What A Day - Vaxxers Without Borders

Episode Date: September 3, 2020

Joe Biden will visit Kenosha, Wisconsin later today, where he’ll meet with the family of Jacob Blake. We check in on the continued protests happening there, plus the protests that are continuing in Lafayette, Louisiana, where Trayford Pellerin was killed by police just two days before Blake’s shooting.The Trump administration said it’s not going to take part in a global effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine because the World Health Organization is leading it. The CDC recently told public health officials in 50 states and five major cities to prepare to distribute a vaccine as early as late October.And in headlines: protests in Belarus, survivors of the Tulsa Massacre seek reparations, and John Boyega reflects on Star Wars.

It's Thursday, September 3rd. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What The Day, where we are planning to grill one solitary hamburger for our socially distanced Labor Day. Yeah, I'm going to say, hot dogs are ready, who wants? But just to myself. The beers are in the cooler. The cooler is my fridge, and I'm also alone. Yay, we love holidays. All right, quick announcement before we get started. We are taking a long weekend, so there won't be a show tomorrow or on Monday, but don't worry, we will be back in your earbuds

on Tuesday. All right, on today's show, what the U.S. is doing to prepare for a potential COVID vaccine, then some headlines. But first, the latest. Later today, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will be in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he'll hold a community meeting and talk with the family of Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old man who was shot in the back seven times and paralyzed by a police officer. Yesterday during a press conference, Biden said that at minimum, the officer who shot Blake should be charged. Biden's visit is his first visit to Wisconsin during this campaign. He would have gone for the DNC if not for COVID.

It also comes two days after President Trump was in Kenosha despite pleas to stay away, where he toured some property damage, met with law enforcement, and said that police, quote, choke sometimes. Trump did not mention Blake's name, didn't meet with his family, or talk about the underlying reason why people are protesting, which is racial violence by the police. That's right. And Trump says it got a lot of national

media attention. But flying a little bit under the radar is what's actually happening within the community in Kenosha right now. So what more do we know about that? So protests have continued every day since Blake was shot on August 23rd. And on the day that Trump visited, there was a kind of split screen. So on one side of the city, Trump was being greeted by his supporters. But in another part, the grieving family of Jacob Blake and others from the community held a rally at the scene of a shooting. In addition to speakers like Reverend Jesse Jackson and state reps Todd Onstead and Tip McGuire, both Democrats representing Kenosha, there were free COVID-19 tests, a community food drive, and a booth to register voters. Overall, voter registration has been

commonplace at protests throughout the summer, and that led to a surge when the protests were at their height in June, though registrations are down this year compared to 2016. And just to give you a sense of the politics in Kenosha, in the last presidential election, Trump won the county by only three-tenths of a percent. One of the organizers of the rally, Tanya McLean, said, quote, we know Trump is here to sow chaos and fear, but we are working to bring the country closer to its promise of liberty and justice for all. And we're also following protests happening in Lafayette, Louisiana, where another black man, Traford Pellerin, was shot by police and killed just two days before the Blake shooting. He was 31 years old.

Yeah, so this story has received a lot less media attention in the midst of everything in Wisconsin and the hurricanes in the Gulf. Protests are still ongoing despite those storms, because Lafayette wasn't directly hit. And community activists are calling for a dialogue with the mayor, which they haven't been able to get. I don't know when elected officials are going to realize that they actually have to speak to their constituents, but I digress.

Elected officials have repeatedly insisted that outside agitators are influencing the protests. For what it's worth, most of the protesters who have been arrested during the demonstrations are from Lafayette or nearby cities. And over the weekend, Lafayette said it wouldn't open shelters for Hurricane Laura evacuees because they don't want outsiders coming to town to protest, which is a real major commitment to this false narrative. Yeah, that it is. And we mentioned in the headlines yesterday that there are allegedly gangs in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and one of them has been active recently, according to a whistleblower. Obviously, that is disturbing.

So let's explain more of the details. Yeah, so I looked into it. It is horrible. The whistleblower is Deputy Art Gonzalez, whose lawyer says that he fears for his life now that the details have been made public. It's understandable. So according to Gonzalez, the gang calls themselves the executioners. They don't allow black people and women into the group as if we'd want to join something

like that. Violence is part of the initiation process. So they all have matching tattoos and they get more to celebrate shooting citizens. And their whole game is become police officers to harass and kill people with impunity. So imagine why people might not put as much faith in good apples when something like this exists, right? Like, why would I think that a good apple might stop something? But when it comes to excessive policing within the LASD, here's a few examples of their behavior. The founder of a youth group claims that he was arrested while preparing Thanksgiving dinner for that group and was shipped to county jail and then released the next day with no charges filed. The department allegedly apologized, saying he fit the description of a person of interest.

Similarly, Jermell Henderson, a restaurant owner in Compton, says he was pulled over at gunpoint by sheriff's deputies just last month. After being handcuffed and detained in the back of a patrol car, he was ultimately released with no explanation. And just to really drive the point home, the mayor of Compton, Asia Brown, claimed she was pulled over by an officer and nine more cars showed up. They accused her of running a red light, something she adamantly denies. But if the black mayor of a city feels like her life's in jeopardy and that police are going to lie about their interaction, why would any of us feel safe? Like, for what reason? And this is all happening as the city and community leaders in Compton are calling for

state and federal civil rights investigations into their policing. The sheriff now says he's ordered an investigation. But when we talk about the state of policing in this country, the most important thing to remember is while we hash out the details of how exactly to defund or reform or rebuild police departments, every day in this country, people are abused. They have their rights infringed upon, and they have to hear really dumb excuses from the people that we literally pay to protect us. So it's infuriating. But while all of this is going on, you know, we're still living in a pandemic. So we've seen a lot of news develop over the past few days on vaccines and treatment for COVID-19. Let's start with a decision from the White House

to basically go it alone. Right. So earlier this week, the Trump administration said it's not going to take part in this larger global effort on vaccine development and distribution because the World Health Organization is co-leading it. It is important to hold grudges even when working towards ending a deadly pandemic. Trump used to praise WHO and China in the early days of the pandemic, but has since slashed out at WHO for being too deferential to China and decided to withdraw from the organization. But in terms of what this effort actually is that we're not going to be a part of, it's called the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, and over 170 countries are in talks for

the project, and the goal is to collaborate to speed up the process of creating a vaccine and getting it out to the most high-risk parts of various populations. Experts have said Trump's choice not to partake is basically an arrogant way of saying that the United States will secure a workable vaccine first, which, like most things having to do with the virus, is not a sure bet. Additionally, this move could hurt cooperation among other countries if they decide to go their own ways on it as well. It goes without saying, but if you have just one or a handful of countries vaccinated, that leaves a lot of the world behind, facing deaths, continued lockdowns,

and unable to contribute to the global economy. So lots of possible ramifications we're going to have to watch here. Yeah, for sure. And on the vaccine race in the U.S., the CDC has started to tell states how to prepare for distribution like in the next month. Yes, this is what we know about that. So the CDC has recently told public health officials in 50 states and five major cities to get ready in the event that they can start distributing a vaccine in late October or

early November. The reporting on this right now suggests that it would be for health care workers and other people in high-risk groups. And the difficulty here is separating this out from the explicit political agenda of the president as he runs for re-election. As the New York Times notes, these preparatory documents were sent out when Trump said at the RNC that there could be a vaccine available before the end of the year. And then adding to the challenge in parsing all of this is the fact that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn have both recently said that if trials are overwhelmingly positive, it is possible that a vaccine could be available for parts of the population before the trials are fully completed. And so part of this could be wishful thinking and or needing a lot of lead time to actually prepare for what will be a complex process. Even still, public health experts certainly don't think sticking to a self-imposed deadline, particularly one that is conveniently around an election,

is more important than actually getting this thing right. Well, when it comes to the materials that the CDC sent out, what do they actually have to say about, you know, gearing up for this? Well, so first of all, it seems like they're acknowledging upfront this is a hypothetical at the moment, but they laid out plans for what they're calling vaccine a and vaccine B, which the New York times seems to think could be referring to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that are in development and moving along. The materials basically lay out how to distribute the vaccines with two

necessary doses at hospitals and other places. It also includes details about storage temperature and the number of days needed between doses and beyond healthcare workers and seniors. Other high risk groups include perhaps surprisingly native American communities, those who are incarcerated, or people from, quote, racial and ethnic minority populations. A lot remains to be seen, and it's far from certain that something safely can get rolled out that fast. Yeah, or that Donald Trump even wants to help those people. Like, I'm sorry, but I'm super incredulous. Like, he actively demonizes half the country,

so why would a marginalized person trust him? I can't, I don't. Well, lastly, while we wait for a vaccine that is widely available for people and has actually been fully tested, which could be many more months, we're learning about treatments that can help people right now. So what's the latest here? So this actually seems to be pretty unambiguously good news. Yesterday, there were a bunch of international clinical trials that came out and they determined that certain common steroids like hydrocortisone and dexamethasone can be used to treat seriously ill patients with COVID-19 and reduce the risk of death. So there are still some uncertainties around whether the steroids are

helpful for people who are not as critically ill, but these trials led the WHO to recommend this as a treatment for seriously ill patients, while also warning against using these steroids indiscriminately because it could limit supplies and it might not benefit or could cause side effects for other people. So we'll keep an eye on all these developments, but that is the latest for now. It's Thursday, WOD Squad, and for today's Tim Check, we're discussing a very classy show called Dancing with the Stars. ABC announced the cast for the new season yesterday, and there were some powerful picks, including Carole Baskin from Tiger King, Anne Heche, AJ from the Backstreet Boys, and the NFL's Vernon Davis.

So Giddy, thoughts on the cast and what is your dancing skill level? To the second part of the question, which I will answer more briefly, I am competent in electric slide at bar mitzvah level. I feel totally comfortable in that zone. In other zones, it would require different levels of intoxication. But on this cast, my first thought is we're never going to rid ourselves of anything having to do with tiger King. This was very early on in the pandemic. I feel like as a society, we have sort of moved on to other stuff,

but, uh, you know, the story is going to keep on giving. It seems like, yeah, that's real. I feel like we just can't stop hearing about Carole Baskin.

Like, I just don't care. Yeah, I've truly, the miniseries was fine. But afterwards, I was like, you know, on to the next thing. But same question for you, Akilah, when you're looking at this cast, how does it stack up to other casts? Are you on their dancing levels? Would you win this competition? I would absolutely win Dancing with the Stars. I have no question in my mind. I'll start with the dancing skill level question. I'm great. I have a lot of drafts on my TikTok of me dancing,

but I'm just like, is it appropriate? Is the world ready for a quadruple threat? We just don't know. You don't want to scare people. Right. So I keep it under wraps, but I'm actually great. And if you get married or anybody gets married, I will absolutely dance at the wedding. I'll be the person who starts the dancing on the dance floor.

Whatever you need. I am a dance aficionado. As far as the cast goes, I'm really pumped for AJ from the Backstreet Boys. I'm surprised he hasn't been on the show yet. It totally seems like it would have been something he would have done by now. But really, you know, could care less. This is not my favorite show. I think that it is weird that they're going to be sweating and dancing together for entertainment purposes.

But I guess that's what they can bring back. So, great. Is everybody masked up? Is everybody vaxxed up? We don't really know. Are people going to take it? We'll see. We'll have to find out.

It's pretty nerve-wracking. But just like that, we have checked our temps. Stay safe, everyone, and we will check in with you all again next week. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Protests continued in Belarus nearly a month after President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected, though many say it was a rigged election. Authorities in the country are responding by ramping up their hostility towards demonstrators, journalists, and opposition parties.

At a student protest earlier this week, masked officers were filmed striking demonstrators and loading them into vans. Dozens of people who've been arrested at demonstrations have disappeared or remain unaccounted for. Many journalists have had their credentials taken away, and two reporters from the Associated Press were deported. Some countries surrounding Belarus have imposed travel bans on Lukashenko and other leaders, while the U.S. is considering sanctions. Bad guy. Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa massacre filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking reparations for one of America's worst acts

of modern domestic terrorism. Historians estimate over 300 black people were killed, 10,000 displaced, and 40 blocks of the area known as Black Wall Street were destroyed by a violent white mob. The suit claims that the city, the county, the Oklahoma National Guard, and other officials all failed to defend the black community during the attack. Lawyers argue that officials even went as far as to arm, assist, and encourage the white mob. This isn't the first time Tulsa survivors have tried to get reparations through the court. The last time was in 2005 when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal in the case, which ended the efforts. Now lawyers are trying a new public nuisance argument, which was used last year against pharma giant Johnson & Johnson for their contribution to the opioids epidemic. Using the force, you can do almost anything except make

good characters for actors of color. A new GQ interview with Star Wars actor John Boyega went into his experience working on the most recent trilogy, which marketed his character of Finn as a lead, but quickly sidelined him and basically turned him and his POC co-stars into background characters. Boyega said, quote, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,

but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you knew fuck all. Boyega also described the online harassment he was subject to during the film's release, which included death threats and calls to boycott the series. Marie Tran was driven to delete her Instagram in 2018 after experiencing similar abuse following her portrayal of Rose. If you don't remember her character's name,

it's because Disney cut her scenes so they could show more psychic flirting between Ray and Kylo Ren. Yeah, when you have like three minutes of that, you're golden. You don't need more. Being a spy doesn't always mean flying helicopters and drinking martinis. Sometimes it means monitoring warehouse workers who are trying to improve their lives. That was made clear in an Amazon job posting this week, where the company was seeking an intelligence analyst and a senior intelligence analyst to report on, among other things, quote, labor organizing threats against the company.

Apparently, information gathered by those two employees could be used to file restraining orders against activist groups. Sadly, this is what James Bond would be doing if he were real and alive today. I hate to report. Amazon has consistently fought off unions and organizing movements through its 26-year history, and early on in the pandemic, it faced criticism for firing Christian Smalls, who is an employee who led a protest at a New York fulfillment center over their lack of COVID-19 safety precautions. Amazon pulled the job postings on Tuesday after they pissed everybody off. And look, if they want to spy so bad, they should just trick us all into buying a speaker for our homes and record us whenever we talk.

Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty good idea. Maybe they could call it, I don't know, Alexa. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, hack our smart speakers, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just press releases from dancing with the stars like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And we'll see you on Tuesday. Yep, we'll be back then. It is the day after Labor Day. That's what it's officially called in the calendar. What a Day is a Crooked Media production.

It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.