Democracy Now!

Israeli Forces Attack, Injure Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Amid Protests Against Sheikh Jarrah Expulsions, At Least 85 People, Mostly Schoolgirls, Killed in Kabul Bomb Blasts, As COVID Devastates India, New Surges Prompt Restrictions Across Asia; Brazil Tops 15 Million Cases, WHO Approves Chinese Sinopharm Vaccine, Adding to COVAX Arsenal, Protests Erupt After Iraqi Activist Ehab al-Wazni Killed in Karbala, Colorado Springs Shooting Claims 7 Lives During Weekend Marked by Rash of Mass Shootings, DOJ Proposes Rule to Reign in "Ghost Guns" and Other Unregulated Firearms, DOJ Brings Federal Charges Against Derek Chauvin, 3 Other Ex-Cops in George Floyd's Murder, Judge Says Andrew Brown's Family Can Watch Just a Fraction of Footage Showing Police Killing, Ransomware Attack Targeting Colonial Pipeline Shuts Fuel Shipments Across Eastern U.S., Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar Introduce Bill to Make School Meals Free

Nearly 80 years ago, Richard Wright became one of the most famous Black writers in the United States with the publication of "Native Son," a novel whose searing critique of systemic racism made it a best-seller and inspired a generation of Black writers. In 1941, Wright wrote a new novel titled "The Man Who Lived Underground," but publishers refused to release it, in part because the book was filled with graphic descriptions of police brutality by white officers against a Black man. His manuscript was largely forgotten until his daughter Julia Wright unearthed it at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. "The Man Who Lived Underground" was not published in the 1940s because white publishers did not want to highlight "white supremacist police violence upon a Black man because it was too close to home," says Julia Wright. "It's a bit like lifting the stone and not wanting the worms, the racist worms underneath, to be seen."

This week, four parents from Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico were reunited with their children in the United States after being separated under former President Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. They were the first families to be reunited on U.S. soil since the Biden administration began its reunification process. "Although we love to see the reunifications and they're very moving, we have to keep in mind what led to that and that it should never have happened in the first place," says Carol Anne Donohoe, managing attorney for the Family Reunification Project at Al Otro Lado. We also speak with Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, who leads the ACLU's lawsuit over family separations. He notes more than 1,000 children are still separated from their parents, and adds, "We have not even found the parents of 455 children."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Voter Suppression Bill, Texas and Ohio Republicans Advance Bills to Make It Harder to Vote, India Sets Yet Another World Record for Daily COVID-19 Infections, Study Finds COVID-19 Has Killed 6.9 Million Worldwide, More Than Double Official Count, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Rejects Patent Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines, Police Raid on Rio de Janeiro Favela Leaves 25 Dead, with Reports of Execution-Style Killings, U.S. Sends Warplanes to Afghanistan Amid Withdrawal as HRW Warns Aid Cuts Jeopardize Women's Health, CodePink Co-Founder Calls Out General Dynamics CEO over Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, DOJ Says Arizona 2020 Election Recount May Be Violating Civil Rights Laws as Concerns Pile Up, Colorado Republican Calls Colleague "Buckwheat" During Legislative Session, New York AG Says 18 Million Fake Comments Were Posted in Support of 2017 FCC Net Neutrality Repeal, Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed Injured in Bomb Attack, Indigenous and Climate Activists Hold Global Day of Action Against Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline

Former President Donald Trump will continue to stay off Facebook after the company's Oversight Board ruled Wednesday that his ban was justified for creating "an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible." Trump was banned shortly after the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which he helped foment by promoting baseless claims of election fraud. The Oversight Board also said Facebook should reassess its ban and make a final decision in six months. Shoshana Zuboff, professor emerita at Harvard Business School and author of the book "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," says that Facebook's recent moves follow years of inaction by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "He showed that he was willing to do just about anything to appease Trump … to keep regulation at bay," Zuboff says.

At least 30 people in Colombia have been reportedly killed since a nationwide uprising erupted against the government of right-wing President Iván Duque. Protesters are vowing to remain in the streets amid a deadly crackdown by police and military officers. About 800 people have been injured and 87 people are missing in the midst of the demonstrations, which were initially sparked by a now-withdrawn tax reform proposal, but they have since expanded in scope. People in Colombia are also denouncing rampant police brutality and demanding broader social, economic and political reforms. At least 15 people were killed in a massacre in the city of Cali on April 30 after police repeatedly opened fire on protesters. "The country has been a place of repression," says Emilia Márquez Pizano, sex and gender director with the Colombian nonprofit Temblores, which collects data on police violence in the country. We also speak with Manuel Rozental, a Colombian activist with more than 40 years of involvement in grassroots political organizing and member of the collective Pueblos en Camino. He says "Colombians are fed up" with what he describes as the "fascist mafia regime" of Iván Duque. "They have pushed Colombians into the streets because most Colombians have nothing to lose," Rozental says.

The Biden administration has announced it now supports temporarily waiving the intellectual property rights for COVID vaccines, in what the World Trade Organization is calling a "monumental moment." India and South Africa first proposed the waiver in October, but the United States and other wealthy nations blocked the WTO from even opening negotiations on the proposal. Supporters say the waiver is critically needed to increase the rate of vaccine production for the Global South as COVID-19 rapidly spreads in India, Latin America and other regions where few vaccines are available. Biden's support for the waiver is "an incredibly pleasant surprise" and "late, but still welcome," says Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa. "The proposal is monumental because what it does is it allows for more vaccines to be manufactured in the world," Prabhala says. "The whole world faces a crippling shortage of coronavirus vaccines."

In Reversal, Biden Administration Will Support Waiving Patents for COVID-19 Vaccines, India Sets New Global Record for Daily Coronavirus Cases, CDC Predicts Sharp Drop in U.S. COVID-19 Cases by July If Vaccinations Continue, Trump-Appointed Federal Judge Throws Out National Eviction Moratorium, Study Predicts "Rapid and Unstoppable" Sea Level Rise Unless Paris Climate Goals Are Met, U.N. Warns of Soaring Hunger, Child Mortality and Maternal Deaths During Pandemic, Facebook Oversight Board Upholds Ban on Trump, Active-Duty National Guardsman Arrested over January 6 Insurrection, Top Republicans Prepare to Oust Rep. Liz Cheney from Leadership Role over Anti-Trump Comments, Israel's Yair Lapid Given Chance to Form Coalition Government After PM Netanyahu Fails, 16-Year-Old Palestinian Said Odeh Shot Dead by Israeli Forces in Occupied West Bank, Labor Dept. Voids Trump-Era Rule Making It Easier to Classify Gig Workers as Independent Contractors, South Carolina Legislature Votes to Bring Back Electric Chair, Firing Squads, DNA Evidence Suggests Ledell Lee Was Innocent of Murder for Which He Was Executed in 2017, Olympic Committee to Ban "Black Lives Matter" Slogan and Protests at Tokyo Summer Games, Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Jailed Ahead of July 13 Sentencing

China topped the agenda Tuesday when foreign ministers from G7 nations met in London. This comes as both China and the United States are accusing each other of escalating tensions in the South China Sea. Last week, the Chinese government claimed there has been a 40% increase of activity by U.S. planes in Chinese-claimed areas since Biden took office. Critics increasingly argue Biden's policies on China are risk sparking a new Cold War. "Trump's anti-China policy is now also being followed by the Biden administration," says acclaimed Filipino scholar and activist Walden Bello, co-founder of Focus on the Global South.

The international disparity in vaccine access between rich and low-income countries highlights "the irrationality of global capitalism," says acclaimed Filipino scholar and activist Walden Bello, who urges the Biden administration to sign on to an effort at the World Trade Organization to temporarily waive intellectual property rules on vaccine technology. He also discusses the COVID crisis in the Philippines.

Pressure is growing on the Biden administration to support a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-related medicines and vaccines at the World Trade Organization. India and South Africa first proposed the waiver in October, but it was blocked by the United States and other wealthy members of the WTO. Big Pharma has also come out against the proposal and has lobbied Washington to preserve its monopoly control. More than 100 countries have supported the waiver, which they say is critical to ramp up production of vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests in the Global South. Ahead of the kickoff of two days of WTO important meetings in Geneva, we speak with Lori Wallach of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "The big problem is simply not enough vaccines are being produced," says Wallach. "The world needs 10 to 15 billion doses to reach herd immunity, and right now all of the global production together is on track to make 6 billion doses this year."

India Reports New Record Death Toll as Indian G7 Delegation Self-Isolates in London, Tanzania Adopts Travel Restrictions; Seychelles, Which Has Highest Vaccination Rate, Sees New Surge, Biden Wants 70% of U.S. Adults to Get Vaccine by July 4; Pfizer to Seek EUA for Children 2+ in Sept., House Dems Call on Biden to Allow Vaccine IP Waiver; New York Extends Eviction Moratorium, Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Reported in NY, SF as New Study Shows Surge in Crimes Against AAPI People, Chauvin Lawyer Files Motion for New Trial as AG Seeks Harsher Sentence for Murder of George Floyd, Community Demands Answers After Black LGBTQ Teenager Mikayla Miller Found Dead in April, Women in Puerto Rico Demand Action After Surge in Femicides, Trump's DOJ Threatened MIT Researchers over Report on 2019 Bolivian Election, U.N. Condemns Crackdown on Colombian Protests as Rally Planned Against NYU Event with Ex-Pres. Uribe, Zapatistas Set Sail to Europe to Mark 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance, Mexico Apologizes for Centuries of Abuse Against Maya Indigenous Community, Fighting Intensifies as U.S. Begins Military Retreat from Afghanistan, Richard Cordray, Former Head of CFPB, Tapped to Oversee Federal Student Aid Program, Judge Orders DOJ to Hand Over Memo Used by Bill Barr to Justify Clearing Trump of Obstruction, "New Normal" for U.S. Climate Is Hotter and Wetter, According to New NOAA Data, France Advances New Climate Bill, But Activists Say It Doesn't Go Far Enough

A new four-part documentary series, "Exterminate All the Brutes," delves deeply into the legacy of European colonialism from the Americas to Africa. It has been described as an unflinching narrative of genocide and exploitation, beginning with the colonizing of Indigenous land that is now called the United States. The documentary series seeks to counter "the type of lies, the type of propaganda, the type of abuse, that we have been subject to all of these years," says director and Haitian-born filmmaker Raoul Peck. "We have the means to tell the real story, and that's exactly what I decided to do," Peck says. "Everything is on the table, has been on the table for a long time, except that it was in little bits everywhere. … We lost the wider perspective."

In Reversal, Biden to Raise Cap on Refugees Admitted to U.S., U.S. Allows Four Refugee Families Separated Under Trump to Reunite, India's Official COVID-19 Caseload Tops 20 Million, Nepal's COVID-19 Crisis Becomes "Unmanageable" Amid Exponential Rise in Cases, Argentina Passes 3 Million Confirmed COVID-19 Cases as Brazil Delays Second Vaccine Doses, Biden Under Pressure as World Health Organization Presses for Waiver on Vaccine Patent Rights, U.S. States Roll Back Coronavirus Restrictions as New Cases Fall Below 50,000 Per Day, Andrew Brown Jr. Laid to Rest Amid Mounting Calls to Hold Officers Who Shot Him Accountable, Biden Says Corporations Should Pay "Their Fair Share" of Taxes to Fund Infrastructure Plan, EPA Plans to Phase Out Highly Potent Greenhouse Gases Known as Hydrofluorocarbons, Landmark Trial on Opioid Epidemic Opens in West Virginia Federal Court, Protests Continue to Rock Colombia as Family of 17-Year-Old Protester Killed by Police Demands Justice, El Salvador Rights Groups Warn of "Coup" Against Judiciary Led by President Nayib Bukele, At Least 23 Killed in Mexico City Subway Disaster, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz Threatens to Punish CEOs Who Oppose Voter Suppression Bills, Kansas Republicans Fail to Override Democratic Governor's Veto of Transgender Athlete Ban, Ballroom Legend and Trans Activist Jahaira DeAlto Murdered at 43

Big Pharma has hired an army of lobbyists to pressure U.S. lawmakers to block an effort at the World Trade Organization to loosen intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines, which would allow countries around the world to ramp up production, vaccinate more people and bring the pandemic to an end sooner. Dozens of countries from the Global South, led by India and South Africa, are demanding a temporary waiver on vaccine patents, but rich countries, including the U.S. under both the Trump and Biden administrations, have opposed the move. Lee Fang, investigative journalist at The Intercept, says there is a "glut" of vaccines going to wealthy countries while much of the rest of the world is left waiting. "These initiatives that are based on voluntary agreements with the pharmaceutical companies have not worked," he says. Fang also discusses his reporting on the Biden's administration's ties to the vaccine makers: White House adviser Anita Dunn is co-founder of the consulting firm SKDK, which works closely with Pfizer; Biden's domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, holds up to $5 million in Johnson & Johnson shares; and White House science adviser Eric Lander holds up to $1 million in shares of BioNTech, which co-developed Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the 1971 May Day protests, when tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C., and brought much of the capital to a standstill through acts of civil disobedience. The mass demonstrations terrified the Nixon administration, and police would arrest over 12,000 people — the largest mass arrest in U.S. history. Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who attended the May Day protests, says it was part of a wave of popular discontent about the war that mobilized millions. "There was a movement of young people who felt that what was happening in the world … was wrong, had to change, and they were ready to risk their careers and their lives to try to change it. And we need that right now," Ellsberg says. He recently spoke with Amy Goodman at an event marking the 50th anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers. We play excerpts from that conversation, which also included National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

More than 100 people marched alongside the family of Anthony Alvarez in Chicago Saturday, calling for the police officer who shot and killed him to be charged. Newly released video reveals police killed 22-year-old Alvarez while he was running away during a foot chase. Police have not said why they initially confronted and then chased Alvarez, who was killed just two days after Chicago police shot dead another young Latinx male, 13-year-old Adam Toledo. This comes four years after the Department of Justice found foot pursuits by Chicago police were leading to too many deaths. Now Chicago's mayor and police superintendent say a new police foot pursuit policy is underway. "We need to do a complete overhaul of our Chicago Police Department," says Luis Gutiérrez, former Democratic congressmember for Illinois. "There is this real sense that Brown and Black lives, they don't have the value that they should when Chicago police officers confront our youth."

India Breaks New COVID Records Amid Vaccine Shortages; U.S. Restricts Travel from India, Mourners Remember Slain 16-Year-Old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, Colorado Officers Resign After They Attack 73-Year-Old with Dementia, Laugh About Arrest, Biden Administration Releases Documents on Trump's 2017 Drone Order, 4 Families Separated at U.S Border Will Be Reunited, But Thousands Remain Ripped Apart, Traumatized, Biden Admin Cancels Construction of Trump U.S.-Mexico Border Wall, Migrant Boat Capsizes in San Diego, Killing at Least 4 People, North Korea Issues Warning to U.S. After Biden Says Nuclear Program Presents Global Threat, Burmese Forces Kill at Least 8 Anti-Coup Protesters as Organizers Call for "Spring Revolution", Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 21 People as Violence Surges in Afghanistan, 11 Refugees Drown Off Libyan Coast as U.N. Renews Calls for Urgent Action to Prevent More Deaths, Colombia Withdraws Tax Reform Plans After Days of Deadly Protests, Mitt Romney Greeted with Boos at Utah GOP Convention After Narrowly Avoiding Censure, Oregon State Rep. Facing Charges for Allowing Far-Right Mob to Enter State Capitol in December, Canadian Proud Boys Disband After Being Designated a Terrorist Group in February, NYPD Stops Deploying "Digidog" After Public Outrage, Federal Court Says EPA Must Ban Use of Toxic Pesticide That Harms Children, Workers Mark May 1 Around the World; U.S. Events Call for Passage of PRO ACT, Immigrant Protections

Revelations the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton hold the remains of a child killed by Philadelphia police in the 1985 MOVE bombing are the latest development in a conversation about demanding respectful treatment of African American remains in museum collections, especially those of the enslaved. The Penn Museum also apologized last week for holding more than 1,000 stolen skulls of enslaved people in its Morton Collection, and the president of Harvard University issued a letter in January acknowledging the 22,000 human remains in its collections included 15 from people of African descent who may have been enslaved in the United States, vowing review of the school's ethics policies. "This is a really vast problem," says historian Samuel Redman, author of "Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums," who also describes the repatriation of Native American remains after Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990. "There are individual instances like this that are horrific and we need to pay attention to, but it is a symptom of this much larger problem."

Following protests, two Ivy League schools — the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University — have issued apologies for their handling of the remains of an African American child killed by the Philadelphia police in the 1985 MOVE bombing. Students at Princeton held a protest on campus to support the demands of the MOVE community, who held another protest at the same time at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, and 70 Princeton professors signed on to a letter published in the campus newspaper that called on the university to act. "This routinely happens where vulnerable people are exploited in the name of research," says Aisha Tahir, a Princeton senior who helped organize a protest on campus. "Princeton does not have practices in place which center the preciousness of human life."

A major new report by Human Rights Watch says for the first time that Israel is committing crimes of apartheid and persecution in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The international human rights group says Israeli authorities dispossessed, confined and forcibly separated Palestinians. "For years, prominent voices have warned that apartheid lurked just around the corner. But it's very clear that that threshold has been crossed," says Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. "It's time for the international community to recognize the reality on the ground for what it is — apartheid and persecution — and take the steps necessary to end a situation of this gravity."

India COVID Cases Continue to Soar as Arundhati Roy Decries "Crime Against Humanity", Deaths Soar in Latin America; Brazil COVID Death Toll Tops 400,000, 44 Ultra-Orthordox Jews Die in Stampede at Religious Site, Abbas Postpones Palestinian Elections, USAID Watchdog Criticizes Trump's Politicization of Aid to Venezuela, Thousands Flee into Thailand as Burmese Junta Launches Airstrikes Near Border, Florida Approves Sweeping Voter Suppression Bill, West Virginia, Florida & Texas Bills Target Trans Youth, Biden Vows to Close Private Detention Centers in Response to Georgia Protesters, Right-Wing Extremists Face New WMD Charge in Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor, New York Man Convicted for Threatening Lawmakers After Insurrection, Reports: Justice Department Seeks to Indict Chauvin for Civil Rights Violations, Study Finds Link Between Tear Gas Exposure and Abnormal Menstrual Cycles, Supreme Court Sides with Guatemalan Man Challenging Deportation, FDA Moves to Ban Menthol Cigarettes, But ACLU Warns Move Could Backfire, North Carolina Man Shoots Dead Sheriff's Deputies & 2 Relatives, Indian Point Nuclear Point Shuts Down Today, Germany Court Sides with Youth Climate Activists in Historic Ruling

On the eve of his 100th day in office, President Joe Biden gave his first speech to a joint session of Congress and proposed trillions of dollars in new economic measures. He unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits aimed at expanding access to education and child care. He also called on lawmakers to support his plan to invest heavily in the country's infrastructure and to expand the social safety net in part by funding it with $4 trillion in taxes on the rich and corporations. Economist Jayati Ghosh says Biden's spending plans are "unexpected" but much needed. "It's very important to turn the direction of the nature of public intervention away from protecting the interests of the rich and of large capital to protecting the interests of people," Ghosh says. "This has not been the aim of government policy across the world, and especially in the U.S., for the last three decades." We also speak with Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna, who said Biden's speech "was an explicit rejection of the neoliberal framework."

As new coronavirus cases surge across India, overwhelming hospitals and crematories, calls are growing louder for wealthy countries to stop hoarding excess supply of COVID-19 vaccines and to loosen intellectual property restrictions preventing more countries from making their own vaccines. We speak with economist Jayati Ghosh and Congressmember Ro Khanna of California.

As India faces 1 million new COVID-19 infections every three days, we look at how more infectious variants have been linked to a spread in cases. The so-called India variant has now been detected in at least 19 countries. "This virus behaves differently now, in that it's much more infectious," says Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, an infectious disease physician at the Mayo Clinic.

India has topped 18.3 million COVID-19 cases, after adding 1 million cases in just the past three days amid shortages in vital supplies and overwhelmed hospitals across the country. Makeshift mass cremation facilities have been set up in parks and parking lots, with rows of bodies being burned on funeral pyres. With hospitals overflowing, some patients have been turned away and left to deal with their infections on their own. "This is where Modi has led India," says Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, who says the prime minister "clearly has no plan" for dealing with the crisis ravaging the country's healthcare systems, particularly outside the major cities. "There has always been a crisis of healthcare in rural India, but never has it been so acutely defined as it is now," says Ayyub.

Biden Urges Congress to Back Vast Expansion of Social Safety Net & New Taxes on Rich, India in Public Health Catastrophe as Deaths & Infections Reach New High, Hate Crimes Charges Filed Against Georgia Men in Ahmaud Arbery Murder, NC Judge Delays Release of Police Footage of Andrew Brown Jr. Shooting, Video: Chicago Police Shot Anthony Alvarez Dead as He Was Running Away, FBI Raid Rudy Giuliani's Home & Office, Mass Protests in Colombia Held to Protest Iván Duque & Proposed Tax Reform, U.S. Contractors Are Still Helping Maintain Saudi Warplanes Used in Yemen War, Israel Faces Call to Free Alaa al-Rimawi, Palestinian Journalist on Hunger Strike, Scientists: Glaciers Are Melting 31% Faster Than 15 Years Ago, Senate Votes to Reimpose Regs on Methane Emissions, Houston Sheriff Who Criticized Trump's Immigration Policies Is Nominated to Head ICE, Arizona Governor Signs Sweeping Anti-Abortion Law, Native American Groups Call on CNN to Fire Rick Santorum over Embrace of Genocide

We continue our conversation with The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill, who just published a groundbreaking new project on Joe Biden's decades-long foreign policy record. Scahill says that during his years in the U.S. Senate, Biden "almost never meets a war he doesn't support," becoming one of the most hawkish figures in Washington in the 1990s and 2000s. Scahill also discusses Biden's "war against whistleblowers," from Daniel Ellsberg to Edward Snowden.

An investigation into President Joe Biden's foreign policy record reveals "the history of the evolution of the American empire, from the Vietnam War to the present," says Jeremy Scahill, award-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept, which recently published a project titled "Empire Politician" that examines Biden's stances on war and militarism. Scahill says Joe Biden is the first president in decades to come to the White House after spending significant time in Congress, but it's not clear whether that will push him toward greater restraint in matters of war and peace. "Biden has spent his entire life railing against executive overreach, demanding that Congress be in charge of declaring war, and he may well be presented with a conflict around the world where it's going to really call the question on which Joe Biden shows up: Joe Biden, commander in chief, or Joe Biden who spent most of the past 50 years as a senator demanding that Congress be given its proper authority," says Scahill.

As President Joe Biden nears his 100th day in the White House, we look at his foreign policy record, both as president and over the past five decades. A new project created by Jeremy Scahill, award-winning journalist and senior correspondent at The Intercept, examines Biden's stances on war, militarism and the CIA going back to the early 1970s, when he was first elected as a senator in Delaware. We air a video discussing the project, titled "Empire Politician," featuring Scahill.

FBI Opens Probe into Police Killing of Andrew Brown as Autopsy Confirms He Was Shot in Back of Head, Video of Police Killing of Mario Gonzalez Prompts Comparison to George Floyd, Call for Probe, India Tops 200,000 COVID Deaths as Hospitals, Cremation Sites Are Overwhelmed, Turkey Orders Coronavirus Lockdown; Brazil Rejects Russia's Sputnik V Vaccine, CDC Says Vaccinated People Can Go Unmasked in Most Outdoor Settings, Seattle City Council Calls on Biden to Support IP Waiver for COVID Vaccine Patents, Biden Proposes Crackdown on Tax Evaders, Changes to Capital Gains Tax to Fund American Families Plan, Protesters Killed in Chad as Political Turmoil Deepens Following Death of President Déby, Conflict in Ethiopia's Amhara Region Killed at Least 200 People This Month, 2 Spanish Journalists Killed in Burkina Faso Ambush While Documenting Poaching, Testimony in El Mozote Massacre Trial Highlights U.S. Cover-up of Mass Killings, Democrats and Election Experts Warn Census Results Underrepresent Latinx Community, ICE Will Not Be Allowed to Make Courthouse Arrests; Mayorkas Launches Probe into Extremism at DHS, ICE Flight Transfers 64 Asylum Seekers from U.S.-Mexico Border to Northwest Detention Center, Scientists Say New Malaria Vaccine Could Be Up to 77% Effective, Idaho Signs Draconian Anti-Abortion Bill, Nurses at Massachusetts' Saint Vincent Hospital on Strike over Ongoing Staff and Safety Concerns

Outrage is growing in Philadelphia after explosive revelations that the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University have been in possession of remains thought to belong to two children who were among 11 people killed in the 1985 police bombing of the Philadelphia home of the radical, Black liberation and anti-police-brutality group MOVE. We show an excerpt of a training video — now removed from the internet — by an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University who has been using the bones of at least one of the young bombing victims for the past 36 years — without the knowledge or consent of the families — and get response from a MOVE family member. "It makes you wonder: What else do they have?" says Mike Africa Jr., a second-generation MOVE member who grew up with the children whose remains have now been located. "What else are they covering up? What else are they lying about?"

Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to protest the police killing of Andrew Brown Jr., a 42-year-old Black father shot dead in his car on April 21. On Monday, authorities allowed Brown's family and attorney to watch a 20-second video clip of the shooting. The family says it shows Brown was shot in the back of the head while his hands were on the steering wheel of a car, calling it an "execution." Seven sheriff's deputies have already been placed on paid administrative leave; two other deputies have resigned, and another retired over the past week. But supporters say authorities must provide greater accountability and release the full footage of the shooting. "They waited 120 hours to get 20 seconds," says Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach. "That is absolutely ridiculous." Barber notes police killed Brown Jr. on the same day Virginia cops shot Isaiah Brown after he called 911, the day after Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd on the same day a Columbus police officer killed 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant.

Andrew Brown Had Hands on Steering Wheel, Was Shot by Officers in Back of Head, Lawyer Says , Justice Department to Investigate Louisville Police, 13 Months After Breonna Taylor's Killing, Coronavirus Infections Hit New Global High, Fueled by India's "Heartbreaking" Outbreak, U.S. to Ship Up to 60 Million Doses of AstraZeneca Vaccine Abroad, Biden Orders $15/Hour Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors, Proposes Capital Gains Tax Hike, Supreme Court to Hear Torture Survivor's State Secrets Case & NRA-Backed Challenge to NY Gun Law, 2020 Census Results Alter Balance of Power in House of Representatives, Florida Senate Passes Sweeping Voter Suppression Law, Head of Firm Hired by Arizona GOP to Audit Election Results Promoted Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theories, California Gov. Gavin Newsom to Face Recall Election , Oklahoma Governor Signs Bills Outlawing Nearly All Abortions, Human Rights Watch Says Israeli Authorities Committed Crimes of Persecution and Apartheid, U.S. Homeland Security Department to Train Guatemalan Border Agents, Refugees Stuck at U.S.-Mexico Border Demand Entry to Pursue Asylum Claims, Texas Fisherwoman Diane Wilson Holds Hunger Strike to Stop Dredging for Oil Exports

As President Joe Biden makes history by explicitly describing the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a "genocide," we speak with Peter Balakian, Pulitzer Prize-winning Armenian American poet and professor at Colgate University. On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire began a systematic, premeditated campaign targeting the Armenian people, an unarmed Christian minority living under Turkish rule. More than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct killing, starvation, torture and forced death marches. Another million Armenian people fled into permanent exile. "It's an important statement," responds Balakian to Biden’s decision. "The plan was systematic," he says of the genocide. "It involved the implementation of parliamentary acts, military intervention, mobilization of killing squads in order to arrest and deport every Armenian family from Turkey."

Many of the anti-protest laws pushed by Republicans include measures that provide civil or criminal immunity to drivers who hit demonstrators with their vehicles. A pending Oklahoma measure would offer both. "It's declaring open season," says Susan Bro, whose daughter Heather Heyer was killed in 2017 when a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville. "Since when do we allow the public to become judge, jury and executioner? Because that's what this amounts to: Let's go hunt protesters."

We look at a slew of anti-protest laws pending in Republican-led states, and some that have already passed, such as in Florida, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a controversial measure known as the "anti-riot bill" that is widely viewed as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement and calls to "defund the police." Under the new law, a public gathering of three or more people can be classified as a "riot," and anyone who "willingly" participates in such a gathering can be charged with a third-degree felony. Many of the anti-protest bills pending in other states have the exact same language as the Florida plan. "These are really extreme laws," says Nick Robinson, a senior legal adviser with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which has tracked 81 anti-protest bills introduced in 34 states so far this year. They "expand the definition of rioting" in order "to target protesters," Robinson tells Democracy Now!

Relatives and supporters of Jacob Blake staged a sit-in with arrests outside the Kenosha police headquarters in Wisconsin to protest the department's decision to allow police officer Rusten Sheskey to return to work. Sheskey, who is white, fired seven shots at point-blank range into the back of Jacob Blake last August, leaving the 29-year-old African American father partially paralyzed and sparking massive protests. Sheskey had been on administrative leave but faced no charges for the shooting. "There's been so many injustices carried on through this investigation," says Jacob Blake Sr., the father of Jacob Blake, who has also filed a lawsuit against the officer. "Our demand is for him to be fired."

India Reports 5th Day of Record COVID Cases as Calls Mount in U.S. to Share Excess Vaccines, Anger and Grief After at Least 82 People Killed in Baghdad COVID Hospital Fire, Thailand, Japan Impose New COVID Restrictions; EU to Allow Entry to Vaccinated Tourists from U.S., U.S. States Resume J&J Vaccines After Green Light from FDA and CDC, Family of Andrew Brown Expected to See Bodycam Video of His Killing by North Carolina Police, Protesters Condemn News White Cop Rusten Sheskey, Who Shot Jacob Blake, Will Return to Work, Maryland Will Review Cases Handled by Ex-Medical Examiner David Fowler, Virginia Sheriff's Deputy Shoots Black Man During 911 Response, 1 Hour After Giving Him a Ride Home, Biden Officially Recognizes Armenian Genocide, U.S. Has Started Early Stages of Withdrawal from Afghanistan, 130 Asylum Seekers Feared Dead in Shipwreck Off Libyan Coast, Palestinians Celebrate as Israel Reopens Jerusalem's Damascus Gate, 53 Crew Members Dead After Indonesian Submarine Sinks in Bali Strait, Democrats Expand Narrow House Majority with Win in Louisiana Special Election, Oscars See Historic Wins for Asians; Director Travon Free Shines Light on Racism, Police Brutality, Legendary Free-Form Radio Host Bob Fass Dies at 87

As President Biden convenes a major climate summit, we speak with two leading climate activists from Africa about the "climate debt" rich countries owe the Global South and the major emissions cuts still needed in order to avert the worst effects of the planetary emergency. "Given the scale of the crisis right now, the only thing that is going to get us out of it is not going to be baby steps in the right direction," says Kumi Naidoo, special adviser for the Green Economy Coalition's Social Contract Initiative, as well as the former head of Greenpeace International. "It's going to be big, bold, courageous, structural and systemic change to every aspect of society." We also speak with Dipti Bhatnagar, international program coordinator for Climate Justice and Energy at Friends of the Earth International, who says that while new pledges by the U.S. to cut emissions are "going in the right direction," it's still not enough. "We're calling on the U.S. to do its fair share of emissions reductions, and what that means is four times of what the U.S. has put on the table."

We look at the link between migration and the climate emergency, which studies have estimated could displace over 200 million people by 2050, including many in Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Last year, two hurricanes, Iota and Eta, devastated the region and forced thousands to flee north. A new report finds that the climate crisis is already a driver in migration from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, which reiterates the necessity of planning "ahead for the major migration flows," says Camila Bustos, human rights associate at the University Network for Human Rights. "What we're really telling the Biden administration is to take this data, look into it, think critically and creatively about solutions, and revise immigration policy."

The White House convened a virtual summit on the climate crisis this week, with 40 leaders representing the world's major economies pledging cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. President Joe Biden said the U.S. would cut its emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade — nearly double the target set by the Obama administration six years ago. Biden's pledge fulfills "a basic requirement of the U.S. being in the Paris Climate Agreement," says New Republic staff writer Kate Aronoff, but still does not go far enough. "This is well, well below what the United States really owes the rest of the world, based on its historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis and the massive, massive resources this country has to transition very quickly off of fossil fuels."

Mourners gathered in Minnesota Thursday for the funeral of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot dead by a white police officer during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Daunte's mother, Katie Wright, fought back tears as she remembered her son. "When he walked in the room, he lit up the room. He was a brother, a jokester, and he was loved by so many. He's going to be so missed." We air excerpts of Wright's funeral service.

Biden Pledges to Halve U.S. Emissions Compared to 2005 Levels as Virtual Climate Summit Opens, House Committee Hears Testimony on Role of Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Preventing Climate Action, New York City Sues Big Oil over Decades of False Advertising About Climate Crisis, India Posts World Record Coronavirus Case Count for Second Consecutive Day, South Africa Resumes Use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine, Study Confirms Elevated Risk of COVID-19 for Expectant Mothers and Babies, House Votes to Make "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth" the 51st State, Senate Passes Bill Targeting Anti-Asian Hate Crimes, Pro-Trump Sen. Josh Hawley Votes No, House Passes NO BAN Act to Prohibit Religion-Based Immigration Orders, Report: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse Sanctioned Attacks on Civilians, Dems Introduce Act to Sanction President Juan Orlando Hernández, Cut Aid to Honduran Police & Army, Indigenous Governor Sandra Liliana Peña Killed in Cauca, Colombia, Kuwaiti Women Demand Justice and Protections After Stabbing Murder Stokes Outrage, NYC Woman Who Gave Birth While Handcuffed Reaches Settlement with City, NYPD, SCOTUS Rules Against Limiting Life Prison Terms for Juveniles, Protesters Demand Justice for Andrew Brown Jr., Lawyer Demands Release of Bodycam Footage

On Earth Day, we speak with two of the more than two dozen Indigenous authors of a new book that looks at the history of resistance against colonialism and capitalism and lays out a vision for the future to address the climate crisis. "The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth" details the centuries of Indigenous resistance that created the movement at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access pipeline and what movements centering justice for Indigenous people must look like. The book offers a "people's program to prevent extinction," says Melanie Yazzie, assistant professor of Native American studies and American studies at the University of New Mexico and co-author of "The Red Deal." "The plan is really clear. The stakes are really clear," Yazzie says. "We draw centrally from Indigenous movements over the last couple of decades for decolonization." We also speak with Uahikea Maile, an assistant professor of Indigenous politics at the University of Toronto - St. George and one of the book's co-authors.

We look at the state of the pandemic and vaccine rollout in the United States and around the world with Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Hotez is part of a team at Baylor University that is working with a private Indian company to develop a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine. The task of developing a simple vaccine is "daunting," Dr. Hotez says. "We're talking about 5 billion doses of vaccine. And the question is: Where do you get 5 billion doses of vaccine?" he says. "We're trying to come through with something that uses the same old-school technology as the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine that's been around for four decades."

We go to Mumbai, India, for an update on the state of crisis in the country as COVID-19 cases surge and hospitals run out of oxygen. India recently recorded 315,000 new cases in a single day, the highest daily toll in any country since the start of the pandemic, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continued to hold large campaign rallies. Public health experts have blamed the surge on a number of factors, including the government's reluctance to impose another round of lockdowns, the spread of a double mutant variant of the virus, a recent Hindu festival attended by millions, and a slow vaccination drive. India has led efforts to force Big Pharma to waive patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines, but the United States and other wealthy nations have blocked such a move at the World Trade Organization. "It is an apocalyptic situation in India right now," says journalist Rana Ayyub. "Clearly, we have not learned our lessons from the pandemic last year."

India Reports Over 315,000 COVID-19 Infections, the Single Worst Daily Toll of Pandemic, Latin American Nations Suffer "Worst Moment" of Coronavirus Pandemic, U.S. Vaccination Pace Slows as White House Hits Goal of 200 Million Doses in 100 Days, Department of Justice Launches Civil Probe into Minneapolis Police Misconduct, Funeral Services Held for Daunte Wright, 20-Year-Old Black Man Killed by White Minnesota Cop, NC Protesters Demand Release of Footage Showing Police Killing of Andrew Brown, Columbus Police Body-Camera Footage Shows Officer Shot 16-Year-Old Ma'Khia Bryant Four Times, GOP Lawmakers in Iowa and Oklahoma Pass Anti-Protest Bills, EU to Cut Carbon Emissions by 55% from 1990 Levels, Environmental Groups Urge U.S. to Do More to Curb Emissions as Biden Hosts Climate Summit, U.S. Capitol Cop Instructed Personnel to Monitor for Anti-Trump Protesters on Jan. 6, Hundreds Arrested in Russia During Pro-Navalny Protests, President Putin Warns Western Nations Against Crossing "Red Line", Human Rights Watch Condemns Thai Crackdown, Detention of Activists Who Insult the Monarchy, Senate Confirms Vanita Gupta as Associate Attorney General , U.S. Judge Orders Los Angeles to Shelter All Unhoused Residents of Skid Row, Manhattan District Attorney Will Stop Prosecuting Sex Work, Bernie Sanders and Pramila Jayapal Unveil Bill That Would Tax Wall Street to Make College Free

A Minnesota jury's conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin on three counts for murdering George Floyd does not go far enough in dismantling police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, says historian and author Khalil Gibran Muhammad. "We know that while the prosecution was performing in such a way to make the case that Derek Chauvin was a rogue actor, the truth is that policing should have been on trial in that case," Muhammad says. "We don't have a mechanism in our current system of laws in the way that we treat individual offenses to have that accountability and justice delivered." Muhammad also lays out the racist history of slave patrols that led to U.S. police departments, which he details his book, "The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America."

The police murder of George Floyd added jet fuel to a nationwide push to defund the police. We go to Minneapolis to speak with Kandace Montgomery, co-executive director of Black Visions Collective, about their response to the guilty verdict for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd and an update on the push to divest from Minneapolis police and invest in communities.