democracynow.org
Stories:
What if There Was No Video? White SC Officer Charged With Murder of Fleeing African-American Man
A white South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder after a video showed him shooting an apparently unarmed African-American man who was running away. The killing happened Saturday morning after North Charleston police officer Michael Slager stopped Walter Scott for a broken brake light. On the video, Slager is seen shooting at Scott eight times as he tries to flee. The North Charleston Police Department had initially defended Slager after he said he feared for his life and claimed Scott had taken his taser weapon. But the video shows Slager shot Scott in the back at a distance of about 15 feet. The video also appears to capture Slager planting an object next to Scott — possibly the taser gun. The video does not appear to show Scott in possession of the officer’s stun gun at any time. We are joined by longtime South Carolina civil rights activist Kevin Alexander Gray, editor of the book "Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: A South Carolina police officer has been charged with first degree murder after a cell phone video showed the officer shooting eight times at the back of a 50-year-old African-American man, named Walter Scott, who was running away. The shooting occurred on Saturday morning after North Charlestown police officer Michael Slager stopped Scott for a broken brake light. Walter Scott was a father of four who served for two years in the U.S. Coast Guard. Chris Stewart is an attorney for the Scott family.
CHRIS STEWART: What if there was no video? What if there was no witness, or hero, as I call him, to come forward? Then this wouldn’t have happened because, as you can see, the initial reports stated something totally different. The officer said that Mr. Scott attacked him and pulled his Taser and tried to use it on him, but somebody was watching.
WOMAN: Hallelujah.
CHRIS STEWART: There was a witness that came forward with a video and the initial reports were wrong.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Before the video was posted online, the North Charlestown police department and the officer’s attorney defended the use of deadly force. On Monday, The Post and Courier ran a report headlined, "Attorney: North Charleston police officer felt threatened before fatal shooting." The paper reported, "Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer. The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged."
AMY GOODMAN: But video showed the police officer shooting Walter Scott in the back at a distance of about 15 feet. In addition, the video appears to capture Officer Slager planting a Taser gun next to Scott. The video does not appear to show Scott in possession of the officer’s stun gun at any time. Initial police reports also claimed officers performed CPR and delivered first aid to Scott. But the video does not show this. Instead, the officer is seen handcuffing Scott as he remains face down after the shooting; not clear if he’s dead or dying. Another officer later brings a medical kit but is not seen administering CPR. On Tuesday, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey addressed the media after the video of Officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott was viewed by state investigators, and a decision was made to charge Slager with murder.
MAYOR KIETH SUMMEY: We’ve got 343 police officers in our department. This was a bad decision by one of those 343, and I think the lesson that we take out of this, and hopefully the general public takes out of it, is that when an incident occurs, give us the appropriate time to investigate, find out exactly what happened, and we will act accordingly.
AMY GOODMAN: A recent study by The State newspaper in South Carolina found it is exceedingly rare for an officer to be found at fault criminally for shooting at someone. In the past five years, police in South Carolina have fired their weapons at 209 suspects, that’s in the past five years, none of the officers have been convicted. That is a person being shot in South Carolina by police once every few weeks on average for the last five years. Joining us now is long time South Carolina civil rights activist Kevin Alexander Gray. He edited the book "Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence" and is the author of "Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics." He is joining us from Columbia, South Carolina. Welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you first, Kevin, respond to this videotape that came out after an initial police report that this officer felt afraid, so he opened fire and killed Walter Scott?
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: Well, if you can get over your initial outrage, you have to commend of the Mayor for acting swiftly and bringing charges against the police officer. Obviously the video shows that the police lied, and that is not uncommon for police to lie. It’s just lucky that there was someone there to film it. We have to ask the question about the officer’s partner, but it’s clear that the officer lied about what transpired in that parking lot, but at least the police department in North Charleston acted swiftly. Now they need to act on some reforms.
They’ve got a population in North Charleston that’s 40 percent black, yet their police department is 80 percent white. We’ve got to go beyond talking about police reforming themselves. We’ve got to get serious about independent review boards. We’ve got to get serious about the policy on shoot to kill. We have got to get serious about whether or not we want ex-military as police officers. We need to take a serious look at just hiring people out of the military because they may have combat experience. Well, serving the people isn’t combat. The police are there to serve and protect, and if the police believe that by killing black people, by treating black people as subhuman when they think no one is looking, that that is going to make their lives safer — it is not.
We’ve got to deal with this epidemic of police violence. White people in this country think that it’s just black people getting killed and they believe that black people for the most part are inherently criminal or, as we say, busted or bustable. And so when you mention certain things, when you mention drugs, when you mention prior arrests, people turn a blind eye, but more whites get killed in this country by police.
People better pay attention to this country becoming a police state. We need to tamp down this militarization of police departments. We need to look at the use of force and reform police departments across this country and start keeping track of the number of people that police are killing across this country. I believe it has been reported that in the first three or four months of this year, over 300 people have been killed by police across this country. Not just blacks, not just men, but men and women. People who are mentally ill. We have to take a serious look at how police are operating in this country right now.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And Kevin Alexander Gray, do you think that the kind of police reform that you are suggesting is likely to happen now given the overwhelming evidence that was presented in this video?
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: Well, we still have to engage in some grassroots organizing. It used to be that the NAACP, at least in South Carolina, was the place that you reported police abuse. The NAACP and other organizations need to step up and reclaim that role of looking out for the citizens and taking these reports so that we can know what is going on out there in the community and act on it. But I —you know it takes mobilization, it takes people being involved, it takes people like the fella who filmed this being courageous enough to provide footage. I’ve had people that have recorded police and were afraid to turn the footage over because they were afraid of what the police might do when nobody is looking.
So people have to be courageous, people have to hold police accountable, people have to hold the prosecutors accountable, people have to hold elected officials accountable. We need to start tracking how the police are operating in these communities. We need to know for certain how many people that the police are killing across this country. I think it’s estimated that police in the United States have killed, what, maybe 7000 people since 2003, but no one really knows because no one wants to keep records. We have to demand that the police keep records on every time they fired their weapons and what happens when those bullets leave those chambers.
AMY GOODMAN: Walter Scott’s brother, Anthony, said his family is grateful for the witness who came forward with the video that led to the arrest of Officer Slager.
ANTHONY SCOTT: And from the beginning, when it happened the first day, all we wanted was the truth. And I think through the process, we received the truth. And we can’t get my brother back, and my family is in deep mourning for that, but through the process of justice has been served. And I don’t think that all police officers are bad cops. But there are some bad ones out there. And I don’t want to see anyone get shot down the way that my brother got shot down.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Walter Scott’s brother, Anthony. It is quite astounding, Keith, that — Kevin, it’s quite astounding how brave this filmer was. I’m not going to say shooter — but we often say I, you know, person who’s taking the film is a shooter — but on the cell phone, filming this and staying with it, not only filming him being shot at eight times — apparently five shots, I believe, went into his body, one pierced his heart. But the officer then handcuffing him as he’s face down on the ground, not clear if he is dying or dead, goes away, sort of trots away, and get’s this what looks like a stun gun, and it appears that he places it next to this dying or dead man who is facedown on the ground, Kevin.
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: You know, it’s the idea for the police officer that the person shooting the film was invisible and the person he shot was a subhuman or an animal, that he would lie and say that, that the man tried to take his stun gun, and you can clearly see him planting that — going back and getting that stun gun and throwing it under his body, and then the way that he disrespected a man lying dead on the ground by handcuffing him, and people have to ask the question about him shooting that man running, shooting him in the back. Now, you know, according to the so-called American rugged individualist code, you know, to shoot someone in the back is scurrilous, you are coward. What would have happened if he had shot someone, some innocent bystander? But, you know, I’m glad the young man was brave enough to film that officer’s actions and to call him out for the liar that he is.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, they were right near an auto parts store. Apparently he was stopped for a traffic stop, Walter Scott was, for a tail light being out. And I wanted to go to the record of Officer Slager, the man who’s been charged with murder. I’m looking at an NBC News report. It says that he had two complaints against him. He was cleared of a complaint regarding use of force. In that case, a man alleged that Slager had used his Taser for no reason, slamming him to the ground in September of 2013. The officer was exonerated upon investigation, documents show. I guess the person in that case was not lucky enough for someone to have had a video of what he was doing.
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: And in the same case — in the same way, his partner backed him up. No one is talking about — although the officer was black — that other officer came out there and cosigned basically on that bogus report. So we have to go back and really investigate that whole department. They’ve had allegations of having poor racial relations in North Charleston, as a lot of police departments that operate in predominantly black neighborhoods and especially lower-income neighborhoods. But as I said, it’s this idea for a lot of cops, especially racist, sadistic cops, that black people are subhuman, that they can talk to you any kind of way, that they can disrespect you at a traffic stop, and if, in fact, a traffic stop is going to be a situation where your life is in danger by someone who was supposed be protecting you, and when you go back and look at the numbers, black people aren’t assaulting police officers. In the last, I think it is five years, four police officer’s have been killed, but there is no epidemic of violence against police officers in this country. And so we have to look at how policing is being conducted across the board. This idea that police have the right to shoot to kill for charges, that if they are brought to trial, would result in a misdemeanor charge — no one should receive the death penalty for a misdemeanor.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, let’s turn to North Charleston Chief of Police Eddie Driggers speaking Tuesday after North Charleston Mayor Kieth Summey announced state investigators would charge Officer Michael Slager with the murder of Walter Scott.
MAYOR KIETH SUMMEY: We’ve got 343 police officers in our department. This was a bad decision by one of those 343. And I think the lesson that we take out of this and hopefully the general public takes out of it is that when an incident occurs, give us the appropriate time to investigate, find out exactly what happened, and we will act accordingly.
CHIEF EDDIE DRIGGERS: It’s been a tragic day for many. A tragic day for many. I am sure the family is going through remorse over the loss of a loved one, and when you hear news, it’s still tragic. When you first get news just that we have been gotten today.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey followed by the police chief. Your final comments, Kevin.
KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: Well, if that film hadn’t come out, that police would have covered up this murder. And you know, I’m supportive of the family, but justice isn’t served until the officer is adjudicated and found guilty of murder and sentenced to prison.
AMY GOODMAN: Kevin Alexander Gray, we want to thank you for being with us, civil rights activist and community organizer in Columbia, South Carolina. He edited the book "Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence," and is the author of "Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics." When we come back, we go to Ferguson. Elections took place there. Then to Chicago where elections also took place there, and then we will be speaking with Tavis Smiley about his journey with Maya Angelou. Stay with us.
Change in Ferguson Continues as Record Turnout Adds 2 Black Members to City Council
Ferguson has made history in the Missouri town’s first municipal election since the police shooting of Michael Brown and the release of a scathing Justice Department report documenting racially discriminatory practices by police and local courts. For the first time in Ferguson’s 120 years, the six-member City Council will have three African Americans. Ella Jones and Wesley Bell were elected with record voter turnout of nearly 30 percent in an area that usually sees about 12 percent of registered voters go to the polls. When Brown was killed last August, Ferguson’s mayor, the police chief, the city manager and the municipal judge were all white. Since the shooting, all but the mayor have resigned. The newly elected city council members will be charged with hiring their replacements. We are joined by Patricia Bynes, Democratic committeewoman of Ferguson Township. Bynes helped register residents and get out the vote, and served as a campaign manager for two candidates.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "Strange Fruit" here sung by Nina Simone, most known by — for Billie Holiday singing it. Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Billie Holiday’s birth. She described in her own autobiography how she would throw up after singing this song about lynching, "Strange Fruit." This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to Ferguson, Missouri. Voters went to the polls, Tuesday, for the first time since last year’s police fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown spawned nationwide protests. On Tuesday, residents elected two new African-American candidates, Ella Jones and Wesley Bell, to the city council. This means, for the first time Ferguson’s 120 year history, half of the council will be African-American. Until now, Duane James was the only was the only African-American member of the city Council, even though Ferguson is about 60 percent black.
AMY GOODMAN: When Michael Brown was killed last August, Ferguson’s mayor, the police chief, the city manager and the municipal judge were all white. Since the shooting, all but the mayor have resigned. The newly elected city council members will be charged with hiring their replacements. Well, for more, we go to St. Louis where we’re joined for an update by Patricia Bynes, Democratic Committeewoman of Ferguson Township. She helped register residents and get out the vote, and served as a campaign manager for two of the candidates who ran. Welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this victory?
PATRICIA BYNES: Good morning. Thank you. There has been an incredible win on behalf of the community and for the candidates. For the very first time, there is an African American woman sitting on the Ferguson city council. And even though we’re still talking firsts in 2015, for women and for African Americans, this was clearly huge for a city with the type of history that it has. And the amount of turnout, the amount of interest, and the people that came out to vote, I think this says something very good about the community in wanting to step up and get involved.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Could you say something more, Patricia Bynes, about the turnout? How many people turned out, and who was involved in getting people to know, first of all, that these elections were taking place, and then to vote?
PATRICIA BYNES: Absolutely. So I believe we had about a 30 percent voter turnout, which is a much larger increase than in the past for April elections. There seems to be such very low voter turnout in some of the elections in the past were not even 100 people in certain wards would come out and vote. So there were several groups and organizations that were involved in making sure that people who lived in Ferguson knew that there was an election. And there are people who were all over the country who can certainly take credit for making sure that they helped get people out to vote.
Ever since August, there has been a huge, huge interest in making sure that anybody who was not able to register to vote had a voter registration card in front of them, but the story of Ferguson has never really been about voter registration. People have been registered, they just have not gotten out to vote. So the NAACP was involved. Operation help or hush was involved. I helped them create a program called Ferguson Alternative Spring Break, where almost 200 college students from all over the country came and spent their spring break in Ferguson, encouraging people to get involved with their community and civic education. Organization for Black Struggle, more, SEIU, the Working Families Party. I mean there were so many organizations; The Urban League, here, that were involved in making sure people got out to vote.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, given the changes, Patricia Bynes, in the city council administration, what are some of the reforms that you think should now be undertaken in Ferguson?
PATRICIA BYNES: Well, I think the very first thing that has to happen — clearly, I think everybody almost knows this — we need to deal with the Department of Justice findings on the Ferguson Police Department and the municipal courts. That cannot be ignored. And now that there is a new council in place, I believe there will be a lot more direction in moving forward, and I think there is some strong voices and some coalitions now that can be made to help move things forward. So that is number one. Dealing with the immediate Department of Justice finding on the police department and the Municipal Court.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what will be the process for choosing a new police chief, for choosing a new city manager, and where things will go from there? How much power these city council members have.
PATRICIA BYNES: Right. So currently right now I know that there is a national search going on for both. And I think that, first of all, anyone who applies to be the city manager or the police chief of Ferguson at this point in time, I think that it’s incredibly courageous and I believe that now with a new council being able to ask questions and be involved and vet people, I think that we have an opportunity to get the right person in place to move the city in a better direction. That is what’s needed, so I think there will be some strong voices to be able to make that happen because this is a difficult time. I believe I said last night that anybody who even ran for office for the city at this point in time needs to be congratulated for stepping up and running. So certainly anyone even applying to be the city manager or the police chief — there is opportunity here to do a lot of good, and that’s what I want to see, and that’s what many people who live in Ferguson and even those who have been supporting the community from the outside, that’s what they want to see as well.
AMY GOODMAN: Patricia Bynes, Thank we want to thank you for being with us, Democratic Committeewoman of Ferguson Township, helped registered get out the vote, served as campaign manager for two candidates who ran. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel Wins Chicago Runoff, But Progressives Show a Force That Can No Longer Be Ignored
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has won re-election in a hard-fought runoff against challenger Jesús "Chuy" García. Emanuel defeated García with a margin of around 55 percent to García’s 44 percent. Emanuel raised $23 million for the campaign, more than three times García’s $6 million. García, the son of Mexican immigrants, shocked the nation’s political establishment by forcing Emanuel into the runoff earlier this year. Emanuel faced public dissatisfaction over his closing of 50 schools in mostly African-American neighborhoods, his handling of a 2012 teachers’ strike, and the city’s high murder rate and levels of gun violence. We are joined from Chicago by Rick Perlstein, a reporter and author who has been covering the city elections for In These Times.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m Amy Goodman with Nermeen Shaikh. As we move from elections in Ferguson, Missouri to Chicago.
*NERMEEN SHAIKH: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has won re-election in a hard-fought runoff against challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. Emanuel defeated Garcia with a margin of around 55 percent to Garcia’s 44 percent. Emanuel celebrated his victory Tuesday night.
MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL: I have had the good fortune to serve two presidents. I’ve had the fortune of being elected to Congress. Being mayor of the city of Chicago is the greatest job I’ve ever had and the greatest job in the world. I am humbled — I am humbled at the opportunity to continue to serve you, the greatest city with the greatest people, for the next four years.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Rahm Emanuel raised $23 million for the campaign, more than three times Garcia’s $6 million. The race became a symbol for a national divide between the Democrat party’s moderates is and the less well-funded progressive wing for Emanuel served as President Obama’s chief of staff. Garcia was a longtime community activist and County Commissioner who was born in Mexico.
AMY GOODMAN: Joining us from Chicago is Rick Perlstein, a Chicago-based reporter who has been covering Chicago elections for In These Times. He is also the author of several books, including the New York Times best-seller, "Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America." Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Rick. Talk about the significance of the victory last night for mayor Rahm Emanuel and the showings for Chuy Garcia.
RICK PERLSTEIN: Well, the word that the mayor used in his speech was "humbled," and it’s our hope among the progressive populace of Chicago that he truly is humbled and that he’s not kind of going to double down and become more authoritarian and try and raise, you know, $60 million for next time because Chuy Garcia really pulled together the elements of the activist community in Chicago in a way that really cemented gains that have been going on in Chicago for the last few years that really started with the Chicago teachers strike, and really made sure that the powers that be in this city know that they cannot trifle with ordinary folks. That is a moral victory. Of course, we would have liked to is seen something better last night.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And this was the first runoff election in — for a mayor in Chicago’s history. So could you explain what the different levels of discontent were with Emanuel’s administration that led to the race being so close?
RICK PERLSTEIN: Sure. It’s very interesting, by the way, that we have a runoff system. Much like the segregationist South, they instituted a system after Harold Washington’s insurgent victories that made it impossible to win unless you have 50 percent of the votes, a majority, not a plurality, and that was exactly to prevent insurgents like Chuy Garcia from gaining power. But Rahm Emanuel caused so much dissatisfaction that, you know, Chuy almost pulled it off. I mean, that was the miracle. People were dissatisfied with the way he closed schools in a very imperious and high-handed way without listening to the parents. They were frustrated at everyday things like potholes, and they were frustrated at the red light cameras he instituted as a revenue grab, a regressive tax, and really lied about it, said it was about safety. The Chicago Tribune proved that it wasn’t making the city more safe, and proved that City Hall was lying about it. That kind of stuff really frustrated ordinary Chicagoans, and the stuff that really kind of galvanized the activist community was the fact that Rahm Emanuel just announced almost officially that they weren’t on his radar, that he was going to deal with the financial powers, and that was it.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to Chuy Garcia on Democracy Now! when we recently interviewed him. He talked about why he was running for office.
JESUS "CHUY" GARCIA: I’m running for mayor of the city of Chicago because Chicago needs to go in a different direction. For the past four years we have seen Mayor Emanuel arrive in town with a boatload of money, impose his policies on the people of the city of Chicago. They’ve favored a select few in Chicago through the amassing of large sums of money. He thought he could get reelected while leaving behind Chicago neighborhoods, making Chicago a city that leads the nation in the number of school closings, almost 50, and making Chicago at the same time one of the most violent cities in the country.
AMY GOODMAN: So that was Chuy Garcia on Democracy Now! Rick Perlstein, can you talk about who he was and the significance of this victory? I mean this was a second election, right? This was the runoff, which shows how many people disapproved of Rahm Emanuel. And especially what this means for Latino community in Chicago.
RICK PERLSTEIN: One of the exciting things about this movement, and it was a movement as well as an election, is we saw the emergence of a national chicano leader. Chuy Garcia is a remarkable guy. He has a remarkable inner core of strength. He has been hanging on in Chicago reform politics since the 1980’s when other people sold out, fell by the wayside, were crushed by the machine. And here’s this guy who was born in Mexico, moved here when he was 9, came up through the ranks of Chicago reform politics, was an alderman, was kicked out of office by the machine, was a state senator, they ran a guy against him who was also called Chuy Garcia, you know, that old and dirty trick, and now he’s been doing great work on the county board. So this — really, what this means is under the second Mayor Daley, the Hispanic community was co-opted into something called the Hispanic Democratic Organization, and that was really the seat of really a great deal of corruption in Chicago, but now what we have is an independent reform force of Hispanic politics in Chicago that’s really joined with the African-American community in a way that we haven’t seen since the 1980’s and Harold Washington. And one of the strategies of Rahm Emanuel was to try to exacerbate tensions between the Hispanic community of Chicago and the black community in Chicago, but the tensions were not there for him to exploit. They united, it was other factors that gave Rahm Emanuel his victory. It was money, it was media that really kind of read from Rahm Emanuel’s script, but, again, another silver lining of this election is we see a galvanized Hispanic population, united with the African-American population, united with the white left, and that’s not going to go away. That’s a real permanent structure for Chicago.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Rick Perlstein, you have written about and we’ve been covering this area in Chicago, known as a black site, which is Chicago Homan Square. How did this controversy play out in the elections? How to did the media coverage it, explain what it is?
RICK PERLSTEIN: Basically we have a police building in the middle of nowhere called Homan Square where take suspects and hold them incommunicado and basically do things that are tantamount to torture. And that was broken by The Guardian, the London paper, and the Chicago media was extraordinarily defensive at having been scooped by an out of town paper, and lo and behold they basically tried to debunk the story and then completely ignored it after that.
AMY GOODMAN: But a top guy left.
RICK PERLSTEIN: A top guy left the Chicago Police Department. Where there’s lots of reasons, and one of the extraordinary reactions of both the police and the media, this was supposed to be a defense, was oh, what goes on at Homan Square goes on in lots of precincts, so you know, it’s not a black site because this is kind of like business as usual. That was the defense. So the Chicago police need a lot of cleaning up. And it’s not going to happen without this insurgent energy from below, which I think we’re going to see. This movement is not going away.
AMY GOODMAN: Rick Perlstein, we want to Thank you for being with us. Chicago based reporter, he’s been covering Chicago elections for In These Times, author of a number of books including, "Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America." This is Democracy Now! When we come back, Tavis Smiley joins us about his many-decade relationship with Maya Angelou. Stay with us.
My Journey with Maya Angelou: Tavis Smiley Remembers Legendary Poet & Civil Rights Activist
In his new book "My Journey with Maya," the television and radio broadcaster Tavis Smiley pays tribute to the late Maya Angelou, chronicling their nearly three decade-long, multi-generational friendship. Smiley was 21 and Angelou was 58 when they first met in the mid-1980s. The book brims with the renowned poet’s words and Smiley’s remembrances of how she guided him through challenging moments in his life. The book’s release coincides with the U.S. Postal Service’s unveiling of a new limited edition forever stamp in Angelou’s honor.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "Run Joe" by Maya Angelou from her 1957 album "Miss Calypso." This is Democracy Now! democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report I’m Amy Goodman with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We end the show remembering the late poet Maya Angelou.
MAYA ANGELOU: Great souls die, and our reality bound to them takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon them, upon their nature, upon their nurture, now sink, wizened. Our minds formed and informed by their radiance seems to fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable silence of dark, cold caves. And then our memory comes to us again in the form of a spirit, and it is the spirit of our beloved.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Maya Angelou, the legendary writer and civil rights activist reading her poem, "When Great Trees Fall." This May marks Angelou’s one-year death anniversary. Well, we spend the remainder of the hour honoring Angelou through the memories of her friend, the public TV and radio broadcaster Tavis Smiley. His new book is called, "My Journey with Maya." It chronicles their nearly three-decade long, multi-generational friendship. He was 21 and she was 58 when they first met in the mid-1980’s. The book is brimming with the renowned poet’s words and Smiley’s remembrances of how she guided him through challenging moments in his life.
AMY GOODMAN: The book’s release coincides with the U.S. Postal Service’s unveiling of a new limited edition forever stamp honoring Maya Angelou. The stamp bears a picture of maya with the quote, "A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." But the stamp has caused a controversy after it emerged the quotation is apparently not Maya Angelou’s.
Children’s book author Joan Walsh Anglund said she wrote it first in a book of poems published in 1967. But she said she didn’t mind it was identified with Maya Angelou because she said she hoped that her writing would subliminally affect people and shape children as she had written it as a children’s book. for more, we’re joined now by Tavis Smiley. Speaking today at the New York Public Library at noon, then at the Union Square Barnes & Nobles at 7:30 pm. The book, "My Journey with Maya," co-written with David Ritz, now being adapted for Broadway by Kenny Leon, the Tony Award-winning director of "A Raisin in the Sun." Tavis Smiley, welcome to Democracy Now!
TAVIS SMILEY: Good to see you, Amy. Good to be on here as well.
AMY GOODMAN: Congratulations on this lovely book.
TAVIS SMILEY: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: When you first meet Maya?
TAVIS SMILEY: When I was 21, I was a young aide to the Tom Bradly, the late, great mayor of my city, Los Angeles, and Dr. Angelou was coming to town for an event. The mayor could not attend the event, and as aides are often assigned to do, I had the great honor of going to present her a letter, a proclamation, and I was literally in her presence for just five minutes, Amy. But in that five minutes I felt something so powerful and so strong I vowed to myself at some point in my life I have got to get myself back into this woman’s space. I had no idea that some years later I would be invited by her to go on a trip to Africa for almost two weeks, and my assignment literally was just to carry her bags. And for two weeks I carried her bags around Africa, but that didn’t stop her from allowing a friendship to blossom. I mean, she was already iconic at that point. This was in August of 1983 — 1993 rather, so in January of 1993, she of course I delivered that poem at Bill Clinton’s first inauguration. So she’s already world-renowned, and I’m just a nobody, but we’re hanging out together in Africa for a couple of weeks, and even though that distance between what she had accomplished and what what I had yet begun to do was so broad, she enveloped me, she embraced me, and 28 years later, until she passed away last May, we had a wonderful friendship.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So could you explain? You talk about it very powerfully in the book, the significant of that trip for Maya Angela to Ghana and also for you.
TAVIS SMILEY: She had lived in Ghana earlier in her life, so for her it was sort of a homecoming, and they rolled out the red carpet for her — for Maya Angelou. Long before I’d ever heard of or met a guy named Barack Obama, I met a black president, and African president of a country called Ghana whose name was Jerry John Rawlings. We were staying at the presidential palace. So here I am, a 20-something-year-old kid, I’m hanging out with Maya Angelou, I’ve never left the country before except maybe going across the bridge from Detroit to Windsor, Canada. But I’d never left the country. So I’m going to Africa for the first time. I’m out of the country for the first time. I’m going to the mother land. I’m going with Maya Angelou. I’m staying in the presidential palace. I’m meeting the president of Ghana. And Maya is speaking at this international conference and guess who walks in the room, Amy? Stokely Carmichael. And behind him walks in Miriam Makeba and then walks in the great historian, John Henry Clark. I’m a 20 year old kid. I’m taking all this in. So it was significant for her, to your brilliant question, because she was going home, as it were, back to a place she had lived prior. But for me, I had run for city council in Los Angeles and lost this race.
I know it is hard to imagine, I laugh at it now, but it wasn’t so funny then. I’m in my mid 20’s, I’ve run for city council in LA and I’ve lost. But because all I ever wanted to do was to be a public servant, and I make a distinction between being a public servant and a politician, as you know my hero has been for all of my life Dr. King, so I thought that public service was my way to express this gift that I thought I had of loving and serving people, so I wanted to run for public office. I run for city council and I lose. But, because I had no other goals or plans in life but to serve people, I literally didn’t know what to do. I was lost. I didn’t know what the next step in my life was. I didn’t know how to find my own voice. What is my calling in the world? The only thing I think I was ever born to do I just failed at. What do I do now? It was a very serious and depressing moment for me and so into that very space steps this — comes this invitation from Maya Angelou to go to Africa and I started this journey of trying to figure out what my role in the world was.
AMY GOODMAN: So let’s go back to Maya Angelou. In her own words as she reads one of her most celebrated poems, "Still I Rise."
MAYA ANGELOU: You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Just 'cause I walk as if I have oil wells pumping in my living room. Just like suns and like moons, with the certainty of tides, just like hopes springing high, stillI rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries? Does my sassiness upset you? Don't take it so hard just ‘cause I laugh as if I have gold mines digging in my own back yard. You can shoot me with your words. You can cut me with your lies. You can kill me with your hatefulness, but just like life, I rise. Does my sexiness offend you? Aw. Does it come as a surprise that I dance as if I have got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise. Up from a past rooted in pain I rise. A black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, I rise. Into a daybreak miraculously clear. I rise. Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the hope and the dream of the slave. And so, naturally, there I go rising.
AMY GOODMAN: Maya Angelou reading from her poem, "Still I Rise." And according to The Guardian and BBC, Nelson Mandela recited "Still I Rise" at his inauguration for president in 1994 in South Africa. I want to go to Maya with Tavis on January 20, 2009, when Maya Angelou appeared on the Tavis Smiley Show and discussed the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the first African-American president in the country’s history. This is Tavis Smiley interviewing Maya Angelou on that historic day.
TAVIS SMILEY: When you say I can do it, it obviously makes me think of that phrase that we all know now, etched in our brains, yes we can, and that yes we can of course, courtesy of one Barack Obama. So in a matter of hours from now, in a matter of hours from now, this country will inaugurate its first African-American president, and what’s that grin that I see on your face about?
MAYA ANGELOU: And look at what we have. My lord. A young, not just a prince, we have a young king. We have a young king who strides into the arena, bringing everyone with him. I admire President-elect Obama. I admire him, I love him with my heart because he sees himself as an American president. And he means to see our country become more than it is today, more than what James Baldwin called “these yet to be United States.”
TAVIS SMILEY: Oh yes, oh yes.
MAYA ANGELOU: Ah.
TAVIS SMILEY: Your dear —
MAYA ANGELOU: It’s exciting.
TAVIS SMILEY: Your dear friend, Jimmy Baldwin.
AMY GOODMAN: That is Maya Angelou being interviewed by Tavis Smiley on his show. So Tavis, this was an area that you and Maya disagreed over fiercely. Talk about your fights and talk particularly about her and your assessment of President Obama.
TAVIS SMILEY: First of all, when I see that video of Maya and I talking — I interviewed her over a dozen times. I mean, imagine I start as a kid in Africa trying to figure out what my role in the world is, and over 28 years she saw me blossom and saw my career unfold, and she ends up being a guest on my programs over a dozen times. And it just — my skin just tingles every time I see myself in conversation with her ’cause I adore her so much. But to your point, we disagreed on a number of things. But the beauty of that is that, you know, she allowed me to interrogate her. She welcomed hearing my opinions and my point of view. She wanted to have a contestation of ideas so that both of us could be made better. She started out a strong supporter of Hilary Clinton in 2008, obviously, because she had Arkansas roots. She is from Stamps, Arkansas. Bill Clinton, as we all know, is from a place called Hope. So they are friends from their Arkansas days so she starts out supporting Hilary. When Barack Obama wins the nomination, she obviously supported Barack Obama and there were people who thought that my commentary and my questions were a bit tough on the candidate. People thought that you were a bit tough on the candidate. And that happens in our business, when, you know, when we raise questions that I think, and you believe, ought to be raised. These are critical questions that have to be raised. People have to be held accountable. And you don’t do it just to the Bushes, you do it to the Clintons and you do it to the Obamas. That is what your role is on this great program, and I celebrate you for that, and that is what is my role is.
And so Maya Angelou understood that, but when the Obama campaign started sending all of its surrogates after me to try to get me to tone down, whatever that means, I guess that means not doing my job, they sent Charles Ogletree who had been the professor of Barack and Michelle when they were at the Harvard Law School. They sent other people after me to try to get me to tone down. And when none of that worked, apparently, they played the race card. They had my mother, Maya Angelou, call me and we had a serious conversation about Barack Obama. And She expressed her point of view and I said to her, this is my calling. When I met you and we hung out 28 years ago in Africa, this is what you were trying to help me figure out, what my place was in the world. I have done this consistently and I know that you appreciate the fact that this is what I do.
I don’t disrespect Barack Obama. I intend to vote for him just like you are going to vote for him, but that doesn’t mean that I have to — that I should abrogate my responsibility to hold him accountable. She understood it and that conversation ended, as did every conversation, because there are a number of things in the book you will read that we had debates about; about Barack Obama, about the N word. One of the worst mistakes that I think she ever made, and I love her, was writing that op-ed, Amy, in the New York Times to support Clarence Thomas when he was nominated. We disagreed about that. We had a long running debate, lovingly, about what we thought was the greatest of all the virtues. She asked me one day, what do you think the greatest of all the virtues is? I said, for me it would have to be love. She said, no, I think it’s courage. And for 28 years we had a debate about which is the greatest of those virtues, love or courage. We never settled that. Even after she died last year, there is still no winner, no definitive answer to that debate. But my point is that every difference that we had, Amy, always ended on a love note. She never allowed any conversation, no matter how tense or terse, to end on anything but a love note and our friendship always remained intact.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Tavis Smiley, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Tavis Smiley, a journalist, public TV and radio broadcaster. His new book is called "My Journey with Maya." He is speaking today at the New York Public Library at noon then at Union Square Barnes & Noble at 7:30. This is Democracy Now!
Headlines:
White Officer Faces Murder Charge after Video Shows Fatal Shooting of African-American Walter Scott
A white South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder after a video showed him shooting an apparently unarmed African-American man who was running away. The shooting happened Saturday morning after North Charleston police officer Michael Slager stopped Walter Scott for a broken brake light. Slager is seen shooting at Scott eight times as he runs away. Scott’s brother, Anthony Scott, said his family is grateful for the witness who came forward with the shooting video.
Anthony Scott: "And from the beginning when it happened the first day, all we wanted was the truth, and I think through the process, we’ve received the truth. And, we can’t get my brother back and my family is in deep mourning for that, but through the process of justice being served. I don’t think that all police officers are bad cops, but there are some bad ones out there and I don’t want to see anyone get shot down the way my brother got shot down."
The North Charleston Police Department had initially defended Slager after he said he feared for his life and claimed Scott had taken his taser weapon. But video showed Slager shot Scott in the back at a distance of about 15 feet. The video also appears to capture Slager planting an object next to Scott. The video does not appear to show Scott in possession of the officer’s stun gun at any time. Scott was a father of four who served for two years in the U.S. Coast Guard.
U.S. Speeds Weapons Deliveries to Saudi Arabia for Yemen Campaign
The United States is expediting weapons shipments to aid Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken made the announcement during a visit to the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken: "Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message to the Houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun Yemen by force. As part of that effort, we have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operation centre."
The Pentagon is warning al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has "seized the opportunity" and made "direct gains on the ground" as a result of Yemen’s internal violence. AQAP fighters reportedly seized a border post near Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the United Nations has warned that more than 100,000 people have been displaced since Saudi airstrikes began last month.
Obama Rejects Israeli Demands for Iran Nuclear Deal
President Obama has rejected Israel’s demand that a final nuclear agreement include Iran’s recognition of Israel’s self-declared "right to exist" as a Jewish state. Speaking to NPR, Obama said the Iran deal is not a sweeping political accord.
President Obama: "The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying that we won’t sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms. And that is, I think, a fundamental misjudgment."
White House: Despite Order, Venezuela Not a National Security Threat to U.S.
The White House is backing off its move deeming Venezuela a national security threat to the United States. An executive order signed by President Obama last month used the designation to sanction top Venezuelan officials. But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, White House adviser Benjamin Rhodes said: "The United States does not believe that Venezuela poses some threat to our national security." The statement comes as President Obama prepares for a regional trip that includes a summit of the Organization of American States in Panama. Venezuelan officials say they will present Obama with a petition of millions of signatures calling on him to rescind the order.
U.S. Expects to Remove Cuba from Terrorist List Ahead of Panama Summit
The upcoming Panama summit will include Cuba for the first time. The State Department said Tuesday it expects to remove Cuba from the terror list. In Washington, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said the summit could see high-level meetings, including between President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro.
Marie Harf: "We expect there may be (a meeting) at the upcoming Summit of the Americas. The schedule is not quite confirmed yet, but we will let you folks know as we are able to do so. Nothing to confirm at this point but there is a chance there will be."
Report: DEA, Justice Dept. Tracked Billions of U.S. Phone Records Before 9/11
A new report shows the federal government secretly tracked billions of U.S. phone calls years before the 9/11 attacks. According to USA Today, the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration collected bulk data for phone calls to dozens of countries deemed to have a connection with drug trafficking. The program served as a blueprint for mass surveillance by the National Security Agency.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Defeats Activist Challenger in Runoff Vote
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has won re-election in a hard-fought runoff against challenger Jesús "Chuy" García. Emanuel defeated García with a margin of around 55 percent to García’s 44 percent. Emanuel celebrated his victory Tuesday night.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: "I have had the good fortune to serve two presidents. I’ve had the fortune of being elected to congress. Being mayor of the city of Chicago is the greatest job I’ve ever had and the greatest job in the world. I am humbled at the opportunity to continue to serve you, the greatest city with the greatest people, for the next four years."
Emanuel raised $23 million for the campaign, more than three times García’s $6 million. (Click here to watch the Democracy Now! interview with Chuy García.)
Kansas Becomes 1st State to Ban Second-Trimester Abortion Method
Kansas has become the first state in the country to ban a common procedure used during second-trimester abortions. On Tuesday, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed the law, based on model legislation from the anti-choice National Right to Life Committee, which bans doctors from using instruments to remove a fetus in pieces. It allows exceptions only to save a woman’s life or prevent irreversible damage to a major bodily function. Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of Trust Women and the South Wind Women’s Center, the former clinic of slain doctor George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas, said the law is unconstitutional and dangerous, because it bans physicians from "using their sound medical judgment to decide what is best for their patients." Similar measures have already been introduced in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Rand Paul Announces Presidential Candidacy; Clinton Could Be Next
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Paul declared his candidacy at an event in Lexington.
Sen. Rand Paul: "We have come to take our country back from the special interests that use Washington as their personal piggy bank. The special interests that are more concerned with their personal welfare than the general welfare. The Washington machine that gobbles up our freedoms and invades every nook and cranny of our lives must be stopped."
Former senator Hillary Clinton could be the next 2016 candidate to declare. Last week, Clinton’s campaign leased an office in Brooklyn, New York, as its headquarters.
Mumia Abu-Jamal Supporters Seek Independent Medical Team after Hospitalization
Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal have released new photos of the imprisoned journalist and former Black Panther, saying he has lost some 50 pounds and is covered with "a hard, leathery layer of jet-black skin, that is bloody, painful and itchy." Abu-Jamal is in a prison infirmary in Pennsylvania after he was temporarily hospitalized for diabetic shock. His supporters have demanded he be allowed to see an independent team of specialists chosen by his family.
Follow
ACTION ALERT
Social Media Producer
207 West 25th Street, 11th Floor
New York, New York 10001 United States
_____________________________
_____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment