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Protests are set to begin for a third day in a row in Ferguson, Missouri over a grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for killing unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. On Tuesday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon deployed more than 2,000 National Guardsmen to patrol the St. Louis area. Police repeatedly fired smoke bombs and tear gas to scatter protesters gathered near Ferguson City Hall. Police said 44 people were arrested. Meanwhile demonstrations over the Michael Brown case spread across the country from Los Angeles to New York. We go to Ferguson to speak with Tory Russell, one of the founders of the group Hands Up United and a member of the St. Louis-based Organization for Black Struggle.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Protests are set to begin for a third consecutive day in Ferguson, Missouri over a grand jury’s decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson for killing unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon deployed more than 2000 national guardsmen Tuesday night to patrol the St. Louis area. Police repeatedly fired smoke bombs and tear gas to scatter protesters gathered near Ferguson City Hall. Some property damage was reported, but far less than Monday night. Authorities said 44 people were arrested. Demonstrations over the Michael Brown case spread across the country to over 100 cities. People took over interstate highways, held sit-ins and marches across the country.
AMY GOODMAN: In Los Angeles, nearly 100 people were arrested. In Oakland, protesters blocked interstates 580 and 980 in both directions. Around 40 people were arrested. In New York, thousands block traffic across the city including at the Lincoln Tunnel, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, Queens, Midtown Tunnel. At one point over 1000 protesters were marching on the FDR Drive, shutting down traffic in both directions. On Monday, a protester threw fake blood on New York Police Commissioner William Bratton. At least 1000 demonstrators also marched in the nation’s capital Tuesday, having marched the night before from the White House to the steps of the Supreme Court.
PROTESTER: What do we want?
CROWD: Justice!
PROTESTER: When do we want it?
CROWD: Now!
PROTESTER: What do we want?
CROWD: Justice!
PROTESTER: When do we want it?
CROWD: Now!
THOMAS EYBL: Nobody is asking that we be treated specially, we’re asking we be treated the same. Young white men aren’t killed by police in the same rate. So, if we was treated the same, be treated as Americans, then this wouldn’t be a problem.
CROWD: Don’t shoot!
CROWD: Hands up!
CROWD: Don’t shoot!
CROWD: Hands up!
CROWD: Don’t shoot!
TERRANCE LANEY: Going forward I would like to see black people and communities that are marginalized, communities that face aggression by police officers and the state, I would like to see us take control of our communities. I would like to see us really envision a society where we don’t have to do this every year. Last year I was here for Trayvon Martin in this very spot in this very city.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: At the D.C. protest, Barbara Arnwine of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law criticized St. Louis prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s handling of the case.
BARBARA ARNWINE: Well, I would say that I was profoundly disappointed. I think that even when you heard Prosecutor McCulloch layout what he called a presentation of the facts of the case, you realize that there were enough contested facts regarding this whole incident that this should have gone to a court and should of gone to regular curiae to make a decision whether or not there had been a crime committed here. We are going to absolutely be insistent and persistent in making sure that the Justice Department does a thorough investigation and takes into consideration everything possible in its investigation of Officer Wilson. Also, in its pattern of practice lawsuit that it has against the Ferguson City Police Department for a pattern and practice of violating the civil rights of African-Americans in that city.
AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, The New York Times published an editorial criticizing Prosecutor McCulloch, saying, has he handled the sensitive investigation "the worst possible way." The editorial would on to say "For the black community of Ferguson, the killing of Michael Brown was the last straw in a long train of abuses that they have suffered daily at the hands of the local police. In this context, the police are justifiably seen as an alien, occupying force that is synonymous with state-sponsored abuse."
On Tuesday, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson spoke publicly for the first time since he fatally killed Michael Brown. He was interviewed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Is there anything you could have done differently that would’ve prevented that killing from taking place?
DARREN WILSON: No.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Nothing?
DARREN WILSON: No.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And you’re absolutely convinced when you look to your heart and mind that if Michael Brown were white, this would of gone down exactly the same way?
DARREN WILSON: Yes.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: No question?
DARREN WILSON: No question.
AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Ferguson, Missouri where we’re joined by Tory Russell, one of the founders of the group Hands Up United and a member of the St. Louis based Organization for Black Struggle. Tory, I was just with you yesterday at the Greater Saint Mark’s Church where Reverend Sharpton and others held a news conference. You then were out in the streets through the night. Start off by telling us about your response to the no indictment decision of the grand jury and how the protesters were dealing with this last night.
TORY RUSSELL: Second straight night. What we saw was grieving, hurt people. I think the people are more politicized than ever in these last 100 something days, with opportunities to do political education — a stronger opinion of what is going on. And what’s going on is the same echoing. We just out in the streets chanting in front of the police. They sent in more National Guards. I’ve seen people snatched up, is what we call it. The police are grabbing people that are standing there. When on the sidewalk, they push us back into the parking lot. People want to walk down the street and they just pick someone. Most of the time, those people are not even chanting or yelling at the time. They are not breaking the law. I think that is what is keeping this thing going. People are hurting, and then people are being abused every day. We’re not even being allowed to peacefully assemble or protest that is backed by the Constitution.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And Tory, this whole decision of the Governor to bring in the National Guard on the second night. What impact has that had?
TORY RUSSELL: More National Guard It makes it more of a police state. It’s more intimidating. I think it is a ploy or some kind of scare tactic to deter us from what we want. We have been basically asking for the same needs since we got off the plantation. We want education, we want proper housing, economic industries and we want to be able to control ourselves and be a part of this American dream, but they sold us a lie. The people have to go out in the street just to march and protest and do civil disobedience just to get a non-indictment. We are upset. We are hurting. They don’t send counselors. They don’t send psychiatrist. They don’t sit down with the leaders and say — or even with the people and say, what do you guys need? They sent a more National Guard. So, that lets you know what they care about. And I’m almost certain they don’t care about the people.
AMY GOODMAN: Tory, we were discussing this yesterday in the church, but the issue of the first night; one, the decision being handed down — there was a big discussion before for quite a number of days and whether the decision would be held onto, MuCulloch would release it later to give people time to prepare. But in the end, they released it in the dark at night, which many people said led to much of the unrest. Then there is the issue of the National Guard. When we were in the streets on Monday night, that first night of the decision, in front of the Ferguson Police Department, there was National Guard there were riot police. They were really going after the protesters there. They tear-gassed them. They went after them. But down the road in West Florissant — that’s the white area of Ferguson — but down the road on West Florissant where the buildings were burned, the businesses were broken into, we didn’t see police, we didn’t see state troopers. It was free reign. What are your thoughts about that?
TORY RUSSELL: That lets you know not only does this country value property over people, they even put a special caveat on whose property. If you go to Clayton, you go to Kirkwood, you go to some of these affluent places in the city, National Guard and all these people are already there, they’re stationed. You go to the black communities, you go on West Florissant, or the most black small businesses, they did a press conference here talking about they cared about the community and people were destroying their dreams. Their dreams weren’t being protected. Meanwhile on South Florissant where the white property is, their dream was protected of a National Guard’s and all kinds of things. So, I know it was disrespectful to the people, and they took their anger out, and we have to find channels for that, but there was also — to me it was disrespectful to the family. I talked to Mike Brown Senior yesterday. He said they called him 20 to 25 minutes before they had made the announcement to even tell him about his son. He said it felt like they killed my son twice. So that lets you know how they value black people and black property in America.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what is your hope from here on in, either in the possibility of the Justice Department stepping in with its own investigation and potential indictment and also the call at the press conference yesterday for a systemic reform of having police outfitted with cameras through out the country?
TORY RUSSELL: 'Cause I'm with Hands Up United and I’m also with OBS, we sat in a room with the Department of Justice and it was a lot of community leaders, and OBS handed them a 19 point police reform initiative, not just for Ferguson, but around the country. They said they don’t even know if they can agree to all those demands. What we’re saying is, you police are communities, you serve us, we should be allowed to tell you what policing should look like. Clearly, it is a problem with policing and police brutality, police abuse and police killings. I have to make a point to say that Darren Wilson went on the TV and he said that he felt like a five-year-old boy up against Hulk Hogan I will tell you this. You don’t give a five-year-old boy a M-16, a gun and some riot gear and let him patrol my community. So if Ferguson PD is not properly training people and they have everybody making everybody seem like if you are a black person, you look like Incredible Hulk when you walk down the street, then there needs to be a serious reform it needs to come from the people. The people have spoken. We don’t always have to vote. We vote to we don’t get what we want. So poor people go in the street and we vote with our feet. We are tired of it. You see it across the country. I’m getting calls from places I have never talk to. I had the weirdest phone book ever because people are tired of it. We are going outside. We refuse to be silenced. You must hear us. President Obama, you must hear us. We’re outside. Please, have some sympathy for us. Please, care about the people who voted for you and got you in.
AMY GOODMAN: Tory Russell, we want to thank you so much for being with us, activist fighting for justice in killing of Michael Brown, organizer with Hands Up United. This is Democracy Now! when we come back, the lawyer for the Brown family speaks out. Stay with us.→
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On Tuesday, the family of Michael Brown held a press conference at a church not far from Ferguson. Michael Brown Sr. was present but did not speak. He wore a red St. Louis baseball cap similar to the one his son had on when he was killed by Officer Darren Wilson, and a t-shirt that read, "No Justice, No Peace." The Brown family’s attorney Benjamin Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton criticized St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s handling of the grand jury process. At the news conference, Amy Goodman asked Rev. Al Sharpton about whether authorities let parts of Ferguson burn on Monday night. She also asked about the three slain civil rights workers awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Monday, and whether that case offers hope for federal charges against Wilson.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "Strange Fruit," Sung by Nina Simone. "Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees," about lynching. She said, Billie Holiday, the original singer of the song, said every time she sang the song, she had to throw up afterwards. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzáles.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: On Tuesday, the family of Michael Brown held a press conference at a church not far from Ferguson. Michael Brown Senior was present but did not speak. He wore a red St. Louis baseball caps and much of the one his son had on when he was killed by Officer Darren Wilson, and a T-shirt that read No Justice No Peace. The first speaker was the Brown family’s attorney Benjamin Crump, who blasted St. Louis County prosecutor Bob MucCulloch’s handling of the evidence before the grand jury, leading to the decision he announced Monday night.
BENJAMIN CRUMP: Attorney Gray and Attorney Darryl Parks and myself we objected back in August to this prosecutor. We even wrote a letter to Governor Jay Nixon requesting a special prosecutor to be appointed. We objected when he informed us the process that he was going to use that was different than anything else, different than any normal grand jury that you would have presented. And now after we watched him last night and his comments, we strenuously objected to this prosecutor and this process. But this morning, after we, like all of you, went through as much of the information — I think it was described as a data dump — we went through as much of it as we could and saw how completely unfair this process was. We object publicly and loudly as we can on behalf of Michael Brown Junior’s family that this process is broken.
The process should be indicted. It should be indicted because of the continuous systematic results that is yielded by this process. And let’s be very honest. Let’s be very honest about this process. We have the local prosecutor who has a symbiotic relationship with the local police and the local police officers who sit in judgment whether they indict the police when they brutalize or kill a young person from our community. Normally, that prosecutor has no relationship or no regards for the young person of color. And so, as Attorney Gray, Attorney Parks predicted at the beginning, we could foresee what the outcome was going to be. And that is exactly what occurred last night.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for Michael Brown Jr.'s family, speaking Tuesday at the Greater Saint Mark's Church in Ferguson. Democracy Now! was there on the streets and then inside the news conference to ask questions after the Reverend Al Sharpton spoke.
AL SHARPTON: Three days after Michael Brown Junior was killed, we had a major rally in this very church. We said that night, with his parents present, that we had little to no faith in the grand jury by the local district attorney. We said that night that we wanted the federal government to come in. That Sunday we had a unity rally where thousands came and joined us. We repeated it. And all the way through the funeral where I eulogized. Last night, the appearance by the district attorney made it clear to everyone why we had little faith in a state prosecution. I have been out involved in civil rights all my life. We have seen cases go ways that we felt were right and ways that we felt was wrong.
I have never seen a prosecutor hold a press conference to discredit the victim. Where he went out of his way to go point by point in discrediting Michael Brown Jr., who cannot defend himself. How do you, in explaining why you’re not indicting a man that killed, try and convict the young man for shoplifting that can’t explain the tape, try to convict him for interfering in the police car when you don’t hear his side of the story. Have you ever heard a prosecutor go in a press conference to explain to the press why the one that did the killing is not going to trial, but the victim is guilty of several things that no one has established? It also was very strange to us that he lectured the media — a media that he and others had no problem with when you leaked the video tape of Michael Brown in the cigar store — or in the convenience store, a media that you had no problem making all kinds of favorable stuff for the prosecution, a media you had no problem leaking things for the officer. So, it seems to me that he has had the use of the media, then has a strange decision in a town that has been tense, in a town that has been forecast to have all kinds of problems, his solution is, let’s announce it at night after dark. Let’s make sure that all the kids are home, that all the students are back for Thanksgiving break, and it’s dark outside. And we gonna announce it and then I’m going to get up in the dark and castigate the character Michael Brown Jr.
I think that it was the responsible. I think that it was unnecessarily provocative. But, I think it only cleared why many of us said, let’s go to the federal government from the first place. He implied last night that the federal government and the state investigation ran hand-in-hand and ended last night. That is not the case. The Attorney General has released a statement saying the federal government investigation continues in the killing and in the review, and Mr. MucCulloch’s statements last night are led others to believe differently. Let me be very clear that we were not surprised at what the outcome was. Certainly, it is painful for the mother and father, certainly, there will be emotional reaction. I’ve never seen a case where there wasn’t. You are dealing with their flesh and blood. But, let the record be clear, you have broken our hearts, but you have not broken our backs.
AMY GOODMAN: Two quick questions. Yesterday, the grand jury handed down it’s decision. In Washington, President Obama awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to the civil rights activists Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman who — their killers were not indicted by the state but by the federal government. Are you hoping for the same thing here. And number two, last night, as we covered the protests in front of the Ferguson police station, it was packed with riot police, state troopers were there, all the advanced weaponry was there. When we went over to West Florissant and expected to be stopped there by the police as we were at the protests months ago, it was wide open. We saw no state troopers and we hardly saw police. Do you think the authorities let Ferguson burn?
CROWD: Yup, yeah, yes, yes! [Clapping]
AL SHARPTON: Well, let me say to the first part of your question, because I think the second question has been answered. The first part of you question, it is — and you are probably more aware than most of the media, if not all that are here — it has been the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement that you always had to go to the federal government and could not depend on states. Whether it was Goodman, Chaney or Schwerner, whether it was Michael Brown Jr. So, we are not in a strange place. We had hoped we’d be in a different place, but it’s not strange. And I think that it is interesting that on the day that Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner were given the Medal of Freedom was the day that McCulloch decided, in the dark hours, to announce the state decision on the Michael Brown case, and eight years ago today, Sean Bell was killed by police in New York. So, all of these things come together. But, I think the lawyers have stated the legal case. I say that many of us from Marc Morial and Cornell Brooks and all of us, this is not our first rodeo McCulloch. We will deal with this in a way civil rights leader have.
AMY GOODMAN: That was the Reverend Al Sharpton at the Greater Saint Mark’s Church in Ferguson.
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At the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony on Monday, President Obama honored James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner, the three civil rights workers who were killed 50 years ago by the Ku Klux Klan after traveling to Mississippi to register black voters. "In that Freedom Summer, these three Americans refused to sit on the sidelines," Obama said. "Their brutal murder by a gang of Ku Klux Klan members shook the conscience of our nation. It took 44 days to find their bodies, 41 years to bring the lead perpetrator to justice." We also play an excerpt from the film, "Neshoba: The Price of Freedom."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to President Obama’s comments Monday at the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony where, among those honored, posthumously, were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, who were killed 50 years ago by the Klan after traveling to Mississippi to register black voters. In this White House ceremony, President Obama noted it took more than four decades to bring the organizer of the murders, Edgar Ray Killen, to justice.
PRES. OBAMA: On June 21, 1964, three young men – two white, one black – set out to learn more about the burning of a church in Neshoba County, Mississippi: James Earl Chaney, 21 years old; Andrew Goodman, 20 years old; and Michael Henry Schwerner, 24 years old. Young men. And in that Freedom Summer, these three Americans refused to sit on the sidelines. Their brutal murder by a gang of Ku Klux Klan members shook the conscience of our nation. It took 44 days to find their bodies, 41 years to bring the lead perpetrator to justice.
And while they are often remembered for how they died, we honor them today for how they lived -– with the idealism and the courage of youth. James, Andrew, and Michael could not have known the impact they would have on the Civil Rights Movement or on future generations. And here today, inspired by their sacrifice, we continue to fight for the ideals of equality and justice for which they gave their lives. Today we are honored to be joined by James’s daughter Angela, Andrew’s brother David, and Michael’s wife, Rita.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. We turn now to excerpts of a documentary titled "Neshoba: The Price of Freedom," which tells the story of the three civil rights activists.
REPORTER: About 200 civil rights workers have arrived in Mississippi to begin a summer-long campaign. They were trained for it on a college campus in Ohio. This week, another group of volunteers is being taught what to expect in Mississippi and how to cope with it.
REPORTER: They are taught how nonviolently to protect themselves when attacked.
JAMES FOREMAN, SNCC: We’re going down there. We’re trying to face a real situation that will occur. Namely, there will be a mob at the courthouse. We also want the white students who are playing the mob to get used to saying things, calling out epithets, calling people "niggers" and "nigger lovers."
REPORTER: There is some mystery and some fear concerning three of the civil rights workers, two whites from New York City and a Negro from Mississippi. Police say they arrested the three men for speeding yesterday, but released them after they posted bond. They have not been heard from since.
NEWS ANCHOR: First, the known facts. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner went to Mississippi to help register Negroes as voters. Chaney, a twenty-year-old Mississippian, was a veteran of the civil rights movement in his home state. He assisted in the training classes. Goodman, twenty, a New York college student, had never participated in the civil rights movement, but a friend says Goodman could never understand how some people could be so lacking in compassion. Schwerner, twenty-four, a seasoned New York social worker, left Mississippi where he had worked since January, to assist in the training school at Oxford, Ohio.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The film, "Neshoba," goes on to document the role local Mississippi law enforcement agents and the Ku Klux Klan played in the murder of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.
JOHN DOAR, Assistant Attorney General: Three civil rights workers were missing, and they had last been seen going up to investigate a church burning in Neshoba County.
NEWS ANCHOR: It’s thirty-five miles from Meridian to Philadelphia, then twelve miles to Longdale, where the church had been burned. That afternoon, the three were seen at the church site and at the home of its lay leader. About 2:30 they headed west toward Philadelphia.
JIM INGRAM, retired FBI agent: Chaney was outside changing the tire. They had a flat. And there was Price. And when they pulled up, he said, "I’m arresting Chaney for speeding; Schwerner and Goodman, for investigation."
JOHN DOAR: Cecil Price, deputy sheriff, saw them and stopped them, and he takes them into the jail. So, somehow, some way, the message gets out to the Klan, and then they have to organize.
JERRY MITCHELL, Clarion-Ledger: Edgar Ray Killen began to kind of coordinate things that night, kind of gathered a group of guys, had one of them go get gloves so they wouldn’t have fingerprints, told them the guys they wanted were there in the jail.
NEWS ANCHOR: By 10:00, Price says he had located a justice of the peace who fined the trio $20. Price tells what happened then.
DEPUTY CECIL PRICE: They paid the fine, and I released them. That’s the last time we saw any of them.
JOHN DOAR: The boys were driving back from the county jail, and they started down the road toward Meridian, and they were stopped by a police car. And there would be this group of Klan people.
JERRY MITCHELL: They arrested them and put them in Price’s car.
JOHN DOAR: Then turned right into a gravel, rural road.
JERRY MITCHELL: And Alton Wayne Roberts grabbed Schwerner, and he said to him, "Are you that 'n-word' lover?" And Schwerner said, "Sir, I understand how you feel." And, bam, shot him, grabbed Goodman. Goodman didn’t even get a word out. Shot Goodman. Chaney, by this point, obviously realizing what’s going down, took off. We know he was shot by several people. They also apparently beat him.
AMY GOODMAN: An excerpt from the documentary, "Neshoba: the Price of Freedom." President Obama just awarded the presidential medal of freedom to the three civil rights activists posthumously, murdered by the Klan 50 years ago. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner. That excerpt includes comments from U.S. Justice Department Attorney John Doar who died earlier this month at the age of 92. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. When we come back, we go to Cincinnati to speak with a man who was just released from prison this week after almost 40 years, the longest held prisoner ever exonerated. Stay with us.
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An Ohio man has been freed from prison after spending 39 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Ricky Jackson, a 59-year old African-American man, had been jailed since 1975 on a murder conviction. The prosecution’s case was based on the testimony of a 13-year-old witness. After a 2011 investigation, the witness recanted his testimony, saying he had implicated Jackson and two others under police coercion. The witness, Eddy Vernon, said police had fed him the story and threatened to arrest his parents if he didn’t cooperate. On Friday, Ricky Jackson was freed after prosecutors dropped the case. With nearly four decades wrongfully behind bars, Jackson is the longest-held U.S. prisoner to be exonerated. He joins us today along with his lawyer, Brian Howe, a staff attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: An Ohio man has been freed from prison after spending 39 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Ricky Jackson, a 59-year old African-American man, had been jailed since 1975 on a murder conviction. The prosecution’s case was based on the testimony of a 13-year old witness. After a 2011 investigation, the witness recanted his testimony, saying he had implicated Jackson and two others under police coercion. The witness, Eddy Vernon, said police had fed him the story and threatened him with the arrest of his parents if he didn’t cooperate. On Friday, Ricky Jackson was freed after prosecutors dropped the case.
REPORTER: How does it feel?
RICKY JACKSON: Extraordinary, I’m very happy, needless to say. Words can’t express how I feel right now. I’m just glad to be out, glad to be a free man.
REPORTER: What are going to do? Where you going to go?
RICKY JACKSON: Wow. I mean, you sit in prison for so long, you think about this day. When it actually comes, you don’t what — you just want to do something, besides what you been doing for 39 years.
REPORTER: When you heard the judge say in hour ago that you are free man, goodbye, talk about what you are feeling. What was going on that we couldn’t see?
RICKY JACKSON: I mean, it was like an emotional roller coaster. The English language doesn’t fit what I’m feeling right now. I’m just on an emotional high right now.
AMY GOODMAN: With nearly four decades wrongfully behind bars, Jackson is the longest-held U.S. prisoner to be exonerated. Another defendant in the case who served slightly less time, Wiley Bridgeman, has also been released. For more, we go to Cincinnati, Ohio, where we’re joined by Ricky Jackson and his lawyer Brian Howe, a staff attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project. Ricky and Brian, welcome to Democracy Now! Ricky Jackson, how does it feel to be free?
RICKY JACKSON: Good morning. I’m still getting used to it. It’s almost been a week and I’m still getting adjusted and acclimated to being out here and not being inside those closed walls, you know, enclosed walls.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And during all of those years that you were behind bars, did you ever lose hope or expectation that you would finally be exonerated? Tell us about the emotional trials you went through all that time.
RICKY JACKSON: Like I said previously, it is constantly a battle trying to stay positive and some days you get to the point where you don’t think you’re going to make it. It’s just an up-and-down type of situation. You’re always up-and-down. But, to answer your question, there were times when I thought, this is it for me. I’m not — This is it.
AMY GOODMAN: Ricky, tell us your story, what happened 40 years ago and how it was that a 13-year-old child was the key witness against you who, now, very ill 40 years later, wanted to come clean.
RICKY JACKSON: Well, the case happened in 1975. I was 18 years old at the time. There was a neighborhood store that was robbed by three assailants. Somehow, Edward Vernon became involved in the case. Apparently he went to the police and told them that he was a witness. And that he eventually identified myself, Ronnie Bridgeman and Wiley Bridgeman as the assailants. A couple of days later, we were arrested, taken downtown and arraigned, held before a lineup. We weren’t picked out in a lineup, but unbeknownst to us — we didn’t know this, we thought everything was OK. Nobody came out and said, you guys are being charged, or anything. So we assumed we was getting our obligatory phone call after you are rested and we thought we were going home. But, that didn’t turn out to be the case. And a few months later, we all went on trial and were charged with capital crimes. Subsequently, we all lost our trials. We were sent to death row. We sentenced to die in the Ohio electric chair. We were all sent to death row, where we stayed and lingered and wondered and worried for 2.5 years.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, there was a — I’m sorry, go ahead.
RICKY JACKSON: At that time, there was a lot of debate about the Ohio death penalty. So, as it turned out, they nullified the death penalty at that time and everybody back there was given a life sentence in prison.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, there was a period of time when you were offered the possibility of parole. Could you talk about that and your insistence on your innocence?
RICKY JACKSON: Yes, sir. My attorney here, Mr. Brian Howe, he came to me one day and said, listen, Ricky, this is the situation. There is a deal on the table. You can walk out of here now a free man if you will plead guilty to the charges you’re presently incarcerated for. I mean, and I have to admit that it was a tempting offer. At that time, I had been in prison prison so long, I didn’t even know what the sky looked like anymore. But, it was just something inside of me that said, you can’t do this. You’ve gone too long. You’ve struggled too hard. You can’t do this. You are innocent. You know? Don’t admit to something you didn’t do, you are innocent. And that was the decision I made. It was the right decision and really, it was the only decision that I could have made.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Brian Howe, could you talk about the process of exonerating Ricky Jackson, the role of some initial reporting on the case in a local newspaper and then the Innocence Project’s involvement and the role of two people who at the time who were schoolchildren on a bus in terms of being able to get him exonerated?
BRIAN HOWE: Yes, thanks Juán. This case was really, literally, years in the making. When the Ohio Innocence Project first got this case it was before Ed Vernon had come forward and recanted. There were students that had spoken with Ricky that strongly and sincerely believed in his innocence. They were passionate about the case and that’s what kept things going. Around three or four years ago, there were some really fantastic investigative journalism done by Kyle Swenson at the Cleavland Scene magazine. He continued to find things that suggested maybe that there was something wrong with the trial back in 1975, inconsistencies in Ed Vernon’s stories and leads that the police had towards other people.
That continued until, eventually, in 2013, Ed Vernon in a hospital room confessed to his pastor that he had lied in 1975, and carried that weight with them over 35, 36 years at that point, and his pastor encouraged him to come forward to the Innocence Project. We continue to work on the case. We found schoolchildren who were with Ed Vernon on a school bus when the shooting happened. Even as recently as a week before the hearing. So, this has just been such an effort by so many different people. Law student — over a dozen law students with the University of Cincinnati College of Law, the attorney on the case prior to me, Carrie Wood, so many people have put a lot of work into this case, and it’s just really something special to be sitting next to Ricky here today. It is not something that we would have dreamed was possible a few weeks ago.
AMY GOODMAN: Ricky, I wanted to go back to that 2011 article published by the Cleveland Scene that laid out the weakness in the case against you. The article notes you were convicted based on this testimony of a 13-year-old boy with poor eyesight and conflicting stories, Eddie Vernon; now a grown man, has since filed an affidavit admitting that he never saw the murder; also claims he was threatened by police into identifying you as one of the murderers. Vernon told the Cleveland Scene "The detective said that I was too young to go to jail, but he would arrest my parents for perjury because I was backing out. My mom was sick at that time, and that really scared me. I didn’t want my parents to get in trouble over this." So, Ricky Jackson, now you are free. What are your plans for Thanksgiving?
RICKY JACKSON: I’m going to be with some good people here in Cincinnati. They prepared a nice dinner for me. Just going to relax and just enjoy the holiday, play some games, watch some football — just do normal people stuff, you know?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask Brian Howe, this whole issue we are constantly seeing the stories of people who spend years in prison and then later are exonerated. But, know one one seems to be asking, what is wrong with our criminal justice system that time and again we are having these examples of a justice system that just didn’t bother to really seek the truth, but rather sought a conviction.
BRIAN HOWE: Yes, I mean, it’s a human system, and any system that’s run by human beings is always going to have errors. I think is a country we have decided to set the bar at a place where, hopefully, people would prefer guilty people go free than innocent people be convicted, but obviously, that doesn’t was happen. Lots of people who are trying to do a good job and are sincere in what they’re doing, including police and prosecutors, are human beings and they make mistakes. The more cases like this that come out, the more aware I think we are aware of the sort of mistakes that can lead to this, the problems with witness identification, the problem with leading interviews — or leading questions and witness interviews, the sort of pressures that witnesses can be under. So, hopefully, cases like this it will mean that it is rare moving forward and people like Ricky don’t spend 39 years in prison for something they didn’t do.
AMY GOODMAN: Ricky Jackson, as you’re released from jail, Ferguson is on fire. And I was wondering if you have thoughts about this?
RICKY JACKSON: Well, first of all, it is a terrible tragedy. But, unfortunately, it’s something that seems to be re-occurring in America all too often. I just think that everyone has lost the ability — or just doesn’t want to talk to each other. I think it all begins with dialogue. Sometimes you have to listen to the other side to get an understanding of the entire situation. I just think it needs to be more dialogue.
AMY GOODMAN: Two brothers were convicted with you. Brian Howe, what has happened to them?
RICKY JACKSON: Well, honestly, they are struggling right now. They’re really struggling right now. I mean, it hasn’t been easy for these guys since they got out.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Brian Howe — no, let me ask Ricky Jackson. You faced death. How close did you come to death and what were your thoughts as an innocent man about to be put to death by the state?
RICKY JACKSON: Well, when you are sentenced to death, they give you a death date and I was back there to 2.5 years and mine came up. I heard a prison guard coming down the walkway and I thought they were coming for me because it was my day. But, really, they give you this yellow piece of paper that says you’ve had a stay of execution pending a Ohio supreme court decision. And it was just, it was just — you were always on edge. It was just, it was just a terrible situation to be in, thinking you could be dead any day now. It was just a horrible situation.
AMY GOODMAN: So the state almost took your life. They did take 40 years of your life. Will you be compensated?
RICKY JACKSON: I have no idea, ma’am. It’s a long process. Mr. Howe could probably answer that better than I could.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Brian, you have ten seconds.
BRIAN HOWE: Well, it is a long road. Certainly, I think he deserves something for the 40 years that was taken from him, but that is something we’ll just have to see as things move forward.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s amazing already, $43,000 has been raised just from people who care about you, Ricky Jackson. We will continue to follow to see what the state will do. Ricky Jackson has just been released from prison after 39 years for a crime he did not commit. Longest held man who is now been exonerated. His lawyer, Brian Howe, a staff attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project. Happy holidays to you both.
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More Than 40 Arrested in Ferguson on 2nd Night of Protest
Protests are set to begin for a third day in a row in Ferguson, Missouri over a grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for killing unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon deployed more than 2,000 National Guard troops to patrol the St. Louis area. Police said more than 40 people were arrested. Some property damage was reported but far less than Monday night when buildings were broken into and set on fire.
Protesters March, Block Highways in 170 Cities Over Police Abuse
Protests against police brutality have erupted in more than 170 cities across the United States. In Los Angeles more than 100 people were arrested. From Oakland, California, to Providence, Rhode Island, protesters walked onto major highways and shut them down. In New York, protesters blocked traffic across the city including at the the Lincoln Tunnel, West Side Highway, the Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge and the Queens Midtown Tunnel. More than 1,000 protesters marched on the FDR drive, at one point shutting down traffic in both directions. Protester Henoc Montes was among thousands who rallied in Times Square.
Henoc Montes: "We’re kind of voicing our opinions a little harder today and making sure we’re a little louder and they’re feeling some type of way which is why they decided to push us and get out their shields and throw pepper spray and all of this nonsense and arrest people. I’m happy to see everybody at least attempting to be part of this, it’s different, it’s good. Something new is happening over here in the city and I hope we can keep it up, I hope this is a lifetime thing and not just this week."
The protests in New York came on the heels of actions Monday, when demonstrators shut down three bridges and threw fake blood onto New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton.
Obama Calls for Calm in Ferguson
President Obama responded to the unrest in Ferguson Tuesday by calling for calm in remarks that drew a strict contrast to his more impassioned speech last year on the killing of Trayvon Martin. Obama condemned the destruction of property by some protesters in Ferguson.
President Obama: "I have no sympathy at all for destroying your own communities. But for the overwhelming majority of people who just feel frustrated and pained because they get a sense that maybe some communities are not treated fairly or some individuals are not seen as worthy as others, I understand that and I want to work with you and I want to move forward with you. Your President will be right there with you."
Darren Wilson: "I Know I Did My Job Right"
Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson has spoken publicly for the first time since he fatally shot Michael Brown. In an interview broadcast on ABC News, Wilson described how he shot Brown repeatedly because he feared for his life. He was interviewed by George Stephanopoulous.
George Stephanopoulous: "Is there anything you could have done differently that would have prevented that killing from taking place?"
Darren Wilson: "No."
George Stephanopoulous: "Nothing?"
Darren Wilson: "No."
George Stephanopoulous: "And you’re absolutely convinced when you look through your heart and your mind, that if Michael Brown were white, this would have gone down in exactly the same way?"
Darren Wilson: "Yes."
George Stephanopoulous: "No question?"
Darren Wilson: "No question."
Stephanopoulos also asked Wilson whether the killing of Michael Brown would always haunt him.
Darren Wilson: "I don’t think it’s haunting. It’s always going to be something that happened."
George Stephanopoulous: "You have a very clean conscience."
Darren Wilson: "The reason I have a clean conscience is because I know I did my job right."
In his testimony, released after the grand jury decision, Wilson compares Michael Brown to a "demon," and says, "When I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan."
Black Friday Boycott over Ferguson to Coincide with Wal-Mart Strikes
Protests spurred by the grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson are set to continue with a national day of action planned for Black Friday, the biggest consumer holiday of the year. Activists are organizing a national boycott of retail venues and protests against police brutality. The actions coincide with a wave of protests by Wal-Mart workers at more than 1,600 stores across the country who are demanding a $15-an-hour wage and the right to form a union. This year marks the third time in a row Wal-Mart workers have gone on strike on Black Friday. Organizers say it will be their biggest action to date.
Syrian Airstrikes Kill 95 People in Raqqa
In news from Syria, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has bombarded the northeastern city of Raqqa, the stronghold of Islamic State militants, killing at least 95 people. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than half of those killed were civilians. It’s one of the deadliest attacks to hit Raqqa in years.
Gunmen Kill 3 Pakistani Polio Workers, Driver
In southwestern Pakistan, gunmen have killed three female polio workers and their driver. Militants have targeted health workers in such attacks after it was revealed the CIA used a fake vaccination program to help locate Osama bin Laden.
U.S. Drone Strike Kills 7 in Northwest Pakistan
In the Pakistani region of North Waziristan, a U.S. drone strike has killed seven people. Officials said the dead were suspected militants and the target was a compound.
Yemen: U.S. Commandos Lead Raid to Rescue Hostages
In Yemen, U.S. commandos have conducted a raid alongside Yemeni troops to rescue eight hostages held in a cave by an Al Qaeda affiliate. The United States reportedly intervened at the behest of Yemen’s president to rescue the hostages, who included Yemeni citizens, a Saudi and an Ethiopian. Seven militants were reportedly killed in the raid.
Nigeria: Double Suicide Bombing Kills Dozens
In Nigeria, a double suicide bombing has killed more than 40 people in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. The bombers were two teenage girls who entered a bustling marketplace before blowing themselves up. Suspicion has centered on the militant group Boko Haram.
8th Doctor Infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone; Burial Workers Dump Corpses in Protest over Pay
In Sierra Leone, striking burial workers in the eastern town of Kenema have dumped the bodies of Ebola victims at the entrance to a hospital in an act of protest over pay. The workers say they have not received their weekly hazard payments in nearly two months despite the dangers of their work. Officials said the workers would be fired for mistreating the bodies. The protest comes as Dr. Aiah Solomon Konoyeima has become the eighth Sierra Leonean doctor to contract Ebola. All seven others have died.
Flournoy Withdraws from Running to Replace Hagel
In the United States, Michèle Flournoy, who was considered the top contender to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, has taken herself out of the running for the post. Citing family concerns, Flournoy said she would keep her position as head of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank with close Pentagon ties which receives key financial backing from military contractors. The move comes after another possible contender, Rhode Island Democratic Senator Jack Reed, also removed his name from consideration. Obama announced Hagel’s departure Monday after pressuring him to resign, but he will stay on until a replacement is confirmed.
Report: U.S. to Keep More Troops in Afghanistan Than Promised
The United States is reportedly poised to increase the number of U.S. troops it is keeping in Afghanistan next year. In May, Obama vowed to reduce U.S. troop levels to 9,800 by the end of this year, with further reductions to come. But according to Reuters, the administration will instead add up to 1,000 extra troops in order to bridge a gap left by other members of the NATO coalition. The move came after Obama signed a secret order to broaden and extend the U.S. role in Afghanistan, contradicting his earlier promise the U.S. military would have no combat role in Afghanistan next year.
U.N. Resolution on Spying Weakened by Pressure from U.S., Allies
A United Nations panel has adopted a resolution expressing concern about mass surveillance. The proposal was drafted by Germany and Brazil, which, according to revelations by Edward Snowden, have both been subjected to extensive U.S. spying. But the measure was toned down following pressure from the United States, Britain and other allies. A reference to the intrusive nature of collecting metadata – details like which phone numbers are involved in a call and how long the call lasts – was spiked. Brazil’s deputy ambassador to the U.N. said the measure should have been stronger.
Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota: "We are pleased that consensus was reached, but it is important to recall the compromises that were made to achieve such an outcome. References to the principles of necessity and proportionality were not as strong as they should have been. Surveillance programs and any activity that poses a threat to human rights should be necessary and proportionate to the pursuance of legitimate aims. As some members were not in a position to acknowledge these basic principles of international law, we could not affirm them in the strongest of terms."
EPA to Issue New Limits on Ozone Air Pollution
The Obama administration is releasing new limits on ozone, the most widespread form of air pollution, and the main ingredient in smog. Ozone, which is formed through a reaction of pollutants from power plants, factories and cars, has been linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death. U.S. restrictions imposed under President George W. Bush remain far looser than those in the European Union and Canada. Environmental groups have sued the Obama administration for tighter standards, prompting a court order to issue new draft regulations by December 1. According to the New York Times, the new rules would reduce the current threshold for ozone pollution from 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 parts per million.
Obama Admin Sued over Leasing of Land to Coal Firms
The news comes as environmental groups have sued the Obama administration over its program of leasing federal land to coal companies. The lawsuit demands the Bureau of Land Management conduct an analysis of the environmental impact of the program, which it says accounts for 14 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. The BLM has never studied the program’s impact on climate change.
Obama Vows to Veto Tax Deal Which Favors Corporations
President Obama has vowed to veto a proposed $440 billion tax deal which the White House says favors corporations and neglects working families. The bulk of the deal between House Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would serve to enrich businesses, while the deal excludes measures to enshrine two key breaks for working-class families – an earned income tax credit and a child tax credit. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates more than 16 million people would fall into poverty – or deeper into poverty – if the provisions are not made permanent.
CDC: Half of People with HIV in the U.S. Not Receiving Treatment
And about half of all people with HIV in the United States are not receiving treatment. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than a third of people in the United States currently living with HIV have been able to get their infections under control. Most patients have already been diagnosed, but factors including poverty and homelessness may prevent them from accessing drugs.
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