at the United Nations headquarters to sign the paris climate agreement aimed at slowing Climate Change. This comes as the earth has experienced 11 straight months of recordshattering temperatures. Experts say the Greenhouse Gas cuts promised in the paris climate deal are insufficient to avert dangerous global warming. We will have more on the Paris Agreement signing with Antonia Juhasz later in the broadcast. Meanwhile, Scientists Say the Great Barrier reef is more than 90 bleached, a result of warming Ocean Temperatures due to Climate Change. Severe reef bleaching kills coral, which is home to a quarter of all marine species. James Cook University professor terry hughes, who led the research, tweeted i showed the results of Aerial Surveys of bleaching on the greatbarrierreef to my students, and then we wept. Mexican Oil Giant Pemex has raised the death toll from wednesdays petrochemical plant explosion to 24. Another 136 people were injured. It is the latest in a series of deadly disasters at pemex facilities in recent years. Meanwhile, mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto has proposed legalizing marijuanabased medicine and releasing some prisoners serving time on minor marijuana charges. Minor drug charges. This comes as a number of latin american countries pushed back on u. S. Led war on drug policies during the special assembly in the u. N. This week. Suicide rates in the u. S. Have hit a 30year high, with particularly high surges in the rates for women and middleaged people. Researchers pointed to an drug epidemic among white americans and increasing economic instability. Harvard Professor Robert putnam said this is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health. In new york city, the board of elections chief clerk, diane haslettrudiano, has been suspended without pay after the election board purged of more than 120,000 brooklyn democratic voters from the rolls ahead of mondays primary. The new York Attorney general offices office received more than 1000 complaints on election day. Both his office and the city comptroller have launched investigations. The head of a westernbacked rescue group in syria known as the White Helmets has been refused entry into the United States, where he was slated to receive a humanitarian award. Raed saleh landed at washingtons Dulles International airport on monday, only to be told his visa was canceled. He was put on a flight back to turkey. The state department has refused to provide details. His group, the syria civil defence, is famous for coordinating thousands of volunteers to rescue people trapped in rubble after airstrikes. Britain has issued a formal travel warning to lgbt travelers leaving to mississippi and North Carolina following the passage of antilgbt laws in the two states. This comes as a handful of other u. S. States are considering similar antilgbt legislation. Fbi director james comey has suggested the agency paid around 1 million to hack into the iphone of suspected San Bernardino shooter syed farook, after apple refused to offer the fbi a backdoor into the phone. The legal battle between the fbi and apple ended when the fbi said it had cracked the iphone without apples help. And family members and friends have launched a fiveday vigil and Hunger Strike to mark the First Anniversary of the death of samuel harrell, an africanamerican man who died on april 21, 2015, after as many as 20 Corrections Officers kicked, punched and threw him down a , flight of stairs while he was incarcerated at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in beacon, new york. The group of officers who assaulted harrell are known as the beat up squad. Activists gathered outside the prison thursday night where jeff golden spoke out. Exactly year ago tonight, a gentle 30yearold man who is doing time in a drug charge was brutally murdered by as many as 20 Corrections Officers, all of whom are still on active duty. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are on a 100city tour marking democracy now s 20th anniversary. Tonight we had to Colorado College. Right now we are broadcasting from denver, colorado. U. S. Treasury secretary jack lew has announced new 20 bills will feature iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the front, replacing former president and slave owner Andrew Jackson. Harriet tubman is one of the Great American stories. A woman born a slave, and literate her whole life. She brought many people out of slavery through the underground railroad by thomas again risking her life to save others. She did intelligence for our army during the civil war. After she worked to get the Woman Suffrage Movement going. Ican story. Any code that was the u. S. Secretar treasury secretary. The move comes after more than a half a Million People voted for Harriet Tubman to replace jackson. But in fact, jackson will not be removed entirely, simply moved to the back of the bill. Some have criticized the idea that Harriet Tubman should represent u. S. Currency at all. In a 2015 essay that went viral again yesterday, writer Feminista Jones wrote if having Harriet Tubmans face on the 20 bill was going to improve womens access to said bill, id be all for it. But instead, it only promises to distort tubmans legacy. Rooted in resisting the foundation of american capitalism. Well, for more, were joined by two guests. In new york, Steven Thrasher is a weekly columnist for the guardian u. S. , where he wrote a piece headlined, to put Harriet Tubman on the 20 bill would be an insult to her legacy. Here in denver, were joined by winston gradywillis, professor and chair of african and African American studies at metropolitan State University of denver. We welcome you both to democracy now were going to start with the professor here in denver, colorado. Whoessor, talk about Harriet Tubman was. Give us a thumbnail sketch of this remarkable womans life. She was remarkable indeed. She was born into slavery in maryland. She was initially slated to work in the big house, but was seen as being too recalcitrant. And so was placed in the field, which is the experience for the large number of enslaved African Women and men. Amy she was born in 1822 in the Eastern Shore of maryland . Correct. In maryland. She would eventually escape from slavery, but realized that her own individual freedom from chattel slavery simply was not enough. So she dedicated the rest of her life to this Ongoing Mission to free family members, friends, individuals who did not know her directly. She became the most prominent conductor with the underground railroad. Like 10 escaped slavery years after Frederick Douglass from the same area. He also in slate. He goes north, becomes a world renown speaker against slavery. But she comes back to the place where she had been brutalized. They said she experienced these epilepticlike seizures because she had been beaten so badly around her head. Thats right. She would live with his lifelong disability, yet help empower individuals to escape from slavery and the key thing, the relationship between douglass and tubman, douglass along with surgery and are true, are quintessential examples of abolitionist. Tubman is what i would call a military abolitionist. Many folks would refer to her as moses. A number of enslaved africans, others in the underground railroad, often return to her refer to her as the general. Amy talk about she not only was a conductor him as they say, on the underground railroad, coming back and freeing hundreds of slaves, but she fought in the civil war. Quite she did indeed. She was a spy. She was a scout. Riverd the raid down the in the low country of south carolina. It was a nighttime raid in which she led forces that you u. S. Army forces often refer to them as union forces, who freed dozens of enslaved africans, eventually hundreds, under confederate fire. Not a single individual was lost. Amy after her position fighting in the civil war, it occurred decades to get a pension. Absolutely. It was a decadelong struggle and then when she finally did receive that pension, it was an absolute pittance. No question about it will stop amy and slave owners put a bounty on her head . Yes. Often we think about the bounty shakur has on her head, im reminded that there is a long tradition of individuals whog back to tubman herself were deemed such a threat to the status quo. Amy Steven Thrasher, you wrote about Harriet Tubman replacing the slave owning president Andrew Jackson on the front of the bill, being pushed to the back of the bill. Your thoughts on this iconic abolitionist, her face on the most used bill in the United States . I have mixed feelings about it. I dont disagree with anything a professor said about what a wonderful, fantastic american she was. I do understand people who think this is an opportunity to have her have more visibility, but im really concerned about Harriet Tubman was a slave herself. She could have been bought or sold with the 20 bill. Her work was about undoing the system of oppression of African Americans. I really worry that in being placed on the bill that will be sort of a way of papering over her true legacy and be a way to just say that things are being taking care of a no longer problematic. I would be entirely for the Harriet Tubman reparations act. I would be all for having something happen where Harriet Tubman was used to address the economic inequality of africanamericans still to this day. But i am worried about seeing her face on this bill, starting to see her face on mattress sales or Electronic Store sales or things like that, and just seeing the american dollar consume one of our heroes who is really about undoing the ways that american capitalism used their bodies to capitalize this country. Amy i want to read you a quote from npr pointing out that putting have been on the 20 bill would be poetic because of a special historical resonance thats the same amount she eventually received from the u. S. Government as her monthly pension for her service as a nurse, scout, cook and spy during the civil war, as well as for her status as the widow of a veteran. Steven thrasher, your response . I would be more persuaded that that was useful now if we were to place where africanamericans and africanamerican women were earning equal pay and had equal wealth. The fact of the matter is, right now white families have about 12 times the wealth of lack families in this country. Black women earned Something Like . 64 on the dollar to white men. So were still living in a time that over the course of decades and centuries has been created and economic inequality from the time that Harriet Tubman was doing her work. These things have not been addressed. We have, of course, Racial Disparities that happened across millions of people, but there are specific Companies Like edna insurance, they ensured slaves, made her money off slaves, made their wealth off of slaves that very much fueled the economy of this nation for hundreds of years and that led to these disparities that we still have. Those specific things are not being addressed. ,o they did take harriet tubn one of our best images and best people who was fighting that, and can now put her on the dollar that is still economically oppressing black people, i think really misses a very important point. Amy professor winston gradywillis, this whole issue of her representing capitalism . I think that Steven Thrasher makes a really important point. This piece is excellent. He and a number of other individuals, political prisoner, s, make veryter important points here. In many ways, im actually in agreement. But at the end of the day, perhaps the practical bones in my body, i think having tubman as the face on the 20 bill actually provides an opportunity for a number of us to go beyond an Elementary School narrative and discussion of her life and legacy. She is an extraordinary figure. And given the place of enslaved african men and women, specifically the marginalization of enslaved African Women, the absolute absence of ownership over their bodies, tubmans activism, her agency stands in stark contrast to that. I think it is very, very important for folks to not only understand that, but to also come in a society in which there whenn heroism connected, when gendered, when seen in connection to womanhood is often always placed in exclusively white terms, to have tubman given prominence in this way is profoundly important. Something that should not amy im going to put this quote to professor winston gradywillis, running several people have suggested that tubman on the front, jackson on the back is a late april fools joke. Where are the product of a 420 bench. It is neither. It is america. And for our viewers and listeners around the world, outside of colorado, you can explain what a 420 binge is before you respond. I think i may have had some students in class who may have been recuperating from that celebration of marijuana use. Amy 420, folks, which we just passed, we were careful on the roads, but april 20 its a celebration of marijuana. Because it