Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20140827

Omer. Then the intercept shrine gallagher on how the nsa built its own secret google to give nearly two dozen u. S. Government agencies a way to search billions of private phone, email, and web records. Sitehen we look at another , last year the city of ferguson issued an average of three warrants for every household in the city. Fines and court fees brought in over two point 69 for the city. His ferguson and other area cities feeding on the poor . It is much when you get pulled over for menial things. You have to go through too much. With thomaspeak harvey. Then bearing witness, and activist guide to archiving video. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Israelis and palestinians have agreed to an indefinite ending israels 50 day assault on the gaza strip. Palestinian Health Officials say 2139 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the israeli offensive. At 64s death toll stood soldiers and six civilians, after two people were reportedly killed by mortar fire on tuesday. The ceasefire deal was mediated by egyptian officials in cairo and took effect on tuesday evening. It calls for an opening of withs blockaded crossings israel and egypt and a widening of the territorys fishing zone in the mediterranean. A spokesperson for you in general you and secretarygeneral ban kimoon urged both sides to respect the deal. Children must be able to start School Without the sounds of rock alarms and airstrikes. After 50 days a profound human suffering and devastating physical destruction, any violation of the ceasefire would be utterly responsible. More on gaza after the headlines. Is Obama Administration reportedly mobilizing allies for possible u. S. Military action in syria. Obamaew york times says is also planning to expand airstrikes against Islamic State militants in northern iraq. On tuesday, obama vowed to continue action on the militants after they killed journalist james foley. Our message to anyone who harms our people is simple. America does not forget. Our reach is long. We are patient. Justice will be done. We approved time and again we will do what is necessary to capture those who harm americans. To go after those who harm americans. [applause] and we will continue to take direct action were needed to protect our people. Nd to defend our homeland an american citizen has been killed while fighting for the Islamic State in syria. Douglas mccain was killed by rebels fighting for the free syrian army. Facing a fresh crisis over its president ial election with one of the leading candidates reportedly boycotting an audit of the vote. The move i Abdullah Abdullah has disrupted a you an audit aimed at resolving claims of fraud from both sides. It also comes amid tensions between the u. S. And afghan president karzai. Karzais spokesperson said karzai will not attend a key nato summit next week because he disagrees with the u. S. Over the future of troops there. Nato is planning to set up new bases in Eastern Europe in response to the crisis in ukraine. Secretary general rasmussen told the guardian the organization plan. Approve o a the announcement came as russian president Vladimir Putin and ukrainian president poroshenko met for talks in belarus. A british nurse who contracted ebola in sierra leone has received mixed Terminal Drug zmapp. The drugmaker critically said supplies were exhausted after it went to two u. S. Missionaries, a spanish priest, and three liberian doctors. Peaceful protests have resumed in ferguson, missouri after the funeral of 18yearold Michael Brown. The unarmed black teen was shot dead by police on august 9. Demonstrators demanded justice for brown and kajieme powell, an africanamerican man shot dead by second was police 10 days after brown. Police say powell brandished a knife within four feet of officers, but video calls their account into question and shows he was shot within 20 seconds of the officers arrival. Tuesday, Community Activist Taurean Russell said he has spoken to Michael Browns father. He said the pursuit of justice does not end with the funeral. It begins with the funeral. The mother was crying. They said, keep going. So im going to keep going. New information has been brought to light about it death of an africanamerican in police custody. Police claim the white iii shot himself in the back seat of a Louisiana Police cruiser. A coroners report obtained by nbc news contradicts that claim, saying he was shot in the chest. It still concludes he kills himself. White family said he would not have committed suicide. In tennessee, a sheriffs officer has been fired after photographs showed him choking a College Student until he collapsed. A sequence of photographs published in britains daily mail showed the officer squeezing his hands around jarod dotsons neck until dotson fell to his knees. Police charged dotson with public intoxication and resisting arrest. Burger king is buying the canadian coffee and donut chain tim hortons for 11 point 4 billion, creating the Third Largest fast food chain in the world. The newly created firm will be had ordered in canada or the Corporate Tax rate is lower than in the u. S. While burger king denies it was motivated by lower taxes, the deal has revived the debate over socalled tax inversions, whereby u. S. Companies use mergers to move overseas and avoid u. S. Tax rates. Detroit, michigan has resumed water shutoffs to residents who have fallen behind on their bills. The shutoffs were halted for a month after local protests and criticism from you and a sports who called them a violation of the right to water. Detroit will now allow residents who can pay 10 of their balance to enter a payment plan, but some residents in the economically devastated city still cannot afford to pay. A Japanese Court has ordered the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant to pay damages to the family of a woman who killed herself after she was forced to evacuate due to radiation. Tepco will pay the family the equivalent of 470,000. It is the first time a court has ordered tepco to pay damages for the 2011 nuclear meltdown. A new report has revealed 1400 children were sexual he is exploited over 16 years in a single british town. The reports author found leaders in the town knew of the abuse years ago, but failed to act. It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse the child victims suffered. They were raped by multiple perpetrators. They were trafficked to other cities. They were beaten and intimidated. They were examples of children being doused with petrol and threatened to be satellite. They were threatened with guns. Brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next. The unitedaft of nations report warns Climate Change could become irreversible if Greenhouse Gas emissions go unchecked. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change obtained by Media Outlets says human driven warming has already field extreme heat and rains, as peratures have warned warmed 1. 5 degrees fahrenheit since preindustrial times. While the report says it could still be possible to cap warming at the globally agreed upon limit of 3. 6 degrees fahrenheit, it warns a continued rise in emissions that cause an eight degree rise in the coming decades, prompting mass extinction and catastrophic floods. The new report comes as president obama said to be seeking a nonbinding climate accord in lieu of global treaty that would include binding cuts to Greenhouse Gas emissions. The New York Times reports u. S. Negotiators are crafting a proposal that would not require congressional approval. Arizona, a nineyearold girl accidentally shot and killed a gun instructor who was teaching her how to use an uzi submachine gun. Police said the guns powerful recoil cause the girl to lose control and to the instructor in the head. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Israelis and palestinians have agreed to an indefinite ceasefire, ending israels 50 day assault on the gaza strip. Palestinian Health Officials say 2139 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, were killed in the offensive. Israels death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians. The ceasefire deal was mediated by egyptian officials in cairo and took effect on tuesday evening. It calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and opening of gazas blockaded crossings with israel and egypt, and a widening of the territories fishing zone in the mediterranean. Israel has accepted the egyptian ceasefire proposal. We hope this time the ceasefire will stick. And i think now as the dust will begin a clear, many people will be asking, why is it that today hamas accepted the very same egyptian framework that it rejected a month ago . Ultimately, so much bloodshed could have been avoided. Theamas spokesperson said people of gaza have triumphed over israeli oppression. Week, blockaded people has one over the destructive israeli power. It has done the impossible. It has done what the air army has failed to do combined. Today, the women, children, and overly of gaza in the resilience and resistance through their mighty and legendary unity, have succeeded in recording this victory. Several thornier issues remained unaddressed by the ceasefire and are expected to be raised during further talks next month. Hamas has committed israel release a number of its prisoners. The group has also asked for an airport and seaport in gaza. Meanwhile, israel has called for the disarmament of palestinian militant groups and the return of the remains of two of its soldiers killed in the fighting. For more we go to gaza city where were joined by the awardwinning palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer. Welcome back to democracy now can you talk about the significance of the ceasefire and israel saying, the spokesperson, that summary people did not have to die that so many people did not have to die sms had simply accepted this essentially same agreement over a month ago . I guess this is his job to say the statements over and over. He was the International Community to believe the statements. The fighting is on hold at this moment. People are trying to get back to their homes in the east of gaza city. Different parts of the gaza strip are trying to come back slightly to life. People have started have confidence after resident a bass appeared on tv yesterday saying this is a serious ceasefire and will be lasting for long. Thingss a lot of happening here. Damages and distraction. Were talking about thousands of homes have been damaged. Were talking about a massive number of people who were killed and injured. About 1800 children who became orphans in the gaza strip as a result of targeting at least 145 families in the gaza strip over the past seven weeks. The massive destruction, you wont believe just behind me, i dont know if you can see that, tower, residential apartments, which was completely destroyed by the israeli f16s. A number of these buildings have been completely destroyed. The damage is beyond imagination in gaza. I believe gaza will need several years to fix or reconstruct the damages that are caused by the Israeli Military. Were also talking to different people in gaza, and were seeing their trying to come back to their life. Their trying to rebuild their lives. The resilience is still very high among the population in gaza. Were seeing people north of the gaza strip who are facing these really watching towers, just coming back to their homes to find massive destruction after several weeks of fighting. Gaza is still great much in bad need for a humanitarian aid, which the population hopes will be coming in the coming days. Were also talking to some of the Health Officials who inform us that among the 11,000 people who were injured, there are 1 3t 3000 children and just of them will become paralyzed for the rest of their lives. What about the agreement . What exactly does this ceasefire say . , i seen thefire document which egypt has released. Blockades,asing the which is rather vague. It is a subjective term i find difficult to translate. Back to may 2010 just after the turkish attack or the attack on the turkish flotilla, we do see how much israel tries to get into the gaza strip. And easing the blockade back then [indiscernible] i hope this is not going to be the case this time. People are hopeful this is going to be holding. I am not quite confident israel is really willing to do that. If that is the case, we would be seeing all of the commercial crossings and rafah crossings would be open, but that has not been the case. Theyre hoping to get in further than the three miles they have been restricted to, but so far, we havent heard any reports from the fishermen whether they were able to get inside further than six miles. See how much of this is going to hold. But the fact it is holding right now, the ceasefire is still ongoing, and there is no fighting, which is a good chance for people to come back to their homes and check on their relatives and to bury their loved ones. Whoe are hundreds of people are running from one tent to another and many people some people are saying, we dont know our neighbors have been killed because we were under constant bombardment and attacks that we could not leave outside of our homes. Mohammed omer on tuesday, the u. N. Spokesman welcomed the ceasefire, but warned that any lasting solution must address the root causes of the conflict. Any peace effort that does not cause tackle the root causes of the crisis will do little more than seven stage for the next cycle of violence. Gaza must be brought back under one legitimate palestinian government, adhering to the plo commitments. The blockade of gaza must end. Israels legitimate security concerns must be addressed. The United Nations stands ready to support efforts to address the structural factors of conflict between israel and gaza. What does this position of the United Nations mean for the people of gaza, Mohammed Omer . This position is not new. Were talking about eight years ago, this is the same position exactly. The United Nations has called on the blockade in gaza and make life possible for the palestinians. It is up to israel. Israel decides whether gaza strip should be open or not. Talking about six miles, this is not enough when i talk to fishermen. This is not enough. Palestinians for the last your have been fishing in an area which is virtually fished out. People are fishing within three last few years. Now they are extended another three miles. Im sure they will be shut out in the coming days. People say this is going to be quite shaky ceasefire even that given there is no guarantee. It is egypt that guarantees these issues. In november 2012, the United States of america were on this agreement of ceasefire. President orsi back then and several arab states and European Unions were supporting the ceasefire, and it did not hold for more than two years. What are we expecting the ceasefire to hold for more than a year now . Im quite doubting that. People wanted to get back to their lives. They wanted to get back to normal. Hospitals are still flooded by people who are injured and need to be treated. Were talking about people, for example, those who need that have been struggling in gaza. They have not been given any chance to receive medical care because the hospitals in gaza are overwhelmed. People are hoping israel is going to abide by what it has agreed in cairo. We will see in the coming days what will happen. I think the most critical point at this stage is basically to open the rafah crossing. That will be the first step for ending the blockade on the gaza strip. But i have realized that this is not one of the items that were discussed in the cairo talk because the egyptian Officials Say this is a palestinianegyptian matter that needs to be discussed between two sides of the israel. Palestinians have to negotiate about the other crossings, but the crossings for the gaza strip, rafah, is being negotiated between palestinians and the egyptian officials. Theres hope the president abass would come. Youre just written a piece about a family. Youre in a refugee camp in northern gaza. Can you talk about this little youthat you mad . That met . Child who was sitting about five to 10 minutes from here at the hospital. He has lost quarter of his brothers. He did not know he lost them. He had lost his mother, a 40yearold woman. The mother was want to mature in playing in the northern watching the template in the northern part of gaza, trying to have a moment of relief. The children wanted to play. Her husband was preparing supper. They could not take supper because theyre all hit by several israeli airstrikes, killing the children. The childrens bodies were not identifiable. The mother also. This is one of the last family massacres that we witnessed. I have been to the scene to see people. The only thing you can smell is explosives. Damage and instruction. Damage and destruction. The smell and blood remains a witness in this area in the northern part of the gaza strip. Boy at the 10yearold shifa, does he know his brothers and mother were killed . Unfortunately, no, he doesnt. They are trying to bring it back to him, but he is semiconscious. Has lost hisow he Four Brothers and his mother. The house has been completely destroyed. Peoplere thousands of like him in hospitals across the gaza strip are really not aware of what happened to their families. Now were questioning, what is going to happen to these children who became orphans . Were talking about 1800 children become orphans. Most of these organizations that happened destroyed our childrens organizations. Supportanizations that orphans. Sponsorship children programs within the gaza strip and the outside world. What is going to happen to the future of those people . To and the lives of those people and decided not to allow them to get the care which they need from the outside world. I say the resilience of gaza is quite strong. In fact, it is quite astonishing to see the people of gaza are supporting as much as possible by taking those children who are killed and injured. This little boy does not know his family has been killed. He will survive, but not with the once he would like to stay with for the rest of his life. Mohammed omer, over the weekend, hamas says it supports to put it before the International Criminal court, a move that could expose both hamas and israel to probes into war crimes. A hamas official said israel has more to fear than hamas. This is what he said. There is nothing to fear. The palestinian factions are leading a legitimate resistance in keeping with all laws and standards. All the nations resisted occupation. We are in a state of selfdefense. Mohammed omer, can you talk s,out the significance of thi of israel been brought to the International Criminal court . Bythe charter has been fined hamas. Hamas has informed president abbas the officially agreed to join the International Criminal court actually agreed the Palestinian Authority join on behalf of all of the palestinians. Now there are more calls from the population. They have been used as human shields. Human rights experts in gaza are talking about war crimes against humanity, war crimes that have been committed against civilians. Im sure you know about the cases of execution. The families that have been shot dead alive from a short distance by the israeli soldiers. There are many of these cases that having committed. I must say israel has prevented most of international groups, talking mainly about the human Rights Groups outside the gaza strip, to get inside the gaza strip. That has been a big problem on the population in gaza. We dont know what is going to happen, but there is massive support for the Palestinian Authority to take israel into international court. Is notss is hamass fearing anything. There is the impression they wont be as liable as the israelis, a military state, and one of the most powerful using the palestinians as a human shield and bombarding a whole area with airstrikes and f16s. The talk of Human Rights Violations is increasing. Many of the people are now in the field. Theyre trying to collect information on war crimes and crimes against humanity. The population is hoping the only way to get israel to listen to the International Community is not actually the support from the other worlds or International Community itself, but from [indiscernible] with the claims of Human Rights Violations and war crimes and crimes against humanity. Can you talk quickly about the killing of the hamas commanders, the significance of this, and also the outcry over the recent execution of i think 18 or eight palestinians who were accused of collaborating with israel, killed by hamas . The number of people who have been executed, i would say, not necessarily hamas because that has not been the case, but according to the statement which fined by an, it was Palestinian Resistance. We dont know what Palestinian Resistance. There are a lot of people who support such move of execution because they believe those people who have been killed have been actually passing information about the whereabouts of resistance fighters, which killed or destroyed the lives of many people and killed and destroyed several homes. As far as the palestinian public is concerned, also among the palestinian human Rights Groups, the issue has been quite criticized and condemned as a violation for the rights of to appeal torators International Courts and to go for a fair trial. They havent been going to a fair trial, at least many of them. Hamas is being criticized for that. The other islamic groups, other factions, it is a whole, nation of palestinian factions that of taken the decision jointly to kill the collaborators who have helped israel to target people in the gaza strip. There is massive support for that once again, but the human Rights Groups are thinking this shouldreally what hamas have done. Remember, israel has used a lot of these collaborators. [indiscernible] in order to get outside the gaza strip for medical treatment, they have to work with the Israeli Military and establishment in order to get outside. Have beenose people quite innocent. We dont know about the cases, but hamas has tried to hide together with other factions all of the names of those people they say this is going to affect the social fabric of the Palestinian Community in the gaza strip. , described ther scene on the ground right now as we leave you in gaza city. City, it is quite a cheerful moment that people are trying to come back to their lives. Many people celebrated yesterday at what they called a victory. What i believe is israel has failed in the war. The Palestinian Resistance is not defeated. Are now tryings to come back to their lives. Thanks of just been opened. Is still crossing closed. There many people in the gaza strip who are trying to review their life and just bring it back to normal. I must say, the damage is beyond imagination. Were talking about thousands of homes that have been completely and partially demolished. And over 130 mosques and over 140 schools and the different part of the gaza strip. That will affect the opening of the new year school which was supposed to start a few days ago, but did not start. I doubt it will start because there are still hundreds of thousands of people who are seeking shelter inside schools after their homes have been different parts of gaza. The situation in gaza, people are trying to return back to normal. I dont know what is normal. Over 50 days of constant airstrikes. One thing i know for sure, the majority of people in gaza, they need support to overcome the trauma obtained over the last seven weeks. Forohammed omer, thank you being with us, reporting to us from gaza city. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We will be back in a minute. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The interceptor news site reveals the National Security agency is secretly providing troves of data to nearly two dozen Government Agencies using a googlelike search engine. Documents from Edward Snowden revealed that for years the nsa has made data directly available to domestic law and was agencies like the Drug Enforcement administration and fbi. ,he first book has icreach contains information on both foreigners and millions of us citizens who have not accused of wrongdoing. It is designed to share more than 850 billion phone, and records, which is more than twice the number of stars in the milky way. The report comes after the intercept discovered that the u. S. Military has been all employees from visiting the news site and begun blocking it on work computers, purportedly because it has published classified material. Andtary employees reported what it was illegal and a violation of National Security to read the intercept. Were joined by Ryan Gallagher, reporter of the intercept and author of their new story, the surveillance engine how the nsa built its own secret google. Back to democracy now our news story is exposing the nsa secret documents as a googlelike search tool to sift through hundreds of billions of Communications Records from phone calls, emails, internet chats, location data from cell phones and virtually every kind of metadata you can think of and more. And not only that, this information has been made accessible to almost two dozen agencies in the United States. Most of them are intelligence agencies, but among those includes to mystic Law Enforcement like the fbi and Drug Enforcement administration. It is a vast scope. It is much larger than i think what people expected for the degree of data sharing that has been going on between the u. S. Government agencies. Talk about general alexanders role in this. General alexander we described him as the kind of mastermind. He was the architect behind this. Fascinating details in these documents that go right back to the early 1990s. After 9 11, the nsa basically concluded that it had to bolster metadata sharing across the u. S. Government because there was a 9 11, theyt after had failed to prevent the attack and were getting slammed for the better intelligence that led up to the iraq invasion. Toalexanders solution was build this gigantic new metadata search system and give analysts across the government access so they could slipped sift through peoples information and identify certain threats and things like that. August the, when you open a system like that up with all of these records to all of the thousands of analysts, there is a concern there about the possibility for abuse of that. What was most shocking do you . You have been coming through these documents leased by Edward Snowden for sometimes. For some time. For me, their multiple things that are shocking about it. Mostly, just the vast scale and scope of it, and the kind of reason way it is described brazen what it is described in the document. It doesnt seem a bit was any intention to try to restrict are placed them at tatians on it. It is all about how much can they share. Into what isfeeds described where they just want more and more data. That is what they think is the solution. Wasme, i think the scale shocking. Also the fact that domestic Law Enforcement are able to tap into this thing with very little oversight and few restrictions. Yeah, i mean, the whole thing is really quite striking. Ryan gallagher, what are the laws around this . That is a really important question. Primarily because, we have had it confirmed by the nsa that the data that is swept up and stored on this database enmass, is collected using this reaganera president ial order, which is called 12 triple three. No coreng is subject to oversight from the secret intelligence and minimal congressional scrutiny indeed, diane feinstein, the chief of the Senate Intelligence committee, even she in the past has said executive order isnt subject to congressional oversight. That is the authority that is used to put these records on the system and final across the intelligence community. There are a few legal questions about that, the restrictions, how it can be used potentially into mystic criminal investigations, secretly by federal agents, and stuff like that. These are things that people are asking and we hope will be addressed by the government in the weeks to come. Can you talk about the precursor to this, chris cross and how it was used and what it was . This is another fascinating element. In the early 1990s, the cia and the dea, according to the documents, started this program called crisscross. Basically, theyre gathering as much information they could , pretty muchalls anywhere, and using that information to go after drug targets, people involved in drug trafficking. But the scope of this thing 1980s, and by the late the nsa was involved, the fbi was involved, the intense agency was the Intelligence Agency was involved. It wasnt just her basic phone calls. They had records from cia reports and stuff about peoples visa applications when traveling overseas everything like that. The was the precursor to icreach program, which skilled this thing up massively. The talk about a 12 hold increase. By the end i think the proton still exists today. Contain 830to billion or more. That is more like 12 folding increase in capacity. There is a graphic with your new story on the intercept that compares how many records are now available. It reads in part yeah, i mean, it is quite a hearty graphic. We have some really good graphics guys who have worked on the story and done some of the art. The message gets across, these crazy numbers are put into perspective. Often you hear, 10 billion metadata. People think, what does that mean . I think is quite helpful just to number 830 billion square to confuse others. It puts it into context. You start to realize, that is a huge amount of information on their. Explain parallel construction. Parallel construction, reuters revealed last year that some federal agents would send the Drug Enforcement a administration where using data that have been obtained through covert surveillance and using it to initiate investigations against people inside the United States, american citizens. They are not disclosing basically, covering up evidence and inventing a false evidence trail so the way the surveillance was obtained can never be challenged in court. Which to most ordinary people, that seems like a clear subversion of the basic principles of the justice system. One of the issues with the story were just put out, it seems to be a huge part of the [indiscernible] showing where some of the data that is being used in this parallel construction technique by federal agents could be coming from. Indeed, the reuters reporter for one of the reporters who first revealed parallel construction is usuallyed me significant for that reason, because it is a huge piece of the puzzle that shows how nsa data is ending up in the hands of dea agents. You recently reported u. S. Military has banned the intercept, the new site. You cite a portion of an email sent to staff last week of the u. S. Marine corps base that directs employees not to read the intercept. It reads in part your response, Ryan Gallagher . This is a continuation of what has happened to wikileaks in 2010 and what happened to the guardian last your the military has is completely absurd policy to just block any public news website that is publishing stories based on classified information. Taccone ande jerk warnin warnings to their place. We know people within the will a military, it is based on a policy the dod has in place that says you cant view classified information on an unclassified computer until the information is formally declassified. But that kind of policy in the snowden ising and totally archaic and doesnt fit the modern world. They need to review it. You can have a situation where Intelligence Analyst within the government with top security clearance is in a position he cant read public news reports. If that is the case, how can the Intelligence Analyst whose job is to make sense of the world from inside the government, how can they do that properly if he cant even read news websites . It is a counterproductive policy that i think is completely absurd. , his latestagher report, the surveillance engine how the nsa built its own secret google. We will link to it at democracynow. Org. When we come back, we go to saint louis, missouri. More on the ferguson case. State with us. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. To ferguson,ack where residents are continuing to demand the arrest of the white Police Officer who shot dead unarmed like teenager Michael Brown. The reaction of browns death focused global attention on the racial divide in counties in and surrounding st. Louis, missouri. Now a new report may help explain why residents mistrust of police runs so deep. It shows how a large part of the revenue for these counties comes from fines paid by black residents who are disproportionately targeted for traffic stops and other low level offenses. In ferguson, the fines are actually the city secondlargest source of income. We will talk with the author of the report in a minute. First, this is one of the residents democracy now interviewed monday as he waited in line to attend Michael Browns funeral. Im George Fields and im here for my round and mostly for allblack in are walking on the streets not being able to go out in the county. With the two giveaways and stuff, we have been ticketed and ticket, you 50 a right . But you have to pay bond, you have to be in jail three days and tough like that. It is too much. And at the city lights, they tell your car they tow your car automatically. Everybody who passed goodfellow gets pulled over. Then it is a push off against systematically against blacks. If you look at the statistics, it shows you. It is too much when you get pulled over for manual things, you have to go through too much to get out and you lose your job and what not for 50 ticket. Fearful of the county. Ive been stuck in the city for six or seven years because the county has been that back. I have to sneak to see my kids be bad my plates might or something. I am poor and try to drive around to get better. They want to ticket you. They take your stuff immediately. They are ready every time. This ticketing is a systemic targeting of africanamericans. , yes, sir. The lord knows it, too. That is correct. I cannot go nowhere pass the city line because the city works with me on paying. They dont. They just cut you off automatically. That was George Fields, one of the st. Louis area residents who attended Michael Browns funeral, speaking with aaron mate right before he stepped into the church to attend the funeral. On tuesday, group of attorneys with a group arch city defenders attended a City Council Meeting in ferguson and asked the mayor to grant, the to residents with fines for low level, nonviolent offenses. Were joined now by Thomas Harvey, executive director of arch city defenders, coauthor of their new report, which has been widely cited including a stunning chart in mondays New York Times that shows how ferguson issued on average nearly three warrants per household last year, the highest number of warrants in the state relative to its size. Thomas harvey, welcome to democracy now explain what is happening in ferguson. Ferguson and the surrounding minnesota how it is, there is a substantial amount of income that is derived from the low level word and its violations. The least significant, level contact with the justice system, typically traffic tickets, moving violations. As a structural problem, these revenue from these minutes will courts represent the second or third highest source of income for the missus appellate he minas appellate he. Municipalities. It is a line item on the budget. In keeping with the expectation that income will come in to fund the city. Our clients believe they are targeted initially because they are black and then they are harassed and they are exploited because they are poor. It has led to a level of distrust between the community and Law Enforcement. That you saw manifested in some of the protests in the last two weeks. Im not try to say traffic tickets are the reason people are on the streets of ferguson, but it is certainly a contributing factor when you happy tragedy with Michael Brown and the very same people that my clients believe are targeting them because their members of community of color and asked what in the because there, are now asking them for patient and trust in promising to get to the thet answer involving shooting. Our clients are skeptical. As the audio clip you just played revealed, it doesnt take much for someone in this that iny to tell you st. Louis county, this is a real problem. I want to hear from one of your clients, nicole, a mother of four who lives in st. Louis county and was arrested in 2009 for driving with a suspended license. She spent two weeks in jail with a bond of 1700 that was later reduced to 700 and is still dealing with the traffic tickets from five years ago. You have to sacrifice in , but to avoid the headache how much sacrificing can you do . [indiscernible] i have a couple more court dates. To first, what i see, then i worry about the next thing. Nicole also talks about how she thinks the system needs to change. There are a lot of things written so the fines can go down. 500. Say, north county, i south job in nort county, i got to get to work. Try andell me not to the buzz dont go where i need to go, youre basically telling the have to stop feeding my children just so i can abide by your law. Thomas harvey, talk about nicole and what her case illustrates. Nicole is a very good example of a culmination of all of these problems. These are poor people. These are not criminals. These are people who cant afford to pay the fine the middle class folks could pay that would lead to an amendment other nonmoving violation. If you have means, you and i are the same driving record, you can commit the same violation and paid to get a moving violation turned into a nonmoving violation and then you dont suffer the consequence of your actions. Nicole has a driving while suspended because she could not pay to get her tickets amended. Her license got suspended as a result. She has no proof of insurance, because she could not pay for to commitments or insurance costs went up and it is prohibitively expensive. Shes charged with the victory poverty crimes not really crimes, but driving while suspended, no proof of insurance, and so your to register vehicle. These are not people who are refusing to comply with the law, they cannot comply with the law. Her case is illustrative because she was incarcerated for two weeks on a warned for her arrest because she was unable to pay the fines. Which was brought before the court, as she is entitled to, she asked for hearing. Ed her. Esentativ the court refused our hearing on that matter and told us we needed to schedule it a week later. Nicole was return to jail and threatened with another week of incarceration while her children were worth her mother and sister and possibly was going to lose her job. Her mother and sister borrowed money against Life Insurance policies, sister loaned nicole her biweekly paycheck. That was to come up with 700. Nicole did not have 700. Her mother and sister came up with evan hundred dollars to get her out of jail. That is not what the system should be about. It is a systemic problem in our region. They are incarcerating people and creating problems that i dont think they are aware of the consequences theyre having on peoples lives and the havoc they are wreaking in this region. Are we talking about debtors prison . Yes. I believe we are talking about debtors prison. It is part of a problem you see in the criminalization of poverty all over the country. Southern Poverty Law Center has brought a lawsuit. It is something where you see people held in jail as a result of their inability to pay fines. Up to the moment they are brought before the court because they failed to appear, i dont believe theres anything unlawful that has happened. At the moment when a person is been brought to court for warned on failure to appeal and that said, i cannot afford to pay the fines you have assessed, the court must allow them to leave or make a finding they are willfully refusing to comply with the courts order. In the absence of such a finding, it is unlawful to continue to incarcerate them. As we wrap up, Thomas Harvey, just coming from ferguson, the first that we were there, were recovering people in a parking lot protesting across the street with the riot police. They were standing in between the Fire Department and the Police Station. The Police Station was just being built. It was a modern, major facility. Is the money of these people being taken going to build that Police Station . I dont know the answer to that question, but i will tell you what my clients have told me since the first day i represented anybody, this is not about public safety, it is about the money. And whether or not that building was built on the back support people in ferguson and the rest of the region, i really dont know the answer. I know my clients believe it. I realize that dynamic is what is conjuring to sum up contribute into the tensions between the Law Enforcement and the community. If we dont take advantage of this opportunity to have some real structural reform and revise the system Thomas Harvey that has systemic racism built into it, it will be a huge missed opportunity. Thank you for being with us, Thomas Harvey. Tomorrow, and activist died to archiving video. [applause] well, i want to welcome you. I want to acknowledge the aweinspiring environment that were sharing this evening. The religious overtones might make you think you were in one of the two Party Conventions [audience laughter] but i hope in a few minutes to make you clearly aware that, other than the environment, not that much that i share with either of them. So let me begin by promising you two things first, to provide to you a different way of understanding whats happeni