Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170504

Groveland four. One was killed by a mob of 1000 men. It was led by the local sheriff. The others were tortured in jail and then wrongly imprisoned. Florida lawmakers have just apologized for this grave injustice. We will speak with the pulitztzr prize winning writer gilbert king. He wrote devil in the grove Thurgood Marshall, the groveland boys, and the dawn o of a new america. Then to a modern day case of Racial Injustice in the florida legal system. We will speak to Marissa Alexander here in florida. She was jailed for three years after firing a warning shot into a wall near her abusive husband. Thihink of the people who o e in my situation whose case might not have made the news, who dont have the support, and how difficult it is to come up with the money for probationon or to find a job or anything like that. Amy this was around the time that George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin. And here in tampa, florida we , will speak to a syrian refugee who just graduated from Saint Leo University near tampa. He gave the graduation address. So we went out to the street we were met by the Regime Security forces with live bullets. Friendsseseeing your getting killed in front of you. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The house of representatives is poised to vote today on healthcare legislation that would repeal much of the Affordable Care act, replacing it with a plan that medical experts which will drive up the cocost of medicine while leaving millions without Health Insurance. House Majority Leader Kevin Mccarthy said after an evening huddle with Party Leaders that republicans have enough votes to pass the bill. The scheduled vote came after republican Congressmembers Fred Upton of michigan and billy long of missouri emerged from talks at the white house saying they had flipped from no to yes after winning an amendment that will provide 8 billion over five years to subsidize Health Insurance for people with preexistiti conditionons. I talalked to the preresident yeyesterday afternoon. I told h him i could notot suppt the bill a as it was then moving through the e rules committeeee withouadadded proteteions for thoseith preexisting illnesses. Based on our discussions a and e agreement on this amendment, can now be in a place where i can support the bill with such amendment. Amy its unclear how far the 8 billion subsidy would go towards protecting patients with preexisting conditions. Senate minority leader, Democrat Chuck schumer of new york, compared the measure to giving cough syrup to a cancer patient. Major medical organizations and the aarp have warned the bill will cause serious harm to patients and drive up the cost of health care. The Congressional Budget Office has not had time to score the legislation legislationmeaning , the house will vote on a bill without knowing its projected impact. A cbo review of similar legislation in march estimated it would add 24 Million People to the ranks of the uninsured. On capitol hill, fbi director james comey told a Senate Committee on wednesday he agonized over his decision, just days before novembers election, to reveal a new investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server to send classified messages when she was secretary of state. Clinton and others have said comeys move helped swing the president ial election to donald trump. But on wednesday, fbi director comey said he would do the same thing again. This is terrible. It makes me mildly nauseous to think we had some impact on the election. It honestly, it would not change the decision. Everyone who disagrees with me, has to come back to october 28 and stare at this and tell me what you would do. Would you speak or would you conceal . But want awrong, slew made a decision between those two choices, that even in hindsight, i would make the same decision. Amy meanwhile, director comey acknowledged the fbi is continuing to probe allegations that russia interfered in the 2016 election, but refused to comment on any links between russia and President Trump or his associates. That prompted California Democratic senator Diane Feinstein to question why comey revealed the investigation into clintons email server while failing to reveal the fbis investigation into russias to whether Trump Officials colluded with russia to sway the election. Comey is set to meet with members of the House Intelligence Committee today in closeddoor briefings on the fbis investigation into russia. President donald trump welcomed Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to the white House Wednesday, telling reporters that achieving peace in the middle east is maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years. Pres. Trump the palestinians and israelis must Work Together to reach an agreement that allows both peoples to live, worship, and thrive and prosper in peace. And i will do whatever is necessary to facilitate the agreement, to mediate, to arbitrate anything they would like to do. But i would love to be a mediator or an arbitrator or a facilitator. And we will get this done. Amy President Trumps comments came despite his remarks in february that ended a longstanding u. S. Commitment to the establishment of a palestinian state, saying he had no preference for either a onestate or twostate solution to the israelipalestinian conflict. Trumps ambassador to the israel, is a longtime supporter of illegal jewish settlements in the occupied west bank. The Trump Administration has proposed moving the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, a move fiercely opposed of palestinians and much of the world community. President donald trump is slated to issue a new executive order today making it easier for taxexempt churches to participate in politics. Trumps order comes on the national day of prayer, an annual observance created by congress in 1952. On the campaign trail, trump repeatedly promised to do away with the johnson amendment, which prohibits religious leaders from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Meanwhile, scores of lgbtq activists rallied outside the white House Wednesday following rumors trumps executive order would allow businesses to deny services to gay, lesbian and transgender people in the name of religious freedom. This is Ellen Buchman of the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights. We have been here before, my friends. While e generations have been working to advance progress, we all know that others have been working to impede that progress and those rights. And they have often turned to religion as their weapon of choice, or as their excuse to promote didiscriminanatory beha. Amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Washington Post reports trumps executive order wont include the lgbtq provision, though the administration hasnt yet revealed the text of trumps order. Meanwhile, President Trump will travel to new york city today to deliver a speech on a decommissioned Aircraft Carrier alongside australian Prime Minister malcolm turnbull. Its trumps first return to his hometown since his inauguration last january. Protesters plan to gather near the uss intrepid in manhattan, where they hope to drown out President Trumps speech by banking on pots and pans. Meanwhile, President Trump will travel as well to new york. In mosul, iraq, a handful of civilians used small wooden boats to cross the tigris river on wednesday as heavy floods made bridges between the two halves of the wartorn city imimpossible. Civilians complained of being trapped between aces and u. S. Backed forces fighting for control of the city. Y. This is a mosul resident. Our main domain is the provision of the means to move between the east and west sides of the city. Transportation between the two sides is difficult. The call for the construction of a new bridge to facilitate movement between the two sides. People who have someone ill or are in an emergency situation cannot cross now after the closure of the bridge. Amy about 400,000 people are trapped in western mosul, while hundreds of thousands more have fled to squalid camps for the internally displaced. In nigeria, aid agencies are warning that thousands face starvation as the number of people at risk of famine has climbed to 1. 5 million. This is gujja, an internally displaced person who says her family was left hungry after fleeing the militant group boko haram. Boko haram chased us out and killed many of our people. When we left, we spent about three days in the bush with hunger and thirst before we were moved to a frenchspeaking country. They took us by car to a place where we lived without food and shelter. All of the basic needs are scarce. We are suffering because of hunger and lack of water. We dont have anything. Food and mats are scarce. About 20 of our people died because of suffering. Amy the United Nations warns some 20 Million People in south sudan, somalia, yemen and nigeria are at risk of famine, and risk of famine e more thn , at any time since world war ii. Puerto rico sicken to restructure 123 billion in debt in a move that is likely to slash money for health care, pensions, and infrastructure on the island territory. Years of austerity programs aimed at came back the debt has let puerto ricos official Unemployment Rate at nearly 12 with nearly half of all Puerto Ricans living in poverty. The u. S. Supreme court will now designate a bankruptcy judge to handle the case. In texas, state lawmakers have sent a harsh antiimmigrant bill to republican governor greg abbott, whos promised to sign it into law. Sb4, a socalled show your papers bill, will outlaw sanctuary cities and allow Police Officers to check the immigration status of anyone they detain. In baton rouge, louisiana, the family of alton sterling, the African American father of five done down by police in 2016, called wednesday for the states attorney general to bring criminal charges against his killers. The call came after the Trump Justice Department declined to bring federal charges against officers Blane Salamoni and howie lake. Sterling family lawyer Chris Stewart said the u. S. Attorneys office provided new details about the killing, including how officer salamoni shot sterling six times. We learned some new things today. Salamonid that officer walked up to alton sterling and put a gun to his head and said i will kill you,bitch. You heard me correctly. We heaeard from them that officers alimony kept instigating this situation. You heard me correctly. The attorney general has a phenomenal case because no Police Officer shohould ndnduct themselves like that. Amy in a statement, Louisiana Attorney general jeff landry promised a thorough investigation into whether to charge o Officers Lake and salamoni. Alton sterlilings aunt, sandra sterling, said she was devastated after learning new details about how her nephew was killed. And what i heard today, the suffering still continues. Now that i know it is not a civil matter anymore, it is a human matter. Elton is no longer here, but his voice will still be heard through us. Stand behind us because we love alton and we dont want this to end. Remember his name. Amy Alton Sterlings killing on july 5 of last year sparked nationwide protests against Police Brutality. In boston the red sox on , wednesday said the team will ban a fan from fenway park for life after he was overheard repeatedly using racist epithets. The move came after Baltimore Orioles outfielder adam jones complained of racist taunts, including the nword, coming from the stands during a game monday evening. In a statement, red sox president sam kennedy said im here to send a message loud and clear that the treatment of others that youve been reading about here lately is unacceptable. In washington, d. C. , three members of the activist Group Code Pink were convicted wednesday over their role in a january 10 protest against a Senate Confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions as attorney general. One of the three, desiree alifairooz, faces up to 12 months in prison on disruptive conduct charges after she let out a burst of laughter when sessions said he had a record of treating all americans equally under the law. During the protest, the demonstrators wore white, hooded robes and chanted no trump no kkk no fascist usa sessions has a history of making racist comments, including reportedly saying he thought the ku klux klan was ok until i found out they smoked pot. The university of colorado bolder threatened ststudent enviroronmental activists with arrest and forced them to end a nearly weeklong sitin on wednesday. The sitin was demanding the university divest from fossil fuels. On tuesday, University Chancellor met with some of the students to discuss divestment. The protest came as students at the university of california at santa cruz held a sitin at an administrative building, in a protest charging the campus is hostile to africanamerican students. The africanblack Student Union is calling for a housing coop for students o of color and required diversity training for incoming students. And that saint all of, college in minnesota saint all of college in minnesota, many protested racist incidents on campus. And in jackson, mississippi, social justice activist and attorney Chokwe Antar Lumumba is positioned to become the citys next mayor after handily winning a primary election on tuesday. The 34yearold lumumba supports economic democracy proposed a , civic Incubator Fund to support cooperative, memberowned businesses in jackson. Hes expected to easily win a general election. June 6 lumumba is the son of late jackson mayor chokwe lumumba, a longtime black nationalist organizer and attorney dubbed americas most revolutionary mayor before his death in 2014. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , dedemocracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from the wedu. S of tampa pbs lawmakers in florida have taken an unusual step and apologized for whatat happened to four yoyg africanamerican men in groveland, florida, nearly 70 years ago in 1949. The men, known as the groveland four, were falsely accused of raping a 17yearold white girl. Before going to trial one of the , four men, Ernest Thomas, was hunted down and murdered by a mob of 1000 and led by the local sheriff Willis Mccall. He was killed in a hail of gunfire. The other three men were tortured in jail until two of them gave false confessions. Charleles greenlee was s sentend to life. Walter irvin and Samuel Shepherd were condemned to death. When irvin and shepherd appealed the conviction they were , represented by Thurgood Marshall of the naacp, who would later become the first africanamerican Supreme Court justice. Samuel shepherd later died after being shot by a sheriff and his deputy. Walter irvin was also shot but survived. He eventually died in 1968 two years after being paroled. Charles greenlee lived until 2012. But the story of the groveland four has continued to haunt the state of florida. Last month, charles greenlees daughter carol thanked florida lawmakers s for apologizing to r family. This is a glorious day. And still today, the tears are hard to hold back. But today, the tears our tears tears of joy. I want to thank all of you for prison. G my family from nieces, my son, my brothers from the dark cloud, the shame, and the stigma that have been put upon them. In releasing me from 67 years i was the child, i was the baby that my father went to groveland to find a job to 1949. T back in and today, i feel free. Amy today were going to look at the groveland four story. Cattle, goodman in florida. Nermeen shaikh is in new york. Nermeen we are joined by gilbert king, author of the book devil in the grove Thurgood Marshall, the groveland boys, and the dawn of a new america. The book has been widely praised for keeping the story of the groveland four alive. Gilbert king, welcome to democracy now could you explain the case of the groveland four and your reaction to the Florida State legislature passing this resolution and issuing an apology . Sure. The case started in the summer of 1949, similar to to kill a mockingbird type story, a young 17yearold farm girl made these accusations she was abducted and raped by four africanamericans. As soon as that story became local knowledge, the klan started burning down the homes in the black sections. They arrested a couple of suspects quickly, threw them in jail. Showed up at jail and there was going to be a lynching. Fortunately, sheriff mccall was lot does wise enough to say there was not going to be any lynching. He said were going to give them a fair trial and put them in the electric chair. He prevented the lynching, but shortly after that, within a month,h, you had a trial, a capitall trial were three mens lives werere on the line. Nermeen tell us about the local sheriff. Willis mccall was up in the tories segregationist, had a brutal 28 year reign in lake county. Disturbing most thing was he wasnt just a bad apple or a tie rent, but basically, politicians from judges to prosecutors to the u. S. Attorney to the governor of florida is self had his back. He liked to brag he was investigated 49 times on civil rights charges and beat every single one of them. Explain, gilbert king, what happened to the man who was killed and the role of the sheriff in this one of the four of the groveland four . When they first arrested the first three suspects, Ernest Thomas kind of knew it was happening. The houses were being burned. He fled. He went up to northern florida. Sheriff mccall could together a posse of over 1000 men. For the next several days, they hunted him through the swamps of an area outside madison, florida. Eventually, they found him sleeping by a cypress tree. Wiwitnesses at the scene said he was shot multiple times, and they were pupuing slugs s and bullets out ofof his body. Willis mccall was on the scene with his deputy james yates. He was basically never going to be brought in. The idea was not to capture him and bring him back for trial. It was pretty clear they were to shoot first. Nermeen can you tell us about the material you had access for this book and also your attempts to interview norma padgett, the white woman who was 17 at the time who claimed the four had raped her . I filed a freedom of information act several years ago. It is difficult to get this material. It all has to be vetted and redacted. I hit the market 60 years. Once 60 years passes and one of the civivil rights investigatio, all of the material becomes public domain. I was very lucky to get a box of fbi files that were nonredacted. Everybody was named in there. Statements from police basically helping the fbi and fingering people involved in the beatings. So all of the information was right there. I think the most disturbing part of it was that it sat in those fbi files for 60 years. Thurgood marshall did not know about all of these investigations. There are some people still alive. I did try to interview norma padgett. She had not spoken with a journalist since 1949 or 1950. She said a few things to the reporter that caused a bit of an outrage because it did not quite match up with her testimony in trial. After that, i believe she was warned to not speak in your journalist, which she is not done. I tried. I showed up outside her door. The message i received was to let sleeping dogs lie. She didid not want to be reininvestigated. Amy i want to turn to bobby dubose, the Florida State representative from Fort Lauderdale who sponsored the resolution. He spoke at a News Conference here in florida and announcing it. Injustice, we, the state of florida, we were wrong. The injustice these men and these families encountered are hard to truly put into words. The memories cannot be erased. The pain they have endured cannot be fixed. But today we have an opportunity to provide closure to these families in the form of an apology. Amy and this is republican representative here in florida chris sprowls, chair of floridas house judiciary committee, issuing a formal apology to the families. We have the opportunity several weeks ago to speak to Carol Greenlee, who is here with us. She talked to me about how when she was 12 years old and her dad got out of prison, it wasnt until she was a grown woman, nearly 40, when she asked her dad about what happened. I think we we r read about the stories of these great moral failings like this case, sometimes we forget that there were families and communities that also suffered just terrible injustices like the families behind us s today. For that as a state, we are truly sorry for what took place. Amy is there, gilbert king, an official pardon that will be offefered to the men . Would gogovernor scott go a long with it . How have the families responded to t this so many decades latet . Little more complicated. It is not like the scottsboro boys were you had nine defendants found guilty, and then ultimately, the state of alabama could go through and pardon them one by one. It took 80 years. The last scottsboro boy was pardoned couple of years ago. This case it is a little more complicated because the sheriff killed two of the men. Samuel shepherd, when the first trial was thrown out, the Supreme Court overruled it. Technically, Samuel Shepherd was never convicted. He cannot get a pardon. The apology does mean something to the shepherd family and does mean something to the family of Ernest Thomas who never stood trial. He does not have a conviction and cannot be pardoned. Nlees,e irvins and gree they do have convictions. For them, the pardons everything. Great andapology is everyone acknowledges it is an important step on the state of florida, the jury is not quite done because the pardon is going to go before the governor and the pardon board. He is going to be asked consider that. Nermeen i want to turn to walter lee irvins sister henrietta irvin. Here she explains walters account of what happened the night he and sam shepherd were shot by sheriff Willis Mccall and a deputy. When he opened the door for sam and sam turned to get out of the car, ththey shot him right n the forehead. Just l like that. F fast and hem so felt h his way to m moving, unte knew thahat sam was dead. By that time, he at shot him also. And he said he r remembered heararing him say, come on back, ive killed the son n of a bit ches. He said when mr. Yates got back and he was shining his l light n him, he kicked sam and shine the islight on him and said this not dead. Nermeen gilbert, your response to what she said . This is a seminal moment in this entire story. Basically, the equivalent of cell phone camera footage of a killing. Sam shepard and walter irvin are handcuffed together. Mccall comes around and shoots sam shepard three times. He dies instantly. Walter irvin is shot twice. He cannot run because he is handcuffed to his best friend. He lays on the ground are produced to be d dead. But he hears the sheriff say get back, i got the son of a bitches. We got to make it look like an escape. The Deputy Sheriff comes back to the scene, shined a flashlight on walter irvin and says, this one aint dead yet. Was a gun and fires a third shot straight through his neck. Is stillsly, irvin alive. When the fbi hears the story, which differs from the sheriffs version, they have an idea where the bullets might be. They go back to the crime scene and find the bloodstain where walter irvin was lying. They take out a shovel and 10 inches below the bloodstained, they find a 38 caliber bullet that matches the gun of sheriff Willis Mccall. Here you have pure proof that the sheriff and the deputy have attempted murder and murder on their hands. This is all investigated by the fbi. The fbi is convinced this happened, yet it was quashed. I think that is one of the great tragedies. Thurgood marshall never found out about this information. It sat in an fbi file for 60 years. Amy i want to ask you about Thurgood Marshall, about the man that you wrote about extensively and his role in this case. This is interesting because this Groveland Case is beginning at the same time that ron versus board is beginning. Marshall is being talked to by his colleagues at theldf saying, thurgood, your indispensable to the civil rights movement. We cannot afford to lose you. You cant go down to florida and take this highly d dangerous cae were you having to move from house to house so the klan doesnt get you. We cant afford to lose you. Marshall was really adamant about this, which i found interesting. He said, look, these cases are just important. These cases save lives. In a way, he was in the four forefront of black lives matter. He knew he was the last step come the last rate hope that there were men who work falsely accused of these crumbs facing the death penalty. Marshall said it would move him because he was standing the lobby with the mothers of these boys and it would be begging and to save their boy because they knew they were innocent. That made a big impact. The Voting Rights cases come to housing cases come the school cases, you see marshall going down and taking is extraordinarily dangerous cases because they matter to hihim. Brown vhis was before board of education. Talk about Thurgood Marshalls trajectory from thing involved in cases like these when some, even in his inner circle were saying, as you said, you should not take on these criminal cases, his trajectory from being defense lawyer, in this case, to Supreme Court justicece. Right. What is really interesting, Thurgood Marshall, he really saw himself as a civil rights lawyer. Infelt like he was involved a broad thing from housing to voting, but he also saw these criminal cases were extremely important to communities. One of the things i was inspired by, marshall would take these cases in the south and he knew he was going to lose. They had 12 white jurors, a biased judge, racist prosecutor. But hundreds of african would come from miles around and sit in those jim c crow balclconies. Marshall said it was just as important to show them that an africanamerican sitting in court ararguing with the judge d prosecutor over the law most of the blacks who showed up had never seen a black person in court who was not a defendant. Marshall felt it was just as important to really demonstrate what was possible, this hope that was possible. He became the living proof of that. He went on to become the first africanamerican Supreme Courtrt justice. E. His trajectory came from his time when he was known as mr. Civil rights until he became a Supreme Court justice. Nenermeen gilbert king, what do you think the significicance is . The grovelandead, four are dead. What is the significance of florida now issuing an apology . I think what is really significant is for the longest time, stories like this lingered from the point of view of the sheriff. If you look at what the version that stuck in florida was that these were the rapist, convicted in court, and they attacked the sheriff and tried to escape that night. That was the version that lingered. The families have lived under the stigma you heard Carol Greenlee speak about. They were associated with a rapist. It means the world to them to just have some official apology to clear their names. I think it is we as a country have not really addressed these kinds of issues. Go the longest time, if you into a community in the south, especially, stories like this are very common, but they did not become Supreme Court cases. They did not have Thurgood Marshall. These men were sent to their deaths with no appeals. When families today react to Police Brutality or really, it is a legacy of decades of this kind of injustice, that really angers people because they know these stories were not heard and they were never acknowledged. Amy finally, gilbert king, if you could talk about this case in the context of criminalal justice and what is happening with africanamericans today. I mean, now in the news and baton rouge, the u. S. Justice department has closed its investigation into the killing of alton sterling by Police Officers. One Police Officer shooting him in the stomach, on top of him at pointblank range. Not clear what will happen next. Expectedspected to investigate this. Jeff sessions Justice Department will not bring charges. How does this fit into the picture . Is a difficult question. There are a lot of people who look at Jeff Sessions appointment and think that in thiscivil rights kind of investigation and progress has been made might be taking a step backwards. If there are all of these safeguards put in for prosecutors to sort of feel they have a little bit more of a sympathetic Justice Department, i think its not a very good thing. I honestly believe the families of not only be groveland boys, but families who have been through this, deeply suspicious of prosecutors and Police Departments who enable this kind of thing to be quashed. Nowadays, it is more obvious because you see cell phone footage. Back in t the 1940s and 1950s, you had the word of a policeman and a black courts. It was a very simple thing to do scoble for a coroners jury of google for a grand jury because these communities were not willing to indict. Youre starting to see some progress. I think people with social media and with media coverage, these stories can get out there and Police Departments have to react to it and prosecutors are going to need to react to it, too. Amy gilbert king, thank you for being with us. He is the author of devil in the grove Thurgood Marshall, the groveland boys, and the dawn of a new america. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. When we come back, Marissa Alexander joins us from jacksonville. And then we will speak with a College Graduate here in tampa, a syrian refugee. This is democracy now stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. On the road into haveve a, florida. Nermeen shaikh is in our studios in new york. Amy we turn now to the case of Marissa Alexander,r, the afafricanamerican motheher of e who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing what she maintains was a warning shot at her abusive husband in 2010. She attempted to use floridas stand your ground law in her defense, the law that was made famous when George Zimmerman successfully used it in his defense after he shot and killed unarmed africanamerican teenager Trayvon Martin. But in march 2012, the jury rejected alexanders use of standard or ground and convicted her after only 12 minutes of deliberation. She was sentenced to 20 years behind bars under a florida law known as 1020life that carries a mandatory minimum for certain gun crimes, regardless of the circumstance. Alexander won an appeal for a new trial and later accepted a plea deal that capped her sentence to three years of time served. Amy earlier this year, Marissa Alexander was freed from house arrest after being jailed for three years and serving two years of courtordered home confinement. We go now to jacksonville to speak with Marissa Alexander. Welcome to democracy now feels to beow it free now and what these last years were like when you were not in prison, but you are under house arrest. Thank you for having me, amy. See i amen you smiling, im so excited to be able to be a part of the movement that is going on. I really wanted to hit the ground running. I wanted to be able to travel. I want to do spend time with my kids outside of my home, so that has been great. Basically, the last two years, i really want to spend that time in building what im doing right now, which is my nonprofit. I pretty much completed a large portion of my book. I wanted to use that time to not be bitter, but be strong and hit the ground running and to make an impact. Nermeen your daughter was only thisdays old when altercatioion occurr betetween u and yoyour exhusband in 2010. Can you tell us about her now . How old she is and whether you are able to spend time with her . Right. She will be turning seven in july. She is getting to be a a big little girl. We are divorced. We have shared custody of her. We split that time. E just have a lovefest for me to not build a see her until she was three and for us to have the bond we have now, is just a beautiful t thing. We spoke with, civil rights advocate and attorney Michelle Alexander of , author of the bestselling book the new jim crow mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. She e talked what role mandatory minimum sentencing played in your case. She received a 20 year sentence because of harsh mandatory minimum sentences, sentences that exist in florida and in states nationwide. Mandatory minimum sentences give no discretion to judges about the amount of time that the person should receive once a guilty verdict is rendered. Harsh mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses were by congressss in the 1980s as part of the war on drugs and the get tough movement. Sentences that have helped to fuel our nations prison boom and have also greatly aggravated racial disparities, particularly in the application a mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine. Amy that is Michelle Alexander. We are speaking with Marissa Alexander no relation who is speaking to us from jacksonville. Marissa, if you can go back to 2010, yes, i want you to respond to what Michelle Alexander said, but back to 2010, and describe to us what happened. And ththen with the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, the vigilante, who was acquitted, unlike you, how that changed your case. You know, for me, that particular day, it was a reaction to an action. It was a matter of a fight or flight. I felt like i did the best i could. I maintain that. I still dont believe what i did was wrong. The kids were not present. I would have never done that. I believe that came out of my first trial. As far as it played forward with George Zimmerman, that was around the same time. , butase was going along mine had not made it to the media. His was, originally, he was given immunity of the crime scene but later on was charged. First, and then had to have a hearing. There is the difference between he and i, our cases. So that was the difference. Essentially, it is in the jury instructions, regardless. The difference in our cases is the fact that you have a child not was killed and was present, cd had no testimony. In my case, you had witnesses, or victims, if you will, that have the opportunity to change their stories, as was done in my case. That is where it was a little different. Is the factilarity stand your ground was commonality. There were different scenarios. Amy and you had a angela corey come the special prosecutor in both your case as well as the case of George Zimmerman. At a News Conference in 2012, a reporter asked angela corey about the controversial law known as stand your ground or what some call r right to shoot first. Here is how she responded. It stanand or ground becomesn issue, we fight if f we believet is the right thihing to do. If it becomes an issue in this case, we will fight that affirmative defense. How would you say stand your ground has affected your job since it became law . And a lottors of them are here and im so proud of them. Theyve worked tirelessly runnnning the office whihile wee been working this case. Mr. Moody just finished a four day. Your ground momotion on another case. We fight hard. Some of them we have one and weve had to appeal them or the defense as a field. In somome cases the judge has ruled against us. Itit is the law of the state of florida and itit will be applie. Do you think it is invoked too much . Justifiable use of deadly force as we all knew it before it stand youour ground was issud was stilill a tough affirmative defense to overcome, but we still fight these cases are. Nermeen that was angela corey come the special prosecutor in both youour case, marissa, as sl as the case of George Zimmerman. Could you comment on what she said and also say what you think the explanation is for how stand her ground the standard ground law was applied in your case and in zimmermans case . So i can just sell you from my perspective, i went into it and i was always trained in the capital doctrine. When i did when i did it, i no idea about stand your ground. I did what i thought was a duty to retreat before you use lethal force. I was inside my own home. I had a concealed weapons license, permit, and a restraining order at that time. That in and of itself. Mean, from myi experience on the inside, i can tell you a lot of times the defendants do not get the opportunity in cases where it is truly selfdefense to even utilize that specialty utilize that, especially defendants that are black. That is what ive seen. And most cases, they have 1020life placed on their folders. This legislation that was passed, which is oddly enough does not give judges the discretion. What he gives is the prosecutors discretion. That is backwards because it obviously is advantageous for the prosecutor to use it. I believe to put a mutual party that gives them discretion to k at it and say, ok, theyre supposed to be a mutual party, gives the prosecution that advantageous advantage. To me, that does not work well for the defense in most cases. Amy Marissa Alexander, during the time of your house arrest, you had to pay for the cost of the monitoring and yet a monthly drug test. Over the course of the two years, you paid around 10,000 . Can you talk about the significance of this and also what it meant in janunuary when you had your ankle bracelet, your monitor taken off, what you did and what it meant in terms of your freedom . Ok. I was fortunate that i had support and the means to be a ankle monitor. Youre talking about the cost of supervision, the cost of monitoring, drug test that i only got one the entire time i was on it, but i paid for it every month. Youre talking about it was taxed. I had court costs and essentially, i did not have an idea about how much i was supposed to pay toward the end. I had to come up with a couple thousand dollars in a short period of time. Youre talking about people who it is hard for defendants who come out to get a job if you are on regular probation with the fees were you dont have an ankle monitor and pay for that, let alone have the ankle monitor and have to pay for those which are a little bit higher. Then try to obtain employment and pay those fees. A lot of the times, theyre not able to do that and are subject technicaliolated on a violation because they cannot make the fees. It is hard to get a job that will allow for them to pay for those services im in, pay for the ankle monitor. It wasgot my release, very important. My sister was pregnant. She just got a new place, so that was the first thing i wanted to do was spend time with her. Met me, my mom, and her and had a glass of wine. Crackery baby girl to barrel and took my twins to dinner that night. It was important for me to spend time outside of my house with those i love the most. The e following day i had a celebration. Alexander,rissa before we conclude, it is extraordinary what good use you made of your time under house arrest. First, you mentioned earlier you completed or almost completed the book manuscript. The Marissa Alexander Justice Project you began. Can you talk about both those projects . The first year, i did not want to lose sight of what i had experienced. There was a lady, and older later who is much wiser experienced some of the same things i did. She came in and it was cathartic for me to be up to regurgitate the experiences i had so i would not lose them. I did that for six to eight months. It was emotionally taxing. The next order of business, because i was doing Paralegal School i was bored out of my mind. I felt the best impact for me was to start my own nonprofit. To what was already existing. My nonprofit focuses on the things i feel like affected my case the most and what affects our community as a whole. ,alking about Domestic Violence intimate partner violence, and the impact it plays and homes and social norms and what people experience. Criminal policy reform. My case did assist in changing some laws. The fact was given a minimum mandatory students sentence. Youre talking about juveniles, mass incarceration. These kids are expensing things that most of us have never had to experience. I feel like my nonprofit really wanted to touch on all of these things. Know, be able to meet you i have been in it from the trenches and now looking at a from a birdseye view. I believe we have an opportunity to do better and we have services that are available but it is not connecting to the community. The community dont know about the services. My concern is, where is the disconnect . I have answers for that, but that is probably for another time. Amy recep alexander, thank you for joining us. Initially sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a single warning shot against her abusive husband into the ceiling in 2010. Her attorneys unsuccessfully tried to use floridas stand your ground law in her defense, saying she feared for her life when she fired the shot. In she was frereed from house january, arrest after being jailed for three years and serving two years of courtordered home confinement. Congratulations before being able to walk into the studio freely and leave it freely. When we come back, were going to s speak with a syrian refefue who just graduated from college here in tampa, florida. And he gave the commencement address. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. In tampa,odman florida. Nermeen shaikh is in new york. Amy we and today show with from mohrat, just graduate Saint Leo University on a full scholarship. He was chosen by his classmates as this year student speaker at commencement. We went out to the street unlike the tunisians, we were met by the regimes security. Orces with live bullets imagine seeing your friends getting killed in front of you. Givingat is ammar mohrat the commencement address here in florida. He is from homs, sir. In 2011, he fled due to political persecution and death threats. Ammar mohrat, congratulations on yourgraduation and commencement address. And your thoughts today on what is happening in your country . It is unbelievable after six years of war. People are dying every day, we need the whole International Community to realize there is a dictator in his owntry who killed people and destroyed his own country. Amy you came here as a refugee. There are no Syrian Refugees allowed into the desk i came here as an International Student and apply for political asylum. Yes, i mean, the new government stop the program, the Refugee Program, unfortunately. Amy what does that mean . A lot of syrians were waiting for the Refugee Program or applications to be excepted, they are not allowed to come here to the u. S. Anymore. That is sad because most of these refugees flee home because of the same terror americans are afraid of, tourism either by assad or other radical groups. Like most americans think coming to the u. S. Is really easy, just buy it to get an come here, that is not true. If you want to get a visa, it is really hard. For these refugees, theyve been waiting for of to two years and have made a lot of agencies and interviews to just come here to good a new life in a safe in aty start a new life safe society to raise their kids. These refugees are really not here to harm this country. I understand some markets are concerned about the security of the u. S. At the same time, these refugees just want to live in a free country, in a safe society. I hope one day the government will react reactivate this program and help these refugees. Conclude, cane we you say what the process was for you to come to the United States and to start studying at Saint Leo University . Syria, i, when i left travel in the middle east for many countries. I was in jordan. A settled in jordan. I could notnd continue my education. I started looking for scholarships. That is how i found Saint Leo University. I just graduated last weekend. It was a great journey. Amy we want to thank you and congratulations under graduation and being the Commencement Speaker here in the u. S. Ammar mohrat, political and media activist in homs, syria. Just graduated from Saint Leo University in florida were we broadcast on democracy now a saturday, he deliver the commencement address. That does it for our show. A very happy birthday to Denis Moynihan i will be speaking 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 69393 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] laura hi, im Laura Flanders. This week on the show, after marching on tax day for sciencne and for the ecosystem, some are thinking about going a step further toto taking rect actionn and even riskiking arrest. Wewe will talk about the history of direct action w with l. A. Kauffman and jesse meyerson, two longtime organizers and writers with an experience in the history ofof direct action and building sustaininable movement. All thatat and then a sneak peek at preparations for the peoples climate march, scheduled april 29, and d what is at stake for e fifight for the climatate. Thisis is the Laura Flanders show, the place where t the people who say i it cannot be de take a backseat to the ones who are doing it. Welcome