BHS - 7A – History of Juneteenth | LA D.A George Gascon’s Legal Battles

The history and meaning of Juneteenth. Activist groups sue L.A schools, seeking data on app used to report suspicious behavior. Los Angeles D.A George Gascon’s many legal battles with his own staff. A water war is looming between Mexico and the United States… neither side will win.

Episode Transcript

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You're listening to Bill Handle on demandfrom KFI AM six forty. You are
listening to the Bill Handle Show.And this is KFI AM six forty Bill
Handle here on a Wednesday morning,Hunday. June nineteenth, also known as

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Juneteenth. And that is a reallyinteresting story how it is now celebrated and
now celebrated throughout the country. Whereheretofore it was not a little bit of
history. And I think a lotof you know June nineteenth, juneteenth,
eighteen sixty five, two months afterthe end of the Civil War where Lee

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surrendered at Appomatics, And so GordonGranger, a Union general, arrives in
Galveston, Texas. Now keep inmind the Civil War had already Lincoln had
been assassinated. Civil War ends on, but April ninth, eighteen sixty five,

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Lincoln assassinated six days later, andof course that became the biggest story
of the century, of the eighteenhundreds. So he arrives. Granger arrives
in Galveston, Texas, and tellsin slaved African Americans, tell slaves who
were still slaves, thought they wereslaves. Hey, the Civil War is

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over, you are free. Andthey hadn't even known that the Emancipation Proclamation
had been issued two and a halfyears earlier. And so that's why June
nineteenth is so important, because itwas the last of African Americans to be
told they were no longer slaves.So now it becomes a holiday among African

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Americans. It is now a majorholidays, a matter of fact, a
national holiday. President Biden had signedthe proclamation and the next day, which
was two nineteenth, it became aholiday. I don't know whenever that's happened.
And so celebrations involved prayer, familygatherings, early celebrations and later included

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pilgrimage to Galveston, especially by peoplewho had been previously in enslaved and their
families. Okay, now what's goingon now and why is June nineteenth so
important? And how did he getto be in the national consciousness? Okay,
you have the murder of George Floydand a few others, Brionna Taylor

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and several others, where the perceptionin many cases the absolute truth of unjustified
murder, the killing of African Americansby the cops has brought in in to
the national consciousness. How African Americanswere treated, have been treated, and
the Black Lives Matter starts and allof a sudden, policing is changed completely.

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We know that, and in theaftermath of the George Floyd murder,
it was much more than just themurder of a black man. If you
want to give any kind of asilver lining to the murder of George Floyd,
and there isn't much there, it'sthat it simply changed American perception of
how blacks are treated, June nineteenthbeing a very important part of our history

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and what it signifies. And Ididn't know much about June nineteenth. I'm
just a regular white guy working ata radio station, practicing law and just
doing what white people do. Andeven though I'm pretty connected to the news,
always have been, you know,June nineteenth. I mean I sort

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of kind of knew it, butas simply a historical note, didn't really
understand the importance of it. AndI think that is something that we now
have in the national consciousness where itis simply part of who we are,
not a good part of who weare. I mean, I've said this

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many many times. Slavery is theoriginal sin of this country. You can
say an awful lot about how greatthis country is, which it is,
talk about slavery, which is suchan important part of the history of this
country, and you go ahead andjustify it now. In Congress, the

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vote to this I love this one. In Congress, the measure declaring June
nineteenth a national holiday passed by avote of four hundred and fifteen to fourteen.
Opposition coming Fromupblicans, and the mainargument is that juneteenth Independence Day would

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create confusion and force Americans to choosea celebration of freedom based on their race.
So you can't confuse basically July fourthwith Juneteenth. And people do confuse
that because I mean, how oftenis George Washington confused with Martin Luther King?

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Right, Yeah, it happens allthe time. Some Republicans are completely
nuts, I mean just insane.So we celebrate June nineteenth, and it's
important. Why there isn't enough outthere to remind us of the history of
this country. You can't gloss thisover. There is no way you can

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do that. And when African Americanssay you have to differentiate the way Americas
treated minorities with us, you can'tlet lump us in. Boy are they
right, the first African, thefirst African to reach the shores of the
United States what was then the America'snot quite the United States, was a

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slave that was number one, allright. Now, a lawsuit, of
course, there's a lawsuit. Andthis has to do with La a City
Schools unified school district and they rolledout an anonymous, anonymous reporting app to
make campuses safer. That's what advacygroups are now suing the district. Why

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because an anonymous program reporting perspective orlet's say, crimes that are maybe not
crimes, but people suspect of beingcommitted, is creating a culture of mass
suspicion. There you go, anygovernmental agency looking at you and having any

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kind of security is a culture ofmass suspicion. And it's Lasar Lasar,
the Los Angeles School's anonymous reporting appwhere anyone can report anonymously non emergency suspicious
activities. LA City School's superintendent AlbertoCorbaio has called the app critically important for

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public safety and of course who's againstit? Stop LAPD spying. Coalition students
deserve now, this is a youthled organization that promotes investment in black students
and alleged that the app is leadingto disproportionate targeting of minorities and disabled people

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and have increased police presidence on campus. Yeah, that's what happened. You
call the police saying I suspect andthe police show up. I know that
is a tough one. That shouldn'thappen. And the argument is number one,
it is a culture of the governmentspying on you, and number two,
it disproportionately affects blacks and minorities,including the disabled. I cannot tell

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you how many stories we have doneof the police being called on the suspicion
of someone in a wheelchair committing amajor crime. Happens all the time,
doesn't it. And here is agroup that is saying you can't have it.
Matter of fact, the lawsuit actuallyis kind of legitimate in one sense.

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They want to know how many ofthese were filed, what kind of
information, what was the response,the content and type of each report.
Information that was released by the schooldistrict show two hundred and twenty seven reports
were made on laser doing the firstthree months last year when it was instituted.

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The head of Stop LAPD Spying Coalitionsaid, we're trying to get records
from this lawsuit to better understand whatthe harms will be. Okay, oh
buy that this shouldn't be secret.But our long term goal is to discontinue
this app and why because it isthe government knowing what we are and what

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we do. And I have thesame problem. I hate speeding cameras,
red light cameras. I hate copsthat can tiket me. I don't want
the government knowing anything I do.Those pesky drivers' licenses where the government knows
where I live and whether I passthe test or not. That really pesky

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irs forms where they know where Iwork and how much money I make.
Boy, that that is a problem. And this one and I love this
quote. This app embodies behavioral surveillance. Yeah, when people commit crimes,
it's the behavioral issue, right becausethey're behaving inappropriately. And I'm going to

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quote now, behavioral surveillance is alwaysa proxy for racial profiling. Always.
Therefore, we cannot have any kindof behavioral surveillance. Now have you heard
of any lawsuits against Costco? Forexample, Costco knows when I buy burritos

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frozen burritos, how often I goto the store three times a week,
what hours I'm in the store,three times a week, how often I
buy those burritos, how much,how many burritos I buy? Man got
they got my information, They knowwhere I live. Any lawsuits against Costco
out there or Ralph's no, becausefor these people, it is perfectly fine

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for stores and advertisers to have allof the information on you, all of
it. But the surveillance of thegovernment, and this is an app,
it doesn't the app doesn't surveil.You surveil and then you report what you
see anonymously. By the way,there are safeguards here because what happens is

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the report goes directly to the LAUnified Police. They have someone look at
the report, determine via triage what'sgoing on, make the phone calls,
see what, just determine if thereis a danger there, both police activity
that need to be done or simplya mental health crisis that the folks that

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LA Unified or the county can acton. But you can't have it.
You can't have police surveillance. Now, I can think of all kinds of
police surveillance that I can't stand.Those cops hiding right there on the freeway,
Well, they're not hiding. They'rejust right there on the freeway waiting

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for speedsters to go past so theycan ticket them. That's a problem.
Oh those helicopters overhead that are buzzedaround. Boy, that pisses me off
big time. You know, itdoesn't matter what program is instituted, two
things happen. Number one, governmentalsurveillance and knowing who you are, what

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you are, and what you're doing. That's a no no. And number
two, minorities always being targeted.And it doesn't matter what it is,
minorities are targeted. So let's studythat. Let's not sue to shut it
down. But that's the given.It's like police acting inappropriately excessive force,
for example Minneapolis with George Floyd horrific. Let's look at the police. How

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about the argument, let's get ridof the police. Okay, that's a
great argument. There's defund the police, which is take away money from the
police and move it over to thesocial networking. Let's do social work with
criminals because they are all very valuableand be rehabilitated, and we have to

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go that way. Even if someonetakes an axe and cuts down an entire
kindergarten class, that's always impressive.No, but don't you think the argument
is, if if law enforcement orgovernment is willing to kill a man in
public, what would they do withinformation and misuse of power when people aren't
looking? Oh well done? Willingto kill someone in public? Yeah,

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that's what happens when someone is brandishinga weapon. No no, no,
no, no no no, I'mtalking about George Floyd. I'm saying if
if the system is willing to dothat to a man in public, I
think they have a legitimate concern.That's what information will be Uh yeah,
that's no. Information will be usedright now, and understand that. And

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that's, by the way, that'snot the system that killed George for Floyd.
It was Derek Chauvin that killed GeorgeFloyd. And so it is no,
I understand, and they're doing it, but this but this is surveillance.
This is the police and authorities lookingat us prospectively. Let me tell
you something. I like. I'drather have the cops and the authorities look

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at what I'm doing than the badguys winning. I get it. But
you're a rich white guy. Wellsorry, I still get tagged when I
speed, I get tickets. Well, I have it in a very long
time. But you know, drivingwhile white and rich. Yeah. By
the way, when you use theword rich, okay, that's relative.

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Okay, Oh, I'm sorry,I'll clarify relative to everybody in this room
and everybody listening. Well, no, relative to you guys working here.
I get that. But so isthe guy behind the counter in an out
burger. They're they're rich relative toyou. Okay, we are done with
that all right now. George Gascon, we talked about that La DA is

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being sued not by people who allegevictimization by the DA's office, but by
people in his office, saying thathe has retaliated against some of the prosecutors
for a couple of reasons. Numberone, because he has dropped charges,

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because he has lowered penalties. Hejust buy not charging. It's his discretion
to charge or not to charge,and they're arguing that he should not doesn't
have a right to do that.And retaliation, which you're not allowed to
do. Here's what he says,and I'm going to back him up for
a moment. He says, I'mthe DA. I can move anybody I
want into leadership positions. A lotof these people actually were against me.

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In the campaign. I mean,should I have for example, his former
chief of staff? He says,what do I need a chief of staff?
I got to keep one. Shewas Jackie Lacy's chief of staff and
he moved her out. No nocut and pay at all, just moving
in a different position and sometimes notleaders But how is it not possible that

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when someone's elected a DA can't moveleadership around and say, as the DA
has the right to do, I'mnot going to charge this crime. I
just don't want to do it.It's my prerogative. Now do you agree
with it? No? But youknow there's no secret here. He got
elected the DA. You know youvoted him into office, and he made

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no secret about what he wanted todo and what his philosophy was. He
ran on basically, defendants are good, cops are bad, or prosecutions bad,
and you elected him. You knowthere's no it was no hidden agenda
with George Gascon and part of defendantsare good and cops are bad is he

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just said, we're not charging thesekinds of crimes. We're not gonna do
it. We're never going to chargefor example, the death penalty. Just
won't do it. He can dothat it's just prerogative. So lawsuits are
flying here and I don't mind.Well I do mind. You have these
executives' heads of division who he disagreeswith. They disagree with him. Okay,

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you're not cutting pay, but I'mmoving you out of here. You're
going into a different division and noteven be a leader in a different division.
Oh you can't do that to me. Well, then you know,
get elected DA and you can changeit. Now. Someone else is going
to be elected DA. I guaranteeyou that in November. But you know,

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the argument is, I mean,can you imagine you've got the previous
head of staff, chief of stafffor Lacey, He keeps her as chief
of staff, and then he decides, based on what she said, you're
no longer on my side. Idon't want you on my team. She
sues. Wow, okay, nowretaliation, if it can be proved that,

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in fact, he did retaliate againstthem, that's not allowed. Very
thin line, though, very verythin line. So we'll see what happens.
He's got legal battles plenty, althoughif you look at the actual numbers,
the amount of money that the countyis spending defending itself has not gone

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up. It really hasn't. It'sthe Sheriff's department of probation departments are spending
all the money defending themselves both internallyand externally. All right now, I
have well, let me give yousome facts. Water is a finite,
finite resource in this world. Thereis all the water that will ever be,

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that has ever been, is here. There ain't going to be anymore.
Although tell that to the people thatare in flood areas or storm areas.
So there is a shortage of waterin many places of the world world.
I mean where there once was farmlandis now desert. And we have
said quite often we know where thefuture is going to be. What's going

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to happen water wars because without water, I mean you don't have farmland without
water, you got a real problem. There are cities that were running out
of water. Cape Town, forexample, in South Africa a few years
ago, was about to run outof water, as in you turn your
faucet on in the kitchen and thereis no water coming out. And it

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was saved by rainfall that came in. And as to right now is just
shortage. We had water shortages beforebig time where we had to cut back
on our water usage. Well,between Mexico and the US, it's gotten
really bad. And here's why.Under a nineteen forty four treaty, Mexico
is required to send one point seventyfive million acre feet. I mean,

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let me put it this way.It's just billions and billions of gallons of
water to the US every five yearsfrom the Rio Grand And the reason it's
every five years because they are dryyears, there are wet years, so
they average it out and they're notdoing that. And why they're not doing
that because they just say they're outof water, Maria Elena Diner a US

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Commissioner of the International Boundary and WaterCommission. But you didn't even know that
existed. It says Mexico is fallingfar behind in its obligations. We've only
gotten a year's worth of water andwe're already into our fourth year. So
the Rio Grand also, which isalong the border of Mexico and the US,

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is one of North America's longest rivers, one hundred nineteen hundred miles from
Colorado, the mountains that weave throughthree US states, five Mexican states,
and in the Gulf of Mexico andit's just running out of water out a
river is running out of water.Why guys over extraction for farmers. We
have booming populations in a lot ofareas, and booming populations, well,

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they drink more, they flush toilets, more and more houses are built and
areas become populated. And guess what. Water supply dwindles drops in many cases
virtually to zero. And we havethe heat. We know that drought is
upon us, even though it's beena particularly wet winter. You know,

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it gets cyclical long term. Imean we're getting drier. We're definitely going
into drought. We're in a drought. And what happens with drought the snowpack
loses snow and that translates into therivers flowing a lot less. About two
hundred miles of the Rio Grand stretchingfrom Fort Equipment, which you have no

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idea where is to Presidio Tech isknown as the Forgotten Reach. That's what
they call it. The river bedis bone dry, where it not where
it was not it. We havea problem. You know, do they
even have those whitewrotter rafting? Iknow that during drought periods, you you

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don't white wrotter water raft a lot. You do a lot of over the
rocks rafting where you have to pickup the zodiac and walk through lots of
the river. By the way theycharge for that, that's not a lot
of fun. Uh, it isway way down. It's Uh, it's
a tough way to go. Andwhen we talk about water wars, I

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mean obviously this is going to goin the courts. I mean it's gotten
not gotten so bad that we aregoing to go to war. Uh,
it will happen. I mean Mexicois not going to do much in terms
of invading the US or the USinvading Mexico. But there are parts of
the world where it's not just dictatorshipsand it's not just food being used as
weapons, which is happening. Also, water will be weaponized. The Colorado

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River Deal between the Southwest US StatesColorado River, that's changing everything. Mexico
and did two five year cycles indeficit, couldn't meet the obligations nineteen ninety
two to two thousand and two.The North American Free Trade Agreement. Okay,

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you had an exposion of farms andthen the factories in Mexico. American
factories moved down to Mexico just onthe other side of the border. And
guess what if you open up acar factory or a refrigerator factory and appliance
factory and have thousands of workers andthey're coming from all parts of Mexico,
Well, you're it'll use a lotmore water for sure. And so the

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water wars are he and this isjust another example. You go, well,
for example, you've got low waterdeliveries from Mexico and this is Texas
can combined with no rain are threateningthe state's citrus industry. Texas actually has
a citrus industry, not very muchanymore. The sugar industry is gone,

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won't come back. There's one sugarmill left. It's shut down in February.
Actually they used to be one sugarmill left. It was the last
one been around for fifty years.So some state leaders USKED have said we
need punitive measures against Mexico. Itputs all of Texas agricultural at risk.

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A representative from a Texas Republican andit's calling on the Biden administration to hold
Mexico's feet to the fire. Andwhat happens when you don't have the water?
How do you hold to anybody's feetto the fire, and there isn't
enough water to put out the firethat's burning up Mexico's feet. Very deep,

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this is analysis. This is whyyou listen to the show. Very
very deep stuff. This is KFIAM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app. You've been listening to theBill Handle Show. Catch my show Monday
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