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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Schools Grapple with Trump Administration Crackdown on DEI Programs; 1619 Freedom School to Host Read-In for Iowa Children; Palestinian Activist Still in Detention After Court Hearing; Schumer: Democrats Prepared to Block Republican Funding Bill. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 13, 2025 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: .Means for the two astronauts who have already waited months to come back down to earth. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. School districts around the U.S. are grappling with President Donald Trump's efforts to crack down on DEI initiatives.

[05:35:00]

In February, the Trump administration told tens of thousands of schools and colleges they had to comply with the sweeping and vague order to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campuses or risk losing federal funding.

Now, recently, the U.S. Department of Education walked back some of that directive. It issued new guidance saying that not all DEI initiatives actually violate the initial instructions. But by that point, the damage had been done and many institutions are still afraid of running afoul of the new administration.

Now, one of the consequences of this, a readout of books by African- American authors for elementary school students was pulled from one district in Iowa, while others went ahead with the program. The Waterloo Community School District withdrew, citing concerns about potential violations of federal directives.

Enter Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Waterloo native, also the Pulitzer Prize winning creator of the 1619 Project. She decided to host an alternative read in this weekend in Iowa through her organization, the 1619 Freedom School.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, FOUNDER, 1619 FREEDOM SCHOOL: They backed out because of the new directives coming out of the Trump administration. And that's really the reason that these directives exist. These anti- diversity, equity and inclusion directives are to really intimidate school districts from teaching Black histories and Black books. And so, unfortunately, my district decided that they couldn't participate for fear of consequences. That's when we at the 1619 Freedom School decided to step up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And Nikole Hannah-Jones actually joins us now live this hour from Waterloo, Iowa, where it is even earlier. So, Nicole, we really appreciate you being here with us this morning. First, just explain a little bit more about how your event came to be and the background here with the Waterloo Community School District.

HANNAH-JONES: Absolutely. So, as you said, one, thank you for having me on and addressing these really important issues right now. So, I was born and raised in Waterloo, and I founded a after-school program here.

And the director of that after-school program, the 1619 Freedom School, is my best friend from high school. And she's also a teacher in the Waterloo Community School District. So, she texted me and said that this African-American read-in had been canceled and that students were supposed to receive this book by Tammy Charles. And not only did they cancel it, but they didn't send the books home with the kids.

And that really bothered me, because we have a gaping achievement gap in Waterloo. And the thought that you wouldn't send books home with kids because of this federal directive really upset me. So, I said, well, let's find out if we can give out the books.

And then I started thinking, we need to do more than that, that these directors are designed to intimidate districts, to make them overreact and overreach, because they're so afraid of losing funding. I decided that we could actually hold that read-in ourselves, but we could actually make it much, much bigger.

I live in Brooklyn now. I have lived there for a long time. I know a lot of famous children's book authors. And so I just called them. And I was like, would you come to Waterloo, which is not easy to do. We only have one or two flights to go in and out each day.

But I think everyone is looking for a way that they can fight back against what's happening when it comes to these bans. And so they decided, they agreed to come and we're going to hold an amazing, big read-in this weekend.

SOLOMON: Yes, and the Des Moines Register reports that the district cited these new directives that we already talked about, that prohibit diversity, equity, inclusion, as the reason why they canceled the event. They said that that was the advice that they got from their legal counsel. Is there anything different you would have liked to see from the district in this scenario?

HANNAH-JONES: I mean, I certainly wish the district had not decided to pull out of the African-American read-in because as many books as we're going to give out this weekend, in the African-American read-in, every single first grader got to participate and take this book home. We're not going to reach every single first grader in the district now. So I wish that, yes, they had held the read-in.

But again, this is a district that is majority nonwhite. It has the largest Black population of any school district in the state. And they're also facing massive budget cuts from the state.

So I understand the fear that someone -- from my understanding, someone made a complaint about the book. And so there was a worry that they could lose funding that they really can't afford to lose.

What a lot of people don't understand is what federal funding does in districts like Waterloo that have a high poverty rate is it provides Title I funds. It provides additional funds to serve really the neediest kids. And the district didn't want to jeopardize that. So I can't really fault the district.

Again, I wish they hadn't done that. But this is what progressive directives are going to do. They're going to make districts do things that ultimately hurt our children.

SOLOMON: Yes, I mean, I think it's important to note that this is not happening in a vacuum. Some might look at this and say that the directives out of the White House really are just the latest example.

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You can point to the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action. You can point to some of the activism litigation we've seen against companies like the Fearless Fund. What do you think it'll take or who do you think it'll take to see a real pushback, a real effective pushback against these policies?

HANNAH-JONES: Well, communities are going to have to stand up. If you look at the polling, the vast majority of Americans do not want to see the U.S. Department of Education abolished. They actually believe in a public good.

So Americans are going to have to be very vocal. They're going to have to call their representatives and say that we can't defund our schools in a diverse -- you know, the majority of public school children in the United States are people of color. The fact that books about people of color and Black people specifically are being banned, I don't care what your politics are.

A free nation doesn't ban books. And so we really need to make our voices known. And I think that's why we've seen so many people signing up to come to this read-in, because people have felt really powerless. And what this read-in is showing is we in communities do have power and we need to exercise it.

SOLOMON: Nicole Hannah-Jones, we appreciate you being with us. Good luck with the read-in this weekend. I'm sure it'll be a great success. We appreciate the time this morning.

HANNAH-JONES: Thank you so much.

SOLOMON: And still to come for us with a government funding bill now in the Senate's hands. Democrats say that they have enough votes to block the Republican measure and the deadline to avoid a shutdown is just a day away.

And on a lighter note, if you think I look like my dog, Teddy Bear, well, there is a reason for that. There might be a reason for that scientifically, we'll explain just ahead. But in the meantime, enjoy these cute photos of Teddy.

We'll be right back.

[05:45:00]

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon. And here are some of the stories we're watching for you today.

President Trump will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte later today in Washington. The president is a well-known critic of NATO, though the secretary general has supported Trump's push for peace in Ukraine.

Hundreds of passengers are safe after a deadly train hijacking in southwest Pakistan. Nearly 350 people were rescued in an operation carried out by the Pakistani military. A militant separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which left at least 27 hostages killed.

Today marks 12 years since the election of Pope Francis to the papacy. The Vatican says that the pontiff had a tranquil night in the hospital. The 88-year-old is recovering from a respiratory illness and has been in the hospital for nearly four weeks.

With a Friday deadline looming to pass a government funding bill, U.S. lawmakers are facing the very real possibility of a shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Democrats have enough votes to block the measure passed by House Republicans on Tuesday. Their bill, which contains no Democratic concessions, would fund the government through September. Schumer, though, wants a shorter-term measure that gives Congress time to work on a bipartisan agreement instead.

But some Senate Democrats, like John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, say that their one job, their one job, is to keep the government open, not tempt fate with a plan that may not even work.

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SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Democrats are going to have the choice to vote for whether you want the cloture or the final one. You know, and if you refuse or you withhold your vote, you are, you know, voting about shutting the government down. And so that's always been my point.

Now, it's a CR that we all agree we don't like, and we don't co-sign on all of those elements. But for me, it's about we can't ever allow the government to shut down. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: A prominent Palestinian activist will remain in U.S. detention for now as his case plays out in court. But a New York federal judge says that Mahmoud Khalil must be allowed more access to his attorneys. His lawyers told the court that their ability to speak with him has been severely limited.

Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, was arrested Saturday and his green card revoked in an attempt by the Trump administration to deport him for his involvement in protests against the war in Gaza. His lawyers say that he was arrested for exercising his First Amendment rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAHER AZMY, MAHMOUD KHALIL'S ATTORNEY: Mr. Khalil's detention has nothing to do with security. It is only about repression. The United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain, and seek to deport a lawful permanent resident exclusively because of his peaceful, constitutionally protected activism.

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SOLOMON: U.S. borders czar, Tom Homan called Khalil's arrest, quote, justified and accused him without evidence of inciting violence. The Justice Department says that they will attempt to move his court proceedings out of New York.

Video shows the moment that a fuel tanker and container ship collided on Monday off the British coast near Grimsby. The scene was captured by a lookout unit on another ship and uploaded to social media. One person is believed dead after the cargo ship ran into the anchor tanker, setting fire to both ships.

On Wednesday, the owner of the cargo ship said that the captain is a Russian national. The captain was arrested after British police opened a criminal investigation into the crash. The 36 crew members on the ships are safe.

SpaceX and NASA may try again tomorrow to launch a crewed rocket to the International Space Station for a rescue mission.

[05:50:00]

Yesterday's planned liftoff in Florida, well, that was scrubbed due to problems with ground systems. The mission includes bringing home astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. You've probably seen a lot of them over the last year because they have been stuck in space since last June.

That's when their Boeing Starliner capsule developed serious problems and could not be used for their return. Meanwhile, four new international astronauts will be sent to the space station. NASA said that the rocket is fine despite the delayed launch.

Coming up, more severe weather is in the cards from a powerful storm that hit California. That's coming up next.

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[05:55:00]

SOLOMON: Happening now in Russia. The state news agency TASS reports that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in the country for talks with his Russian counterparts. This is obviously not the right video -- but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Moscow expected to be briefed by U.S. officials on an American ceasefire proposal that you might remember was accepted by Ukraine on Tuesday. We will, of course, follow this throughout the day here on CNN to check back for any new developments.

Now to that video we just showed you. Texas Tech University canceling classes after a manhole explosion on campus. Firefighters found multiple manhole covers on fire at the campus in Lubbock, Texas. Nobody was hurt, and officials ordered the evacuation of several buildings.

Video showed smoke billowing from at least one manhole after an explosion. It's not clear what caused the blast. Authorities canceled classes for the rest of the week and urged staff to work remotely if possible.

And new details are emerging about the U.S. college student who has been missing for a week in the Dominican Republic. Law enforcement officials now tell CNN that there were other people on the beach in Punta Cana around the same time that 20-year-old Sadiq Shah Kunanki disappeared.

Investigators are now trying to identify them and are asking them to come forward. Kunanki was last seen heading to the beach with seven other people early last Thursday. Five women, two men. Authorities have been interviewing one of the men who stayed on the beach with her when the others left. They say, though, that he is not considered a suspect at this time.

A powerful storm has been pummeling California since yesterday, and that is only the start. It struck the Sacramento and San Francisco areas with winds of up to 60 miles an hour taking down trees and knocking out power. The storm is now expected to move toward Los Angeles in the coming hours and could drench Southern California with up to four inches of rain. Flood watches are in place for over 20 million people until Thursday afternoon.

And that is not the end of it. The storm is also expected to bring more snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Rockies. Tomorrow, it will move into the Midwest and is expected to reach the East Coast on the weekend, potentially bringing hurricane-force winds and isolated tornadoes.

And if you've ever felt like you and your dog sort of look alike, it might be more than just a coincidence. It could actually be psychological. A growing body of research suggests that there is scientific evidence and reasons why many people really do look like their pets.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: I've talked with several experts about this, and psychologically, it comes down to how many of us gravitate toward things that feel and look familiar, even feel and look like ourselves. And some experts call this the mirror exposure effect, that we prefer things we have been exposed to, like our own faces. After all, many of us are exposed to our own faces daily when looking in the mirror.

So on a subconscious level, we may gravitate toward a dog or a pet that resembles what we see in ourselves. And there's even research showing this. One study asked more than 200 women to use a nine-point scale to rate their preferences for choosing certain types of dogs.

Researchers found that women with short hairstyles, on average, had a higher preference for short, pointy-eared dogs that kind of looked like themselves, giving them a preference rating of seven compared with giving long, lop-eared dogs a preference rating of about five.

But women with long hairstyles, on average, gave the lop-eared dogs a preference of almost eight on that nine-point scale, while giving prick-eared dogs a preference of almost five. This tells us that familiarity and the mirror exposure effect may play a role in how we select our own pets.

It's interesting, though. This effect essentially disappears when selecting a dog for work purposes, like a police dog or herding dog. This might be because for decisions related to occupation, more time and research is put into that selection process instead of making a choice based on emotion or gut feelings, which is what we tend to do when choosing a dog to be a part of our own family.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right, Jacqueline, thank you.

So let's test this theory about looking like our dogs. This is my fur baby. This is my Teddy Bear. He's a mini golden doodle. And let's think about this.

So Teddy loves his toys. He loves to sleep. He loves long walks, and he loves good food.

So I think even personality-wise, even if you don't think we look alike, personality-wise, me and Teddy kind of see eye to eye. But let us know. I mean, I have seen photos online of people where the resemblance is uncanny.

Share with us your photos here on EARLY START. You can post them on X.

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Our handle is @EarlyStart, so pretty easy to find us. And let me know, too, because we've posted some of these pictures on Twitter.

Do you think me and Teddy bear look alike? I've always thought that Teddy makes me look better. If you have something to say if it's nice, send it to me. If it's not, don't because I don't want to hear it.

But thank you for joining us, nonetheless, here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon live from New York. CNN "THIS MORNING" starts right now. I'll see you tomorrow.