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Minneapolis City Council Wants To Dismantle Police Department; Demonstrations Mostly Peaceful Across United States; Experts: Implicit Bias Affects How Minorities Are Treated; Black Lives Matter Movement Spreading Globally; Hope For Future In Minneapolis After Tragic Killing And Riots. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired June 08, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the World. I'm Hala Gorani in London.
This hour mourners in Houston are gathering today to remember George Floyd two weeks after he was killed in police custody. That is amid growing calls
to defund the police. We'll ask what that rallying cry actually means.
And some extraordinary scenes in the U.K. on Sunday as statue of a slave trader is brought down and dumped in the harbor. I'll speak to the Mayor of
that City and get his reaction, just ahead.
The death of George Floyd has been felt across the globe, and in the coming hours, we'll see three major developments in the fallout. First, the former
police officer charged with killing George Floyd makes his initial appearance before a judge in the case. Derek Chauvin faces a second-degree
murder charge for kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.
We're also watching the Minneapolis City Council. A majority of the members say they want to rebuild the police department from the ground up. And a
massive turnout is expected in George Floyd's hometown of Houston, Texas for his memorial. It begins in just a couple of hours.
Our Sara Sidner is live in Houston, Texas where the public is saying its final goodbyes before the funeral tomorrow. Tell us what's happening in
Houston, Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are outside the church the Fountain of Praise and we have just watched as the hearse carrying George Floyd's body
arrived here. It also arrived amongst the flowers that were still arriving to be put inside the sanctuary here.
This church is a Texas church, and in Texas they do things very big. There are about 3,000 people that can fit into this particular church, but
because of Coronavirus they have it limited to about 15 people at a time. We're expecting hundreds of people to show up, because this is a public
memorial.
This is the memorial so that the public can say their final goodbyes to George Floyd. When I say public, I mean people who are strangers that just
know his story from watching television, and people who know him or were friends with him because later on, on Tuesday, the family will have a very
private memorial that is just members of his family.
By the way, the Floyd family is massive, hundreds of people in the Floyd family as well. We've been watching as people slowly arrive here. It is
really an interesting juxtaposition a man who died at the hands of police officers being escorted in by police officers.
A lot of people taking notice of that, but also taking notice of just the amount of outpouring of compassion and love today, very different than what
we have seen, the scenes that we have seen over the past 11 or 12 days. There is certainly a set of sorrow setting in.
There is a sense of being able to say goodbye, and we were told by the PR Company helping George Floyd's family, that George Floyd will be buried
next to his mother. You will remember in that videotape, that horrific videotape, watching him ask for his breath and saying he can't breathe,
that in his final moments he called out for his mother.
It turned out that his mother had been dead for many years. Now he will be buried beside her, and that is also a poignant thing to imagine that he is
finally going to be going home and be finally next to his mother, the person he called out for in his final moments, Hala.
GORANI: That was probably at least to me, probably for many people, one of the most heartbreaking aspects of that video, of George Floyd, a 46-year-
old man calling out for his mother, his long-deceased mother. Just kind of illustrating how desperate and how lonely those final moments were for him
as he was being held down.
So this is a public visitation. What does that entail? What does this mean in terms of how people will be able to pay their respects?
SIDNER: So we are told by the PR Company that, indeed, people will be able to walk up and get fairly close to the casket. The casket will be there.
They'll be able to pray for a few seconds and then will have to move along as more and more people show up.
This is a very different time because of Coronavirus, and many people have not been able to say goodbye to their loved ones because of this virus. In
this instance, they are letting people - they have to wear masks. Even the pallbearers are wearing masks as well, but we noticed that they will come
up to a certain distance from the casket.
They will say their final goodbyes there, and they will move on and do it one by one, which is why this process could take many hours.
[11:05:00]
SIDNER: We also know Vice President and Presidential Candidate Joe Biden is meeting privately today, and we know that there is going to be Al Sharpton
who is going to be giving the eulogy for the public memorial here.
He has spoken very eloquently in the memorial in Minneapolis, but I do want to say that this family is having to endure three public memorials, here,
North Carolina and now here in Houston, and then they will have their chance to have their private sorrow not put on display on Tuesday, but it
must be a really heavy burden for them to have to stand and try and also help people through this as they are mourning themselves, Hala.
GORANI: All right, Sara Sidner thanks very much. George Floyd's death could lead to the end of the Minneapolis Police Department as it is today. Nine
members of the City Council there want to start defunding and dismantling the department. That's according to the City Council's president. CNN's
Josh Campbell shows us what that might look like. Josh?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hala, the prosecution of the four officers charged in the death of George Floyd is just now beginning, but
city officials here are immediately taking steps to try to reform the Minneapolis Police Department, including the drastic step of dismantling
the agency.
Now, while Minneapolis remains the epicenter of efforts to reform and defund police officers, the movement to dismantle law enforcement agencies
is starting to spread across the United States.
As protestors gathered for the 13th day in the streets and even from caravans of cars to cry racial injustice, one movement calling to defund or
cut police department budgets is becoming the focus of some demonstrators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: In Minneapolis, where George Floyd died while in custody of authorities two weeks ago, nine members of the city council express their
support to disband the Police Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA BENDER, PRESIDENT, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL: We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the City of Minneapolis and to
rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender says this process will not be quick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENDER: When I think about that ask is that instead of investing in more policing that we invest in those alternatives, the community-based
strategies. The idea of having no Police Department is certainly not in the short term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: This one day after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was met with this reaction from protestors when he told them--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not for a abolishing the entire Police Department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: The idea of defunding Police Department involves redistributing money from enforcement activities to programs that support the community.
The Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti pledging to make a small step toward defunding the police saying he will slash up to $150 million from the
LAPD's proposed budget of $1.86 billion, about a percent.
In New York City where large crowds convene once again, Mayor de Blasio says he's committed to using some NYPD funding on youth and social services
program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY, NY: I also will affirm while doing that we will only do it in a way that we're certain continues to ensure
this city will be safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pushing back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, (D-NY): No police, you get looting. That's what you get. Nobody wants that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: Now, as the debate over policing reform continues, the officer charged with second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd, Former
Officer Derek Chauvin, he will be appearing in court behind me today by video link.
Now we know that two of the officers that were involved in that incident, their defense have been to blame Chauvin and his seniority, saying he is
largely responsible for the death of George Floyd. Yet to determine what Chauvin's defense strategy will be, we will be in court and we'll bring you
the latest. Hala?
GORANI: All right, Josh thanks very much. Let's take a closer look at the situation in New York now where police reform is also coming to the
forefront. Brynn Gingras joins me now live with that. So the Mayor of New York, de Blasio, says that there is a plan to move police funds to
different services in the city. That's a week after resisting the idea. What does that mean practically?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's a good question, Hala. At this point, in fact just a few minutes ago, we were actually seeing a
large crowd of protestors walking from city hall right here behind me. One police plaza, which is the NYPD headquarters, symbolically taking a knee
and a lot of their signs give us some sort of explanation.
In fact, the Mayor was asked directly about this during his news conference, and he essentially says he's not giving any details yet, it's
something that still needs to be worked out in the budget. But what he said, he won't use the word defund as we've seen across the country and as
Josh had laid out in his story, is shifting.
[11:10:00]
GINGRAS: Shifting moneys from the NYPD to these you know social service, youth services all across the city. But again, the details are very scarce
at this point. How much money are we talking about here? What kind of programs are we talking about here?
It's more just a conversation, he said, that needs to be had and will be had when the budget gets discussed. And Hala, this was just one bullet
point that the Mayor says that he is focused on.
There was four that he laid out, again, after a week of protests here in New York City, and some of them also include putting community members at
the high levels of the NYPD to continue that dialogue between the community and the NYPD.
But again, this is all just talk at this point, and there are real conversations that have to continue to figure out what actually can happen.
GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, Brynn Gingras, for that. This weekend protestors around the world held huge marches, slamming racism and police
brutality. Let's not forget, it's not just black men in America facing this sort of abuse, black women are as well.
We're joined by Tarana Burke. She is the founder of the #MeToo movement. Thanks for being with me, Tarana Burke. First I want to ask you, the #MeToo
movement changed not just how people view sexual assault and harassment in the United States. It spread like wildfire around the world. Do you think
this movement we're seeing in the United States will also change things in similar ways in terms of police brutality and racism?
TARANA BURKE, FOUNDER, METOO MOVEMENT: Well, I hope so. But you have to know that just like #MeToo that started in 2017, the fight to end police
brutality didn't start this year. This is a long, long battle that goes back decades in our communities, and we are now - similar to what happened
in 2017 seeing the kind of traction that we haven't seen in the past, so my hope is that it takes light around the world and we see some dramatic
changes.
GORANI: Why do you think it's happening now? You mentioned it's been going on for years and black Americans have for years complained about it. We've
seen very tragic cases of innocent and sometimes children, Tamir Rice, for instance, in 2015 killed as he was holding a toy gun in Ohio. Why is George
Floyd the incident that has sparked all this, in your opinion?
BURKE: People ask the same question about why now around #MeToo? I think when the time comes, it just comes. We are in unprecedented times. We have
a deep moral deficit in our leadership in this country, and I think it has led to a portal being opened where people just can't take it anymore and
refuse to take it and realize they don't have to take it.
GORANI: You wrote in a tweet thread - what I found interesting is you wrote about your partner. My dude was looking for a tote bag to carry some things
to the post office. I gave him a bright pink and red bag. He didn't want to carry it. I got annoyed at him, basically, and you said, baby, please stop.
I'm a 6 foot foot'3" black man. If I'm walking down the street with a bright pink bag, I could look like I stole it from some a woman which could
attract police attention.
I'm never trying to give these cops a reason to stop me ever. And then you add never occurred to me. So as a black woman you, too, have been educated
by black men about how anxious they feel on a daily basis about attracting the wrong kind of attention from law enforcement. Could you talk a little
bit about that?
BURKE: I know black people - I have my own kind of anxiousness. I think the education has been around how that anxiousness manifests. I know from
living with him, I have a black brother, plenty of black male friends, how many black men feel a level of anxiety and frustration and fear when having
encounters with the police or even the possibility of an encounter.
I've been harassed by police, I have been sexually harassed by police, so I carry my own level of - and I think sometimes we get in our own bag and you
just think about yourself and how it affects you? But in our relationships with other people and our loved ones, there is always a bit of
communication opens up, understanding in a different kind of way. And it's very real.
He's had interactions with police that have left him scarred, and so his anxiety around that is very real, and it's never really acknowledged, it's
just not talked about, what the over policing of black bodies does to people's psyche and to your trying to walk through the world.
[11:15:00]
GORANI: And it's exhausting. I'm sure it's mentally and emotionally exhausting. One of the things that happened with #MeToo is that I started
realizing that men were getting things that they weren't getting before.
You know, you could explain until you're blue in the face this I feel vulnerable, I feel not respected, and then all of a sudden there is this
sea change. Nothing changes and then all of a sudden everything changes very fast.
I wonder if you believe that what we're seeing now - are you already, in just the last week, sensing a difference in how white people are
understanding, maybe, systemic racism.
BURKE: I think that - yes, I think we've seen a lot of information passing, a lot of white people who are very interested to understand how this
impacts our lives in ways similar to #MeToo, that they should have known already. If you pay attention, if you are participating as a human being in
humanity, you should be understanding and trying to have some deeper understanding of how these things affect your fellow human beings.
But there's been a lot of that. I also think that there is now an understanding of how these movements intersect, so people - police, we talk
a lot about police killing and police brutality. People should know that number two in this country behind excessive force is sexual violence around
police.
Sexual violence is the second highest complaint against police. So there are intersections in our movement there, reasons why we're talking about
#MeToo and we're talking about police brutality. These are intersecting things, and I think people are finally becoming aware of the way that the
policing has developed in this country has been detrimental.
It's not to say that there's not space for it to change and that there's - like what we're seeing with Minneapolis, we can tear down and rebuild in
ways that are beneficial to our community.
GORANI: Tarana, your shot - I think if you're on a computer or your phone, I'm not exactly sure, whatever camera you're using kind of slipped down. I
think I'm just seeing the top of your head. Can you move it? I'm not sure--
BURKE: Is that better?
GORANI: Let me just - there you are. You're back much better.
BURKE: Sorry about that.
GORANI: No problem. Tarana, as you mentioned rightly, these things take time, they take time. You have - people will post like a black square on
their Instagram and then move on to something else. What do we need for this to be a sustained effort, in the same way #MeToo is a sustained effort
to remain in the public consciousness? We're trying to undo centuries, centuries of inequality and everything that led to this point.
BURKE: This is what people need to understand. When people stop marching in the streets of Ferguson, when the black lives matter movement and rallies
and protests of 2015 and 2014 died down, that work didn't stop. The reason why, one of the reasons why this movement right now is so big?
And to answer your previous question, is because the people and organizations and movement for black lives have never stopped working. So
when this dies down and the protests stop, now we have even more people galvanized and those organizers will continue to feed into this movement,
and we have now more people to help it grow even further.
Not seeing people on the street does not mean the movement has stopped, it means we have gained new followers, we have gained new people who
understand and we'll continue to do this work. A lot of this work will happen when the cameras go off, when the people leave the streets.
But it's important we have moments like this so people understand and you can see visibly how fired up people are, how ready for change they are.
GORANI: All right, Tarana Burke thanks so much. I really appreciate talking to you today.
BURKE: Thank you.
GORANI: And a lot more ahead on the program. The black lives matter movement is now global with more solidarity protests in Europe and around
the world, all the way to Asia. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:20:00]
GORANI: Well, cleanup is underway in London after more massive protests in the U.K. solidarity protests with American demonstrators. Buildings and
statues near parliament were tagged with black lives matter graffiti, and for the second week in a row, thousands of demonstrators gathered in
Europe, Africa and Asia to take a stand against systemic racism. CNN's Max Foster reports.
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tens of thousands again taking to Europe's streets, bigger and noisier than last weekend. Protestors gathering around
the U.S. Embassy in London, peaceful and upbeat, as the same chants go global.
Spots by protests in the United States, demonstrators have come together across the continent to call for change the killing of George Floyd
sparking a global movement against racism. Here in London, eight minutes of silence as protestors kneel in tribute to Floyd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's the best turnout. It's nice to see no police action where yesterday horses were running through. You've got that
peace interacting with everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a hash tag; we're here to change something. Racism cannot be tolerated in our culture, in our society. We need to
change this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way that the media were trying to portray it is people were angry, people were fighting. There is stuff going on that the
media makes it look like we're the ones in the wrong. We're not in the wrong, we're peaceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: While the British government has urged members of the public not to demonstrate, the U.K. Health Secretary expressed his concerns over lack of
social distancing and potential spread of Coronavirus. Protestors have come out in full force, but many of them wearing masks to limit the spread of
the deadly virus.
There's an upbeat tone, really, to the protesting in London today and boy it is by the fact that more protesting spreading around U.K. from here in
London a striking scene in the City of Bristol, where protestors pull down a statue of the 17th century slave trader, Edward Colston.
And in the evening in London, the focus shifted to the Capital's political district, Westminster, where at times tensions boiled over as they had done
the night before a sense of furor which has spread not only across the U.K but and all over the globe. Max Foster, CNN, London.
GORANI: Changing society by changing the way we think. How unconscious biases affect the way minorities are treated in America and what experts
believe we can all do to change that? Plus, protestors in Israel on the streets echoing the calls for racial justice of the black lives movement
after police there kill an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:25:00]
GORANI: Two weeks after the death of George Floyd in police custody, America has been shaken to its core. Mass protests, some of which turned
violent, have roiled cities across the country. But now the National Guard has been pulled back and curfews have been lifted from some areas as recent
demonstrations have been peaceful.
Powerful images pouring in like these, lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington kneeling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. That is how long George
Floyd was pinned down by Minneapolis police officers, one of them kneeling on his neck as he took his last breath.
In Texas, the public is about to say its final goodbyes. The City of Houston where Floyd grew up is expecting about 10,000 people to attend a
final visitation. There is a growing belief that many of these racial injustices we've seen in the U.S. have stemmed from unconscious biases
people have about other ethnicities and blacks in particular. CNN's Tom Foreman explains.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Back up from that terrible moment when Ahmaud Arbery was chased down and shot to death by lawmakers in Georgia.
Note the claims of innocents by lawyers for the accused father and son, and then think about the third accused man. William Brian who's lawyer also
says he is innocent that he was sitting on his porch, saw a two men in a truck he recognized chasing someone he did not and followed them, taking
video of the incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN GOUGH, WILLIAM BRIAN'S ATTORNEY: He does, with all due respect, what any patriotic American citizen would have done in the same circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Now listen to another take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANE ELLIOT, ACTIVIST: If Arbery had been white, that man you talked about would have been out there to find out why they were chasing him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: That's Jane Elliott. She's an educator and activist who has done a lot of work on the subject of unconscious or as researchers often call it
implicit bias. So has activist Christopher Bridges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER BRIDGES, DIRECTOR, IMPLICIT BIAS NETWORK FOR EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY: Implicit bias is not a way of calling people racist, it's a way of
acknowledging that everyone has biases that very much have been earned or conditioned upon us - living in our society and functions without our
conscious awareness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: An example, a black boy and girl and a white girl and boy are busy at a table, teachers are asked to assess their nearly identical behaviors
and time and again the black boy is identified as a challenge? Why? Researchers say it is because our whole society is steeped in the idea kids
like him are trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIDGES: It is kind of unavoidable to have implicit bias. The problem is implicit biases actually impact different groups way worse than some of the
other biases the general biases we may have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Take those engrained attitudes into adult life, and you get, even among folks who do not think they're racist, a birdwatcher asking a woman
to leash her dog only to be met with fury and a call to police.
[11:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is an African-American man in the park. He is recording me and threatening myself and my dog.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: A woman campaigning door to door for public office only to have the police called on her, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEILA STUBBS, WISCONCIN STATE ATTORNEY: Because I felt so degraded. I felt so humiliated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: And when police arrived, studies have shown they are much more likely to act with violence if they encounter an African-American man, even
unarmed. So much so, a study last year found the average black man has about a 1 in 1,000 chance of being killed by police over his lifetime. More
than double the risk to a white man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLIOTT: They are more likely to kill a black person than a white person because they have been taught for 500 years that white people are superior
to all others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Defenders say statistics show African-Americans commit crimes at a higher rate. But skeptics ask how can we trust those stats if implicit bias
is constantly steering everyone to look for crimes involving black people?
Remember, in the Arbery case, a suspect initially said they saw him poking around a house under construction, and an investigator says the accused
shooter said he had a gut feeling that Mr. Arbery may have been responsible for thefts, even though a security camera caught white people looking
around the same building.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIDGES: In America, implicit biases and implicit racial biases we incredibly and impact a lot of the way in which African-Americans and other
people of color live and experience in their daily lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: The fatal police shooting this year of Breonna Taylor, unarmed in her own apartment in Kentucky, are boiling with bias. And the Lieutenant
Governor is calling for implicit bias education in schools, hoping what is learned can be unlearned. Experts are hopeful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLIOTT: Absolutely. Anything you create, you can destroy. We could destroy racism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: These types of biases can affect our views of all sorts of things about age and religion and where you're fro from, maybe even what you wear.
But right now the big debate how do we grapple with this gray thinking when it comes down to black and white? Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
GORANI: Well we've been talking a lot about how this movement has became global? And protesters in Israel tackle two subjects this weekend.
The government's plan to annex part of the West Bank and the recent shooting of an unarmed Palestinian man who was autistic by a police in
Jerusalem they chant in Palestinians lives matter as - thousands of protestors in Tel Aviv, similar to the black lives matter rallies in the
U.S. Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem with more details on this protests. Can you first tell us what incident sparked the demonstrations?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it was a two pronged demonstrations as you pointed out part of this was about annexation, and we'll get to that
in a moment, and part of this was about a 32-year-old - in the old City of Jerusalem, a Palestinian autistic man who was unarmed and was shot to death
by police about a week ago.
That investigation continues but there was anger about that because he was unarmed, because he was autistic, and because according to local media
reports here, his caregiver told police he was both unarmed and autistic.
So that has generated a tremendous amount of anger as well as drawing comparisons between his killing as well as the killing of black men at the
hands of police. So there is that link, as you pointed out, between Palestinian lives matter and black lives matter.
Certainly the black lives matter movement has caught on here, not only in the protest in Tel Aviv, but we've seen protests in the West Bank, and it's
certainly worth noting in the barrier near Bethlehem, there is a giant mural of George Floyd, that separation barrier a powerful place to put some
pretty powerful graffiti, that image of George Floyd adding to the other graffiti, the other political art on that wall.
That was part of the protests we saw in Tel Aviv where police say about 2,000 people turned out. The other part was about possible annexation of
parts of the West Bank. And that's where we heard some messages, including from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders who says everybody needs to stand together
against the illegal annexation of the West Bank.
We also heard from some Israeli Palestinian lawmakers who said Israeli annexation would lead to violence and would lead to apartheid so we hear
those and oppositions growing. Now it is interesting here they have a sort of quasi ally in the ideological right who doesn't want to see annexation
or partial annexation happening because they believe it leaves open the possibility of a Palestinian state, and they don't want to see that.
There are certainly groups here the right wing and some of the religious who are pro-annexation, and there the question is what does Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu intend? Hala there are very, very few people who know the answer to that right now.
Netanyahu has kept those cards very close to his chest at this point, with July 1st being the first day, at least according to the coalition
agreement, that Netanyahu can move his annexation plans forward.
[11:35:00]
GORANI: Okay, Oren Liebermann, thank you so much. Now we were talking about protests around the world that were sparked by demonstrations in the U.S.
following the death of George Floyd. And they have really spread outside of the big cities in some European countries.
For instance, police in Bristol, England estimate at many as 10,000 people took part in Sunday's protest there. Although it was a large demonstration,
it was mainly peaceful, but it did involve the toppling of the statue of a former slave trader, Edward Colston, and we saw some of that video there.
Eventually this statue was thrown into the harbor.
Marvin Rees is it is Mayor of Bristol, and he joins me now via Skype with more that happened there. And as we show our viewers, Mayor Rees, images of
the toppling of that statue your reaction to the crowd doing this and taking that statue down and throwing it into the harbor. What is your
reaction as the Mayor of Bristol?
MARVIN REES, MAYOR OF BRISTOL, ENGLAND: Well, as the Mayor of the City I cannot condone damage and I've made that clear. Also, as Mayor of the City,
I've been very concerned about any action that leads to mass gatherings while we have COVID with us, and we do not yet have a vaccine, and the
dangers of a second wave.
So I'm very concerned about that. But I've also been very clear that this statue was an affront to me personally. I descended from Jamaicans and this
was a statue to a slave who may have traded in my own family.
GORANI: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, has said that some of these demonstrations were subverted by - and some other
officials have suggested that they believe that the people who took down this statue of Edward Colston, who benefited of course from the slave trade
tremendously, that those people should be criminally charge. Do you agree with that?
REES: I think that focusing in on wrong things. It's up to politicians to understand events, not nearly get caught up in events. This event happened.
It was criminal damage, we don't deny that. But as King said, you need to get beyond the superficial analyst who looks at the events and not for
underlying causes.
People were expressing something yesterday in support of politicians to understand that. Otherwise, they wouldn't create such events. We have a
government that has ten years of austerity. We've had the Windham scandal. We've had the creation of a hostile environment. We've had the -
immigration narrative pushed out by national government around Brexit will no doubt come back.
They failure to this and this country which people have been left behind and the politics has been increasingly distant from people. So we have to
look at our own complicity to create conditions, as the political leadership and creating condition that's led to this kind of political
action where people do not feel a critical system is winning or able to express their concerns and their passions.
GORANI: I don't want to focus necessarily on a single statue, but you have symbols and monuments and memorials to Edward Colston, Cecil Rhodes in
Oxford, for instance, some people are saying any memorial to him should be taken down as well.
Do you believe there should be, what, some sort of concerted effort to reevaluate what memorials are put up? For instance, some people believe
there should be a statue honoring Paul Stephenson who led the bus boycott in the '60s in Bristol. Do you agree?
REES: I think we should always be reevaluating what we do. That's what social scientists and historians do, they look at events, they don't just
take the interpretation on the shelf and say well that's all done and dusted, they dive into it.
I think it's really important that as a city, as a country, as a world, we're in constant self-reflection. The moment we stop reflecting on who we
are and what are memorials and what we choose to celebrate means about which we are and where we're going? Then we're a debt to society, just
buying stuff until we die, and that's not good enough.
So we should be in constant reflection. Then it's up to us to decide what we do with the conclusions we draw from these reflections.
GORANI: You're the Mayor of Bristol, and we saw that these protests outside of the United States have gained a lot of momentum. Can I ask you
personally - and you say you're a descendant, you're of Jamaican heritage.
[11:40:00]
GORANI: When you saw these demonstrations in the United States, what went through your mind?
REES: I'm dismayed that was possible and I was dismayed that they had to happen. I have got plenty of family in the United States. I married a white
American woman. I'm mixed race myself as well. So what's going on over there is very real to me.
I spent a number of years living there. I've personally experienced being on the receiving end of unwelcome police attention. Nothing happened, but
it was enough to be threatening. I've made those calculations even as Mayor about how I approach police officers in the United States for fear that
they would see me as a threat and take some action.
I made those calculations, so I can see and it's painful for me, and it's painful for other people to see it. I'm absolutely dismayed at the way the
President responded. You don't go out to dominate your population and militarize your streets. Leadership is about service. Leadership is about
understanding your population.
And at the levels of division that's been stitched into the United States at this time is incredible. And dare I just say, I think there is a very
strong precision point for the white evangelical church in the United States who has given moral covenant to an immoral public leadership.
GORANI: Well, it seems polling seems to suggest some of this evangelical support is waning a bit. Quick last question, if you see in Bristol your
city, the city of which you are the Mayor, more protests that target other memorials, you know, and sort of with statues getting toppled and graffiti
being sprayed, what should the police do because in the case of this Colston statue, they stood aside? Should they continue to do that?
REES: First of all, we need to understand what happened. One statue was targeted. And the way our police handled that protest was incredible. We
didn't end up with the violent confrontations as they have in other cities. They managed the situation.
A statue was pulled over. And I think that that, we grabbed hold of that pretty well as a city. As I said I don't support criminal damage, but when
you're policing wisely with local knowledge, I think that's to be applauded for the way - our city. The last thing we want to see is smashed windows,
people lining up to go into the casualty units.
GORANI: Yes, what if it again, I guess my question is if it happens again, what would you advocate doing?
REES: Well, we have to protect the city against criminal damage. That's what we'll do. And we'll manage the demonstrations as they - you know, as
they happen, and the police will be mindful. They're more prepared next time than they were this time. But I would say they are to be praised for
the way they handled this protest in the city in which I'm elected to lead.
GORANI: Mayor Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, thanks so much for joining us on CNN. We appreciate your time today. And coming up, after almost three
months of strict lockdown measures, New York City is taking the next small steps toward reopening.
Plus, the U.K. is imposing a mandatory quarantine on all international passengers coming into the country. If you're traveling to the U.K., that's
going to concern you the latest from London, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
GORANI: Well, it's important to remind people we are still in the middle of a pandemic. And health officials in the United States are closely
monitoring these protests that have happened over the last week, because there are concerns that the thousands of protestors are not social
distancing, and they could cause a surge in Coronavirus cases.
In a few weeks the U.S. Centers for Disease Control say it's too early to tell how the protests will impact the pandemic, though it is encouraging
protestors to wear masks and get tested for the virus. A hundred days after reporting its first case of COVID-19, New York City is entering the first
phase of its reopening.
Thousands of people will return to work, and the city is expanding testing. New York has been an epicenter of the Coronavirus crisis, and it's been
under strict lockdown for months. CNN's Alexandra Field is joining us from New York. It seems like the numbers unlike other U.S. states are
encouraging in New York, Alexandra?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very encouraging, almost surprising, in New York. You see 22 states across the country seeing infection rates going
up, but here in New York, numbers have gone down, so much so that New York City can join the rest of the state in this first official day of
reopening.
We just heard from New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo who announced that New York is not out of the woods yet, but certainly that New York is on the
other side. He was congratulating the essential workers who help to make this possible and really the people of New York who heeded orders to stay
home, social distance, wear masks, and take other precautions like hand sanitizer.
So the reopening will be slow and continued opening will depend on the progress that is made right now, but for now, Hala, we're seeing about
400,000 people who are heading back to work today in sectors like construction, retail, manufacturing and whole sale.
You can't eat inside restaurants yet, you can't go to the hair salon or you can't go to the offices, but this is the first step toward coming back.
What happens in the next few weeks will perhaps be as important as what's happened in the last few weeks and the last few months. That is because, of
course, the world has been watching as New York has seen thousands of people in the streets demonstrating for racial equality, protesting against
racism in this country.
These are protestors who haven't been able to maintain social distancing, so officials here in the city and in the state will be keeping a close eye.
They say they'll be doing 35,000 tests a day right here in New York in order to make sure that this virus is not spreading again, and that we
don't see a spike in the numbers in the coming weeks that could derail this progress, Hala?
GLORANI: And would you say a majority of people are wearing masks in New York? For instance, here in London, I actually don't think a majority of
people are wearing masks, including in supermarkets and in closed spaces, even though the health officials tell us this is quite necessary in keeping
the spread of the virus in check. What's the situation like in a big city like New York?
FIELD: What I'm seeing on the streets are people in masks. I have got my mask right here. I'm allowed to be six feet from my photographer here so I
slipped it down to talk to you. But through the streets we're seeing it. The biggest concern is really the subways.
As we know that people can't maintain social distance in the subway cars. The transit authority here says they are handing out some 2 million masks.
They are requiring people who are down there to put those masks on.
So in these heavily concentrated areas of a very densely populated city, it's essential and we do see people heeding these instructions now. Mayor
Bill de Blasio, the Mayor of New York City, has said you know we've made a lot of progress here but people must keep doing the work in order to get to
the next phases of reopening.
GORANI: All right. Alexandra Field in New York thanks very much. Well, speaking of encouraging numbers, as the worldwide numbers of COVID-19 cases
passes 7 million, New Zealand is celebrating a major victory.
Just a few hours ago, the country began relaxing restrictions after active cases fell to zero, zero. New Zealand does now move to the lowest level in
its Coronavirus alert system, lifting lockdown measures on both public and private events and public transport. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she
just cannot contain or could not contain her excitement after learning the news.
[11:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND, PRIME MINISTER: I did a little dance. I showed my daughter, and she joined in, having absolutely no idea why she was
dancing around but enjoyed it nonetheless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: And New Zealand's border controls remain in place though for the time being. Here in the U.K. nearly almost all international passengers
arriving in the country must now go through mandatory 14-day quarantine. Critics have been saying, though that the measure should have been imposed
at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Let's bring in CNN's Anna Stewart. She's live at Heathrow Airport. Have you been able to speak to any incoming passengers at all, or is it quiet? Have
you encountered anybody? What's the situation at Heathrow?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, Hala, we actually just saw a plane take off which is the first action I've seen for many, many hours. We had some
passengers arriving early this morning from Hong Kong. They were really the first to test out this new measure of quarantine.
Many said it was actually quite confusing in terms of not being told where to find the forms; some people hadn't filled it in. What happens now from
today, passengers into the U.K. have to fill in a form online 48 hours before they travel. They have to list their contact details and the address
where they will be self-isolating for the next 14 days.
Now, there can be spot checks. It's not clear yet how strictly this will be enforced. There can be spot checks at that address. If you are found to be
flouting the rules, you could be fined 1,000 pounds. That's around $1300.
Again, we don't know, because it's day one, whether that will be strictly enforced. You mentioned the fact it's come kind of late, many parts here
are actually now lifting quarantine measures just as the U.K. is imposing it. There are plenty of people that say it's come too late.
And then you have the issue for airlines and the travel sector more generally. They are up in arms. They are already facing huge devastating
impacts to their businesses from the pandemic. They wanted to get back up and running, and of course this lockdown is doing nothing to help that.
Nobody wants to come to the U.K., you would imagine if they have to spend the first two weeks of their holiday under lockdown. Now the CEOs and the
businesses of British Airways, Lion Air, Easy Jet are threatening legal action against the government.
The government is going to review the situation on quarantine on the next three weeks. There are rumors and speculation that perhaps they'll
introduced circle air bridges where you could get rid of the quarantine for certain countries that have a similar level of transmission of the virus,
Hala? GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, Anna Stewart, at London's Heathrow Airport. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Demonstrators in North Carolina in the U.S. are sending a clear message to end racism now. Volunteers painted the words in giant letters on
a Downtown Street, taking inspiration from the black lives matter mural in Washington on the road that leads to the White House.
Well, from protests to actual policy change, the world is still reacting to the death of George Floyd, and people where he lived in Minneapolis are
leaning on each other as they search for a way forward.
[11:55:00]
GORANI: Our cameras captured some powerful stories from the ashes of the riots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're right here by the job I used to work. Auto Zone, no zone now this is called the no zone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just across the street, the auto zone is on fire. So you can really see that it's starting to billow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know my city was about to take it to another level. I knew it was going to erupt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a new attitude, too. My attitude is I'm not with the ashes; I'm not with none of that. I'm only about growth and development
from here on out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congratulations!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you so much. I went to Assembly High School and having this cap on represents, as a black man, that he could do
anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi! That's my niece.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mother has always taught me to always believe in myself and to always trust myself and my family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to be able to bring him here and just to see this, it was an honor for me and I made sure that he wear this cap because
I wanted to show him how proud I am - let him know that his community is proud of him and this is what is all about as the community coming together
and being as one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tragic what happened to George Floyd, but I believe my future is very bright and I can make a name for myself, and I'll stand
up for injustice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's in the future? What are you doing next?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Playing football, exercise study, exercise science.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm proud of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This can be rebuilt but you can't bring a soul back. A soul is so precious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. I'm Hala Gorani in London. Thanks for watching, much more news ahead stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. We're joined by Brianna Keilar with more on the Black Lives Matter protests and the memorial for George Floyd in -- I should say
Kate Bolduan and the memorial in Houston today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're flattening the curve but there are all those cases yet to be identified under that curve. It's going to be a very prolonged
curve, although by flattening it, we ensure that we don't overwhelm our health system and the capacity that our health system has but I think this
is going to be a flattened curve, right into the fall, right into flu season.
There's going to be an overlap of the seasonal flu with this flue and we're probably going to see an uptick at that point in time.
END
