school shootings since the sandy hook massacre just over five years ago. >> this happens nowhere else other than the united states of america. this epidemic of mass slaughter, this scorch of school shooting .fter school shooting it only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. amy: we will speak with the head of the coalition to stop gun violence and a former florida state legislator during the time shootining was two years ago. she took on the florida governor. then kept out. for r people of color, things ae shutting the door to homeownership. >> herere we have the likelihihd -- so blblack applicants i in phphiladelphia a are a almost te times as l likely to b be deniea tradititional mortgage.. > reveaeal found this troubug pattern and dozens of cities. philadelphphia was onene of the largest. >> 61 metro's acrossss the cocountry, applicacants of c coe more likely y to be denied conventionalal mortgage, even if they have the same financicial characteristics of a non-hispanic, white applicant. amy: we will look at modern day redlining 50 years after lbj signed the fair housing act banning racial discrimination in lending. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in parkland, florida, 17 people were killed and 15 others wounded wednesday in one of the deadliest school shootings in. the massacre at the stoneman douglas high school in broward county, florida, was the 18 school shooting this year. this is broward county sheriff scott israel. victims,e 17 confirmed 12 victims were within the building. two victims were just outside the building was the one victim is on the street at the corner of pinesland. and two people lost the lives of the hospital. >> the weapons he had and whether or not the firms went off, w was that in anticipationf the shooting taking place? >> i don't know anything about the firere alarms. he had multiple magazines. at this point, we believe yet one ar-15 rifle. amy: police have identified the gunman as a 19-year-old former student named nickolas cruz. he was arrested a few miles away from the scene of the shooting. his classmates described him as a loner who was obsessed with guns. police say social media profile showed very, very disturbing content. "the new york times" reports since the sandy hook elementary massacre in newtown, connecticut, in 2012, more than 400 people have been shot in over 200 school shootings. this is connecticut democratic senator chris murphy speaking during a senate debate after the shooting wednesday. >> this epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school it only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inactioion. we are responsible. level of mass atrocity that happens in this countntry parallel. and he got after the headlines, we will go to florida for the latest on the shooting. president trump said wednesday he is totally opposed to domestic violence, ending days of silence over the case of former white house staff secretary rob porter, who resigned last week after evidence surfaced that he had abused his two ex-wives. >> we are leaving. pres. trump: i'm totally opposed anyomestic violence of kind. everyone knows that. it always would not even have to be said. so now you hear it, but you all know it. amy: trump's remarks came as members ofof congress said they would convene committee hearings to investigate why white house chief of staff general john kelly allowed rob b porter to hd a temporary high-level security clearance for more than a year, despite accusations of domestic violence against himim. and the fbi not clearing him. speaking in a public event with the axios news outlet, vice president mike pence said the administration could have -- administration had not handled the rob portrter case well. ine pres. pence: this administration has no tolerance forr domestic violence, , nor shouould any american. as i said and as t the white hoe has said, i think the white house could have handled this bebetter. i still feel that way. amy: despite the's remarks come a vice president against growing calls in washington for genenerl john kelly to resign n as trumps chief of staff. vice pres. pence: has done -- kelly has done remarkable job as chief of staff for president of united states. and i look forward to continuing to work with him for many, many months to come. amy: in syria, u.s. airstrikes in until her he fired last week reportedly killed scores of russian mercenaries who joined a failed assault on a base held by u.s. and kurdish forces in deir azzor. bloomberg reports that more than 200 soldiers-for-hire fighting on behalf of syrian leader bashar al-assad were killed in the fighting, including many russians. meanwhile, some of the fiercest fighting in the seven year conflict continues to rage in the northern city of afrin, the rebel-held enclave of eastern ghouta, and other parts of syria. uned nations special envoy to syria, staffan de mistura, warned civilians have been wednesday killed on a horrific scale with more than 1000 killed in the first week of february alone. been special envoy for four years. this is as violent and worrying and dangerous moment as any that have seeeen in my time of tenene so far. amy: on wednesday, video circulated on social media showed an aid convoy arriving in the besieged rebel-held damascus suburb of eastern ghouta. the nine trucks were the first to arrive in the area since late november of last year. they held food and supplies for an estimated 7000 people in an area where 400,000 civilians remain trapped by fighting. the latest violence in syria came as the british charity save the children warned in a new report at t least 357 million children -- or one in six worldwide -- are living in conflict zones. campaigner kitty arie says that number is up by 75% from the early 1990's. >> what we're dealing with our -- on amy: in libya, at least 23 people were killed wednesday after a truck carrying an estimated 300 migrants overturned and crashed to the capital tripoli. the crash left another 124 people injured. the crcrash came leless than two weeks after 90 refugees were found drowowned off the cocoastf libya after their ship sasank during ann a attempt to cross te mediterranean toto europe. south african president jacob zuma resigned from office wednesday effectivive immediatey afteter his ruling anc party ordered himim to step dowown ore a no-confidence vote. the 75-year-old zuma had been in power since 2009, but faceced widespread calls to step down amidst a number of corruption scandals. long-time anc leader cyril ramaphosa is poised to take zuma's place. ramaphosa once led the national union of mineworkers under apartheid in the 1980's. he later built a business empire that included mining interests, including the marikana platinum mine, where police killed 34 workers during a strike in 2012. ramaphosa is now one of africa's wealthiest men, with a net worth of about $450 million. zimbabwean opposition leader morgan tsvangirai died wednesday of cancer in south africa at the age of 65. in 2000, tsvangirai founded the movement for democratic change which challenged long-time leader robert mugabe's grip on power. in response, he was repepeatedly arrested by zimbabwean authorities and subjected to beatings and torture while in jail. in 2008, tsvangirai withdrew from a presidential election after leading in the first round of voting after mugabe's security forces carried out a campaign of violence against his supporters. between 2009 and 2013, tsvangirai served as mugabe's prime minister in n a power sharing agreement. in canada, an all-white jury has acquitted a white farmer for murdering g a young indigenous n from the red pheasant first nation in saskatchewan, sparking protests across canada. in august 2016, the farmer, gerald stanley, fatally shot the cree man, colten boushie, after he and a group of friends pulled up onto stanley's farmland, after they got a flat tire. this is a protester at a demonstration in saskatoon, saskatchewan. a if canada saskatchewan serious about reconciliation, we want more than words and tears. we want action and we want a say of the destiny of our rights for a kids and future e generations. amy: back in the united states, veterans affairs secretary david shulkin is set to facace tough questions before house panel today after a government report found he misused more than $120,000 in taxpayer funds to bring his wife along on an official trip to europe e that w the pair visiting castles, taking b boat rides, and attendg the wimbledon tennis tournament. the scathing report by the u.s. inspector general found shulkin's chief of staff doctored an email to convince an ethics lawyer to approve a $4300 ticket to fly shulkin's wife overseas. investigators also found another of his aides effectively acted as a personal travel concierge", spending many hours arranging tourist activities for shulkin and his wife, rather than conducting official va business. on wednesday, colorado republican congressmember mike coffman called on shulkin to resign, tweeting -- "it's exactly corruption and abuses like this that doesn't help our veterans." shulkin has been summoned to answer questions at the house committee on veterans' affairs today. in los angeles, federal investigatioions -- immigrationn agents with ice have launched a series of raids, arresting more than 100 people since sunday. the sweep comes just weeks after a similar series of raids in northern california. the lapd and many other police departments across california said they will not cooperate with ice on immigration enforcement, prompting ice spokesperson sarah rodriguez to say in a statement that the agency was targeting l.a. and other sanctuary cities because they were "uncooperative jurisdictions." a federal appeals court has barred a predominantly white alabama community from forming its own school district, ruling that racial animus led to efforts by gardendale residents to secede from the majority black jefferson county school district. this case was covered extensively by "new york times" reporter nikole hannah-jones, who spoke recently on democracy now! >> so in this particular case, there was a flyer about this effort for gardendale to secede from the jefferson county school system. and it listed a bunch of towns and it said, you know, we have a choice to make. do we want to be these towns? and it listed several other towns. or do we want to be these towns? they never mention race, but it is good everyone there that the towns the committee did not want to be like were all heavily black in the towns the community wanted to be like were all heavily white. the white towns had seceded and broken their schools off from the larger system. as a result, their schools in the towns were very white. amy: tuesday's ruling by the 11th circuit court of appeals reverses a lower court ruling that would have allowed the secession to proceed. writing on behalf of a three-e-judge panel at the 11thh circuiuit, judge william pryor noted -- "the district court found that the gardendale board acted with a discriminatory purpose to exclude black children from the proposed school system." despite that, judge prior wrote, "the district court properly allowed the secession to continue." in new york city, mayor bill de blasio said wednesday he hopes to accelerate the closure of the notorious jail at rikers island, which he previously promised to close within 10 years. the plan would see the city build a new jail in the bronx while expanding existing jails in manhattan, brooklyn, and queens. mayor de blasio said it would also require a sharp reduction in t the number of people new yk puts behind bars. >> for this plan to work in addition to the new facilities, we have to keep driving down the jail population. i will say this every time we talk about this issue. we now are at about 9000 individuals in our jail system on any given day. that number must go down to 5000 for this overall plan to work. that is going to take a lot. we believe it can be done. we believe when it is done, it will be crucial to breaking that cycle of incarceration. amy: a 2017 investigation by the justice department found that rikers is home to a culture of violence that regularly sees prisoners beaten by both guards and other inmates. among the cases of injustice that have called attention to rikers is the story of kalief browder, who committed suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after he was sent to rikers for nearly three years without trial -- -- trial when he was 16, much of it in solitary confinement, after he was accused of stealing a backpack. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in florida, where 17 people died wednesday in one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. the massacre at the stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, was the 18th school shooting this year according to everytown for gun safety. this means there have been a school shooting on average every 60 hours so far this year. amy: police have identified the gunman as a 19 euro former student named nikolas cruz. he was carrying an ar-15 with multiple magazines of ammunition. in addition to the 17 dead, 15 people were injured. students described the terror of being inside the school during the shooting. >> was in a classroom and all i heard were the gunshots. then we went outside. we locked the door, turn off the lights. nermeen: once the gunman was cacaptured, studenents spoke to reporters outside the school. >> we hearard gunshots. we heard people knocking on the door saying they were police, but i guess they were not. they were trying to trick us to come out. >> the firstst ones i heard, thy were nonstop. a few big shots and everyone just an act. running everywhere. amy: police have identified the gunman as a 19-year-old former student named nickolas cruz, who been expelled from the high school. cruz was arrested a few miles away from the scene of the shooting. his classmates described him as a loner and a former member of rotc, and abscess with guns. his online media shows disturbing contents, including many photos of his weapons arsenal. someone using the name nickolas sotsalso posted threatened on youtube, including "i want to shoot people with my ar-15" and "i'm going to kill law enforcement one day. they go after the good people." adoptive father died when he was young. his adopted mother just died in becamer of the flu the pneumonia. "the new york times reports since the sandy hook culinary school massacre in newtown, connecticut by 2012, more than 400 people have been killed just of the shooting comes just days after president trump released his budget, which proposes cutting millions of dollars from the national instant, background checks system. we're joined now by two guests, josh horwitz, executive director of the coalition to stop gun violence. he is the co-author of "guns, democracy and the insurrectionist idea." and d geraldine thompson is a former florida democratic state senator. she represented the orlando district where the 2016 pulse nightclub massacre took place. we welcome you both to democracy now! geraldine thompson, let's begin with you. you are not far from where this high school shooting took place. right near fort lauderdale, whh,h, by thee way, experienced another shooting where five people were killed just a year ago at the fort lauderdale airport. but now at this school, the horror of 17 people being killed -- three outside the school, 12 inside the school, and then two who were injured who has since died. this must bring back horrific se inies for you from pul 2016, whereas man gunned down 49 people in the club andnd injured more than 50 others. yet what has been done? what the loss in florida yet the >> unfortunately, nothing has happened since the pulse nightclub shooting. i said at that time, and a want to repeat today, that we have got to tighten our laws with regard to gun ownership in this country. i see no reason why a private individual needs a military type weapon and a magazine of ammunition with enough rounds to kill hundreds of people. so we have got to tighten up who gets guns, who has access to guns in this country. and we have seen in activity on the part of congress. we are seen dysfunction on the part of congress. and i think the state legislatures need to assert their power to require a constitutional convention for the purpose of amending the united states constitution to require term limits for members of congress. in congress.erists you have people who take ownership of the position. they do not come back to the community that elected them. and so there is a disconnect with regard to what the people want. and i think the only way to address this is through term limits for members of congress. and the founders anticipated that there might be a time when common people wanted to amend the constitution and congress refused to act. so under article five of the unit is days constitutution, the is a provision that allows state legislatures to petition convention. and if 34 -- which would be two thirds of the state in the united states -- if 34 states asked for this constitutional convnvention, then c congresessd bebe c compelllled to calll suca coconvention. and i think the state need to take back the power. because to answer your question, we are seen nothing happen to the pulse nightclub shooting here in o orlando. and that was the distrtrict thti represented. and you saw the trauma to the first responders, to the physicians, just as you see the trauma today. yes 17 people who were killed, but you have many more peoplee who were traumatized because the teteachers do not sign up to goo into war zones. they are not equipped to deal with the kind of weapon that was used i in this massacre yesterd. and you have students who were traumatized. and we have counselors at schools, but those counselors are overburdened with paperwork with regard to standardized testing. they've got to keep a record of all of that. attendance. so they don't really function in the sense that they can sit down and talk with students about what is going on with them. and i know in many instances, there are counselors -- special counselors that are brought in with regard to how to handle grief and how to handle loss. but this should not be a common occurrence in our country. and we see it happening, as you said, the number just since 2018 is just unfathomable that we should see this happening in this country because of inactivity, because of dysfunction on the part of congress. nermeen: i want to go to comments that florida governor rick scott made last night, wednesday night speaking at a press conference. he said the shooting was "pure evil." >> how could this ever happen in this country? how w could thisis happen in ths state? this is a state that is focused on keeping all of our children safe. we come to the conclusion, this is absolutely pure evil. this state does not tolerate violence. we're law enforcement the lowest show up to defend our safety. nermeen: that is governor rick scott speaking last night. he also refused to be drawn into a discussion about gun control when he was asked by reporter if stricter legislation was needed. >> my heart goes out to everybody today. all of us want to live and have everybody live in a safe community. and there's a time to continue to have these conversations. how through law enforcement and funding that we make sure people are safe, and we will continue to do that. nermeen: that is governor rick scott. 02/15/18 02/15/18 democracy now! test geraldine thompson, can you respond to what he and other legislators and politicians have said? certainly, there are evil people in our society and there are mentally disturbed people in our society will stop and when you combine a mental instability and readymbine evil with access to guns, that is when it becomes lethal. i think we need to put the focus on what we do abobout restrictig access too guns when we know tht there are elements in our society, when they have a weapon, go on a rampage and harm and kill other individuals. after the pulse nightclub shooting, i asked governor rick scott if we could talk about a special session, convening a special session of the flolorida legislature to t talk about reform. and at that timeme, he said that the issue was isis and itit was not ababout guns, but about isi. so my question was, was sandy hook about isis? was charleston, south carolina, about isis? inhave home grown terrorists the united states of america. and certainly while isis is a threat, we're got to alalso focs on what happens here in this country. and we saw in oklahoma, the bombing of the federal building there, that was a home terrorist. so we can't kind of deflect the focus away from what the real problem is. and that is that we have people who can buy guns without background checks. if the gun is spotted a gun show, if you do spot from a personal individual, then they don't have to go through the background check. and there should be universal background checks. and the people have to take the power to require their leaders. it is about being governed, rather than those who govern. and the people who are governed are saying, we want responsible gun ownership in the united states of america. amy: geraldine thompson, i remember right after the pulse nightclub shooting, there's a news conference that was very dramatic and the governor spoke, among others. as they all left the podium, you got of -- they left and you got up and said, we are going to very serious discussion about reform, he said to him about the governor and you. how do guns come into the hands of violent and u unstable peopl? how is it assault weapons get into the hands of a single individual? how is it the magazines of weapons and bullets usually used in military combat come into our community? i think he had walked off by then. i governor scott, who is expressing his horror yesterday, is also fighting an almost unanimous decision by the florida court, federal feels court last year that said must bein florida allowed to discuss guns with their patients, striking down a portion of a florida law that strips what physicians can say to patients about firearm ownership. it was agenda when decision from the full panel of the court of appeals, finding the law known as the privacy of firearm ownership act, violates the first amendment rights of doctors. the majority decision said florida does not have carte blanche to restrict the speech of doctors and medical professionals on a certain subject without satisfying the demands of heightened security -- heightened scrutiny most of again, the court striking down florida's law barring doctors from discussing guns with patience. rick scott is on the other side of that. law blocksd that versus docs. as well a doctor can ask a patient if he or she has a swimming pool to safeguard children who might be in the home, a doctor was prohibited from asking if that person had a gun. and certainly, doctors have to be able to provide counseling, to provide treatment, whatever is needed, in the context of what is going on in that persons life. and governor rick scott wanted to require people who received food stamps or other public assistance to take drug tests. and that was also struck down by the court. so he is had a lot of positions that have been unconstitutional. and this is another example of that. and he is not addressing at all, as he refused to address after the pulse nightclub shooting, what are we going to do about restricting gun ownership and making sure that there is responsible gun ownership in the state of florida and in the united states? and now he wants to go to the senate of the united states, and we have already seen what he has done here in florida. and as i mentioned, there are no term limits for members of the senate or the u.s. house of representatives. we have term limits for the state house, for the state senate in florida, and the president of the united states has term limits. that individuaual can serve two 4-year-terms only. but you have people who take ownership of the position, and it is about self perpetuation. it is about careerism. in the special interests fund their campaign year after year, so that as the incumbent, there is not a level playing field for an individual who would challenge them. amy: geralaldine thompson, we he to leave it there, but i want to thank you for being with us, former florida democratic state senator who was state senator during the h horrific pulse nightclub shooting in june 2016 where 49 people were killed. as we talk, not even two years later, about yet another horrific shooting. this one at a high school. 18 school shootings since the beginning of this year, not even two months ago. when we come back, josh horwitz choices of the coalition to stop gun violence. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. in florida, 17 people died wednesday in one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. the massacre at the stoneman douglas high school and parkland, florida, was the 18th school shooting this year according to everytown for gun safety. i want to go back to a student speaking to a reporter outside the high school in parkland on wednesday. >> all i know is the kids can inside the room and there were teachers pulling us in and telling us to get in the rooms and be quiet. yeah, we were just ok, i guess. >> [indiscernible] >> my mom. >> how did you feel? >> oh, my god, you don't understand. what a joy. oh come as such a joy. i just hope all of the other kids are ok. amy: we go now to washington, d.c., where we're joined by josh horwitz, executive director of the coalition to s stop gun violence co-author of "guns, , democracy and the insurrectionist idea." you have this communinity in florida. , itsafest city in florida was just rated, the 15th safest city in the country. and yet you see what happens here, happenens all over the country. can you talk about your reaction , what you're calling for now? what the coalition is calling for? >> i think, first, no parent in america should have to go through this. we are seeing this in towns and cities across america. there is no place that is now safe from this type of terrible tragedy. for every parent out there, it is heartbreaking. as a parent myself, you had your kids little tighter. you hope it is not in your school. tragedy thatlute this happens in america. 18 school shootings this year alone. we have seen terrible shootings in the past. i think what we need to do in america is take this seriously. rick scott, the governor, said how can this happen here? it has already happened three times in the last two years in florida. florida has terrible gun laws. they allow people to buy 18 -- 18-year-olds to purchase ar-15, weapons of war. or people who don't know what an ar 15 assault weapon is, it is centerfire rifle, powerful round. addicted attachable-our capacity magazine and has a pistol grip and a barrel shroud. the reason you have a weapon like that is to make sure you can keep your muscle on the target round after round. it is designed to kilill people. the idea that we let these free flow into society is just wrong. the second thing that we are calling for is something calleld a gun violence restraining order. in a numbeber of statetes have recently enactcted this, includg connecticut, california, washington, oregon. givesat that does is it family members and law enforcement the ability to remove a firearm when they feel someone is in crisis, a danger to self or others. and we assume potentially this shooteray have -- the may have passed a background check because they did not have, for instance, a felony conviction. we need to make sure that when people are descending into a crisis, when they are acting violently, when they have all of the inertia that they're going to be violent -- have talked about violence, got into fights, have a storef f weapons s -- tht we have the abilility to collect timeouout and say, whatever isis goingg on, let's get the weapons out of these peoeople's s hands. so wee need these types of laws. we need to make sure that we don't have assault weapons in society, and we need to have the abilility, once someone hasas a weapon like that, to get it out of their hands when they're actiting clearly --- you knonow, showing signs of violence. and we need to do that now. nermeen: surely after the shooting on was the, florida republican senator marco rubio tweeted -- "today is that terrible day you pray never comes." he later tweeted -- "in days ahead will become increasingly evident that killer in today's #floridaschoolshooting gave plenty of indications of what was to come." numerous people on social media responded to rubio's tweets by pointing to an october "new york times" article headlined "thoughts and prayers and nra funding," which revealed rubio has received more than $3 million from the nra. that is the national rifle association of america. speaking to fox news wednesday , rubio said it was premature to talk about gun control since "people don't know how this happened." we hear first t from fox news''s petete doocy. >> some ofof your lleagues i in the senate hear from washington, d.c., have already been trying to make is about policy and gun control. is this the appropriate time to be doing that? >> it is not the only because people -- they don't know how this happened. who this person is, what motivated them, how they got a hold of the weapon that they used for this attack. i think it t is important and al all of that t before you jumumpo conclulusions there e some law t we could have passed that could have prevented it. and there may be, but shouldn't we at least know the facts? have thatu can knows debate, but if you're going have the debate about this particular incident, you should know the facts of that incident before you run out and prescribe some law that you claim could have prevented it. i've seen a lot of that on television. maybe there is a law that could have prevented this instance, but we don't know that and neither do they. nermeen: that is florida senator republican senator marco rubio saying yesterday that we should not jump to conclusions. and also the new york times piece frfrom october just a few months ago pointing to the fact that he has received $3 million, over $3 million, from the nra. josh horwitz, can respond to that? >> look, thought tempers are not enough. if you're not taking action, then you don't care. i was a sitter rubio has two years since the pulse nightclub to do something. he hasn't. even after the incidents is done, he is never stood up and said, we need to do something to stop these killings, we need to do something to reduce ask of gun violence. and here's the bottom line. and i'm talking to the people of florida. if you want this to stop happening, you have to have new leaders. i know people are frustrated with congress. congress is a frustrating place. but there is a chance to make a statement, and that is in november 2018 when we have elections across this country. and we need to make a statement. and that statement has to be, if you don't care about reducing gun violence, then we don't want you in the congress and we don't want you in our state house. that has got to be clear. and voters need to go to the polls ready to elect people who support gun violence prevention laws and ready to get rid of people who don't. and that is how this is going to change. marco rubio is not all of a sudden -- i wish you would, but i don't think he will wake up tomorrow and say, we need to restrict ar-15's work we need a gun violence restraining order for these types of laws. dust not going to do the we n nd leaders.s. amy: what is amazing, the overwhelming number of people across the political spectrum in the united states for morgan control. three of the four laskin control measures were passed. i want to go to the senate floor yesterday where the connecticut democratic senator chris murphy condemned congress is an action in addressing gun violence. >> let me just note once again for my colleagues, this happens nowhere else other than the united states of america. this epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting. it only happens here are not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. we are responsible. -- we are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else. as a parent, it scares me to death that this body does not take seriously the safety of my children. like a lot of parents and self what are going to be asking is in question later today. amy: that is connecticut democratic senator chris murphy, of course, from the state where sandy hook happened where so many children were gunned down in their elementary school. toald trump did not respond the shooting yesterday. he did tweet out early this morning -- "so many signs of the flutter shooter was disturbed, even expelled for bat and erotic behaviors. neighbors and classmates knew." a lot of people talk about american exceptionalism, josh horwitz. your you have murphy saying, we are loan in the industrialized world and having this level of mass shootings that occurred, whether we're talking about mental health or not. your final comments? >> well, the reason is because were the only country, industrialized country, who allows easy access to ar-15's and associated weaponry. i want to address what donald trump said, the president said. and i think it is very disingenuous and way too easy to just play sort of say do something about mental illness. most people with mental illness are never going to be violent. we need to look at the actual indicia of violence and stop stigmatizing people who are mentally ill and start developing tools for law enforcement and parents and ahers for when people are in crisis for whatever reason. and had easy access to firearms, together guns -- to get the guns out of their hands. it is so easy to sort of tossed this into the mental health pile, but that is not going to stop violence. the reason is because most people with mental illness are not going to be violent. but there are people who are stockpiling weapons, acting in a dangerous way. those are the people we need to focus on, and not hide behind a trove of mental illness. we need to focus on the people who are acting dangerously. any car i thank you, josh horwitz, for joinining usus. and d on to clarify, trump tweed yesterday, but did not address the nation pulls of reports are that his aides were advising him to. i want to end with an issue that is so often connected to these mass shootings, and it is violence or harassment of women. remember adam lanza in the sandy hook shooting had killed his mother first. "the new york times is reporting that mr. cruz was obsessed with a girl at the school to the point of stalking her, a point the authorities did not rates and news briefings here the scene. we will continue to cover the aftermatath of this mess killing at the parkland school in -- this mass killing of the parkland school in florida. josh horwitz is executive didirector of the coalition to stop gun violence, author of "guns, democracy and the insurrectionist idea." when we come back, one of the biggest cases of bank redlining. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: a shocking new investigation by reveal and the center for investigative reporting has uncovered evidence that african-americans and latinos are continuing to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts across the country. reveal based its report on a review of 31 million mortgage records filed with the federal government in 2015 and 2016. this is reveal data reporter emmanuel martinez speaking on pbs newshour about the investstigation. >> here we have the likelihood of denial. so b black africans s in phphiladelphia a are almost thre times s as likely y to be denied convnventional mortgagage. reveal found thihis troublining pattern n dozens of citities. philadelphia was one of thee largest. >> in 61 metro's across thehe country, applicants of color are more likely to be denied conventional m mortgage even if they have the same f financial characteristics as a non-hispanic white applicant. amy: the reveal investigation found the redlining occurring across the country including an washington, d.c., atlanta detroit, philadelphia, st. , lolouis, and san antonio. the report is being published as the nation is preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of president lyndonon b. johnson signing the fair housing act in april l of 1968. >> the voioice of justice speaks again. it proclaimsms that are housing beings whol human live in this country, is now a partrt of the american way of life. amy: we are joined by two guests. aaron glantz is a senior reporter at reveal from the center for investigative reporting. his new investigation is headlined, "kept out: how banks block peopople of color from homeownership." and we're joined by rachelle faroul, a 33-year-old african-american woman who was rejected twice by lenders when she e tried to buy a brick row house in philadelphia, where reveal found african americans were 2.7 times as likely as whites to be denied a conventional mortgage.e. she was only able to buyuy a hoe whenen her half white partner signed on. her party was working part-time at a grocery store. we welcome you both to democracy now! first of all, explain what redlining is and then help african-americans and latinos are cap doubt, why this is such a critical story today. -- kept out, why this is such a critical story today. >> 80 years ago, the federal government to lines on maps. amy: w we seem to have lost aarn for a moment the little satellite glitch. so why don't we go right off to 10 has the codes. he talked about the legacy of redlining during an appearance on democracy now! a few years ago, the significance of what this means for the black and latino unity. >> therere's no way to understad housing as it exists today without heher policycy. blblack people, at the time, cod not be -- - the fha literally dw up the redlining map and then basically -- from zurich, the homeowners act and then distributed debates use it as policy to determine how they would lend and who they would lend to. the racism was pervasive and total. the fact that african-americans haven't cut out of it is not shocking to understand the country was in the 1 10's anand the 191940's. as you know, homes are how people in america build wealth largely. if you cap black people out of that opportunity am a a lot is excited about what the african-american community looks like today. rachelle faroul metellus her story. you managed a million dollar grant in your job at the university of pennsylvania, contractor with rutgers university. twtwo lenders turned you down wn you try to buy a home? >> yes. thank you so much for having me. i started my homeownership journey in 2016. soon after i moved to philadelphia from brooklyn where i was bornrn and raised. propertyted to own collect my mom and many ofof her siblblings and their parents. and from the beginning, it was just so difficult for me to make this happen. it is not to say that i am at all surprised, as an organizer, someone who is very well read and well versed in all of the ways that black people in americica can disenfranchise routinely over the years, i was more hurt than surprised. it really was not until my ak, who identifies as asian and noto half white, co-borrowers my borrowe ththat things were smooth saili. as in a she came on, was largely ignored in all that mattered was my money. that is unfortunate, not the experience of a large e number f black people who tryry to buy homes in ameririca. denied us are routinely obligations -- our are rejected. rent.e to continually they don't care about our well-being. and to really consider or value the ways in which we help them crew wealth. nermeen: could you talk about how it is, i mean, you tried on two different occasions to get the loan. how does the loan officers treat you and how do they treat your partner? >> sure. so in 2016 when i ststarted this process by myself, i had all of the paperwork. i had my tax returns -- which i do every year. at that time, i was freelancing and was told i needed to have more steady income because so mumuch of mymy income atat the e was undocumented. to the extent i was being paid cash or a was them being paid reregularly, and they told me i needed to have a full-time job. i then asked if it was possible , ande to have a cosigner they said yes. i asked my mom puts up she said yes right away because this has been just as much a dream for her as it has been for me. and we were rejected right away. y from fha told us that the reason why my mom could not be a cosigner was because she had too much studenenloan debt frorom her phd, from my bachelors and alsosoor him myy brotother. inmom has been incredible helping me stay afloat, my brother and i come over the years. it was really hurtful. at that time i was mostly huhurt for her because she wanteted toe able to support her child, in this impactful and powerful way, and was told she could not. i left it at t that. , where iull-time job still work managing a lalae grant at penn. about a year later, asserted the process again with the homeownership services, for recocoverable loanan offered -- forgivabable loan offered to pen in place. i expensed difficulty again. it was overall, i was a come as you u really getting processss. at one that was also really beauautiful inin a w because all of the people who o showed up fr me, including the entire team at the cecenter for investigatitive , , my friend,d, my colleagues. folks s really undererstood the ,eaning of what is happening and did as much as they cocouldo support me in my journey. so whihile this has been, and still is -- months a after this close, this has been a reckoning. again -- amy: so you only got it when hanako sign on with you? >> yeses. it is kind of ridiculous. it i is something we still laugh about. co-borrower applilication was approved when her credit score was in the 700s and -- that is what matattered mosost. for whatever reason, what did not matter at all is that hanako was working part-time at a grocery store. her most recent pay stub was like $115. i was hoping her pay for health insurance because she is such little cash. amy: before we get to the end of the show, we want to bring aaron glantz and. although, i think we just have you on the telephone because of the satellite glitch. but explain what redlining is and why this is such an important expose. earlier, said president lyndon johnson signed the fair housing act in 1968, anand th w was supposesed to mae mortgage discrimination illegal. it w was supposed to allow peope to build wealth no matter whahat their race was. it was supposed to end segregation. what we found in our investigation 50 years later, is that in dozens of f cities acros the country, people of color are still being tuturned away from e opportunity to live the american dream. and further, we found a government is completely dropping the ball on its enforcement of these e laws. wewe found the obama administration had sued only a banks for violating the fair housing act in his first year in office, the trump at administration, justice department, did not sue a single financial institution. and the office of comptroller of the currency, which is in charge of enforcing another law called the community reinvestment act, which is supposed to get banks to l ld in low-income communities and ununderserved theseorhoods, was passing institutions on the community lending reviews, 99 point -- 99% of the time. so the government is saying that everyone in the banking and mortgage industry is doing a fantastic job, yet we found across the country, people of color are being turned away even when they make the same amount of money as whites, even when they're try to take on the samee size loan n as whitetes, and evn when they'rere trying to buy in the same neighborhood as whites. amy: and you found that philadelphia, where rachelle faroul is, was particularly egregious. >> we found in philadelphia, african americans were 2.7 times more likely to be turned away for a loan, even when you take into account factors that loan officers should be using like income. that race is still a factor even taking into account income in the size of the loan. philadelphia study only city we found this problem. atlanta,it in washington, d.c., in san antonio, texas, and detroit, michigan, and santa fe, new mexico, and tacoma, washington -- all over the country. 61 metropolitan areas. amy: we have to leave it there, but we will link to our peace "kept out" and thank you