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Complicity in Neoslavery: Chris Hedges Calls Out Corporate America for Exploiting Prison Labor
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, activist and Presbyterian minister Chris Hedges, whose latest book is "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle," spoke Saturday at New York’s "Rise Up October" rally and march to end police violence. In his address, Hedges spoke about the effects that police violence and mass incarceration has on families. "There are husbands and wives severed, sometimes forever, from their spouses," said Hedges. "There are sisters and brothers that have been torn apart, but this morning we remember most the children, those whose mothers and fathers are locked behind bars or whose parents will never come home again, whose tiny lives have been shattered, whose childhoods have been stolen, who endure the painful stigma of loss or of having a mother or father in prison and cannot comprehend the cruelty of this world."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Among those who addressed the crowd was the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, Chris Hedges who wrote for The New York Times for over 15 years, 20 years a Middle East correspondent covering war. His latest book is Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt.
CHRIS HEDGES: I’m Chris Hedges. I’m a writer. I teach in a prison in New Jersey, and have for many years. I’m also a Presbyterian minister.
And at this moment, I’d like to ask us to pray for the loved ones we’ve lost and the loved ones who rot in cages across this country. Oh, God, in the name of the prophets, in the name of Jeremiah and Moses and Jesus, in the name of the holy prophet and messenger from God, Muhammad, peace be upon him. In the name of our martyrs, Martin and Malcolm, in the names of all who have risen up to fight the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed, we implore you to take into your hands the grief, the loneliness, the suffering and the pain inflicted on our brothers and sisters who have lost loved ones to police violence, who are trapped in cages, and to empower us to struggle until we bring justice to the streets of our cities and let our captives go.
There are mothers and fathers among us whose sons and daughters have been swallowed by this great monstrosity of mass incarceration or whose lives have been cut short. There are husbands and wives severed, sometimes forever, from their spouses. There are sisters and brothers that have been torn apart. But this morning we remember most the children, those whose mothers and fathers are locked behind bars or whose parent will never come home again, whose tiny lives have been shattered, whose childhoods have been stolen, who endure the painful stigma of loss or of having a mother or father in prison and who cannot comprehend the cruelty of this world. And we say to all these people, and especially these children, we as a society have failed you, and we will fail you no more.
We cry out today for all those who have become invisible, those who have disappeared behind prison walls, those who have become prey—rape, torture, beatings, prolonged isolation, sensory deprivation, racial profiling, chain gangs, forced labor, rancid food, inadequate medical care, children imprisoned as adults, prisoners forced to take medications to induce lethargy, little or no heating and ventilation, decades-long sentences for nonviolent crimes and endemic violence—and we damn the state that perpetuates this abuse.
We say to all those who have turned mass incarceration into a business—the commissary companies; key supply companies; the phone companies, Global Tel Link; the food service companies, like Aramark; the private prison companies, like Corrections Corporation of America; their lobbyists, who write the laws that ensure long sentences, full prisons and huge recidivism rates; and our politicians who pass these laws in exchange for campaign contributions in our system of legalized bribery—we are not deceived. We call out the corporations that exploit underpaid and bonded prison labor for their complicity in neoslavery: Chevron, Bank of America, IBM, Penney, Sears, Wal-Mart, Eddie Bauer, Wendy’s, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Pierre Cardin and Target. We say to all those who oppress the poorest and most vulnerable among us that what you do is sinful and evil in the eyes of God.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, speaking at this weekend’s Rise Up October. Thousands protested police brutality. Eleven people were arrested at the rally.
That does it for the show. We’re hiring a director of development. Check our website.Read More →
Syria Burning: Charles Glass on the Roots & Future of the Deadly Conflict
A new round of international talks to end the war in Syria could begin as early as this week. The four-year-old war has killed more than 300,000 people and left more than 7 million ... Read More →
Voices of Rise Up October: Quentin Tarantino, Cornel West, Victims' Families Decry Police Violence
On Saturday, thousands rallied in New York City against police brutality as part of three days of protest called "Rise Up October." Some 40 families across the country impacted by police violence participated in the event alongside scholars such as Dr. Cornel West and Chris Hedges, as well as celebrities including playwright Eve Ensler and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. We bring some of the voices from Saturday’s rally, including Kadiatou Diallo, mother of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who died on February 4, 1999, in a hail of 41 police bullets as he put the key in his door. The New York Police Department’s Street Crime Unit would later be disbanded. "How many more victims were unjustly killed since Amadou Diallo?" Kadiatou Diallo said. "We can’t begin to count. I went to many funerals. I connected with many families. We’re not bitter. The law enforcement should know we are not against them. We are not against them. We are anti-police brutality."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to come back to the streets of New York. On Saturday, thousands rallied in New York City against police brutality as part of three days of protest called Rise Up October. Some 40 families from across the United States impacted by police violence participated in the event, alongside scholars like Dr. Cornel West, journalist Chris Hedges, as well as celebrities like the playwright Eve Ensler and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. The rally took place one day after FBI Director James Comey said protests over police brutality may have fueled an increase in violent crime because officers are less aggressive.
Well, today we end today’s program by bringing you some of the voices from Saturday’s rally, beginning with Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of Amadou Diallo, the unarmed West African immigrant who died February 4th, 1999, in a hail of 41 police bullets as he put his key in the door in his own door in the Bronx in New York. New York Police Department’s Street Crime Unit would later be disbanded.
PROTESTERS: No justice for the black, no justice for the brown. So what we gonna do? Shut it down! Shut it down! No justice for the brown, no justice for the black. So what we gonna do? Fists up! Fight back!
Don’t shoot! Hands up! Don’t shoot! Hands up! Don’t shoot!
KADIATOU DIALLO: How are you doing, sisters and brothers? Hello, New York City. In the spirit of my son Amadou Diallo, I say to you: We will see the end of this brutality in our lifetime. My son didn’t die in vain. He died so that we can have change. But the change has been long coming. We are still waiting. How many more victims were unjustly killed since Amadou Diallo? We cannot even begin to count. I went to many funerals. I connected to many families.
We are not bitter. I told the world then, the day when they stood up and told me that the four cops who shot my son had done nothing wrong, that it was the fault of my son, I said to you, I say to you now, I said it then: We need change. Amadou has died. It’s too late for him. But we have to prevent this from happening again. When you have tragedies like that, you need to learn what went wrong and correct it. It never happened, because, nationwide, look at all these faces here. Look at all these families here. What happened?
Law enforcement community should know that we are not against them. We even feel for those who were shot just recently in Harlem. We are not against them. We are anti-police brutality. We are not anti-cop, because we know some of them are doing good job. But we need to root out those who are brutalizing our children for no reason.
REV. JEROME McCORRY: Brothers and sisters, Mr. Quentin Tarantino.
QUENTIN TARANTINO: Hey, everybody. I got something to say, but actually I would like to give my time to the families that want to talk. I want to give my time to the families. However, I just do also want to say: What am I doing here? I’m doing here because I am a human being with a conscience. And when I see murder, I cannot stand by, and I have to call the murdered the murdered, and I have to call the murderers the murderers. Now I’m going to give my time to the families.
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: I am affectionately known to the community as Uncle Bobby. I am the uncle of Oscar Grant. How many of you have seen the movie Fruitvale Station? I’m going to be short. I just want to say this. One famous person that I know who’s standing behind me right now named Dr. Cornel West said this: If you want to hear the truth, you must let the suffering speak. Martin Luther King said it this way: "Cowards ask, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks, 'Is it political?' Vanity asks, 'Is it popular?' But conscience asks, 'Is it right?' There comes a time when neither safe, political or vanity is the reason why you stand. You stand because it is right."
PROTESTER: Do the right thing!
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: Rise up!
PROTESTER: Do the right thing!
PROTESTERS: Rise up!
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: Rise up!
PROTESTERS: Rise up!
REV. JEROME McCORRY: It is with great pleasure I introduce the people’s scholar, the people’s leader. Let’s give it up for Dr. Cornel West.
CORNEL WEST: My brother.
REV. JEROME McCORRY: I love you, Doc.
CORNEL WEST: I love you.
REV. JEROME McCORRY: I love you, Doc.
CORNEL WEST: Brother Jerome, we’re here because we have a deep love for those who have been abused by the police. Let’s don’t get it twisted: This is a love train. This is what the Isley Brothers call a caravan of love. How many of you all love the people? How many of you all serve the people? And we’re here because we want to keep the families center stage. This is not the time for a speech. We know that the capitalist system is failing us. We know the criminal justice system is failing us. We know that white supremacy is a lie, but it’s still alive. It is failing us. Male supremacy, too. Homophobia, too. Anti-Arab, too. Anti-Jewish, too. Anti-Muslim, too. But we’re here to focus on the family, y’all. This has been a major effort to bring families from all over the country, from every corner of the American empire. And we want to make sure we salute them.
AMY GOODMAN: That last speaker was Dr. Cornel West of Union Theological Seminary, speaking at the anti-police brutality protest Saturday in New York City. Before that, Oscar Grant’s uncle, Cephus "Uncle Bobby" Johnson, and director Quentin Tarantino. The leader of the New York Police Department’s union has called for a boycott of Tarantino’s films after he participated in the Rise Up October protest Saturday. On the streets after the rally, when thousands marched from Washington Square Park up to Bryant Park, where the New York Public Library is, I spoke to Uncle Bobby further, the uncle of Oscar Grant.
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: I am affectionately known to the community as Uncle Bobby. I am the uncle of Oscar Grant, the young man, as you know, that was killed in the movie Fruitvaile Station.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us what happened to Oscar Grant, when it happened.
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: On January 1st, 2009, at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, California, as you know, Oscar Grant was laying face down in a prone position with his hands behind his back, before Johannes Mehserle stands up and shoots him in the back without any apparent reason. He alleged that he thought Oscar had a gun.
AMY GOODMAN: And tell me what happened. Who witnessed this?
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: Of course, there was many on the platform that evening that saw what happened.
AMY GOODMAN: It was New Year’s night.
CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON: It was New Year’s night. They, of course, videotaped what was occurring. And for the first time in California state history, because of the community, because of labor, the ILWU Local 10, longshoremen’s, who shut down the ports, and of course the community that embraced the family, we got, for the first time in California state history, an officer arrested, charged, convicted and sent to jail. We count that as historical, not a victory, because he only did 11 months, because of a technicality that the judge alleged. However, we know that the unifying of these families across the United States will bring about a real change.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Oscar Grant’s uncle, Uncle Bobby, in the streets of New York, though he’s normally in California, because thousands marched on Saturday.Read More →
Knife-Wielding Israeli Settler Attacks Founder of Rabbis for Human Rights
Tension is continuing to mount in Israel over a string of recent Palestinian stabbing attacks and an intense crackdown by the Israeli government. Since October 1, at ... Read More →
Charles Glass: Tony Blair is Right–Those Who Removed Saddam Hussein Share Blame for Rise of ISIL
In an interview on Sunday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that there were "elements of truth" to the claim that removing Saddam Hussein played a part in the creation of ISIL. "You can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015," said Blair on CNN. We speak to journalist Charles Glass about his recent trip to Iraq and his new book, "Syria Burning: ISIS and the Death of the Arab Spring."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: You also just returned, Charles Glass, from Iraq. Talk about what you found there. You were in the north and the south.
CHARLES GLASS: One of the things that I discovered, which I wasn’t aware of until I got there, was how badly resourced the Kurdish forces are in the north. They’re not receiving the weapons that they’ve requested from the United States and the rest of the coalition there. And so, they—while they are the strongest force fighting the Islamic State in both Iraq and then helping the Kurds in Syria, they are terribly under-resourced, and they cannot do many of the things that they need to do, because they don’t have those weapons.
AMY GOODMAN: Would that be because of the U.S. relationship with Turkey?
CHARLES GLASS: It’s partly to do with the relationship with Turkey and partly to do with the relationship with Baghdad. The Baghdad government is afraid that once the Kurds take all of the area that they want, that they will then be fighting against the Baghdad government for their independence and controlling what are called the disputed territories between the Kurdish regional government and the Baghdad government. And they’re thinking of the longer-term future, not just the war against ISIS.
But in the South, I found the opposite. The popular militias are receiving vast resources from Iran and the United States to fight against the Islamic State. While I was there, they took the Baiji oil refinery and much of the area around Ramadi from them, with—using thousands of troops who had very good, modern weapons.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was speaking to Fareed Zakaria on CNN, saying there were, quote, "elements of truth" to the claim that removing Saddam Hussein played a part in the creation of ISIS.
TONY BLAIR: You can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015. But it’s important also to realize, one, that the Arab Spring, which began in 2011, would also have had its impact on Iraq today, and, two, ISIS actually came to prominence from a base in Syria and not in Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Charles Glass?
CHARLES GLASS: Well, Tony Blair has a consistent strain in his character of rewriting history. In fact, the Islamic State originally was created in Iraq. It then went underground during the American surge, when the—in what was called the Sunni Awakening. It went underground, but it did not disappear. It then, because of the U.S. support for rebels in Syria and the escalation of chaos in Syria, was able to reform itself in Syria and then come back into Iraq, which was its goal all along, was to destroy that border between the two countries and create their caliphate.
Blair is right that the people who did the invasion of 2003 do bear a heavy responsibility for what’s happening now, not just in terms of the Islamic State, but in terms of the war that followed in 2003, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, the fact that there still isn’t proper electricity supply in Baghdad, the fact that now when you talk to people in the streets of Baghdad they all hate the British and the Americans. Many of them yearn for Saddam. And that’s really shocking, because, I mean, Saddam Hussein was a monster. And there was nothing wrong with getting rid of him, but the way they got rid of him and the way they behaved when they got rid of him led to all of this chaos in Iraq, which has spread to Syria.
AMY GOODMAN: And what do you think, coming back here now—you live in Europe, but coming back to the United States—you were the former chief Middle East correspondent for ABC News—of the U.S. coverage of what’s going on in the Middle East?
CHARLES GLASS: Well, some of it’s very good. I mean, I’ve seen some very, very insightful pieces on The Intercept and here and—but nothing, probably nothing, to compare with, say, Patrick Cockburn’s coverage in The Independent in London or the late Anthony Shadid in The New York Times, whose coverage was absolutely fabulous, but he’s no longer with us. But some of it’s very good, and some of it is terribly misleading.
AMY GOODMAN: And what is most misleading about it?
CHARLES GLASS: Well, I think it’s Washington-directed, so a lot of the coverage tends to follow the American narrative that everything to do in Syria was the problem of a dictatorship. But actually, that can’t be quite right, because every Arab state is a dictatorship, and every other Arab State, except Syria, receives American support. So it wasn’t dictatorship that the U.S. was against. It was Syria’s relationship with Iran, Syria’s dependence on Iran for strategic depth, and Syria’s support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s antagonism towards Israel. That’s the real problem for the U.S., which some American officials have admitted, but the media seems to have missed this. It isn’t just freedom fighters against a totalitarian regime. There is an element of that, but that isn’t why the freedom fighters got the Western support. They got it because they were going to take down—they wanted them to take down a pro-Iranian regime.
AMY GOODMAN: And who is the Free Syria Army today?
CHARLES GLASS: They are now a very small faction of the opposition, and they find themselves fighting sometimes against the jihadists and sometimes against the regime. But they—because they are under-resourced and they don’t have an ideology that appeals now to people who have lost their homes and people who feel that they’re being oppressed by a minority set in the country, those young men are taking the money and going to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. So the Free Syrian Army is a much diminished and, frankly, irrelevant force now.
AMY GOODMAN: As you have covered the Middle East for decades, what is the connection now, your subtitle, ISIS and the Death of the Arab Spring?
CHARLES GLASS: I think that it’s a metaphor. The Arab Spring is certainly over. ISIS is the worst representation of the killing of that. Remember that the ideals of the Arab Spring, particularly in Tunisia and in Tahrir Square in Cairo, were secular. There were liberal. They wanted freedom of the press. They wanted an independent judiciary. They wanted transparent governance. They wanted to live like normal people and not be afraid of their government. They wanted their dignity. Well, what it has transformed itself into in Syria and Iraq is an institution, the Islamic State, which is opposed to all of those things, even more than the military dictatorships were. So the only opposition now to the regimes in Baghdad and Syria, which are corrupt, is a force that is much more illiberal, much less tolerant than they were. The Syrian state, for all of its flaws, tolerated religious diversity. There was social freedom in Syria. Women did not—were not have to dress—were not forced to dress in a certain way. ISIS, if the Islamic State were to take over in either country, they would impose a very, very rigorous kind of regime in which there would be not even freedom of thought, let alone freedom of speech. That’s why I say that is the death—all of those ideals of the Arab Spring have been lost in this cooptation of the revolution by the most extreme Islamist jihadist forces.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you, Charles Glass, for joining us. His book is called Syria Burning: ISIS and the Death of the Arab Spring. He has just returned from Syria and Iraq.
When we come back, we go to Jerusalem to speak with one of the founders of Rabbis for Human Rights. He was attacked this weekend by a knife-wielding Israeli extremist. The video has gone viral. We’ll then come back to the streets of New York, where there was a major anti-police brutality protest over the weekend. Among those there, the mother of Amadou Diallo and Quentin Tarantino. Stay with us. ... Read More →Headlines:
Powerful Earthquake Kills Scores in Afghanistan, Pakistan
A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan with tremors felt as far away as Pakistan and northern India. Scores of people are reported dead with the toll expected to rise. Agence France-Presse reports at least 52 people have been killed in Pakistan alone. The Associated Press reports at least 12 students at a girls’ school in Afghanistan were killed in a stampede attempting to flee their shaking building. Aid groups are warning the damage could disproportionately impact people already displaced by violence in Afghanistan. In 2005, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in the region killed more than 75,000 people.
European Leaders Agree to Plan for Refugees
Leaders from the European Union and the Balkans have agreed to a plan to address the wave of refugees attempting to reach Germany and other European countries before winter. The plan ramps up efforts to register the refugees and makes room for 100,000 people in reception centers in Greece and other countries. Nearly 250,000 refugees, many fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have crossed through the Balkans since mid-September.
Conflicting Accounts of Israeli Killing of Teenage Girl
Violence is continuing in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Earlier today, Israeli forces shot and killed a teenage Palestinian accused of stabbing an Israeli in Hebron. A day earlier, Israeli border police shot and killed a 17-year-old girl at a border checkpoint. Police said the girl approached officers with a knife, but a witness told CNN the accused assailant was a "terrified schoolgirl" who raised her arms, saying, "I don’t have a knife." Close to 60 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli security forces this month, about 30 of whom were accused of attacking Israelis. Ten Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks.
Video Shows Israeli Settler Attacking Rabbi
Meanwhile, video has gone viral of a masked Israeli settler armed with a knife attacking the co-founder of the group Rabbis for Human Rights, Rabbi Arik Ascherman. We’ll speak with Rabbi Ascherman later in the broadcast in Jerusalem.
Blair Acknowledges Iraq War’s Role in Rise of ISIL
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has issued a qualified apology for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying he’s sorry for "mistakes" made during the war, but not for the ouster of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Blair made the comments in response to questions from CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
Fareed Zakaria: "When people look at the rise of ISIS, many people point to the invasion of Iraq as the principal cause. What do you say to that?"
Tony Blair: "I think there are elements of truth in that. But I think we’ve, again, got to be extremely careful; otherwise we’ll misunderstand what’s going on in Iraq and in Syria today. Of course, you can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015."
Hurricane Patricia Downgraded in Mexico, Dumps Rain on Texas
The remnants of Hurricane Patricia have moved east after drenching parts of Texas with more than a foot of rain. The strongest hurricane ever recorded, Patricia made landfall Friday evening on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, uprooting trees and power lines and setting off mudslides with winds of 165 miles per hour. But the damage was blunted by mountainous terrain, and Patricia was quickly downgraded. Despite fears of mass casualties, there have been no confirmed fatalities from the storm in Mexico. Scientists have warned stronger hurricanes like Patricia will result from climate change.
Climate Negotiators Fail to Reach Agreement on Key Issues in Bonn
The storm came as climate negotiators in Bonn, Germany, wrapped up preliminary climate talks ahead of an upcoming summit in Paris November 30. Despite an emotional appeal from Mexico’s envoy, negotiators failed to reach agreement on key issues. Friends of the Earth called their inaction "a calamity for people across the world."
Leaked Draft of Trade Deal Shows EU Breaking Environmental Pledge
A leaked draft of a massive trade deal being negotiated between the United States and European Union appears to violate an EU pledge to uphold environmental protections. The Guardian reports the leaked text "contains only vaguely phrased and non-binding commitments to environmental safeguards," despite EU promises to the contrary.
Indonesian President Visits White House amid Human Rights Concerns
Indonesian President Joko Widodo is meeting with President Obama at the White House today. Indonesia is currently deciding whether to join the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP. Human rights groups are urging Obama to address human rights abuses in Indonesia, including reports of prisoner torture.
Comedian Elected President of Guatemala; Right Takes Control in Poland
In Guatemala, Jimmy Morales, a right-leaning, former television comedian with no government experience has won the presidency after less than half of eligible voters cast ballots. Guatemala is reeling from a corruption scandal which landed former President Otto Pérez Molina in jail. Meanwhile, Argentina is headed for a presidential runoff next month. In Haiti, election results are not yet in. And in Poland, the right-wing Law and Justice party has retaken control for the first time in nearly a decade.
Obama Calls for Curbing Standardized Testing in Major Turnaround
In a major turnaround on education, President Obama has called for steps to curb reliance on standardized testing, including ensuring students spend no more than 2 percent of classroom instructional time on standardized tests. The Obama administration also acknowledged its own role in advancing the overemphasis on testing. This comes after boycotts of standardized tests across the country, from Seattle to New York.
NYT: Police Stop Black Drivers in NC at Disproportionate Rate
A New York Times investigation has found police in Greensboro, North Carolina, pull over African-American drivers for traffic violations at a disproportionate rate and search black drivers or their cars more than twice as often as white drivers. Across four states that track searches made with a driver’s consent, officers were more likely to search African-American drivers, but less likely to find contraband than if the driver was white.
Christie Accuses #BlackLivesMatter of Calling for Murder of Police
New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie has accused President Obama of advocating "lawlessness" for voicing support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Christie made the comments in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.
Gov. Chris Christie: "The problem is this: There’s lawlessness in this country. The president encourages this lawlessness. He encourages it."
John Dickerson: "Encourages it how?"
Gov. Chris Christie: "Oh, by his own rhetoric. He does not support the police. He doesn’t back up the police. He justifies Black Lives Matter. I mean—"
John Dickerson: "But Black Lives Matter shouldn’t be justified at all?"
Gov. Chris Christie: "Listen, I don’t believe that that movement should be justified when they’re calling for the murder of police officers, no."
Cornel West Responds to Comey’s Claim Scrutiny of Police Increases Crime
Governor Christie’s remarks came after FBI Director James Comey said added scrutiny and criticism of police officers amid protests over police brutality may have fueled an increase in violent crime because officers are less aggressive. On Saturday, as thousands rallied in New York City against police brutality as part of Rise Up October, I asked Professor Cornel West to respond to Comey’s remarks.
Cornel West: "He has no empirical data whatsoever. I think he’s lying, and it’s part of the backlash of our resistance. Thank God the spirit of Ferguson is still strong. And in the name of all of those, the Tourés and the Tef Poes and others, we’re going to keep this movement strong and intense, and you can see it among our wonderful folk here."
The leader of the New York Police Department’s union has called for a boycott of director Quentin Tarantino’s films after Tarantino participated in the Rise Up October protests Saturday. Meanwhile, civil rights leader Al Sharpton and his National Action Network rallied Saturday to honor the African-American police officer shot and killed last week in East Harlem. The New York Daily News reports Sharpton will speak at Officer Randolph Holder’s funeral next week in a call for unity.
Black Lives Matter Rejects DNC Town Hall Offer, Calls for Debate
The Black Lives Matter network has rejected the Democratic National Committee’s offer of a town hall meeting with presidential candidates, saying they want a formal debate. About 25,000 people have signed a petition calling on the DNC to allow more debates ahead of the election, including one dedicated to the theme of Black Lives Matter.
Ben Carson Compares People Who Have Abortions to Slaveowners
Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson has said abortion should be illegal in all cases, including rape and incest. Carson, who is now leading in the key caucus state of Iowa over front-runner Donald Trump, made the remarks on NBC’s Meet the Press in response to a question from Chuck Todd.
Chuck Todd: "What if somebody has an unwanted pregnancy? Should they have the right to terminate?"
Ben Carson: "No. Think about this. During slavery—and I know that’s one of those words you’re not supposed to say, but I’m saying it. During slavery, a lot of the slaveowners thought that they had the right to do whatever they wanted to that slave—anything that they chose to do. And, you know, what if the abolitionists had said, 'You know, I don't believe in slavery. I think it’s wrong. But you guys do whatever you want to do’? Where would we be?"
Lincoln Chafee Drops Out of Presidential Race
In other news from the campaign trail, Democratic candidate and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee has dropped out of the race. Chafee was polling at less than 1 percent.
Junot Díaz Called "Anti-Dominican" by Consul for Protesting Deportations
And here in New York City, protesters gathered outside the Dominican Consulate Friday to show support for Pulitzer Prize-winning, Dominican-born author Junot Díaz. Last week the Dominican consul in New York called Díaz "anti-Dominican" and stripped him of his 2009 Order of Merit Award for protesting the Dominican government’s moves to deport hundreds of thousands of people of Haitian descent. Díaz lobbied against the deportations in Washington, D.C., last week alongside Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat.
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