We are going to continue until all black lives matter. Amy a new York City Police officer who killed an unarmed African American men will serve no time in jail. Officer peter liang, who is chineseamerican, fatally shot akai gurley in the darkened stairwell of a brooklyn housing project. The case has sparked a debate within the asianamerican community as some say liang was scapegoated because of his race. We will speak with akai gurleys aunt and with cathy dang, organizing asian communities, which has supported gurleys family. We will also be joined by former new York City Comptroller john liu, who has been working with supporters of liang. Than three officials are charged with the poisoning of flints water. These employees of the department of Environmental Quality had a duty to protect the health of families and citizens of flint. They failed. They failed to discharge their duties. They failed. They failed in the responsibilities to protect the health and safety of families of flint. They failed michigan families. Fromwe will get reaction awardwinning reporter curt guyette. Then as president obama makes his fourth visit to saudi arabia, human Rights Groups are pressing congress to block arms sales to the kingdom in the wake of Saudiled Coalition strikes in yemen that have killed thousands of civilians. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. I am in denver, colorado. Three michigan officials have been criminally charged for their involvement in the flint water contamination crisis. Flint employee Michael Glasgow and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Stephen Busch and michael prysby. Meanwhile, michigan Governor Rick Snyder said he has not been questioned by prosecutors. The leadpoisoning began when an unelected emergency manager appointed by snyder switched the source of the citys Drinking Water to the corrosive flint river. We will have more on flint with Investigative Reporter curt guyette later in the broadcast. U. S. Treasury secretary jack lew has announced new 20 bills will feature Harriet Tubman on the front, replacing former president and slave owner andrew jackson. Harriet tubman is one of the Great American stories. A woman born a slave, illiterate her whole life, she brought many people out of slavery through the underground railroad. Time and again risking her life to save others. She did intelligence for our army during the civil war. After she worked to get the Woman Suffrage Movement going. It is a Great American story. Amy the move comes after more than a half a Million People voted for Harriet Tubman to replace jackson. In fact, jackson will not be removed entirely, simply moved to the back of the bill. Some have criticized the idea that Harriet Tubman should represent you is correct currency at all. In a 2015 essay that went viral again yesterday, writer Feminista Jones wrote if having Harriet Tubmans face on the 20 bill was going to improve womens access to said bill, id be all for it. But instead, it only promises to distort tubmans legacy. Which is rooted in resisting the foundation of american capitalism, she wrote. In louisiana, five former Police Officers pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the 2005 killings of unarmed African American civilians on the danziger bridge in the days after hurricane katrina. On september 4, 2005, a group of new orleans Police Officers opened fire with ak47s on families crossing the bridge in search of food. Two people, teenager James Brisette and 40yearold ronald madison, were killed. Four more were injured. Police later tried to coverup the killings. On wednesday, five Police Officers pled guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and civil rights charges. Their sentences range from 3 to 12 years. The senate has passed a broad energy bill that will speed up the export of gas extracted through fracking. The bill includes limited provisions promoting Renewable Energy such as wind and solar. , but it also hands a victory to fossil fuel companies by requiring the Energy Department to speed up permitting of coastal terminals used to ship oil and gas overseas. This comes as World Leaders are slated to sign the Paris Climate Accord at the u. N. Headquarters in new york on friday. Volkswagen is headed to court today in San Francisco, where it faces a deadline to work out a deal with the u. S. Government over the auto giants emissions cheating scandal. The deal reportedly includes volkswagen either fixing or buying back more than 500,000 cars that were equipped with software to evade u. S. Emission rules. Volkswagen also faces a maximum penalty of 18 billion. Volkswagen has admitted to rigging some 11 million vehicles worldwide. U. S. Regulators say volkswagen vehicles were emitting up to 40 times more pollution than standards allow. In washington state, workers are scrambling to move Nuclear Waste out of a Storage Facility after a leak was discovered inside one the tanks at the hanford site over the weekend. None of the Nuclear Material appears to have escaped the doublewalled storage tank yet. But a former worker at the site has called the leak catastrophic. The tank holds 750,000 gallons of radioactive waste. Meanwhile, in mexico, an explosion at a petrochemical facility has killed three people and injured more than 60 people in the Southern State of veracruz. The facility is owned by Mexican National oil company pemex. New data shows the u. S. Air force is increasingly relying on drones rather than manned aircraft in the ongoing war in afghanistan. In 2015, drones released 530 bombs and missiles in afghanistan. This accounts for 56 of the weapons deployed by the u. S. Air force. In contrast, in 2011, drones were used for only 5 of the weapons to floyd by the air force. Deployed by the air force. President obama had previously said the withdrawal of the majority of u. S. Troops in 2014 would reduce the need for unmanned strikes. In new york city, boston, chicago, and washington, d. C. , jews have been staging protests dubbed liberation seder to demand u. S. Jewish establishment groups end their support for israels occupation of the palestinian territories. The protests draw on rituals from passover, which begins friday night. 17 people were arrested at a protest inside the new york city offices of the Antidefamation League on wednesday, while six people were arrested tuesday at a protest at aipacs offices in boston. More protests are planned for San Francisco later today. In new york city, residents gathered outside the brooklyn board of Elections Office to protest the purging of 125,000 democratic voters from the voting lists ahead of tuesdays primary. Kathleen menagozi spoke out. I am here protesting for the purged voters. I was one of them. I registered in 2008, voted in 2008 and again in 2012. I checked my registration would say three weeks ago. I was told they could not find it in any of the boroughs. I also checked in Westchester County and they could not find it there. They told me to give them a call back and they were figuring it out. I call them back today before i was supposed to vote and they told me i was still not in their records. Although, they had seen i had in fact voted in the past. I am here today because voters should not be silenced. The voting process should not be asifficults it is d i not going to be silenced. Amy later, activists from the Art Collective the illuminator staged atherrotest precting oo the election board building where are our , votes . And across canada, a protest for indigenous rights is sweeping across the province is as first nation communities occupy a growing number of government buildings. The movement is dubbed occupy inac, a reference to the ministry of indigenous and northern affairs. Activists are demanding the canadian government address youth suicides in First Nations communities, as well as water and housing crises in their territories. Over the last week, protesters have set up occupations inside and outside the government offices in toronto, regina, vancouver, winnipeg, and gatineau, quebec. Earlier this week, ten people locked themselves together inside the toronto office, while Kayla Sutherland of the attawapiskat first nation spoke to a rally outside. You learn something from the indigenous people. It will help everyone. Respect human rights when we accomplish this. Right now we are violating those rights. It is not over. Colonization is continuing. And that we must admit to a change. Amy the attawapiskat first nation saw 28 suicide attempts last month within a population of just 2000 people. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peacreport. Im amy goman. Were on a 0city tr rking decracy nos th annirsary. Weay be cong sooto a cit near y. Tonit we will be an folder. Right now were at denver open media. Im amy goodman in denver with Nermeen Shaikh in new york. Amy welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Show here inys new york were the family of an unarmed man killed by Police Officer is reacting to news the officer will serve no time in jail. In 2014, new York City Police officer peter liang fatally shot akai gurley in the darkened stairwell of a brooklyn housing project. Gurley, a 28yearold africanamerican father, was walking down the stairs with his girlfriend because the elevator was broken. The officer says he accidentally fired his gun. The bullet ricochet off a wall and struck akai gurley in the chest. Following the shoot he does textedg, officer liang his Union Officer before calling for help as gurley lay dying. Commissioner William Bratton called gurley a total innocent. On tuesday, Brooklyn Supreme CourtJustice Danny chun announced officer liangs ntence. On the count [inaudible] probation, plus 800 hours of Community Service. This will take about five months in my calculation. 800 hours of Community Service with five years probation. Nermeen in february, a jury convicted officer liang of manslaughter and official misconduct. He faced up to 15 years in prison. But judge chun made the rare decision to reduce officer liangs verdict from manslaughter to the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. After judge chun announced liang would not go to prison, akai gurleys aunt, Hertencia Petersen, spoke out. This is not justice. This is not justice. My family is going to continue ere going to continue to be in the streets. Where going to continue to march until we get justice. We are going to continue until all black lives matter. How on earth can you guys say it is ok to murder and not be held accountable . Amy the liang case has sparked a debate within the asianamerican community. Some believe he was scapegoated because of his race, others stood by the family of akai gurley. For more we are right now in new york by three guests. Hertencia petersen is the aunt of akai gurley. Cathy dang is executive director of caaav, organizing asian communities, which has supported akai gurleys family. And john liu is a former new York City Comptroller and professor of Public Finance at cuny and columbia university. He has been working with supporters of peter liang. We welcome you all to democracy now first to Hertencia Petersen. Our condolences on the death of your nephew akai gurley. This happened back in november 2014. Hertencia petersen, can you explain what you understand happened that day . What i understand happened is my nephew was basically walking down a flight of steps, leaving the building. Because the elevator was broken. Fired a shot and it ricochet. Amy why did he fire the shot . He is saying he was afraid. He heard a noise. And my question has and will always be, if youre going into a development and test you know, families live there, so why would you enter a dark stairwell with yourgun drawn . Finger on the trigger . Night comes out of 10, there is an error that is going to happen. Someone can get hurt. It could have been a child, grandmother, a mother. It could have been anyone. On top of that, he had a flashlight. What happened to using the flashlight . You dont enter a dark stairwell with the gun drawn, so a flashlight is sufficient. He asked his partner for light. So why would you have your finger on the trigger . Nermeen do you believe there is any truth to liangs claim that he accidentally shot the gun . In other words, he did not intend to . Know, first of all, you have to apply at least 11. 5 pounds of pressure. You have to. It does not go off by itself. So, no, i do not believe it was an accident. , can youcathy dang explain why your organization has stood with akai gurley even though a number of asianamerican organizations have been protesting on behalf of peter liang . Our organization started 30 years ago out of supporting asian immigrants and refugees impacted by police and hate violence. We stood firm that we had to address issues and would cause of the violence, the impact to communities of color perpetuated by the state and police. Police continue to carry on with being held accountable. We could not let that happen in this case. We got involved because we did not what race to be the reason why peter liang wasnt held accountable. At the end of the day, he is an officer and he needs to be held accountable. Nermeen Professor John liu amy john liu. Thank you for having me on the show. This is a complex case. It does not fit neatly into what people typically see as a black white model of race relations. Guess you had introduced me earlier as a supporter of peter liang. I would not quite characterize it that way. I have never met peter liang. I dont know him. But i do agree with many Asian Americans in new york and beyond , and you can see from the tens of thousands of people who actually protested the initial verdict of manslaughter that peter liang was things was being blamed for all of the criminal justice ills that have gone wrong in this country. People in the asianamerican community really do sympathize with the family of akai gurley, his aunt here. There is no in against akai an his faly. No one is saying his life was meaningless. In fact coming he is a young man who held promise and was trying to do the right thing. But at the same time, you also have a feeling in the asianamerican community that putg that too much was on him. You know, and the trial, the da actually talked about how this was not about criminal justice in the rest of the country. It was not about the nypd. It was just about liang. How can this be about holding the entire system accountable when it seems like it is all just about holding this one officer accountable, nypd being held harmless . The agency that runs the building that allowed there to be complete darkness in the stairwell, they are held harmless. At the end of the day, it is about holding Police Officers accountable. Asianamerican leaders in the community at large are not saying that peter liang is innocent. He was convicted of official misconduct, which represents or reflects the fact he just did not do anything to help akai gurley. He may have shot him accidentally, the gun may have discharged because he was startled by a noise in a dark situation, but he should have done more. Dont people dont dispute the fact he was indicted, that he was convicted of official misconduct and he is now sentenced not jail time, but he does have a pretty long sentence. This is far more than we have seen in any other case in recent memory. Eric garner being tempted up by a Police Officer, not even an indictment and that case. Michael brown. Some in other cases and across the country. Timothy stansberry in new york city, which was a case almost identical in circumstances. Nothing in that case, no actions against the officer. None of these officers have even been fired from their jobs. Peter liang has been sentenced and he is being punished and held accountable. It is just a question of to what extent do you hold him accountable . Doou hold m accouable for his actis that ty were d you ho him accountle for a of the other cases that did not see any kind of justice whatsoever . Nermeen Hertencia Petersen, your response . Number one, from the time the trial began, you have been in a courtroom with peter liang. Number two, if t