Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160414

Stanford University Historian joel beinin about the candidates positions on israel and palestine. Then to a Landmark Legal lawsuit 21 kids sue the federal government over Climate Change. Demanding the court to enforce climate recovery plans upon our government, to massively cut carbon for future, to honor our constitutional right to life, land, and liberty. Amy and we will look at students challenging Stanford University over the issue appraisal diversity. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. About 100 more people have been arrested in washington, d. C. , as part of the ongoing democracy spring protests against political corruption and big money in politics. Wednesday marked the third consecutive day of mass arrests at the u. S. Capitol after 85 people were arrested tuesday and more than 400 were arrested on monday. About 36,000 verizon workers have go on strike along the east coast, from massachusetts to virginia, marking one of the biggest u. S. Strikes in years. Verizon has sought to cut pensions and ease the outsourcing of work. In new york city, verizon worker gail rodgers spoke out. We are fighting, trying to give the company from taking things that we rightfully gained through previous contracts that should be hours. Medical benefits, the right to work. Work overseas. We cant have that. Work needs to stay in america for americans. Amy both democratic president ial candidates joined verizon workers on the picket lines in new york city. Speaking in his home borough of brooklyn, sanders criticized verizon. It is a question of workers standing up for justice, taking on a large, gritty corporation who wants to outsource good paying jobs, who wants to take away Health Care Benefits from its workers. Somehow, they do have enough money to pater ceos 20 million the year. There standing up for justice and i stand with them today. Amy on wednesday evening, Bernie Sanders drew one of his largest crowds to date in new york citys Washington Square park. His campaign put the crowd at 27,000 people. The entire front section appeared to be Striking Verizon workers. Meanwhile verizons ceo hit back , at sanders in a blog post, calling the senators views contemptible. Hillary clintons critics have noted the Clinton Campaign has received tens of thousands of dollars from verizon executives and lobbyists. Verizon paid clinton 225,000 for a 2013 speech. On wednesday, senator sanders won the endorsement of the new York City Transit Workers Union while clinton was backed by an , electrical Workers Union. Activists with the occupied wall street journal and indypendent newspaper teamed up to publish a newspaper in support of sanders headlined the battle of new , york. They square off tonight five days before the new york primary. Erupted between donald Trump Supporters and protesters outside the republican frontrunners rally in pittsburgh wednesday night. Hundreds of antiracist demonstrators gathered to chant racist bigots have got to go. , inside, trump said both the republican and democratic systems for choosing candidates are rigged. Whether you like Bernie Sanders or not, i have a think he is terrible but that is ok but whether you like them or not no, no, whether you like them or not, you turn on television and every week, Bernie Sanders wins. Bernie sanders wins. He wins every weekend. You listen to the pundits, but he cannot win. Im like, wait come here is one every week for the last seven weeks, but he cannot win. I say, oh, it is a rigged system. Trump and his fellow republican candidates are expected to attend a gala in manhattan tonight. Hundreds are expected to protest truck outside. A great laters have warned five of the 10 or five of the top too bigrgest banks are to fail, meaning taxpayers would need to bail them out again in the event of another financial collapse. The Federal Reserve and fdic said jp morgan chase, bank of america, wells fargo, state street and bank of new york all lacked credible plans to enter bankruptcy in the event of a financial crisis. The warnings echo calls by vermont senator Bernie Sanders to break up the big banks, a plan criticized by rival Hillary Clinton. The biggest banks are even bigger now than before the 2008 meltdown. Officials at the centers for Disease Control and prevention say they have confirmed the link between the zika virus and microcephaly, a condition that can cause infected mothers to give birth to babies with abnormally small heads. Cdc director Thomas Frieden said there is no longer any doubt that zika causes the birth defect. This comes after officials said the mosquitoes that spread zika are now in 30 u. S. States. White House Press Secretary josh earnest said wednesday congress has not done enough to address the virus. You may be familiar with the expression of being a day late and a dollar short. In this case, congress is two months late and 1. 9 billion short in providing the assistance that our Public Health professionals say they need to make sure the respond appropriately to the situation. The bill that Congress Passed yesterday does not include any funding. It certainly it is not going to do anything to help local communities across the country that carry this piracy this virus or fight the mosquitoes that carry this by rest. Light strip s largest privatesector coal company has filed for bankruptcy. Peabody energy is at least the fifth Major Coal Company to seek bankruptcy amid a decline in coal. The Environmental Group 350. Org declared the move a harbinger of the end of the fossil fuel era. Former florida senator bob graham says he received a call from the white house this week over the 28 secret pages of a report on the 9 11 terror attacks. Graham has campaigned for years to have the documents declassified, saying they contain key details about saudi arabias role in the attacks. Graham told the Tampa Bay Times a president ial adviser informed him the declassification review of the documents would soon be completed. The call came after boko 60 minutes ran an episode on the 28 pages sunday. Graham spoke to host steve kroft. Do believe that support came from saudi arabia . Substantially. And you mean the government . Rich people in count arities . All of the above. Amy in chicago, a task force appointed by mayor rahm emanuel has found evidence of rampant racism within the Chicago Police department. The report finds the Police Departments own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color. Despite equal proportions of black, white, and latino residents in chicago, 74 of the more than 400 people shot by Chicago Police between 2008 and 2015 were black. Black people also made up 72 of peoples topped on the street, but not arrested in the summer of 2014 and three out of four people on whom Chicago Police tried to user tasers between 2012 and the report comes as 2015. Mayor emanuel faces calls to resign over a possible coverup of the Police Killing of laquan mcdonald, the teen shot 16 times in 2014. In panama, authorities have raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal. A massive data leak revealed the firm set up a Global Network of Shell Companies for heads of state and other elites to store money offshore to avoid taxes and oversight. Authorities seized 100 computer servers during a 27hour raid. Protesters rallied outside the firm to demand a thorough investigation. We believe it is important for the attorney general to actively investigate this act of corruption, this embarrassment which was revealed internationally in which panama looks very bad at the moment. Amy newly released records reveal how fbi hackers sought to break encryption used by Animal Rights activists by secretly installing software on the activists computers. While it happened more than a decade ago, the effort has just come to light through documents provided to the New York Times by freedom of information activist ryan shapiro. Six activists, including past democracy now guest andy stepanian, were ultimately convicted of conspiracy to violate the animal enterprise protection act in the case. Journalist matthew keys has been sentenced to two years in prison in a hacking case that has drawn protests from Civil Liberties groups. Keys was convicted in october of giving the Hacker Group Anonymous the username and password of his former employer, the tribune company. A hacker then used the credentials to alter the online headline on a Los Angeles Times story from pressure builds in house to pass taxcut package to pressure builds in house to elect chippy 37, a reference to another hacking group. The change lasted about 40 minutes. Keys had faced up to 25 years in prison. After keys sentencing wednesday, nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden was among those to tweet his support, writing two years for a web defacement lasting 40 minutes. Supporters say keys plight shows the need to reform the Computer Fraud and abuse act, the sweeping, decadesold law also used to charge activist aaron swartz. He committed suicide in 2013 while facing up to 35 years in prison for downloading millions of academic articles. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Were on the road at Stanford University in california. We are on a 100city tour marking democracy nows 20th anniversary. Today we will be at Pitzer College at noon and then tonight we will be in los angeles. Check our website at democracynow. Org. As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders prepare for tonights debate in brooklyn, one issue expected to come up is the Israeli Palestinian conflict. New york, which votes on tuesda is home to the largest Jewish Population in the world outside of israel. Much of the population is concentrated in brooklyn. Bernie sanders made headlines recently when he mistakenly told the New York Daily News Editorial Board that 10,000 civilians died in israels assault on gaza. Sanders said i dont remember the figures, but my recollection is over 10,000 innocent people were killed in gaza. Does that sound right . According to the united nations, the actual civilian death toll was at least 1473 in gaza. Last week, former israeli ambassador michael oren, who now serves in the israeli knesset, said Bernie Sanders owes israel an apology. Oren accused sanders of a blood libel which is a false, centuriesold allegation that jews were killing children to use their blood in religious rituals. On sunday, Bernie Sanders appeared on the leader with jake tapper on cnn. Was israels response disproportionate . I think it was. Israel has what had percent 100 , the right to live in and in, independently, security, without having to be subjected to terrorist attacks. But i think that we will not succeed to ever bring peace into that region unless we also treat the palestinians with dignity and respect. And that is my view. It is interesting, if you will permit me to say, the first jew in American History to win a ,elegate, much less a primary is taking this position with israel that is usually in american politics im not criticizing you or when usually supports israel, whatever israel wants to do. Youre taking a more critical position. More balanced position. Amy Bernie Sanders on the lead with jake tapper on cnn. Tapper later asked Hillary Clinton to respond in a separate interview. Senator sanders, israels response in gaza was disproportionate leading to an unnecessary loss of innocent life. You told the atlantic in 2014 that israel did what it had to do to respond to the attacks. What do you make of senator sanders take on it, that it was disproportionate . He will have to speak for himself you dont agree . I agree with what i said, which is when you are being attacked with rockets raining down on your people and your soldiers are under attack, you have to respond. And i think that what i learned when i negotiated the ceasefire between israel and hamas in 2012 is that hamas provokes israel. They often pretend to have people in civilian garb acting as though they are civilians who are hamas fighters. It is a very difficult undertaking for israel to target those who are targeting them. And i think israel has had to defend itself. It has a right to defend itself. It did not go seeking this. This was promoted by hamas. I support israels right of selfdefense. Any code that was Hillary Clinton speaking on cnn on sunday. The network will host tonights debate in brooklyn. To more about israel and palestine conflict and the 2016 election, we are joined by joel beinin. He is professor of middle east history at Stanford University. He is the former director of middle east studies at the American University in cairo. He is author of several books, most recently, workers and thieves labor movements and popular uprisings in tunisia and egypt. Professor, welcome back to democracy now great to be here. Amy can you talk about the clips we just heard of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton . Bernie has been evolving. If we remember the summer of israels assault on gaza when he tried to shout down people in a town meeting who asked him to be more critical of israel, he was telling the Democratic Party line. He has now backed off from that. He wants to be more balanced. He zimmerman as his jewish cmunity outreach coordinator. She recently wrote an oped in the leading liberal daily of israel saying that we should talk about boycott, divestment, and sanctions very friendly jewish voice for peace. A lot of what he is saying is a good bit away from where i think you should be, but compared to Hillary Clinton who pretty much parrots the line, he is in a different place. Amy Hillary Clinton right now, where she stands and your view on that on the israelpalestine conflict . She is awful. You heard in the clip, israel did not go looking for this. Well, that is not a historical record. Israel provoked hamas into firing the rockets. It is not the first time israel hamas into firing rockets after a period of quiet. The testimony of soldiers who gave evidence to breaking the silence say that israel used an insane amount of violence and firepower in invading gaza, and that the levels of instruction of civilian infrastructure was insane. That is very different than what Hillary Clinton is saying. Amy you wrote a letter to senator sanders . Yes. What he tried to do was to say, ok, great that you are against the influence of billionaires in american politics. You talk primarily about domestic politics and i agree with all of that, but there is also a very pernicious influence of billionaires in Foreign Policy and perhaps nowhere more so than israelpalestine. Sheldon adelson, the abelson primary, the republican candidate traced to las vegas to get his endorsement. On the democratic side, saban is a huge contributor to hillary Clinton Campaign and the past. Ampaigns of the clintons both are single issue people. They care only about israel. He said he is prepared to spend whatever it takes to get Hillary Clinton elected president. And the policies that Hillary Clinton advocates, as we heard in the case, reflect his views. Amy in her speech to aipac last month, democratic president ial hopeful Hillary Clinton said the u. S. Should help israel maintain qualitative military edge. Will make the commitment to ensure israel maintains qualitative military edge. [applause] the United States should provide israel with the most sophisticated Defense Technology so it can do terror and stop any threats. One of the first things i will do in office is invite the israeli Prime Minister to visit the white house. [applause] and i will send a delegation from the pentagon and the joint chiefs to israel for early consultations. Amy democratic candidate vermont senator Bernie Sanders was the only top candidate to skip the aipac conference last month. He did not he did address the issue on the campaign trail in utah, calling for an end to israels occupation of the palestinian territories. Ending what amounts to the occupation for palestinian territory established [indiscernible] gaza,s israel did in whats a navigable move on israels part. That is why i draw much of the inernational community voicing my concern that [indiscernible] undermines the Peace Process and ultimately Israeli Security as well. It is absurd for elements within the netanyahu government to suggest that building more settlements in the west bank is the appropriate response to the most recent violence. It is also not acceptable that the netanyahu government decided to withhold hundreds of millions of shekels and tax revenue from the palestinians, which it is supposed to collect on their behalf. Amy that was Bernie Sanders post a professor joel beinin, commenting on both candidates. Hillary clinton was giving you the standard cant. Nobody says, israel has the most powerful military between morocco and pakistan. They really dont need any more armaments. They have 200 Nuclear Weapons and so on. And moreover, yes, there have been terrorist attacks against israel. None of them altogether represent anything remotely resembling an existential threat to israel. They are unfortunate. It is a tragic loss of civilian life when that happens, but from a Security Point of view, it is not a big deal. On the other hand, israel has aggressively attacked its inghbors in 1956, in 1967, 1982. On balance, israel has been the aggressor for most of its historical existence. Hillary i dont know if she knows the history, doesnt care about the history. She says what candidate need to say in order to get elected. Bernie sanders is inching his way toward a more reasonable position. He is pointing out that israel is expanding settlements. He mentioned in the interview with the New York Daily News the settlements are illegal, although he was not clear that every single one of them is illegal according to International Law, and that is not a matter of who thinks International Law means what. But he is moving along. It is clear the millennials who support him 85 to 15 or more critical of israel and he is getting closer to their views. Amy professor, you urged sanders in her letter to take action against u. S. Arm cells to countries in the region, among them israel, but also saudi arabia, which has been enjoying some of the largest arms sales in u. S. History, and as well egypt. Can you talk about why this is so important . It is so important because it is the sale of u. S. Arms that often fuels conflicts. If the United States did not sell any arms to just those three countries plus the other gulf cooperation councils, arab oil monarchies, then all of those countries would have to deal with each other in a more reasonable, diplomatic way. Those arms sales dont affect contribute to anybodys defense saudi arabia is essentially incapable of using the american weaponry that it buys. Theres always american advisers to help them do it. And with Saddam Hussein invaded kuwait, the saudis could not repel that invasion on their own, even though they had tons of military hardware. Those sales are a boon to make an military industry. Basically what is happening, american taxpayers are subsidizing the profits of the lockheed, douglas, mcdonnell douglas, Northrop Grumman and so realnd those are the israel lobby. They are the ones who want that grant of 3 billion plus a year to go to israel. Amy so talk about both aid to israel and to egypt for some of the largest recipients of aid in the world, and how much of that aid of those billions of dollars go to, in the end, u. S. Arms manufacturers like lockheed martin. Israel gets a little bit over 3 billion officially grant and ella terry aid, egypt gets somewhere between 2. 1 billion and 2. 3 billion. That proportion was set up following the 1979 egyptianisraeli peace treaty and has remained fixed since then. Those are gifts. Israel gets the money every quarter in advance, not tied to any project. Some proportion of that money can be spent inside israel. Some of it for israeli equipment, some of it for equipment that israel manufacturers for itself and for the United States military. Most of it is spent in the United States. In the case of egypt, every penny is spent in the United States for equipment supplied by american arms manufacturers. Can you talk about former secretary of state Hillary Clintons relationship with mubarak . Barakr relationship with mu typifies her hawkish status quo approach, not only to the middle east, but yesterday you were talking about honduras post of should a similar view their. The entire population of egypt was rising up against mubarak and she says she believes the mubarak regime is stable. She is tone deaf when it comes ,o the democratic aspirations not only of the egyptian people, but certainly come also to the palestinian people. Amy who are that in 2009, i really consider president mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family. Im sure they were, probably not anymore. Yeah, why not . The president of egypt would be friends with the family of the secretary of state and former president , the American Government has done a great deal to keep the mubarak family and power for 31 years, so they would be friends. Amy in a nutshell, we would like to have you back to talk more extensively about your new book, workers and thieves labor movements and popular uprisings in tunisia and egypt. Talk about the significance of what you found today. The basic story is, the International Monetary fund and the world bank had been for decades trying to impose neoliberal economic Structural Reforms to reshape the economies of the middle east. And what happened there is a version of what happened here. The rich got richer and the poor cap poor, even when in some cases the economies did grow. Poverty increased, did not decrease as the world bank claimed it would. People in some cases literally could not afford bread. I was present in egypt when huge crowds of people were chanting about the price of bread. In tunisia, one of the slogans of the uprising was what bread, water, and no ben ali. Notasic human needs were being met, despite the proud claims of International Monetary fund and the world bank of economic success. Two french president s called tunisia and economic miracle. It was miraculous for the family of the president s wife who own perhaps 30 of the national economy, but not summer oculus miraculous for those who started the uprising. And if i want to thank you for being with us, professor joel middle easthes history at Stanford University. Author of several books, most recently, workers and thieves labor movements and popular uprisings in tunisia and egypt. Of course, we will bring you excerpts of the democratic president ial debate that will take place in brooklyn tonight, tomorrow on democracy now one gonzalez will be cohosting who got a chance to question both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton at his New York Daily News Editorial Board meeting. We will get more from juan on the meetings. I am amy goodman. When we come back, kids are involved in the lawsuit around Climate Change. We will find out more. [music break] amy on the road, again by amy on the road again, by willie nelson. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Were on the road as part of a 100city tour, now at Stanford University in palo alto, california. Pitzermoving on today to college. I will be speaking at noon and then this evening in los angeles. Were moving on to for the california over the weekend. You can check democracynow. Org. Were talking further north right now. A federal judge in oregon has rejected an attempt by the u. S. Government to dismiss a landmark lawsuit over the governments failure to take necessary action to curtail fossil fuel emissions. The lawsuit was filed by our Childrens Trust on behalf of 21 young people all under the age of 21. They argue that the federal government is violating their Constitutional Rights to life, liberty and property by enabling , continued exploitation, production and combustion of , fossil fuels. In his ruling, judge Thomas Coffin wrote if the allegations in the complaint are to be believed, the failure to regulate the emissions has resulted in a danger of constitutional proportions to the Public Health. Judge coffins decision was welcomed by the youth plaintiffs who vowed to continue with their legal fight against Climate Change. Plaintiff xiuhtezcatl tonatiuh, a 15yearold from colorado, reacted to the ruling. We have been in this crazy lawsuit. We did it. We were just in court in oregon. The fossil fuel industry stood with the federal government to try to get our case on out of court. Courts toanding the enforce climate recovery plans upon our government to massively cut carbon to honor our constitutional right to life, land, and liberty. So we went to court because they wanted to dismiss this case. Judge coffin ruled in our favor. Favor in the amy that was teenage plaintiff xiuhtezcatl tonatiuh, one of the 21 young people suing the u. S. Government for its alleged failure to curtail fossil fuel emissions. Well, for more, were joined now by the lawyer and another one of the youth plaintiffs in this landmark lawsuit. Julia olson is the executive director and chief Legal Counsel for our Childrens Trust, which has filed the lawsuit on behalf of 21 young people all under the age of 21. Aji piper is one of the plaintiffs. He is 15yearsold and in the 10th grade. He is a member of earth guardians rising youth for a sustainable earth council. Julia olson and aji piper, welcome to democracy now aji, why have you brought this suit . We brought this suit to protect our Constitutional Rights to life, liberty, and freedom as stated under the public trust doctrine, which basically says that the government has an obligation to protect the air, land, and water for future generations. They are allowing the fossil fuel industry to come in and do things like fracking or other fossil exportations exploitations that to her shores a lan, harms the air, and that is why we are selling them. Amy and how you how did you get involved with this issue . Plaintiff already a on a washington case that is girly ongoing because i was involved with that amy what does that case . Ofwe sued the Department Ecology in washington because when we petitioned for a rulemaking, for a new Emissions Reductions rules in our state, they denied our petition. So we are light, so we took them to court. Right now, they stopped rulemaking, so were going back to court. We were permitted by the judge of another oral argument. Amy julia olson, youre the head of our Childrens Trust. What is that . Talk about the judges ruling . There are multiple cases going on. What our Childrens Trust does is help elevate the voice by connecting them with attorneys to help them sue the governments for acting in ways that are destroying the climate system. The decision last friday is remarkable. There is really not been anything like it yet. It is very exciting. It is about protecting these young peoples Constitutional Rights to life, liberty, and property, and to the public trust resources. Amy what was unusual about the ruling . The court has said the case can go forward, and it will be the first time that the federal governments fossil fuel policies will really be look that in accordance with the constitution and their obligations to protect young people and future generations. Amy what is the eugene climate recovery ordinance . Law that young people, including some of the federal plaintiffs in our case, took before city council in eugene and over a yearlong campaign, convinced the city council to adopt an ordinance that mandates specific Emission Reductions and the reduction of fossil fuel consumption at the local level. It also requires the city prepare carbon budget based on dr. Hansens prescription to return co2 levels to 350 parts per million by the end of the century. It is a groundbreaking ordinance in the first of its kind. Amy aji, as a young person, what concerns you most about Climate Change . What concerns me most about Climate Change is, i mean, is a very hard thing because you have to imagine the future. And we know, like, if we dont act on Climate Change, the world is not going to end in a flash and bang, but will end up happen is either my generation will feel the effects where we have to fight for survival on the earth. Life will be very different. We will not be as privileged to live on the earth. It will be a lot harder. But then you also think about were putting generations that have not been born yet and generations to come in the position where they have to deal with that, and that is not a position anybody should be put in. It is just not fair. This a moral, logical thing. Amy a want to go back to the eugene climate recovery ordinance. 50 Less Community fossil feel consumption by 2030, citywide carbon by mission reductions to reach 350 parts per million, Carbon Dioxide. Youth environmentalist were crucial in passing eugenes climate recovery ordinance. I want to turn to a nineyearold who testified in eugene, oregon. Last night, me and my class went on a field trip to watch salmon spawn. If Climate Change gets worse, that will be able to happen. Tonight we are you the ordinance for climate recovery as soon as possible for Climate Change on the agenda. Amy where is that now, julia olson . The climate recovery ordinance . Right now the city is working on implementation and it is taking a lot of citizen engagement, continue to put pressure on the city and the youth are at every city council meeting, talking to the city about it. They have developed the 350 carbon budget, so we are really working on how to implement that at the local level. Amy i want to ask about a new article from inside climate news, the Pulitzer Prize winning S Organization called oak called co2s role in global , warming has been on the oil industrys radar since the 1960s. According to the article, the oil industrys leading pollutioncontrol consultants advised the American Petroleum institute in 1968 that Carbon Dioxide from burning fossil fuels deserved as much concern as the smog and soot that had commanded attention for decades. At the time, Stanford Research Institute Scientists Elmer Robinson and r. C. Robbins wrote a paper to the American Petroleum institute that said Carbon Dioxide was the only air pollutant which has been proven to be of global importance to mans environment on the basis of a long period of scientific investigation. Your response . It is really interesting because that issue essential to the case that is now poised in the District Court in oregon against the federal government and the fossil fuel industry. We have evidence that since 1965 and even the late 1950s, the federal government has no that by continuing to extract and burn fossil fuels, it would cause catastrophic consequences for future generations. I think the information of the fossil feel industry is predated by knowledge by our federal government. And in collusion, the fossil fuel industry and our federal government have been causing quite a change. That is exactly what the issue is in this federal case. So those facts, the collusion, the distraction of the climate system, is what we will present an trial in oregon. Amy i want to and or the voices of some of the youth affiliated with our Childrens Trust expressing their concerns about Climate Change. I want to thank aji piper and julia olson for being with us. Less water for swimming entering and animals. My name is jesse. I care about Climate Change because i want clean air. My name is ray. I want parker. Me is we want the next generation to live a healthy to be healthy, live and healthy environment and he good food. Amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. When we come back, Stanford University students are challenging the administration over bringing more diversity to the universities. Stay with us. [music break] amy danger, sung by aji piper. The guest who has brought a lawsuit against u. S. Government. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are on our 100 city tour and we end the show here on the campus of Stanford University, where students are demanding change in Faculty Diversity. Stanfords faculty is 73 white and 73 male, while less than half the undergraduate student body is white. The Student Diversity effort, called whos teaching us . Grew out of stanfords Asian American Activism Committee in 2014 when the Stanford English Department denied tenure to a queer Asian American scholar, a trusted mentor among the student community. The movement has since expanded to include all students of color and marginalized identities. Whos teaching us . Recently issued a list of 25 demands to the administration, including increased diversity among faculty and the curriculum, residential space and other programs that meet the needs of students of color and divestment from institutions that harm marginalized communities. The group held a rally and forum where members of the administration were invited to address the demands. No one from the administration showed, but stanford president John Hennessy sent a letter of response. This is student lina khoeur reading the letter from president hennessy, followed by Phuntso Wangdra with the response from whos teaching us . [indiscernible] i believe this process will lead to a constructive dialogue. That is the 25 demands we are giving to you and have repeatedly given to you. We are going to be holding you to this. This is not a new conversation, people. Students have been demanding the same thing for decades. Where is this change . Why are we here . We demand action. Amy the efforts at Stanford University follow several other student actions on campuses across the country including university of missouri, yale, and ithaca college. The president of mizzou resigned after weeks of demonstrations by black students against what they called a lax response to bigotry and vandalism on campus. Well for more on diversity at Stanford University were joined , by two guests. Maya odei is a graduating senior majoring in bioengineering and a member whos teaching you . And were joined by judge ladoris cordell, a retired superior court judge who spent 19 years on the bench in Santa Clara County in california. She is former assistant dean at Stanford Law School and former vice provost of Stanford University. We welcome you both to democracy now i want to begin with may. Who is whos teaching us . Coalition,student calling on the uversity to diversify its faculty, student body, its curriculum, and also asking for the university to develop from private and with other ways to cease from harming black and brown bodies. Amy what kind of response have you gotten . As you mentioned, we did not come unfortunate, see any of the administration on april 8, which we asked them to attend. Fortunately, we have seen some sort of response from them. You mentioned the letter from hennessy. Additionally, we have set up throughand we are those committees engaging in dialogue with university administrators. Amy we are joined, as i said, by judge ladoris cordell. She is the retired assistant dean at Stanford Law School. She is also the first africanamerican woman judge in Northern California and former buys provost of Stanford University. Im looking, judge cordell, at some old articles about you. One of them is a picture of you to campus atrsity Stanford University. What is it that you did, what youre called in to do, and then we will look at what has happened. Were talking about 1978. In 1978, became the assistant dean of the law school and i was properly brought into diversify the student population. There were very few people of color at the law school. The first africanamerican stanford law graduate was 1968 and the first latino was 1969. I came in and i was given license amy Stanford University law school. Amy that you are one of the first like students early on, but there have been some before me. My daughter is the assisted the my job was to bring in a Critical Mass of black and brown bodies into the law school. I was able to do that by having a very aggressive recruiting process and it was permitted to do that and to create it on my own. After the first year, stanford emerged as the first among major law schools to have such a large enrollment, 22 of the entering class were black and brown bodies, and sustain that for the four years i was the assistant dean. Amy you did something unusual, you started to recruit from historically black colleges. Absolutely. I went out and was on a presence accounts is around the country, but for the first time, with a presence at historically black colleges and universities. Amy who is teaching us raises the question of Faculty Diversity. What is the Faculty Diversity at the Stanford Law School . Lets go back to when i was a student, 19711974, no professors of color at all the law school. I ended up being the only black female in my class, sporting a big afro in the whole bit. I had no one to whom i could relate in terms of looking like me. A bit ofere is quite difference. There has been progress. But i will note today, and this is from the entire history of Stanford Law School, there is yet to be a tenured black woman professor. Amy why is this so important to you, maya odei . As you mentioned, it is very important to me to have professors who look like me and who i feel like i can relate to. Stemially being in a field. Amy explain stem. Science technology andneering at maddox mathematics, medicine, you dont see too many diverse faculty, which is very unfortunate for students who look like me. Amy and this issue of investment and divestment. Explain the companies you want stanford to stop investing in. So we want stanford to stop investing in the private prison industrial complex, including Companies Like Corrections Corporation of america, including geo group, and other auxiliary companies to help them to remain so robust. That whenelling maya i was a student here, are protest was too divest from families who engaged in business with south africa. It is interesting how were still on the same arc. Amy youre not a Current Administration official here at stanford, you are a past one. How difficult is does a Movement Like mayas, who is teaching us, the organization, how did you find the Administration Responds when they get pressure from students . It is hard to do it as a student because the student body is transient. Youre going to be here for few years and then be out. It is hard to keep omentum going on the student side. On the other, the more you have administrators and faculty who look like you, the more responsive are quickly responsive they will be to you. I found that as a student, it is the more pressure you can sustain on the administration, and that is how you bring change. It is not easy. I say to you, maya, hang in there, because the more you can sustain this and have others coming after you, the more certain you are to bring change. We are reallyy attempting to build sustainability into our movement so we not only have a large upper class representation, but also to very active recruitment for underclassmen, freshmen, sophomores. Amy how large is whos teaching us . We are pretty large organization. Im not sure the exact number. In addition to our core members, we have a lot of support from the student body at large. Judge cordell, i want to ask you about a slightly different issue, the big front page were on the road and im taking a look at usa today. It says Chicago Police face racism charge. It is a big story across the whole front page. Talk about what you are doing toay, how you are related oversight around police action. This report is not a surprise to me and should not be a surprise to those, racism and policing chicago, we know about it will stop it is a very indepth report. I encourage everyone to read it. For the last five years ive been engaged in independent civilian oversight of the police and this is really important because what i did working this capacity is to bring transparency in accounting to policing because there is no sunshine and policing. There is free little the public knows about how Police Departments operate in the rules that guide them. So in my involvement was to basically provide oversight. If yet an issue with the Police Officer san jose, you could come to our office and bring a complaint and then let oversight over how that complaint was investigated by the department. Independent oversight is spreading throughout the country and clearly, it is needed in chicago and needed in new york, needed everywhere. Im not sure if that is a recommendation im willing to bet it is amy i think well over 100 recommendations in this report. The first since the sentence talking about chicago is that i racism and its sweeping reforms to help it win back the trust of the community. And when he back trust is based on credibility. Amy you have any advice for maya and the students of whos teaching us . As a former in a straight are at stanford, how best to force change here . First is, dont be discouraged. Change will come but only come about and something what amy goodman has been talking about for years, and it is that movements matter. A movement, just in the word itself, means youre making progress. Movements matter. It is important that you all continue the message, sustain it. Do not get discouraged because youre not seeing change right away. It will happen. Amy maya odei, what do you think is the most important thing for the administration here to respond to right now or is it just about the for you, student organizing . So i think what is most important is for the administration to truly show that they care about what we do students have to say. For example, by showing up to events like our april 8 event. Amy which was . At the event, we asked for the administration to come show their support and to sign on to our demand. Amy did they . They did not. Amy thank you both for being with us. This is a conversation considering here and cap is is across the country. We will be at a number of campuses on her 100 city tour. You can check democracynow. Org. And ladoris cordell. Judge cordell is the first judgenamerican intercounty. Former assistant dean at Stanford Law School and former vice provost of Stanford University. 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 ] rallo on this episode of eat drink italy we visit a michelinstarred chef who found his true passion. We also visit a tiny culinary powerhouse wholl share a simple, classic recipe with us. Ill audition as a beekeeper at a purely organic bee farm, and well visit one of italys most creative new chefs. My name is vic rallo, and i believe that italy is the best place on earth to eat and drink. Follow me, and ill prove it. Eat drink italy is brought to you by the asaro line of sicilian extravirgin and organic extravirgin olive oils, tomatoes, olives, and more. From the asaro family to yours. Martinscott wines, providing wines from around the world. Banville jones, importers of italian wines