Democracy Now!

Renowned political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's lawyers confirmed Wednesday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and also has congestive heart disease. Abu-Jamal also suffers from the preexisting conditions of liver disease, which advocates say is directly related to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections' failure to treat his hepatitis C in a timely fashion. Mumia's doctor, Dr. Ricardo Alvarez, says the only appropriate treatment is freedom. Marc Lamont Hill, who co-authored a book with Abu-Jamal titled "The Classroom and the Cell: Conversations on Black Life in America," says this is an opportunity to exercise COVID compassion. "The only possible solution, the only fair solution, is to let Mumia out of prison," says Lamont Hill. "Not just Mumia, but all political prisoners, all people over 50."

Israel and the United States blasted the International Criminal Court's decision to open a probe into Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories, as well as crimes committed by Palestinian militant groups. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that the Biden administration "firmly opposes" an investigation. Mitchell Plitnick and Marc Lamont Hill, co-authors of "Except for Palestine," say it's an illustration of the "Palestine exception" that makes even supposedly progressive people unwilling to criticize Israel's human rights abuses and its ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories. "We are attempting to show that the American left — those who identify as progressive, radical, liberal, what have you — have not held up the bargain in terms of matching their own ideals and values on this question of Israel and Palestine," says Hill.

Israel has had the fastest vaccination rollout in the entire world, with 40% of Israelis already fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have received almost no doses — a situation critics call "vaccine apartheid." By one count, just 34,000 vaccine doses have been administered to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, which has a population of over 4.5 million. "What we're seeing right now is a gross injustice," says Marc Lamont Hill, author and professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University. We also speak with Mitchell Plitnick, political analyst and president of ReThinking Foreign Policy, who rejects Israel's claim that the Oslo Accords put public health responsibility on the Palestinian Authority. "The Oslo Accords don't say that," Plitnick says.

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll has now topped nearly 260,000, the world's second worst after the United States, as hospitals are overwhelmed with new cases. International concern is also growing about the P1 variant of the virus, which overwhelmed the Amazonian city of Manaus and caused its hospitals to run out of oxygen. Less than 4% of Brazil's population has been vaccinated. Marcia Castro, demography professor at Harvard University, says the crisis in Brazil is due to "a combination of inaction and also wrongdoing" by officials, including President Jair Bolsonaro, who has opposed lockdowns, masks and other public health measures. "It's going to get worse before it gets better," warns Castro.

House Passes Landmark Voting Rights and Police Reform Bills , House Cancels Thursday Session as Capitol Police Warn of Plot to Attack Congress, D.C. National Guard Chief Says Pentagon Took 3+ Hours to Approve Reinforcements During Capitol Riot, Biden Agrees to Limit Eligibility for Stimulus Checks, At Least 38 Killed in Burma in Deadliest Day of Anti-Coup Protests, White House Does Not Rule Out More Military Strikes After Rocket Attack in Iraq, Pope Francis Moves Ahead with Iraq Trip Despite Coronavirus Concerns, Brazil COVID Deaths Spike; More COVAX Vaccines Delivered to African Nations, Biden Condemns Texas, Mississippi for Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions, Chicago Hunger Strikers Call Out Environmental Racism, Try to Halt Relocation of Scrapyard , Andrew Cuomo Refuses to Take Responsibility in Apology for Misconduct, Rejects Calls to Resign, Lawyers Confirm Mumia Abu-Jamal Has COVID-19, Dolly Parton "Gets a Dose of Her Own Medicine," Urges Others to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

There are about 2.5 million farmworkers around the U.S., many of them undocumented immigrants working under dangerous and exploitive circumstances without sick leave or healthcare. Despite their status as essential workers, however, many farmworkers are facing an uphill battle to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Estella Cisneros, legal director of the Agricultural Worker Program for California Rural Legal Assistance, says an uneven rollout in California as well as technical barriers have left many farmworkers unvaccinated. "There's been a lot of inequities that we've seen," she says. We also speak with Mary Jo Dudley, director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, who says it's "puzzling" that farmworkers in New York state were left out of the current phase of vaccine distribution "at a time when we've seen an increasing number of COVID cases among the farmworker population."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing mounting calls from fellow Democrats and progressive organizations to resign or be impeached over sexual harassment allegations and his cover-up of thousands of COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes. New York Attorney General Letitia James has launched an investigation after three women — two former aides and a woman who met Cuomo at a friend's wedding reception — accused Cuomo of sexual harassment. "Credible accusations of sexual harassment made by these courageous women coming forward show a clear pattern of Cuomo's abuse of power," says New York Assemblymember Ron Kim, who is calling for Cuomo's resignation. Kim also discusses a threatening phone call he says he received from Cuomo after he spoke out against the cover-up of nursing home deaths. "He personally got on the phone to threaten my career to suppress the truth," Kim says.

Anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked across the U.S. over the past year, fueled in part by Donald Trump's racist rhetoric about the coronavirus. One recent study found a 150% increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans in 2020, even though overall hate crimes fell last year. Ron Kim, member of the New York State Assembly representing the 40th District in Queens, New York, says anti-Asian sentiment tends to flare up during times of crisis. "There's a long history of Asian Americans in this country feeling targeted and scapegoated whenever we experience economic downturns," says Kim. We also speak with Kim Tran, an antiracist writer and organizer based in the Bay Area, who says anti-Asian violence is "diffuse," affecting people in different ethnic and cultural communities in various ways, "but there is a common sense of racial scapegoating."

Biden Vows Vaccine Supply Will Be Enough to Vaccinate All U.S. Adults by End of May, Texas Lifts All COVID Restrictions; Sanders to Force Vote on $15 Minimum Wage, WH Pulls Tanden OMB Bid, Senate Confirms Raimondo for Commerce Dept., Rouse as Top Economic Adviser, Seth Harris, Who Wrote Blueprint for California's Prop 22, Tapped for Top Labor Role, FBI Director Says Domestic Terrorism Has Been "Metastasizing" as Capitol Increases Security, 3 Women Media Workers Shot Dead in Afghanistan, Protests in Lebanon After Currency Plummets to Record Low, Family of Hunger-Striking Western Sahara Political Prisoner Refused Visit, Fears for His Life, U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Russia over Navalny Poisoning, Reporters Without Borders Files Case Against Mohammed bin Salman for Jamal Khashoggi's Murder, Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Surpassed Pre-Pandemic Levels by End of 2020, Biden Admin Halts Transfer of Oak Flat, Sacred Native Land, to Mining Company, State GOPs Attack Trans Rights, Barring Access to Healthcare, Participation in Sports, At Least 13 Killed in Southern California Vehicular Crash, Dems Make Push for Gun Control in New Administration

We look at how people across the U.S. have struggled to access abortions during the pandemic with reporter Amy Littlefield, who says that even before the COVID-19 outbreak, many states had restrictions, including three-day waiting periods and counseling sessions filled with misinformation. Then, many tried to use the pandemic as a pretext for banning abortion as a nonessential service. "Texas, in the early weeks of the pandemic, sort of gave us a dress rehearsal for what it could look like when states try to ban abortion entirely," says Littlefield. "We saw how half a century worth of attempts to whittle away at abortion access really collided with a deadly pandemic in a way that was just devastating."

As the U.S. vaccine rollout continues to expand, health justice advocates worry about a racial gap in vaccinations. Black communities have been hard hit by the pandemic, but rates of vaccination in communities of color lag behind largely white communities across the country. Dr. Oni Blackstock, a primary care and HIV physician, argues that age cutoffs should be lowered or removed for Black people in order to speed up inoculations, noting that Black Americans are twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as white Americans and also dying at rates similar to those of white Americans who are 10 years older. "These fixed-age cutoffs that most states implemented did not take into account structural racism's toll on Black life expectancy in addition to the impact of the pandemic on the life expectancy of Black people in this country," says Dr. Blackstock.

The Republican-led House in Georgia has passed a sweeping bill to make it harder to vote, in a move aimed to prevent Democrats from winning future elections. The bill limits access to absentee ballots, limits weekend early voting hours and curbs ballot drop boxes, among other provisions. Across the U.S., Republican lawmakers have introduced more than 250 bills in 43 states aimed at restricting voting access. Ari Berman, author and reporter for Mother Jones, says Republicans are "breaking democracy" with their push to restrict voting. "The Republican Party has no interest in appealing to a majority of Americans. Instead, they are doubling down on anti-democratic tactics so they can get a minority of votes but wield a majority of power," says Berman.

CDC Director Warns Against States' Rollback of Coronavirus Public Health Measures, Donald and Melania Trump Were Secretly Vaccinated Against COVID-19 in January, Merck Strikes Deal to Produce COVID-19 Vaccine of Rival Johnson & Johnson, WHO Warns of Global Rise in Coronavirus Cases After Weeks of Declines, U.N. Warns of "Death Sentence" for Yemenis as Humanitarian Aid Drive Falls Short, Senate Confirms Miguel Cardona as Education Secretary, Will Vote on Merrick Garland for AG, Democrats Unveil Wealth Tax on Ultra-Millionaires and Billionaires, DOJ to Appeal After Trump-Appointed Judge Orders End to Eviction Moratorium, President Biden Voices Support for Amazon Workers' Vote to Unionize in Alabama, Biden Administration Paves Way for Reunification of Families Separated by Trump , Goya Foods Boycott Grows After CEO Calls Trump the "Legitimate" U.S. President, Nearly 300 Nigerian Schoolgirls Released After Mass Kidnapping , Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Found Guilty of Corruption, Georgia's State House Passes Voter Suppression Bill to Limit Absentee and Early Voting, Third Woman Accuses New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of Sexual Harassment, Australian Youth Climate Activists File Class Action Suit to Block Coal Mine Expansion

In Burma, mass protests continue after at least 18 people were killed in anti-coup protests, marking the deadliest day since the February 1 military coup which deposed and detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Police fired live ammunition into crowds as Burmese forces steadily escalated their crackdown. One local group says 1,000 people were arrested, including journalists and medical professionals. "The coup group and the entire security sector … have essentially terrorized the entire population," says Maung Zarni, a Burmese scholar, dissident and human rights activist. "I have seen absolutely nothing like what is happening."

The House of Representatives has voted to pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package that includes an increase to the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour, which could now be stripped out in the final bill after the unelected Senate parliamentarian found it does not comply with budget rules. Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have also said they'll oppose the measure. Congressmember Ro Khanna of California says the parliamentarian "misruled" in this case and that Democrats should pass the wage hike anyway. "I don't know any part of this country where someone can survive on $7.25," he says. "There is precedent for not listening to the parliamentarian's advice, and we are hopeful that the vice president, or whoever is in the Senate chair, will do that."

The Biden administration is facing intense criticism from U.S. progressives after carrying out airstrikes on eastern Syria said to be targeting Iranian-backed militia groups. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least 22 people died. The Pentagon called the assault a response to recent rocket attacks on U.S. forces in northern Iraq. Those attacks came more than a year after Iraq's parliament voted to expel U.S. troops — an order ignored by both the Trump and Biden administrations. "Very quickly the Biden administration is falling into the same old patterns of before, of responding to this and that without having a clear strategy that actually would extract us from these various conflicts and actually pave the way for much more productive diplomacy," says Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute. We also speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who says President Biden's recent airstrikes in Syria lacked legal authority. "This is not an ambiguous case. The administration's actions are clearly illegal under the United States' law and under international law," says Khanna.

The Biden administration has released a declassified report that finds Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, responsible for the assassination of Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. But the U.S. does not plan to sanction the crown prince, though the administration has announced travel restrictions to dozens of other Saudi officials. The decision is being criticized by human rights groups and friends of the late Khashoggi. "It's important to not point fingers but also to sanction MBS … and to treat him as the pariah he is, like Biden promised during the campaign," says Abdullah Alaoudh, who works as a researcher for Democracy for the Arab World Now, or DAWN, the organization founded by Khashoggi. We also speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who welcomes the release of the report. "They need to follow that up with concrete action," he says. "At the very least, MBS shouldn't be allowed to come to the United States."

Biden Will Not Sanction MBS After Intel Report Confirms Responsibility in Khashoggi Murder, Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Rolls Out as CDC Warns Decline in Cases Has Stalled, Dem. Senators Move to Penalize Big Companies That Underpay Workers, 18 Killed in Deadliest Day of Burmese Anti-Coup Protests, 47 Hong Kong Activists Charged Under National Security Law, Four Killed, 120 Injured After Iraqi Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters in Nasiriyah, 42 Released Following Mass Kidnapping at Nigerian School, 15 Refugees Drown as Boat Capsizes Off Libyan Coast, Donald Trump Attacks Immigrants & Lies About 2020 Election in First Post-Presidency Speech, All Families Released from Berks County ICE Jail, Asian Americans and Allies Demand Action Against Surging Hate Crimes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Apologizes After Second Former Aide Claims Sexual Harassment, Jackson, MS, Residents Still Lack Running Water Two Weeks After Cold Snap, Supporters Demand Prison Release of Mumia Abu-Jamal as He Suffers COVID-19 Symptoms

The family of Malcolm X is demanding a new investigation into his 1965 assassination in light of the deathbed confession of a former New York police officer who said police and the FBI conspired to kill the Black leader. Ilyasah Shabazz, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and one of Malcolm's six children, says the latest revelation is further evidence of how the authorities worked to infiltrate and undermine Black organizations during the civil rights movement. "All he wanted was for America to live up to her promise of liberty and justice for all," she says of her father. "I'm happy that the truth can finally be uncovered."

The FBI and New York Police Department are facing renewed calls to open their records into the assassination of Malcolm X, after the release of a deathbed confession of a former undercover NYPD officer who admitted to being part of a conspiracy targeting Malcolm. In the confession, Raymond Wood, who died last year, admitted he entrapped two members of Malcolm's security team in another crime — a plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty — just days before the assassination. This left the Black civil rights leader vulnerable at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, where he was fatally shot on February 21, 1965. Raymond Wood's cousin Reggie Wood, who released the confession last week at a press conference, tells Democracy Now! his cousin's involvement in the plot haunted him for much of his life. "Ray was told by his handlers not to repeat anything that he had seen or heard, or he would join Malcolm," says Reggie Wood. "He trusted me enough to reveal this information and asked me not to say anything until he passed away, but at the same time not to allow him to take it to his grave."

The Democratic-led House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on a sweeping police reform bill that would ban chokeholds, prohibit federal no-knock warrants, establish a National Police Misconduct Registry and other measures. The legislation, known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, is in response to a series of high-profile killings of Black people in 2020 and the nationwide racial justice uprising they sparked. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who has represented the families of Floyd, Daniel Prude, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many other victims of police and racial violence, says the legislation is "crucial" for reforming police culture across the U.S. and reducing violence against Black people. "We need systematic reform," says Crump.

President Biden Orders Airstrikes on Syria, Killing 17 Iran-Backed Militia Members, Biden Calls Saudi King Salman, Doesn't Raise Crown Prince's Involvement in Khashoggi's Murder, Brazil's COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 250,000, "Long COVID": 1 in 10 COVID-19 Survivors Face Lingering and Debilitating Symptoms, WHO Warns, Biden Warns It's "Not a Time to Relax" as U.S. Records Another 2,400 COVID-19 Deaths, Senate Parliamentarian Advises Against Including Minimum Wage Hike in Coronavirus Relief Bill, Police Chief Warns Pro-Trump Militia Members Are Plotting to Blow Up the Capitol, Hundreds of Nigerian Schoolgirls Feared Abducted in Raid, U.S. House Passes Historic Equality Act Protecting LGBTQ People, Rand Paul Launches Transphobic Attack Against HHS Nominee Rachel Levine, Ex-Aide Accuses Andrew Cuomo of Sexual Harassment as Scandals Pile Up Around NY Governor, Ex-USA Gymnastics Coach Charged with Sexual Assault & Human Trafficking Dies by Suicide, Georgia GOP Pushes Voter Suppression Bill in Wake of 2020 "Blue Sweep"

As more details emerge about those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, it's becoming clearer that the insurrection was not the work of a "fringe" group, but rather the result of a decades-long conservative effort to undermine democracy, according to author Brendan O'Connor. "The events of January 6 were not just months, but years, decades, in the making," says O'Connor, who notes that major Republican donors and prominent conservative groups were connected to the Trump rally that immediately preceded the Capitol riot.

As the House of Representatives prepares to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a fight is brewing over the inclusion of an increase to the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The measure is at risk in the Senate, where conservative Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema oppose its inclusion in the relief bill or suggest a lower amount. Congressmember Jan Schakowsky of Illinois says Congress must pass the minimum wage hike to help address inequality in the United States. "The current minimum wage, federally, is $7.25. Now, you can't live on that. You can't raise a family on that," she says. "Those colleagues of mine who think that it is too high, that we have to have perhaps a regional wage, are so disrespectful."

As the pandemic's death toll nears 2.5 million, stringent rules around intellectual property rights could be preventing much of the world from obtaining COVID-19 vaccines. Over 45 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the United Nations, while 130 other countries have not received any vaccines at all, leading to what some describe as "vaccine apartheid." At the World Trade Organization, South Africa and India are leading a push by over 100 nations to waive intellectual property rules that give pharmaceutical companies monopolistic control over vaccines they develop, even when the vaccines are developed largely with public funds, in order to speed up distribution of the life-saving medicines — but the U.S. has been a key impediment to loosening those restrictions. "The proposal really seeks to ensure that everyone has access," says Mustaqeem De Gama, a member of the South African WTO delegation. "We should enable more producers to produce, to scale, and to ensure that all of us are safe in the shortest possible time." We also speak with Congressmember Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, who supports the WTO waiver. "We know that these intellectual property rights really do put profit over people all over the world," she says.

Biden and VP Harris to Mark 50 Million Vaccine Shots Since Start of Admin, FDA Moves Closer to Approval of Single-Dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine, Manchin Will Vote to Confirm Rep. Haaland for Interior Sec. as Neera Tanden's Bid for OMB in Peril, Biden Admin to Release Intel Report on Jamal Khashoggi's 2018 Murder, 6,500 Migrant Workers Have Died in Qatar Since It Was Named Host of 2022 World Cup, At Least 41 Migrants Drown in Mediterranean After Boat Capsizes, Amnesty Revokes Alexei Navalny's "Prisoner of Conscience" Status over Hateful Remarks, 79 Prisoners Killed in Ecuador in Gang-Related Violence, Angola, Louisiana Prisoners on Hunger Strike over Extended Solitary Confinement, Illinois Becomes First State to End Cash Bail , Consumer Watchdog and 3 States Sue Bail Bond Co. for "Preying" on Jailed Immigrants, Prosecutors Charge Ex-NYPD Cop Who Attacked Capitol Officer "Like a Junkyard Dog" on Jan. 6, Biden Reverses Green Card Ban; Lawyers Found Parents of 105 Separated Migrant Kids in Past Month, Honduran Immigrant Alex García Leaves Missouri Church After 1,252 Days in Sanctuary, Immigration Activist Marco Saavedra Wins Political Asylum

One of the most controversial Trump-era immigration policies — the so-called Remain in Mexico program, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols — left about 25,000 asylum seekers stranded on the other side of the border while their cases progressed through U.S. courts. President Joe Biden has suspended that program, but immigrant advocates say his administration needs to move more quickly to undo the damage. Although dozens of asylum seekers have been allowed to trickle in, many thousands are still waiting in dangerous conditions for their chance to cross the border, including in the Matamoros refugee camp across the border from Brownsville, Texas. It is the largest camp of its kind and holds hundreds of men, women and children seeking asylum, most of them fleeing extreme violence and poverty in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. "We've gotten very little government support on the ground with this transition," says Chloe Rastatter, a field engineer for Solidarity Engineering, a humanitarian organization that provides support in the Matamoros camp. "They say MPP is over, but there's a camp of 1,000 people still here." We also speak with Dison, an asylum seeker from Honduras who works with Solidarity Engineering, and investigative reporter Valerie Gonzalez, who covers the Rio Grande Valley.

Indigenous communities across the United States are closely following the Senate confirmation hearings of Congressmember Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Interior Department, who would become the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary if she is confirmed. Haaland is a tribal citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, and the prospect of an Indigenous person leading the federal department with broad oversight of Native American affairs has galvanized support for her in Indian Country. Several Republican senators have grilled Haaland over her past comments opposing fracking, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other fossil fuel projects, attempting to paint her as a "radical." Journalist Julian Brave NoiseCat says there is a deep irony in Republican attacks on Haaland. "As soon as we get the first-ever Native cabinet secretary nominated, conservatives act like we're going to take away their land and their way of life," he says.

Ex-U.S. Capitol Security Say Intelligence Failures Led to Jan. 6 Attack Even as FBI Warned of "War", Senate Confirms Thomas-Greenfield, Vilsack as GOP Go After Haaland in Interior Confirmation, House to Vote Friday on $1.9 Trillion Relief Bill as Fate of $15/Hour Minimum Wage Remains Uncertain, U.S. Blocks Waiver on Vaccine Intellectual Property Protections, Lebanese Lawmakers Accused of Vaccine Line Cutting; Rabbis Call on Israel to Vaccinate Palestinians, No Charges Filed Against Rochester Police Officers Who Killed Daniel Prude, Ahmaud Arbery's Mother Files Lawsuit Against Her Son's Killers on Anniversary of His Death, Family Files Lawsuit over Police Killing of Filipino American Angelo Quinto in California, Indian Court Grants Bail to Indian Climate Activist Who Shared Info on Supporting Farmer Protests, Mohamed Bazoum Declared Winner of Niger's Presidential Election, Man Pleads Guilty to 2017 Murder of Maltese Reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, Algerians Take to Streets 2 Years After Start of Historic Protests That Led to President's Resignation, Democratic Senators Propose Sanctions for Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Biden Admin Reopens Trump-Era Texas Detention Facility for Migrant Teens, TX Electric Company Griddy Hit with $1 Billion Price Gouging Lawsuit; 5 ERCOT Board Members Resign, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Legendary Poet & Co-founder of San Francisco's City Lights Books, Dies at 101

The visionary Black science-fiction writer Octavia Butler died 15 years ago on February 24, 2006, but her influence and readership has only continued to grow since then. In September, Butler's novel "Parable of the Sower" became her first to reach the New York Times best-seller list. We speak with adrienne maree brown, a writer and Octavia Butler scholar, who says Butler had a remarkable talent for universalizing Black stories. "She wrote about Black women and about Black feminism, about Black futures, but she wrote in a way that appealed to all human beings," says brown.

As Democracy Now! marks 25 years on the air, we are revisiting some of the best and most impactful moments from the program's history, including one of the last television interviews given by the visionary Black science-fiction writer Octavia Butler. She spoke to Democracy Now! in November 2005, just three months before she died on February 24, 2006, at age 58. Butler was the first Black woman to win Hugo and Nebula awards for science-fiction writing and the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur "genius" fellowship. Her best-known books include the classics "Kindred," as well as "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents" — two-thirds of a trilogy that was never finished. Her work inspired a new generation of Black science-fiction writers, and she has been called "the Mother of Afrofuturism." Her 2005 interview with Democracy Now! took place shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and as President George W. Bush was overseeing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When asked how she set out to become a science-fiction writer when there were so few examples of Black women working in the genre, Butler said she never doubted her abilities. "I assumed that I could do it," she said. "I wasn't being brave or even thoughtful. I wanted it. And I assumed I could have it."

The United States has passed 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, by far the highest toll in the world. The morbid milestone comes as new COVID-19 cases continue to fall across the country amid an accelerating vaccine rollout, but the head of the World Health Organization is calling on rich countries not to undermine efforts to get vaccines to poorer nations by buying up billions of doses — in some cases ordering enough to vaccinate their populations more than once. "The inequities that we've seen here are just absolutely stunning," says Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, who urges advanced economies to share their vaccine stockpiles with poorer countries in order to end the pandemic sooner. "It's in our public health interest, it's in our economic interest, and, I think most importantly, it's really in our ethical and moral compass to be doing this."

AG Nominee Merrick Garland Pledges to Prosecute January 6 Insurrectionists, Confirmation Hearings Open for Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary, Xavier Becerra for HHS Secretary, U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Passes 500,000, President Biden to Meet Virtually with Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau, Supreme Court Won't Block Release of Trump Tax Returns to Manhattan Prosecutors, Boeing 777 Jets Grounded After Engine Explosion Scatters Debris Over Colorado, U.N. Calls for Rescue of Rohingya Refugees Stranded at Sea, Colombian Inquiry Reveals Army Carried Out 6,400 Extrajudicial Killings from 2002-08, Italian Ambassador to Congo Among 3 Killed in Ambush of World Food Programme Convoy, Haitian Protesters Blast U.S. Support for Jovenel Moïse, Who Has Refused to Step Down, Offshore Oil Spill Hits Israel's Beaches, Devastating Wildlife, Texas Refineries Flared 337,000 Pounds of Toxic Chemicals as Winter Storm Hit, U.N. Probe Finds Erik Prince Broke Libya Arms Embargo to Aid Rebel Commander, Independent Probe Finds No Legal Basis for Fatal Assault by Cops and Paramedics on Elijah McClain, Virginia Lawmakers Vote to Outlaw Capital Punishment, New Jersey Governor Signs Bills Legalizing and Decriminalizing Marijuana

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Passes 500,000, AG Nominee Merrick Garland Pledges to Prosecute January 6 Insurrectionists, Confirmation Hearings Open for Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary, Xavier Becerra for HHS Secretary, President Biden to Meet Virtually with Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau, Supreme Court Won't Block Release of Trump Tax Returns to Manhattan Prosecutors, Boeing 777 Jets Grounded After Engine Explosion Scatters Debris Over Colorado, U.N. Calls for Rescue of Rohingya Refugees Stranded at Sea, Colombian Inquiry Reveals Army Carried Out 6,400 Extrajudicial Killings from 2002-08, Italian Ambassador to Congo Among 3 Killed in Ambush of World Food Programme Convoy, Haitian Protesters Blast U.S. Support for Jovenel Moïse, Who Has Refused to Step Down, Offshore Oil Spill Hits Israel's Beaches, Devastating Wildlife, Texas Refineries Flared 337,000 Pounds of Toxic Chemicals as Winter Storm Hit, U.N. Probe Finds Erik Prince Broke Libya Arms Embargo to Aid Rebel Commander, Independent Probe Finds No Legal Basis for Fatal Assault by Cops and Paramedics on Elijah McClain, Virginia Lawmakers Vote to Outlaw Capital Punishment, New Jersey Governor Signs Bills Legalizing and Decriminalizing Marijuana

As winter storms overwhelmed Texas, many incarcerated people in the state went days without heat and water, making already grim conditions behind bars even more intolerable for thousands of people. Officials say 33 prisons across the state lost power and 20 had water shortages after the state's electrical grid failed. Staff shortages compounded the problems, and some incarcerated people report not being provided with blankets to keep warm in their freezing cells and being served inedible food. "Texas prison conditions have gone from bad to dire," says Marshall Project reporter Keri Blakinger. "Prisons didn't really have the sort of infrastructure going into all of this that many people do in the free world."

When millions of Texans lost power during extreme winter weather, some who were fortunate enough to keep the lights on now face astronomically high energy bills, with people being charged thousands of dollars for just a few days of energy use. The skyrocketing bills are a result of the state's years-long push to deregulate its energy market, says Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program. "We are seeing in these deregulated environments unscrupulous companies preying on their assumption that households will not understand or read the fine print," says Slocum. We also speak with Texas resident Akilah Scott-Amos, who saw her electricity bill jump to over $11,000 during the storm. "I have no problems with paying my fair share. But this is not fair," says Scott-Amos.

Millions of Texans are still suffering after severe winter weather devastated the state's energy and water systems. About 8 million Texans remain under orders to boil water, and 30,000 homes still have no power. Around 70 deaths have now been linked to the winter storms, including at least 12 people who died inside their homes after losing heat. Republican lawmakers in Texas are facing increasing criticism for their handling of the crisis, their decades-long push to deregulate the state's energy system, and their unfounded attacks on renewable energy and the Green New Deal. Naomi Klein, senior correspondent at The Intercept and a professor at Rutgers University, says Republicans' reaction is "because of panic" over their own culpability. "The Green New Deal is a plan that could solve so many of Texas's problems and the problems across the country, and Republicans have absolutely nothing to offer except for more deregulation, more privatization, more austerity." Klein also discusses the Biden administration's early policies on the climate crisis, the dangers of continued fossil fuel development, and her new book, "How to Change Everything."

Biden Declares Major Disaster in TX as Tragic Stories Emerge, Residents Hit with Soaring Power Bills, U.S. to Top 500,000 COVID Deaths as Democrats Advance $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Package, U.K. Eases Lockdown; Iranian Vaccine Shows Promising Results; Bolivia Health Workers Launch Strike, Protests Intensify in Burma After 3 Demonstrators Die Amid Violent Crackdown, Thailand Anti-Government Protests Continue After PM Survives No-Confidence Vote, Conservative Guillermo Lasso Advances to 2nd Round of Ecuadorian Presidential Election, Uber Drivers in U.K. Win Legal Battle to Be Recognized as Company Employees, Pentagon Chief Pledges Continued Support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Attorney General Nominee Merrick Garland to Face Senate Confirmation Hearing, Neera Tanden's Nomination to Head OMB at Risk as Sen. Joe Manchin Vows to Vote "No", First Asylum Seekers Forced by Trump to Remain in Mexico Granted U.S. Entry, Sister Dianna Ortiz, Who Survived Torture by U.S.-Trained Guatemalan Military, Dies at 62, Former Cop's Deathbed Confession Reveals Role in Assassination of Malcolm X

Democracy Now! first aired on nine community radio stations on February 19, 1996, on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary. In the 25 years since that initial broadcast, the program has greatly expanded, airing today on more than 1,500 television and radio stations around the globe and reaching millions of people online. We celebrate 25 years of the War and Peace Report with an hour-long retrospective, including highlights from the show's early years, some of the most controversial interviews, and groundbreaking reports from East Timor, Standing Rock, Western Sahara and more.

Power Cuts, Freezing Temperatures Plague Millions as Texas Energy Producers Boast of Profits, Sen. Ted Cruz Fled to Cancún as Millions of Texans Endured Blackouts and Winter Cold, South Africa Switches to Johnson & Johnson Vaccine in Battle Against Coronavirus Variant, Peruvian VIPs Secretly Received First Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine, Pfizer Says its COVID-19 Vaccine Might Not Need Ultra-Cold Temperatures, U.S. COVID Deaths Drop in February But Still on Pace to Top Half-Million by Month's End, U.S. to Give $4 Billion to COVAX as Biden Tries to Repair International Ties, Biden's New ICE Guidelines Continue to Target and Demonize Immigrants, Residents Describe Harrowing November Massacre in Ethiopian Holy City, U.S. Open to Holding Talks on Relaunching Iran Nuclear Deal, Israel Expanding Dimona Nuclear Facility, U.S. Capitol Police Suspends 6 Officers over Actions During Jan. 6 Insurrection, New York Moves Closer to Releasing NYPD Disciplinary Records, Vice President Harris Calls Women's Exodus from Workforce a National Emergency, Protests in Guatemala Call for an End to Violence Against Indigenous Communities

As Democracy Now! prepares to mark 25 years on air, we celebrate Nermeen Shaikh's 10th anniversary as a Democracy Now! co-host and feature a report she filed from protests at New York's JFK Airport against the Trump administration's Muslim ban, one of the many highlights from her time on the program.

Students, campaigners and top Democrats have been pushing President Joe Biden to use executive authority to cancel at least $50,000 in student loan debt per person. Student loan debt in the U.S. stands at $1.7 trillion, with some 45 million people owing money. Filmmaker and organizer Astra Taylor, an author, documentary director and organizer with the Debt Collective, says Biden has clear legal authority to cancel student debt. "Not doing this is a choice," she says. We also speak with Braxton Brewington, a digital strategist with the Debt Collective, who says student debt cancellation is also politically smart. "President Biden has a unique opportunity to bring together a broad coalition of individuals who otherwise would be unlikely to come together around a policy," he says.

While COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations appear to be waning, the United States has a long way to go before people can safely return to everyday life without masks. Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, says it's vital to stay vigilant even as vaccinations ramp up. "If we can get our transmission down as low as possible, that is actually going to make the vaccines more effective."

Millions of people in Texas were plunged into freezing cold and darkness as a major winter storm overwhelmed the state's power grid. More than 12 million Texans face water disruptions and have been ordered to boil tap water for safe consumption, and some parts of the state have no running water at all. The state is also running out of food as the storms disrupt key supply chains. Leading Republicans, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, falsely blamed renewable energy sources for the state's blackouts, warning against a shift to more green energy, but the state's own energy department said the outages were primarily due to freezing at natural gas, coal and nuclear facilities. Despite the crisis, state leaders say they will not integrate Texas's power grid with the rest of the country. "The impact of this storm is more than just power outages and inconveniences," says Texas Southern University professor Robert Bullard, who warns that the additional costs associated with the crisis will hurt Black and Brown communities most. "That's the inequity that's piled on top of the inequity."

Texans Face Deadly Winter Storm with Ongoing Power Outages, Water Shortages, U.S. Life Expectancy Falls by 1 Year in 2020, Drops Nearly 3 Years for Black Americans, Florida Gov. DeSantis Prioritizes Vaccines for Rich White Residents, Then Threatens Critics, Mexico Denounces Vaccine Hoarding as U.N. Warns 130 Nations Have Yet to Receive Any Vaccines, Top Executives at Vaccine Manufacturers Sold $500 Million in Stocks Last Year, FBI Probes Cuomo over Nursing Home COVID Deaths; Cuomo Threatens to "Destroy" Critic, White House Unveils Immigration Bill with 8-Year Path to Citizenship, Burmese Anti-Coup Protests Continue Two Weeks After Military Takeover, Bolivia Returns $350 Million Loan to IMF, Taken Out After 2019 Coup, Biden Speaks to Israeli PM Netanyahu; U.S. to "Recalibrate" Saudi Relations, Dubai Princess Says She Is Being Held Hostage by Her Family in New Video, U.S. Approves $200 Million in Arms Sales to Egypt Amid Human Rights Concerns, Gunmen Kidnap 42 at Nigerian School, South Carolina Passes Bill to Ban Nearly All Abortions, Biden Supports Slavery Reparations Study, HUD Faulted for Failing to Protect Residents from Lead Poisoning, Rush Limbaugh Is Dead, Atlantic City Demolishes Trump Casino

Amid the economic crisis and precarious working conditions for millions of people during the pandemic, we look at a new book by Sarah Jaffe, an independent journalist and author who covers labor and economic justice. "Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone" looks at the unsustainable expectations of fulfillment around work and how the "labor of love" myth has contributed to the rise of toxic workplaces. Jaffe says the pandemic has shown that work can always get worse, and that more and more people are pushing back. "It's not just that it's a bad, grinding, slow, miserable job, but it's also a bad, grinding, slow, miserable job that could kill you now."

Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are continuing to vote on whether to become the first unionized Amazon warehouse in the United States. Their demands include stronger COVID-19 safety measures and relief from impossibly high productivity standards that leave many unable to take bathroom breaks. "We want to be heard. We want to be treated like people and not ignored when we have issues," says Jennifer Bates, a worker at Amazon's BHM1 facility who has been part of the union drive from the beginning. We also speak with Michael Foster, a poultry plant worker, union member and member-organizer with RWDSU. "Amazon has a lot of authority going on right now. And we, as the union, trying to take on Amazon in a right-to-work state, gives you the perfect image of David and Goliath," he says.

As school districts across the U.S. debate how to safely bring children into the classroom, we speak with two leaders of the teachers' union movement on what's at stake as schools reopen. Stacy Davis Gates, executive vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, says years of underfunding and privatization have left many school districts ill-equipped to meet the needs of students, as well as educators. "It's not just the context of opening schools. It's reopening schools safely with the resources that are necessary to keep people safe," she tells Democracy Now! We also speak with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who says when a clear safety program is in place, a majority of teachers are on board with returning to in-class instruction. "The people who are in school trust it and trust that they're going to be safe," Weingarten says.

Severe Winter Storm Kills 23 People, Cuts Power to Millions as Texas Energy System Fails, Storm Creates Havoc for COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout as Biden Seeks Support from Public for Stimulus, NAACP Files Lawsuit Against Trump, Giuliani over Jan. 6 Insurrection, French Assembly Approves Bill Accused of Targeting Muslim Communities, Chad Sending Troops to Sahel, France Will Maintain Military Presence, as Conflict Claims More Lives, Protests Erupt over Spanish Rapper Arrested for Anti-Monarchy Lyrics and Tweets, Biden Directs DHS to Stop Using Word "Alien" to Refer to Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, Biden Received $5 Million from Border Security and Immigrant Prison Companies During Campaign, Meat Plant Workers Suffer Discrimination for Seeking Healthcare, Compensation After Nitrogen Leak, Tribune Publishing Acquired by Hedge Fund Alden Global; Baltimore Sun Will Go to Nonprofit, Beloved Palestinian Poet Mourid Barghouti, Exiled from His Homeland, Dies at 76

Ecuador's presidential front-runner says the country is facing a "double crisis" of COVID-19 and austerity. "We need a renewal in our politics," Andrés Arauz tells Democracy Now! The left-wing economist secured nearly 33% of the vote in the first round of Ecuador's presidential election on February 7 but fell short of the 40% needed to win outright. He will face right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso or Indigenous candidate Yaku Pérez in a runoff election on April 11, depending on the results of a recount after both candidates secured just over 19% of the vote. Arauz has pledged to end austerity measures imposed by Ecuador's outgoing right-wing President Lenín Moreno and is close to former President Rafael Correa, who led the country from 2007 to 2017 and has been credited with lifting over a million Ecuadorians out of poverty. Arauz served in Correa's administration as director of the Central Bank and later as a minister. Arauz says he would seek to work with the Biden administration, if elected, and rejects attempts to interfere in Latin American affairs. "We need to talk about peace, democracy, development as the key issues in Latin America," says Arauz. "We do not want foreign interference in our region. … We hope the Biden administration will stay away from trying to create division within the region."