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Ten years ago today, Kalief Browder died by suicide, on June 6, 2015, after spending three years at New York’s Rikers Island jail without trial, much of that time in solitary confinement and brutal conditions — after he was accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack. We speak with his brother and the director of a new film that aims to remember Kalief and his mother Venida and explores the impact of the trauma they faced and how his family responded. Sisa Bueno is the director of For Venida, For Kalief, which is premiering this weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival. It features the poetry of Kalief’s late mother, archival footage from the 1970 uprising in New York City jails, and interviews about the ongoing push to shut down Rikers Island jail. Akeem Browder is the older brother of Kalief Browder and a founder of the Campaign to Shut Down Rikers.

Democracy Now! Friday, June 6, 2025

We continue our conversation with investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr about the rise of unregulated tech behemoths like OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT that has been embroiled in scandals surrounding its generation of easily disseminated false information, and Palantir, the secretive data-mining company that now heavily contracts with the U.S. government to provide mass surveillance and data collection services.

Democracy Now! Thursday, June 5, 2025

Extended interview with Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. The book documents the rise of OpenAI and how the AI industry is leading to a new form of colonialism.

Democracy Now! 2025-06-04 Wednesday

• Headlines for June 04, 2025
• "Death Traps": U.S.-Israeli Aid Scheme Paused in Gaza After 100+ Palestinians Killed While Waiting for Food
• Greta Thunberg Speaks from Aid Ship Heading to Gaza Despite Israeli Threats: It's My Moral Obligation
• "Empire of AI": Karen Hao on How AI Is Threatening Democracy & Creating a New Colonial World

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Democracy Now! Tuesday, June 3, 2025

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Democracy Now! Friday, May 30, 2025

Democracy Now! 2025-05-29 Thursday

• Headlines for May 29, 2025
• Fear, Repression & Brain Drain: U.S. Campuses Reeling as Trump Freezes, Revokes Student Visas
• Mosquito Protocol: Ex-Israeli Soldier on Army's Systematic Use of Palestinians as Human Shields
• Jeremy Scahill: Shadowy Israeli-U.S. Aid Plan Is Weapon in "Netanyahu's War of Annihilation" in Gaza

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Democracy Now! 2025-05-28 Wednesday

• Headlines for May 28, 2025
• "I Am a Political Prisoner": Immigrant Rights Activist Jeanette Vizguerra Speaks from ICE Jail
• "Corporate Criminal": Nadia Milleron, Whose Daughter Died in 737 Crash, Slams New DOJ-Boeing Deal
• "Mt. Everest of Corruption": Crypto Investors Buy Access to President; Trump Expands Bitcoin Holdings

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Democracy Now! 2025-05-27 Tuesday

• Headlines for May 27, 2025
• Israel Bombs Home of Gaza Pediatrician, Killing 9 of Her 10 Kids, in Latest Attack on Health Workers
• Trump vs. Academic Freedom: President Escalates Attacks on Harvard & International Students
• Georgia Abortion Ban Forces Family to Keep Pregnant, Brain-Dead Woman on Life Support
• "Unconscionable & Deliberate": GOP Budget Defunds Planned Parenthood Amid Maternal Health Crisis

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Democracy Now! 2025-05-26 Monday

• "Sinners": Director Ryan Coogler on His Latest Hit, Delta Blues, His Mississippi Roots & Vampires
• The Injustice of Justice: Keith LaMar Speaks from Ohio Death Row as Movement Grows to Save His Life
• "I'm Innocent": Keith LaMar Speaks Live from Death Row About His Case, Conditions & Pending Execution

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Historian Jeanne Theoharis joins us for an in-depth discussion about her new book, King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside the South. After more than a decade of research, she offers a major reexamination of his experiences and activism confronting police brutality, alongside his wife Coretta Scott King. In Part 2 of our interview, she describes his work in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, including long meetings with gang leaders to reduce violence, like the Turfmasters Summit in Chicago to address what he called “domestic colonialism.” King often addressed how police and courts were used as “enforcers,” and stopped using the phrase “law and order,” instead calling for “law and justice.” Theoharis also critiques the role of the media in portraying King's organizing against police abuse and racism in the North as “reckless,” when they previously praised his work in the South.

Democracy Now! 2025-05-23 Friday

• Headlines for May 23, 2025
• "Theft from On High": Trump's Budget Bill Guts Medicaid, Medicare & More to Pay for Tax Cuts
• Mahmoud Khalil: Jailed Activist Testifies Before Immigration Judge and Holds His Child for First Time
• "I Can't Breathe": Five Years After George Floyd's Murder, Trump Admin Rolls Back Police Oversight
• "King of the North": New Book Examines MLK's Fight Against Police Brutality & Racism Outside Dixie

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Democracy Now! Thursday, May 22, 2025

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Democracy Now! 2025-05-20 Tuesday

• Headlines for May 20, 2025
• "The Suffering Is Beyond Description": Report from Gaza as U.N. Warns 14,000 Babies Could Soon Die
• Making Gaza Unlivable: Israel Intensifies Attacks as Netanyahu Vows to Seize All of Gaza
• From a Palestinian Refugee Camp to Columbia: Mohsen Mahdawi Graduates After Being Jailed by Trump

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Democracy Now! 2025-05-19 Monday

• Headlines for May 19, 2025
• "Absolutely Genocidal": Mouin Rabbani on "Gideon's Chariots," Israel's Latest Escalation of War on Gaza
• Project Esther: NYT Details Right-Wing Plan to "Rebrand All Critics of Israel" as Hamas Supporters
• On 100th Birthday of Malcolm X, Family Presses Trump to Release Gov't Files on Assassination

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Democracy Now! Friday, May 16, 2025