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Protests in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray have entered their fifth day. The 27-year-old African-American man died Sunday from spinal injuries, one week after Baltimore police arrested him. His family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was "80 percent severed at his neck." A preliminary autopsy report showed Gray died of a spinal injury. Video shot by a bystander shows Gray screaming in apparent agony as police drag him to a van. Another witness said the police bent Gray like a pretzel. While the police union has described the protesters as a lynch mob, former Black Panther Eddie Conway says Gray is the one who was lynched. "There was a lynch mob. There is a body. There was a death without a trial, without a jury, without a sentence. There was an execution. That’s lynching," Conway says. "They’re blaming the victims. They’re blaming people that suffered the lynching for protesting."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We begin today’s show in Baltimore, where protests over the death of Freddie Gray have entered their fifth day. The 27-year-old African-American man died Sunday from spinal injuries, one week after Baltimore police arrested him. His family and attorney say his voice box was crushed and his spine was, quote, "80 percent severed at his neck." A preliminary autopsy report showed Gray died of a spinal injury. Video shot by a bystander shows Gray screaming in apparent agony as police drag him to a van. You can hear a bystander’s voice.
BYSTANDER: His leg looks broke! Look at his f—ing leg! Look at his f—ing leg! That boy’s leg looks broke! His leg’s broken! Y’all dragging him like that!
AMY GOODMAN: Another witness said the police bent Freddie Gray like a pretzel. Gray was then held inside a police van for 30 minutes. Police said, quote, "During transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to Shock Trauma via medic."
The Department of Justice is now investigating Gray’s death for possible civil rights violations. Since 2011, Baltimore has paid roughly $6.3 million to settle police misconduct claims. Baltimore authorities say five of the six officers involved in the arrest of Gray have now given statements to the Baltimore police. One has not. They remain suspended with pay. Baltimore police union attorney Michael Davey told reporters the officers were right to chase Gray after he ran away when a lieutenant "made eye contact" with him.
MICHAEL DAVEY: They pursued Mr. Gray. They detained him for an investigative stop. Had he not had a knife or an illegal weapon on him, he would have been released. They know what role they played in the arrest of Mr. Gray. What we don’t know and what we’re hoping the investigation will tell us is what happened inside the back of the van. He was placed in the transport van. Whether he was seat-belted in, I don’t believe he was. Our position is: Something happened in that van; we just don’t know what.
REPORTER: Do you think any of the six officers committed a crime that day?
MICHAEL DAVEY: No.
REPORTER: Unequivocally. And what makes you say that?
MICHAEL DAVEY: Based on the information that I know, no.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, on Wednesday, our next guest spoke with residents of the Gilmor Homes housing project in West Baltimore, where Freddie Gray was arrested, including one woman who says she witnessed officers loading him into the back of a police van. In a minute, we’ll be joined by our guest, Eddie Conway of The Real News Network, but first, this is a clip of his interview.
EDDIE CONWAY: How are you doing? I’m Eddie Conway.
TAMIKA: Hi, I’m Tamika.
EDDIE CONWAY: OK.
JACQUELINE JACKSON: And I’m Jacqueline Jackson. I seen it.
EDDIE CONWAY: Yeah.
JACQUELINE JACKSON: I live 1628 Mountmor Court. My kitchen faces Mount Street.
EDDIE CONWAY: OK.
JACQUELINE JACKSON: The paddy wagon was right there. They took the young man out, beat him some more. The man wasn’t responding. They took him by his pants, and he was dragged. And I asked them to call an ambulance. They told me to mind my business. I told them it is my business. And they just threw him up in there. They boy wasn’t hollering or nothing. And he wasn’t hollering or nothing. How can you holler if you ain’t saying nothing? They killed that young man. They killed him.
AMY GOODMAN: Eddie Conway of The Real News Network interviewing residents of the Gilmor Homes housing project where Freddie Gray was arrested. He was there last night when protesters [calling] for justice in his case marched again. And he joins us now in Baltimore. Eddie Conway is executive producer of The Real News Network, also a former Black Panther leader in Baltimore, Maryland, who was released from prison last year after serving 44 years for a murder he denies committing. We spoke to him last March, just 24 hours after he was released.
We’re also joined by Dominique Stevenson, who was arrested at last night’s protest in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray. She is program director for the American Friends Service Committee’s Friend of a Friend Program, which fosters the peaceful resolution of conflict and promotes reconciliation and healing inside Maryland’s criminal justice system. She’s also co-author of Eddie Conway’s memoir, Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther.
Dominique, let’s begin with you. Can you explain why you were protesting yesterday and how you got arrested?
DOMINIQUE STEVENSON: Well, I was protesting because this is—there’s a history in Baltimore of not so much police shootings, but people being beaten to death by the police. There is a long history. I feel that I needed to be there with the community. We have for some time been doing work in Gilmor Homes housing project, and I wanted to, you know, be there to stand in solidarity with the community. I was arrested because at some point a young woman, Michaela Price, decided to commit civil disobedience. She’s 17 years old. I, one, did not want, or even trust, her being in police custody alone, and so I came over the barrier to accompany her.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Dominique, the state of Maryland also has the highest—sorry, Baltimore has the highest rate of incarceration in the state of Maryland. Could you connect that to the action that you took and to what happened to Freddie Gray?
DOMINIQUE STEVENSON: Yes. One, if you look at statistics, that particular neighborhood—Sandtown-Winchester is the neighborhood in Baltimore—has actually the highest incarceration rate in the state. And you cannot disconnect that rate of incarceration from the style of aggressive policing that takes place. We’ve talked to many young men. OK, of course, there’s crime in that community. There are no jobs in that community. There is no economic development happening in that community. But the other issue is the harassment of police, the unnecessary detainment of police. People don’t know what Freddie Gray’s history may have been with those folks that he saw and why making eye contact simply made him run. And so I think that we really need to take a look at how policing is done in Baltimore. It cannot be disconnected from our high incarceration rate. Black folks make up almost 80 percent of the total population in the Maryland prison system, yet we comprise about 28 percent of the population in the state.
AMY GOODMAN: Eddie Conway, you were interviewing people in the area. We just saw you talking to a witness. This issue of there being video of Freddie Gray in the takedown, when they are dragging him over to the—or trying to carry him over to the police van, it looks like he cannot move. Yesterday, the police union spokesperson—attorney, said, "Oh, you know, that’s what these perps do. They have to be dragged because they won’t walk." Can you respond to this, based on what you heard from witnesses?
EDDIE CONWAY: Yes, and I interviewed perhaps 30 people from that community that was in that area or either heard the incident or witnessed the incident. The incident actually occurred under one of the police cameras that has been operating for years in that community, and they have been using that camera to make numerous drug arrests over the years. And for some reason, that day, that camera did not work. It would have been directly over Freddie Gray’s head. It would have recorded everything that took place.
One of the things that people say, that one of the police dropped down on his back, on his neck with his knee, and from that point on, he was incapacitated. And later, they even took him back out of the van and shackled his legs and did something else to him and threw him back in the van. So, as far as all the witnesses can tell and all of them report, that he was already fatally injured when they put him in, in the first place. That video that we saw with them dragging him to the van, he was already incapacitated.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And has anyone, Eddie Conway, given an exclamation for why that camera didn’t work that day?
EDDIE CONWAY: No one knows why that camera didn’t work. Everybody in the community says that that camera has been used consistently over the years to lock people up, and used for evidence in drug arrests and other arrests. One of the things is, and I guess I want to raise this issue, when is it a crime for a man to run somewhere? People run throughout the city all the time. People are constantly running. So, you get executed because you run?
AMY GOODMAN: Now, can you clarify, for people who haven’t been following this case? The police union attorney yesterday said, in a high crime area, yes, you can arrest someone if they simply run. And no one alleges anything other than that Freddie Gray ran. What about this?
EDDIE CONWAY: Well, it’s not a high-crime area. It is a "broken windows" police area in which people and residents in that area are arrested for sitting on their own steps. They are loitering in their own community, on their own steps, and they’re harassed constantly. And this had been the reports that I have received. The Real News and myself and Friend of a Friend, we have been going down in that area trying to establish a relationship with the people in that area. And one of the things that they said is that they’re not even allowed to sit out in the area on their steps, even though they live there. The police will come and harass them. That level of harassment causes verbal responses. It causes physical contact. It causes people to be arrested. And before you know it, they have an arrest record, even as—I’m talking 10-, 11-, 12-, 13-year-old juveniles. And they end up in the prison system. And that’s why that becomes the high-crime system—the high-crime area.
AMY GOODMAN: A statement—
EDDIE CONWAY: Go ahead. I’m sorry.
AMY GOODMAN: A statement from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, Baltimore’s police union, compared the protesters calling for justice in the death of Freddie Gray to a "lynch mob." During a news conference Wednesday, reporters questioned the union’s president about the comparison.
REPORTER 1: I just was reading the statement you all just handed out to us just now. And just reading it, the tone, I mean, it says that the images on TV look and sound much like a lynch mob. Are you—I mean, what do you—how do you expect that to be received?
MICHAEL DAVEY: I haven’t seen that. I haven’t—
GENE RYAN: I put that, because they’ve already tried and convicted the officers, and that’s just unfair. They still get their day in court. They did not give up their constitutional rights when they became a law enforcement officer. That’s what I was getting at with that. Some of the protesters and some of the stuff I’ve been watching on the news, they want them put in prison. Well, they haven’t been charged, number one. Number two, they still get their day in court. So how can they request that they be put in jail? We haven’t even got to that process yet. The investigation has to be completed before we move forward.
REPORTER 1: Right, but are you concerned with the tone of the statement at all?
GENE RYAN: No, because I was quite offended by some of the things that were being said yesterday. Me, personally. That’s coming from me. That didn’t come from Mike and the law firm. That’s coming—that’s—
REPORTER 2: But it says—this says it comes from the Fraternal Order of Police.
GENE RYAN: Yes. That’s—I’m the president.
REPORTER 2: So are you likening these citizens protesting in this rally to a lynch mob, specifically?
GENE RYAN: Well, let’s put it this way: If they’re tried, convicted, and they would have put them in jail, where’s the due process with that?
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Gene Ryan, the police union president. Dominique Stevenson, this likening to a lynch mob. Yesterday, you did get arrested. You went over the barrier. What is your reaction to the police union president?
DOMINIQUE STEVENSON: Well, actually, if you take a look at what happened to Freddie Gray, he was tried, convicted and executed. And so, I resent likening people who are simply protesting and demonstrating and responding to a situation that was extremely unjust in their community to a lynch mob. As a person of African descent and understanding the history of lynching in this country, I find that statement offensive. I think that people are very frustrated because this is not the first time that this situation has occurred in Baltimore. I think that people have spent years of seeing these situations occur. People have experienced police brutality on so many levels, whether it’s witnessing the mistreatment of loved ones or community members or experiencing it firsthand. There were so many people in the community yesterday who were willing to come up and talk about their experiences with the police, that this is something that has been so harmful to black communities across the country, but particularly here in Baltimore. So I think that it is—basically, it’s a statement designed to garner attention and to garner a response. I think that people have a right to protest. They should continue to do that. But along with that, we need to really begin to organize. We need to take control of how policing is done in our communities. And that will begin to resolve some of the problems.
AMY GOODMAN: Dominique Stevenson, we want to thank you for being with us.
EDDIE CONWAY: And—
AMY GOODMAN: Eddie, I’d like to ask you to wait for one moment, because you’ll be staying with us.
EDDIE CONWAY: OK.
AMY GOODMAN: Eddie Conway with the Baltimore-based Real News Network. We are also going to be joined by the former president of the Baltimore City Council. This is Democracy Now! Major protests planned for today in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray. He was taken down by police on April 12th. He died on April 19th. His family and lawyers say 80 percent of his—that 80 percent of his spine was severed. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Our guests are—well, Eddie Conway is continuing with us right now. Eddie Conway is an executive producer for The Real News Network, former prisoner. He was in prison for more than 40 years. Lawrence Bell is also with us now, former president of the Baltimore City Council. He represents West Baltimore, which is the area where Freddie Gray was arrested.
So we’re going through the facts as we know them. On April 12th, Freddie Gray was arrested by police. It is not clear why. His family, his attorney said he was arrested for running while black. No one contends anything other than he was running and they arrested him. They then drag him into the police van. The police union attorney said that could be because he was resisting. What the witnesses around him are saying is that he looked like he could not move. He could not use his legs, and he was yelling. He is put into this van. At least 30—or was it 40?—minutes before any kind of medical or medics were called. He would be in the hospital for a week. He died on April 19th, last Sunday. Five of the six police who were involved have given statements; one has refused to. They’ve all been put on leave with pay.
Lawrence Bell, how typical is this? What are you most concerned about right now as the former president of the Baltimore City Council?
LAWRENCE BELL: Well, first of all, I want to say it’s good to be here, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this subject. Unfortunately, Baltimore has had a long history, a very long history, of these kinds of incidents going on. And I think, really, what’s changed here in Baltimore, as well as around the country, is that we live in an age where there’s technology and people have cellphone smartphones, where they have cameras. Years ago, I remember, over 20 years ago, I was one of the people that led the struggle to try to get civilian review, strong civilian review, here in a city of Baltimore. And that’s something that has been resisted for many, many years. And I think it’s because there has been a camaraderie within the police department, kind of a "stop snitching" mentality among police.
AMY GOODMAN: Misconduct settlements involving Baltimore police officers have cost the city more than $6 million since 2011. One victim, Barbara Floyd, told The Baltimore Sun that a detective ground her face into the concrete in 2009.
BARBARA FLOYD: I stood by the tree outside of my door with my back facing the street. All of a sudden, I feel arms around my neck. So I was struggling, because I didn’t know who it was. Yeah, I was screaming, when I could, "Get off of me! Leave me alone! Why are you all doing this?" They never answered my questions. They don’t answer your questions. All they do is tell you to shut the hell up.
NARRATION: In March 2009, Barbara Floyd was watching a disturbance outside her home when, she said, a police officer grabbed her.
BARBARA FLOYD: He put another leg in the small of my back. He was grinding my face into the pavement. He kept telling me to lay down. I was already down.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Barbara Floyd. She received a settlement for $30,000. So you’re the former president of the Baltimore City Council, Lawrence Bell.
LAWRENCE BELL: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: More than $6 million for police misconduct over the last few years. Now, you weren’t president during that time, but can you talk about this?
LAWRENCE BELL: Yeah, I mean, this has been going on for a number of years. And what’s interesting is that the problem in Baltimore, I believe, became exacerbated in the early 2000s, when former Mayor Martin O’Malley began the zero-tolerance policy. And what happened is that basically, you know, they’d been arresting people for petty nuisance crimes, petty things, more arrests, more arrests, and there’s been a devaluation of black life. And so, these things have happened. Now, one thing to note is that many of the settlements back over the several years occurred outside of the public meeting setting in the—at the Board of Estimates in Baltimore, so you didn’t have a great groundswell of talk about it, because a lot of it wasn’t really out in the public view as it is today. But this has been going on for a while.
And I think that it just speaks to the need for change. We need civilian review. We need a different attitude within the police department. We need a better attitude in the whole city. And I think, as I said earlier, we need to have jobs in these communities. You know, something that’s concerned me is that, not only in Baltimore, but around the country, even among a lot of the black leaders, we’ve heard them talk about the issue of police misconduct, but we haven’t talked about the ways that black lives are minimized when we are economically depressed and more money is going into prisons, building prisons, than has gone into jobs in places like Sandtown in Baltimore.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Lawrence Bell, what is your response to the way that the mayor has responded to what’s happened? Both the mayor and the police commissioner in Baltimore are African-American, and some have pointed out that this means their response has been much better than what it was, for example, in Ferguson after what happened with Michael Brown.
LAWRENCE BELL: Well, I think the mayor is sincere. I think that there’s still a problem with a lot of leadership, even black leadership, being out of touch with the people on the ground. You know, there’s an emotion that people feel, and that has to be recognized. And I think the mayor and the commissioner, number one, they need to move a lot faster. I mean, we know that there was a certain number of people on the scene when this incident occurred. It shouldn’t be—take rocket science to determine something went wrong. And we need answers a lot faster, a lot quicker. And the length of time that this is taking is the thing that’s really inflaming the passions of the people in the community. So I think that the mayor should do a lot more, a lot faster.
I think that—again, as I said earlier, some years ago there was a video in Baltimore called Stop Snitchin’, and it talked about people in the drug arena snitching on one another. But here’s the thing. Police, apparently, have a mentality of "stop snitching" among themselves, not only in Baltimore, but around the country. And that’s what people are upset about, the whole idea that there’s cover-up and that we know these kinds of things have happened for years, years. And I think if you interview some police officers who are honest, maybe people who are retired, they’ll tell you that this goes on all the time. So, we need to have a whole change. We also need to recruit more African Americans on the police force, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: Billy Murphy, the attorney for the Gray family, says police brutality is a pervasive problem in Baltimore.
LAWRENCE BELL: Absolutely.
BILLY MURPHY: And Baltimore has a sorry history of police brutality and an even sorrier history in terms of a governmental response to police brutality. Typically, the police deny, deny, deny, no matter what the facts are. And it is not unusual for them to promote the police officer, even after he’s been found guilty of brutality. We had one case—I handled this—where we got a $44 million verdict against a police officer who rammed my client into the brick wall at the back of his holding cell and paralyzed him from the neck down.
CNN HOST: Oh, my goodness.
BILLY MURPHY: That police officer was promoted to sergeant, after the verdict against him. And the city refused to pay and made us appeal at every level. So we had to go to the Court of Special Appeals, the Court of Appeals.
CNN HOST: Yeah.
BILLY MURPHY: We won in all of the appellate courts. And still they wouldn’t pay the verdict. So, it’s a sorry, sorry situation.
AMY GOODMAN: Family attorney Billy Murphy speaking on CNN. On Tuesday, Michigan Democratic Congressmember John Conyers reintroduced a bill to curb racial profiling and provide relief to profiling victims. Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland introduced a companion bill in the Senate. During a news conference, Congressman Conyers cited the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
REP. JOHN CONYERS: All lives matter. All lives matter. And I’m thinking now of Sean Bell, Kimani Gray, Oscar Grant, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and now, sadly, Freddie Gray. And so, all of these African-American young men were killed at the hands of local police officers. Ultimately, they are tragic examples of the risk of racial profiling and the use of excessive force.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Congressmember John Conyers after reintroducing a bill against racial profiling. Lawrence Bell, would you call stopping a man while he’s running is racial profiling? Again, the police union attorney said yesterday in the news conference that if they’re running in a high-crime area, that’s cause enough. Now, I was just watching on television Leonard Hamm, the former police chief of Baltimore, being interviewed, and he said, "No"—he was the former police chief. He said, "No, running is not enough." Lawrence Bell, your thoughts?
LAWRENCE BELL: Well, I think these people need to study the law, because there is a concept of probable cause that exists. And I think it’s absurd to say that somebody simply running, after they make eye contact with a police officer, is probable cause. So it makes you wonder, really, you know, where are these people being trained, and where do they get this mentality. And I’ll tell you something. Quite honestly, there is a question of how they perceive black men. The perception of black men and the value of black men is on display right now, when we see these kinds of incidents go on. So, I think that that’s something we need to deal with right away.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Eddie Conway, we’d like to get your comments on the clip that we played earlier of the police union president, Gene Ryan, likening the protesters to a lynch mob. Could you comment on that?
EDDIE CONWAY: You know, as a journalist and a reporter, I have to question the language. I mean, a lynching did occur: Freddie Gray was lynched. There was a lynch mob. There is a body. There was a death without a trial, without a jury, without a sentence. There was an execution. That’s lynching. So, for anybody to say that people that exercise their First Amendment right to protest, to demand justice, to demand an investigation, is a lynch mob, it’s 1984. It’s doublespeak. They are blaming the victims. They’re blaming people that suffered the lynching, for protesting about the lynching, about their behavior. And I think that is—I mean, they do not serve and protect the citizens of the community, the people that pay them, when they kill those citizens and then, in turn, accuse those citizens of acting out of order, and arresting those citizens for protesting the violence that they inflict upon the citizens. That’s absurd.
AMY GOODMAN: There is a big difference in the way North Charleston, South Carolina, dealt with the killing of Walter Scott and what’s happening today. A police officer was arrested. The mayor and the police chief went to see the family of the Scotts to give their condolences. Now, I understand the Baltimore mayor did call the family to visit them, and they said it wasn’t the time to do that. But on the issue—and I wanted to put this question to Lawrence Bell—of these six police officers, they have all been suspended with pay. Five have given statements; one has not. There’s been very little information released. There’s an internal investigation. There’s a Justice Department investigation. There are a few others, apparently. What do you feel—and I’ll put this question to both of you—needs to be done now? Apparently, the state will be releasing Freddie Gray’s body soon.
LAWRENCE BELL: Well, there needs to be some finality in terms of the investigation. It has to happen a lot faster. We do—you know, we even have—doctors here at Johns Hopkins University have already said that the kind of injury that Mr. Gray suffered had to occur from—well, it had to be a very strong contact that he had with somebody, it seems to say. And so, you know, we don’t—we’re not rocket scientists. We don’t need to study this forever to come up with certain conclusions. We need to have the statements that were made by the police officers released. We need to know everything that happened right away. We need to—we need speed here. We need to know what has happened. And we need to have some people charged. And I’ll tell you, when you have people who are suspended but are still getting paid, that’s the kind of thing that really inflames the passions of the people. And they feel that there’s a two-tiered justice system: There’s one for police; there’s a different one for just regular citizens.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally—
EDDIE CONWAY: Yeah, and I would add that if any other citizen or any other six citizens had been involved in the death of another citizen, they would all be in central booking. They would all be up for bail hearings. They would all be at least investigated in that kind of manner. They wouldn’t be receiving paid vacation. So there’s a double standard here in terms of the lives of citizens.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you for being with us. Of course, we’ll continue to follow this. More than a thousand people are expected in protests today in Baltimore. Eddie Conway, executive producer of The Real News Network, a former prisoner for more than 40 years. Lawrence Bell, former Baltimore City Council president, represented West Baltimore, which is an area where Freddie Gray was arrested.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’ll talk about Saudi Arabia bombing Yemen. Red Cross is calling it a "catastrophe." Stay with us.
Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck the Yemeni cities of Aden and Ibb early today despite a claim by Riyadh that it had ended the military operation known as Operation Decisive Storm. Saudi Arabia and nine Arab allies began bombing Yemen on March 25. The United States provided intelligence and logistical support for the attacks and accelerated the sale of new weapons to its Gulf allies. Earlier this week, the United States deployed two additional warships off the coast of Yemen. The bombing began after Houthi rebels seized control of the capital Sana’a last year and deposed President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the humanitarian situation in Yemen is "catastrophic." We speak to Toby Jones, associate professor of history and director of Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck the Yemeni cities of Aden and Ibb early today, despite a claim by Riyadh that it had ended the military operation known as Decisive Storm. Saudi Arabia and nine Arab allies began bombing Yemen on March 25th. The United States provided intelligence and logistical support for the attacks and accelerated the sale of new weapons to its Gulf allies. Earlier this week, the United States deployed two additional warships off the coast of Yemen. The bombing began after Houthi rebels seized control of the capital Sana’a last year and deposed President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the humanitarian situation in Yemen is "catastrophic." Following a brief visit to Yemen, the regional director of the ICRC, Robert Mardini, told reporters the collateral damage wrought on civilian life was absolutely shocking.
ROBERT MARDINI: The conflict in Yemen is in dire need for a political solution. We encourage that to happen. But in the meantime, the humanitarian situation is worsening by the day and, in certain location, is really catastrophic. We urge all the parties to take every precautions to protect women, men and children. We call on them once again to facilitate desperately needed, impartial humanitarian action.
AMY GOODMAN: Human Rights Watch has said it appears Saudi Arabia may have deliberately bombed a humanitarian aid warehouse run by Oxfam that contained supplies to facilitate access to clean water for thousands of families in Saada. Oxfam said it had given the coalition forces the building’s exact coordinates to keep it from being targeted. Human Rights Watch said, quote, "Serious violations of the laws of war committed with criminal intent—that is, are deliberate or reckless—are war crimes." On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. said his country had achieved its mission in Yemen. This is Adel al-Jubeir.
ADEL AL-JUBEIR: We destroyed their air force. We destroyed their ballistic missiles, as far as we know. We destroyed their command and control. We destroyed much, if not most, of their heavy equipment. And we made it very difficult for them to move, from a strategic perspective. So we’ve degraded their capabilities substantially, and thereby eliminated the threat that they pose to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, in a process, ensured the safety of our borders, our territory and our citizens. That was the objective of Operation Decisive Storm, in addition, of course, to the protection of the legitimate government of Yemen. Those objectives have been achieved.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Toby Jones, associate professor of history and director of Middle East studies at Rutgers University, author of Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia. Jones was previously the International Crisis Group’s political analyst of the Persian Gulf.
So, let’s start with Operation Decisive Storm—obviously sounds just like Operation Desert Storm. Toby Jones, can you talk about what Saudi Arabia is doing right now in Yemen, with U.S. support?
TOBY JONES: Well, Adel al-Jubeir said it very well, right? The Saudis are interested in destroying and degrading Yemen’s military capacity, particularly those of the Houthis. But they have a series of mixed objectives that we shouldn’t be persuaded by. One is the stated claim that they want to protect their borders in any threat to Saudi Arabia. The reality is, the Houthis have never represented a threat to Saudi Arabia, and they still don’t, even though they enjoy control over much of Yemen. And the other is to restore the legitimate government of President Hadi. In reality, Hadi was—his position in power was orchestrated by the Saudi and the GCC after the Arab uprisings.
I mean, the bottom line is this: Yemen has long been the backyard of Saudi Arabia. It’s a deeply impoverished place that the Saudis believe they should assert political authority in, that they should influence outcomes. The fact that they’ve been challenged on the southern border is troubling, but it’s also because Yemen is fairly easy for them to intervene in. We’ve seen no resistance in the region. This is something that the Saudis can carry out with very little punishment or accountability, and carry on and declare an end to it when they like.
Reality on the ground is they’ve accomplished very little. The Houthis have retained political authority. They’re even operating in Aden, which the Saudis said they hoped to preempt. It’s not clear what they’ve accomplished. They’ve declared victory, but they’ve done little more than actually kill almost a thousand Yemenis and degrade what was already, you know, a troubled infrastructure and environment.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, the Saudis say that they’ve now changed—the new phase of operations is called Renewal of Hope. Toby Jones, could you respond to the repeated claims by the Saudis and others that the Iranians are supporting the Houthis and that’s what’s forced Saudi Arabia to intervene in this way?
TOBY JONES: Well, there’s no clear coordination between Iran and the Houthis. Let’s be clear: There’s absolutely no evidence that Iran is operating on the ground in Yemen or that it’s directing orders to the Houthi rebels. The Saudis have done a masterful job in the last month, and even before that, dating back to last fall when the Houthis began their march out of northern Yemen toward the south, in repackaging what the Houthis are up to as part of a regional sectarian problem. But the reality is that Yemen has been a deeply fractured place for quite a long time, and the Houthis have asserted and demanded their right to be equal participants in a federal political order. They’ve been historically marginalized. The Saudis have ignored all of this and have sort of pushed through a narrative that suggests that something more nefarious, conspiratorial and regional is at work. And I think we can measure Saudi Arabia’s political and military intervention in terms of success and failure. They’ve accomplished very little on the ground other than to break things. But the fact that they’ve helped frame and convince the Western media, Western policymakers and many folks who might be casual observers that the Houthis are Iranian agents is a form of success, even though it’s not true.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to a clip from Tuesday’s State Department briefing. A reporter asked deputy spokesperson Marie Harf for evidence that Iran is supporting the Houthis.
REPORTER: White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration has evidence that Iranians are supplying weapons and other support—
MARIE HARF: Correct.
REPORTER: —formal support to Houthis. What kind of evidence does the administration have? Can you update us?
MARIE HARF: Well, we’ve—this isn’t something new, unfortunately. We’ve long talked about the support when it comes from funding or whether it’s weapons supplies that the Iranians are sending to the Houthi. This has been really an ongoing relationship for a very long time. I’m happy to see if there’s more evidence to share publicly of that, but this has been something we’ve expressed concern about for some time.
AMY GOODMAN: Toby Jones, can you respond to the State Department on this point? And also talk about the role of the U.S. right now.
TOBY JONES: Well, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there are Iranian weapons circulating amongst the Houthis. Right? I mean, the Iranians are opportunists. I mean, we don’t want to whitewash Tehran’s interests or objective in asserting its own hegemony in the region. I mean, it’s involved in all kinds of places. But this is rather thin grounds on which to claim that there’s some—that there’s some widespread cooperation or coordination between Tehran and what’s going on in North Yemen. Right? I mean, if we want to make the claim that rebels or militants operating with one country’s weapons across the Middle East is a sign of coordination, then what do we make of al-Qaeda and ISIS using American weapons captured in the battlefield or having been supplied by Saudi Arabia and others in Syria and Iraq and Yemen? I mean, this is a dubious claim that obscures more than it clarifies.
As far as the American role goes, the Americans view Yemen as a Saudi backyard, and they’re going to defer to the Saudis here. I mean, there’s lots of geopolitical sort of moving parts here, as well. While the Americans are chipping away on a nuclear arrangement with Iran, they understand and they’re very clear that the Saudis are uncomfortable with all of that. So they’re making concessions on Yemen, because it’s easy for the Americans to do so, providing small-scale cover and other kinds of material support, including putting warships close by the Port of Aden and elsewhere. I mean, this is simply a matter of the Americans making choices about where they can support the Saudis and where they can oppose them elsewhere, or at least where they can work at odds with them.
Yemen is and has for a long time been the most deeply impoverished place in the Middle East. But it has also been a political football in the region that the Saudis and the Americans have kicked around. This is a place where we talk about catastrophe and the environmental and humanitarian consequences of the recent campaign. This is not new in Yemen. Very little has been done to address it. And in spite of all of that, the U.S. has almost always pursued Yemen as a place to drop bombs and to target what they call militants. And with that in mind, it’s easy for them to support the Saudis, who are claiming to do the same thing.
AMY GOODMAN: The significance of the Houthis now calling for negotiation? What do you think needs to happen, Toby Jones?
TOBY JONES: Well, I think the Houthis have long called for a political settlement and negotiation. I mean, think back to late last summer when they began moving out of the north and into the south, when they converged on Sana’a and pushed Hadi out of office. The Houthis were calling for, you know, a bigger negotiating table, a greater presence, real accommodation for various political demands from around the country. The Houthis aren’t the only ones who have put pressure on Sana’a’s old central government. Pressure has come from the south, it’s come from tribal confederations, all of whom have suggested that the political dialogue, the national discussion, about the post-Arab-uprising political rapprochement that was necessary, had been a deeply flawed process. The Houthis didn’t call for war, and they coordinated closely with actors on the ground. They’re the ones who were being attacked, even though they’re the ones who have been calling for a political settlement to a deeply broken system all along. The fact that the Saudis have recast this in a language that the Houthis are the villains and the ones acting dangerously is remarkable, as is the fact that the Saudis can drop bombs while calling it a humanitarian mission. In reality—I mean, in many ways, it’s a play straight from the American playbook.
AMY GOODMAN: And the Red Cross is calling it a humanitarian catastrophe. Ten seconds, Toby.
TOBY JONES: Well, it is a humanitarian catastrophe. But Yemen was already in a state of humanitarian catastrophe, with hundreds of thousands being internally displaced. This is a place that has rapidly run out of water. It has very little in the way of natural resources. The Saudis are just making a bad situation worse.
AMY GOODMAN: Toby Jones, we want to thank you for being with us, associate professor of history and director of Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University, author of Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia, previously worked [as] the International Crisis Group’s political analyst of the Persian Gulf.
That does it for our broadcast. I’ll be speaking tonight in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at 7:00 p.m., at Celeste Hall inside the Cornerstone Arts Center. So check our website at democracynow.org. And all Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll be broadcasting from The Hague. It’s the hundredth anniversary of one of the oldest women’s peace organizations in the world, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Headlines:
Yemen: Saudi-Led Strikes Continue amid "Catastrophic" Situation
Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck the Yemeni cities of Aden and Ibb early today despite a previous claim by Riyadh that it had ended its nearly month-long operation. Saudi officials said Wednesday they will limit their military role in Yemen but continue to respond to Houthi attacks. Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, reports Saudi Arabia appears to have deliberately bombed a humanitarian aid warehouse run by Oxfam that contained supplies to facilitate access to clean water for thousands of households. The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned the humanitarian situation in Yemen is "catastrophic." We’ll have more on Yemen later in the broadcast.
Report: European Plan Would Deport Most Migrants
In the European country of Malta, 24 unidentified migrants who died in the worst migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean have been laid to rest. As many as 850 people drowned after their boat capsized while headed to Europe from Libya. In Britain, protesters climbed into body bags and lied on a beach to protest the migrant deaths. Karla McLaren of Amnesty International said European leaders need to take stronger action.
Karla McLaren: "Today, Amnesty International is remembering the people who’ve lost their lives in the Mediterranean, and we’re sending a really, really clear message to David Cameron and the other EU leaders that they need to act decisively and quickly in response to this crisis, and that means restarting search and rescue in the Mediterranean."
European leaders are gathering in Brussels today for an emergency meeting on the migrant crisis. A leaked draft of the summit statement obtained by The Guardian shows only 5,000 refugees would be offered the chance to resettle in Europe. At least 150,000 others would be deported.
Chile: Thousands Evacuated as Volcano Erupts
In Chile, thousands of people have been evacuated from a remote area in the south following the eruption of the Calbuco volcano. The volcano, which has lain dormant for over four decades, has now erupted twice in the span of hours. The initial eruption sent a spectacular plume of lava and ash shooting miles into the sky.
Japan: Radioactive Drone Lands on Roof of Prime Minister’s Office
Authorities in Japan are investigating the appearance of a drone containing possible radioactive material on the roof of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office. Radioactive cesium was detected in the area after the drone was found carrying a bottle of liquid bearing the symbol for radioactivity. The drone’s discovery came as a Japanese court approved the restart of a nuclear power station as part of Prime Minister Abe’s push to return to nuclear power following the Fukushima meltdown in 2011.
Senate Set to Approve Loretta Lynch After Trafficking Bill Passes
In the United States, Senate lawmakers are expected to approve Loretta Lynch as the first African-American woman attorney general today, after unanimously passing a human trafficking bill which delayed her confirmation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had refused to allow a vote on Lynch’s nomination until the trafficking bill passed. For six weeks, the bill stalled as Democrats objected to a provision they say would have expanded the ban on taxpayer funding for abortion by applying it to nontaxpayer funds. The compromise still blocks abortion funding for trafficking victims but does not extend the federal ban. Loretta Lynch has waited over five months for a confirmation vote, longer than any other Cabinet nominee in the last three presidential administrations. She would replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.
Report: FCC Move Could Derail Comcast-Time Warner Merger
Federal regulators appear poised to derail a planned merger between the nation’s two largest cable providers, Time Warner and Comcast. The Wall Street Journal reports FCC staff have thrown up a significant roadblock to the deal by recommending a procedural move to place it in the hands of an administrative law judge. The cable firms may still have a chance to weigh in before the proceedings advance, but the process is expected to be lengthy and appears to signal the FCC opposes the merger. If it was allowed, the takeover would grant Comcast a virtual monopoly in 19 of the country’s 20 top media markets.
Senate Panel OKs TPP Fast Track Despite Creative Move by Sanders
A Senate panel has passed a bill to grant President Obama authority to rush the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal through Congress. The TPP is currently being negotiated between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. The fast-track measure would allow Obama to present the agreement to Congress for a yes-or-no vote, with no amendments allowed. The Senate Finance Committee eventually approved the measure late Wednesday, after a creative maneuver by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders delayed it. By applying an esoteric and rarely used scheduling rule, Sanders blocked the committee from taking up the measure until at least 4:00 p.m. He said he wanted to give the American people time to understand the TPP.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Not only is there massive opposition to this TPP agreement, but there is a lot of concern that the American people have not been involved in the process, that there’s not a lot of transparency. So what we are trying to do here is to make sure that this debate takes place out in the public, that the American people have as much time as possible to understand the very significant implications of this trade agreement. And I, and I suspect others, will do our best to make that happen."
A House panel is expected to consider fast-track legislation today.
McConnell Introduces Bill to Extend NSA Bulk Spying
Senate Republicans have introduced a bill to extend the National Security Agency’s bulk surveillance of call records. While bipartisan lawmakers have sought to reform the bulk spying program after it was exposed by Edward Snowden, the measure introduced late Tueday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr would fully reauthorize sections of the PATRIOT Act which let the NSA vacuum up million of Americans’ phone records every day. The authority expires June 1 unless Congress takes action.
Baltimore: Witness Says Police Bent Freddie Gray Like a Pretzel
In Baltimore, protests over the death of Freddie Gray have entered their fifth day. The 27-year-old African-American man died Sunday from spinal injuries, one week after Baltimore police arrested him. A witness has said police bent Gray like a pretzel, with a knee in the back of his neck. Six officers have been suspended in connection with his death. We’ll go to Baltimore for more after headlines.
Michael Brown’s Family Sues City of Ferguson
The family of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old African American whose fatal shooting by police officer Darren Wilson ignited the Black Lives Matter movement, are suing the city of Ferguson, Missouri. The family will announce their civil lawsuit today, accusing Ferguson of liability for Brown’s "wrongful death." Darren Wilson avoided both criminal and civil rights charges.
California: Union to Shut Down Ports to Protest Police Brutality
In California, the local chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has vowed to shut down ports on May 1 in a historic protest against police brutality. In a statement, the union said, "It is fitting that on May Day, International Workers Day, Bay Area ports will be shut down to protest the racist police killing of mainly black and brown people." It’s the first time a union has taken such action. In 2008, the same union chapter shut down Pacific Coast ports to demand an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Video: U.S. Marshal Smashes Woman’s Phone as She Films Police
A deputy U.S. marshal is facing an investigation after he was caught on video smashing the cellphone of a woman who was trying to film police activity. A bystander’s video from the incident Sunday in South Gate, California, shows the marshal grabbing the cellphone out of Beatriz Paez’s hand as she tries to film, then throwing it to the ground and kicking it. Paez displayed her smashed phone as she spoke to local ABC 7 news.
Beatriz Paez: "He threw everything on the ground and smashed it with his foot. He stomped on it, and he kicked it."
Clinton Foundation to Refile Tax Returns After Errors Revealed
The Clinton family’s charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after an investigation by Reuters found errors in how they reported donations from governments. Reuters found for three years in a row beginning in 2010, the Clinton Foundation reported to the IRS that it received zero dollars in funds from governments. But several foreign governments actually continued to donate tens of millions of dollars to the foundation. Meanwhile, another report has raised questions about the Clinton Foundation’s connection to the Russian takeover of a Canadian uranium mining firm. According to a New York Times report based in part on a forthcoming book called "Clinton Cash" by Peter Schweizer, the State Department, then led by Hillary Clinton, gave its approval to a deal which granted the Russians control of one-fifth of uranium production capacity in the United States. Amid the takeover by the company which became known as Uranium One, the Clinton Foundation received donations of over $2 million from the firm’s chairman.
Judge Approves NFL Head Injuries Settlement
A federal judge has approved a settlement to compensate National Football League players who suffer the impacts of repeated head injuries. The NFL estimates nearly a third of its players will suffer long-term cognitive problems, like Alzheimer’s. After 5,000 players sued the league, the NFL has agreed to pay up to $5 million to players who develop certain crippling neurological diseases. Critics say the settlement will exclude people whose conditions are not specifically covered. About 200 players have opted out.
South Carolina: Transgender Teen Wins DMV Settlement
In South Carolina, a transgender teenager has won the right to wear makeup in her driver’s license photo after suing the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. Chase Culpepper said DMV employees forced her to remove her makeup to "look male" for her initial picture. Under the terms of a settlement, the DMV will allow people to be photographed however they typically appear. Culpepper called the settlement a major victory for transgender rights.
Chase Culpepper: "I’m thrilled to be standing before you announcing this historic settlement with the South Carolina DMV. From day one, all that I wanted was to get a driver’s license that looks like me. And now that I can finally have my photo taken with makeup, my new license will reflect that. I brought this case because what happened to me was wrong. It was hurtful to be singled out for being transgender."
Louisiana Governor Jindal: Firms Won’t Deter "Religious Freedom" Bill
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has vowed to fight for the passage of a law that critics say would allow discrimination against LGBT people by preventing the state from punishing companies based on their religious views of marriage. In an op-ed in The New York Times, Governor Jindal, who is expected to seek the Republican presidential nomination, condemned Indiana and Arkansas for caving to protests from businesses and softening their own so-called religious freedom measures. IBM has already opposed Louisiana’s "Marriage and Conscience Act." Jindal wrote companies are "free to voice their opinions, but they will not deter me."
New York: Environmentalist Swims Polluted Gowanus Canal
And here in New York, an environmentalist marked Earth Day Wednesday by swimming the Gowanus Canal, one of the most polluted waterways in North America. The Environmental Protection Agency has declared the canal a Superfund site, saying years of runoff, sewer outflows and discharge from industrial plants left it roiling with heavy metals, coal tar wastes and other contaminants. Christopher Swain spent nearly an hour swimming in the canal wearing a protective suit. He said his goal is to accelerate efforts to clean up the canal.
Christopher Swain: "This is a no-joke, big, difficult clean-up. So, what I’m here to say is, even though it’s discouraging and even though it’s difficult, let’s find the courage to do it anyway, whatever it takes. I’m also saying, let’s define clean-up differently. Let’s not clean it up part of the way. Let’s not make it sort of not bad. Let’s make it sparkle. Let’s make it a diamond. Let’s make it a jewel. Let’s make the standard of clean safe enough to swim in every day."
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SPEAKING EVENTS
4/27 The Hague, Netherlands
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COLUMN
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” reads the unofficial motto of the United States Postal Service. We now can add to that “nor a national security no-fly zone,” as demonstrated by mailman Doug Hughes. Hughes was doing what he felt was his duty, carrying letters. He had 535 of them: one for each member of Congress, and each signed by Hughes himself. He wrote about the corrupting influence of money in politics. Hughes chose a very high-profile method for delivering his letters, though. He piloted a bicycle-sized helicopter, called a “gyrocopter,” 100 miles from Maryland, and landed on the west lawn of the U.S Capitol, passing through restricted airspace.
Hughes could have been shot down. I asked him if it was worth it. “I’m a father, I’m a grandfather, and I can see the change over the decades as we slide from a democracy to a plutocracy. ... Yes, it was worth risking my life, it was worth risking my freedom,” Hughes responded, “to get reform so that Congress works for the people.” His letter opened with a quote from the secretary of state. Hughes wrote: “Consider the following statement by John Kerry in his farewell speech to the Senate—‘The unending chase for money I believe threatens to steal our democracy itself. They know it. They know we know it. And yet, Nothing Happens!’—John Kerry.” His letter goes on with his analysis of the problem of money corrupting the work of members of Congress “before they are elected, while they are in office and after they leave Congress,” he writes.
Hughes’ sensational mail drop—giving a whole new meaning to “Hughes Aircraft”—did not go unnoticed. Much of the media simply ignored the message that this postman was trying to deliver, instead focusing on the security vulnerability that his spectacular landing exposed. Interestingly, he was not entirely condemned by the people inside the Capitol.
“I don’t condone violating restricted airspace and putting innocent people at risk by flying a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn,” said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., on the floor of the U.S. House. “Mr. Hughes does have a point about the pervasive influence of money in politics. I’ve seen it get worse and worse in my 20 years in Congress. The Citizens United decision by the United States Supreme Court in 2010 created super PACs and multimillionaires that buy candidates.”
The 2010 Supreme Court ruling that Jones references, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), and a subsequent ruling in 2014, McCutcheon v. FEC, have opened the floodgates of money, including untraceable “dark money,” into our electoral system. Spending by outside groups exploded from about $15 million in 1998 to more than $1 billion in 2012. And between the Clinton coffers and Koch cash, the crisis will get far worse as the 2016 presidential-election season heats up. Hughes supports a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the influence of money in politics.
The day after Hughes landed his gyrocopter, I asked Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, a Democrat, what he thought about the postman’s protest against money in politics. “I was actually in the courtroom when this disastrous Citizens United decision was decided five years ago,” Grayson told me. “[Now-Senate Majority Leader, Republican] Mitch McConnell was two seats to my left. We were the only public officials who were in the courtroom. Mitch McConnell was the happiest I have ever seen him that day. He was literally chortling when the decision was rendered.” Grayson went on: “I said ... that night five years ago that if we do nothing, you can kiss this country goodbye. Well, pucker up, because right now the millionaires and the billionaires and the multinational corporations are calling the shots.”
Doug Hughes is currently under house arrest in Florida. If convicted, he faces four years in prison. He is now the father of three, having lost a son to suicide in 2012. I asked him if the suicide influenced his action. He responded: “His death was pointless. It was a waste. And he had so much potential. I looked at what I had done and accomplished and contributed, and I looked at how we’re going to leave this country and this world if things go on the way they are. I’ve got [three other] kids. I want to hand them a real democracy, so that they have the power to control their destiny and their children’s destiny. And right now they’re losing that. We’re losing that. And it’s in our power to restore democracy, and we can find the solutions to the problems that we have, if the people have control.”
Whatever happens, this postman has delivered his message, completing his appointed rounds.
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.
(c) 2015 Amy Goodman
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