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As Black Churches Burn Across the South, Are White Supremacist Attacks Continuing After Charleston?
The FBI is launching an investigation into fires set at seven different African-American churches in seven days. So far none of the blazes have been labeled as hate crimes, but investigators say at least three fires were caused by arson. The fires began on June 21, just days after the Charleston massacre, and have occurred in six different states: Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Ohio. We are joined by Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been tracking these most recent fires.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Bree Newsome singing "Stay Strong: A Love Song to Freedom Fighters." Bree Newsome is the 30-year-old African-American woman who scaled the flagpole on the grounds of the Columbia, South Carolina, Capitol and took down the Confederate flag, saying, "In the name of God, this flag comes down today." She’ll be our guest on Democracy Now! on Monday. Tomorrow, we’ll describe what took place when we were in Columbia just after her arrest, when we saw her being arraigned at the jail. But this is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman.
We’re talking about the FBI launching an investigation into fires set at seven different African-American churches in seven days. So far, none of the blazes have been labeled as hate crimes, but investigators say at least three fires were caused by arson. The fires began on June 21st, just days after the Charleston massacre, June 17th, and have occurred in six different states: in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Ohio.
A black church in South Carolina was the latest to catch fire. The blaze on Tuesday at the Mount Zion African Methodist Church in Greeleyville may have been triggered by lightning. Twenty years ago, the church was burned to the ground by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, in Knoxville, Tennessee, a fire at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was determined to be arson. A reporter at local station WVLT spoke to church elder Marshall Henley.
KELSEY LEYRER: Two different fires were started at College Hill Seventh-Day Adventist last night, one at a side entrance to the church where churchgoers says it appears someone set fire to bales of hay right outside the doors. The church van was also set on fire. And to make matters worse, the church only got the van about six months ago. It was vital to a lot of the church’s community outreach projects. Some of those will now have to be placed on hold because they believe that van is a total loss.
AMY GOODMAN: Another fire on June 23rd at the predominantly black God’s Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia, was also reportedly set on purpose. Then, on June 24th, there was a fire at the Fruitland Presbyterian Church in Gibson County, Tennessee, that was suspected to have been caused by lightning. The same day, there was a three-alarm fire at Briar Creek Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Local station WBTV spoke to the church’s pastor, Mannix Kinsey.
REV. MANNIX KINSEY: When I got here, I was even amazed to see that the flames were so high. And, you know, of course, I’m thinking, "Oh, my goodness, this church is going to be destroyed."
DEDRICK RUSSELL: The estimated damage is more than $250,000. The pastor of three years is grateful brick and mortar was all that was ruined.
REV. MANNIX KINSEY: A life was not lost. You know that the buildings can be repaired, they can be built over.
DEDRICK RUSSELL: While the pastor deals with this fire, he also has to deal with the fact this may be a hate crime.
REV. MANNIX KINSEY: We’re still talking about this same issue, and this is 2015. And so, we all have to consider what else do we need to do, you know, to actually be able to work together.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, on June 26, there was another fire at a Glover [Grove] Baptist Church in Warrenville, South Carolina, that was first burned down 20 years ago by the KKK, and one at the Greater Miracle Temple Apostolic Holiness Church in Tallahassee, Florida, that was caused by a tree limb that fell and started an electrical fire. Another fire was in Ohio, where the College Heights Baptist Church burned down Saturday night.
On Wednesday, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks issued a statement in response to the fires. He referred to the Charleston massacre that preceded them, writing, quote, "When nine students of scripture lose their lives in a house of worship, we cannot to turn a blind eye to any incident. As we wait for authorities to conduct their investigations, the NAACP and our state conferences across the country will remain vigilant and work with local churches and local law enforcement to ensure that all are taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of every parishioner."
All of this comes as the KKK has announced a rally for later this month at the South Carolina state House in support of the Confederate flag. There are reports South Carolina legislators now have enough votes to push through the flag’s removal.
For more, we go to Montgomery, Alabama, where we’re joined by Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been tracking these most recent fires.
Richard, welcome back to Democracy Now!
RICHARD COHEN: Thank you, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the significance of what’s happening throughout the South now.
RICHARD COHEN: Well, look, when it comes to race, the country is on edge, especially the black community. You know, we have a background of the killing of unarmed black men at the hands of the police. You add to this the Charleston massacre and now this string of fires at black churches. You know, it’s just a very combustible combination. You know, it’s certainly true that perhaps most of these fires are not arsons, and maybe none of the arsons are hate-motivated. But still, you can understand, with emotions so raw, you know, why people react this way. And certainly, you can’t dismiss the possibility that at least some of these fires have been set in retaliation for the taking down of the Confederate flags. There’s a lot of anger in the white nationalist community over what’s been happening lately.
AMY GOODMAN: So, take the one in Greeleyville, the church burning down, the most recent one in Greeleyville, South Carolina. Governor Haley, Nikki Haley, came out immediately and said it was clearly lightning. She said something like, "We saw the lightning hit the top of the church." But then people within the investigation said, "How does she know this?" This was reported on a TV station close to those who were investigating. But that church does have a history. Talk about what happened 20 years ago in Greeleyville.
RICHARD COHEN: Well, you know, there was a group called the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan that was involved in burning the Greeleyville church, as well as the Macedonia Baptist Church in Clarendon, South Carolina. We actually had the privilege at the Southern Poverty Law Center of representing the Macedonia Baptist Church and got a multimillion-dollar verdict against the Klan for the burning of that church. It put the Klan, you know, kind of out of business. So, you know, you have this kind of history, and I guess Governor Haley is trying to tamp down emotions and maybe spoke too quickly. And I guess it’s—it’s important to realize that you shouldn’t jump to conclusions in either direction too fast.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think has to be done right now, Richard Cohen?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, look, all of these fires have to be investigated thoroughly. And, you know, I think the forensic experts are very, very good at that. And then I think that we have to continue to look at the racial issues that divide us. You know, we’re at an interesting point in our history, an interesting point in time, when suddenly people, especially in the white community, I think, are suddenly more aware of the divisive nature of some of the symbols, like the Confederate flag, like Confederate holidays, and, I think, are more willing to address not just those symbols, but some of the substance that continues to keep our country separate and unequal.
AMY GOODMAN: Calling for congressional hearings into domestic terrorism?
RICHARD COHEN: Yes. We have called for those hearings before both the Senate and the House, the committees that look at the Department of Homeland Security. You know, since 9/11, we’ve—you know, our resources in the domestic terrorism fight have skewed perhaps too heavily towards jihadi terrorism, at the expense of the forms of domestic terrorism that we saw exhibited in the Charleston massacre. You know, what we think is, we should allocate our resources in accordance with the nature of the threat. 9/11 will always be the Pearl Harbor of our time, but that doesn’t mean all the resources should go in that direction.
AMY GOODMAN: In Alabama, the governor, unlike Governor Haley in South Carolina, simply, without talking about it beforehand, took down the flags on the state Capitol, the Confederate flag. Can you talk about the significance of this? You’re in Montgomery.
RICHARD COHEN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And also, he’s supposed to be making another announcement today.
RICHARD COHEN: I’m not sure what his announcement is today, Amy, but I can tell you, we were incredibly happy and applauded the governor for what he did. It was very, very forward-looking. And I think it was really quite an important thing, and probably a difficult thing for him to do politically. Another thing that I want to applaud the governor for is, you know, he disagreed with the Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision, but he immediately came out and said, you know, "It’s the law of the land, and we should follow it." And that’s not the case with all politicians in Alabama. The chief justice of Alabama, Roy Moore, is still on his soapbox ranting and raving against the same-sex marriage ruling. So I think, you know, Governor Bentley should be applauded for helping the state look forward rather than backward.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it has been very much kept under wraps, what he’s going to announce today, but it might relate to that. Has anti-LGBT violence increased since the same-sex marriage ruling of the Supreme Court?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, I don’t know if we’ve seen any uptick since the same-sex marriage ruling. What we have seen, though, is an apparent uptick in the recent years, because as more—you know, more people in the LGBTQ community feel comfortable coming out, you know, they’re more likely to be targeted, because it’s more—they’re more open. You know, in terms of sheer numbers, hate crimes against black people are the most common. On the other hand, from a percentage standpoint, the LGBT community is the most likely to be victimized by hate crimes.
AMY GOODMAN: Richard Cohen, I want to thank you for being with us, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaking to us from Montgomery, Alabama. Tune in tomorrow for our Independence Day special, as James Earl Jones reads Frederick Douglass’s 1852 address: "What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?"
FREDERICK DOUGLASS: [read by James Earl Jones] What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham.
AMY GOODMAN: You’ll hear the whole speech on tomorrow’s broadcast, as well as our remembrance of the late, great folksinger Pete Seeger.
PETE SEEGER: We shall overcome.
We shall overcome.
We shall overcome some day.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s tomorrow on Democracy Now! Tune in as we remember Pete Seeger and also go down to Columbia, South Carolina, to describe those moments when Bree Newsome took down the flag. I’ll be speaking tonight at 7:30 in Chicago. Check our website at democracynow.org.
"A New Chapter": After Half a Century, U.S. and Cuba Unveil Reopening of Embassies & Restored Ties
After half a century, the United States and Cuba have announced they will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals and formally re-establish diplomatic relations. Secretary of State John Kerry said he will travel to Havana to open the U.S. Embassy there. In a statement, the Cuban government said relations with the United States cannot be considered normalized until trade sanctions are lifted, the naval base at Guantánamo Bay is returned, and U.S.-backed programs aimed at "subversion and internal destabilization" are halted. But in a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Cuban President Raúl Castro acknowledged much progress has already been made, and confirmed the openings of permanent diplomatic missions later this month. We are joined by Peter Kornbluh, author of "Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show with the historic news announced on Wednesday by President Obama that after more than half a century, the United States and Cuba will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals and formally re-establish diplomatic relations.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: More than 54 years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the United States closed its embassy in Havana. Today, I can announce that the United States has agreed to formally re-establish diplomatic relations with the republic of Cuba and reopen embassies in our respective countries. This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas.
AMY GOODMAN: In a statement, the Cuban government said relations with the United States cannot be considered normalized until trade sanctions are lifted, the naval base at Guantánamo Bay is returned, and U.S.-backed programs aimed at, quote, "subversion and internal destabilization" are halted. But in a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Cuba’s President Raúl Castro acknowledged much progress has already been made, and confirmed the openings of permanent diplomatic missions later this month.
PRESIDENT RAÚL CASTRO: [translated] It pleases me to confirm that the republic of Cuba has decided to re-establish diplomatic relations with the United States of America and open permanent diplomatic missions in our respective countries on the 20th of July, 2015. On Cuba’s part, we make this decision based on the reciprocal action to develop respectful and cooperative relations between our peoples and our governments.
AMY GOODMAN: Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday he’ll travel to Havana to open the U.S. Embassy there, while Cuban officials say Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez will lead a delegation of "distinguished representatives of Cuban society" at an official ceremony to reopen the Cuban Embassy in Washington. All of this follows the U.S. decision in May to remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terror. It was just in December that Obama first announced loosened travel and economic restrictions between the two nations.
For more, we are joined by Democracy Now! video stream by Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archives at George Washington University. He’s co-author of the book, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana. An updated edition comes out in September with a new epilogue that tells the story of how President Obama re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Well, Peter Kornbluh, welcome back to Democracy Now! First, your reaction to President Obama’s announcement?
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, thank you, Amy, for having me on the show, the first day of what Obama calls a new chapter in U.S.-Cuban relations. I don’t think that the true magnitude of Obama’s speech yesterday has quite sunk in, but this is a historic moment in bilateral relations. It’s a historic moment for Latin America as a whole. And it’s certainly an extraordinary kind of change of events in the whole history of U.S. foreign policy, which, as you know better than anybody and as your listeners know better than anybody and your audience knows better than anybody, has been a bitter history of imperial and imperialist intervention in Cuban affairs. And Barack Obama yesterday stepped forward, basically said we’re going to change the past and have a very different future. He actually said, "This is what change looks like." And it was very dramatic.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about what this change looks like. What has been agreed to at this point? Tell us about the Cuban mission in Washington and the U.S. mission in Cuba, in Havana, and how they’ll change.
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, you know, Jimmy Carter, back in the 1970s, 1977, initiated the first truly serious efforts of a president to normalize relations with Cuba. And he got as far as kind of reopening kind of mid-level diplomatic kind of representations called "interest sections." The United States would have an interest section in Havana; Cuba would have an interest section in Washington. They would not be headed by ambassadors. They would not have full embassy status. And today, President Obama and President Castro have now agreed that we are going to re-establish official diplomatic relations and kind of upgrade these interest sections to full embassies.
And this has a symbolic meaning. President Obama set out to accomplish this starting in 2013, when he directed his aides to find a way to change our policy towards Cuba and to arrive at this point where we have arrived today. That is what he could do as president without having to deal with the Congress on the issue of lifting the embargo.
And, you know, it’s a symbolic move in many ways, but it creates a kind of a new framework of our interaction and certainly is going to pave the way, I think, to an acceleration of ties—bilateral ties, cultural ties, economic ties, political ties—between the United States and Cuba. And I think it’s going to accelerate leaving the past in the past and creating a very different kind of ambiance and environment of the ties between the two countries, which really have a lot of common interests, which will now rise to the surface of the relationship.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us the history of the U.S. mission in Cuba? I remember when I was in Havana, there were sort of major billboards that the U.S. mission had to face, that the Cubans had put up. But the U.S. had done things with the U.S. mission that Fidel Castro wanted to cover, what, with a series of flags?
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, that was during the last Bush administration, where George Bush decided that he would kind of stick it to the Cubans by putting a ticker tape on the top of the building of the U.S. interest section that kind of, you know, broadcast news, like down there in Times Square, that was hostile to the Cuban government. And Fidel Castro’s response was to erect 119 flagpoles and put 119 black flags, kind of with a pirate-type sign on the top, to mask the ticker tape and to kind of make a statement of how evil the United States was.
Now, you can contrast kind of the animosity, the—what Henry Kissinger once called the perpetual hostility of that kind of interaction, with what’s going to happen today. And that visual contrast will be John Kerry, the highest-ranking U.S. official since the Cuban revolution to travel to Cuba, overseeing the hoisting of the American flag of the new U.S. Embassy on the Malecón there in Havana. The visuals will be rather dramatic and, I think, will appeal, quite frankly, to Cubans and to the American public here in the United States in a very dramatic way. And I think it’s going to help visually push the idea of a normal relationship forward in a big way.
AMY GOODMAN: The restoration of relations with Cuba is not sitting well with Republican presidential contender, Cuban-American Marco Rubio. He issued a statement that read, quote, "I intend to oppose the confirmation of an Ambassador to Cuba until these issues are addressed. It is time for our unilateral concessions to this odious regime to end." Peter Kornbluh, talk about Rubio’s attitude toward Cuba and his own history.
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, he distorted his own history for many years. He left the public impression, and even stated it specifically, that his parents had fled after Fidel Castro took power, that they were political refugees, when in fact they had left Cuba three years before the revolution, and they were simple economic refugees, just like anybody else, so many others who have come to the United States from Latin American countries or other Third World countries, seeking better economic situations for themselves and their families. So his parents and his family, he does not have a background of persecution during the Castro regime.
But, of course, he is beholden and a fixture in the dwindling community of hardline anti-Castro Cubans in Florida, and he is catering to them in his presidential bid. There are still a number of older Cuban Americans who have made a lot of money and who are going to be supportive financially of Rubio’s candidacy. But in terms of broad numbers, his position no longer reflects, in any way, shape or form, the majority view of Floridians and Cuban Americans in Florida.
Having said that, let me be clear that Cuba is obviously going to be a political hot potato, and Cuban policy is going to be a political hot potato, in the next presidential election. Hillary Clinton came out very early calling for an end to the embargo. She sees that there is financial support among the more moderate Cuban-American community in Florida. And she also, I think, sees that this is much in the interest, both international and domestic, of the United States of America to normalize fully relations with Cuba. On the other side, you have, you know, Republican candidates like Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, who, like Marco Rubio, is vying for the support of the anti-Castro Cuban community in Florida, who are obviously going to attack the president on this policy change.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, in Havana, Cubans welcomed news that U.S. and Cuba will open embassies in each other’s country.
CUBAN MAN: [translated] We’ve been in this situation for 56 years, and I think this will benefit the country in certain respects, and I think it benefits those of us who want to see our families, our children, who are in the U.S.
AMY GOODMAN: And I want to read a comment made by Elián González. He was the boy at the center of a bitter international custody battle in 2000 that highlighted the poor relations between the United States and Cuba. In a 2015 interview with Granma, he said, quote—Granma is the Cuban newspaper—"Sometimes we young people think that if we stop being a socialist country, and give way to capitalism, we will become a developed country like the United States, France, Italy ... But it must be understood that if Cuba stops being socialist, it won’t be like the U.S., it would be a colony, it would be Haiti, a poor country, a lot poorer than it is now, and everything that has been achieved would be lost. It is true that we could have accomplished more, but we can never forget the most important historic question: we have been a country besieged by a blockade." And, of course, for people who don’t quite remember who Elián González is, he was made famous with the standoff with his relatives in Florida and his father, who was trying to take him home to Cuba. He had come in a boat, and his mother had died on the boat. And the image of the U.S. military with a gun at his head as the U.S. government took him away from his Miami family to reunite him with his father and brother. Your comment, Peter Kornbluh?
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, Elián González raises an important point that a number of Cubans feel, which is that they don’t want to lose all the vestiges of the revolution. And Raúl Castro himself has said, "We want to have an economic model that allows us to have sustainable socialism." The problem for Cuba is that they can’t sustain the advances of the Cuban revolution in education and health unless their economy changes and they are able to be a productive society generating the resources to do these social programs in the future. And that is why, in a opening of the economy, the economy is—under Raúl Castro, is evolving away from a strict communist model to a much more kind of—more social democratic model, eventually, and perhaps like Vietnam, perhaps like China. It’s hard to know where it will end up. But it is evolving steadily towards that new model of the economy, and it’s up to the Cuban government, of course, to decide what kind of interaction they’re going to have with American economic interests. We can no more tell them what to do now than we can—than we could before the normalization of diplomatic relations. But they know what’s in their interests, and I’m sure that they are going to act accordingly.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Peter Kornbluh, talk about what has to happen now. And what does Congress have to do, which President Obama alluded to as he spoke yesterday? And how could a change of a presidential administration, or even the current Congress, stop anything—or could they—from moving forward?
PETER KORNBLUH: I think what President Obama has done in normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba is irreversible. And Congress can certainly stand in the way—the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dominated by Republicans like Marco Rubio, can thwart kind of a naming of a new ambassador. They can hold up any ambassador—ambassadorial nomination that President Obama gives them. But I think what he is going to do is simply assign the diplomat that is there, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who’s head of the interest section and who already is an ambassador, in the sense that he was ambassador previous to his posting in Cuba, with the kind of interim status. So, 'til the end of the Obama administration, I believe that he's not going to pick a fight with Congress over this nomination.
You know, Obama has two years left. He’s going to move quickly and with all the power that he has as president to kind of consolidate this change in policy. He has normalized diplomatic relations. To normalize overall relations, of course, we do have to lift the embargo. The United States does have to address Cuba’s interest in the return of the Guantánamo military base. And these regime change programs that USAID has been running for all these years, kind of in a kind of bureaucratic imperative mandated by Congress, do have to be reconfigured to some kind of more educational-oriented or economic sharing, as opposed to an effort to roll back the Cuban revolution. Those things are down the road. I think Obama wants to create an ambiance, a very new ambiance, a very new framework of relations, and then have the countries negotiate accordingly.
A new president could certainly create a much more hostile policy towards Cuba. A new Congress with Democrats could actually vote to lift the embargo and lift the travel ban that prevents people like you and I from freely going on vacation in Varadero Beach, to Cuba, at this point. But I think that Obama’s strategy is simply to create constituencies in the business community, among American citizens, as well as support in Cuba for going forward with this relationship, to the point where it will be very difficult for a Republican president, like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, to reverse this process.
AMY GOODMAN: The issue of trade, Peter, what exactly is going to happen now? I mean, many Republican and Democratic governors, for example, not to mention CEOs, have been going back and forth to Cuba. What happens next?
PETER KORNBLUH: You’ve had the president of Google going. You’ve had the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce going to Cuba. There are all sorts of businessmen who have been there. And President Obama has kind of looked at the embargo like a dam, and he’s used his executive powers to poke holes in it, with the hope that as the kind of economic waters pour through the holes that he has created in the embargo, the dam weakens and eventually collapses. I think that’s his strategy, and it’s being supported by the business community and by the advocacy community. There’s a new organization out there called Cuba Engage, which is trying to organize business and advocates to lift the travel ban—very important to support that. And I think that that’s his idea.
And Obama, using executive orders, has created all sorts of clauses in the—for the business community. The United States can now import goods from Cuba from private businesses in Cuba. We can sell them more food. Internet companies of the United States of America are now going to Cuba and are going to work with Cubans to build a Internet network there. So there’s a loosening of the restrictions on trade. You still are not going to see, you know, Hilton Hotels building hotels in Cuba. You’re not going to see a McDonald’s or a Wal-Mart or major U.S. mining companies arriving in Cuba and investing in Cuba, unless Congress lifts the trade embargo on Cuba. But you are going to see quite a bit more economic activity in the years to come.
AMY GOODMAN: And the visits—President Obama says he personally will go next year, and the pope, before he comes to the United States, will be going to Cuba first. Is that right, Peter Kornbluh? And the pope’s role in the negotiation that has opened up the relationship between Cuba and the United States?
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, the next edition, the paperback edition, of the book that I did with William LeoGrande, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana, is going to have a whole new 50-page epilogue that tells the story of how the pope got involved with the secret talks to improve relations between the United States and Cuba. And certainly, when the pope goes to Cuba in mid-September, he is going to raise the issue of the embargo. He’s going to come to the United States afterwards, and I’m sure the issue will actually come up.
The pope will be following John Kerry, who is going to be going to Cuba later this month. That is going to receive quite a bit of media attention. And, of course, there’s going to be a parade of celebrities, businessmen, political figures continuing to go to Cuba 'til the end of the year. Obama—certainly the White House has said that Obama would relish his own trip to Cuba in 2016. That would be history making. That would be Obama's Nixon-in-China moment, and he would go down in history as the president who ended the Cold War in the Caribbean once and for all, and actually took steps to set foot on the island of Cuba while the Cuban existence—while a Castro was still in power. I think that will go a long way to normalizing simply the kind of people-to-people relationship between this country, and I hope we all live to see the day that a president of the United States sets foot on the island of Cuba in the near future.
AMY GOODMAN: Peter Kornbluh, I want to thank you for being with us. He directs the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, which is at George Washington University in D.C., co-author of the book, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana. Updated edition with that epilogue that tells the story of President Obama, the pope and President Castro are all in that book. This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute.
As France Suspends Soldiers for Child Sexual Abuse, Will U.N. Tackle Impunity for Western Peacekeepers?
In the latest allegations of child sex abuse by Western troops in the countries they are supposed to be protecting, France has suspended two soldiers accused of sexually abusing two children in Burkina Faso. The soldiers reportedly filmed themselves abusing one of the victims, a five-year-old girl. The suspension of the French soldiers comes weeks after it emerged the U.N. failed to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation of children by French troops in the Central African Republic. Even after the exploitation was brought to the attention of senior U.N. officials, the U.N. never reported it to French authorities — nor did it do anything to immediately stop the abuse. A forthcoming report by the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services says peacekeepers frequently engage in "transactional sex," forcing impoverished citizens to perform sexual acts in exchange for food and medication. We are joined by Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World. Her group has launched the Code Blue campaign, which seeks to end the sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations military and nonmilitary peacekeeping personnel.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to new allegations of child sex abuse by Western troops in countries they’re supposed to be protecting. France has suspended two soldiers accused of sexually abusing two children in Burkina Faso after the soldiers reportedly filmed themselves abusing one of the victims, a five-year-old girl. The incident apparently came to light after her father discovered the footage.
The suspension of the French soldiers comes weeks after it emerged the U.N. failed to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation of children by French troops in the Central African Republic. Even after the exploitation was brought to the attention of senior U.N. officials, the U.N. never reported it to French authorities, nor did it do anything to immediately stop the abuse.
The incidents in Burkina Faso and Central African Republic are the most high-profile to date in a growing controversy surrounding peacekeepers’ conduct worldwide. A forthcoming report by the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services says peacekeepers frequently engage in "transactional sex," forcing impoverished citizens to perform sexual acts in exchange for food and medication.
For more, we go to Boston, where we’re joined by Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World. Her group has launched the Code Blue campaign, which seeks to end the sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. military and nonmilitary peacekeeping personnel.
Paula, welcome back to Democracy Now! Talk about this latest revelation in Burkina Faso and what it means.
PAULA DONOVAN: What it means, Amy, is that this problem is pervasive. Wherever there are foreign troops that are ostensibly protecting the most vulnerable civilians on Earth, this problem of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation is simply rampant. So whether they’re U.N. peacekeepers or whether they’re authorized under their own governments to be working in foreign countries, sexual exploitation and abuse is an absolute pandemic. And it’s not being addressed or even reported by the United Nations to the Security Council and governments that could intervene together, collectively, to stop this horrendous problem.
AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this month, a U.N. panel recommended sweeping changes to the world body’s peacekeeping operations worldwide. The report came amidst revelations of sexual abuses and exploitation by U.N. forces in countries like Haiti, Liberia, as well as CAR, the Central African Republic. The panel chair, the former president and prime minister of East Timor, actually, José Ramos-Horta, said there must be zero tolerance for such crimes.
JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA: This is what has to be very clear: You commit a barbarity, you have no protection whatsoever. You are subject to the laws of the country where you are operating. You know, he cannot hide under the United Nations’ roof.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Paula Donovan, does that satisfy you?
PAULA DONOVAN: It satisfies me certainly that President Ramos-Horta made that declaration. Unfortunately, the entire panel did not agree with that consensus, so President Ramos-Horta had to speak unilaterally as the chair and make that strong recommendation that the immunity that’s provided to both the military peacekeepers who are operating in foreign countries and, even more importantly, to the United Nations civilian personnel who are—who exist in all these peacekeeping countries is simply an obstacle to justice. Justice can’t be served as long as there’s one form of investigation and prosecution for anyone affiliated with the United Nations and another for the other billions of us around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: So talk about the responsibility of the United Nations when it comes, for example, in Burkina Faso, to the French peacekeepers that are there. What’s the relationship? And then, what about the French government suspending these two soldiers?
PAULA DONOVAN: Well, there are three categories, essentially, of foreign soldiers who operate in countries, mostly in Africa, and around the world. The French soldiers, in this instance, in Burkina Faso, were there through an agreement between their country and Burkina Faso to deal with anti-terrorism. And that wasn’t under the mandate of the United Nations, although they would certainly cooperate with United Nations peacekeepers on the ground. And then there’s a second category where the U.N. mandates are—rather, authorizes foreign troops to come in, again, with between—with a relationship between the governments. And then the third, and most prevalent, situation is when U.N. Security Council members authorize a peacekeeping mission, and soldiers from around the world are contributed by their countries and go and work together to maintain what’s usually a very fragile peace.
In the Burkina Faso incident, these soldiers who are now suspended—not arrested, which I think is critically important to note, but the soldiers who have been suspended—were there as members of the French military. And France, of course, is a permanent member of the Security Council, as is the United States. The U.S. and France send their troops abroad to work in countries that are in crisis. And, of course, they should be operating where—you know, under any mandate or agreement, they should be operating as though they are the world leaders who are supposed to be setting the standards for the way that soldiers and other forces behave when they ostensibly assist governments that are in trouble.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to comments made by Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, head of United Nations peacekeepers during the genocide in Rwanda. He spoke in May at the launch of Code Blue, along with you, Paula Donovan—Code Blue, the global campaign to end immunity for U.N. peacekeeper sexual violence.
LT.-GEN. ROMÉO DALLAIRE: So there’s a sense of a culture of silence out there, a culture nearly of impunity, that’s within the construct of many of the contingents, because there’s been no really effective means by holding people accountable and, in fact, prosecuting them in a timely fashion, and in so doing, permitting those who are in authority to influence their own command to impose discipline and to impose legal action against people who commit crimes. And so, removing the impunity from the civilian side is probably the most innovative idea I have heard in a longest time.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Roméo Dallaire, the lieutenant-general who headed the United Nations peacekeeping forces during the genocide in Rwanda. Paula Donovan, if you could follow up on what he is saying?
PAULA DONOVAN: So what Lieutenant-General Dallaire said in support of the Code Blue campaign and its goal of ending immunity for U.N. civilian peacekeeping personnel as the first step is absolutely crucial, if there is a situation—which there is currently—where anyone within the United Nations who is employed by the U.N. feels as though they can act with impunity, do whatever they want when they’re sent to peacekeeping missions, because their employer, rather than the local law enforcement and local judiciary, will intervene if they’re accused of a sex-related crime or a sex-related offense. So if someone who is employed by the United Nations who’s accused of, let’s say, sexually molesting a child isn’t immediately brought into custody by local law enforcement, the United Nations intervenes and says, "This person is covered by immunity under a 1946 convention. We will move in with our investigators and first decide whether we think there’s a credible allegation, whether we think there’s enough evidence, whether we think that a prosecution should proceed." And that doesn’t exist for anyone else in the world, except diplomats and U.N. personnel.
So this creates what Roméo Dallaire was describing as the culture of impunity. When you’ve got the standard-bearers at the top of the United Nations who are operating these peacekeeping missions and instructing soldiers about what they can and cannot do, who are immune from any normal process, at least for the period until their employers decide whether or not they really should be disciplined, whether they should even be arrested and—or accused of these crimes, that makes absolutely no sense. The soldiers throughout the world who are contributed to peacekeeping operations will simply look at the United Nations and say, "You’re saying that you have zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, but we can see by your actions that you do this all the time and you get away with it, and sometimes your employer spends, you know, upwards of 18 months, sometimes five years, to investigate an accusation, while the accused U.N. employee continues about his business, continues to do his work, and the U.N. decides whether or not they’re going to allow the appropriate authorities to take action." So this just sends a message throughout the world that we are pretending that we have zero tolerance, but in fact we are quite tolerant of these offenses.
AMY GOODMAN: Paula Donovan, I want to thank you for being with us, co-director of AIDS-Free World, which has launched the Code Blue campaign to seek the end of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. military and nonmilitary peacekeeping personnel around the world.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we go south. What about the black church burnings throughout the South since the Charleston massacre? Stay with us.
Headlines:
U.S. and Cuba to Reopen Embassies, Formally Re-establish Ties
President Obama has announced that after more than half a century, the United States and Cuba will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals and formally re-establish diplomatic relations.
President Obama: "Today, I can announce that the United States has agreed to formally re-establish diplomatic relations with the republic of Cuba and reopen embassies in our respective countries. This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas."
Secretary of State John Kerry said he will travel to Havana to open the U.S. Embassy there. In a statement, the Cuban government said relations with the United States cannot be considered normalized until trade sanctions are lifted, the naval base at Guantánamo Bay is returned, and U.S.-backed programs aimed at "subversion and internal destabilization" are halted. But in a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Cuban President Raúl Castro acknowledged much progress has already been made, and confirmed the openings of permanent diplomatic missions later this month. We’ll have more on Cuba after headlines.
Greek Talks Stall Ahead of Austerity Referendum Sunday
Talks between Greece and its European creditors have ground to a halt ahead of a Greek referendum Sunday on whether to accept an austerity package of budget cuts and tax hikes. Earlier this week, Greece missed a $1.8 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund, bringing it to the edge of a financial meltdown. Greece’s left-wing Syriza-led government has urged residents to vote "no" in this weekend’s referendum, rejecting the latest bailout proposals from European creditors. Speaking to Bloomberg TV earlier today, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he would resign if Greeks vote to embrace a deal he says would only extend the current crisis.
Yanis Varoufakis: "We’ll find a way of signing this. Maybe we will change the configuration of the government, because some of us may not be able to stomach it. Personally, I won’t sign another extend and pretend. I’m allergic to extending and pretending. But I will not scupper it. I will not scupper it. I will do, and I’m sure the prime minister will do, and everybody in the government will do, what we must do in order to respect the 'yes' verdict of the Greek people. But there won’t be a 'yes' verdict. I’m quite confident that the Greek people have had enough of extending and pretending, like the rest of the world, by the way."
Guy Johnson: "Just to nail you down a little bit more."
Yanis Varoufakis: "Please do."
Guy Johnson: "So, if there’s a 'yes' vote, come Monday night, you will not be finance minister?"
Yanis Varoufakis: "I wouldn’t."
Puerto Rico Meets Debt Obligations for Now
In Puerto Rico, the government and the power authority have avoided default by paying more than $1 billion due to creditors on Wednesday. But the payments represent a small fraction of the more than $73 billion in total debt Puerto Rico owes. Governor Alejandro García Padilla has warned the debt is not payable, leading Puerto Rico to be dubbed "America’s Greece."
Egypt: More Than 100 Killed in Sinai Clashes
In Egypt, the military says more than 100 people have died in clashes between the army and militants in the Sinai Peninsula. On Wednesday, the self-proclaimed Islamic State launched one if its widest attacks in the region to date, raiding military checkpoints and a police station. Egypt’s military said it had regained control and killed more than 100 people it described as militants.
U.N.: Record Number of Migrants Cross Mediterranean
A record number of migrants from the Middle East and Africa have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in the first half of this year. According to the United Nations, a total of 137,000 people arrived in Europe, an increase of 83 percent from last year. The U.N. said the large majority were refugees fleeing war or persecution, including many from Syria. "Europe is living through a maritime refugee crisis of historic proportions," the report said.
Philippines: Dozens Killed in Ferry Disaster
Dozens of people have been killed after a ferry sank off the coast of the Philippines. Authorities said at least 34 people died, while 118 have been rescued.
Indonesia: Plane Crash Death Toll Tops 140
In Indonesia, the death toll from a military plane crash in the city of Medan has topped 140. More than 120 military officers and their family members were on board the plane when it crashed Tuesday, slamming into businesses and killing at least 20 people on the ground.
Bree Newsome Speaks Out After Removing SC Confederate Flag
In the United States, Bree Newsome, who scaled the flagpole at the South Carolina State Capitol and took down the Confederate flag, has spoken out for the first time since her arrest. Early on Saturday morning, Bree Newsome shimmied up the flagpole, reciting scriptures as she brought the flag down. Her actions came a day after the funeral for Reverend Clementa Pinckney, one of nine people massacred by racist alleged shooter Dylann Roof at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church. Newsome spoke in an interview with Good Morning America which aired this morning.
Bree Newsome: "The majority of people in this nation are good. The majority of people in this nation want peace. We want to eliminate racism. We want to have more equality."
Tune into Democracy Now! tomorrow for a description of Bree Newsome’s protest and on Monday for our interview with Bree Newsome and James Tyson, who was arrested alongside her for standing at the base of the flagpole. For a 20-minute sneak preview of Monday’s interview, click here.
NASCAR Track to Offer Confederate Flag Swap
In the latest sign of rising opposition to the Confederate flag, the Daytona International Speedway has announced it will conduct a flag exchange this weekend, offering NASCAR fans the chance to swap out their Confederate flags for U.S. flags. NASCAR bans the Confederate flag from official materials and race cars, but has not blocked fans from raising it over campsites and motor homes in the infield of racetracks. Many have criticized NASCAR for not simply banning the flag altogether.
Tennessee: 5,000 Evacuated After Chemical Train Derails
In Tennessee, more than 5,000 people have been evacuated after a train carrying a flammable, poisonous chemical derailed and caught fire near Knoxville. The train was reportedly carrying liquified petroleum gas and a toxic product used to make plastics. Seven firefighters were hospitalized after breathing in the fumes.
U.S. Probes Airlines for Potential Collusion over Fares
The Obama administration has launched an antitrust investigation into airlines in the United States. The Justice Department is looking into whether the airlines colluded to limit seating and thereby increase fares. Following a series of mergers which were approved by the Justice Department, about 80 percent of air traffic in the United States is now controlled by just four airlines.
Sanders Draws Record Crowd of 10,000 at Wisconsin Rally
As Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has raised a record of at least $45 million in its first quarter, another Democratic candidate has broken a different record. Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders drew the largest crowd of any presidential candidate so far this election season when he spoke to 10,000 people in Madison, Wisconsin.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Tonight we have made a little bit of history. You may know that there are some 25 candidates running for president of the United States. But tonight, we have more people at a meeting for a candidate of president of the United States than any other candidate."
Macy’s Severs Ties with Trump After Remarks on Mexicans
In other news from the campaign trail, Macy’s has become the latest company to cut ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he called Mexican immigrants criminals and "rapists." After more than 700,000 people signed a petition urging Macy’s to sever ties with Trump, the retailer said Wednesday it would phase out its Donald Trump menswear line. NBC and Univision have also cut ties with Trump over his comments, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is reviewing its contracts with Trump.
Snowden Documents Reveal New Details of "NSA’s Google"
The Intercept news site has published one of the largest releases of documents from Edward Snowden to date, revealing new details about the National Security Agency’s program XKEYSCORE. Described as "the NSA’s Google for the world’s private communications," the program sweeps up emails, voice calls, webcam photos, web searches, logged keystrokes and more. The program is fed by fiber-optic cables which form the "backbone of the world’s communication network," with hundreds of servers around the world. The system includes traffic from Americans and allows the government to easily make queries based on criteria like nationality or the websites people have visited. One document shows government analysts used XKEYSCORE to obtain U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s talking points before a meeting with President Obama.
WikiLeaks Publishes Core Text of Massive TiSA Trade Deal
WikiLeaks has published the secret core text of a massive trade pact called the Trade in Services Agreement, which is currently being negotiated by more than 50 countries encompassing two-thirds of the global GDP. The publication comes ahead of the next round of negotiations next week. While it has received less attention, WikiLeaks called the Trade in Services Agreement the "largest component" of the U.S. trade agenda, which also includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact, or TTIP. Critics of the deal say it would severely restrict governments’ ability to regulate and expand corporate power. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks has also published documents showing the United States did not just tap German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone, it also targeted scores of German officials and their aides, including Merkel’s personal assistant.
Judge Strikes Down GMO Ban in Maui County, Hawaii
A federal judge has invalidated a ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops passed by voters in Maui County, Hawaii. Passed in November, the ballot measure called for a complete suspension on GMO crop cultivation until studies prove it is safe. Maui County is often called "GMO Ground Zero" because multinational seed producers test products there. Both Monsanto and Dow filed suit against the ban, and on Tuesday a judge ruled Maui County lacked the authority to impose it. Critics of GMOs say they will appeal.
Girl Scouts Refuse Donation with Transgender Limits, Raise $300,000
A Girl Scouts chapter in Western Washington has rejected a $100,000 donation because the donor said it couldn’t be used to help transgender girls. Using the hashtag "#ForEVERYGirl," the Girl Scouts launched a crowdfunding campaign to recoup the donation they sent back. So far about 6,000 people have donated nearly $300,000, triple the original amount.
Ramsey Orta, Who Filmed Fatal Chokehold of Eric Garner, Arrested Again
And Ramsey Orta, the man who says he has been harassed by police constantly since filming the fatal New York City police encounter with Eric Garner, has been arrested again. Orta’s video shows police in Staten Island wrestling Eric Garner to the ground in a chokehold, then piling on top of him. Garner said he couldn’t breathe 11 times before he died. Last summer, the day after Garner’s death was declared a homicide, Orta was arrested on a gun charge. His wife was arrested days later on an unrelated assault charge. In February, Orta was arrested again along with his mother and brother on drug charges. While he was in jail, his aunt Lisa Mercado told Democracy Now! about the harassment he and his family faced from police.
Lisa Mercado: "It’s just, ever since the film, the filming that Ramsey did, it was a constant harassment every day, on a daily basis, within the day hours, and it could be 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning. Policemen would ride by the home and put spotlights into the windows of the home."
Ramsey Orta was arrested yet again on Tuesday, accused of selling $40 worth of the drug MDMA to an undercover officer. To see our interview with Lisa Mercado and Orta’s attorneys, you can go to democracynow.org. Eric Garner died a year ago this month. A grand jury declined to indict the officer who used the fatal chokehold, Daniel Pantaleo.
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"What, to the American Slave, Is Your 4th of July?" by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
This image of Frederick Douglass dates to the 1860s. (Wikimedia Commons)
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” asked Frederick Douglass of the crowd gathered at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, N.Y., on July 5, 1852. “I answer,” he continued, “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which lie is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham.”
Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 and became one of the most powerful and eloquent orators of the abolitionist movement. His Independence Day talk was organized by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. Douglass extolled the virtues of the Founding Fathers, those who signed the Declaration of Independence. Then he brought the focus to the present, to 1852. He said:
“I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?”
Of course, the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society had no intention of mocking him. Proceeds from their events were devoted primarily to supporting Douglass’ newspaper. They championed Douglass and saw the need to take action, whatever action they could muster. The United States was, at the time of the speech, less than a decade away from a brutal civil war. The war would formally start with the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, just off the coast of Charleston, S.C.
Independence Day is a fitting time to reflect on the role that grass-roots organizing for social change has played in building this nation. The recent horrific massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, S.C., also compels us to question just how far we have progressed toward the ideals enshrined in that document signed on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence.
It was in Charleston that a man named Denmark Vesey, a former slave who had won his freedom, had planned an expansive slave rebellion, slated to take place in 1822. The plot was exposed, and Vesey, along with 34 alleged co-conspirators, was hanged. Vesey was one of the founders of Charleston’s AME church in 1818, which became Emanuel AME Church, where Dylann Roof is alleged to have murdered nine people this past June 17, among them the church’s pastor, who was also a state senator, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney. The storied church, called “Mother Emanuel,” has been central to the lives of African-Americans in Charleston and beyond for close to two centuries.
So, when evidence pointing to Roof’s racist motivation surfaced, including an Internet-posted manifesto along with numerous photos of him with the Confederate flag, pressure mounted to remove that flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state Capitol in Columbia, S.C. The movement was swift, with companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon pulling Confederate memorabilia from their shelves. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley immediately ordered all Confederate flags be removed from Alabama Statehouse grounds. But as the U.S. and South Carolina flags on the Capitol Dome flew at half-mast after the massacre, the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, at a Confederate war memorial on the Statehouse grounds, continued to fly at full mast.
On Friday, June 26, more than 5,000 mourners crowded into an arena in Charleston for the funeral of the Rev. Pinckney. President Barack Obama gave a moving eulogy, ending by singing “Amazing Grace” as the congregation joined in. The next day, at dawn, Bree Newsome, a 30-year-old African-American woman, scaled that 30-foot flagpole in Columbia with helmet and climbing gear and took down the Confederate flag. James Tyson, a fellow activist who is white, spotted for her from the base of the pole.
After unhooking the flag, Newsome said from her perch, “You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today!” After she descended, the two were arrested, and the flag was back up within an hour. But their action went viral, with prominent civil rights leaders and organizations endorsing the nonviolent direct action. Newsome and Tyson face up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Not only does the flag still fly, but since the Charleston massacre, at least half a dozen African-American churches have burned down throughout the South. Investigations have begun, but whatever the cause of the fires, they have ignited fears of a recurrence of a brutal history.
Frederick Douglass’ words on that distant July Fourth holiday have been given new life by Bree Newsome, 163 years later: “It is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,300 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan, of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.
(c) 2015 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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