Un-Embed The Media!

Amy Goodman Honored in When Women Pursue Justice Mural

On October 15, 2005, Artmakers dedicated When Women Pursue Justice: a 3,300 square foot mural that celebrates 90 women who, often risking life and liberty, have led or participated in movements for social change in the United States. In vivid color, the 45' x 75' mural portrays 14 twentieth-century movement leaders and 67 activists as well as 9 nineteenth-century �ancestors� who inspired twentieth-century activism. Amy Goodman was among the women depicted in the mural.When Women Pursue Justice is located at 498 Greene Avenue (corner Nostrand) in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Established in 1983, Artmakers Inc. is an artist-run, politically oriented, community mural organization that creates high quality public art relevant to the lives and work of people in their neighborhoods.

Photo courtesy of Artmakers Inc. � 2005

Amy Goodman at the October 15th 2005 dedication of the mural

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Salt Lake City

We didn't know what to expect upon our arrival in the People's Republic of Utah. The state, America's very own theocracy and a bastion of right wing politics (as well as being home to the best powder skiing in the U.S. — but I digress) is not where we expect to draw the kind of crowds we've had elsewhere. We were right — SLC turns out the biggest crowd we've seen in days. A huge line is still waiting patiently at the door at the beautiful Gardner Hall at the University of Utah when organizers announce that the 700-seat hall is full. A man comes over to us as we are signing books to say, “You know, when Sebastiao Selgado came, they just let everybody in and people stood in the aisles. We're going to be very disappointed if we can't see you!” So Amy went inside and politely suggested that the ushers just let everybody in. We offered to have people crowd around us on stage. To their credit and our relief, the ushers just threw open the doors, everybody scrunched together inside, and over 1,000 people packed into the concert hall.Our event was a fundraiser for KRCL, the local community radio station that airs Democracy Now! Just before the event, a woman approached us. “Hi Amy, I don't know if you remember, but we were arrested together in Washington, D.C.” It was the great writer Terry Tempest Williams, who had come to the event with her niece.

The Utah audience was energized. One woman told us that even though it's a conservative state, it's small enough that you can make a difference on issues that you care about. She told us, “Even if they don't always listen to me, I speak my mind to the people in power here.”

April 30, BOSTON

Tonight was a remarkable evening. The Boston Women's Fund was honoring Amy with an award, together with Native American activist Winona LaDuke and Rep. Barbara Lee. Three uniquely amazing women. Each woman spoke about people who inspired them. Rep. Barbara Lee recalled how Shirley Chisolm, the African American woman who ran for president in 1972, inspired her. Chisolm urged Lee, a single mother of two sons who was disillusioned by electoral politics, to get involved. Lee ended up running Chisolm's campaign in northern California. Amy lauded Lee's courageous, lonely vote against authorizing President Bush to go to war after 9/11.

Amy then talked about her (our) mother, Dorothy Goodman, as her inspiration. She recalled a time in seventh grade when she got in trouble in her home economics class. That was the class where a sign on the wall that said, “If you are not a lady, you are nothing.” Amy announced that she wasn't interested in becoming a lady. She wanted to take shop, instead, just like her brothers. No dice, said the school. Amy described how our mom got on the phone with the home ec teacher and firmly explained that the problem wasn't with Amy, it was with a class that encouraged girls to think no further than being a good housekeeper and wife. “I learned that day that my mother was behind me me unconditionally. And what a difference that has made.” Mom was in the audience that night. “I was so touched,” she told us.

Boston

Thursday, April 29: BOSTON

Thursday night's event was a special treat for us. We were joined by Noam Chomsky, who was just back from a European swing to promote his newest book, “Hegemony or Survival.” The setting was the Cambridge Forum in Harvard Square, which was packed with 700 people. Noam is one of our heroes: long a lone dissident voice who has never tired of speaking truth to power.This day began for the Democracy Now! crew at a TV studio in Washington DC with CIA analyst Mel Goodman talking about the previous weekend protests against the 60th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF. Njoki Njehu, director of the 50 Years is Enough campaign, talked about the 60 years of the World Bank (the 50 Years is Enough campaign started a decade ago — hence the 60th party). Njoki spoke about the cruel burden of how, on the tenth anniversary of the South African elections, South Africa is still paying the debts of the apartheid regime.

Democracy Now! also had on Sybil Edmunds, the FBI agent who slammed as “an outrageous lie” Condoleezza Rice's claim that the government there were no warning that planes could be used against eh US before 9/11. On Monday, a battery of eight Justice Dept officials went to court to try and impose a second all encompassing gag order on her — which will forbid her from repeating anything that she has previously -- so that she can not testify in a lawsuit filed by 9/11 victims' families. She has already testified before the 9/11 commission. Conservative Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has said he considers her “credible.”

Tuesday, April 29: HADLEY, Mass.
Another packed event: this one held at Chapin Auditorium at Mt. Holyoke College in western Mass, together with Odyssey Bookshop. 800 people showed up for the talk and book signing!

Wednesday, April 28: WASHINGTON, D.C.

It was great to come to DC, home to Pacifica station WPFW. We began with a reception at Mimi's, a favorite pub and restaurant in Dupont Circle run by an Iraqi American. The WPFW fundraiser was attended by 700 people. It was great to have WPFW's Verna Avery Brown kick off the evening by talking about the domestic costs of this war: the US is spending $1 billion a week on the Iraq occupation. To think what that money could be better spent on...

One of the many well wishers came up toe Amy and said, “Democracy Now! and coffee are my addictions!” We hope he doesn't kick he habit anytime soon.

Monday, April 26: NEW HOPE, PA

The Exception to the Rulers tour moved from west to east, finally arriving in our nation's capital. The day began for Amy with an interview on a CBS-TV affiliate. Amy talked about the corporate media reaching an all-time low in its coverage of the invasion—an especially interesting subject for this corporate news station.

That night, Amy drove to New Hope, Pennsylvania, where she joined FAIR founder Jeff Cohen on a panel discussion about the media's coverage of Iraq. Jeff talked about his experience as the producer of the Phil Donahue Show in the lead-up to the invasion. As we describe in The Exception to the Rulers:

“In February 2003, MSNBC cancelled Phil Donahue's show. A leaked internal memo claimed that Donahue would present “a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives.” The report warned that the Donahue show could be “a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time as our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity.”

The Exception to the Rulers Midwest Express

The Democracy Now! crew produced the show from a studio in Hollywood then dashed off to the airport, to bring the Exception to the Rulers book and media tour to the Midwest. Our first stop was St. Louis, with a benefit event for KDHX radio and dhTV, the public access television facility for the city of St. Louis. The event included a speaker representing MoveOn.org's new book and a spirited presentation by acclaimed media analyst and activist Bob McChesney. Bob has a new book out as well, The Problem of the MediaThe following morning, Amy again joined Bob for the opening plenary of the Union for Democratic Communications conference and then sped off to make the benefit event for WEFT in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois.

There was an excellent turnout for the WEFT event, with 200 people coming out on a beautiful Spring afternoon. Station manager Mick Woolf made the crew feel at home, and managed to work in a visit to the Urbana-Champaign Indymedia Center, ucimc.org Hear audio of her interview on WEFT here and see pictures here

A late-night drive got us to Yellow Springs, Ohio by 2 am, and after a too-short sleep we were on the campus of Antioch College, where Amy was shceduled to give the commencement address.

She was first interviewed by Vic Micunas for Miami Valley Community TV, a public access station that recently began airing DN! Vic is very active in Yellow Springs with the effort to restore radio station WYSO to the community (see keepwysolocal.org )

We flew to Minneapolis to a benefit for KFAI. The St. Joan of Arc Church was set up to seat 1200, but 1500 arrived, enduring a long line in the rain on a Saturday night, which was also Mumia Abu-Jamal's 50th birthday (April 24th). Many thanks to Birchbark Books, who handled the book sales. That is the independent bookstore owned by author Louise Erdrich.

Amy went the next morning to join in the Pacifica Network's live coverage of the March for Women's Lives, which is said to have drawn over 1 million people to the Mall in Washington - perhaps the largest march in US history.

Day 9: Los Angeles

We just returned from our biggest event yet: 2,000 people came out to help launch The Exception to the Rulers at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church! The event was a fundraiser for Pacifica station KPFK, and the two great indy bookstores Midnight Special and EsoWon cooperated to handle the book sales.Standing on the pulpit and peering out at the sea of faces overflowing the floor and balcony was awesome and thrilling. You see, writing a book a is solitary craft. You descend into your writing cave, scribble away, hope that what you say makes sense, and pray that others will be interested. When we finished the manuscript, it was like emerging into the daylight. You blink a few times to re-acclimate, then wait for the reponse, if any. So it gives us great hope and inspiration to see so many people supporting independent media, and searching out the voices missing from the corporate press.

Some highlights of the evening:

Amy was given the Upton Sinclair Award for Freedom of Expression from the Southern California ACLU. The award was presented to her by activist, author and former California state senator Tom Hayden
Jerry Quickley, hip hop artist and host of the show “Beneathg the Surface” on KPFK, whipped the crowd into a frenzy. He was a hard act to follow!

Word is getting out: Newsday and the LA Times both ran feature articles about the book today. Check out these and other articles by clicking on the news/reviews tab on this web site.

Day 6: Santa Cruz

We awoke to some exciting news: The Exception to the Rulers had shot up to #7 on the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list — and that was based on sales before we arrived in California!We arrived at the 700-seat Rio Theater in Santa Cruz to see a line of people stretching around the block beneath a lighted marquee that blared AMY GOODMAN — SOLD OUT. But there was another odd site: police cars parked all around the historic theater. We were quickly informed that there had been a bomb threat called in to the theater. It all seemed out of place: here in one of California's most progressive cities, home to three stations that air Democracy Now! — KUSP, pirate station KFSC, and the local public access TV station — was a chilling sign of intolerance. But the event organizers seemed unfazed. They said the police had combed the theater and found nothing, and the Rio owner told us, “We're going to search people's bags as they enter — just like we do at the premiere of any surfer movie.” With that, the show went on without a hitch, and it was a great evening — with Santa Cruz locals snapping up more books than even the record crowds in New York City!

Day 5: Palo Alto, Corte Madera, and Santa Rosa

This is a big day—three book and fundraising events!A great surprise awaited us at the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto where we were doing a fundraiser, along with Kepler's Book Store, for the local peace and justice center: Joan Baez was waiting outside to greet us. “Can you open the event with a song?” asked Amy. Sure, replied Joan. When the show opened Joan belted out a rousing rendition of “Aint gonna let nobody turn me around.” Some 500 people who packed the church, a sanctuary church during the Vietnam War, cheered and sang along. Our event at Book Passage, an indy book store in Corte Madera, was packed again — about 300 people wedged into the book store. We had a great event at Copperfields in Santa Rosa, which was a fundraiser for KRCB radio and television. Amy announced there that the TV station--a local PBS affiliate--was about to start airing Democracy Now!, which was greeted by cheers --- and the passing of a donation box to fund the effort — from the 400 folks in attendance.

Day 4: San Francisco

We started the day at the studios of LinkTV doing our first major remote broadcasts. In the first show we talked to Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights about child prisons, plus the interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal. We then visited book stores and talked to the staff, many of whom were very excited about the book. We asked one of the staff people at Stacey's, an independent book store in downtown San Francisco, if publishers had to pay to get prime positioning of their book in their store (this is common practice at the large chain book stores). He laughed at the idea. “We're an independent book store,” he replied. “We feature the books that we like and think our customers will enjoy. We don't feature what the publishers pay us to do.” We were glad to see our book made the cut and was featured by the staff.That night, we did an event at A Clean Well Lighted Place, another San Francisco indy book store. Some 400 people packed the place to hear us read and participate in a Q&A. Thank you San Francisco!