Between The Lines - Tory Russell: Injustice in Ferguson is Rallying Cry for Movement Confronting Police Violence Across the U.S. (Week Ending Dec. 12, 2014)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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Injustice Seen in Ferguson is Rallying Cry for Movement Confronting Police Violence Across U.S.

Posted Dec. 3, 2014

Interview with Tory Russell, co-founder of the youth-led group Hands Up United, conducted by Scott Harris

In the week since the Missouri grand jury announced its verdict opting not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown, the local community is assessing the damage caused by riots that burned down a dozen buildings, as well as the persistent sense of injustice felt by many residents. But beyond Ferguson, the Michael Brown case has become a rallying cry for activists protesting police violence across the country. In addition to hundreds of solidarity demonstrations held on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, organizers called for a school and job walkout on Dec. 1.

On the eve of the 59th anniversary of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott, the national NAACP launched the Journey for Justice march, where some 250 activists are walking 120 miles from Ferguson to the governor's mansion in Jefferson City over the course of seven days. The marchers are seeking fundamental reform of policing nationwide, beginning with state legislation to stop racial profiling by police. A Pew survey earlier this summer, which revealed the racial polarization surrounding the death of Michael Brown, found that 63 percent of whites and only 20 percent of blacks think that Brown’s death at the hands of Darren Wilson was not about race.

In a series of meetings at the White House on Dec. 1, President Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder spoke with Cabinet members, law enforcement officials and young activists about the distrust between police and communities of color. The president called for $75 million in federal spending to purchase 50,000 body cameras that would record police interactions with civilians and also announced the convening of a government task force on “21st Century Policing.” Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Tory Russell, co-founder of the youth-led group Hands Up United. Here, he discusses the current situation in Ferguson and his group’s work building a national movement to confront police violence in communities of color.

TORY RUSSELL: I just got home, I spent about 10 minutes down the street down W. Florissant from Ferguson, there were military vehicles up and down West Florissant. I could only imagine what probably Gaza or Fallujah will look like. Just coming out, military-looking tanks, I said to one of my friends, who would've thought in America 2014, would have to play is that a tank game coming down a popular street in an urban city? You know, it's just tank after tank and I mean for, probably stretching I would say eight miles of tanks on just about every block and that's just a daily thing. But now Ferguson shuts down, something that could only be reminiscent of probably ... um, 1950 Selma, somewhere down south. It's just a "sun-down city," where whenever the sun sets, you don't want to be outside.

It troubles me to see that my city can only resemble a police state. Or some kind of occupied forces, somewhere just 5 to 10 minutes from where I grew up.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tory, what are the most important demands that you have locally there in Ferguson in terms of redressing the grievance of what many people including yourself and your group see as a grave injustice here with this grand jury decision?

TORY RUSSELL: Why, we're still fighting for indictment, there's no double jeopardy in a grand jury. We want indictment, the same thing we asked for in August. We're also asking for the police to reflect the community and also live in the community. There's also some small things. The organization for black struggle has a powerful 19 point police reform initiative that we think most of the country is going to sign up for. Some things around body cameras, which you know, only catch bad actors or people after they kill someone; serve civilian review board with investigative and subpoena power. You know, small steps toward a larger goal, which is that the judicial system and a lot of these systems need to change. The prosecutor, when we find works with racial bias, must leave. Even some of the things, with the voting things, we see that a lot of gerrymandering has been going on that needs to be addressed. A lot of systemic things that we've been asking for around a special prosecutor, about the Department of Justice coming investigating not only Ferguson, but North County and the St. Louis area and the whole, and showing there's a real systemic racial bias that's going on in St. Louis.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tory, I wanted to ask you about President Obama. President Obama had a meeting at the White House with community groups and police. He's about to launch a task force on what he's calling 21st century policing. There's been a mention of some money that he wants allocated by Congress to purchase body cams for police, as you just mentioned. In your view, is President Obama doing enough here, and if you had a chance to speak with him personally, what you tell him and what action would you ask him to take?

TORY RUSSELL: You know, I would have thought as the first black president, he would've had stronger language or compassion for black people. But we just didn't hear that, even after the grand jury decision. He tried to blame the protesters and he did it again, saying that you know, we need to hold accountable those who break the law and I think it was saying toward the protesters, and no language about police, no language about police killings or the fact that black men are getting shot and killed every 28 hours by a police officer, security or vigilante. None of those hard core statistics, no compassion in his voice.

I feel that black people and brown people came out and voted for Obama, knowing that Hurricane Katrina wouldn't happen under Obama. But here we are Ferguson, and this is his Hurricane Katrina, and he hasn't responded in a way that we'd think.

You know, it really breaks my heart that I have to look at young people and try to continue to convince them that voting is the way. You know, I don't concretely think that if I don't vote for the right candidate that I should be punished by being killed in the street. It really shames me and I'm hoping that the few people that were in the meeting compelled him enough to actually take lead on this and to actually represent and do the things that the people voted for twice.

For more information on the youth-led group Hands Up United, visit handsupunited.org.