amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. the era of global warming has ended. the era of global boiling has arrived. amy: temperature records are continuing to be shattered across the globe as july has

been the hottest month ever recorded on the planet. more than 170 million people are under a heat alert in the united states. we will speak to two journalists covering the climate crisis. then, we go to capitol hill. >> i am the new member of congress representing the heart of texas from san antonio to austin, texas. i am on thirst strike. i've been out here over eight hours, no water, no food, taking no breaks from the capitol steps to protest governor abbott taking away water bricks from them. amy: we'll speak with texas democratic congressmember greg casar and get his response to president biden's announcement of new measures to provide workers relief from extreme heat. then president biden has designated a national monument honoring emmett till and his mother, mamie till-mobley. august 28, 1955 14-year-old emmett till was tortured and lynched in mississippi.

we will speak to emmett till's cousin. >> i could never imagine a moment like this. standing in the light of wisdom, grace, and deliverance. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. federal prosecutors have filed new charges against former president donald trump and another one of his aides in the indictment around his mishandling of classified documents. the charges accuse trump of attempting to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal evidence" and inducing others to do so. prosecutors also added a new count under the espionage act for showing classified national security materials to visitors at his golf club in bedminster, n.j. the revised statement says

mar-a-lago property manager carlos de oliveira pressured the director of it at trump's florida estate to delete security camera footage so it could not be seen by a federal grand jury. according to the indictment, de oliveira said "'the boss' wanted the server deleted." de oliveira is also accused of lying to federal investigators when he denied having knowledge of boxes of documents stashed at mar-a-lago. prosecutors contend de oliveira oversaw and even helped move the boxes alongside trump aide walt nauta, who has already been indicted. this superseding indictment is not to be confused with a possible third indictment against trump related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, for which trump's lawyers met with special counsel jack smith's office yesterday. new climate data show july is on track to become the hottest month in human history, with global temperatures rising to

about 1.5 degrees celsius -- or 2.7 degrees fahrenheit -- above pre-industrial levels. on thursday, the head of the world meteorological organization said "climate action is not a luxury but a must," while u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres scolded world leaders over inaction on the climate. >> climate change is here. it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. the era of global warming has ended. the era of global boiling has arrived. the air is unreadable, the heat is unbearable, and the level of fossil fuel profits and company inaction is on acceptable. amy: the u.n.'s warning came as hundreds of wildfires fueled by record heat continued to burn out-of-control around the mediterranean in algeria, croatia, france, greece, italy, portugal, spain, tunisia, and turkey. in china, typhoon doksuri made

landfall today in the southeastern fujian province, sparking fires, downing power lines, and shuttering schools and business. on thursday, the storm lashed southern taiwan after battering the northern philippines, where it killed at least 39 people. here in the united states, over 170 million people are under extreme heat alerts as sweltering temperatures spread across the country. on thursday, president biden announced a series of measures to tackle the impacts of the extreme heat. president biden: we should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions, and we will. those states that do not, i will call them out, for refusing to protect these workers in this awful heat. amy: biden made no mention of the fossil fuel industry's role in the climate crisis and continued to ignore calls from climate activists and scientists to declare a climate emergency. we will speak with congress

member greg casar, who went on a thirst strike this week in washington, d.c. in more climate news, the u.s. supreme court has cleared the way for construction of the contested mountain valley pipeline to resume. the court lifted a halt on a section of the project after a challenge by environmental groups. leaders of niger's military have declared their support for the mutinous officers who declared a coup wednesday against the nation's democratically-elected president, mohamed bazoum. two days after members of his own presidential guard deposed him, president bazoum has refused to step down. it's not clear who's currently running niger's government. on thursday, supporters of the coup set fire to the headquarters of bazoum's governing party. meanwhile, the intercept reports a leader of the attempted coup was trained by the u.s. military at the army base formerly known as fort benning, named after a confederate general, which was recently renamed fort moore.

just last month, coup leader and brigadier general moussa salaou barmou met with the head of u.s. army special operations command, lieutenant general jonathan braga, at a u.s. drone base in niger. african officers trained by the u.s. military have taken part in 11 coups in west africa since 2008. the world health organization is warning of a growing health crisis for the 3.4 million people forced to flee fighting in sudan, with rising rates of infectious diseases reported among displaced populations. heavy fighting continues to rage in the capital khartoum, where air strikes and artillery fire have killed at least 16 civilians this week. in sudan's western darfur region, a leader of the minority masalit community says more than 10,000 people have been killed in the past two months. more than 300,000 people -- the vast majority of them masalit -- have fled across the border into neighboring chad. refugees described a harrowing

journey to escape attacks by militias and fighters with the rapid support forces. >> i have been here for 13 days. the people we left behind were killed in their homes. others are trapped and the road remains unsafe. if there are a few people, they will kill them and take their belongings. amy: russian president vladimir putin welcomed african leaders to st. petersburg for the annual africa-russia summit, coming just days after the kremlin pulled out of the black sea grain deal allowing safe passage to shipments of food and fertilizer from ukraine. heads of state from 17 african countries joined this year's gathering, down from the 43 african leaders who attended in 2019. putin said russia will be able to replace ukrainian grain exports and promised free shipments of food to six african nations. >> our country can replace

ukrainian grain commercially and as a free aid to the poorest countries in africa, especially as we are expecting a record harvest this year. amy: president putin also pledged to consider a peace plan from african leaders to end the ukraine war. among those spotted at the summit was the leader of the wagner group of russia mercenaries, yevgeny prigozhin, who was photographed shaking hands with a senior ambassador from the central african republic. it was the first time prigozhin has appeared publicly inside russia since he led a failed revolt against russia's military in june. the united states senate has approved the largest military budget in u.s. history. its passage sets up a partisan clash with the republican majority in the house of representatives, which narrowly approved a military budget packed with anti-abortion and anti-lgbtqia amendments. on thursday, senate majority leader chuck schumer called passage of the senate's $886 billion national defense

authorization act, a "glimmer of hope for the american people.” >> a bipartisan process, precisely what the american people are yearning for. in a fractured congress, democrats and republicans coming together to provide some thing as critical as our national defense. amy: just 11 senators voted against the record military budget -- six democrats, four republicans, and vermont independent senator bernie sanders. senators overwhelmingly rejected an amendment offered by sanders that would have slashed the military budget by 10%. ahead of the vote, sanders said the u.s. should prioritize spending on health care and social programs over a bloated military budget. >> unbelievably, our life expectancy is actually declining. our childcare system is dysfunctional. millions of parents are unable to find affordable sites for their kids. we have a major housing crisis.

600 thousand americans are homeless. and, the planet we are living on is on fire and future generations will be increasingly unhealthy. but somehow we never have enough money to address those crises. amy: in el salvador, human rights advocates are warning of severe due process violations after lawmakers approved the use of mass trials for the tens of thousands of people who've been arrested under president nayib bukele's brutal crackdown on gangs. salvadoran officials said up to 900 defendants could be prosecuted at one time. el salvador has been under a state of exception for 16 months, suspending several constitutional protections and leading to the arbitrary detention of over 70,000 people, without access to legal representation or fair trials. meanwhile, honduras is planning to build an island prison to detain hundreds of suspected gang leaders. this comes after earlier this month president xiomara castro

approved another extension of a state of emergency that's been in place since last year to tackle gang violence. in ecuador, authorities have recovered the remains of people killed during a prison riot over the weekend in the city of guayaquil. at least 31 people are dead, but the toll could be higher. ecuador's prison system has been plagued with violence and abuse, with prisoners facing overcrowded and squalid conditions. president guillermo lasso has the clarity state of emergency in ecuadorian prisons. over 400 people have died in prison riots in ecuador since 2021. i'm back in the u.s., data shows the rates of gun suicides among black teens has topped the rate among white teens for the first time, as gun suicides reached an all-time high in the u.s. last year. the data, compiled by the centers for disease control and prevention, also show black children and teens have a gun homicide rate 20 times higher than white children and teens. guns remain the leading cause of death for children and teens as the rate of gun deaths in minors soared by 87% over the last

decade. last year, over 48,000 people in the u.s. died from guns, an average of one person every 11 minutes. and in texas, the houston independent school district is eliminating librarian positions at 28 schools in the upcoming school year and will replace some libraries with so-called "team centers" or disciplinary centers for students. the widely blasted move comes after state republicans forcibly took over the houston independent school district earlier this year. those most affected will be children of color in lower income areas. meanwhile, two texas bookstores and three national bookseller associations have sued over a texas bill requiring private booksellers to rate books based on levels of "appropriateness" and banning "sexually explicit" material from libraries. valerie koehler is the owner of the blue willow bookshop in houston, and a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit. >> we are not going to write the

books. for us to have to rate them sends a message to the librarians and the students. you are allowed to read this, you are not allowed to read that. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show looking at the climate crisis as temperature records continue to be shattered across the globe. on thursday, the world meteorological organization announced july is on pace to be the hottest month ever recorded on earth. here in the united states, 170 million people are under heat alert. on thursday, u.n. secretary general antonio guterres said the world has entered the age of global boiling. >> for bass parts of north america, asia, europe, it is a cruel summer. for the entire planet, it is a disaster.

for scientists, it is unequivocal. humans are to blame. all of this is consistent with predictions and repeated warnings. the only surprise is the speed of the change. climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. the era of global warming has ended. the era of global boiling has arrived. the air is unreadable. the heat is unbearable. and the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unexceptional. leaders must lead. no more hesitancy. no more excuses. no more waiting for others to move first. there is simply no more time for that. it is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius and avoid the very worst of climate change,

but only with dramatic, immediate climate action. amy: here in the united states, president biden unveiled new measures to combat the crisis, but resistant calls to declare a climate emergency. president biden: nobody can deny the impacts of climate change anymore. when i first got here people would say it's not a problem. i don't know anybody who honestly believes climate change is not a serious problem. just take a look at the historic floods in vermont and california earlier this year, droughts and hurricanes growing more frequent and intense, wildfires spread in the smoky haze for thousands of miles, worsening air quality. record temperatures are now effecting more than 100 million americans. amy: we are joined by two guests. dharna noor is a fossil fuels and climate reporter at guardian. her recent piece is "biden announces new measures to protect americans from extreme heat."

her new investigation, "'project 2025': plan to dismantle u.s. climate policy for next republican president." we are also joined by david wallace-wells. he is a writer for new york times opinion and columnist for the new york times magazine. he has been writing about climate change and how it is accelerating. his latest piece for the times is headlined "a grim climate lesson from the canadian wildfires.” he's also author of the book "the uninhabitable earth." welcome you both to democracy now! david, respond to what president biden said yesterday, and doesn't go far enough? david: i think the short answer is, no, it does not go far enough. we are talking about a really dramatic summer here in the u.s. a number of americans are living with climate fear, several million americans under heat advisories. what the president offered was a pretty meek rhetorical gesture

mixed in with some small policy gestures. i'm glad he is speaking about climate as opposed to being silent, as he has been for some time, but to my mind, he is not meeting where the american public is. amy: dharna noor, you wrote a piece about this. dharna: i agree with david, that much of what we saw was conjecture from the administration. i did speak with experts who spoke about the steps that he took as positive. rolling out new funding to help cities plant trees, make sure people can have shade in extreme heat. making sure cities can fund cooling centers. improving weather forecasting. but as you mentioned, what biden did not mention at all was also fuels, didn't say anything about the need to end the fossil fuel economy, did not declare a climate emergency, which actavis have been pushing for him to do, which could unlock a number of powers to take on the crisis

without congressional approval. what we saw was awareness raising and modest policies but nothing that takes on the scale of the crisis we are seeing right now. amy: he also ordered the department of labor to put a hazard alert for outdoor work places. could you talk more about this and the other measures around workplaces? could he also mandate paid water breaks and water protection gear like canopies, fans, mist machines, etc.? dharna: the heat hazard alert was interesting. it was the first heat hazard alert that would go out to employers across the nation, reminding them of the rights that workers have on the job, the best ways to protect workers from extreme heat. what it also made experts think about is the fact that his department of labor is still working right now to craft a sheet standard that would do more to protect workers.

last year, the department of labor so that they were working on these and thirds. officials have been talking about it for 50 years. that would drastically expand the abilities of the government to do things like recommend or mandate water breaks, shave breaks. that process could take years to complete, so what we saw was an attempt to use the powers that already exist, but experts would say we need to expand those powers in a huge way. amy: david wallace-wells, we recently interviewed tv meteorologists in iowa who just quit, because as he reported the connection between weather and climate change, he got death threats. you are constantly talking about the connection between the

weather, climate change. your recent piece is about the canadian wildfires and how they connect to all of this. can you explain? david: global heating produces much more intense fire conditions in canada, producing a totally unprecedented fire season. more than 25 million acres burned in canada, 2.5 times the largest american wildfire in history. those fires are still burning out of control. to some extent, this is by design. canada is so large, firefighters cannot suppress those fires if they begin. it is thought to be better forced management now, fire policy to let fires burned so that forests can regenerate on their own. but when you're dealing with conditions like climate change has created, this means unbelievably large and intense fires creating huge amounts of carbon emissions. in this case this year, probably

all of canadian industrial activities for the year combined. this is not just bothering cities in canada and the u.s. but across the atlantic in europe. when most people see news offense, coverage about heat waves or wildfires, i don't think it is that hard to make the connection to climate change. the jobs that are harder, would be more helpful for people to make, is the jump from climate change to the question of climate action, why we are not doing more, and who is standing in the way. when i see news coverage of extreme heat, heat warnings, i don't worry too much that we don't put the words climate change in the headlines. people understand that. what fewer understand is why we are not doing more to protect us from this dramatic threat that is coming at us considerably faster than we anticipated even just a few years ago. amy: talk about what those measures would look like.

you talk about not only wildfires across canada as well as greece, algeria, dozens of other places around the world. david: the short answer is to limit all of these impacts, reducing carbon images rapidly. while we have had renewable rollouts over the last couple of years, all of the graphs are pointing up. the next decade looks more promising than advocates were even thinking years ago, but nevertheless, they have barely dented the emissions from fossil fuel generations. we have not reduced share of global power production that comes from fossil fuels from this remarkable renewable rollout. we are just adding to our power capacity. that is the change we need to make. we need to produce so much renewables now that we can draw down fossil fuels, draw down relatively rapidly, rather than using them to supplement our

consumption patterns and power production. unfortunately, we have not seen a sign of that. it looks like we will be looking at a plateau for admissions for the rest of the decade. we know from all of the scientific warnings that that is inadequate if we have any hope of meeting our more ambitious climate targets. amy: i want to ask you about what would be the most effective legislation in the u.s. to deal with climate change. dharna noor, first, i want to go to your piece. if you could explain what project 2025 is, and what you found in your investigation. dharna: absolutely. project 2025 is a group of dozens of right-wing organizations, think tanks, publications, convened by the heritage foundation, which is in the climate world, well known for promoting climate deniers, and even longer promoting this anti-regulatory stance.

these groups came together in an attempt to advise whoever the next president is, if they are republican, so any republican who takes office in the next presidential election. this is the second time the heritage foundation has created this transition plan aimed at a republican president. in the 1980's, we saw them create one of these plans that actually went on to have a huge influence on the ragged administration, framed as a way of taking on the out-of-control regulatory state. in this particular iteration, there's a lot of focus in their new transition plan on making environmental regulations. i'm happy to talk more about this but there are number of previous trump appointees who have written essentially proposals to undo the powers of the federal administration from the epa to department of interior, all in an attempt to lessen the federal authority to

regulate fossil fuels and essentially boost those industries. amy: it is interesting. polls now show that biden and trump, even though he was indicted yesterday, our neck and neck in the polls for president. you talk about the department of interior part of the plan in this 2025 plan, written by a man who led the bureau of land management under president trump, limiting drilling. talk specifically and name names. dharna: as you mentioned, william perry pendley, he was actually never confirmed. before he had a role in the administration, he wrote a book that was really in praise of

ronald reagan's anti-regulatory agenda. it is not surprising to see his name in the proposal aimed at ending the ability for federal regulations to have any real impact on the environment. previous reporting found that others had written a chapter remaking the epa, focused on tricking its authority by laying off staff, cutting budgets, especially with a focus on cutting environmental programs like environmental justice programming, outreach programming. another name in the proposal was bernard mcnamee who wrote a chapter on the department of energy saying we should restrict the authority of the department of energy. he previously served as an advisor to ted cruz and before

that lead a far right organization called the texas public policy foundation, which really aims to undo environmental regulation and fight renewable energy at the federal level. we are seeing a who's who of the far right in an attempt to not only be in the next president's ear if they are president, but also personnel. amy: what role does billionaire charles koch play in this project? dharna: the heritage foundation, the far right foundation that convenes this group, project 2025, has historically had financial ties to the cook brothers -- koch brothers, billionaires who made their fortune in fossil fuels and related industries. the heritage foundation is also a member of the state policy network, a coalition of these extreme right-wing groups that have targeted regulation, especially climate focused

regulation, in states for many years. no surprise that an organization with ties to people that have made such great fortunes in the industries that must be regulated in order to take on the climate crisis have been tied to a group that is trying to push that agenda to the presidential level. amy: as we wrap up, i want to ask david wallace-wells to respond to what dharna is describing right now, and also talk about what needs to be done exactly? we are speaking the day after the supreme court just cleared the way for construction of the contested mountain valley pipeline to resume, lifting a halt on the section of the project issued by a lower court

earlier this month, after a challenge by environmental groups. david: i think we are in a situation as a country where we are pursuing what used to be called and all of the above energy strategy. that is catastrophic for our climate goals. at this point, the republican party across the country is mostly standing down in resistance to renewable energy. the project 2025 memo is concerning. when i look across the political landscape, i see basically no campaigning against the ira in the midterm elections. in texas, there was an effort to kneecap renewables a few months ago but that failed. even conservative republicans in texas understood that doing so would raise bills for consumers. nevertheless, we are also moving forward with new fossil fuel infrastructure. that is the path we are following, doing both at once.

in the big picture, what we need to do is find a way to accelerate the good stuff, draw down the bad stuff. what that means is finding a way to ease the rollout of renewable power, build more transmission lines so we can expand our grid and accommodate more renewable electricity, without at the same time giving new benefits to new infrastructure on the dirty side. to this point, most of the permitting reform proposals we have heard have been balanced precisely in that way. they make some accommodations for accelerations of a noble buildout, but also more dirty energy construction. we cannot have that if we are hoping to hit the targets set by not just the scientific community but also those set out by the biden administration. amy: david wells, the phraseology of the u.n. secretary general talking about global boiling, taking on the

fossil fuel industry seems to fly in the face of what is happening with the u.n. climate summit, the one coming up in uae. in january, the uae confirmed that the sultan had been cop 28. he is the ceo of the abu dhabi national oil company, the biggest producer in the united arab emirates, 12th largest in the world. your thoughts on this? david: it's important for people to understand that the u.s. is the largest producer of oil and gas. when we point our finger around the world and shake our hands at other people's actions, we should look at how poorly we are doing. in general, secretary gutierrez has taken an unusual turn, making himself a climate first rhetorical world leader, operating somewhat independently from the other structures of the u.n., including the cop process.

he has made himself the rhetorical leader on climate anywhere in the world, and it is almost a shame in contrast to look at the language that he uses, compared to the language that joe biden uses here, as well as leaders around the world using much more muted rhetoric. while some of what he says is overheated for my taste, it is striking how other political leaders are not speaking in these urgent terms. it's a reminder of how far the world is from reckoning with the state of the climate crisis in the near future that we are now rushing headlong into. we need more people feeling the urgency that the secretary-general feels, and giving voice to it, so that every day people around the world understand their leaders see this saga that we are living through in the same terms that we do, and are trying to move the ball forward, as opposed to letting things stay as they are, which is not acceptable.

amy: david wallace-wells, thank you for being with us. dharna noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for the guardian. we will link to both of your recent articles at democracynow.org. coming up, texas congress member greg casar will be with us. he just had an eight-our thirst strike on on the steps of the tuesday u.s. capitol to highlight the need for a federal workplace heat standard as his state outlaws water breaks or people in his state that work outside. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as temperatures soar across the united states for a second month , nearly half of americans face heat advisories. president biden announced new steps on thursday to provide relief. president biden: announcing additional steps to help cities and states deal with the extreme heat. i have asked the labor secretary to issue a heat hazard alert. it clarifies that workers have a federal sheet -- heat related protections.

we should be working to protect workers from hazardous conditions. in those states where they do not, i'll be calling them out for refusing to protect these workers in this awful heat. second, the acting secretary of labor will work with our team to intensify enforcement and inspections of high-risk industries like construction and agriculture. this builds on a national standard at the labor department is already developing for workforce and heat safety rules. amy: this comes after congress member, former labor organizer greg casar held an eight-our thirst strike on tuesday on the steps of the u.s. capitol to highlight the need for a federal workplace heat standard which include mandatory water breaks for workers. he was joined by advocates and those other legends like delores huerta, as well as workers like fernando arista, an electrician from austin, who spoke out against a new texas law banning water breaks.

>> the opponents of the bill talk about business. it will help out the texas economy. we workers are part of the texas economy. if it will help out businesses, it will help with the exploitation of workers. amy: at least 2,000 workers in the united states die every year from heat exposure. monday, texas congressmember casar and more than 110 democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the department of labor and the occupational safety and health administration, urging them to fast-track federal protections for outdoor workers in order to prevent more deaths. it cited the recent deaths of two workers in texas. "in dallas, texas, a usps employee of over 40 years died while on his route in 115-degree heat. in harrison county, texas, a 35-year-old lineman working to restore power died, likely from heat exhaustion.” for more, we go to capitol hill to speak with congressmember

greg casar whose texas district stretches from san antonio to austin. welcome back to democracy now! we hope now that you are getting plenty of water. talk about, in your home state, what is happening to workers who work outside, and talk about that thirst strike he went on on tuesday. rep. casar: thank you for having me on and covering such a critical topic that every day people are talking about at home but usually doesn't get much attention here on capitol hill. we are experiencing a global heat wave, the hottest july in recorded history. in san antonio, the hottest two weeks in history. during this heat wave, our governor decided to sign a law taking workers rights away from them, for a water break. we decided to fight back, in the traditional way over 110 members

of congress and senators, but we also decided to push back with direct action, in the tradition of the lord swear to and united farmworkers, the recent tradition of politicians like wendy davis hosting a filibuster for reproductive rights. we held a thirst strike, sitting on the capitol steps in the sun for about nine hours from the morning until i had to go inside to vote, but we also use the opportunity to raise the voices of workers to the president to hear them and finally an act workplace protections, dignity and decency on the job. basic rights if the president gets that done come he can overturn these extreme corporate right wing leaders like greg abbott and protect workers not only in texas but around the country. amy: congress member, this is not your first thirst strike, you did one in 2010. and in dallas in 2015, as well.

and one of those who joined you this week at your thirst strike on capitol hill was jasmine granillo, the sister of roendy granillo, a construction worker who died from heat stroke on the job in 2015 and was denied a water break at his construction job. this is a clip from the pbs documentary “death on the job” when one of granillo's family members describes what happened to him on the day he died. >> randy started feeling sick at 10:00 in the morning. he told his boss that he was not feeling well. he was never told that he could stop working. they just shoved him aside. his temperature was 110 degrees fahrenheit. by the time he got to the hospital, his organs, heart,

pancreas, all of his organs. there was nothing they could do. amy: this is texas representative armando walle speaking in 2021 in the state legislature about roendy granillo, the construction worker in dallas named who died from heat stroke, whose family fought to pass protect other workers from the same fate. >> randy would work from 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m., some weekends included. the day he passed, he complained to the contractor at 10:00 a.m. that he could not feel his hands. by 12:00 p.m., he stopped talking. by 4:00 p.m., members, 4:47, he passed away. randy died at the hospital at 7:00 p.m. his body temperature reached 100

nine degrees according to the medical examiner's report. his stomach was empty when he died. he was working 16-hour days in july without receiving water or meal breaks. to honor the death of their son, his parents led the fight at the city of dallas to win a water break ordinance. they were committed to protecting other families from losing their child to a heat related illness. amy: from the texas state house to where you are, congress member greg casar, in the u.s. capitol now, being a congress member from texas, can you go more into detail? people around the country are shocked to hear that the republican governor greg abbott has signed into law that overturns municipal requirements for water breaks in this record heat, among other things that it

prevents in municipalities. rep. casar: it is a slap in the face, it is dangerous, it will get people killed. most of all, it is disrespectful to working people. governor abbott signed a law taking away people's water breaks. i am outraged but unfortunately not surprised. this bill, taking away workers rights, has been a top priority for corporate interests in texas for years. that makes it a top priority for folks like governor abbott. the only way we can take on that big corporate money is through organizing people. that is why i was proud to stand on the capitol steps all day in the sun, along with the granillo family. his organs were cooked by

exploitation by states. the president calling out governor abbott and this law two days after the strike should serve as it ration that organized workers can make a difference. the president listening is the first step but now he has to do the most important second step, get something done. we have to declare a climate emergency, pass he protections for workers, get everyone a living wage, transition workers from the fossil fuel industry to renewable energy, and save countless lives in the future or we will all be paying for it. amy: critics have called this law the death star law, which is a play on the lone star state.

how would what president biden could do overturn this mandate on municipal law? rep. casar: in 2010, i led a thirst strike in austin. that help to beat back corporate interest, got people access to water breaks on the job in austin. we did the same thing in dallas in 2015. now that abbott is overturning those laws, we have a chance to go over his head. the president can put into place through his own authority federal heat protections that guarantee everyone across the country a right to a water break, the right to come off of a scaffold, to take a break because you are feeling sick in the sun. that is what we need as temperatures get worse. this summer has been bad but we know it can only get worse. we need to get that action done immediately. you said earlier that sometimes that takes years, and that is on

except double. that is why we need people organizing and raising their voices, so we can overturn the oppressive actions by right-wing governments in the south. in the same way that the voting rights act was signed by a president, because the people took on governments in the south, the voting rights act brought voting rights to the south. we have to do the same thing with reproductive rights. we have to do the same with workers rights as well. we cannot just give up because governors are participating in the cruelty olympics as abbott and santos try to outdo each other. amy: thank you for being with us. held an eight-our thirst strike on the steps of the u.s. capitol to highlight the need for federal workplace heat standards, which includes mandatory water bricks for workers. coming up, president biden has designated a national monument

honoring emmett till and his mother maybe till-mobley. we will speak with emmett till's cousin, who was with him on the night of his lynching. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this week, president biden designated a national monument honoring emmett till and his

mother maybe till-mobley. emmett till would have turned 82 on july 25 but he was murdered at the age of 14 on august 20 8, 1955, dragged from his uncles home in mississippi by two white men for allegedly whistling at a white woman. they beat, tortured, and shot emmett, and then threw his body into the river. his corpse was discovered days later. his mother had his body returned to chicago for a funeral, insisting on an open casket so the world could see the brutality of bigotry, the ravages of racism. jet magazine and other black publications carried photos of emmett's beaten face, galvanizing the civil rights moment to defeat jim crow. three sites make up the monument to emmett till. the church on chicago's south side where emmett's funeral was

held, the courthouse in sumner, mississippi where emmett's two murderers were acquitted by an all-white jury, and the landing site along the tallahatchie river believed where his body was found. the memorial was made bulletproof to withstand attempt to destroy it. it has been shot at and vandalized countless times. this comes in mid efforts to suppress such history from being included into school textbooks led by florida governor ron desantis. this is president biden speaking on tuesday. president biden: at a time when there are those who seek to ban books, bury history, we are making it crystal clear. [applause] darkness and denialism can hide much but they raise nothing -- e rase nothing.

we cannot just learn to choose what we want to know, we should learn what we should know. amy: also speaking at his proclamation for the proclamation of the monument was emmett's cousin and best friend reverend william parker junior. rev. parker: as i sat with my family on the night of terror, when emmett was taken from us, taken to be tortured and murdered, back then, when i was overwhelmed with terror and fear and certain death in the darkness of 1000 midnights, in a pitch black house. back then in the darkness, i could never imagine a moment like this, standing in the light of wisdom, grace, and deliverance. amy: that was reverend wheeler parker jr. speaking between

president biden and vice president harris, the first black vice president of the country. joining us now from chicago is emmett till's best friend and cousin, who was 16 years old when he witnessed emmett till's abduction. welcome back to democracy now! as we honor this moment, again, condolences. no matter how many decades have passed since that moment that shaped your life. if you could talk about what this means for you, the designation of this national monument in three parts. the church where you are in chicago, where the funeral was held, but also the site where it is believed his body was found

at grabow landing, and the courthouse where his murderers were acquitted. your thoughts on what this means to remember these places? rev. parker: as you know, i'm aware, in america, the wheels of justice grind but they grind slow. i appreciate putting this on a national level, this monument. i think about the suffering, the pain it caused to get us to this point. we really appreciate, but at the same time, we have mixed emotions. it is like the anti-lynching law. it took 100 years but we got it done. amy: what do you want us to know about emmett till today? carolyn bryant just died, the woman made the first accusation about emmett, when you all went

into the drugstore so many years ago. rev. parker: from the time that it happened, i wanted the truth. i read the magazine piece and i knew it was not true at 16 years old. i felt so helpless. emmett never got a chance to bring the truth out. now i can speak to the truth. 30 years before i was interviewed. when i was interviewed, they said i alleged. i feel some of the truth is out, and i feel good. amy: what did it mean to you to be standing there at the white house, between the president and vice president, as you remembered that fateful night? rev. parker: here i am standing

among some of the greatest people in the world. people that have a voice, that can speak to the issues. i felt comfortable, relaxed knowing that we were making progress. amy: in 2000, i spoke to mamie till mobley, youraunt, reflecting on the painful moment where she learned about her son's murder. >> we knew that emmett was dead. our first action, we could not take time to cry, as i announced to the family what was happening. of course, there were screams, people hitting the floor, historian was -- hysteria was sitting in. i remember announcing that we don't have time to cry now, we have to do something. i don't know what to do.

you have to help me make some decisions. amy: that was mamie till mobley. it is quite amazing, reverend william parker junior, it is not just an emmett till memorial but a memorial to the most determined mother perhaps on earth. maybe till-mobley --mamie till mobley, when she demanded that the casket be open during the week so that everyone could see the brutal murder, bravery, and what this inspired. this was the summer before rosa parks sat down on the bus. she was so sickened by the photos and the horror of what happened to emmett. 901953 march on washington. -- then the 1953 march on ashington. that was set for march 20 eight

because that was the day that emmett was lynched. his mother said that he is going to die a hero. talk about how that has shaped so much of the civil rights movement today. rev. parker: mamie and i were both raised on a strong faith atmosphere. she was well prepared. she was ready for this. at the same time, a little confusing, but she was prepared to step up and do what she did because of her religious background. everybody should have the opportunity to read her reconciliation speech in 2003. the country, world leaders should read that. you will get a better idea of how she was prepared to do what she did. great woman.

amy: can you share with us a cherished memory you have of your cousin? he came to money, mississippi to be with you, other cousins, aunt and uncle, to get out of the chicago heat. what do you remember most about emmett? what did you call him? rev. parker: i was trying to turn so that you could see his face. he has a magnetic smile. can you see it? amy: yes, for people listening, the reverend is moving because there is a large photo of bobo, emmett till. rev. parker: every day, he was the center of attraction. he was an innate leader. never had a bad day in his life. when you mention his name, you have to laugh. bobo would have people pay had

to tell jokes. amy: is that you on the other side of the break to her? rev. parker: the big guy there, that is me. at that time, i think he was 12, i was 14. two years later, he was gone. amy: reverend wheeler parker jr., we thank you so much for being with us, as you just got back from washington from that announcement of that three-part national monument that honors emmett till and your aunt mamie till mobley, bobo's mother. thank you for being with us. that does it for our show. happy birthday to rob young.

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