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First of All with Victor Blackwell
Trump Admin. Defends Arrest Of Mayor Outside Immigration Facility; Trump Administration "Looking At" Suspending Habeas Corpus; Woman Accused Of Calling Black Child On Playground A Racial Slur Raises Over $765 In Online Fundraiser. Kyiv And Europe Allies Seek 30- Day Russia Truce; India And Pakistan Agree To An Immediate Ceasefire; Justice Department Ends Civil Rights-Era School Desegregation Order In Louisiana. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired May 10, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:03]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, this has never happened to me. I've never gotten a heads up that an interview might be in limbo because the guest had just been arrested. We first booked the Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, to join us a few days ago. He'd started protesting outside a facility known as Delaney Hall. In February, ICE awarded the private prison company Geo Group a 15 year billion dollar contract to house migrants there has a thousand beds.
Newark sued. They argued that Geo does not have the proper permits to operate. And city officials say they just recently learned that ICE has already started holding migrants there. Local and state lawmakers have been trying to gain access all week. And on Friday, everything escalated.
Witnesses said the Mayor Baraka tried to join three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation in attempting to enter the facility. An argument broke out. He was not allowed in. Minutes later, the mayor was surrounded and arrested. The mayor was ultimately released last night.
He'll join me as scheduled in a moment. But first, Tricia McLaughlin is with us. She's the Assistant Secretary for Public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security
Good morning to you. And I want to start here just broadly, what happened there at the facility that justified arresting the mayor of the city of Newark?
TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN, ASST. SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Thanks, Victor for having me. I'm glad I can be here to actually give viewers the facts. What happened that these members of Congress, including the mayor as well, in a mob of protesters as there was a bus full of detainees going through the gate, they stormed the gate and actually entered the first security checkpoint. This put law enforcement at risk and this actually put the detainees as well at risk. If any official, including these members of Congress were want to enter the facility and take a tour. DHS is more than accommodating. But just because you're a member of Congress does not mean you can break the law, trespass, put law enforcement at risk and storm the detention facility. I have yet to hear anyone on this network actually talk about who is in this detention facility. There are members of MS- 13 known terrorists, murderers, child rapists.
There are some of the worst of the worst in this detention facility. And I'm still very confused why these Democrats are so hell bent on getting these heinous actors out of this facility when we have the proper permitting. And actually in that press conference, those members of Congress actually noted the great conditions of this facility that our ICE enforcement officers so bravely operate.
BLACKWELL: So as you said here today and in your statement that they stormed the gate and broke into the detention center, according to the statement. Was anybody else arrested other than the mayor of Newark?
MCLAUGHLIN: There were multiple people arrested. And, Victor, I think that we should let viewers know there will likely be more arrests coming. We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So, we will be showing that to viewers very shortly.
BLACKWELL: And you say a video of members of Congress body slamming ICE --
MCLAUGHLIN: That's correct.
BLACKWELL: -- officials?
MCLAUGHLIN: That's correct, sir. It's disgusting.
BLACKWELL: OK. And so if you have that video, are you suggesting that members of Congress will be arrested, who were there yesterday?
MCLAUGHLIN: This is an ongoing investigation, and that is definitely on the table.
BLACKWELL: Who has the video?
MCLAUGHLIN: ICE does, and we will be releasing that very shortly.
BLACKWELL: OK. Let's talk about the facility. Because what the mayor says, and he's been saying for several days, is that you all don't have the proper permitting, or at least the facility owned by Geo Group, a private company that's contracted with the federal government, does not have the proper permitting. The certificate of occupancy, and there are some violations. To that, you say what?
MCLAUGHLIN: That is flat out false. That is just political gamesmanship. We have the proper permitting. We've gone through proper inspections. It's a joke. And by the way, he should -- this is a guy who is going and storming an ICE detention facility. He's putting detainees at risk. He's putting law enforcement at risk. He's joined by a mob of people who have said, we should end ICE. This is nothing more than political games, and we're not playing.
BLACKWELL: So there's a member of Congress, LaMonica McIver, who says that -- she told USA Today that ICE asked the mayor to leave. He did. And from the video that I've seen, when he was taken into custody, he was on public property. He was no longer on the private property of Geo Group. So if he was asked to leave and then he complied, why then take him into custody?
MCLAUGHLIN: Whether you are civilian, a mayor, or a member of Congress, if you are storming an ICE detention facility and putting law enforcement and detainees at risk, you can bet that we will arrest you and you will face the law. You will face justice. These other members of Congress will as well as will the other protesters, some of which were arrested.
[08:05:14]
BLACKWELL: OK. So we've got the mayor coming up in just a moment. But while I have you, I want to ask you about this reporting that the president is in conversations about suspending habeas corpus, one's right to challenge their detention in court. What would be the purpose of that when the Constitution says that there are very rare opportunities for this to happen only when there is an invasion? And so why would that be necessary at this point?
We could put up Here this Section 9 of Article 1, "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless within cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."
MCLAUGHLIN: Victor, I'm not going to get ahead of the president. I'm not going to get ahead of Secretary Noem. When they have announcement to make, they will make it. But I am looking forward to your interview with the mayor. I wonder what he'll say about the body camera footage of some of his colleagues assaulting law enforcement agents. I wonder if he thinks that they should be held accountable because they will be.
BLACKWELL: All right, Tricia McLaughlin, and you're suggesting that there will be members of Congress who will face charges related to this video that you say will be released by ICE soon. We'll be looking forward to that video. Thanks for coming on this morning.
All right, here to respond to that interview and his arrest, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with us now.
Mr. Mayor, your reaction to what you heard?
MAYOR RAS BARAKA, (D) NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: I am shocked by all of the lies that was just told there. It was incredible. There was no bus of detainees there at all. Nobody stormed the place. The only storming happened is when we all know when those guys stormed the Capitol and was arrested for what they did and were released.
The Congress people were invited there. They invited me there for a press conference. There was no storming. There was -- none of the stuff she's talking about has ever, ever happened. Nobody else was arrested but me.
I was the only person taken into custody. Nobody else was arrested there. No protesters, not me. No one. I mean, other than me, that's it.
I was the only person arrested. And I was allowed to leave the facility. First invited in, then allowed to leave the facility. Then I came out of the facility and arrested me on the sidewalk or in the driveway? Sidewalk, part of it.
So everything that she said was a complete and total lie. I think these people believe if they lie long enough that people will believe what they're saying. It's impossible to hear what these people are talking about. And, you know, keep some level of civility because, I mean, they just lie on and on and over and over and over again. It's impossible.
BLACKWELL: What is your reaction to what, at least to me, is a new accusation that there were members of Congress who were -- who body slammed ICE officers and that there's video of that coming and potentially charges coming.
BARAKA: That's ridiculous. I'm waiting for them to show a video. I mean, you had two older woman congressman, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who probably couldn't lift any of them. Congressman McIver --
BLACKWELL: She's 80 years old.
BARAKA: Right. Congresswoman McIver and Congressman Menendez, none of those people body slammed any officer. If you see -- if you see somebody falling in a video, it's an ICE officer throwing one of the people who was observing down to the ground. Nobody -- no ICE officers were body slammed at all.
And I just want to tell you, the Homeland Security, when I was in custody treated me well with respect, with dignity. Those officers, you know, treated me with respect. I mean, it's shocking and surprising that these people will come out and start saying the things that they're saying is completely untrue. I mean, there's nothing close to the truth of what she said.
BLACKWELL: Alina Habba, who's the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, when she posted this, she said that she accused you of committing trespassing. Do you face a trespassing charge this morning?
BARAKA: I do. Trespass, which I think is silly, is a classy misdemeanor. You know, I was not trespassing at all. I mean, we're in court, so we'll argue that in the court, which is the same thing. We arguing about this, you know, the certificate of occupancy.
You know, it should be a court matter, not an ICE matter, not a Geo matter. The court decides that, not them.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
BARAKA: So at the end of the day, they're charging me with trespassing. I don't know how, but the video, if they have it, they should show up because all of the videos tell exactly what happened there.
BLACKWELL: As I said, we booked you several days ago to talk about the protest outside the facility. And we reached out to Geo Group, which owns the facility, and they call your protest a publicity stunt.
[08:10:02]
Now, this was the statement before the arrest. We reached out again and they said, well, we'll refer you to ICE. But here's what they said, they called it a politicized campaign by sanctuary city and open borders politicians. You said that ultimately you want the judge to say that they shouldn't have these people in this building. Is this about compliance for you, that makes sure that, you know, the fire exits are all accessible?
Or is this just your best avenue to try to shut that facility, Delaney Hall, down?
BARAKA: First of all, they have to respect the rule of law. And I think they don't respect the rule of law because the president of the United States does not respect the rule of law. That's exactly what's going on here. If a fire inspector comes to the building, anybody has to let them in. They have to inspect it.
They need a certificate of occupancy. That's where we began. They don't have one. They have an old one from 20 years ago. Our municipal law says it has to be updated every year.
They refuse to follow our laws. They refuse to allow inspectors in. At first, I allowed inspectors to go there without me. They would not let them in. I began going with them to gain entry.
They refused to let us enter. We post the building and we're in court. We're in court resolving this matter. So when they say we have a certificate of occupancy, that's in question. And the proper authority to resolve that question is a court, right?
The court, the rule of law has to do that. They don't do what they want to do and supersede the courts or undermine the courts. And that's exactly what's happening here. And that, more than anything, is really the crux of the issue, not only in Newark, but all over the country, right? We could disagree on immigration policy till we blew in the face.
We could argue back and forth. But the Constitution is the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is the Bill of Rights. Due process is due process. And the courts and the balance of power is what America stands on, it's what separates us from the rest of the world. And they have to follow that. They can't just arbitrarily decide which laws they follow and which laws they don't. Which processes they agree with, which ones they don't.
BLACKWELL: You know, it's rare for a mayor of a city the size of Newark to be outside of a facility with a bullhorn about a certificate of occupancy or violations to local ordinances. And so I ask you, and this was something I wanted to ask even before what happened yesterday, how much of this serves your political interest? Democrats are looking for a fighter. You're standing outside of a federal facility. You're in a primary for governor of New Jersey a month out.
How much of this is -- they got a little bit of the spectacle that they want. You got a little bit of the fight narrative that Democrats want.
BARAKA: Well, the reality is, before this, people in New Jersey know I would have been there anyway. I've been fighting this. This is who I am. Has nothing to do with the season that we're in. Has completely to do with the residents of our community.
Those -- the protesters are out there every day. We go out there, we walk past them, we do our job, we leave. I speak to them because they asked me to. Do I want to say something? And I do.
We come out -- I come out there with the fire inspector every morning. I'm out there for 20 minutes at tops and then I leave. The protesters are there. They have a right to protest. They have the right to do that.
And have a right to address them when I see them, right? But I do my job, which is make sure we get entry. They don't get. We don't gain entry, we leave. And the purpose of us doing that, frankly, is to, when we get to court to show and prove that they have denied us entry over and over again, lawful entry to this place, they've denied us.
And we want to be able to create a pattern. And we do that every single day and post the building. And those protesters out there every single day, they was there before I started coming to that building. And they're going to probably be there, you know, after this thing is said and done. And they have a right to be there.
BLACKWELL: Mayor Ras Baraka, Newark, New Jersey, thanks so much.
BARAKA: You're very welcome. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right. After a child is targeted by a racial slur, an online fundraiser starts getting hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the money is not for the child or the child's family. We'll explain the story causing nationwide uproar. The attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison is here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:18:55] BLACKWELL: There's a stunning number I want to share with you this morning, 765,134, and I'm talking dollars. And I'll tell you why that amount is so stunning in just a moment. But first, let me take you to Rochester, Minnesota. A woman there is accused of calling a black child the N word on a playground. And video of her defending the use of the slur, saying the child went through her bag, went viral.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He took my son's stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So. So that gives you the right to call the child, five- year-old (BLEEP) N word.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If that's what he's going to act --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what you're going to call him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what he's going to act like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Now, that gets us to the $765,134. That's how much has been raised online since the incident. And I want to be clear here, the money's not for the child or the child's family, it's for the woman, the woman who called the child the N word. And we reached out to her for comment. She's not been charged with any crime.
Police in Rochester have not confirmed who she is, but a spokesperson for the Rochester Police Department says it completed an investigation, passed its finding onto the city attorney's office to make a decision on charges. We reached out to the city's attorney's office. They tell us that it's too early to say when a decision would be made, but they promised, quote, "The review will proceed deliberately but with an appropriate sense of urgency. We acknowledge the significant impact this incident has had on those directly involved and on the broader community."
[08:20:22]
The Anti-Defamation League says that white supremacists and racist messages flooded the comment section of the fundraiser for the woman. And the ADL notes that the ability to post comments was eventually disabled. But the Rochester community has something to say about this, too. There was a town hall this week. The mayor of Rochester was asked what would be done now to protect children from hate speech and trauma.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KIM NORTON, ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA: I personally think having an opinion is different than violating a person's personhood with foul language and racist language. I think they're different. But until the court finds those different, we're struggling through this. I wish I could tell you I know the solution and I'm going to implement it tomorrow. And Rochester will be the poster child for the most wonderful city in the world.
But I don't have the answer. But I will partner with anyone to find it and implement it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: The targeted child's family has not identified themselves publicly, but the Rochester branch of the NAACP shared a statement from the child's parents. Here's part of it, "Our child deserves justice, and we will not rest until it is served." With us now is the president of the Rochester Branch NAACP, Wale Elegbede. Also here, the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota, Keith Ellison. Welcome to you both.
And Mr. Attorney General, let me start with you. You sent a statement to that meeting and you wrote it, "When these incidents arise, we have to have the courage to look right at them instead of turning a blind eye." When you look right at this, what do you see?
KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I see an expression of race hatred from that woman. She should be ashamed and embarrassed. She clearly is not. But what really concerns me is how this platform, which I don't want to even say their name because I don't want to give them any clock. This platform has accelerated this woman's individualized racism.
This --
BLACKWELL: We're having a bit of a technical issue with your signal. If you can still hear me, Mr. Attorney General.
Wally, let me come to you. And I want to put up a tweet that was posted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes on social media. It says, "The fundraiser isn't about a racial slur or whatever happened on that playground. It's a middle finger to Karmelo Anthony, George Floyd, O.J. Simpson, and all the black people who supported them just because they're black. White people have had enough."
And let me say here, Karmelo Anthony, not the ball player. This is a teenager in Texas who's been charged with murder. But as you hear these numbers and that $765,000 coming from more than 29,000 people, what goes through your mind?
WALE ELEGBEDE, PRESIDENT, NAACP ROCHESTER BRANCH: Yes, Victor, you know, I'll just share that, you know, we are very outraged. Our children are sacred. And I don't know what the person on Twitter is talking about. What we are talking about is a child, a vulnerable child. These are our children that are supposed to be protected.
And what instead we saw was an adult. We had power, will leverage her power and actually abuse that child. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about a woman using an N word very, very viciously against a young boy, you know? What kind of a society is that?
You know, that's a society that we refuse to live in. Our society should be one where there is love, where, you know, we take care of each other. And what's also disturbing is when I saw the numbers that were being raised, that was shocking because it also sends a very dangerous message that you can spit on our children, that you can abuse our children, and that we'll raise money off of you. We cannot accept that as a country and as a society.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
ELEGBEDE: So that's why we did the, you know, our campaign to provide people with an option to counter hate with love.
BLACKWELL: It really is a remarkable number that I have refreshing over on my laptop. Mr. Attorney General, we had the issue with your audio, but I think you're back. Finish your point.
ELLISON: Yes, my point was that this platform, which is the go to platform for white nationalists, neo-Nazis, hate mongers, they have to have some responsibility here, too.
[08:25:07]
I mean, when you can take a racist woman who's an individual but then catapult her evil messaging the way this platform has done, that's an institutional problem. That's a core issue. And this is a private platform that has been set up and is the singularly used platform when you see extremism, hatred, this is something I'm quite concerned about. They say their platform rejects racism and hate to facilitate messaging and fundraising. We want to see them live up to their claims.
BLACKWELL: Let me stay with you, Mr. Attorney General, for this. This investigation is now with the city attorney.
ELLISON: Right.
BLACKWELL: But do you see any illegality here?
ELLISON: Well, you know what, I'm not going to second guess the city attorney's office. I believe that the police have done a thorough investigation and I'm going to let the city attorney do their job. But my point is, as a community, yes, we have to -- the law has to step in when appropriate. But I'm really proud that the community, including the NAACP mayor -- president and the mayor have all come together to say no to this unacceptable conduct. Yes, the law has to work --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
ELLISON: -- but the community saying no is the most important factor.
BLACKWELL: Wale, you've been in contact with the family, I read. How has this period been for them?
ELEGBEDE: This is a very, very difficult period for the family. We're in contact with them. They're asking for privacy, you know, and that's what we're going to, you know, we're going to honor. We're going to -- we're going to protect them, and we're going to honor your privacy. You know, from a community perspective, you know, this is something that is deeply troubling to our entire community. You know, and I've shared multiple times, this is not an isolated incident. And the attorney general knows what I'm talking about. We've had several challenges in Rochester.
ELLISON: Yes, I do.
ELEGBEDE: You know, last year we had a situation where four --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
ELEGBEDE: -- white teenagers had a big slur on the bridge. There was no accountability. And at that time, I shared that this sends a dangerous message.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
ELEGBEDE: That if there is no accountability, others can do that.
BLACKWELL: Gentlemen --
ELEGBEDE: We also had a black family --
BLACKWELL: I have -- I have to jump in here. I apologize for this, but we have a bit of breaking news. Wale Elegbede, Attorney General Keith Ellison, thank you both for being with me.
Breaking news in the conflict between India and Pakistan. We're going to get our ducks in a row. We'll take a quick break and bring you that live update in just a moment. Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:32:05]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Big break news on two fronts right now. News out of Kyiv, President Zelenskyy and European leaders are calling for a 30-day truce with Russia starting Monday. We've also just learned of a ceasefire between Pakistan and India. Nic Robertson is in Islamabad. CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv. Nic Robertson is first. Nic, what's the latest?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think people here have a sense of relief but an absolute sense of whiplash. It was only a few hours ago the two countries were trading the maximum amount of missiles that they have done so far, calling each other out for first for striking religious places, for killing civilians.
And now we learn half an hour ago from Donald Trump on Truth Social. President Donald Trump announcing that his negotiators Marco Rubio we knew was involved have been working through the night and have agreed a full and immediate ceasefire. President Trump offers his congratulations to both sides.
Look, I've been getting some sense of the back channel diplomacy that's been going on from my sources over the past couple of days. Yesterday they were saying, look, we're pausing for diplomacy, but when India hit Pakistan in the early hours of the morning, it appeared that that window would shut and Pakistan had this massive response, firing back.
But it seems that diplomacy continued to play out. The Saudis playing a role, the Turkish role as well. Marco Rubio talking to his opposite number India, his opposite number here in Pakistan, of course. And this sense that has been in the background that Pakistan didn't want to engage against what it was feeling was provocation coming from India over the last few days while its, quote, friends were trying to help. It didn't want its, quote, friends, the United States, Saudi, the Turks here, to get caught in the middle. And it does appear that this has been worked out to a degree.
How it works out at the front lines, we don't know. And I think the other big question has to be what do they do about the issue of water? That's existential for Pakistan. This concern that India has said that it will shut this vital water, has shut this vital water from three major rivers coming into Pakistan. How that gets resolved, that's existential for Pakistan. Not clear, but sense of relief here right now.
BLACKWELL: All right, Nic Robertson for us there in Islamabad with the breaking news. Thank you. Let's go now to Nick Paton Walsh. He's in Kiev. What's your reporting there?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a stark and remarkable moment for really Europe and the White House's bid to end the war in Ukraine peacefully. And a seismic moment really, in this now three year old war.
Four key European powers have stood alongside Ukraine's day in Kyiv, that's France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland and demanded a ceasefire that would start on Monday and last for 30 days.
[08:35:00]
They are echoing an American position, American Ukrainian proposal that's nearly two months old now, that this cease fire would be 30 days long, but it would be unconditional. And they are, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that there will be massive sanctions. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine suggesting that might focus on the banking and energy sectors if indeed Russia does not agree to this ceasefire.
The aim of the ceasefire, they say, is to allow negotiations to begin immediately and to look for what they refer to as a robust peace. But it is clear the key thing that many, I think, felt to be missing from this European initiative for some time, that they have the full backing of President Donald Trump.
Now, they were seen in an image posted by a Ukrainian official on social media, huddled round the telephone. And they explained in the press conference that they had briefed the White House head on the results of their discussions and he had offered support not only for the premise of the ceasefire, originally an American proposal, but indeed also too, for the monitoring of that ceasefire.
We are about 32 hours now in which we have an exceptionally large amount of work, it seems, for Ukraine and the European allies to do to explain to their troops how to respond to this particular cease fire if indeed they are attacked by Russia, and indeed to set up the monitoring and how to hold people to account for violations.
But here's what Ukraine's President Zelenskyy had to say, and frankly, what is a historic announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Agreed that since Monday, 12th of May, a full and unconditional ceasefire must start for at least 30 days. We together demand it from Russia. We know that the United States support us in this. The unconditional ceasefire means no conditions. An attempt to put any conditions is signaling intention to drag out the war and undermine diplomacy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Now, let me remind you that we are currently over halfway through a unilaterally declared ceasefire that Russia said it would honor and that Ukraine says it's violated. Well, my last count, well over 700 times. So I think many are wondering exactly what the Russian response to this will be. And indeed, this ceasefire, if it is implemented, will essentially be an extension of the Russian one that we are in the middle of, despite it not really seeming to have made much difference on the ground.
We haven't heard from the Kremlin. We did last night hear from their spokesperson. The suggestion again, that they didn't reject. They supported the idea of a ceasefire, but they wanted certain nuances explained. And without getting into those details, they couldn't really respond to it. That's not a yes.
And this particular motion in Kyiv, a remarkable moment here to have two European nuclear powers and basically the four largest armies on the continent. Leaders come here, stand by Zelenskyy and essentially say as midnight strikes, it seems from Sunday to Monday, this ceasefire must begin or we will upscale military aid to Ukraine, massive sanctions against Russia.
That is a remarkable moment. A bit essentially to some critics of Moscow might say, call that bluff. Are they genuine about peace? Do they want to stop the fighting? And potentially too, to put the White House in a position where if this ceasefire that they are proposing and supporting here now is not upheld, then they have to really accept where Russia sits in this war.
BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh with breaking news reporting there from Kyiv. Also, our thanks to Nic Robertson and Islamabad. We'll take a quick break. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:43:05]
BLACKWELL: Question when is our past in the past? The Trump Department of Justice says the time is now to start ending school desegregation orders. The first case to close is in Louisiana. A legal agreement with Plaquemines Parish schools had been in place since 1966. Now the DOJ calls keeping the order open a historical wrong and said quote, no longer will the Plaquemines Parish School Board have to devote precious local resources over an integration issue that ended two generations ago.
Louisiana's Attorney general is asking for similar other orders in her state to be closed, too, saying it'll help put the past in the past. Right now, more than 130 school systems, which are mostly in the south, are still under desegregation orders. At the same time, a legal fight is brewing over an administration's plan to cut funding to equity assistance centers.
They used to be known as desegregation assistance centers. They were established by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and they are federally mandated. Well, now there's a new lawsuit to stop the Education Department from dissolving these grants and helping lead that effort is Raymond Pierce. He's the president and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation. Thanks for coming in.
RAYMOND C PIERCE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SOUTHERN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: Thank you, Victor.
BLACKWELL: So there has been this four-month purge of diversity, equity and inclusion from the government. Really they're trying to remove it from public life --
PIERCE: Yes.
BLACKWELL: -- but certainly from education. You say that this is not DEI. Why?
PIERCE: It isn't. It isn't diversity, equity, inclusion. DEI is a laudable policy. I get that. I support that. But civil rights is something different. DEI came about through conversations, through faculty, academics, good policymakers. Civil rights came through the blood, sweat and tear and death of black folks in Birmingham and Selma and Montgomery. We fought for that to end segregation. Segregation was, of course, put in place to take the place of slavery after the end of the Civil War. You can't compare that to DEI.
[08:45:03]
BLACKWELL: Administration, if they're successful in their defunding effort, these equity assistance centers, formerly desegregation centers, what will be the impact that students and families and schools will notice?
PIERCE: You got, Victor, you have large pockets in this country, particularly in the South, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, where the desegregation process stopped about 40 years ago. So you have black children right now in schools where they don't have the education technology that exists right across railroad tracks. So these desegregation assistance centers that were, I think, mistakenly renamed in 2016 being Equity Assistance Centers.
Those were the centers that were set up by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, by the blood, sweat and tears of black folks, led by Martin Luther King, to work with those school districts to correct those inequities. So you take that money away, you terminate it while all these cases are still open, as you mentioned. That's a problem. So you'll never get it addressed.
BLACKWELL: You know, what's interesting is that we had the conversation about desegregation. I think people immediately see, like a black and white video footage of desegregation.
PIERCE: Yes.
BLACKWELL: UCLA released a report just last year that shows that there are more students in districts and schools that are, quote, intensely segregated today than there were 30 years ago.
PIERCE: Yes.
BLACKWELL: And so segregation still is an issue that schools are fighting through.
PIERCE: Yes. Yes.
BLACKWELL: Or should be.
PIERCE: Yes. And of course, the United States Supreme Court said that separate is inherently unequal. There was a time in my lifetime, Victor, where you could segregate students on the basis of race. I was born in 1959. Brown was decided in 1954. Brown versus the Board of Education.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
PIERCE: That was not a long time ago. And so when this country ran away from desegregation because it got caught up in the politics of busing and so forth and so on, I get that. Nonetheless, we still owe these students the opportunity to have equal education like everybody else. It only hurts the country. And if these children can't get access to the education technology and the innovations in education that other students have, that only hurts the country.
BLACKWELL: What happens tomorrow? Monday?
PIERCE: Well, Monday we filed a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction the district court in Washington, D.C. to enjoin and restrain the Trump administration from their actions to terminate the desegregation assistance centers. Quite frankly, that's the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That's dismantling Title 4 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act victim.
So the judge has ordered a head -- has holding a hearing this Monday to determine whether or not they should enjoin the Trump administration. It's not the trial. It's just for the temporary restraining order. We want to stop this right now so that doesn't do damage so that we can go about the business of working with all these school districts that you've mentioned, 130 of them, thousands and thousands of students.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Raymond Pierce, thank you for coming in.
PIERCE: Anytime, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Thank you. All right, we're still on top of the breaking news. A proposal for a 30-day ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Also news that India and Pakistan have agreed to a truce in their conflict. We have more to come on CNN. First, art is life. After the break.
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[08:52:22]
BLACKWELL: Four weekends after its relief, the movie everyone is still talking about is "Sinners." It's a horror film on paper, but if you watch it, you'll see that it's so much more, especially to the people in the Mississippi Delta. The movie is set in Clarksdale, and even though it was not filmed there, the folks in Clarksdale tell you it does their city justice. The problem is a lot of the folks there have not seen it. Why? Because Clarksdale has no movie theater. That's where my next guests come in for this week's edition of Art is Life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYLER YARBROUGH, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER: My name is Tyler Yarbrough. I'm a community organizer, and I am in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
MAYOR CHUCK ESPY CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI: This is Chuck Espy. I'm the mayor of the city of Clarksdale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are legends of people with the gift of making music.
EPSY: To see us on the big screen, what an amazing opportunity to see the name Clark still flash on a global level.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will somebody take me?
EPSY: I have not had an opportunity to see the movie, only seen the trailers. We had two movie theaters in the city of Clarksdale. So what happened? Depopulation started to happen. The money starts to follow where the people are. So in the city of Clarksdale, you lost your two movie theaters over some years ago, and now you're having to drive potentially one hour going north or about 45 minutes going east.
YARBROUGH: If you want to see an IMAX, I think there's only one IMAX Theater, which is the one I went to in Memphis, East Memphis. So that was about an hour and 25, hour and 30 minutes. There were folks in Clarksdale were saying, hey, there needs to be a public screening. And so I went on Facebook and I said, hey, like, let's pin an open
letter and just invite them down, like what they can say. That's how it got off the ground. And by Wednesday, were in conversations with some of the top execs at Warner Brothers. It's looking very promising.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ain't ever seen no demons.
YARBROUGH: We want to do a screening. We also wanted the cast to come down and experience our juke joints, to experience our museums, like the Blues Museum, to experience our farms. Oh, my God, our farms.
We also need to reignite that energy within local folks, to be proud of our agricultural roots and the folks who are reimagining it.
[08:55:00]
Clarksdale has played a significant role in American culture. We're really trying to connect local folks, Deltans to that power.
EPSY: We are asking Michael B. Jordan, the rest of the cast, we're talking about studio execs, we're talking about the producer, every single person that has touched this wonderful film, launched a great release. We're asking them to come to Clarksdale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right. Another name to know in this story is Aaliyah Wright. Clarksdale is her hometown. Her story in the capital B helped bring attention to Tyler's cause after it went viral. So, Aaliyah, I see you.
So will the cast go? Well "Sinners" is a Warner Brothers discovery film and WBD is the parent company of CNN. We reached out to our colleagues in Burbank for confirmation of a screening. They're not commenting yet, but will say this. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted.
Thanks for joining me today. I'll see you back here next Saturday at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Smerconish is up next with the breaking news after the break.
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