Take to stop the growing violence . We will spend the hour with the acclaimed author Tanehisi Coates in his first major interview since the night duration of inauguration of President Trump. One of the problems around runsm that ive try to had the country, is the notion that the somehow only endangers black people. I muted tell you it endangers all of us. Amy Tanehisi Coates for the hour. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Massive protests against White Supremacists and the Trump Administration continued nationwide on monday from the streets of North Carolina, where a crowd of activists toppled a confederate statue in durham, to the halls of washington, where three separate corporate ceos resign from president Trumps American Manufacturing Council over trumps failure to quickly condemn the deadly white supremacist violence in charlottesville, virginia, over the weekend. In durham, the crowd of activists shouted we are the revolution as a woman climbed up a ladder, looped a rope around the top of the confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County courthouse, and then pulled the statue to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers. Meanwhile, in nashville, tennessee, activists rallied around the bust of Confederate Army general Nathan Bedford forrest, putting a black cloth over his head and demanding the bust be removed from the state capitol. In gainesville, florida, workers removed a confederate soldiers statue from downtown, while officials in baltimore, san antonio, and jacksonville, florida, all said monday they would take steps to remove confederate statues from public spaces. Major protests were also held in washington, d. C. , in naples, florida, in minneapolis, minnesota, where activists burned an effigy of a nazi, and in new york city, where more than 1000 people poured into the streets to protest as President Trump arrived home to trump tower. This is brooklyn resident jelani wilson. The American People are not going to sit back and take the rise of the far right in the United States sitting down. We have seen it before and we know what to do. We stand up. We make our voices heard. We do not stop. We are going to send these trolls right back to their cave. They will have no power in this country. They might be up in the white house and hiding behind plastic ,hields and rightwing cosplay but it is the power of the people that make this country work and we are going to prove it. We will prove it again and again and again for as long as we have to to show there is no place for hate in the United States. Executivescorporate resigned from the Council Monday in protest of trumps failure to quickly condemn the deadly neonazi violence in charlottesville, which erected not seize,than 1000 ku klux klan members, and white supremacist 1000 nazis, ku klux klan members, and White Supremacists descended on charlottesville to protest the citys plan to remove a confederate statue of robert e. Lee. On monday morning, the ceo of pharmaceutical giant merck, kenneth frazier, who is african american, resigned from the council saying americas leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy, which run counter to the american ideal that all people are created equal. While it took President Trump two days to condemn the white supremacist violence in charlottesville, it took him only an hour to attack fraser for resigning tweeting , now that ken frazier of merck pharma has resigned from president S Manufacturing council, he will have more time to lower ripoff drug prices the ceo of intel, brian krzanich, and the ceo of under armour, kevin plank, also resigned on monday from the council in protest. Even the company that makes the tiki torches that were wielded by hundreds of white supremacist during their march on friday in charlottesville has spoken out, condemning the White Nationalists and their ideology. The company, tiki brand products, wrote tiki brand is not associated in any way with the events that took place in charlottesville and are deeply saddened and disappointed. Amid the extraordinary pressure of the growing street and corporate protests monday, President Trump finally condemned the deadly white supremacist violence in charlottesville, virginia, which killed one person and injured dozens. Pres. Trump racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the kkk, neonazis, white supremacist, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as americans. Amy after making h statement, trump refused to take any questions from reporters, despite having promised to hold a news conference. Later in the day after a separate announcement, Cnns Jim Acosta tried to ask trump about his charlottesville statements. Mr. President , can you explain what you did not condemn over the weekend . Pres. Trump they have been condemned. Then why arent we having a press conference . Pres. Trump we just had a press conference. Can we ask more questions . Pres. Trump [indiscernible] mr. President amy that is mr. President saying you are fake news to jim acosta. Despite trumps begrudging condemnation of white supremacist violence, he also tried to deflect and distract from this violence by retweeting about crime in chicago by a farrightwing conspiracy theorist. The tweet was originally written by rightwing extremist jack posobiec, known for spreading conspiracy theories such as pizzagate. Trump also failed to succumb to mounting pressure, both from within and outside the administration, to fire his chief strategist steven bannon, former head of breitbart news, which promotes far right wing and White Nationalist propaganda. The United Nations also condemned the nazi violence in charlottesville over the weekend. This is farhan haq, spokesman for the u. N. Secretary general, racism andgainst all bigotry. We believe there must be no place in our societies for the violent racism and antisemitism , xenophobia, and discrimination that we have seen in charlotte charlottesville, virginia, in recent days. Any of thewe condemn violence that affected the civilians, and we express our condolences to the family and loved ones of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to all of those who were injured. Amy in charlottesville, virginia, james alex fields, jr. , appeared in court via video link from jail for his first court appearance, where he was charged with seconddegree murder for driving his car through a crowd of counterprotesters during the white supremacist rally, killing Counterprotester Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others. He was denied bond. 20yearold fields is a nazi sympathizer who had driven from ohio to charlottesville to rally with the White Supremacists in charlottesville on saturday, before allegedly carrying out the deadly assault with his car. More details about fields life emerged on monday. Hes been accused of repeatedly assaulting his mother samantha bloom, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair. Records show his mother repeatedly called 911 to report fields was threatening her or had assaulted her. She says hes threatened her with a footlong knife, hit her on the head, and spit on her. Military records show he entered the army in 2015, but left the desk slumped out a basic training less than four months later. One of james alex fieldss High School Teachers says he was obsessed with adolf hitler and nazi military history and showed clear nazi sympathies that the teacher tried unsuccessfully to steer him away from. Farright extremist groups are planning a series of protests for this upcoming weekend in at least nine cities atlanta, stin, boston, los angeles, new york, pittsburgh, seattle, washington, d. C. , and in mountain view, california. The rallies are being called to protest google for having fired a white male engineer who authored a sexist manifesto, which ee mailed to all of his colleagues, in which claimed that women are biologically inferior and less capable of assuming leadership roles in the tech industry. The nowfired engineer has become a hero among farright extremists. They are also was a premises rallies planned for San Francisco and berkeley, california, it are this month. Counterprotester already being planned. Meanwhile, texas a m university has canceled a planned white lives matter rally, which was slated to take place on september 11, amid concerns about the possibility of deadly white supremacist violence. A board member of the virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties union has resigned in the wake of this weekends white supremacist violence in charlottesville. Waldo jaquith tweeted i just resigned from the aclu of virginia board. Whats legal and whats right are sometimes different. I wont be a fig leaf for nazis. Ahead of this weekends white supremacist rally, the aclu represented rally organizer Jason Kessler on free speech grounds in the case against the city of charlottesville, which was trying to revoke the permit for the event. In boston, massachusetts, the new england Holocaust Memorial was vandalized on monday by a teenager who threw a rock through a glass panel etched with numbers symbolizing the numbers tattooed on the arms of jews and others imprisoned in nazi germany concentration camps. Its the second time this summer that bostons Holocaust Memorial has been vandalized. The Bostons Jewish Community Relations Council said the images of nazis marching in the streets of america over the weekend in charlottesville and now shattered glass once again at this sacred space in boston are an affront to our Jewish Community and to all those who standup against bigotry, hatred and antisemitism. President trump says hes considering pardoning notorious former arizona sheriff joe arpaio, who has been convicted of criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop his deputies from racially profiling people and then detaining them on suspicion of being undocumented. Trump called arpaio a Great American patriot and said hes considering pardoning him as early as this week. Arpaio is a major supporter of trump whose policies have included detaining immigrants in a scorching outdoor tent city jail, which arpaio once referred to as his own concentration camp. The Justice Department is demanding web hosting provider dream host turn over 1. 3 million visitor ip addresses of people who visited the website disrupt against website used to organize protests against President Trump. More than 200 protesters were arrested during Inauguration Day protest are now facing decades in prison on trumped up charges. The web server is fighting the request. In International News in syria, the journalistic Monitoring Group raqqa is being slaughtered silently says as many as 30 civilians were killed and up to 60 more wounded by u. S. Backed and chilling in raqqa on monday. It has destroyed the oldest market. North korea says it will hold off on attacking the u. S. Territory of guam in the pacific, saying they will wait to see whathe olish yankees will dbefo makg any decision teionsave been ealatg between the u. S. And north korea. President trump startled the world last week by threatening to attack north korea with fire and fury, sparking concerns about the possibility of a nuclear war. In response, north korea threatened to hit thwaters off the u. S. Territory of guam, home to two major sprawling u. S. Military bases. Residents have spent decades opposing the militarization of their island. To see our full interview about resistance to u. S. Militarization of guam, go to democracynow. Org. Meanwhile, in japan, tens of thousands of residents of the island of okinawa protested over the weekend against u. S. Military bases on the island. For decades, residents have called for the expulsion of u. S. Troops from okinawa, which houses about twothirds of the 50,000 u. S. Troops currently stationed in japan. In venezuela, thousands poured into the streets for an antiimperialist march on monday to protest President Trumps comments, saying the u. S. May launch a military intervention in venezuela. This is the Venezuelan Defense minister, vladimir padrino. We do not admit into our country imperialist lords of the United States government. It seems to us a delirious attitude, a threatening attitude, a crazy attitude to threaten venezuela with weapons because, simply, all of the previous phases could not be consummated. Imperialisterican have removed their masks and have gone directly to military aggression. They have proved i have completely removed the masks. Amy on monday, Vice President mike pence defended President Trumps comments about a possible u. S. Military intervention in venezuela. President trump has made it there we will not stand by while venezuela collapses into dictatorship post up we will not stand by as venezuela crumbles. That amportant to note failed state in venezuela threatens the security and prosperity of our entire hemisphere and the people of the United States of america. And go venezuela has some of the Largest Oil Reserves in the world. Vice president mike pence is in argentina as part of a regional tour across latin america. In sierra leone, mudslides triggered by massive rainfall have killed more than 300 people near the capital freetown. The number of casualties is expected to rise as search and rescue teams are still looking thousands of missing people. Increased rainfall has been linked to human driven climate in the occupied territories, five palestinian journalists were released from israeli custody monday in the Israeli Occupied west bank and gaza strip. The journalists were arrested by israeli authorities last week on charges of leaking Sensitive Information to enemy groups. Human rights and press freedom groups say israel has been increasingly cracking down on freedom of the press and palestinian journalists. Israel is also try to shut down al jazeeras office in jerusalem and revoke the press credentials of al jazeeras journalists in israel. This is the had of the Palestinian Independent Commission for human rights. Few past months, almost since last march, we are witnessing regression and the freedom of speech and the freedom of journalism in the west bank and the gaza strip. And as a result of the escalation in the dispute between palestinians, and it might be because of what is happening in the region of complex, it can have a negative reflection on the palestinians. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and i am juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We turn now to look at the fallout from saturdays violent white supremacist protest in charlottesville, virginia, where a 20yearold nazi sympathizer killed one antiracist activist and injured more than a dozen others when he intentionally drove his car through a crowd of counter protesters. On monday, the driver of the car, james fields, appeared in court for the first time. President initially failed to directly blame white supremacist for the bloodshed in charlottesville, saying the violence was committed by many sides. On monday, trump finally condemned the deadly white supremacist violence. Pres. Trump as i said on saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. America. Place in and as i have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws. We all salute the same great flag. And we are all made by the same almighty god. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. We must rediscover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as americans. Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs , including the kkk, neonazis, White Supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as americans. Juan that was President Trump speaking on monday. Meanwhile, Foreign Policy has revealed the existence of a recent fbi and department of Homeland Security bulletin that concluded white supremacist groups were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016, more than any other domestic extremist movement. The fbi and department of Homeland Security report went on to state racial minorities have been the primary victims of white supremacist violence. The second most common victims were other caucasians, and other White Supremacists perceived as disloyal to the white supremacist extremism movement. Amy despite the fbi and department of Homeland Security findings, the Trump Administration recently cut funds to organizations dedicated to fighting rightwing violence. Well, as the nation grapples with what happened in charlottesville, virginia, we turn now to the bestselling author Tanehisi Coates, the National Correspondent for the atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. Hes the author of between the world and me, which won the 2015 National Book award for nonfiction. And the author of a forthcoming book titled, we were eight years in power an american tragedy. Tanehisi coates, it is great to spend this hour with you. I want to start by asking a response to what happened in charlottesville and then to President Trumps actions in response. My response is that it is predictable. You had eight years before President Trump, a situation where the Opposition Party basically ran in opposition to the president on a platform of thinly based racism. It doesnt mean the politicians themselves were outright racist, but when charges of birtherism came up, knowing repudiated. When the House Majority leader at the time, john boehner, claimed the president never worked a real job, knowing repudiated it. When Newt Gingrich called the president of the United States a foodstamp president , no one repudiated it. So you found yourself in a situation in the toy 16 election where all of that hate and all stoked theism partys base. The idea that President Trump for the donald trump with them become president , that he would become the winning candidate does not surprise me at all. And that trump himself, the stoker of birther is him, who has this long history of racism himself, went back to the 1970s when he was accused of housing discrimination, into the 1990s when he called for the Death Penalty for the central park five who were later exonerated, in the 1990s when he claimed he did not want black people counting his money at his that that person, that figure, that political figure would then use that same energy that was in the party to become president , and the reaction would be violent, is predictable. It is lamentable, but deutsche be surprised. Juan with this unite the right rally and the resurgence now ive what supremacists publicly throughout the country, largely under the symbolic protest against the taking down of these various confederate monuments and statues around the country, your sense of how the saving of these confederate statues becomes the rallying call of the Supremacist Movement . It makes sense. The civil war was the most lethal war in american history. The casualties in the civil war amount to more than all other wars all other american wars combined. More people died amount war than world war ii, vietnam, etc. That was a war for White Supremacy. It was a war to erect the state in which the basis of it was the enslavement of black people. Discussed,s that i really bubbled from the base of the Republican Party in that within rallyed around the cause of the confederacy makes complete sense. Amy were going to go to break and come back to this discussion with Tanehisi Coates, National Correspondent for the atlantic where he writes about culture, politics, social issues. His forthcoming book will be out in october titled, we were eight years in power an american tragedy. We will be back in a moment. [music break] amy this little out of mind by odette a. Putting a black cloth over the remains to many of you remove. It is the song that clergy saying on friday night as they held a gathering in a chapel at as university of virginia outside hundreds of torch bearing white supremacist marched past. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman and juan gonzalez. Can massive protests against white supremacist and the Trump Administration continued nationwide on monday on the streets of North Carolina are a crowd of activists toppled a confederate statue in durham to the halls of washington where three separate corporate ceos resigned from Trumps American Manufacturing Council over his failure to quickly condemn the deadly white supremacist violence in charlottesville, virginia, over the weekend. In drum, the crowd of activists shouted we are the revolution as a woman climbed up a ladder, looped a rope around the top of the confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old germ county courthouse, and then pulled the statue to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers. We are the revolution fascist usa amy meanwhile, in nashville, tennessee, activists rallied around the bust of Confederate Army general Nathan Bedford forrest, putting a black cloth over his head and demanding the bust be removed from the state capitol. In gainesville, florida, workers removed a confederate soldiers statue from downtown, while officials in baltimore, san antonio, and jacksonville, florida, all said monday they would take steps to remove confederate statues from public spaces. Major protests were also held in washington, d. C. , in naples, florida, in minneapolis, minnesota, where activists burned an effigy of a nazi, and still with us for the hour, bestselling author Tanehisi Coates, National Correspondent for the atlantic. Of between the world and me, which won the 2015 National Book award for nonfiction, author of a wehcoming book in october were eight years in power an american tragedy. We are talkins first major interview since President Trump was inaugurated. ,escribe the groups, tanehisi or they represent, in the significance of President Trump taking two days to speak out against White Supremacists violence. Difficulty t of biggest generating much outrage here. I dont know what people expected. Given Donald Trumps record, given that he has somebody in the white house right now advising him, who is the publisher for breitbart media breitbart media is stand after the famed gentleman who basically framed surely sher during theod obama ministry. Steve bannon bragged about breitbart being the platform for the alt right. The all right is who was protesting. ,he notion that donald trump when he has folks who provided that platform right in the white house would come out and provide some sort of strong statement , i donthite supremacy know what the expectation comes from. He is who he said he was. You can say a lot about trump, but he did not hide it. He is exactly who he said he was. He willthe expectation morph into some strong opponent or full of White Supremacy, even the blatant White Supremacy you saw on display in charlottesville, i think its misguided. Vein he isat same who he said he was sunni campaign, he established the president ial Advisory Commission to look into the issues of voter integrity. I am wondering your reaction to what has been going on now in terms of turning the entire political process of voting upside down by going after those who are already being disenfranchised . To be repetitive here, but again, if its right along with what he said. Again, because i think what happens is people get too focused on donald trump and forget that what this comes out of is a long campaign, especially over the past 10 years, especially during the time when we had our first black president , where people sought to cast the president as illegitimate you had a majority of the Opposition Party that believed the president was not a legitimate president and the notion of voter fraud was taken up across the party. It was by some of the same republican politicians who are now coming out and announcing donald trump. They made donald trump. Separateump is not from it. You could not come out at the last minute now that somebody is dead and pretend that we had no part in this. This is the result of a process. Donald trump did not appear by magic. When you see him taking up this form on alleged voter fraud, going out and soliciting the name from various states of voters, it is right in line not just with what trump said, but the rhetoric of the base and a many politicians of the Republican Party in the last eight to 10 years. Amy and your response to those focusing on the confederate statues around the south right , asand actually physically in durham yesterday, taking them down . I am happy to see it. I am happy to see that sort of awareness. I came up in a period where shows like dukes of hazard was on tv people basically accepted the confederate flag. Even africanamericans knew deep in their heart there were something wrong with that. It is good to see there some sort of Mass Movement moving that direction. I will say there is some danger if it simply stops at taking down statues. I think honestly, this country is proven to itself over and over again, a real lack of understanding of what the civil war was and what its consequences work in the fact that we live with that even today. I support the removal of the statues, but i just want to make sure we are not skipping over a conversation by taking down symbols and saying, ok, that is nice, its over. Amy one of those was Nathan Bedford forrest. You wrote about him in 2009 called Nathan Bedford forrest has beautiful eyes. I did. It was about i dont want people to think it was just lauding Nathan Bedford forrest. It was about why they were proven a lesser to since the end of the civil war and the movement of the lost cause. It kindamour and glory of cowboy mystique to confederate generals and an or the fact that people like Nathan Bedford forrest perpetrated the massacre where he murdered in cold blood africanamerican soldiers before the civil war, where the slave trade literally had what he called a negro march, where he does people forget about that. You get the sort of swaggering glory and the mythology of the old confederacy. Is aboutyour book that to come out, one of the things you talk about is the fear that White America has of good negro government. You make a reference to the civil war as well, i guess it is a senior have often raised that the lack of attention, the study of the lessons of the civil war. But at the same time, you also say the Obama Administration is good negro government also in many ways helped to feed White Supremacy. Could you elaborate on that . Sure. The book takes its title we were eight years in power from a gentleman who stood up in 1895, one of the black congressman appointed during reconstruction immediately after slavery, and South Carolina, basically submitting the disenfranchisement of African Americans. He said, listen, we were eight years in power. He listed all of the great things the africanamericans really, the multiracial government, tremendous experiment in democracy to follow the civil war, had accomplished. Forming the First Public School system, reforming the penal system. A list of governmental accomplishments that they had done. He struggled to understand why folks would then perpetrate this active disenfranchisement, given how much South Carolina head of dance during this period. Pointed out the one thing white South Carolina and feared more than bad new grow government was good negro government. It was the fact having made all of his a compass is because they ran counter to the redeemers, and i dont think it was very different under president barack obama. I think it was his modesty, the lack of radicalism, the fact he wasnt out firebombing or throwing up the black power sign that made him so scary. I think what folks ultimately fear is africans, the kind of ease with which africanamericans could be integrated into the system because it assault the very idea of White Supremacy in the first place. Amy you write in your book tanehisi, talking about trump and leading the Birther Movement against president obama after his conspiracy theorists force president obama to present his birth certificate, President Trump demanded the college raise offering if you can talk about that push from birtherism to what President Trump is doing today and what you would like to see him doing one of the things he said yesterday is that he had met with his attorney general Jeff Sessions, who would be leaving a federal investigation into what took place in charlottesville, does that give you any comfort . Absolutelnot. What i would like to see him do is resigning and leaving the white house. For theo expectations president. Assert we have no expectation this is like where we are. Were in houston near his right now where Jeff Sessions is the one who is going to bring the White Supremacists to justice. Jeff sessions who was denied a federal courtship becauset was not s primity to segregation as an was too close. I have no more faith than what es beingave an fox appointed to guard the inhouse. We as a country elected president who openly courted and forces ofivated the White Supremacy in this country in order to become president. We now have to live with the consequences of that. Changing,e much certainly not in the next four years. I expect more of this, not less. Juan are you disappointed to some degree that president obama has maintained relative silence since he left the presidency, i guess, following in the footsteps of george bush who basically receded from the public scene for quite some time . No because im not convinced that would do anything. You know . Im not convinced that would bring the country in a closer together. I think of anything, he would provide more ammo to donald trump. What yet understand is donald trump his very identity is the antiobama. He doesnt really have independent thoughts beyond the idea that if this country could have a black president , it must be able to have donald trump as hi its president. Like in buzzfeed, talking about trumps for policy. Syrias, if obama is for it, im against it. That is not just trump. That is a substantial amount of americans who voted for trump. I dontw that know there is any way around this. No one is coming around the mountain to save us. We did something. We handed over the nuclear codes. We hit it over the safety of our entire country to somebody. Now we have to live with that. On in another incident saturday in charlottesville, virginia, white supremacist were captured in a photo and also video beating 20yearold africanamerican protester deandre harris, who is a hiphop artist and assistant special Education Teacher at an area high school. Harris later described the attack to the los angeles times. Ande was all standing here then we was walking down as they were walking down him and then i think we got like right here and they just rushed us. We were in this open weights. So right in front of the police station. I keep hearing all of this chaos going around the and i feel myself getting hit, so im trying to get up and run but i cant. Every time i got up, i just lose consciousness and fall back out until the last time i got to open my eyes and i see all my friends. They havent take me over there so i can get help. I had a gash in the head, broke my ribs, chipped my tooth, busted my lip, got a bunch of all over my knees and elbows. I got eight staples in my head. Amy he was being a very badly. They were hitting him, smashing him with sticks. Theres been a lot of criticism of the Charlottesville Police department, or overall law enforcement. I think they brought in Something Like 1000 officers for this. That they just stood there. I mean, he was right by a police station. But overall. I was wondering about your thoughts about this . It goes back to attorney general Jeff Sessions, named after two confederate leaders, Jefferson Davis you are right. Amy and is head of the attorney general, leading the movement to stop the consent degrees that was he the Justice Department andsee cities like ferson their police after the killing of michael brown. It is infuriating. It is absolutely infuriating. I want to pick up where you left off, and that is with ferguson. What one has to do to understand the horror of the situation, you have to try to imagine black people, in say, ferguson, showing up, some of them with guns, some of them dressed in militia outfits, some of them with shields, some of them with clubs. You have to try to imagine, and in theving them brawl street with counterprotesters. You did not have to try to imagine the police doing nothing. Fails theat just test. I dont think theres enough imagination to perceive that. I was watching those things in charlottesville on saturday, and i was amazed. I should not be amazed. They pretty much follows the basic theory, but it is just amazing to see the police absolutely do nothing on the one hand, and then when you see all of these other cases imagine if that is how black folks responded with eric on a had been choked to death. Imagine if that is how black folks responded to two near rights, if we cannot in militia we cametamir price if out in militia gear. Amy were going to go to break and come back to this discussion, Tanehisi Coates, has a new book coming out in october we were eight years in power animate and tragedy. We will be back with tanehisi in a moment. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman and juan gonzalez. Lets turn for a minute to some of the voices from the rally that took place this weekend after the terror in charlottesville, where heather heyer, a 32yearold paralegal activist deeply committed to social and Racial Justice was killed as she was run over, hit by a car that had driven into the protesters, the counterprotesters against the white supremacist. Donald trump was concerned at that point, talked about violence on all sides. This was the sounds of protest outside his trump tower on 5th avenue. Go onald trump has got to i felt it was important to come out today to come out every day to oppose a president that condones White Supremacy. It took him three days to denounce david duke last year during his campaign. It is very interesting he made a big point in his campaign about naming radical islamic terrorism and also he made this huge show of denouncing ms 13, but he cant come out and announce White Supremacy. That is outrageous. I am here because i am very concerned about this administration. What is going on is terrible. What happened in charlottesville, i thought that was part of United States history, not its current not what is happening now. It is just disgraceful. Im a professor of Political Science in queens. Our students are very vulnerable. We mostly have students of color, immigrants from all over the world. That is what new york sort of stands for. And ideological claims really brought a lot of people out of the woodwork, people who used to be ashamed or could be ashamed now can come out and are proud. He was able to bring out a lot of those resentments. And resist. Rise the terror i felt when i saw the ning torches, the pictures i could not actually believe that was something that was happening this day and age. I was thinking about that a person was killed yesterday the unitednazis in states. That blew my mind, just that concept that what we follow for in world war ii, fight against the nazis, our grandfathers, our worked, our grandmothers on world war ii to stop this, and now we have to deal with that in 2017 that somebody is dying because of White Supremacy and naziism . That blows my mind. It is a hard thing to shake. [chanting] amy those were the voices of dissent on sunday after the charlottesville terror. Last night as President Trump came home, the First Time Since his a not gratian, there were still 1000 people outside his residence. That is the grassroots response. Then theres the corporate response. Juan monday morning, the ceo pharmaceutical giantfra merck can at fraser, africanamerican, resigned from the council sayingzi americas leaders must byor our fundamental values clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and groups of from sikkim which run counter to the american idea that all people are created equal. It took President Trump two days to condemn the violence of the White Supremacists in charlottesville. It took him only an hour to attack fraser for resigning, tweeting now that ken frazier of merck pharma has resigned from president S Manufacturing council, he will have more time to lower ripoff drug prices the ceo of intel and under armour also resigned on monday. Tanehisi coates, your sense of how these Corporate Executives saying were not going to be part of this anymore . Is good to see, but, again, i go back to this he is who we got he was. This is not new for donald trump. Steve bannon did not suddenly materialize in the white house. Donald trump has a record. Me, but i amust sort of amazed that people are sort of throwing up their hands im shocked that president donald trump, the proponent of whats from succumbed did not give a statement. Amy can you talk about your response, what you think trump should do . You said resign. Can you play this out . What would that look like a President Trump were to resign . It is hard for me to advise about what he should do, but i nk if you resign, my print honestly, mike pence would become president. You might not to be over displays an open displays of white. It would not shock me if the investigation into the voter rolls that you talked about earlier continued. Certainly, at the state level, the sort of gerrymandering that is been going on now to engineer isse the power of votes diluted would certainly continue. I would expect Jeff Sessions in his efforts to roll back reforms on criminal justice would continue. I would expect no actions on the sprawling income inequality. I would expect the continued assault on planned parenthood to continue. Try to defend not donald trump, but i think people really need to get that he did not come out of nowhere. It is nice to see people at this late hour denouncing trump. Folks denounced trump when he was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. A few months later, people were Still Standing with him. I dont put much faith in it because it is not individual in an of itself. It is a political apparatus, working all in concert. I think if you are willing to stand with the president who bragged on tape about sexually assaulting someone i dont know why the line i understand some of killed, but im not sure why the line is here. Quote from your book for you talked about the importance of those eight years when president obama was in the white house that you believe he was one of the greatest president s in american history, that it was phenomenal, navigator of the color line i have ever seen, the ability to emote a deep and sincere connection to the hearts of bac black people while never doubting the white people. You feel it blinded him to the dangers of a trump. Could you expound on that . Sure most of their certain qualities for wired that would be required to become the first africanamerican president. The office of the presidency is necessarily limited in a particular way. You represent all americans. You represent all americans in the most beautiful ambitions and you represent all americans and their moral limitations also. When we think about great president s throughout history, when i think about the president s i hold up, i can certainly find curious of more limitation, where i feel like they did not do the right thing. Abraham lincoln was a man who urged africanamericans late into the civil war to leave the country, to enroll in this scheme of a colonization to depart because white people would never accept them as americans. At the same time, he was hero head in the shot in face of White Supremacy. Black first africanamerican to inhabit the oval office, you have to have a sense of white people that i would say most africanamericans do not have. You would have to have a degree of trust from a degree of believe i would go so far to say, that we were passing fight charlottesville that we saw this weekend. I think that is the only way someone was going to be president. The catch is, the same time you extend that believe, it blinds you to what can happen and come out of it, like the election of donald trump. Amy tanehisi, as we begin to wrap up, i want to go to one of the stories that got so much attention that you wrote, and that was the case for reparations. Interestingly, we had wes bellamy on before these mass , the vice mayor of charlottesville, the only africanamerican city councilman , one of five. He is the one who was originally pushing for the statue of robert e lee to come down. He could not get that approved. Instead, though, he got Something Like an 8 million Reparations Fund to deal with equity in charlottesville. It was after that was passed that they just moved ahead. Is that right . You were just with wes bellamy at a conference a progressive cities in austin where they said, ok, were going to take a down, too. Juan he was able to get that final vote that agreed to take down the statue. Before that, the white councilmembers try to placate him by agreeing to an equity fund for the black community in charlottesville. It occurred to me this might be a potential at the local level them at the municipal and state level for politicians to begin demanding equity funds as a form of reparations, to be getting a from the ground up and set of the National Government down. Amy and that is where this began and charlottesville. If you can comment on that issue, and issue were not originally for reparations and what it could look like today as even today after the terror attack, wes bellamy is on the air talking about how important it is once all of the media lease to talk about equity in the critical institutions of charlottesville that remain for so long in the past, separate and unequal. This is why i come on democracy now because i just got informed. I was unaware of that. I think the story points to two things. The first thing is, if there were to be reparations in this country i think it would happen like that. It would be a series of small local cases based on very specific claims. We think of reparations is grand action from the Supreme Court passing judgment as the black x number ofed dollars. It is also much im against that, but i suspect what would happen in terms of practical thing, you would see folks look into specific instances. For agenda, for instance, i believe had a reparation five for African Americans who did not access Public Schools in the wake of the response to brown versus the board. The sterilization cases in North Carolina where black women were sterilized and there were reparations claims made on their behalf. The torture of africanamericans in chicago by john burge, general men who worked for the Chicago Police department, successful reparations claim was made there. I think you would more see it in that sort of way. I and happy to see that happening i am happy to see that happening a charlottesville, but im happy to the omitted not stop there. I think people often think, if we win this, we can go home and relax and have a beer. Im glad to see continued. Amy do these grassroots movements give you hope right now across the country . Yes, theyre all we have. I smile when i see them. They are all we have right now. Amy in the white house, you have stephen bannon, questions whether he will remain, but of course there have been those questions for many months right now. You have sebastian worker, stephen miller. These are wellknown people who represent this White Nationalist strain, this thread where you have stephen miller, one of the advisors to President Trump, holding a white house news briefing last week and saying give me yourem tired, your poor should be removed from the statue of liberty, that it should not have gone up there to begin with, it was not a part of it originally. Right. These folks represent the worst in us, the worst in america. Again, i cannot emphasize that the past was laid by mainstream acceptable politicians who heard this birther business, who saw this, heard people consistently lobbing racist attacks of the president and just it aside. The idea that the party would then be taken over by much more extreme or much more vocal sort of White Supremacy is not shocking. If you did nothing, if you did not speak up during the obamaera with these claims of racism where these charges of racism or big lots come if you stood aside, youre part of the problem. Your part of how we got here. You dont get off after somebody has been killed in charlottesville making a statement about White Supremacy at this late hour, after the fruit amy we have to leave it there, Tanehisi Coates, thank you for being with us. Being with us. Come and meet me at the market my lebanesestyle squash stew. Julie julie taboulies is made possible by. Do your thing, do your thing syracuse, do your thing do your thing, do your thing syracuse, do your thing