What A Day - WAD A Year

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

Congressional leaders are putting together the final pieces of an emerging deal on COVID relief, but the negotiations could continue into the weekend. We spoke to Congressman Ro Khanna about the relief bill, the Biden transition and what gives him hope for next year.This year saw the largest-ever racial justice uprisings since the 1960s, following the racist killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many other Black Americans. We looked back at some of the conversations we’ve had with activists, journalists, and elected officials about the movement and what it means to them. For our final round of headlines, we focused on the issue of policing: the botched raid of Anjanette Young’s apartment in Chicago and the city’s attempt to keep it quiet, new studies that show giving police military gear doesn’t lower crime rates, and Tamika Palmer’s open letter to Joe Biden about her daughter, Breonna Taylor.Show Announcement:What A Day will be off for the rest of the year & back on Monday January 4th. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next year!

It's Friday, December 18th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, where we have determined that all snowflakes are liberal snowflakes. Yeah, we interviewed some snowflakes, and before they melted, they told us that they support good social programs, no war, the Green New Deal, a bunch of stuff. Yeah, they kept wanting to talk about Walter Mondale, which felt dated to me, but you know, I'll let it be. Quick announcement before we get started, this is going to be our last episode of the year, and what a year, see what I did, it has been. So we've had the overlapping crises of the pandemic and systemic racism with a historic push to end police violence. It's impossible to sum it up, but we're

going to try to put the focus on those two issues today. And then we'll be back next year with more news starting on Monday, January 4th. Yes, more news. Stay tuned. But onto today's show, we've got a conversation with Congressman Ro Khanna about the pandemic relief bill, then some headlines. So let's start with the latest. A panel of experts voted in favor of authorizing the Moderna vaccine yesterday, paving the way for the FDA to formally do that today, which would mean more doses on the way soon. And that news comes as daily deaths have been reaching staggering records this week, clearing 3,500 people, a new case record exceeding 245,000, and many hospitals continue to be overwhelmed, with Southern California reporting zero remaining ICU capacity. When it comes to the response, as of yesterday evening, congressional leaders were

still putting together the final pieces of an emerging deal on coronavirus relief, but it quickly started to look like the conversations could continue into the weekend. By the time you hear this, maybe things will have changed, or maybe we'll be stuck right here where we are. Yeah, it could be either, but I think I have a guess which one it's going to be. Okay, finally, to round out the busy week in D.C., President-elect Biden has announced Congresswoman Deb Haaland, a supporter of the Green New Deal, as his nominee to lead the Interior Department,

which would make her the first Native American to lead a cabinet-level agency and one that has played a critical role in the nation's abuse of indigenous communities. Michael Regan, North Carolina's Environment Secretary and a former EPA official, has also been selected to run the EPA, which would make him the first Black man to have that job. They are both part of a broader climate team, which has promised to prioritize environmental justice. And in the middle of all this, we spoke with Congressman Ro Khanna yesterday afternoon about the relief bill, why he's pushing for more direct payments, and what he thinks of the names being added to the incoming Biden administration. Here's that conversation. Congressman Khanna, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you, Akilah. All right, so let's start

with the relief bill. You know, this deal is coming after months and months of negotiations with a lot of economic damage done while it was dragged out. You know, unemployment numbers are going up again. Poverty numbers are also up. Are you happy with where things are ending up now that we're getting to a deal finally? No, the number was much bigger back in October, $1.8 trillion, and we're down now to $900 billion. We're down from $1,200 checks to people to $600. We've lost state and local aid.

We've had less in terms of unemployment insurance. So obviously it's something, and I'm glad that the Progressive Caucus and Senator Sanders insisted on having monthly checks. But if you say, am I happy? No, it's only inadequate. And we're losing in the negotiations. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you mentioned the stimulus check. You were lobbying for $2,000 for that and other provisions, too. I mean, what do you think is most important that's actually missing from this deal? Is it the bigger payments? There are two things. It's the payments to people. I mean, every other Western democracy is giving people compensation because if we're saying you can't work, you can't go out, we have to have some means of compensating people so they can pay the bills, so they can pay the mortgage or the rent, so they can put food on the table. And then the unemployment insurance is

wholly inadequate. And we know that's what created consumer demand. It saved the economy. It saved people from a devastating fate. And so those two parts are really lacking. to this earlier that there was this conversation about the $1.8 trillion. I think back in October, it's hard to keep track of all the back and forth. And we know how McConnell has operated in these negotiations. I think that that's kind of a given when people approach them. But do you ascribe blame to Democrats for not taking that October deal and any other prior deals? Well, I don't ascribe blame. Really, my head is, you know, getting to come out and said we should take the deal and we should put the ball squarely in McConnell's court. I think by not doing that, it obfuscated the issue and it was difficult to highlight how much of an obstruction McConnell has really been. Now, we had said, yes, we'll agree to $1.8 trillion, $1.9 trillion, get McConnell to vote for it.

It would have become clear that we would have been able to call his bluff. Maybe he wouldn't have voted for that kind of a package. So I definitely think we should have indicated back then a willingness to do it and may have locked them into that number as well. And I also want to ask about the incoming Biden administration while we have you. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez noted recently that a lot of the appointments are former Obama appointments and perhaps signaling that there hasn't been too much of a forward-looking approach just yet. That comment, of course, was before the announcement today about Congresswoman Haaland, which I think a lot of people, her included, are very,

very excited about. Yeah. So what have you made of the selections overall so far? Well, it's a balance. Look, there are people who were very good during the Obama administration as well. Let's not forget, I mean, Gene Sperling fought for expansion of the United Kingdom tax credit. Jared Bernstein fought for expanding labor rights. So it's always a balance between having people who have served and then having new voices. And that balance tilts towards experience at the beginning of an administration, and then you have newer voices come in after a year or two years. So I'm less concerned about the details of appointments, which are usually a president's prerogative. I'm more concerned about our policy agenda. Are we going to make sure we're forgiving student loans right off the bat?

Are we going to make sure that we're really pushing for monthly checks? Are we going to make sure that we have a broad stimulus, I mean, broad infrastructure bill, a $15 minimum wage that we're pushing to make sure that that is a part of the agenda. Expanding health care. I mean, for Medicare for All, but what are we doing concretely? Those are the questions I'm more interested in than who's going to be undersecretary of facts. Right, right. I think that's a good perspective on it.

One last one for me on the political front. So in California, Governor Newsom, as we know, has a lot of open positions in the state right now, including that Senate seat to fill Vice President-elect Harris's position. Who would you like to see in these roles? And we have to ask you, would you take that Senate position if you were asked? I'm obviously honored to be in the mix and would be honored to serve the state. I love representing Silicon Valley. I'd be an honor to serve California. But I think many people would feel that way. And my bigger issue is that it should be a bold progressive, someone who's for Medicare for all, someone who's against endless wars, someone who's for a $15 minimum wage, someone who's for free public college. There

are a number of people who are being considered who fit those criteria. So I hope he will select someone of that disposition. Yeah. I mean, we're rooting for you, you know, you fit all those qualifications. I appreciate that, Akilah, and there are a couple others, but there are a number of people he's considering who don't share those values. And that, I think, is the key issue. I mean, is California going to be leading on bold, progressive policies or not?

Right. I mean, we better be. Come on. Well, this is our last show of the year, and we're reflecting on the year we've had, which, I mean, I can't speak for everybody, but I feel like it was a pretty long one. Yeah. But really, you know, we want to talk about these major crises that have come to the forefront, including racial violence and policing. So I'm really curious, you know, what actions do you want to see the new Biden administration take to hold police accountable and get justice for all of those families for so many people who are killed outright for no reason by the police? Well, we need to, at the minimum, start with the Justice in Policing Act that Karen Bass has led, which calls for changing the standard of force. California has done that. Force should be a last resort only when absolutely necessary. That's the standard in most other democracies. In our country, we still have the William Rehnquist standard that police officers

can use force whenever they think it's reasonable by their perception. And that's led to Tamir Rice and other horrific killings. So that is the first thing, eliminate chokeholds, eliminate qualified immunity. And then we need to go beyond that with Black Lives Matter and recognize that it's not just about reforming police violence, as important as that is. It's also about thinking what each of us are doing to make sure that Black communities are part of the wealth generation and economic opportunity of the 21st century. In my district in Silicon Valley, there's been so much exclusion. And it's frankly easy for tech leaders to applaud Black Lives Matter's marches in Washington or in Minnesota or Wisconsin and think they've done enough, but that's not enough. What are we doing to increase

recruiting? What are we doing to increase people on boards? What are we doing to increase venture capital going to young black and Latino entrepreneurs? These are all part of the question of when we say black lives matter. The racial wealth gap in this country has increased over the last three decades. I mean, think about that. It's really shocking that you've ended formal segregation. You've ended formal Jim Crow. And yet black wealth is lower 30 years later than it was during the before the 1960s. That should be a sobering statistic. And it really requires systemic reform. Yeah, absolutely. It's just it is absolutely unbelievable. And it's senseless. But, you know, I guess we want to end on a kind of high note if we can, you know, even if it's a medium note, we will have done our jobs.

But what makes you a little bit hopeful going into next year after the kind of year that we've had and the major challenges that we've been facing? What gives me hope is the fundamental decency of this country that we did reject Donald Trump. We voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the first woman vice president, the first African-American vice president, Asian-American vice president. What gives me hope is all these young new members of Congress who come from such diverse background. I mean, you think about our politics, and it's amazing that in a few years, this country has produced Barack Obama, Donald Trump,

and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as national figures. How is that? And I think about it, and I say, what we're trying to do is very hard. We're trying to become a multiracial, multiethnic democracy of equality. It's never been done in the world. And we have historical injustices such as slavery and racism to overcome. So it's a hard project, but the next generation gives me hope. And that generation soon enough will be leading. And I think in some ways, Biden-Harris is a harbinger of things to come. Oh, that's so wonderful. That is exactly what I needed to hear.

Well, Congressman Khanna, thank you so, so much for talking to us. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Happy New Year. Happy holidays. Thank you. Yeah. Stay safe during all of this.

That was California Congressman Ro Khanna. And that's the latest. in the wake of the largest racial justice uprising since the 60s. The largest ever, actually. As we look forward to a new year, a new presidential administration, and new possibilities, we wanted to remind you how we got here. What's happening in this moment isn't divorced from the civil rights movement, but I would argue it's actually part of the civil rights movement. And so we have to always remember that when we gain rights, the key is to actually hold on to them and never

lose them, to fight to make sure we never lose them. A man literally died in front of our eyes calling for his mother and created this uprising. We don't call it that, but it is an uprising in our country. And these are folks from different backgrounds, Crete, are saying enough. I think that this has been a powerful time for folks to reflect on how white supremacy still operates in our society on all levels. You know, even beyond police brutality, we're seeing folks have conversations

about the workplace, about the publishing industry, about their own lives. I'm so happy for all of it that's happening online. I remember the first week of the uprising, the You About to Lose Your Job song came out. Yes. That was perfect. Shout out to iMarquise and Suede, the remix guy.

Yes. That was the anthem of the revolution. Like we even use it in all of our like in our march, our like thousand person march. It was amazing. The defunding conversation and really getting clarity and getting much more clear on what that looks like. You know the funding of the police. If you have a particular class, you're afraid of that because the police, quote unquote, allow you to protect your property. But if you live in historically disenfranchised communities and you live in poverty, you feel occupied by the police, either physically or psychologically.

Really, the principle here is that show me your budget, and I'll show you your priorities, right? And when you fund policing and law enforcement at the expense of resources for homeless people, resources for mental health, education, parks, after school programs, social services, then what you get is, you know, you get what you pay for, right? You get a bloated police department, you get a police department that is kind of tasked with solving all these social ills. And so the answer is to shift the funds. I think it will also cause some of our Congress members to look at what they're doing in their own communities, because some have been there so long

to say, well, you know what, let me do a self-check, you know, and I can course correct. Because we're not saying just throw everybody out and at least I'm not personally. I'm just saying, let's just take care of our district. So if you need to course correct, none of us are infallible. You know, let's just fix it and do better. We're not going to stop doing public safety, right? You know, human beings have not ceased to have a have a darker side, you know, but but but what we are going to do is set it on a new set of principles where safety and security is the primary, not domination. If you've ever wondered like what you would do during the civil rights movement, like, well, you have your answer. It is now it's like, what you're like,

whatever you're doing right now is what you would have done then. And I think, I don't know. I hope a lot of people realize that. Like, I hope that people understand that this is like, this is a historical moment that we're living through and the things that you do and the records that you leave and the trail that you leave are

going to be poured over by other people. Like they're going to know what you did. That was Dr. Keisha Blain, Representative Rashida Tlaib, Activist Raquel Willis, Activist Oluchi Omioga, Representative-elect Jamal Bowman, Journalist Josie Duffy Rice, Representative-elect Cori Bush, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Journalist Bijan Steven. Thanks to Charlotte Landis for putting that together. And thanks to everyone who made their voices heard this year and all of those who've organized for generations. And now for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. And we're going to stay on the issue of policing through today's headline section.

To start, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot apologized yesterday for the botched raid on the home of Anjanette Young and her office's efforts to keep the case from going public. Young is a 50-year-old hospital social worker who was in her apartment in 2019 when nearly a dozen police officers entered with weapons drawn. They were acting on a tip from an informant who said a suspect of theirs lived at Young's address. That man actually lived nearby, which is information the cops had access to but failed to confirm. In footage captured by Wow. a CBS news station on Monday, but city lawyers filed a motion to stop it from being aired and also moved to sanction Young for allegedly violating a confidentiality order. The footage aired anyway, and now Mayor Lightfoot says Young shouldn't be punished for trying to tell her story. Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, hundreds of protesters gathered this weekend in remembrance

of Casey Goodson, a black man who was shot and killed when he was entering his grandmother's home earlier this month. Activists and Goodson's family members called for the sheriff's deputy who shot him to be arrested and for a more transparent investigation. Two peer-reviewed studies published this Monday have concluded that a federal program to pass billions of dollars of excess military equipment to police departments hasn't decreased crime or increased police safety. The Law Enforcement Support Office 1033 program was established in 1990 and broadened in 1997 in the heat of the disastrous war on drugs.

It was rolled back in a largely symbolic way under Obama following activism in Ferguson and was expanded again under Trump in 2017. Through all that, researchers found that the crime rates of police departments weren't tied to the gear that they received, much of which went unused. Plus, critics have suggested that military gear among officers promotes a warrior mentality of policing rather than a guardian approach. The United Nations panel recently issued a warning about the technological arsenals of police. They said that algorithm-based technologies that are

used in law enforcement could reinforce racial bias and abuse, especially when they draw on biased data, like historical arrest data about a neighborhood that has historically been subject to racist policing. Police departments should emphasize transparency in sharing which technologies they use, the UN panel said, and in the design and applications of law enforcement algorithms.

Makes sense. Police brutality might feel uniquely American, but it is actually not. Every weekend since November 21st, there have been huge protests in France against a police security bill. The law is called Article 24, and it initially would have made it illegal for French people to publish photos or videos of on-duty police officers, quote, with the aim of harming their physical or psychological integrity. Not sure how a judge could prove that, but if one did, violators of the law would have faced fines of more than $50,000 and up to a year in prison. French President Macron supported the law because he said it was needed to protect officers and their families from online abuse. But in response to protests, the head of Macron's party announced that the law will be completely rewritten.

Demonstrations have continued because it's still not clear what the final version of the law will be. Also motivating the protests was the police assault of a 41-year-old black music producer in the lobby of his own music studio. Video of the beating contradicted the officer's recollection of the events. Michelle Zeckler, the producer, believes he'd be in jail if the video hadn't been released, and critics of Article 24 think that's the whole point. They also point out that online harassment is already illegal in France, which pretty much proves Article 24 has no raison d'etre.

Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by Louisville police, took out a full-page color ad in the Washington Post this Tuesday demanding that President-elect Joe Biden's administration take real, tangible action in holding police accountable across the nation. The letter calls on Biden to keep the promises that let him secure the black vote by appointing individuals committed to police accountability to the Department of Justice, ordering the DOJ to reopen investigations into police violence not properly completed before the end of the Obama administration, ordering large-scale federal investigations into police brutality, including a probe for Breonna Taylor's case, and stopping police brutality before it happens by investigating all police departments that have been known to cause harm

across the country. So all police departments. The administration is signaling that this is something they do truly care about already. A new bill from Virginia's Rep. Don Beyer, who is the incoming chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, seeks to create a publicly accessible federal database that would track police misconduct allegations and settlements paid to resolve them at both the state and federal levels. Beyer thinks his cost of police misconduct act would shine light on the financial toll of abusive policing and thereby create public pressure on police to shape up, though activists have noted that this pressure already exists and more radical reforms will be needed to bring about real change. Yes, indeed.

And those are the headlines. One last thing before we go, Crooked just released a new pod in collaboration with Tenderfoot TV. It is called Gaining Ground, The New Georgia. It's hosted by Atlanta natives, Jewel Wicker and Rembert Brown, and we'll be telling the story

of the massively important Georgia runoff happening in January. Jewel and Rembert are going to be reporting from the ground in Georgia, telling the story of how we got to this moment and spotlighting the organizers, strategists, and voters hoping to change the South forever. Episode one is out now, so go check it out and subscribe to Gaining Ground, the new Georgia, wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you liked the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, chug that hot chocolate, and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not just Santa's list of nice, wad squatters like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And we'll see you all next year. You'll at least hear us. I'd like to see you next year though. Hopefully we can get out of here. It would be nice if we could hang out safely, but we'll see. One step at a time.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.