"[atmospheric music] [lively piano notes]" "[low thrumming music]" "��� ���" " There is breaking newsnbsp;" "from Chicago's southwest side." "A 17-year-old boy is shotnbsp;" "and killed by police, and an investigationnbsp;" "is now underway." " They say that the teennbsp;" "closed in on them, weapon in hand, so they shot in self-defense." " He is a very serious threatnbsp;" "to the officers, and he leaves them no choice at that pointnbsp;" "but to defend themselves." " But more questions are beingnbsp;" "raised about the events surrounding the momentnbsp;" "in the police shooting that has sparkednbsp;" "days of protest in Chicago." " Chicago." "No matter how farnbsp;" "work takes me," "I will always benbsp;" "a son of this city." "Chicago is the truth." "I grew up not far from here, but it might as wellnbsp;" "be a different planet." "The South Side isnbsp;" "invisible from downtown until something punches throughnbsp;" "the lights on Michigan Avenue and can no longer be ignored." "[crowd chattering indistinctly, camera shutter clicks]" " Of course, we're in Chicago, and Common is Chicago." " Yeah." " What is it about you keeping that connection to home?" " Well, I mean, home has shaped me so much." "Chicago provided me with a wonderful foundation of knowing who I am." "Here inside the downtown loop,nbsp;" "everything seems fine, but you can already hearnbsp;" "the rumor of a police scandal that will shake my citynbsp;" "to its core." " Right now it's critical that we got all the voices talking about what's happening, and your voice added to this is important so thank you." " You know I want to be part of, you know, the solution." "I wanted to be able to help." " Absolutely and it really takes solutions coming from people outside." "[police siren wailing]" " Anyone who grew up in Chicagonbsp;" "knows that Laquan McDonald is not the first 17-year-oldnbsp;" "boy to be killed by the police, but actually seeing the video after a year of police denials suddenly changes everything." "[mysterious music]" "��� ��� 16 shots in 15 seconds." "The initial police reports made the shootingnbsp;" "sound like self-defense, but Officer Van Dykenbsp;" "emptied his clip into the boy while he lay dyingnbsp;" "on the ground." "16 shots." " Right nownbsp;" "I'm technically homeless." "I used to live here." "I'm stayingnbsp;" "with a friend of mine." "We were pushednbsp;" "out of this building, increasing rent rates, and the landlord just decided that he was notnbsp;" "renewing leases." "Get out in 30 days." "She kept saying,nbsp;" ""Why can't we go back home?" "What's going on?"" "But I just explained to hernbsp;" "that home is family." "As long as we are together,nbsp;" "you're home." " These days I'm hearing there are more homeless peoplenbsp;" "in New York City than at any timenbsp;" "since the Great Depression." "A record 60,000nbsp;" "in the city's shelter system, including 23,000 children." "I can't fucking believe it." "The homeless are a citynbsp;" "within a city." "Many got that waynbsp;" "simply because they can't afford to live here." "Today there isn'tnbsp;" "a single neighborhood in the five boroughs where someone working full-timenbsp;" "on the state's minimum wage can affordnbsp;" "the average rent." " The problem is our income." "It's too low for private development." "It's too high for city housing." " Why don't you take a cut in wages and move into the slums?" "[laughter]" " Back in the '70s," "I tried using humornbsp;" "to call attention to some thingsnbsp;" "that were plaguing America." "New York was my canvas." "Now I'm back here, on a mission to find outnbsp;" "what's changed, how tough the strugglenbsp;" "for a home can still be, and what we can do about it." "[wheels squeaking]" " Okay, stand her up." " One at a time." " If you can't get no clean water, then you're in trouble." "We're all in trouble." "Just about there." "Start pumping it." "I mean, it works." "You can take a shower just like anybody else." " I hate taking showers with that." " We just have to do what we have to do." "It's not so fun but, you know." " It's probably the worst thing about the water crisis." "[water splashing]" " And it's going to take a while for them to fix the pipes." " Yeah, I think they said 10, 15 years." "I'm going to be about 27." "[somber music]" "��� ���" " It's the summer of 2016nbsp;" "in Flint, Michigan, two yearsnbsp;" "after the water crisis began." "The news crewsnbsp;" "have largely moved on, but the people are still here, and little has changed." "[determined music]" "��� ���" " It's a systemnbsp;" "that effectively sweeps millions of poor people into second-class status." "Did we investnbsp;" "in those communities?" "No, instead we declared war." "[determined music continues]" "��� ���" " What we have todaynbsp;" "is a wealth gap that is huge." " We are dyingnbsp;" "with undrinkable water." "We are dyingnbsp;" "with undrinkable water." " The working classnbsp;" "have been hammered." " These are human beings.nbsp;" "These are people." "What can we donbsp;" "to get that point across?" "��� ��� [siren wails,nbsp;" "police radio chatter]" "��� ���" " The constant telling usnbsp;" "that we're not doing enough is causing us to explode." " It is not, sir,nbsp;" "a matter of opinion anymore." "It is clearly exposed." " What do we do?" "nbsp;" " Stand up, fight back!" "��� ���" " They can only winnbsp;" "by dividing America." " We know thatnbsp;" "the way things are working aren't working at all." " That's right." " If you just keep pushing, if you just keep trying, if you refuse to let thenbsp;" "nightmares have the last say, eventually,nbsp;" "the dawn will break, the Sun will come out, and you will benbsp;" "in a brand-new day." "��� ���" " If there is no struggle,nbsp;" "there can be no progress." "[percussive music]" " Mic check!" "All:" "Mic check!" "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12," "13, 14, 15, 16." "16 shots!" "16 shots!" " In the long historynbsp;" "of the Chicago Police, no officernbsp;" "has ever been charged with first-degree murder for shooting someonenbsp;" "while on duty, but fearing riots,nbsp;" "the city has done just that." " The officer who pullednbsp;" "the trigger on Laquan McDonald, he's chargednbsp;" "with first-degree murder." " The protests continued, demanding deeper reforms and the resignationnbsp;" "of Chicago's police superintendent, Garry McCarthy." "What is happening in my city?" "I've seen Chicagonbsp;" "weather scandals before, but somethingnbsp;" "feels different now." "I decide to meetnbsp;" "with an organizer at the forefrontnbsp;" "of the protests," "Janae Bonsu,nbsp;" "from BYP100." "Laquan McDonald, God bless his soul, is not the first situation where we've seen a young black teen shot down by a police officer." "Why do you feel like that particular case really sparked something different in the city?" " I think when that video was released, it was just, like, enough was enough." " Yeah." " The city was sitting on this tape for a year." "That was just confirmation that black lives don't actually matter in practice in this country." "It's, like, when will this stop?" "Not just the killing, but the impunity that goes along with it." " You all are part of the solution, for real, but you're up against some powerful institutions in Chicago, some history of really strong politics and even corruption in this city." "Why do you think that you can win?" " [sighs]" "I believe that we can win because what we're fighting for is so much bigger, and we, I think, all have this just, like," ""we ain't got no choice," mentality." "Like, we got to do this." "I feel like if your heart is in the right place, and if you really have the faith that what you're fighting for will manifest and will come to fruition, then it will." "[cheers and applause] all:" "We ready." "We coming." "We ready." "We coming." "We ready." "We coming." "We ready." "We coming." "[inaudible]" "We must love each other and protect each other." "��� I believe ���" "��� That we will win ���" "��� I believe that we... ���" " Momentum keeps buildingnbsp;" "for Janae and BYP100." "One short week afternbsp;" "Van Dyke's murder charge, superintendent Garry McCarthynbsp;" "is fired." " Top Cop Garry McCarthynbsp;" "is forced to resign." " The former superintendentnbsp;" "says he believes Mayor Rahm Emanuel made him the fall guy fornbsp;" "the Laquan McDonald shooting." " Hey." " Thanks for coming through." "How you doing today?" " I'm doing good today." " Yeah." " But it's a day-by-day existence, right?" " Yes, sir." "So, man, I mean, obviously, you know, we here to talk about a lot of stuff going on in Chicago." "I really want to hear your perspective." "At the core of it, what is the issue?" " I don't want to sound defensive, you know what I'm saying?" "Course, you got to realize where I'm coming from and what just happened to me." "I just got held accountable for something that" "I didn't have any ability to do anything about." "You know, the Laquan McDonald video is a terrible video." "Police can do better." "That's obvious, right?" "We know that." "But I think that we have to do a better job of diagnosing what's going on." "You know, last year in Chicago there were 3,000 people shot." "3,000 people were shot." " Wow." " There were 19 police-related shootings." "0.0063% of the people shot in Chicago last year were shot by police officers." " For real." " But what's the biggest problem in Chicago?" "It's the police." "I don't think so." " Yeah, but the communities don't feel safe, that the police are going to keep them safe." " You're describing something called legal cynicism." "It has to do with the fact that they don't trust that bad guy, but they know that the police can't do anything about it, and there's no reason to trust the police." "You know, you have to look at this through the prism of history, and if you go back 300, 400 years, it starts with slavery, which was written into the Constitution of the United States," "and you move from slavery to black codes to segregation to Jim Crow." "Now, who was it who was doing the enforcement of all of those racist policies?" "It was the white policemen." " Right." " So there's a narrative that's well-deserved." "The anger that exists in some of the disenfranchised communities comes from a number of places, and the police are definitely part of that component." "Don't get me wrong." "But poverty, lack of opportunity, right, lack of education, rampant narcotics, families getting broken up, all contribute to a community that doesn't trust the system, right?" "And the most visible component of that system is the police." "Right?" "You don't see a prosecutor every day." "You don't see a judge." "You don't see a sheriff." "You see a police officer on the street, but we're missing the iceberg, right, because only the tip of the iceberg is showing." " It's hard to believe." "Chicago's former policenbsp;" "superintendent just told me that the policenbsp;" "don't have a race problem." "America has a race problem." "The police are onlynbsp;" "the face of it." "I was looking for answers about Laquan McDonald'snbsp;" "killing, but McCarthy is right." "It's the tip of the iceberg." "Police violencenbsp;" "and street violence, they're often posednbsp;" "as separate problems, but McCarthy tells menbsp;" "they're both symptoms of a brokennbsp;" "criminal justice system." "[mysterious music] [together] Three, two, one." "��� ���" " In April 2014,nbsp;" "the city of Flint, Michigan, was drowning in debt." "In an attemptnbsp;" "to save $5 million, it switched its water supplynbsp;" "from the Detroit system to the Flint River." " Here's to Flint." " Here's to Flint." " Hear, hear." " I've been actingnbsp;" "ever since I was a teenager, but when I'm not on set, my life is dedicatednbsp;" "to activism." "[cheers and applause]" " Rosario Dawson in the house!" "[cheers and applause]" " In fact,nbsp;" "I come from an activist family." "We have evolved on the issue." "My mom was onenbsp;" "and so was my grandmother." " She's a global citizen, she's an American citizen, and she's my daughter, and I love her, and she's awesome." " I was raised to believenbsp;" "that the people united will never be defeated." "[cheers and applause] [somber music]" "And I can't fathom the idea of an entire city having its water systemnbsp;" "poisoned." "How can that be possible in the United Statesnbsp;" "of America?" "I've come to Flintnbsp;" "to find some answers, to connect with peoplenbsp;" "on the ground who are fightingnbsp;" "for their rights, because in my book, there's no right more basic than the rightnbsp;" "to safe drinking water." "I'm starting with Ken McCloud and Tammy Lorennbsp;" "and their children." "They're amongnbsp;" "the thousands of families who have been livingnbsp;" "with the crisis for the past two years." "Software engineer demolition expert." "Oh, my goodness!" "So cute." "When was the moment that you started to see an effect or that there might be something wrong with the water?" " Ken was walking with the boys, and all the fire hydrants were running, but the water was brown coming out, so he knew something was wrong." " Right." " So we immediately, right then, we stopped drinking the water right then, but we had already consumed so much." " And then I heard something happened with your dog?" " He had gone mad." " Literally." " He had just gone mad." "So I'm changing water bowls, like..." " Every ten minutes," " Every ten minutes, and it's turning into Jell-O." " Yeah." " Yes." "After that, they had checked him for lead, and his lead levels were extremely high." " He was at a level 32." " Yes." " 32." "If it were a human, that would be six timesnbsp;" "the EPA's safety threshold." "This was alarming enough, but then the kidsnbsp;" "started to change." " We have completely different kids." "They went from straight-A students to failing." "Jeremiah, he's been to schoolnbsp;" "44 days this year because he's so sick." " Yes." " Elijah has been fighting a bacterial infectionnbsp;" "from the water for two years." "He has days he can't even get out of bed." "Sorry, I'm getting all teary." " It's okay." " You know, it's devastating knowing we're going through this as well," "But to have to see our kids go through it, it's heartbreaking." "If a neighbor poisoned and killed his wife, he'd be in prison." " Yep." " And we have an entire city that's been poisoned." " But how did lead get intonbsp;" "the water in the first place?" "I need to find out." " Hi, Jenny." "How are you?" "nbsp;" " Hello." "How are you?" " I'm thrilled to introduce you to Norman Lear." "Jenny Lenz." " Hi, so nice to meet you." " Good to meet you also." "This is the place." " $23 million." "You'll see why in a second." " It was all redone." "It's all beautifulnbsp;" "marble floors, gold leaf on the ceiling." "We have four bedroomsnbsp;" "and a library." "You see the George Washington Bridge." "You see the palisades." "The views here are fairly protected." "Under current zoning, they can never be changed and the Plaza, which is better to look down on then be in." " This is Dolly Lenznbsp;" "and her daughter Jenny." "Dolly grew up poornbsp;" "in the Bronx." "Her dad was a factory worker, and nownbsp;" "she's one of Manhattan's top real estate brokers." " When I started 30 years ago, my clients were mostlynbsp;" "doctors and lawyers." "Today my clients arenbsp;" "centimillionaires, billionaires." "It changed dramatically 'cause the complexion of the city in that period changed dramatically." " I was reading about some extremely expensive apartments that stay empty." "We're gonna see a hell of a view here, I suspect." " In this building, it's almost exclusivelynbsp;" "foreigners." "So they're buyingnbsp;" "a $90 million apartment, literally, $100 million apartment, a $53 million apartment." "They're from China." "They're from every part of the world, and they're looking at it as a safety deposit box." "How can I get moneynbsp;" "out of my country into a safetynbsp;" "deposit box here?" " They're sold.nbsp;" " Yes." " They're occupied." " Yes." "Well, they're sold." " And they stay empty 90% of the time?" " Yes." " This situation is depriving people of places to live where average people used to live." " I think it's a disaster, and I think it's gonna get worse before it gets better." "How do you save the money for the down payment?" "You know, when the average price of a one-bedroom is in excess of $1 million, that's a one-bedroom." "That's not a family." "See, I felt 30 years ago, I had a chance, right?" "I don't feel that young people have the feeling they have that chance." " But this is America, equal opportunity." "What do you mean, there isn't a chance?" " There isn't a chance for upward mobility the way there was for my generation." "We can talk about it, but it doesn't exist." "[upbeat hip-hop music]" " If it don't say Foxx, it ain't the right box." "[inaudible] Kim Foxx." " Superintendent McCarthynbsp;" "has been fired in the wakenbsp;" "of massive protests, but the falloutnbsp;" "hasn't stopped there." "With rising murder rates and building angernbsp;" "over police abuse and impunity," "Chicago's top prosecutor faces a challengenbsp;" "from a newcomer, Kim Foxx." "Kim Foxx isnbsp;" "an insurgent candidate who grew up in Chicago'snbsp;" "public housing projects." "If she wins, she'll facenbsp;" "another daunting challenge, to oversee every prosecutionnbsp;" "in the city while staying truenbsp;" "to where she came from." "��� ���" " This is Black T." " I'm Black, yeah." " Black T." " Yeah." "All right, Black T." " Clemenza." " Clemenza." " Yeah, the Clemenza, the most loyal." " A'ight." "From "Godfather?"" " Yeah." "You see?" "See, see?" "She into it." " No, no." " You know I'm running for state's attorney, and I can't fix the state's attorney's office without the public helping me." "How do I convince you to work with me, and to work with the police?" "'Cause they're part of the problem." "They're part of the solution." " The trust is down for the police, though." "Don't nobody trust them and politicians." "They just let you down." " So we got to do something, right?" "I mean, we got people getting locked up." "We got people getting killed." " Yeah, the violence in the city is real crazy." " How many people do y'all know who've been shot or killed in the last year or so?" " Oh, man, that count over 30." " Me personally, I know, like, 13 people done been shot, like, four that been killed." "One of them was a family member just came home." " Facebook is becoming a big obituary for Chicago." " It's true, though." " This city just full of haters, man." " Big graveyard." "Like, you stay here, it's like you waiting to die, because it's messed up here." " You can't even raise your kids here." "They can't go on the front and ride a bike or jump rope." " Not like you used to." " The ice cream truck don't even come down the block no more." " It's messed up, man, and the police ain't doing nothing about it, so you got to protect yourself." " It's sad to say that people in Chicago, they'd rather get caught with they gun than without it." "I mean, I can't really blame them due to all the violence that's going on around them." " The police ain't gonna protect you." " What keeps you safer than using the police?" " I mean, I don't feel safe around them 'cause it's too much bad history." " I have never in my life called the police on anybody, and I've been in so many jams." "I mean, jams." " Why?" " I don't trust them." " If you know a group of people, right, and all they do is harass you, and you need help 'cause there's a situation going on, you gonna call them same group of people?" " As I embark on my research," "I learn an importantnbsp;" "and basic piece of information." "Much of Flint's waternbsp;" "travels through lead pipes." "No one knows exactly how much, and I discovernbsp;" "that there's a local who's an expert in metals and can explain how the pipesnbsp;" "connect to the crisis." "She agrees to meet and has some thingsnbsp;" "she wants to show me." "Wow." "Rusted, corroded pipes..." " [laughs]" " In your trunk." " It's lead." "You can tell it's lead because you can just make a fingernail mark in it." "It's just really soft." " The problem with lead pipes,nbsp;" "she tells me, is that they can corrodenbsp;" "on the inside, with toxic leadnbsp;" "leaching into the water, but lead pipes can benbsp;" "made relatively safe, as long as the waternbsp;" "is treated." " So phosphates are added to water, and phosphates bind to the lead at the surface and form a protective coating on the inside, a hard protective coating, and once it's there, no more lead will leave the inside and go into the water." "In order to add the phosphates, you had to have a piece of equipment that would put the phosphates in the water." " And since the Flint Rivernbsp;" "is especially corrosive, after the switch,nbsp;" "it was crucial that the Flintnbsp;" "water treatment plant use this specialized equipmentnbsp;" "to treat the river water." " That piece of equipment was never purchased." "It wasn't even there." "They couldn't add any phosphate." "If you look on the inside here, you can see that the coating is not complete." "Can you see?" "It's kind of disrupted." " The damaged pipesnbsp;" "tell the story." "After the switchnbsp;" "to the Flint River, the city simply failednbsp;" "to treat the water, and as a result,nbsp;" "the water was poisoned." "[sighs]" "So, wow, like, basically, this is crime scene evidence?" " Crime one, destruction of our infrastructure." "Crime two, in the process of destroying the infrastructure, poisoning people." "Two crimes." " Right." "Dr. Sullivan wants menbsp;" "to see the river itself." " Well,nbsp;" "this is our Flint River, and it goes all the waynbsp;" "around Flint, wraps around." "It's got a rich but also very sad history of being polluted." "There was a perception that there was no way it could be safe, from the get-go." "I was working with a lot of activists, and there starts to be this creeping worry about the quality of the water 'cause it was coming from the Flint River, and I'm the college, you know," "professor in the group, and so I'm the one that's saying, "No, you know what?" "It's being treated, and water treatment makes water safe to drink."" " And that's what you were being told." " That's what I was being told, and that's what I believed, because theoretically, that would be true, right?" " Right." " People are starting to, you know, have hair loss, they're starting to have rashes, and everybody in Flint gets a notice, and the notice says," ""We've reached an unsafe level of disinfectant byproduct, and, oh, by the way, it's a carcinogen, and you probably want to talk to your physician about whether or not you should drink bottled water."" " What happens after that moment for you?" " The person who was in charge of the public works department said," ""Well, you know, we're gonna have to send another notice out."" "He and others just rolled their eyes and said," ""And the residents are gonna have rashes again."" "And I said to him," ""You're in charge of more than just water."" "I mean, if you're gonna roll your eyes, that tells me everything I need to know about how much you think about the people you're supposed to be serving." " You know, that this is what, you know, to that a degree, like, this is what evil can look like." "It's not always, like, some guy in the corner, like, swishing his mustache, going, "Ha ha, I'm gonna get you guys,"" "but more like," ""You're inconveniencing me, or this bureaucracy takes so long, so I have time,"" "and, you know, just prioritizing, and even being a part of the community with which you're serving, so that that actually becomes a priority for you, because it's not an us-versus-them and-other kind of situation," "but it's a "we" situation which you were a part of because this is your community that you're talking about." " It was really about "How can we calm them down?"" "Rather than "Oh, my gosh, what might be causing this?" "What could we do to make it go away?"" "So we had asked friends to have their water tested, but when they got their results, to share them with us." "So we return two weeks later, and they said, "You're wrong." "There's lead in the water, but it's not to the level that you think."" "And I said," ""Do you think that maybe" ""if the entity that's in charge" ""of collecting these specimens, the city," ""and the entity that's in charge of testing these specimens," ""the Department of Environmental Quality," ""if they both benefit from good data," ""if they both benefit from something that says" ""there's no problem, maybe there's something wrong with that?"" "I still kick myself for not saying, you know, "Listen to me." "This is not possible."" "Right?" "It's not possible." "Sorry." " No, don't be." "Don't be sorry." "I can't believenbsp;" "that Dr. Sullivan and others undertook a kind ofnbsp;" "people's investigation and were still shut down." "It went way beyond the officials in powernbsp;" "not listening." "It really seems like they triednbsp;" "to cover up the truth." " Since the middle class isnbsp;" "being forced out of Manhattan, landlords in the outer boroughs have plans to capitalize." " The noise can be unsettling.nbsp;" "As you can hear," "I have to raise my voice even louder." "[tea kettle whistling] [jackhammer rumbling]" "Oh, Jesus." "I don't want to stay out here too long." "Okay." "[jackhammer rumbling]" " [indistinct speech]" " Yeah." "You should ask them to secure your door and when the children come home." " Yeah, because they're coughing a lot now." " Yeah, I know." " You see I have a little baby." " Yeah, I know." "I hear them coughing." "Don't let them come out." "If you don't like it,nbsp;" "you can move." "If it's too much noise,nbsp;" "you can move." "This dust didn't cause it, we are not working that long, so whatever you're going through is not because of us." "They care nothing about my life." "The only thing they want to do is get three times as much money for this apartment than I'm paying now." "They care about their construction." "I care about my life." "[somber music]" "��� ���" " This is one of the buildings that's on mynbsp;" "worst landlord list." "He, unfortunately, is engaging in tactics which amount to harassment of tenants." "He claims that he's renovating the building, but he's renovating the buildings in violation of the law." "He's doing the work without permits." "There's dust." "There's debris." "There's rodents." " Why is he doing that?" " Because he wants them out." "He wants to raise the rents." " But these people wish to stay where they are, and they have leases." " That's right." "And he's creating hostile conditions, so that some of them just give up and move out." "And he is displacingnbsp;" "those residents who happen to be black." "You will be replacing themnbsp;" "with individuals who can pay the rent who in all likelihood, in all likelihood, are white." " Yeah." "I guess I am notnbsp;" "old enough to understand how a man can be breaking the law so thoroughly and not be arrested or not stopped from doing it." " Most landlords just pay the fines." "It's the cost of doing business." " So is the next stop for somenbsp;" "of these people homelessness?" " Some of them willnbsp;" "wind up in our shelters." "Some of them will wind up with their families, doubled and tripled up." " Oh, my goodness." " And I know landlords are going to say," ""You know, it's just not fair." "You purchase a piece of real estate."" " In a free enterprise system, you have every right to do what you're doing." " Exactly." "The question is process." "Are you engaging in illegal activity, and are you doing it in a way that disproportionately affects people of color?" " I've lived herenbsp;" "for 38 years, me and my mom." " My name is Gertrude [inaudible]." "I moved here in the '60s." "I don't remember,nbsp;" "you know, the exact year." " My name is Judy Lewis." "We've lived here since 1973." " My name is Prenella Rathwaite, and I'm living here 38 years now." " My name is Norman Lear, and I've been in this building, oh, about 20 minutes." "[laughter]" " In 2014, that cold winter, they renovated the apartment next door to me, and the one above me." "No walls, no ceilings, no floors, no windows, and it was 10 degrees outside, and we had no heat and hot water." "Those are the tactics they use to displace you." " A lot of people are here who are sick." "All this dust and everything," "I have to keep the windows down, and the noise is mind-boggling." "It makes you want to scream." " I brought it all to the attention of the landlord and his agent, and nothing has been done." "He looks at me and asks me, "Do I want to move?"" "So that's bullying and harassment." "He not only asked me once, but he's asked me three times, and I told him, "Do not ask me anymore."" " There's no respect." ""I want you out because your rent is low." ""You pay a $1,000." ""I can get $2,500 dollars for that apartment." "I'm going to make your life miserable."" " My concern is not only for myself, but it's for the seniors in here." "It's for the people who are sick in here, people who are on pensions and social security in here." "We were here during the crack epidemic." "We were here when the Crown Heights riots." "We looked out for this building." "But who's gonna look out for us now?" " 3,000 shootings in a year,nbsp;" "70% of the victims are black." "Over 90% of their casesnbsp;" "go unsolved." "If you shootnbsp;" "a black man in Chicago, the odds arenbsp;" "that you'll go free." "And everyone I talk tonbsp;" "tells me the same thing." "No matter what happens, they will nevernbsp;" "call the police." "How could thingsnbsp;" "possibly be this bad?" "Investigative journalistnbsp;" "Jamie Kalven had to sue the city to try to answer that question." "He tells menbsp;" "to come by his office to look at what he found." " This is the city's data." "This isn't anything that we created, and it's pretty extraordinary." "It's gotten a lot of attention." "These officers feel like they can act with impunity, like nobody is going to identify them, discipline them, punish them." " Kalven fought the citynbsp;" "for a decade to win the release this data, 15 years of civilian complaints against the Chicago police," "56,000 records." "I'm shocked by the numbers." "99% of complaintsnbsp;" "by blacks are dismissed." "Some officers racked up 40, 50, and even 60 complaints without so much as a reprimand." " That's a heat map of the city, and the most concentrated colors are the areas of the city from which most complaints come of police abuse." "It won't surprise you that it's the black South Side, the black West Side, overwhelmingly." " The pattern is clear, but there is something elsenbsp;" "about the map." "It looks almost exactly likenbsp;" "the map of Chicago homicides." " It's also the areas where there's the most violent crime." "It's the areas where there are the lowest clearance rates of the police, you know, closing cases." "Imagine if you had sort of layers of the map, and you had socioeconomic information, school outcomes, public health information, vacant lots, boarded-up buildings, foreclosures." "It's all gonna line up." " Yeah." " We have abandoned whole parts of the city and the folks who live in them." " The street violence that's happening amongst the communities and the police violence, is there any connection?" " When people can't trust the police to protect them, to seek justice when something's happened, they create their own public safety system because you want justice, and you want to be safe." "Everyone wants to be safe." " Everybody wants to feel safe." " Everybody wants to be safe, so it's, like, this thing that keeps snowballing." " Individual storiesnbsp;" "of police abuse are easy to dismiss, but here are 56,000 data points from the city's own files, confirming what everyone growing upnbsp;" "on the South Side knows." "There is an epidemic of policenbsp;" "misconduct in Chicago, and it directly correlates to the neighborhoodsnbsp;" "worst hit by street violence." " First, I want to thank everyone for coming tonight on the actual birth date of Dr. King." "I got to believe that he would be both outraged, and he would be in tears about the violence that runs rampant in America today." " Yes." " And that is violence whether it is done by a corrupt cop or whether it's done by somebody in the neighborhood." "Nobody has a right to have our communities under siege and have people live in fear, and so we're here tonight to say, one, we condemn the violence." " Yes." " We condemn the violence." " Yes." " Whether it's by cops, or it's by somebody on the street, we condemn the violence." " Yes." " It is not acceptable." "We're going to have a silent march tonight." "There's some things you can't even talk about anymore you just have to pray about while you're walking." " I've seen the numbersnbsp;" "and the maps and the graphs, but nothingnbsp;" "is clearer than this, the people of Englewoodnbsp;" "taking to the streets on a frozen January night to break the cycles of policenbsp;" "and street violence that feed off each other." " We end up here because this is a wall of those who have lost their lives." "Annette's son is on this wall." "Pam's son is on this wall." "My son is on this wall." "I'm going to ask Pam to close us out." "All: ��� Amazing grace ���" "��� How sweet ���" "��� The sound ���" "��� That saved a wretch ���" "��� Like me ���" " Last year, 500 peoplenbsp;" "were murdered in Chicago." "The papers only count the dead." "Out here, we are farnbsp;" "from the lights of downtown, but this is also Chicago, and these lives also matter." " Most holy and gracious God, source of compassion, source of justice, we invoke Your holy presence here this morning on behalf of all those struggling to obtain truly affordable housing." " What do we want?" "[together] Affordable housing!" " When do we want it?" "[together] Now!" " What do we want?" "[together] Affordable housing!" " When do we want it?" "[together] Now!" "Get up!" "Get down!" "There's a housing crisis in this town!" "Get up!" "Get down!" "There's a housing crisis in this town!" " I have a sense of gentrification, but if I were asked to explain it, I couldn't." "How do you explain it?" " I think everyone can agree on a definition of what gentrification is." "What people can't agree on is whether or not the changes that occur in a neighborhood that's gentrified are good or bad and what is causing them." "To us, we believe that gentrification is caused by landlords and bankers and real estate speculators, working together to drive up the cost of housing." " Today I'm hanging outnbsp;" "with Cea Weaver, one of a new breed of housing activists who are contendingnbsp;" "with the new, faceless breed of landlords." " We see privatenbsp;" "equity companies who are buying rent stabilized buildings in Crown Heights." " They're not thinking about the people who want to live in New York City." "They're thinking about parking money here." " Yes, yes." "I mean, landlords are buying buildings for profit and profit alone." "The private equity landlord is backed by investors." "They want huge returns in a short period of time." "You know, you think of a landlord as somebody who you can call to get your ceiling fixed or who's gonna help you get your apartment painted or help you get a new apartment if you're trying to move, you know." "Landlords like that are rarer and rarer in New York City." " Cea wants to show menbsp;" "what all of this looks like from a tenant's perspective, and she takes me outnbsp;" "to Crown Heights, Brooklyn." "Hi.nbsp;" "How are you?" " Hi." "I'm Natasha." " Hi." "I'm Norman." "It's good to meet you." " Good to meet you." " Hey, everybody." " Hi." "How are you?" " What's your name?" " I'm Aliya." " Hi, Aliya." "And you?" " My name is Radell." " I am Norman." "All of these guys were born here." " Yes all of them has b... yes." "It was like, 200 or something dollars when we started to pay rent here, and now I pay 992." " And now he wants to do what?" " Now he want to raise it to 2,139." " He wants to go from 900 to 2,100 in one leap?" " Mm-hmm." " And his reason?" " He said Crown Heights is the new Manhattan." " Can you just afford the $2,100?" " No, I cannot afford the $2,100." "I have a 19-year-old in college." "I'm self-employed." " My head goes immediately to your little one there, you know, a world that treats her fairly." " If I sit back and allow him to do what he do to me, well, what's going to happen to them when they get older, where are they going to live?" " Mm-hmm." "Cea tells me none of thisnbsp;" "would be happening if big corporationsnbsp;" "weren't taking over so many residential buildings in poor neighborhoods and expectingnbsp;" "such high returns." "I need to talk to someonenbsp;" "who's on the inside of that." "��� ���" " I started out bynbsp;" "looking at a police killing and a movement bent on changingnbsp;" "the city of Chicago, but Garry McCarthy is right." "The police are justnbsp;" "the tip of the iceberg, and real change means a lot more than appointingnbsp;" "a new superintendent." "Police shootings are onlynbsp;" "the most visible symptoms of a violencenbsp;" "that runs much deeper, infecting the entire criminalnbsp;" "justice system, and so I've come herenbsp;" "to the network of tunnels beneath America's largest single jail,nbsp;" "Cook County." " We move 1,000 peoplenbsp;" "per day to their court hearings and back through this tunnel system." "It connects the entire compound, so we're below Cook County Jail right now." " Wait." "You said sometimes it's thousands of people." " Per day." " Per day?" " Per day, yeah." " Coming through these tunnels?" " Coming through these tunnels." "[indistinct chatter]" "So what we're walking into now is morning intake." "Everyone you see around you,nbsp;" "they're not inmates yet." "They've all been arrested lastnbsp;" "night in the city of Chicago, so the next stopnbsp;" "for these guys is bond court." "That's the moment of truth, where could benbsp;" "walking out the door, could be here for two, three, four years with a bond that they simply can't afford to pay." " Damn." "You could be here just because you can't pay the bond, for that amount of years?" " We have a couple hundred people in our jail right now who could walk out if they had $500." "People are herenbsp;" "because they're poor, and it's a perpetual cycle." "Even a day, a week of incarceration can destroy everything if you have a fragile job." " Yeah, if you had a job." "But even mentally, that, mentally, it still mess with you." " Exactly." " 9,000 people, numbered, organized, and warehoused." "They haven't been convictednbsp;" "of a crime yet, but they can spend years herenbsp;" "waiting for a trial." "Ben introduces me to theirnbsp;" "jailer, Sheriff Tom Dart." " Thanks for coming out here." "I appreciate it." " Thank you." " This is, you know, unlike any other place you'd ever not want to be at." "It's just a really tough place." " Yeah." "Sheriff Dart tells menbsp;" "that nationwide, 2.2 million Americansnbsp;" "are behind bars, more prisoners than China, more than allnbsp;" "of Europe combined." "Somehow American democracy has producednbsp;" "the largest prison system in the history of the world." " Do you see cases, and you're like," ""Why is this person even here?"" " Mm-hmm, all the time, all the time." "On any given day we'll have 150 or so people being held here with their most serious charge... most serious charge is retail theft." "They stole some food and no violence in their background, and yet, on average, that person would sit in this jail for 100 days, for 100 days." " Wow, for stealing some food." " For stealing food." "They don't belong in here, certainly for crazy amounts of time." "It doesn't make any sense, but you sit in a jail because you're poor." "And then when you look at just the hard numbers, the disproportionate impact of people of color, it's off the charts." "I mean, our numbers virtually never change here." "It's almost always 75% of the population is African-American," "15% is Latino, and then you have about 10% that's white." "I mean, it doesn't change." "It's been that way for as long as I... definitely as long as I've been Sheriff and well beyond that." " So what's it like for you to be the jailer of all of these people?" " Oh, it's horrible." "I mean, it's absolutely horrible." "You have a real human, a real person, and, by and large, a good person, and I talk to these guys all the time." "If you were to have lived the life that they live, strongest possibility you'd be sitting right next to him." "But as a Sheriff," "I was only supposed to get a sheet of paper from a judge saying hold this guy, then I get a sheet of paper saying release him, and in between, I feed him." "I take him back and forth to court; that's it." "I'm really not supposed to care why he's here." "I'm not supposed to care how many times he's been here." "I'm certainly not supposed to care what he's gonna do when he leaves here." " For manynbsp;" "with a criminal background, there aren't a lot of options." "So today we're visiting" "St. Leonard's housenbsp;" "on the West Side." "It's one of the fewnbsp;" "halfway houses in Chicago that helpsnbsp;" "returning inmates find jobs and re-enter society." " How are you doing?" " I'm doing great." "How about yourself?" " I'm fine." "Well, welcome to St. Leonard's House." "So what we're going to do today is best find out how to help you." " Coming out from prison, do you face, like, not being able to get a job because you have a record?" " As soon as they check that box saying that they have been incarcerated, most of those applications find its way in the garbage." " How many times have you been incarcerated?" " I've been to prison eight different occasions." "Out of the last 36 years of my life," "I have did 25 years inside of someone's prison." " You're in room 24." "So here's your key, Rice." " Thank you." " All right, welcome to St. Leonard's House." " Thank you." " What does it meannbsp;" "for the neighborhood to have so many peoplenbsp;" "in and out of the system?" " Of the 15,000nbsp;" "to 20,000 people that are released every year, about 70% of them go to six zip codes." "If you drive throughnbsp;" "these neighborhoods, down one block, you'll see empty housesnbsp;" "boarded up, vacant lots." "And these are the neighborhoods where you have the highest crime rates, the highest drug usage, the worst schools, no jobs." "With no money in the community, nothing's gonna get better." "[somber music]" "��� ���" " While I'm in Flint," "I'm trying to connect withnbsp;" "as many people as I can, and today I'm goingnbsp;" "to see Gina Luster." "She told me on the phonenbsp;" "that she and her daughter Kennedynbsp;" "moved here in early 2014, just before the switch." " Initially moving here, it was exciting, a new job, new place." "You know, I felt so good, and then everything changed within 30 days." " Wow." " And I heard people starting to complain about rashes early on." "My daughter was complaining about her bones aching." "Her asthma was getting worse." "Her behavior was starting to change." "She was starting to have these panic attacks." "What's going on with my daughter, you know?" " Partly to get away from Flintnbsp;" "for an evening, Gina tells me, she took Kennedynbsp;" "to a Detroit Tigers game, where she got intonbsp;" "a conversation with a stranger." " I'm sitting there next to this guy, and he's like, "Oh you're from Flint." "Oh, I heard you guys are having some water issues."" "He's like "Well, I work for General Motors, and we don't use the water."" "I'm like, "What?"" "And he's like, "Well, yeah." ""There was a letter sent out from General Motors" ""to your governor" ""saying that after the initial switch, the water was rusting out the parts."" "The whole time, they've been telling us nothing is wrong, and we've been drinking this water now for almost a year." " Yeah, so if it's messing up their parts, than you can imagine what's going on in your bodies." " This is huge." "I'm doing like 100 back home." "I can't wait to get on the phone and get on Facebook and tell people what I just heard from this guy who works at GM." "And everybodynbsp;" "is scrambling trying to figure outnbsp;" "what's in the water." "How did it start?" "How did our infrastructurenbsp;" "get ruined?" " Englewood, 60620, one ofnbsp;" "the handful of zip codes that are home to most ofnbsp;" "the state's prisoners, and where Father Pfleger'snbsp;" "St. Sabina church has been an anchornbsp;" "for the community for as long as I can remember." " These are young brothersnbsp;" "who have dreams, who have things they want to do, things they want to achieve, things they want to accomplish, and we've got to give them the opportunities." "Secondly, you keep saying to people," ""Well, value yourself,"" "but every day you look around your neighborhood, underfunded schools, highest unemployment, boarded up buildings, most foreclosures, most coming back from jail." "How do you value yourself if everything around you tells you you ain't worth nothing?" "[buzzer sounds]" " I did my research on you, bro, so I already know where you from and what environment you come from, and you know Chicago always been, like, a real segregated city, you know." " Yeah, yeah." "This city is beautiful in itself, but it is two cities." "Like, so you see that." "Any human being will see that." "Like, where the solutions come in, like, in an ideal way to change Chicago?" " It's not going to change." "It's not." " We hope, but, I mean, you see what's going on." "Yeah, 'cause what you gonna do as a man when you can't get no job?" "You got kids." ""Daddy, I'm hungry." What you gonna do?" "You gonna feed your baby, any means necessary, any means, even if it end up putting you back in that can, and you stuck in this trap." "You feel me?" "So, I mean, like, if they gave us more things to do, more leaders, stop targeting us, treating us like animals," "I mean, man, like, we'd be able to..." "Chicago would be able to be beautiful." "[graceful hip-hop music]" "��� ���" " Show me what's going on." " Brooklyn is crazy hot." "There's a huge wavenbsp;" "of new people coming here, Bushwick," "East Williamsburg,nbsp;" "Crown Heights, those areas definitelynbsp;" "are full of people who are young, creators,nbsp;" "et cetera, et cetera." "Brooklyn wasnbsp;" "a blue-collar borough." "There's no doubt about it.nbsp;" "It's no longer the case." "Brooklyn is a brand.nbsp;" "It's the new Manhattan." "Hello." "How are you?" "Nice to meet you." " Nice meeting you too." " Likewise." "Here we have some of our projects." "We have 47 projects in Brooklyn." "We build over..." " 47 projects?" " 47 projects, over 1,000 units." "I have German pension funds speaking with us about investments, and I'm originally from Israel." "Israeli funds are investing in Brooklyn." " Your foreign investors." "What return do you have to promise them?" " Oh, "promise" is a difficult word to use in economics, but we're looking at 20% and north annual return to the investors." " Now, that's a figure that I've heard in a couple of other situations where the landlords are working as hard as they can to evict." " Yes." "Yeah." "I mean, I know that world because I'm in real estate." "The economical pressure on the system and the lack of housing available in New York City in general causes people to be aggressive about vacancies and do illegal things." "We don't do that." "Listen, there's many ways to make money, and you have to put your head on the pillow at the end of the day and see if you feel comfortable with what you did." "I'm not trying to protect that industry, people who do it not by law, okay, but when you have international money, when you have a lot of big corporations investing in those areas, they could care less about what you do to get those returns." "They want as high a return as possible." " I think of it in the most simplistic terms." "Those people who are working hard for a living, who were never going to make more than a modest living wage, you know, they're good people." "They're raising kids." "They know how to get their kids educated and so forth." "Why can't there be enough affordable housing for those people who are going to work here and service those who can more than afford to live here?" " The reality of life is that financial forces think short-term." "They want to make money." "If I'm selling an apartment for $800,000, okay, which is the kind of prices I'm selling, between $500,000 to $800,000 apartment, and I'm now selling it or $150,000, to be affordable," "someone has to pay for the gap." "Someone has to pay for the cost of my construction, for the cost of my land, so if I don't have a financial incentive to sell the apartment for $150,000, why would I do that, you know?" "Just from, you know, the kindness of my heart, yes, we could do it once or twice but not as a business plan." " So if it's notnbsp;" "a business plan, who's going to offer developers and landlords the incentivenbsp;" "to build affordable housing?" "��� ���" " It's clear now thatnbsp;" "the criminal justice system is failing the blacknbsp;" "and brown people of Chicago." "It doesn't keep them safe, and it doesn'tnbsp;" "get them justice." "Even the former policenbsp;" "superintendent acknowledges that." "It locks them up when theynbsp;" "don't belong behind bars, and it marks themnbsp;" "with convictions that can derailnbsp;" "their lives forever." "Even the sheriff of Cook Countynbsp;" "acknowledges that." "And it's not just Chicago." "Across the country, racial bias in the criminalnbsp;" "justice system is stark, and it's undeniable." "Blacks are more than twicenbsp;" "as likely to be killed by a police as whites." "We are ten timesnbsp;" "more likely to be arrested for a drug offense, and when we are arrested,nbsp;" "we are 30% more likely to be imprisonednbsp;" "for the same crime." "Everything I read refers menbsp;" "back to the same book," ""The New Jim Crow"nbsp;" "by Michelle Alexander." "She says that more black mennbsp;" "are under the control of the criminalnbsp;" "justice system today than were enslaved onnbsp;" "the eve of the Civil War." "I'm staggered by these numbers, but at first, her conclusionsnbsp;" "are hard to accept." " The first time I encountered the phrase "the new Jim Crow,"" "I remember just thinking to myself, "Yeah, you know, the criminal justice system is racist in a lot of ways, but it doesn't help to make such absurd comparisons to Jim Crow."" "People just think you're crazy." "And for the next few years," "I just had a series of experiences that led to a real awakening for me, and I came to see that our criminal justice system now functions much more like a system of racial control than a system of crime prevention." " This situation of mass incarceration, what's the stem of it?" "What's the beginning of it?" "Where does it start, really?" " Its most, kind of, recent history can be traced to the law and order movement." " I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!" " When segregationists found they could no longernbsp;" "say segregation forever, they began callingnbsp;" "for law and order and portrayingnbsp;" "civil rights protestors as having no regardnbsp;" "for the law." "The law and ordernbsp;" "movement evolved into the get tough movement and a war on drugsnbsp;" "in the 1980s." " I raise the priority of drug abuse by declaring it a threat to our national security." " That drug war has beennbsp;" "absolutely devastating." "It's a system that effectivelynbsp;" "sweeps millions of poor people of color off the streets, primarily for non-violent,nbsp;" "drug-related offenses." "It is a war that helped to set into motion this whole system of mass incarceration." "You know, we have created, in a period of just a few short decades, a prison system unlike anything the world has ever seen." " From the violence to mass incar..." "A lot of people being jailed here, why is Chicago such a central point?" " Here in Chicago, you have a city that's suffered as much as any city did from deindustrialization and the disappearance of work." "In 1970, about 70% of African-Americans had blue-collar factory jobs." "By 1987, that figure had plummeted to 28%." "Work vanished." "Jobs were shipped overseas, deindustrialization, the collapse, literal economic collapse of black communities." "Now, did we invest in those communities, in those kids?" "No, instead, we declared war." "This wasn't inevitable." "We had a choice about how to respond, and when you look at what neighborhoods have been most affected by the drug war and mass incarceration in Chicago, and you look at who is now actually committing, you know, acts of violence" "and where young people are acting out with enormous fear, rage, despair, broken-heartedness, right, these are kids whose family members have been cycling in and out of the prison system." "These are kids who've grown up believing that no matter what they do, one way or another, they're going to jail." "These are young folks who grew up in the age of mass incarceration, and, you know, we want to just blame them and say," ""We got to get tough on them."" "Tough on them like you got tough on their daddy or their granddaddy?" "Tough on them like that?" "How did that turn out?" " The state's prisonsnbsp;" "are filled with the sons and grandsons of America'snbsp;" "war on crime, and for every one of them,nbsp;" "there is a family, a workplace, a community that is changingnbsp;" "because they are gone." " At first he told menbsp;" "he was out of town." " I kept onnbsp;" "asking my stepsister, so she got irritated,nbsp;" "and she told me." "She said he was in prison." "I was sad, angry." "He left me without saying no good-bye." "��� ���" "A prison is where you havenbsp;" "to stay away from your family for a long time, and the cops have to tell younbsp;" "when to wash up, when to eat,nbsp;" "when to go to sleep, when to wake up,nbsp;" "and do everything." "He has to stay in there, and I'm not ablenbsp;" "to see him on my birthday, but he might come back one day." "��� ���" " In Flint, Michigan, the entire communitynbsp;" "was soon consumed with trying to figure outnbsp;" "what had happened to the water, but without anynbsp;" "official warning, the people continued to drinknbsp;" "and bathe in it, with children at greatest risk." "��� ���" "I want to understandnbsp;" "the dangers to children, so I'm meetingnbsp;" "Dr. Lawrence Reynolds, a pediatrician who's president of the localnbsp;" "children's hospital." "He's also a longtimenbsp;" "Flint resident..." "So much beautiful greenery and life, that's what kids should be experiencing." " Oh, yes." " And remembersnbsp;" "how he and his colleagues scrambled to figure outnbsp;" "what was happening." " An associate of mine worked at Hurley Hospital, and the Hurley Hospital lab did about 60% of the blood lead levels in the city of Flint, and she compared 2014, before the change, to 2015 and on, after the change," "and showed that there was at least a doubling or a tripling of elevated blood lead levels." "Lead is a neurotoxin, and it can cause damage." " When you had all those findings, and you presented them to the state, what happened?" " They implied that her analysis was flawed, her data was insufficient, and they basically discounted it." "The mayor went out of town to see the pope and then to a hockey game that night, but we told him," ""You have 48 hours to declare an emergency, or as the health community, we will do it,"" "and so that's what we did." " This was alreadynbsp;" "September 2015, a year and a halfnbsp;" "after the water switch." " So all during the time, the leadership of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, who were supposed to protect the public health, did very little." " Right, stalling, stalling, stalling." " That's right." "The problem is compounded, because as pediatricians, we tell parents if you're not going to breastfeed, use formula, and most parents use the powdered formula that you mix with tap water." " Yeah." " So for the first six months, we have exposed a group of children to lead-poisoned water, while our city, state, and county government has said," ""Oh, don't worry, everything's all right."" " And Dr. Reynolds saysnbsp;" "that the damage lead can do to small childrennbsp;" "is horrific." "It can impair learning,nbsp;" "attentiveness, basic problem-solving, and the capacitynbsp;" "to control aggression." "Later in life, lead poisoningnbsp;" "can make it difficult to hold down a jobnbsp;" "or stay out of prison." "You were chosen for the governor's task force to write a comprehensive report on the crisis, so these are supposed to be the, you know, most qualified experts in the state." "So what conclusion did you come to?" " For the first two months, every time we met, the question was," ""Why are we even here discussing this?" "This should not have happened."" "Then, three months into the process, we had a lull in our conversation, and one of my counterparts said... excuse me..." ""How many of you guys are waking up in the middle of the night thinking about this?"" "It was so egregious, so outrageous that our government would do this, and everybody raised their hand." "It didn't matter what their political affiliation was." "It didn't matter what part of the state they were from." "It did not matter what their professional experience was." "It's just unconscionable." " Yeah." " Brothers and sisters!" "[cheers and applause]" "Hermanos y hermanas!" "[cheers and applause]" "We did it!" "[cheers and applause]" "We now have a law, a law that says real estate developers can do their work and build their buildings, but whenever they come to the city, you have to guarantee us affordable housing." " Bill de Blasio's plannbsp;" "to allow new building but require affordable housing sounds reasonable to me, but I hear it'snbsp;" "very controversial." "So before I gonbsp;" "interview the mayor," "I'm sitting downnbsp;" "with a few housing activists to see what they think." " We have a saying in the tenant movement." "Real estate in New York is like oil in Texas." "Anyone who loves this city has to see that the experience of gentrification is changing what it means to be a New Yorker, changing what New York is, and a lot of us are very committed to stopping that" "and to instituting a different vision of what we could be doing in this city." " That's Sam Stein,nbsp;" "an activist and academic who researches housing issues at the City Universitynbsp;" "of New York." "Oh, hi, Michelle." "How are you?" "Michelle Neugebauernbsp;" "runs a housing nonprofit in one of Brooklyn'snbsp;" "poorest neighborhoods." "They try to buy propertiesnbsp;" "to devote to affordable housingnbsp;" "before the private equity firms can get them." "Guess what the subject was." " Gentrification." " Yeah." " How about ethnic cleansing?" "Is that too strong of a statement?" " Ethnic cleansing?" " It's a little powerful, and people often will tie it to killing and murder." "In a way, it is." "You're killing off people." " It's long-term killing." " Exactly." "Displacement has an effect, a long-term effect that people don't often think about." " That's Rob Robinson." "His ideas may sound extreme, but he says they're basednbsp;" "on lived experience." "Years ago, he tells us,nbsp;" "he was living in Florida, had a long-term desk jobnbsp;" "when he was suddenly let go." "He ended upnbsp;" "on the streets for years." "You ever guess as to how many there are like you?" " In New York City alone, probably about 20,000 people who have a work history, capable of working, but the economic situation makes it difficult." " We have a self-professed progressive mayor who has been able to accomplish a lot of things, and yet when it comes to housing, we haven't had a fresh approach that really takes the fundamental right to housing seriously." "Mayor De Blasio's housing plan is not exactly what it sounds like." " But more good than bad." " I don't know." "More the same than different." " We talked a long time." "They threw aroundnbsp;" "a bunch of numbers." "In a nutshell,nbsp;" "they say the affordable housing in the mayor's plan is simply not affordable to most people livingnbsp;" "in the poor neighborhoods where the plannbsp;" "is being launched." " We think the housing should match the incomes of the people that live in the neighborhood now." " The mayor sees what you see." "Would he, if he were sitting here, just tell you he does not agree with you?" " I think he thinks that by building more affordable housing, regardless of who it's affordable for, that's going to solve gentrification." " And you're saying in response to that?" " You're wrong." "You're wrong." "It's gonna increase gentrification." " Sometimes we have to look in the mirror..." "I don't care who we are... and reflect about what we're doing, how we live." "Are we living by principles and values, right, that values community and other people and all people?" " We should all be working on changing people's values and people's minds, but policy is often where it starts and what drives it." " So part of our problem, Norman, is political will." " You met my wife Chirlane back in Los Angeles." " Hi." "Yes, yes, yes, yes." "Hi." "It's good to see you again." " Good to see you again." " Oh, we can do that." " Yes, it's a free country." " So good to see you again." "How are you, sir?" " So good to see you." "When an American icon is at city hall, we stop everything, so you qualify." "[laughter]" " Okay." " You qualify." " So my interest is discussing housing." " Yes." " The homeless." " Yeah." " I mean, I understand there are some 60,0000 people homeless." " Almost." " And 23,000 of them are children." " Yeah." "Even as late as 2002, folks in our homeless shelters were primarily single individuals." "Today the typical shelter resident is a member of a family with something very specific to do each day." "It's a child who goes to school or it's someone who goes off to work... sadly, typically to a low-wage job... but they cannot afford better than a shelter, and what's happened one part" "because of the recession, you know, knocking so many people out economically but also because of gentrification." " You don't want that?" " It's not that I don't want it." "Gentrification is a double-edged sword." "With it comes a lot of investment in communities and in many ways improvements in a lot of the things that are in those communities but at the same time, way too much displacement and upsetting of the opportunities for folks" "who have been in the community for a long time." " Right." "So and what do you do?" "What have you done about that?" " We have passed a law requiring developers to create affordable housing." "If they don't create affordable housing, they do not get a permit to build." " But there's also an organization, or perhaps a couple of organizations, that feel the rezoning, that your administration is responsible for is resulting in gentrification." " If you've got a supply of housing that, because of the free market, is becoming less and less accessible, you can subsidize some to keep it affordable for people, but you've got to build new housing too." " But is your plan really gonna open up the door to speculation?" "That's the bottom line." " Speculation is going to happen one way or another." "I fundamentally believe that." "Anyone who thinks there are neighborhoods that will be untouched by change is kidding themselves." "So there are some who almost," "I think, suggest better to leave a neighborhood in tough shape than to take the risk of development." "I argue that's not fair to the residents of those neighborhoods." "We can put stronger rules into the process." "We can put more requirements for affordable housing into the process." "We can put government investment and subsidies into the process." "That's how we create some balance and fairness in the equation." "It's the best shot we've got." " What hope is there fornbsp;" "neighborhoods like Englewood, where thousands of men arenbsp;" "missing from their families, from the economy,nbsp;" "from their community?" "I'm on my way to find them, two hours outside of the citynbsp;" "in Sheridan prison." "It feels likenbsp;" "a different world out here, but mostnbsp;" "of Sheridan's population comes from the same handfulnbsp;" "of zip codes in south and west Chicago." " Good morning, brothers." " Good morning." " Morning." " All right, for those of you that don't know me, my name's Benny Lee." "It's an honor this morning to be accompanied by our brother Common here." " I Just wanted to say peace to each and every one of y'all, and I'm just here to listen and check things out." " By a show of hands, how many of y'all been to prison before?" "This is not your first time in prison." "You know, it's been proven that over 70% of the people in Illinois prisons are repeated offenders." "These are people that's going in and out of prison, and what I found with my own experience is that I was ill-prepared to go back into society and break the cycle." "How many of y'all tired of hustling?" "See, I was tired of hustling." "I came out the time before the last time tired of hustling." "Because I ran into some of these barriers, I figured, well, I got more confidence in my hustling skills than I do in working." "I was trained as a street hustler." "Also, because I've been to prison so many times," "I was a trained convict." "I had a very strong prison culture value system that I was functioning with for so many years." "How many of y'all know that there is a part of you that you've been trained, and you normally respond like that guy?" " What I am training is my change." "You know, I was so used to doing negative all my life, my gangbanging, and my drug dealing, and everything would come out, my hustling side." "It's vicious out there, so I am changing within myself, what I need to prepare for the danger that's waiting for me." " I go back to when I first started my reentry process, and they told me," ""Okay, you got to go job searching,"" "and they gave me a piece of paper and said," ""Put a r��sum�� together."" "The only thing I could put on the r��sum�� was my name 'cause I had never worked in my life, didn't complete school, never had a driver's license, never had a social security card," "so the message I got from that is, nobody's gonna hire me." "Right?" "I've been out of prison 32 years, and there are still licenses I can't apply for because of my prior convictions." "Feeling so inferior, giving myself the message." ""Quit." "You don't belong here."" "But where can I go?" "Back in my box." "You know, it was Frederick Douglass that said," ""If there is no struggle, there can be no progress."" "I mean, let me hear you say that." "If there is no struggle, there can be no progress." "See, and it's going to be a struggle." "Making your transition from prison back into the community, it's going to be a struggle." " After the group meeting," "I sit downnbsp;" "with Anthony Hawkins." "Like manynbsp;" "of his fellow inmates, he's herenbsp;" "on a nonviolent drug charge." "How long you been in?" " I'm 30 months now." " So you about to go back home." "How long?" " Two weeks, man." "May 6th, man, I'll be back home, day before my boy birthday." "Son will be 9." " That's a beautiful thing, the day before your boy..." " It's great, man." "It's all he talk about." " He's like, "Yeah, you gonna be there?"" " Yeah, "You gonna be home for my birthday, Dad?"" "Oh, yeah, I'm going to be there, man." " That's excellent." "When you're going back, like, when you're getting out, what's your plans?" "What you thinking about?" " I got probably a notebook of things, man, that I want to do, man." "Short-term goals, long-term goals, you know, but my main focus now is just stay alive, man, stay out of trouble." "Then early, man, you know," "I just want to at least have me enough money to take care of my family, take care of myself." "I ain't got to revert back to selling drugs and nothing like that, you know." "��� ���" " If I got a dutynbsp;" "and a responsibility, when I have one," "I like to do it well, so I'm gonna..." " I'm learningnbsp;" "that the history of Flint is a history of people fightingnbsp;" "to take back their city, and a key figure in all this is a city councilmannbsp;" "named Eric Mays, a former union organizernbsp;" "for the United Auto Workers." "Today I'm going to meet him." " So this isnbsp;" "city council chambers." "It's where we holdnbsp;" "our meetings at." "Over here is the wall where all of the past mayors." " You have a woman mayor now though, right?" " Yeah, her picture will go." " She hasn't come on here yet." " Right." "That's a nice picture." "Before my time, in 1855." " I heard that there were residents that started congregating in your house to talk about this issue." " People was complaining of rashes, hair falling out." "The water was discolored and brown." "I kind of just listened to people and listened." "We started thinking the only solution was to switch back to Detroit, a source that had been proven and tested." " You're hearing that your constituents that are complaining about it." "You're believing it." "What is your next step?" "What do you do then?" " I invited the head of Detroit Water and Sewers to a council meeting, and she let them know that Detroit was ready to do business with Flint if need be in an emergency, and then we passed a vote" "that passed City Council unanimously." " But Councilman Mays saysnbsp;" "switching back to Detroit was easiernbsp;" "said than done." "The movenbsp;" "would need the approval of Flint's emergency manager." " Well, even though the council voted unanimously to switch back at that period of time, the emergency manager didn't listen to the people." "He didn't listen to the elected officials." "He said no, and so that kept us with Flint River water, even though it was not a good source." " Okay, I'm confused, though, so take me back a couple years and explain what an emergency manager is and how this even came to be." " The law say when there is a financially-distressed city, then the governor can appoint an emergency manager to deal with correcting the finances." " Okay." " From what we understood, we was against emergency managers coming in." "We believe democracy is you vote for people, and they represent you." "We don't believe one man or woman should be sent into a city by a governor and take over the duties and the responsibilities of elected officials, both councils, mayors." "It's like a dictatorship." "As a matter of fact, he put a order on me." "An emergency manager can issue an order, and the order on Councilman Eric Mays tried to tell me when to speak, who I could speak to, how our meetings was conducted." " You're saying that a non-elected official can say that an elected official can be silenced for doing what you're supposed to be doing, what the people of Flint have voted for you to be doing, and that's all legal." "That's crazy." " Well, what I'm telling you is factual, and it's not made up." "And, you know, we want America to know, because it has divided our community, and we don't think it's right." "[somber music]" "��� ���" " What is happening in my city?" "I began this journey looking at the killingnbsp;" "of a 17-year-old boy and at violence that seemsnbsp;" "as natural in Chicago as August thunderstorms." "Let me do one more freestyle over that beat." "But all around me,nbsp;" "I see the city change." "��� Land of the free, it's the home of the brave ���" "��� I wonder [inaudible] like a slave ��� [cheers and applause]" "A girl from the projectsnbsp;" "grows up to a defeatnbsp;" "a tough-on-crime prosecutor." " The work is just beginning." " Real accountability!" "[together] Real accountability!" " A movementnbsp;" "led by young women of color brings downnbsp;" "a police superintendent and rewrites the city's script around racenbsp;" "and criminal justice." "��� This is what I'm telling you, I'm not obliged ���" "��� I'm here for the South Side and the West Side ���" "And even in Sheridan prison, a father facesnbsp;" "the long odds of reentry." " Hi." "Your name, please." " Anthony Hawkins." " I.D. number." " Holding on to the hope that he and his familynbsp;" "can escape a future that seemed like itnbsp;" "had already been written." "[engine roars, rumbles]" " What's up, man?" " Daddy." " Oh, my God." "Where did you just come from?" "Where you just come from?" "Where you just come from?" "Where you just come from?" "Why you sneak up on me like that, huh?" "What's up, boo?" " Nothing." " Don't stop, baby." " I'm still mad at my daddy." " What you say?" " I'm still mad at you." " Why are you mad at your dad?" " 'Cause you lied at me." "You lied to me." " About what?" " You said you was out of town." " Two years ago." " I'm still mad at you." " Can't possibly be mad that long." "What's up, boo?" " Hi, Rasha." " You want to come have a race with us?" " They're too little for me." " Mm-mm." " Yeah." "Boy, my head too big." "Check it out." " Mm-mm, it can fit you." " I look cool now?" " Mm-hmm." " I love you, man, okay?" "Don't be mad at me no more." " I'm the king of the world!" "I'm the king of the world!" "Hi!" "[hopeful music]" "��� ��� female narrator:" "On the nextnbsp;" ""America Divided"..." " Hi." "Are you the landlord?" "nbsp;" " Yeah." " The way this housing provider does business is to discriminate against African-Americans." " Does Flint have a water crisis because of emergency managers?" "[crowd boos]" " What makes Pinellas so particularly egregious?" " The lowest achievingnbsp;" "elementary schools." "Pinellas has five." " There's no school you can just go to that's not a D or an F school." " It hurts my heart." "We're talking about schoolsnbsp;" "that are now F and failing schoolsnbsp;" "that were A schools."