democracynow.org
Stories:
Glenn Greenwald: As Bulk NSA Spying Expires, Scare Tactics Can't Stop "Sea Change" on Surveillance
The government’s authority to sweep up millions of Americans’ phone records has expired. The practice exposed by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden could now face limited reforms as the Senate weighs the USA FREEDOM Act, which would require the government to ask phone companies for a user’s data rather than vacuuming up all the records at once. We get reaction from Glenn Greenwald, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who first reported on Snowden’s revelations.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. government’s authority to sweep up millions of Americans’ phone records expired at 12:01 this morning, after the Senate failed to renew the practice exposed by National Security Agency whistleblower Ed Snowden. The move comes after Republican senator and presidential hopeful Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked an extension of three controversial measures in the PATRIOT Act during a special Sunday session of the Senate.
SEN. RAND PAUL: Let us be clear: We are here tonight because the president continues to conduct an illegal program. We are not collecting the information of spies. We are not collecting the information of terrorists. We are collecting all American citizens’ records all of the time. This is what we fought the revolution over.
Now, people say, "Well, they’re not looking at it. They’re not listening to it." It’s the tip of the iceberg, what we’re talking about here. And realize that they were dishonest about the program until we caught them. They kept saying over and over again, "We’re not doing this. We’re not collecting your records." And they were. The head of the intelligence agency lied to the American people, and he still works here. We should be upset. We should be marching in the streets and saying he’s got to go.
People say, "How will we protect ourselves without these programs?" What about using the Constitution? What about using judicial warrants? The Tsarnaev boy, the Boston bomber? They say, "How will we look at his phone records?" Get a warrant! Put his name on it!
AMY GOODMAN: The three parts of the PATRIOT Act that have now expired include Section 215, which authorizes the NSA’s bulk collection of telephone metadata, a lone wolf provision giving intelligence agencies the authority to follow suspected terrorists who may not be affiliated with a terrorist group and so-called roving wiretaps that allow the government to monitor someone who may use different phone lines to escape detection. In the hours ahead of Sunday’s failed vote to renew the measures, CIA Director John Brennan appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation with outgoing host Bob Schieffer.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think that terrorist elements will take advantage of this?
JOHN BRENNAN: I think terrorist elements have watched very carefully what has happened here in the United States. Whether or not it’s disclosures of classified information or whether it’s changes in the law and policies, they’re looking for the seams to operate within. And this is something that we can’t afford to do right now, because if you look at the horrific terrorist attacks and violence that’s being perpetrated around the globe, we need to keep our country safe.
AMY GOODMAN: After the Senate debate Sunday, the Senate voted to 77 to 17 to now consider the measure known as the USA FREEDOM Act, which calls for reforming the bulk collection of telephone records by requiring the NSA to make specific requests to phone companies for a user’s data rather than vacuuming up all the records at once. The measure passed the House but failed in the Senate by three votes last week, leading to Sunday’s showdown. The vote can come no earlier than 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
Well, for more, we go to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we’re joined by Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who first exposed Edward Snowden’s revelations around mass surveillance. Glenn’s recent piece for The Intercept is headlined "Anonymous Fearmongering About the PATRIOT Act from the White House and New York Times."
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Glenn. Why don’t you start off by talking about the significance of these key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act sunsetting, ending, expiring early this morning?
GLENN GREENWALD: I think the greatest significance of the most recent event is more symbolic than anything else, but it’s still actually quite significant. It’s really worth comparing the debate that we’re now having to what passed for a debate both in 2005 and 2011 over whether to renew the PATRIOT Act. Remember, even after 9/11, in the weeks after 9/11 when the country was willing to give the government essentially anything that it asked for, the PATRIOT Act was regarded as this extremely radical piece of legislation, a very fundamental departure from how we always understood what the government could and couldn’t do when spying on us. And even in the wake of 9/11, it was regarded that way. And that’s the reason why, when it was enacted, embedded into some of these provisions was the idea that, look, this is only supposed to be a temporary measure; it will automatically go away, sunset, lapse every five—unless Congress every five years reauthorizes it. And in 2005, the Bush administration demanded its renewal with no reforms. And in 2010, the Obama administration did exactly the same thing: demanded renewal of the PATRIOT Act with no reforms. And there was almost no opposition in either house of Congress, either political party, just some token opposition from some libertarians, and Congress easily and overwhelmingly renewed the PATRIOT Act.
The fact that we’re now having this very contentious debate, where the PATRIOT Act actually has lapsed, at least for a few days, and that we’re going to have some kind of change in the law that we’re calling reform underscores how significantly public opinion has changed and the climate of the country has changed, the views of the tech community have changed, when it comes to how much surveillance we’re willing to allow our government to engage in against us in the name of terrorism. I think that’s really the greatest significance, is the sea change that this represents.
AMY GOODMAN: Former Florida governor and likely Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has been calling for the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. He spoke to Face the Nation on Sunday.
JEB BUSH: There’s no evidence, not a shred of evidence, that the metadata program has violated anybody’s civil liberties. The first duty of our national government is to protect the homeland. And this has been an effective tool, along with many others. And the PATRIOT Act ought to be reauthorized, as is.
AMY GOODMAN: During his weekly address, President Obama spoke about the FREEDOM Act. This is part of what he said.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The USA FREEDOM Act also accomplishes something I called for a year and a half ago: It ends the bulk metadata program, the bulk collection of phone records, as it currently exists and puts in place new reforms. The government will no longer hold these records; telephone providers will. The act also includes other changes to our surveillance laws, including more transparency, to help build confidence among the American people that your privacy and civil liberties are being protected.
AMY GOODMAN: So that’s President Obama on the FREEDOM Act, that could be voted on very shortly in the Senate, and before that, Jeb Bush. Interesting, Glenn Greenwald, the lines are breaking down between Democrat and Republican. Of course, President Obama very much against the expiring of the USA PATRIOT Act. Can you talk about what is happening right now in the Senate with, well, the Republican, Rand Paul, up against the Senate majority—the Senate speaker, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell; Ron Wyden taking Rand Paul’s side? Talk more about what the lines are now.
GLENN GREENWALD: I think it’s fascinating that Jeb Bush has sort of become the Republican spokesman for demanding a renewal of the PATRIOT Act, a position that he shares with President Obama, because it really is the kind of classic Bush-Cheney mentality that’s behind not just that position, but the arguments being invoked in its favor. If you listen to what Obama administration officials have been saying for the last month, they essentially sound exactly like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and that whole crew sounded in 2004 and 2005 every time they wanted to coerce something that they wanted, which was: "We’re in danger. The terrorist threat is mounting. And unless you submit to what it is that we want, which is a renewal of the PATRIOT Act, you’re putting lives in danger. If you’re an opponent of the PATRIOT Act or a critic of the PATRIOT Act," have said Obama officials, "you’re endangering American lives." They actually went anonymously to The New York Times, and The New York Times gave them anonymity, to say that anybody standing in the way of PATRIOT Act renewal is playing, quote, "national security Russian roulette," something that Karl Rove is probably jealous that he never thought of himself as a phrase for scaremongering. So you see the Republican and the Democratic establishments very much aligned on this question. In fact, Mitt Romney last night tweeted in opposition to Rand Paul and said, "The PATRIOT Act keeps us safe, and we need its renewal," exactly what Obama officials have been saying for the last several weeks.
And then, on the other side of the debate, you have not only Rand Paul but huge numbers of liberals. There were 86 people in the House who voted against the USA FREEDOM Act, not on the grounds that it restricted the NSA too much, but that it didn’t restrict the NSA enough. And you had leaders in the House like tea party conservative Justin Amash standing side by side with civil rights hero John Lewis and John Conyers and others, saying that we need even more restraints on what the NSA is doing. And so, there is no Democrat-versus-Republican or even left-versus-right split on this issue, nationally or in the Congress. Actually, what you have is the establishments of both political parties, that want to keep American empire strong, that want to maintain the weapons of militarism and the surveillance state and the profit that it generates and the power that it generates completely intact—they’re working in unison together to demand PATRIOT Act renewal. And then you have these kind of outsiders on both the left and the right, a coalition that we saw in opposition to the Wall Street bailout and now we’re seeing again, saying, "No, we don’t actually need or want our government to be able to monitor the communications of hundreds of millions of citizens who have done absolutely nothing wrong. Mass surveillance is intrinsically dangerous, and it’s something that the Constitution forbids."
And so, I think it’s really exciting to see the breakdown of the standard partisan divisions, and it leaves Democrats, in particular, with a lot of cognitive dissonance, because during the Bush years they were trained to think of the PATRIOT Act as this evil thing that Dick Cheney did, and they were trained to think that it was terrible if you stand up and say, "If you oppose our policies, you’re helping the terrorists," and now you have the leader of the Democratic Party, President Obama, and the leaders of the Democratic Party in the Congress leading the way demanding the renewal of the PATRIOT Act and sounding exactly like Dick Cheney. And you have a tea party Republican, Rand Paul, being the nominal leader of the effort to undo the PATRIOT Act. So it really sends Democrats into this sort of spasm of cognitive dissonance over why it is that their party is now defending the law that for so many years they were told they should hate.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His piece in The Intercept is headlined "Anonymous Fearmongering About the PATRIOT Act from the White House and The New York Times." I also want to talk to you about the media’s role. And after we finish speaking with Glenn, we’re going to Colorado. You’ll hear the full graduation speech that a valedictorian in Longmont, Colorado, did not get to give because his principal learned he would be coming out as gay in the speech. We’ll speak with 18-year-old Evan Young himself after you hear his address. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. Speaking to Face the Nation on Sunday, CIA Director John Brennan called for the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, arguing it has been integral to preventing terrorist attacks in the U.S.
JOHN BRENNAN: The tools that the government has used over the last dozen years to keep this country safe are integral to making sure that we’re able to stop terrorists in their tracks. The tools that we had under the PATRIOT Act, those ways that we are able to monitor their activities, really have helped stop attacks. These tools are all part of a package of safeguards that has been put in place, and so the president, the attorney general, the director of the FBI, director of national intelligence, the heads of NSA and CIA all are very supportive of an extension of those capabilities and those authorities. And, unfortunately, I think that there’s been a little bit too much political grandstanding and crusading for ideological causes that have really skewed the debate on this issue. But these tools are important to American lives.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s CIA Director John Brennan calling for reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. The key provisions were expired at 12:01 this morning, Monday morning. The Senate will be taking up the USA FREEDOM Act in the next few days. Glenn Greenwald, can you respond to what Brennan has said?
GLENN GREENWALD: First of all, it’s, I mean, truly hilarious to listen to the director of the CIA accuse other people of having ideological causes in the policies that they support, but even more amazing is the fact that he’s sitting there telling the American public something that he knows to be completely false, which is that these tools have been critical in keeping the country safe. For one thing, how has the country been kept safe? There have been multiple terror plots aimed at the United States, some of which have succeeded, including an attack on Fort Hood and one on the Boston Marathon, and others that were thwarted by very traditional law enforcement means having nothing to do with the PATRIOT Act, like the attempted bombing of Times Square or a detonated bomb on an airline jet over Detroit on Christmas Day by the so-called underwear bomber. But there have been multiple commissions since Edward Snowden came forward, including one convened by the Obama White House itself, that gave that commission access to all of the classified data, and they issued a report saying that this domestic metadata program has never, ever been successful in stopping even a single terrorist plot. The federal court, which in 2013—2014 said that the program was unconstitutional, said there was no evidence that the NSA or the Justice Department could point to that this program has ever stopped a terrorist plot. And Democrats on the Intelligence Committee, who have access to all of the classified information, have all said the same thing, that there’s no role that these programs play in stopping terror plots. So, for John Brennan to go on television—unchallenged, of course, as always, by Bob Schieffer, who we’re all supposed to think is such a great journalist—and to be able to say something that even the administration’s own evidence completely negates, which is that this program is helpful in stopping terrorism, is extraordinary. These programs have had no role in stopping terrorism at all. And if anything, it’s because the government is collecting information on everybody that it’s incapable of knowing when somebody is plotting an attack like the one at the Boston Marathon.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s go to Ed Snowden himself in an exclusive new interview with The Guardian. NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden argued mass surveillance programs do not help deter terrorist threats, as you’re saying, Glenn, around the world.
EDWARD SNOWDEN: One of the unfortunate, truly unfortunate, sort of amplifiers of the tragedy of narrowing your rights in this context of terrorism is the fact that we know these programs don’t help mitigate terrorism. In the United States, we had programs appointed by the White House, two different independent panels with access to classified information, that looked at these programs and found that in not a single case had mass surveillance produced information that made a concrete difference in any terrorism investigation.
AMY GOODMAN: That is Edward Snowden speaking in—well, he’s in—he has political asylum in Russia, in Moscow. Glenn Greenwald, you met with him in Hong Kong. You were the one, with Laura Poitras, who revealed the documents that he was able to get as an NSA subcontractor. President Obama said this debate would have happened anyway, without Ed Snowden’s revelations. Do you see what has taken place in these last hours as directly—that Ed Snowden is directly responsible for this debate?
GLENN GREENWALD: Of course. First of all, President Obama’s claim that the debate was about to happen anyway, he was all revving up to get the debate going before he even heard of Edward Snowden, is the most laughable thing ever. By the time Edward Snowden came forward, President Obama was in office for five full years, and not only had he never started any such a debate, he actively blocked any debate from happening by sending the Justice Department over and over into court. When the ACLU would sue and say these programs of surveillance are unconstitutional, President Obama’s Justice Department would say, "You have no idea what it is we’re even doing. You can’t prove that your clients have been subjected to them, and therefore no court can rule on whether these programs are constitutional or legal." And so they did everything possible to suppress the debate, not to make it happen.
Of course, the only reason we’re having this debate, the only reason that this is an issue, the only reason why the PATRIOT Act is going to be reformed is because one person was courageous enough, in an act of conscience, to come forward and tell his fellow citizens about what his government was doing that should have been known all along, even knowing that it would unravel his life in all sorts of unimaginable ways. And so, that’s why I think, you know, it’s clearly the case, and it’s really worth thinking about today. And I think other people who previously were attacking Snowden and condemning him have come out in the last month and said, "You know what? I was wrong about that. I actually think that what he did was patriotic." And we all should realize that we do owe him a genuine debt of gratitude and not threats of lifetime in prison.
AMY GOODMAN: An article last week in The New York Times also argued for reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, citing unnamed Obama administration officials saying such security measures cannot be suspended at a time of, quote, "mounting terrorism threats." In the piece headlined "White House Presses for Deal on Phone Data Bill," the author goes on to quote an unnamed senior official saying, "What you’re doing, essentially, is you’re playing national security Russian roulette." Another source is quoted as saying, "We’re in uncharted waters. ... We have not had to confront addressing the terrorist threat without these authorities, and it’s going to be fraught with unnecessary risk." These are unnamed quotes in The New York Times. Glenn, your piece in The Intercept not only goes after the USA PATRIOT Act and the White House, but goes after The New York Times.
GLENN GREENWALD: I mean, The New York Times, the biggest disgrace journalistically in their history was the fact that they helped the Bush administration sell the Iraq War to the American public by disseminating false claims. And the way they did that was by giving anonymity to government officials to make utterly false claims with no accountability and then laundering it to the public. And after that all happened and it got exposed, they said they had learned their lesson and that they would no longer allow government officials to scare the public while hiding behind anonymity. And yet nothing has changed at The New York Times. That article that you just referenced is a pure illustration of exactly what Judy Miller got scapegoated and fired for, which is giving anonymity to government officials to scare the public in order to get what they want.
And what’s most amazing about it, Amy, is not that this—this wasn’t even a case where some government official called a reporter at The New York Times and said, "Oh, I have some information for you," and pretended to be leaking something that was unauthorized and said, "I’ll only give it to you if you give me anonymity." It was a White House call, where multiple reporters were invited to appear on this conference call. The officials were at the White House making these claims, and they said, "The only way we’re going to let you do the reporting is if you keep our names suppressed from your readers." And these subservient journalists said, "OK, we agree to those conditions. We will write down and print what you say, but we’ll hide the identity of who the person is who’s saying it so that there’s no accountability for you."
And what makes it even worse is, in that article where they said people who were opposing the PATRIOT Act were playing national security Russian roulette and were ignoring mounting terror threats, they didn’t quote a single critic of the PATRIOT Act. There was nobody to say what I just said this morning, what Edward Snowden said in that clip that you played, which is that all of this evidence shows that these programs play no role in stopping terrorism at all. It was a one-sided, pro-Obama-administration press release, where anonymity was given to scare the public into endorsing the PATRIOT Act—exactly what The New York Times itself admits is journalistic recklessness, and yet they continue to do it, which would raise a real question about what The New York Times wants its role to be and what it sees its function as being.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, Glenn, for people who are still having trouble understanding, you’ve got these key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that have sunset, that have expired. But the USA FREEDOM Act, which Kentucky senator and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, didn’t want to first consider, is now going to be voted on by the Senate. It was passed by the House. What are the key differences? And what are your concerns with the USA FREEDOM Act?
GLENN GREENWALD: Right, so there’s basically three factions in the Congress. One is the Rand Paul-led faction that says that this new law, the USA FREEDOM Act, doesn’t go far enough in limiting the NSA and that in some cases it actually strengthens the NSA, which is a classic Washington tactic, to call something a reform when it in reality is strengthening the institution to be reformed. Then you have this other faction, the right-wing kind of neocons in the Republican Party, the national security hawks, who say, "We don’t want any reform at all of the NSA, and therefore we’re opposed to the USA FREEDOM Act, because we don’t think anything should be reformed." And then you have the big bipartisan coalition in the middle, that includes the Obama White House, that says, "We like this new law, the USA FREEDOM Act. We think it provides just enough reform to limit some of the abuses of the NSA, while at the same time keeping the NSA strong and vibrant."
The big change in the USA FREEDOM Act that is being heralded is that it ends the domestic metadata program, so the NSA will no longer collect all of the phone records showing all of the Americans who are talking and who they’re talking to. Instead, those records will be kept by the private telephone companies. So if you make a call through Sprint, it will be Sprint that keeps that record. They already do that. And if the government wants to access some of those records, instead of just being able to look on their own in their own private stash, they now have to go to the phone companies and ask the phone companies for these records. There’s a slightly higher standard that they have to meet in order to access it, so it does provide some additional safeguards. It also provides some added transparency in what the FISA court does. Some of the FISA court proceedings will now be open. It will require that there be someone present at the FISA court proceeding—besides the government—who can advocate on behalf of the person who the government wants to spy on. So there definitely are some mild reforms in the USA FREEDOM Act.
The problem is, is that it leaves overwhelmingly undisturbed the vast bulk of what the NSA does, and it’s very unlikely that there will be another reform bill, which means that the NSA’s core mission and core activities will remain unreformed and unchanged. And in some sense, it does actually expand the NSA’s capability, because a federal court just two weeks ago said, under the PATRIOT Act, they never had the authority to engage in any kind of bulk collection at all, it was illegal for them to be doing it, and the USA FREEDOM Act, to some degree, allows some kind of bulk collection, in a way that arguably is an increase over even what the current law allows. So, there’s a real debate—and I am sort of ambivalent about where I fall on it—about whether the USA FREEDOM Act, on balance, is a good or bad thing. But it is true that there are some things in it that are real reform. It’s certainly a step in the right direction. And I think symbolically it’s important that for the first time we’re taking powers away from the government after 9/11 rather than giving them more. And I think that can be built on to someday get real reform.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, as we are in an expanded presidential season, we heard what Jeb Bush had to say, who’s expected to be a Republican presidential hopeful. Bernie Sanders announced on the Democratic side, said he opposed the USA PATRIOT Act, is pretty sure he’ll vote for the USA FREEDOM Act at this point, but voted against the—against keeping the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act. Hillary Clinton, where does she stand, Glenn Greenwald?
GLENN GREENWALD: It’s a huge mystery. You know, her tactic seems to be to take no position on anything controversial until she’s absolutely forced to. But, you know, if you look at Hillary Clinton’s record over the past decade, she is 100 percent in the camp of the Democratic Party hawks. She was behind PATRIOT Act reauthorization in 2005 and then again in 2010. She was part of an administration that oversaw a massive expansion of NSA spying. She has never uttered a word to suggest that she’s at all bothered by any of it. So, although she has, consistent with her general tactics, cowardly refused to say what she thinks on this matter, I think you can infer from her long history, not in the past, but in the very recent past, that she’s fully supportive of this regime of spying.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much for being with us, Glenn Greenwald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. One of his recent pieces for The Intercept, we’ll link to, "Anonymous Fearmongering About the PATRIOT Act from the White house and New York Times." Glenn Greenwald was speaking to us from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
When we come back, the graduation speech that the high school valedictorian did not get to give. You’ll hear it here first on Democracy Now! Stay with us.
Eighteen-year-old Evan Young was supposed to be the 2015 class valedictorian of Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Longmont, Colorado. But his principal prevented him from giving his graduation speech after learning he would announce he is gay. Instead, two weeks later, Young got to give his speech at an Out Boulder fundraiser before an audience of hundreds, a number of them politicians who congratulated him for his bravery. We air Young’s full address and speak to him about his experience.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn to this Democracy Now! global broadcast exclusive. It’s graduation season. Students across the country are celebrating their hard-won academic achievements. And in high school, there’s no greater honor than the title of class valedictorian. Traditionally, the student with the highest academic record is invited to address the graduating class at many schools, and that’s exactly what Evan Young planned to do when he was named valedictorian of Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Longmont, Colorado. However, Evan was prevented from delivering his speech at his graduation ceremony after school officials learned he planned to announce he was gay, as part of his broader message about respecting differences. In the days leading up to graduation, school principal BJ Buchmann reportedly instructed Young to omit the disclosure. When Evan refused, the principal called the student’s father and prematurely outed Evan to his dad. Then the school prevented Evan from addressing his class and also did not recognize him as class valedictorian at its May 16th graduation ceremony. Evan Young is a graduating senior with a 4.5 grade point average and a scholarship awaiting him at Rutgers University. His story has sparked national outcry from gay rights activists and allies all over the country.
Well, on Sunday, Evan Young did get a chance to deliver his speech. The 18-year-old spoke at the annual fundraiser for the gay rights group Out Boulder. He was introduced by Out Boulder’s executive director, Mardi Moore.
MARDI MOORE: So, when Evan and I started communicating about all this, we really did try to work things out without going to the press. There was no—that was not our—we didn’t want to go to the press. That’s not what we were doing. And you can ask people who wanted to go to the press. They said, "No, we’re not going to the press. We’re going to try to work this out like adults." And so, Dave Montez, who’s here, who’s a great colleague of mine, and I’m very grateful for Dave, and I went into a meeting and tried—with the principal and some others, and tried to get a venue for Evan to give his speech, which they wouldn’t allow him to do. They refused to do that.
When I talked to Evan, and I said the only thing that we can do is bring public pressure, this is what he told me: "I have mixed feelings about making the story public. I don’t want to seem like I’m bitter and trying to exact some revenge, because I’m not. I wouldn’t do something like that. I only think we should do something if it is absolutely clear that, number one, this will improve my school in the long run; number two, this will lead to increased acceptance for the LGBT community; and number three, to ensure that my situation doesn’t happen again."
AMY GOODMAN: Out Boulder’s executive director, Mardi Moore, introducing 18-year-old Evan Young, the valedictorian of Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Longmont, Colorado. Now we turn to Evan Young himself. He was supposed to give this graduation address on June—May 16th, but instead it was last night, Sunday night, in a backyard, with hundreds of people gathered, many of them politicians. This is Evan Young’s graduation address.
EVAN YOUNG: In the words of one of my heroes, Stephen Colbert, "Dreams can change. If we all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses." Now, I don’t really remember what my first dream was—although I’m pretty sure I’ve never wanted to be a princess—but my dreams have changed many times over the years, and not all of them I’ve fulfilled. However, there are two that I’ve stuck with my entire life: one, finish high school with perfect grades, and two, most importantly, wear a cape. And tonight, I accomplish both. When I was a toddler, I used to watch the show Arthur on PBS. And in one episode, one of the characters got like an A on a test or something, and I distinctly remember saying to my dad that I wanted to get straight A’s in the future. I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but, sure enough, over the course of my life I would fulfill this goal, give or take that B I got in art class in eighth grade, which doesn’t count because art’s not a real class anyway. With this being said, I am quite honored to be the class va-le-di-vic-tor-ian, a word which—along with "feminism" and "thesaurus"—I haven’t quite figured out how to say correctly. In all seriousness, this distinction truly is an honor. And I can confidently say that this moment—standing up here, reluctantly delivering a speech to the school with a green cape fluttering majestically at my back—is the greatest moment of my life so far.
But first, I have to say thank you to everyone. I know you guys are probably tired of being thanked at this point, and I know thanking people in speeches is super cliché, but it’s a good cliché, like slow-motion or training montages in movies. So you will be thanked, whether you like it or not.
Audience members, thank you so much for sitting through all these speeches that you knew you were going to be bored by. In approximately six-and-a-half minutes, your trials and tribulations will be over. If at any point during the speech you feel like pretending to "go to the bathroom" so you can play on your phone in the hallway—you know who you are, come on—I won’t be offended.
Fellow students, thank you for putting up with me for so many years. As off-putting and sarcastic I was at times, you were always so nice to me. I love you guys, and while we’re probably going to make new friends wherever we go, they won’t be you, and that just makes me so sad. In fact, the other day I almost cried at the thought of leaving you guys. Almost, but not quite. My manliness is still intact.
And I would like to thank my teachers for all the wonderful things they’ve taught me, although frankly I’ve forgotten most of it. I had a bad habit of making stupid comments during class, and I can’t thank you guys enough for putting up with me. As often as I complained about your homework assignments or your class behind your back, I never complained about you. You guys were just too awesome for that.
And I’d like to thank my family for all their encouragement and support, and for forcing me to do my college essays despite much whining and procrastination on my part. I’d especially like to thank my mother and my brother, Troy, for hiding candy in their rooms. Those gumdrops and lollipops got me through so many boring classes.
And of course, where would we be without the Internet, probably the greatest invention since the wheel? In fact, I dare say the Internet is better than the wheel because as I’m sure you visitors from out of state can testify, wheels are pretty useless unless you have Google Maps to tell you where to go. Whether you’re scrolling through Facebook instead of working, or frantically reading through Sparknotes in the five minutes before English class because you forgot to do the reading last night (come on, you know you’ve all been there), you just can’t thank the Internet enough. I mean, really.
And finally, I’d like to thank the Coca-Cola Company and all its subsidiaries, which have not only stood as unshakable icons of American consumerism, but have also provided mankind with a delicious source of caffeine for so many years. And I’d like to say this speech is sponsored by them, but it’s not. They didn’t give me any money. Unlike Hillary Clinton, I don’t make millions of dollars a year for flapping my lips.
And now we arrive at the heart of the speech, the inspirational and meaningful part. For those of you who have already been sufficiently inspired, or who have already determined the meaning of their existence, feel free to play on your phone. Just remember to laugh every once in a while so I feel like I’m being funny. But for the rest of us, we’re going in.
All right. So, since we’re never going to see each other again—unless of course you care to hop over to Sprouts at some point during the summer—I thought I should share several of my deepest and darkest secrets.
First, I dislike doing homework. No, seriously, I hate it. No me la gusta. It’s not just that it’s boring: that’s a given. It’s just that most of the time, it doesn’t feel like it’s necessary or helpful. The line between homework and busywork is indeed a blurry one because most of the time, they’re pretty much the same thing. Now, let me qualify this. Not all homework is bad. Sometimes, it’s helpful. But like the Heimlich maneuver, you’re only supposed to do it when it’s absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you’re just going to make children throw up for no reason. Homework is OK when it’s intended to reinforce the things learned in class or to prepare students for the next lesson, but not when it’s just meant to make the bleak, dreary hours of school take up even more of a student’s day. In fact, homework is kind of like those 18-month wall calendars you see at like Barnes & Noble or something. Like, yeah, sure, the first 12 months are helpful, but what am I supposed to do with the last six? They don’t make calendars that start in July, right? So by July of next year, I’ll have to put up a new calendar that starts in January. But then why couldn’t I have just used that calendar? Sorry, I totally forgot where I was going with this. Anyway, students: If your grades are good and you occasionally feel stressed out and don’t want to do your homework, don’t feel like you have to. Just relax. Play on the Internet. Drink some Coca-Cola. To reiterate, I am not sponsored by them.
And second, I never took notes in class. And I only paid just enough attention to crack a joke every once in a while, but not much more. I was usually busy doing other things, like twirling pens or working on homework that was due in the following class period. And I also liked to procrastinate on my work, seldom finishing an assignment more than a day before it was due. One time, I finished an English essay at 7:00 a.m. in the morning on the due date after pulling an all-nighter. And somehow I still got a 100 percent on it. I have no idea how I got straight A’s in high school, as I was not the best student.
And I have so many more secrets to reveal. Mr. Bekins, in AP U.S. history, I wrote down all the answers to the tests in my textbook, so one lucky student this year didn’t actually have to read any of the chapters. Mrs. Whitmer, who is currently here right now, in AP Euro, I disliked doing outlines so much that I wrote—that I just underlined important passages in the textbook, and just copied them down on a sheet of paper when I got around to it, but I was too lazy to erase the marks before I gave it back to you. Mrs. Gilmore, I only read about halfway through Crime and Punishment before switching to Sparknotes for the remainder of the book. And I may or may not have stolen your Jolly Ranchers earlier in the year—hasn’t been confirmed, not saying anything. Mrs. Freeman, I hardly ever sang in choir, and when I did, I mostly sang with the ladies because I thought it was funny. And Troy, one time I stole your—oh, wait, you’re my brother. I’m not going to tell you anything.
Now let me tell you a big secret, my second biggest one in fact. I once asked a girl on a date, and you guessed it: I’m not really supposed to tell you. Earlier in the year, I had many classes with her over the course of the year, and I gradually began to notice how adorable she was. About a month ago, I typed into her calculator, "Will you please be my 1st girlfriend? Signed, Evan." And she said no. Thoroughly embarrassed, I wrote her a letter. And I will now read you this letter. Oh, God. OK.
My Dear Friend,
I am sorry I asked you to be my girlfriend. I did not intend to startle or demean you in any way. It’s just that I’ve always seen you as more than a friend on account of the hours of classes we’ve had together, and the amount of time we’ve known each other. I just wanted to get to know you even better, and be around you more, in these last few months we get to spend together before we part ways for the remainder of our lives. I think you are smart, friendly, and adorable, and you are the only girl I’ve ever had a crush on. I want you to be my girlfriend because I genuinely adore you, but I perfectly understand if you do not feel the same way about me. We will always be friends.
On a more serious note, there is something I would like to reveal to you. You may have already suspected this, but I hope this does not change your opinion of me: I am gay. I’ve been attracted to men for as long as I can remember, and I’ve never had a girlfriend because I prefer members of my own sex. But I thought that, if ever in my life I am to refer to someone as my girlfriend, it may as well be the best friend I ever had.
Sincerely,
Evan Young
And I’m not quite done yet. I’m sorry. We’re getting there, though. And that’s my biggest secret of all: I’m gay. I understand this might be offensive to some people, but it’s who I am. And whether you’ve always suspected this, or this is a total shock to you, now you know. When I was writing this speech, I was endlessly debating with myself whether I should reveal this, on account of how divisive an issue this is and how gay people tend to be stereotyped, and I thought that, if I did, I should repeatedly apologize and beg you guys not to think any differently of me. But then I realized: I don’t have to. I shouldn’t have to. If there’s one thing I learned at this school, it’s that we can still be friends even if we profoundly disagree with each other. And sure: There’s only like 30 of us, so it’s not like we had much of a choice, but at times, it took a serious effort to put up with one another. We disagreed and argued about many things: about gun control, the minimum wage, politics, books, movies, who would speak at our graduation, pretty much everything else. But no matter how much we disagreed, we learned to overlook our differences and respect everyone else, no matter how wrong we thought they were, no matter how annoying they were, no matter how boring their speeches were, or no matter what weird snacks they brought to history class, from coffee creamer to coconuts. And I want everyone here to do the same. So before you leave, I have one final request for you: Hug someone. That’s right, hug someone. Students, hug a teacher. Democrats, hug a Republican. People who own a gun, hug one of those darn liberals who wants to snatch it out of your cold, dead fingers. Trekkies, hug someone who likes Star Wars more. Mel Gibson, hug a Jewish person. Conservative Christians, hug an agnostic. Hug a gay person while you’re at it, too. (Actually, please don’t because I don’t want to hug everyone here, but you get the point).
And finally, we’re at the part you’ve all been waiting for: the end of the speech. This is the part where, in the words of a sappy love letter, "we part ways for the remainder of our lives." I wrote that, oh, my gosh. OK. As these are literally the last words most of you will ever hear from me, I’ll avoid saying anything stupid and keep it short and simple: Goodbye, everyone. I’ll miss you. And whatever happens to us and wherever we go, my only hope is that "We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when..."
AMY GOODMAN: That was 18-year-old Evan Young giving the graduation address he didn’t get to give at his high school graduation ceremony. He was the 2015 class valedictorian of Twin Peaks Charter Academy High School in Longmont, Colorado. His school prevented him from addressing his classmates at graduation after learning he planned to out himself as gay in his speech. The school also refused to formally recognize him as its valedictorian. On Sunday, he did get to deliver that address at the annual garden party benefiting the gay rights group Out Boulder.
For more, we go directly to Denver, where Evan Young has woken up early to join us.
Welcome and congratulations, Evan. How does it feel to finally have given your address?
EVAN YOUNG: Oh, it was amazing. I had a—I was very nervous, actually. A lot of my friends had read the speech before, and they all said they liked it, but I wasn’t really sure like which jokes they liked, which parts they didn’t like. But for the most part, when I gave my speech, it seemed like everyone liked the whole thing, and it was just awesome.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what happened? When did you learn you were not allowed to give your address on May 16th, when you were the valedictorian, the one who is supposed to give the address?
EVAN YOUNG: So, basically, what happened is I sent the principal a copy of my speech, a rough draft, on the Tuesday—or on the Monday before the graduation ceremony. And the next day, he reviewed the speech and didn’t like some parts. He especially didn’t like the part where I said that I was gay. And then I made most of the edits he asked me to, but I didn’t remove the part where he asked—where he told me—the part where I revealed that I’m gay, because I thought that part was very important to the speech. And I wrote him a hand-written letter where I explained to him why I wasn’t going to remove this part of the speech. And then he told me about five minutes before the ceremony began that I wasn’t allowed to speak.
AMY GOODMAN: You were at the ceremony with your speech in hand?
EVAN YOUNG: Yeah, I’d been practicing all day. I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to give it.
AMY GOODMAN: And why did he say you weren’t allowed to give it?
EVAN YOUNG: At the actual ceremony, he did not give me any particular reason. He just said, "You’re not going to be allowed to speak."
AMY GOODMAN: And how did you feel?
EVAN YOUNG: At the time, I was actually very mad. I had spent a lot of time preparing that speech. And, well, I’m kind of—I’m not mad anymore, but at the time I was very frustrated. And I felt kind of bad because I didn’t want to ruin the event for any of my friends. And I don’t think I did. But yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: You outed yourself in the speech. Since he had read it, he knew what you were going to say. He called your parents and told them that you are gay?
EVAN YOUNG: That is correct. Yes, he did.
AMY GOODMAN: Were they surprised?
EVAN YOUNG: Not really. They weren’t too upset with me or anything.
AMY GOODMAN: How did it feel to give the speech last night?
EVAN YOUNG: It was awesome. Just like everyone liked the whole thing, as I said before. And I didn’t think that would happen. I was so nervous going up there, but I gradually warmed up to the crowd.
AMY GOODMAN: Evan, we have to—we have to wrap up the show, but I want to continue talking to you. We’ll post it online at democracynow.org. (See Part 2 here.) Jared Polis, the congressmember, was there. He gave you a major citation. Many politicians were there.
Headlines:
Bulk Surveillance Expires; Senate to Take Up FREEDOM Act
The government’s authority to sweep up millions of Americans’ phone records has temporarily expired after the Senate failed to renew it before a midnight deadline. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked an extension of bulk surveillance and two other USA PATRIOT Act measures during a special Sunday session. The Senate later voted 77 to 17 to now consider the measure known as the USA FREEDOM Act, which would reform bulk collection by requiring the NSA to make specific requests to phone companies for a user’s data rather than vacuuming up all the records at once. This month marks two years since whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s mass surveillance tactics.
Dozens Killed in Syria Violence
A weekend of violence in Syria has left dozens of people dead. Government bombings killed at least 70 people, mostly civilians, on Saturday in the northern province of Aleppo. Some 65 people died in government attacks on the city of Qamishli. At least 40 people were killed and dozens seriously wounded when an explosion set off a fire at a clinic in the northeastern province of Hasakah.
Cuba Removed from U.S. Terror List
The U.S. has formally removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, clearing a main obstacle to restoring diplomatic ties with Havana. State Department spokesperson Jeff Rathke made the announcement.
Jeff Rathke: "We’ve issued this morning a statement about the rescission of Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. It is effective today, May 29, 2015. And this reflects our assessment after undertaking the review that was requested by the president, our assessment that Cuba meets the statutory criteria for rescission."
Cuba was placed on the terrorism list in 1982 at a time Havana was supporting liberation struggles in Africa and Latin America. President Obama ordered a review of Cuba’s inclusion as part of his bid to normalize relations. But broad sanctions under the existing U.S. embargo on Cuba make the move all but symbolic. Talks are continuing between the two sides on reopening embassies.
Over 5,000 Migrants Rescued in Mediterranean Sea
European officials say at least 5,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean since Friday. The migrants were on 25 vessels that left from Libya on their way to various European countries. It’s said to be the biggest wave of migrants this year so far.
FIFA Chief Wins New Term Amid Corruption Controversy
The beleaguered head of the soccer governing body FIFA has won a fifth term amidst a corruption scandal in his top ranks. Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday just days after the indictments of 14 people, including two FIFA vice presidents, on corruption charges. Michael van Praag, a former rival contender, criticized the vote.
Michael van Praag: "We did our very best. I spent a lot of time in the last couple of months to help achieving a change. Now, it proves that the majority of this congress don’t want a change. Now, that says a lot about the people who voted this way."
Palestine Withdraws Bid to Suspend Israel from FIFA
Friday’s session also saw Palestinian delegates withdraw a bid to suspend Israel over its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian soccer players in the Occupied Territories. Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub announced his decision.
Jibril Rajoub: "I am here to find a solution for a painful issue so close to the hearts of all defenders of football ethics and values, rather than to score goals even against those who are responsible for my football family suffering. I decided to drop the suspension, but it does not mean that I give up the resistance according to the statutes of FIFA."
The FIFA Congress instead approved a measure establishing a new committee representing both sides to resolve disputes. In the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Zeid Shueidi of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement criticized the outcome.
Zeid Shueidi :"The Palestinian BDS National Committee is disappointed that the entire FIFA Congress, including the Palestinian Football Association, have not lived up to their obligation and stated principles. FIFA and its membership have delayed the suspension of Israel, but they cannot delay the growth of the international boycott of Israel or prevent the continued isolation of Israel."
Hunger-Striking Egyptian-American Activist Freed in Egypt
An Egyptian-American activist has returned to the United States after nearly two years behind bars in Egypt. Mohamed Soltan was arrested in September 2013 and had been on hunger strike for over a year in protest. He was recently sentenced to life in prison on charges of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and transmitting false news. But he was freed over the weekend after the U.S. helped secure his release.
Report: Police Killings Higher than Official Toll
New figures show the death toll from police shootings in the United States this year is twice the official figure. The Washington Post says police have shot dead at least 385 people in 2015, an average of almost 2.6 per day. The FBI’s death rate for police killings over the last decade is 1.1 per day. More than 80 percent of those killed were said to have been carrying a potentially deadly weapon, while 16 percent were unarmed. African Americans were disproportionately high among the victims, killed at three times the rate of other racial groups.
Armed Protesters Stage Anti-Islam Rally in Phoenix
More than 200 protesters, including some carrying weapons, gathered in Phoenix on Friday for an anti-Islam rally. An equal number of counter-protesters met the group as they stood outside the Islamic Community Center during evening prayers. The organizer of the anti-Islam protest says he called the event after two gunmen tried to attack an anti-Muslim gathering in Texas last month. More than a dozen participants carried semi-automatic weapons amid chants of anti-Islam slogans. Imraan Siddiqi of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said local officials had failed to speak out in opposition.
Imraan Siddiqi: "These are your own citizens that are here in Phoenix. There’s 50,000 Muslims that live here in Phoenix. It’s a growing community. We’re voters. We’re positive contributors to society. But how come there’s some type of political hot potato that takes place when the Muslim community is being targeted?"
Muslim Passenger Alleges Discrimination over Soda Incident
A Muslim passenger is accusing United Airlines of discrimination after she was told she could not have an unopened can of soda because it could be used as a weapon. Tahera Ahmad, who wears a headscarf, was on board a flight to Washington, D.C., when she asked for an unopened Diet Coke. Although another passenger was given an unopened beverage, Ahmad was told she could not have one because it was a security risk. United says it has apologized.
"Canary Mission" Website Seeks to Discourage Hiring of Pro-Palestinians
A new website is targeting pro-Palestinian college activists by seeking to deny them jobs after they graduate. Dubbed "Canary Mission," the site profiles dozens of students and graduates involved in the Palestinian cause, in the hopes employers won’t hire them. In a promotional video, a narrator asks for help in ensuring that "today’s radicals are not tomorrow’s employees."
Canary Mission ad: "These individuals are applying for jobs within your company. There is no record of their membership of radical organizations. No one remembers their yelling profanities on campus or attending Jew-hating conference and anti-American rallies. All evidence has been eradicated, and soon they will be part of your team. Canary Mission’s simple interface allows you to easily explore profiles of radical individuals and organizations. BDS News will keep you up-to-date with the latest developments. And follow our blog for an in-depth analysis of radical campus activity. Join us to combat this wave of hatred, protect freedom and make campus life safe for everyone. It is your duty to ensure that today’s radicals are not tomorrow’s employees."
The targeted students include members of Students for Justice in Palestine, which is active on campuses nationwide. Although the students’ names, photographs and biographical information are extensively shown, the Canary Mission keeps its own backers and staffers completely secret.
Martin O’Malley Enters Democratic Presidential Race
Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. In his kickoff address, O’Malley voiced indirect criticism of fellow candidates Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush.
Martin O’Malley: "The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families. It is a sacred trust to be earned from the American people, an exercise on behalf of the people of these United States. The only way we are going to rebuild the American dream is if we retake control of our own American government."
O’Malley’s tenure as Baltimore mayor has come under scrutiny since the riots over the death of Freddie Gray. He oversaw a drop in the crime rate but was accused by critics of rigging the numbers and encouraging abusive policing. May was Baltimore’s deadliest month in more than four decades, with 43 reported homicides.
Kerry Breaks Leg in Biking Accident
Secretary of State John Kerry has cut short a European trip after breaking his leg in a biking accident. Kerry sustained the injury Saturday in France after wrapping up a new session of talks with Iran. He will be treated in Boston and is expected to make a full recovery.
Beau Biden, Son of Vice President and Ex-Delaware AG, Dead at 46
And Beau Biden, the eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden, has died of brain cancer. He was 46 years old. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid paid tribute to Biden on Sunday.
Sen. Harry Reid: "Beau left us far too soon, 46 years old, but I’m certain his family will take solace knowing he lived a selfless, noble life. And for my friend, Joe Biden, who I served in Congress with for so many, many years, I extend my deepest thoughts and condolences to you, Joe."
Biden served eight years as Delaware attorney general and had planned on running for governor in 2016.
Follow
WEB EXCLUSIVE
PART 2: Banned from Giving Valedictorian Speech, Gay H.S. Student Receives Congressional Recognition
WORK WITH DN!
Social Media Producer
DN! IN THE NEWS
WATCH: Amy Goodman on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry to Discuss Clinton, O'Malley, Sanders & FIFA
207 West 25th Street, 11th Floor
New York, New York 10001 United States
____________________________
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment