Up First from NPR - Vice President Harris Interview, Unrest in France, Actors' Strike

Episode Date: July 1, 2023

Vice President Harris tells NPR the Biden Administration will move forward with student loan forgiveness. Unrest continues in France after massive protests over a police killing of a teenager. Hollywood prepares for a looming actors' strike.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A blow to a Biden promise. The Supreme Court rejects the president's plan for student loan forgiveness. And the vice president tells us to, quote, fight for the future we deserve. I'm Myles Parks. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. Also, massive protests shaped France after police shot and killed a teenager. Now President Macron is ordering 45,000 officers to mobilize. And with Hollywood writers already on strike, actors are now on the brink as well.

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Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. It has been a bruising year for the Biden administration at the Supreme Court. Last year at this time, the Dobbs decision overturned Roe versus Wade. This week, the court strikes down affirmative action in the college admissions process, turns back the administration on student debt relief, and restricts LGBTQ rights. Vice President Kamala Harris was in New Orleans this week and sat down with NPR's Michelle Martin. Michelle joins us now to talk about that conversation. Hey, Michelle. Hey, good morning, Miles. Great to have you here. So tell me a little bit about why the

vice president was in New Orleans. Well, she was a featured speaker at the Essence Festival. It's one of the largest, they would say the largest, music festival in the country. And people come from all over for concerts and fun, but also for panels and networking. I mean, this was a crowd that was really excited to see her. A lot of people told us that they are proud of her. A lot of people said that they identify with her and they want to support her. I mean, she's a first. I mean, she's an HBCU grad. Members of her sorority came out to support her. But people from all different professions, for a lot of people, this is an annual event, and it's a logical place for her to be to sort of establish herself as a major player. Well, her message was that people should celebrate and have fun and enjoy each other's company. But she also had a pretty sobering message that people's fundamental rights are at stake.

She said that democracy is fragile, that what happens in the U.S. has implications all over the world, and that these recent Supreme Court decisions in particular made it clear that people need to vote up and down the ballot, and as she put it, fight for the future we deserve. Well, that was her message from the stage, but you sat down with her after. Tell us a little bit about that interview. Well, you know, she clearly seemed to be reveling in the fact that this is a very supportive crowd and she seemed to be enjoying herself. But her comments, as I said, were very sobering. Here's a little bit of my conversation with her. On the way down here, the plane was filled with people

coming here who were so excited to be here, to be part of this. For many people, it's an annual event. And yet the contrast of these consequential decisions that were so upsetting to so many of the people who participate in an event like this. And I'm just wondering how you're holding both of those thoughts in your head at the same time. conflicting emotions, but I would suggest that in any moment where there is great challenge, moments of great consequence, and moments of crisis or crises in the case of even just these three decisions from the Supreme Court, I think it's important to have the natural and appropriate emotion about what those decisions might mean and to also be joyful about coming together with people who share your life experience and with whom there is some commonality of approach and perspective and experience. And all of those can be true at the same time. But certainly, you know, today just being here after these decisions and,

you know, on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, there's a lot to talk about. There's so much at stake. And that's why on the stage, you know, last year when I was on the stage, it was more kind of a fun interaction, and we designed it that way. But today it was quite serious because this is a serious moment, and fundamental issues are at stake. And I do believe that there is a national movement afoot to attack hard-won and hard-fought freedoms. So, Michelle, you can hear there that she views this as a real fight, essentially. How does she fit into that as vice president? Well, I have to tell you, Miles, that her answer surprised me a little bit in that she didn't so much frame this as part of her responsibility as vice president.

She said that it was her responsibility as an American. Take a listen. I have a role as an American, love our country and understand what is at stake and as people who believe in the promise of our country but understand we have some work yet to do to fully achieve that promise. I think about my role as Vice President of the United States and what that means both in terms of the bully pulpit that I have and the responsibility that comes with that to hopefully inform folks of things I might be aware of, but also to elevate public discourse and hopefully cut through the misinformation.

And as you might imagine, Miles, she also called on the people there to vote, but also to remember to vote up and down the ballot. That's NPR's Michelle Martin. Thanks, Michelle. You're welcome. And you can hear more of Michelle's interview with the vice president Monday on Morning Edition. Another night of riots, and now a funeral. In France, mourners gathered in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre to pay their final respects to the 17-year-old who was shot by a police officer earlier this week after being stopped for running a red light. Reporter Rebecca Rossman is in Nanterre and she joins us now. Hi, Rebecca.

Hi, good morning. Good morning. So it has been four nights of protests and rioting across France. Thousands have been arrested, and now this funeral. Tell us what it's like there. Well, it's a closed funeral, but I did see some people filing into the cemetery earlier. It's a rainy and quiet morning here, and I have to say, quiet feels a bit unusual for this suburb right now, given all that has happened since Tuesday when the shooting took place. I spoke to one young woman, her name is Shireen, and she's only 19 years old. She told me she knew him. So what she's saying, you know, it's one thing when you see this kind of stuff on

TV, but it's totally different when it happens in your own town. And she also described the boy as someone who was always smiling, never in a bad mood, just really a joy to be around. Yeah, tell us a little bit more about him. What else has come out in the last few days? Yeah, he's being referred to in the media as Nahel M. No last name has been given. We know that he was of Algerian and Moroccan descent, and he was brought up by a single mother.

His mom, Mounia, has told the media that they were extremely close, and he was working as a food delivery driver. He was also training to become an electrician. He was enrolled at a nearby university but didn't regularly attend classes, and he didn't have a criminal record, but he was known to police for several traffic violations in the past. He was also part of an integration program for struggling teens looking to gain work experience, and the head of that program described Nahal as someone who really fit in and just wasn't the kind of kid to get in any trouble. A lot of people have been referring to this incident as France's essentially George

Floyd moment. Is that an apt comparison? Yeah, first just to remind people, George Floyd moment. Is that an apt comparison? Yeah. First, just to remind people, George Floyd was the black man killed by a white police officer in 2020, which set off a series of major protests across the U.S. What I've been hearing from a lot of activists in particular is they take some issue with that comparison, actually, because they say it makes it sound like people in France are just waking up to issues like systemic racism and police brutality when this is something that they've been signaling for years, if not decades. But I think what they hope is that the greater public is becoming more attuned to what they see as a culture of impunity within the police force. And they hope that this will start a greater conversation. Any idea on whether these protests are expected to continue into the weekend and into next week? Yeah, I think we can definitely expect that. There were 1,300 arrests made last

night alone. That's up from 900 arrests the previous evening. That being said, the government has deployed 45,000 police officers across the country to quell protests. And the government is warning young people especially to stay at home. The average age of the arrests made on Thursday night was only 17 years old. Some were as young as 13 years old. So the government has repeated calls for calm, but especially given that it's the weekend now, it's likely there will be more activity on the streets this evening. That's reporter Rebecca Rossman in France. Thank you so much, Rebecca. Thank you so much, Rebecca. Thank you.

Hollywood remains in suspense over whether actors will make a deal with major studios and streamers or go on strike. The contract for their union, SAG-AFTRA, was supposed to end at midnight. But negotiations are continuing. We're joined now by NPR's man-delete Dale Barco, who has been covering the story from Los Angeles. Good morning. Good morning. So there's a new deadline now, July 12th. What does that tell us about where the contract negotiations stand? Well, you know, we don't know the details because there's a media blackout by both sides, SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They've been in talks for the past few weeks, and members already overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if necessary. A few days ago, more than 1,000 big-name actors from Meryl Streep to Pedro Pascal signed a letter urging negotiators not to cave.

That letter was also signed by the president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher. You may remember her from the 1990s sitcom The Nanny. Well, Fran Drescher went on TV's Good Morning America this week. She was asked if they were making headway in the contract talks. You know, in some areas we are, in some areas we're not. So we just have to see. I mean, in earnest, it would be great if we can walk away with the deal that we want. Last night, Drescher sent a message to members saying that no one should mistake the extension of the contract for weakness.

Also, a note here for full transparency, many of us here at NPR are members of SAG-AFTRA, but broadcast journalists are under a different contract than the film and TV performers, and we wouldn't be expected to go on strike if one is called. If the actors do end up going on strike, they'll be joining with writers who've been on strike for a while. Has anything changed in those negotiations? Well, you know, the Writers Guild of America say they've been ready to continue talking with the studios and the streamers. They began their strike on May 2nd, but it does look like they'll probably have to wait until the actors' contract gets resolved. Meanwhile, a lot of actors have already been picketing outside studios in solidarity with the writers. The last time the Hollywood actors and writers were on strike at the same time was in 1960.

Back then, there were just three broadcast networks. SAG hadn't yet merged with AFTRA. The Screen Actors Guild was led by a studio contract player named Ronald Reagan, decades before he would become the country's president. Yeah. Those strikes were fights over getting residuals when movies got aired on television. And so what are actors asking for now? Like, what are some of the things that they want out of this new contract with studios?

Well, they're asking for more residuals when streaming platforms replace shows and movies they're in. And also they want regulations and protections from the use of artificial intelligence. Actors worry that their likeness will be used by AI replacing their work. You know, this week I met with Vincent Amaya and Elizabeth Mihalik. They're background actors, basically extras who are in the actors union, and they're very worried about studios and streamers replicating their work with AI. What they started doing is putting us into a physical machine, scanning us, and then using that image into crowd scenes. And if a movie wanted to do crowd scenes, they would hire us for a good two, three weeks, maybe a month. However, if they're scanning us, that's one day. They kind of tell people, like, well, you have to get get scanned and we're going to use this forever and ever.

You know, it's a perpetual use contract. Losing workdays means less pay and they may not qualify for the union's health care and pension benefits. That's NPR's Mandelit Del Barco. Mandelit, thank you so much. Oh, thank you. And that's Up First for Saturday, July 1st, 2023. I'm Myles Parks. And I'm Ayesha Roscoe. Today's podcast was edited by Sierra Crawford,

Reena Advani, Ashley Westerman, Fernando Narro, and Ed McNulty. It was produced by Andrew Craig and Michael Radcliffe and directed by Danny Hensel with engineering support from Hannah Glovna. Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor, our executive producer is Sarah Oliver, and our deputy managing editor is Jim Kane. Sunday on Up First, election workers tell us they're being verbally assaulted, followed, and harassed. We'll take you to a county in rural Oregon that's preparing for next year's presidential elections. And for more news and interviews, books, and music, you can find us on Weekend Edition from NPR News. Find your NPR stations at stations.npr.org and tune in every Saturday and Sunday morning. Thank you.