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AFL-CIO Convention Results in Major Split
Subway Shakedowns: Necessary Security or Unconstitutional
Violation?
Lynching Reenactment in Georgia Dramatizes Call for Indictments
in 59-year-old Case
Amnesty International Declares Father Jean-Juste a "Prisoner
of Conscience"
AFL-CIO Convention Results in Major Split
The AFL-CIO labor convention in Chicago this week has seen
the largest rupture in the US labor movement for more than
fifty years. Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily News
columnist Juan Gonzalez talks about the implications. [includes
rush
transcript]
The delegates of the AFL-CIO re-elected embattled president
John Sweeney to his post yesterday. Prompted by the Change
to Win Coalition's agenda, delegates also voted to increase
the national budget for organizing new unions. The convention,
held this week in Chicago, saw several of the largest unions
affiliated with the labor federation boycott the proceedings.
The Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters
stayed away and the United Food and Commercial Workers are
expected to join with them in a new federation, which will
be founded at a convention in September.
- Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now! co-host and columnist for
the New York Daily News.
Subway Shakedowns: Necessary Security or Unconstitutional
Violation?
New York City police are now conducting random searches
of subway passengers in a program of stepped-up security following
the London subway and bus blasts earlier this month. Civil
liberties groups say the searches are unconstitutional and
ineffective. We host a debate. [includes rush
transcript]
Will random bag searches on public transportation make Americans
safer? Following the July 7 bombings in London, New York increased
police presence on the city's vast subway system at a cost
of 1.9 million dollars per week. And starting Friday, police
began random searches of passenger bags at selected subway
stations throughout the city. New Jersey transit police began
searches on Monday. Police officials say that passengers going
into the subway who wish not to be searched can choose not
to ride the subway.
An editorial in Tuesday's New York Times urged the city to
continue the searches for an extended period. The editorial
reads "Travelers have long since gotten used to extensive
searches before they board airplanes, and they should be relieved
to see security measures on the subways and commuter trains
as well."
But questions remain about the effectiveness of searches
that cover only a small fraction of subway ridership. And
civil liberties groups say the searches are unconstitutional
under the 4th Amendment, which guards against unreasonable
search and seizure. City officials say the mandate to deter
terrorism represents a special need and justifies the practice.
Police authorities say they will not engage in racial profiling
targeting Muslim, Arab and South Asian passengers because
the searches are random. Yet that policy may be hard to enforce
in practice. Eric Adams of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who
Care told the New York Times "You can say 'no profiling,'
but when you have a police department that has a history of
profiling, it is going to practice what it knows."
In addition to the searches, frequent announcements in the
subway and on buses urge riders to look out for suspicious
behavior among other passengers, such as clenched fists, excessive
sweating, or strong cologne -- all considered indicators of
a suicide bomber. One such tip off on a double-decker tourist
bus led to the unwarranted arrest last weekend of several
Sikh passengers visiting New York from England.
We're joined by several people with differing perspectives
on the legality and effectiveness of the new searches, which
could extend to other major U.S. cities in the coming weeks.
- Paul Brown, spokesperson for the New York Police Department
- Fernando Ferrer, New York City mayoral candidate. He
issued a statement in support of the subway searches.
- Charles Peña, director of defense policy studies
at the Cato Institute.
He co-authored an editorial opposing the searches.
Lynching Reenactment in Georgia Dramatizes Call for
Indictments in 59-year-old Case
Civil rights activists in Georgia reenacted a 59-year-old
lynching this month to push for indictments in the murder
of four African Americans, two men and two women, one of whom
was seven-months pregnant at the time. No one was ever prosecuted
in the case. We speak with the Georgia Association of Black
Elected Officials, which organized the reenactment. [includes
rush
transcript]
The past decade, investigations have been re-opened into
some of the most heinous crimes against African-Americans
in the south. Some perpetrators of those crimes who are still
alive, have finally been prosecuted and convicted. The most
recent example is this summer's trial and conviction of 80-year-old
Edgar Ray Killen. Last month, Killen was sentenced to 60 years
in prison for orchestrating the 1964 execution of James Chaney,
Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner - three civil rights
workers in Mississippi.
However there a number of other cases throughout the South
that remain unsolved. One of those, is a 59 year old crime
that many call the last mass lynching in the United States.
It took place in Monroe, Georgia, about 40 miles east of Atlanta.
Two black men and two women, one who was seven months pregnant,
were killed in broad daylight by a white mob at the Moore's
Ford Bridge over the Apalachee River. No one was ever prosecuted
in the case. On Monday, members of the community staged a
reenactment of the murders and called for the U.S Attorney
General's office to open an investigation into the still unsolved
case.
- Tyrone Brooks, Georgia State Representative. He is president
of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, which
organized the lynching reenactment.
Amnesty International Declares Father Jean-Juste
a "Prisoner of Conscience"
Haitian Priest Gerard Jean-Juste has been declared a "prisoner
of conscience" by Amnesty International after his recent
arrest and incommunicado detention. We speak with Amnesty
International about his case and the ongoing violence in Haiti
on the 90th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Haiti. [includes
rush
transcript]
Today marks the 90th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of
Haiti. On July 28, 1915, U.S. forces invaded Haiti, launching
an occupation that would last 19 years.
In an Op-Ed in the Miami Herald, Haitian-American novelist
Edwidge Danticat writes "The 1915-1934 U.S. occupation
is not the only problem that Haiti has or has ever faced in
the last nine decades. Yet it is one more hurdle that the
country has had to overcome in a long and painful cycle of
destruction and reconstruction, self-governance and subjugation."
Today, Haiti's first democratically-elected leader Jean Bertrand
Aristide lives in forced exile in South Africa. He was overthrown
a year and a half ago in what he calls a "modern-day"
kidnapping in the service of a coup d'etat backed by the United
States.
In the aftermath of the coup, armed gangs roam the country
and UN forces patrol the streets. In the capital of Port-au-Prince,
more than 700 people have been killed since last September.
A raid by UN forces earlier this month left as many as 23
civilians dead.
Meanwhile, Haitian Priest Gerard Jean-Juste, a leader in
Aristide's Lavalas party, was arrested last week and charged
with the assassination of journalist Jaques Roche even though
he was in Miami at the time of the murder. Father Jean-Juste
is now being held incommunicado. Amnesty International has
announced it considers Father Jean-Juste a prisoner of conscience.
Amnesty is also releasing a new report today on human rights
abuses titled, "Haiti: Disarmament delayed, justice denied."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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