Content standards, the social media giant Ceo Mark Zuckerberg is grilled by lawmakers over his policy allowing politicians to lighten political ads. We will play highlights from more than five hours hearings were he e was blasted by members of the House Financial Service committee. Among those, Rashida Tlaib and alexandria ocasiocortez. Then as rising inequality and staggering housing insecurity leave a Record Number of americans out on the street, we go to ground zero of the homelessness crisis oakland, california. This is a disaster. Anit was a fire or it was earthquake, the response would be so quick. But this is an economic disaster. This is a cultural disaster. This is a housing disaster, but they are not treating it like all of the other natural disasters. Amy we will bring you a special democracy now report from a sprawling encampment of 100 people in east oakland that the city just cracked down on this week. Unhoused people there say the city has failed them. Like theyy, it seems dont care. All they want to do is requirement to build property for the rich to make more money off of, and the poor is being decimated at every turn. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the origins of the russia investigation in the latest move by the white house to discredit the work of special counsel robert mueller. The move by attorney general bill barr will give the Justice Department the power to subpoena witnesses and to convene grand jurys and to file criminal charges. Congressmember Jerrold Nadler tweeted in response these reports raise found new concerns of the department of lostce under ag barr has its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump political revenge. President trump is planning toto sendnd hundreds of u. S. S. Troopd tanks to Eastern Syria to protect oil fields, reversin his earlier abrupt decision to withdraw Ground Forces from the country. Thats according to reports by cnn and fox news, which repepord the deployoyment now appears likely. The e move appears aimed at protecting a gas plant near the city of deir ezzor operated by the u. S. Fossil fuel giant conoco. The United Nations is sending a team to chile to investigate allegations of human rights abuses against antigovernment protesters following weeks of massive demonstrations nationwide over inequality, crippling wages, and the rising cost of health care and education. Education. At least 18 people have been killed since protests erupted on october 19 amid mounting reports of brutality and torture by chilean authorities. In ecuador, indigenous rights activists say they have halted negotiations with president lenin moreno over the governments persecution of indigenous leader jaime vargas. Vargas is the head of indigenous nationalities of ecuador, or conaie, the organization that led recent antiausterity protests in ecuador. The massive antigovernment protests werere ongoing for two weeks and ceased after president moreno and Indigenous Leaders struck a deal to cancel an austererity package pushed by Te International monetary fund. Bolivian president evo morales declared victory thursday in his campaign for a fourth president ial term, p prompting a new round of protests from opponents who claim sundays president ialal electioion was rigged. Election officials said a new round of voting will be held in five regions next month due to irregularities in the ballot, but said the outcome wont be enoughgh to prevent a a Runoff Election in december. Ofofficial figiges show morarals took 47 of the te in a ninecandidate fieield, just ovr 10 points more than his nearest opponent, carlos mesa, who condemned the vote count as a gigantic fraud and accused morales of holding on to power illegally. In guiuinea, tenens of thousandf protesters f flooded the streets of the capital conakry and other cities around the west african nation thursday, opposing a proposed constitutional change that would let the sitting president run for a third term in office. The protests were heavily policed but peaceful, unlike smaller demonstrations last week that saw Police Open Fire with live rounds, killing at least nine people and sending scores toto the hospital. After those protests, authorities sentenced a dozen opposition politicians and Civil Society leaders to jail terms of up to one year. In washington, d. C. , thousands of mourners honored the late Congressmember Elijah Cummings thursday as his body lay in state in the u. S. Capitol. Cummings, who passed away last week at the age of 68, was the first africanamerican lawmaker to receive the honor. He spent decades championing the rights of African Americans and the poor first as a civil rights activist, later as a maryland state legislator, before being elected to represent his Baltimore District in the u. S. House 13 times. Cummings will be laid to rest today after a a funeral in baltltimore. Former president s bill clinton and barack obama will be among those speaking. Former Vice President and 2020 democratic president ial hopeful joe biden on thursday reversed a pledge not to accept the help of superpacs. A Biden Campaign spokesperson said the move was necessary to counter a barrage of attack ads from President Trump. A spokesperson for Bernie Sanders campaign, which opposes superpacs, slammed bidens move, saying joe biden has spent his campaign promising elite donors that nothing will fundamentally change for them, and he has made clear to fossil fuel and pharmaceutical donors that he will be their ally. In newark, new jersey, Police Arrested over a dozen activists thursday as they blocked downtown traffic in a sitin protest demanding that all residents be eligible to receive drivers licenses, including undocumented immigrants. This is one of the protesters speaking as she joined a peaceful blockade of a newark intersection. We are here because wedding 15 years for access to a drivers license. Enough is enough. It is a major reason why people are getting picked up by ice and been separated from their families. Amy 13 u. S. States plus puerto rico and washington, d. C. , issue drivers licenses regardless of a persons immigration status. In new york city, a woman comedian was booed and two attendees were kicked out of an event for young performers in manhattans Lower East Side wednesday night after they protested the presence of accused sexual predator and former hollywood mogul harvey weinstein, who was in the crowd. One of the evenings performers, comedian kelly bachman, who is a rape survivor, called out weinstein during her act on stage. To name the elephant in the room, do we know what that is . Yeah, it is Freddy Krueger in the room, if you will. Did not know we had to bring our own mace and rape whistles. [boos] shut up. Oh, shut up . Amamy and another attendee, acr zozoe stuckless, was kicked out the e event after confronting harvey weinstein. Nobody y is goingo o say ananything . Nobody is really going to say anything . Here, thatst of fine. I am happy to leave, but nobody is going to say anything . [bleep] rapist and nobodody is going to say anything . Amy amber rollo, who is also a comedian, confronted weinstein and was kicked out as well after a member of his entourage called her the cword. Rollo is also a rape survivor. Harvey weinstein has pleaded not guilty to o several chcharges including predatory sexual assault. In sports news, the Houston Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman on thursday after he yelled at Sports Illustrated reporter and two other reporters thank god we got asuna. He was wearing a purple domestic wearing aorter was purple domesticviolence awareness bracelet at the time of the incident. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball is reviewing the status of one of its senior umpires after he threatened violence in support of President Trump. Drake tweeted will be buying an ar15 tomomorrow, because if y you imh my president this way, you will have another civil war maga2020 drake since deleted his twitter account and apologize. In california, high winds and bonedry conditions fueled an explosion of new wildfires overnight with at least nine active major fires now raging across the state. 18 Million People are under red flag warnings across Southern California as the tick fire north of los angeles exploded to consume over 3000 acres in a matter of hours, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes. In northern california, the pacific gas and Electric Company said a broken jumper cable on a transmission tower was spotted near the source of the 10,000acre kincade fire in sonoma county. Y. In sououth dakota, environmentalists are declaring victory after the states republican governor and attorney general agreed not to enforce laws allowing draconian fines and prison terms for protesters opposing oil and gas pipelines. Under the socalled riot boosting act, protest organizers faced up to 25 years behind bars. The American Civil Liberties union welcomed thursdays settlement agreement, calling the lalaw an unconstitutional attempt to silence protesters of the keystone xl pipeline. The aclu tweeted let this be a lesson to other states if you criminalize protest, we will sue. The e trump administratitions p studentloan official said thursday he will resign his position at the Education Department and will work for the cancellation of nearly 1 trillion in federallyadministered student loan debt. A. Wayne johnson says hell promote a plan that would forgive up to 50,000 for anyone with federal student loans, worth about 925 billion. He told the wall street journal we run through the process of putting this debt burden on somebody but it rides on their credit files it rides on their back for decades. The time has come for us to end and stop the insanity. His highprofile resignation came as a federal judge on thursday held education secretary betsy devos in contempt of coururt for viviolag an order to stop collecting student debt for people who were defrauded by the forprofit chain Corinthian Colleges. The court ruled devos ignored the rights of more than 60,000 former students who were relief were granted relief from the federal government after Corinthian Colleges collapsed in 2014 amid government scrutiny of its fraud and predatory lending. Under thursdays contempt of court ruling, d devos will faceo jail time and her Education Department will be fined 100,000. In georgia, a federal grand jury on thursday found seven catholic peace activists guilty on three felony counts and a misdemeanor charge for breaking into the Kings Bay NavalSubmarine Base on april 4, 2018 the 50th anniversary of dr. Martin luther king jr. s asassassination. The activists known as the kings bay plowshares 7 entered the base armed with hammers, crime scene tape, baby bottles containing their own blood, and an indictment charging the u. S. Government with crimes against peace. The base is home to at least six Nuclear Ballistic missile submarines, each of which carries 20 trident thermoNuclear Weapons. The activists said they were following the prophet isaiahs cocommand to beat swords into plowshares. At this weeks trial, the defendants were barred from cititing their religus motivations or from mouing a necessity defense saying that their lawbreaking was necessary to prevent the far greater crime of a nuclear war. This is bill quigley, attorney for the kings s bay plowshares , speaking just after thursdays guilty verdict. As the jury was not allowed to hear, the summaries, Nuclear Weapon submarines that are at kings bay, have 3800 times as much destructive power as the weapons that were used in hiroshima, enough power to destroy life on earth as we know it. Come after two years of prayer and action and practice, they came together and they took action to go on the kings bay and preach the word of love, preach the word of life, preach the word of these, and they are paying a huge prprice r that as you all know. Amy y the activists will be sentenced within the next 90 days and face more than 20 years in prison. This is martha hennessy. The weapons are still there. The treaties are being knocked down one after another, but we are called to keep trying. And we will do this together. We have no other choice. Thank you so much. She is the granddaughter of the founder of the catholic worker movement. To see our recent interview with legendary peace activists liz mcalister, you can go to our website democracynow. Org. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As facebook said this week, it will not fact checked political ads or hold politicians to do usual content standards, the social media giant Ceo Mark Zuckerberg was grilled by lawmakers over his policy of allowing politicians to lie in political ads. Zuckerberg was called a capitol hill wednesday to testify about facebooks plans to launch a cryptocurrency called libra that would reshape the worlds financial system. Members of the House Financial Services committee, many of them women, blasted him with questions for over five hours. Today we bring you highlights. In a minute, youll hear from joyce beatty who asked about facebooks record with issues of civil rights. We begin with alexandria ocasiocortez questioning Mark Zuckerberg. It is good to see you, Mark Zuckerberg. I think you can appreciate using a persons past behavior in order to determine, predict, or make decisions aboutut future behavior. In order for us to make decisions about libra, i thihink we need to dig into your past behaviors past behavior with respect to our democracy. What year and month that you personally first become aware of Cambridge Analytica . Sure of the exact time, but it was probably around the time when it became public. I think it was around march of 2018. When did sheryl sanandberg becocome awaware of Cambridge Analytica . A . I dont know off the top of my head. And did anyone on your Leadership Team know about Cambridge Analytica prior to the initial report by the guardian on december 11, 2015 . So. Ongresswoman, i believe some folks were tracking it internally. As you are asking this, i do think i was aware of Cambridge Analytica as an entity earlier, i dont know if i was tracking how they were u using facebook specifically. When was the issue discussed with your board member peter thiel . Congresswoman, i dont know. This is the largest data scandal with respect to your company that had catastrophic impact on the 2016 election. You dont know . Well, im sure we discussed it after we were aware of what happened. You announced recently the official policy of facebook now allows politicians to pay to spread disinformation. In 2020 elections and in the future. I just want to know how far i can push this in the next year. Under your policy, using census data as well, could i pay to target predominantly black zip codes and advertise them the incorrect election date . Know, you couldnt. Even for these policies around the newsworthiness of content that politicians say in the general principle that i believe close but you said youre not going to fact check my ads. If anyone, including a politician is saying things that can cause it that is calling for violence work at risk eminent physical harm or voter or census oppression when we rollout this incidents policy the census policy, we will take that content down. So there is some threshold where you will fact check political advertisements step is that what youre telling me . Yes, for specific things like that where there is imminent risk of f harm. Ads targeting republican saying they voted for the Green New Deal . Can you repeaeat that . Would i be able to run advevertisements on facebook targeting republicans saying they voted for the Green New Deal . I mean, if youre not Fact Checking political ads, im trying to understand the bounds. What is fair game. I dont know the answer to that off the top of my head. You dont know if i will be able to do that. Do you see a potential problem here with the complete lack of Fact Checking on political advertisements . Well, i think lying is bad and i think if you were to run an ad that had a lie, that would be bad. , and ourifferent from position, the right thing to do to prevent your constituents or people in an election from seeing you had lied. So you wont take down lies or you will take down lies . It is a Pretty Simple yes or no. Congress woman i am spin. Democraracy, i believe people should be able to see for themselves what politicians that may or may not vote for so you wont take them down. You may flag it is wrong, but you wont take it down. Congresswoman, it depends on the context that it shows up. Organic post ads one more question. In your ongoing dinner parties with farright figures, some of who advance a Conspiracy Theory that White Supremacy is a hoax, did you discuss socalled social media bias against conservatives and do you believe there is a bias . , sorry, i dont remember everything and the question. I will move on. Can you explain why you made the daily colorable documented with ties to white supremacist as an official fact checker for facebook . Sure. We actually dont appoint the independent fact checkers. They go through an independent Organization Called the independent Fact Checking network that has a rigorous standard for who they allow to serve as a fact checker. So you would say that white supremacisttype publications need a rigorous standard for Fact Checking . Thank you. I was that we are not the one assessing that standard. The international Fact Checking network is the one who is setting that standard. Clubs the gentlewoman from ohio misses beatty is also the chair of the subcommittee on diversity and inclusion. Thank you. Mr. Zuckerberg, i want to get there a number of questions, diverse as it management, for housing issues, diversity and inclusion, privacy and security. Diversity and inclusion is very important to meet and personal for me. I have been here before with facebook about the lack of diversity and inclusion. I have discussed this repeatedly with your company over the past years. I am vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus for the record has had multiple meetings with your company. And here we are again. Let me get into asset management. Certainly, that is a large industry, Something Like a 70 trillion industry. 46book has more than billion on record in cash or cash equivalent, and marketable securities. Are any of these funds managed by diverseowned companies . Yes or no . Congresswoman yes or no. I dont believe i will take that as a no. You have big law firms that work on your legal case is around the country. How many diverseowned law firms are contracted by facebook . Just give me a number or. Range congress woman, i dont know no one cooks i will take that as i dont know. How many women or minority partners work on these cases . Congresswoman, i dont know the answer to that of the top of my head. Packetyou review the that went out notification to you and your team . About what was included today and diverse estimate management was in it as it management was in it. Did you read that . It is a piece of legislation im working on was in the packet. Did you or your team review it . Your buddy talked about your scholarly resume. Did you review the packet that was sent you from the committee . Obviously that is a no. Let me go to something you introduced. You introduced laura murphy. You know who murder if years you know who laura murphy is because she said her name. You hired her as a consultant and then you talked about civil rights in your opening statement. I think we should phrase it a little differently, that you work with civil rights work just because it is a result of the number of lawsuits that you have had. Naacp. Even secretary ben carson filed a fair housing lawsuit against you for violations. Let me ask you this, do you know what redlining is . Yes. Then you should have known better. And maybe if you had real diversity or inclusion on your team, somebody in that room would have said what you are doing when you looked at what youre doing in the housing, how you were redlining or using zip codes to eliminate people from getting information. Now, have you read the report that laura murphy sent to you . Congress woman no one plugs you introduced her name about this great study at her work. Have you read it . Do you know what the recommendations were . Do you know which issue the report, yes or no . Ive seen report. Telling with the top three things were because i have it right here. Things . E the top three somebody talked about lying. One of them was around housing. The other was around setting up the Civil Rights Task force. And who is on the Civil Rights Task force . Plugs Sheryl Sandberg is the person we know cheryl is not really civil rights. Im trying to help you here. She is your coo and i dont think theres anything and i know sheryl well come about civil rights and her background. , better than that for me if were going to talk civil rights. It is an internal task force. Do you know who the firm that you employ for civil rights is . I dont how could you not know when you have employed the most historical, the largest civil issuesfirm to deal with that are major . This is what is so frustrating to me. It is almost like you think this is a joke when you have ruined the lives of many people, discriminated against them. Do you know it percentage of africanamericans are on facebook . In comparison to majority . You know what the percentages are . People using the facebook . Yes. I dont because we dont collect the races of it came out in a report and the Pew Research Center that was sent to you. So maybe you just dont read a lot of things that deal with civil rights for africanamericans. Imve a lot of questions going to send to you that im not going to be able to get through, and i would like an answer because this is appalling and disgusting to me. Amy facebook ceo mark zuckererberg being grilled by oo congressmember joyce beatty, and alexandria ocasiocortez. When we come back, proceeded to terve and kakatie porch russian zuckerberg. Back in 30 seconds. [music break] amy manifiesto by victor jara. This is democracy now , im amy goodman. We continue with highlights from the more than five hour grilling of facebook Ceo Mark Zuckerberg by lawmakers on capitol hill wednesday, many of them women, who blasted zuckerberg over facebooks policy allowing politicians to lie in political advertisements. California Congressmember Maxine waters chaired the proceedings. In a minute well hear from california congressmember katie porter. This is michigan congressmember Rashida Tlaib. Thank you for being here. I know this is going to be really hard in this setting, but trying to see me beyond just a congresswoman but also as a mother that is raising two muslim boys and is pretty dark time in our world. Years, advocacy organizations have been pleading with you and your team to prohibit hate groups from using fuelednts page, which violence against africanamericans, muslims, lgbtqimmigrants, and the community. You stated we do not allow hate groups on facebook. If there is a group thatt their primary purpose or a large part of what they are doing is spreading hate, wewe will ban tm from the platform overall. No,er zuckerberg, yes or existing or no, is it still your policy to ban hate groups . My understanding is yes. Facebook Community Standards right now it as it reads it says we are committed to making. Acebook a safe place expression that threatens people has the potential to intimidate, exclude others, isnt going to be allllowed on facebookok. I wawant to refer to a photo on the monitor showing a man holding a rifle outside of a mosque, intimidating fellow americans. Mr. Zuckerberg, does this meet your Community Standards . I am not sureman, i am in a position right now to evaluate any given post against all of the different standards that we have. What supremacist hate groups so regularly use the events pages to organize threatening protests in front of mosques, and thesee protesters are often armed. The hateful rally in this picture was playing on a Facebook Event page. Recently, facebook has taken the step further by permitting politicians to violate their Community Standards. Mr. Zuckerberg, why should the very politicians who lead our country be held to a lower standard for truthfulness and decency than the average american . Congresswoman, this isnt about helping the politicians. This is about making sure that people can see for themselves it is hate speech. Thes hate. It is leading violence and Death Threats in my office. It is untruthful. I understand that folks are working on it, right . On your team. But i if it is leading to actual real Violence Toward people that are innocent, these are untruthful statements but also those again, it is a pretty dark time in our country. We need to be able to play a part in reducing that violence. The gentlelady from california miss porters record as for five minutes stub mr. Zuckerberg, as you know facebook can be sometimes an unkind place, but ford i personal appearance and today a fairly toward your haircut. But as i mother of a teenage boy, i want to say, thank you for modeling the shortcut. We have asaid responsibility to protect our data and if we can, then we dont deserve to serve you. Do you remember making that statement . Yes. Facebooks privacy principles youre give you control of privacy, own and can delete your information, and we are accountable. Affirm thatou facebook cares about user privacy and still holds itself to the standards it already collates in his Public Policy articulate in its Public Policy . We certainly care about privacy. It is incredibly important to people. S super. If that is true you care about privacy and heating to these principles, where you are going to federal or that consumers cannot hold you liable for any of these promises because as plaintiffs admit, they and every Facebook User are bound by facebooks terms of service which release facebook from liability for users contract and commonlaw claims . Im not friendly with that legal argument. It is right there for you. You are arguing in federal court that the Consumer Data Privacy lawsuit, in which our lawyers admit that users infnformation s the plaintiffs failed to articulate any injury. In other words, no harm no foul, facebook messed up, but it doesnt matter. Is that your position . Congresswoman, i am not familiar with all of the context here so and im not a lawyer. It was a little bit hard for me to weigh in. As ceo and the tremendously proportionate sharehoholder facebook, you are responsible for ththe legal a arguments your company makes. You hire these lawyers. Will you commit to withdrawing this argument and this pleading and never again plead that there is no liability on facebook when data breaches occur . Congress woman, youre certainly right that i am ceo and i am responsible for everything that happens. All that i am saying is i imagine there are more pages to this document im going to take that as a no right now but i would like you to consider it. I i think americanan people are tired of this hypocrisy. I have been encompassed 10 months andnd already lost countf how mamany people have sat in tt chair and said one thing to me and this congress and then that another thing in federal court. I want to turn to a different issue. Facebook is done is a great place to work, free food, pingpong tables, great play benefits. It facebook does not use its employees for the hardest jobs in the company. Give about 15,000 contractors watching murders, stabbings, other gruesome disgusting videos for content moderation, correct . Congresesswoman, yes, i i bee that is cocorrect. T. You pay many of those works under 30,000 a year r and havee cut ththem off her Mental Health care when they leave t the company, even if they have ptsd because of their work for your company. Is that correct . Congresswoman, my understanding is we pay everyone, including the contractors associated with the company, at least a 15 minimum wage in markets in cities where there is a high cost of living, that is a 20 minimum wage. We go out of our way telling thank you. Reclaiming my time. According to o e report i have, and this is out of apposite of black mirror these workers get nine minutes of supervised wellness time per day. That means nine minutes to cry in the stairwell while somebody watches them. Would you be willing to commit to spending one hour a day for the next year watching these videos and acting as a content monitor and only accessing accessing the same benefits available to your workers . Congresswoman, we work hard to make sure we get good benefits to all of the folks i am reclaiming my time. I would apprpreciate yes or no. Would you be willing to act as a content manager and have that Life Experience . Im not sure it would best serve our community for me to spend that much reclaiming my time. Mr. Zuckerberg, are you saying youre not qualified to be a content monitor . Im not saying that. Then youre saying youre not willing to do it. , lobbyists are on your payroll . I dont know. 60. I want to ask about the timing of your announcement to invest 1 billion in Housing Charity on the day before your testimony befofore this committee. He may resespond in writing. My time has expired. Grilling Mark Zuckerberg on wednesday. When we come back, the crisis of homelessness in america. We go to oakland. [music break] amy if i could change. This is democracy now , im amy goodman. We turn now to the crisis of homelessness and united states. California has become the poster child for this economic and humanitarian disaster, with growing encampments in los angeles and the bay area as more people are forced onto the streets. The state is home to 12 of the u. S. Population, but half of the countrys unsheltered people. As the crisis deepens, so has the criminalization of homelessness, with increasing efforts by city and state officials to crack down on unhoused people occupying public space. President donald trump made headlines earlier this month for attacking californias politicians over the homelessness crisis, threatening to destroy encampments, increase police enforcement, and even jail homeless people. But advocates say california has already criminalized homelessness from laws against unsheltered people sitting on sidewalks to frequent sweeps of the encampments that have popped up on thoroughfares and under freeways across the states city cities. One of these crackdowns is currently unfolding at a massive oakland encampment that democracy now visited just a few weeks ago. Just outside a home depot in east oakland, between busy streets and in sight of the freeway, some 100 unhoused people have been living for months on end. Some have been there for years. The People Living in this encampment make their shelter in cars, tents, makeshift structures and tiny homes. It is one of the largest and most visible encampments of at least 90 in oakland. But tuesday, city workers descended on the sprawling and cameron, cleared part of the site. Unhoused people were forced to temporarily clear the area for the sweep, which took two days. The other part of the encampment is expected to be cleared next week. The city of oakland has vowed to permanently close the encampment by the new year, but the People Living there say the city has not offered them viable housing alternatives. Homelessness in oakland has grown by nearly 50 in the past two years. Well, democracy now visitited e east oakland encampment earlier this mononth to speak to people that live there and their advocates about the housing crisis in the bay area. We began with candice elder,r, e founder of community organanizig and Advocacy Group the east oakland collective. Close were in a huge lot that is privately owned that unhoused residents have moved on to. Of their rvs, trailers, cars, People Living in their vans. And then there are some self built structures. Peoples commuting cars and animals. What you see here is also this in camera suffers from a lot of illegal dumping. They are experiencing light issues. Either the city will come pick it up or sometimes the residents will put it into pileses. Cooking,see people burning their trash. Even though it is early in the morning, theres a lot of activivity goingng on. Amy t talked about who lives here. Is a very multiracial encampment. A lot of africanamerican residents. We have some single mothers here. We have senior citizens. We have a large latino and immigrant population here, a lot of spanish speakers. A good mix between men and women. This community has been open for four to five years now. Some o of the original resesides are stilll here. But the community has grown signifificantly. It is huge. Amy how m many unhoused people are there in c california, San Francisco, oakland . Recent news has said california has the m most unhoud population in n the country, whh is why we are seeing a lot of attention nothing to trumps rhetoric on cleaning up california streets. But between oakland between the San Francisco bay area, berkeley,ly oakland, San Francisco, between l. A. County, particularly in the skidrow area, you will find the most concentrated numbers of unhoused residents in california. The bay area is experiencing a huge boom, so much to the point where were probably about can with l. A. County. Since the latest point in time count, the count that happens after every year, year and a half, that counts the number of unhoused people on the street in a short period of time, really early in the morning, produced numbers that there are about 5000 to 6000 unsheltered people in oakland, which is a 47 increase for us since the last point in time count. Community advocates and other datata from Health Care Organizations actutually show there are more than 9000 unhoused people in oakland. That is more of a realistic number because that counts rvscles, People Living in and trailers, people w who are couch surfing. We even have College Students the bart. Iting ththey are riding the bus at night in order just to have some type of shelter. We that is why we use the term unhoused because it covers the encampment of everyone facing housing insecurity. Those numbers are high. We need the City Government to be realistic about those numbers so they can apply the proroper budget and resources. these words unhappiest unsheltered. Talk about the words. The descriptption. Doesntt matter . Does. How we talk about people matters. What i have learned from folks who are living the experience, they do not like the term homeless because home is what you make of it. This is peoples new home. It is their temporary home. Theyre not necessarily homeless, there unsheltered or unhoused. Amy what has caused the latest large numbers of people who are unhoused . Not being able to afford to live here. We have a high rate of living, which includes very high rent. The high rent, which have doubled or tripled in some cases people cannot afford to live here anymore. We need more printer r protecti. We need eviction defense. A lot of people have been evicted from their apartments. They did not have the proper Legal Resources or representation to fight it. They are o on the streets. Economicc to fix these , social, and housing barriers in order to be able to address the homelessness crisis. Amy can you talk more about the Racial Disparities when it comes to people who are not housed . Particularly area, oakland, over 70 of the unhoused population is africanamerican. Amy what is the population overall of oakland . We are 28 . We are very low numbers as far as Josh Allen Amy oakland is one quarter africanamerican but three quarters of the unhoused population. Yes. The number of africanamericans in oakland, we have seen a sharp decline due to the displacement, due to ginger vacation. So either folks are pushed out were pushed onto the streets. It speaks to the discriminatory practices and policies and housing, such as printer protection, decadesold history of redlining black folks not being able to get housing loans, being pushed out from certain neighborhoods. The stem andux of these really high wage jobs, but. Ot enough lower wage jobs and also dashiell and amy , science, technology. Folks yes. The influx of tech jobs and people to those jobs, but it is pushing out the most vulnerable and lower class residents, which is the africanamerican population here in oakland. Amy your name . Do you live here at the encampment . Yes. This house was donated to me from the Oakland School of art. Amy has it made a difference . Yes, it has. It is a real house that was actually formed by some kids. They put it together. They brought it out, put it back up. It made a big difference. Amy how many people live inside . The and my daughter. Amy you talked about having animal so you could be say. What do you face in terms of safety . Well, from just being outside i amd, a female by myself, facing being raped, facing being assaulted, facing harassment from the Police Department by itself, facing harassment from home depot just because i am here and i am unhoused. Amy how do you feel about homeless shelters . Foro an extent, they are ok a temporary situation. But right now with the way everything is going come all it is is pushing people from one shelter to another shelter. It is called shelter hopping. It is not a good thing. Withneed to help you housing while you are there so other people can come in and get the same help. Certain shelters are picking and choosing who they want to help and how they want to help. That is another situation out here. My name is anita. Im the founder and lead organizer of the village and free the people feed the people. Alliance. Ea, peoples housing identity project. Amy talk about city housing. We are in a state of emergency. It was declared in 2016. We just got the declaration reinstated this past tuesday. What the declaration states is it admits theres not enough housing, whether not enough units s or not enough affordable units, to house everyone. The state o of emergency come te homeless state of emergencycy, t in place in february of this year, kind of continues that narrative that not only is there not enough housing, but because there is not enough housing for folks who hahave access to, thee is a state of emergency and homelessness h happening. It is happening across the country. I think california might be the epicenter, but it is happening across the country. Amy what you think is the solution . Ultimately, the affordable housing. If you look at the citys numbers, between in the next four years, there are more than 50,000 market rate and above market rate units that are scheduled or approved to be built. There are 1000 affordable units, which in dealing with the median 79,000. Te price, is affordable or deeply affordable units, which is going to be for no income, low income, working class folks, 200 units. In the past two years, homelessness has increased in oakland, california, by 48 . Notr permanent housing is pipeline is not to scale to the crisis. But the only way youre going to is byis in the bud building permanent housing. The second thing is to stop trying to control the crisis so much, release some public land where people can be and provide them with basic Sanitation Services water, sanitation ,portapotties. Amy how many and camas would you estimate in oakland . At least 90. Amy how many people . Some are as big as sex and some are like 100 as big as six and some are like 100. Amy to provide community . Absolutely. They provide support. Homeless folks are some of the most resilient people, most resourceful people, most creative people youll ever meet. The little stability and support insecurity that people have been able to build for themselves when there is nothing is amazing. Knockscity comes in and these and chemist down, there literally knocking people down on both knees. What is interesting, with trump coming to california and making his for grandstanding about h erding everyone and putting them in a government run cam, then you have people like libby or gavin newsom, puffing up their chest, like, no, cannot do that. If you look at what their signing and law, theyre doing the same exact thing that trump is threatening to do. Amy you are talking about open mayor libby schaaf and california governor newsom. Right now when it comes to San Francisco and oakland, what do you think would be the most important thing to happen . On intermediate level, releasing public lands where people can park their cars, people can build homes like, safe homes, like those two weather the storm into the permanent housing is built which isnt going to happen immediately. If we are talking about brick and mortar, traditional brickandmortar housing, that will take five to seven years. But if we are talking about alternative housing, like tiny homes, which the mayor is completely opposed to because permanent. Is too their agenda is to ignore what we call the town. That is why everything theyre doing is temporary. Lands and inc those public lands, provide services. This is a disaster. ,f it was a fire, an earthquake the response would be so quick. But this is an economic disaster. This is a cultural disaster. This is a housing disaster, but theyre not treating it like the other natural disasters and they need to. Amy is this your tiny house . Yes, it is. How can you talk about you came to be here . I was living in beaumont, texas. I have children here. Hurricane harvey hit. Devastating, so i had to leave. I came back here. Amy how has it been to live here . It is hard because it is a it is hard because it is a lot of different coming you know, cultures. We have problems with users and some that dont. So it gets kind of difficult sometimes. Far, it is getting better. I think so. Amy how does it compare to texas . Never experienced anything like this in texas. Amy what do you mean . People have a tendency when they see someone homeless, they help them. They help. They will find you a place to live. As far as a place to live and food, go to texas. Youre not going to see much of it at all. At all. You feel forgotten here . I know i am. I know i am tossed aside. Amy tossed aside. That is elizabeth easton, one of the residents of the east oakland encampment that was partially cleared earlier this week. Her tiny house remains standing, but most of the surrounding shelters have all been destroyed. After leaving the and kevin, we traveled just down the road, passing a number of tents under the freeway to arrrrive at a smaller encampment where at least people were living in 10 trucks and makeshift structures. Enclosed by fencing on a busy street corner, the encampment sits near the freeway and just blocks away from fruitvale station, where 22yearold African American oscar grant was shot to death by a barred Police Officer art officer in 2009. Some of the People Living on the cramped lot were forced there when a larger encampment across the street was shut down by the city earlier this year. We spoke to one of the People Living there, aaron edmond, known as crooked eye or crook. In the 1990s, he was a member of the hiphop group steady mobbn, whose first record made the billboard top 40. What is your name . Crook. Amy how long have you been here . About two and half to three years. Down here from the city of oakland. On 16th,t of people which is about four blocks up. They had the police rounded us up and designated us to come down here. That gate . It used to be open land. They told us to come down here and picked us up and dropped us off down here. Amy like in buses . In police cars. They drove us down here and told us this is where we would have to be. It was either this or jail. Amy then what happened . Became down here and then they wanted to take the land back. The city, seems like they dont care. All they want to do is the requirement to build property for the rich to make more money down here and the poor is just being decimated at every turn. Amy were going to move inside this encampment because the noise and the fumes from the street is a little overpowering. Job,u were to apply for a you need to be able to give an address. What would you do based on you living here . I would give the gas stations address or an address close to me or Something Like that. Thats all i could do. I have no home. I have no way amy how long have you been without a home . For about five years. Amy how did it make you feel . What is it do you . It makes you almost feel unhuman. Because s society s stereotypesa homeless person as a person onon drugs, a person who doesnt want to do nothing, prison just given up on life, just wants to sit by the wayside and do drugs and give up on light. That is not true. A lot of us was here i received Social Security for my Mental Health state. Amy ssi . Yes, but when they raise the car ratenly get 850 is now 900, where is the room , water . Eries, pg e it leaves no room. When that happened, you have two choices. Either you can go commit crimes and try to stay up in there or youre coming out here. Amy how has been being without a house changed you . It has humbled me. It h has made me very grateful r when i did have a home and for all of those that you have a home, you really have Something Special because at nighttime when it gets cold, you adequate shelter. You dont feel the wind. I feel t the wind. I feel all of the elements. I have next toto no shelter. I really feel humbled. It is a humbling experience. Amy where do you live here . Back trucknd the right behind these trucks. It used to be a uhaul truck. I made it into a little foam and shelter r to keep me from the elements and to try to keep warm and dry at times. Amy can you show it to us . Close sure. Dream ofe you living . Anywhere that is a house that has Running Water or a faucet, bathtub. I would really love to take a bath for a change. I would really like that. That would mean the world to me just to take a bath o or a hot shower normally like other people. Anywhere. Anywhere i would be given a chance to stay, i would treat it like a mansion. It would be like my everything. Amy that was aaron edmond was he said he last took a bath may be more than seven months ago. He is known as crooked eye or crook. In the 1990s, he was a member of the hiphop group steady mobbn, whose first record made the billboard top 40. Now he is homeless in oakland. That does it for our broadcast. Democracy now is currently accepting applications for paid 6month internships here in our new york city studio. Learn more and apply at democracynow. Org. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] we live in a world a reality ruled by straight lines. Our streets, houses, cubicles, the shelves in our closets well, not my closet but