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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Immigration Crackdown: Who's Caught In The Crosshairs?; Georgia Teen Detained By ICE Gets Support From GOP Lawmaker; GA GOP Lawmaker Asking Congress To Revamp Immigration System; Supreme Court Declines To Halt Sacred Land Transfer; Remains Of 19 Black Americans Returned To New Orleans Nearly 150 Years Later; White Actress Denied Black Roles Sues Library Alleging Discrimination; Sinners Public Theater Screening In Clarksdale. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired May 31, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:01:07

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, President Trump has always been clear that he wants to crack down on illegal immigration. But are his administration's actions going beyond what he promised? So let me play this for you. This is what President-elect Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker. This is right before the start of the second term.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: I just want to make sure I'm clear, which is that you're saying, yes. You're going to focus on the people with criminal histories, but everyone who's here illegally has to go. Is what you're saying.

DONALD TRUMP, USA PRESIDENT: I'm saying we have to get the criminals out of our country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: One of Donald Trump's first executive orders promised a crackdown on illegal immigrants and criminals, specifically anyone threatening the safety or security of the American people. But those are not the only people being targeted now that the promise is policy. There are also people like Carol Mayorga. She's a mother of three who's lived in rural Missouri for almost 20 years. And according to NPR's St. Louis station, Mayorga was arrested and shackled when she tried to renew her employment authorization document.

A customer at the breakfast joint where she works. That person who's there every day told the station this about her arrest and possible deportation. 95 percent of the people here support Donald Trump. I do, too. But this is wrong.

There's also the case of Dylan. He's 20 years old, from Venezuela, no criminal record. According to a teacher's union, he was detained in New York after a judge dismissed his immigration proceedings. Protests have since broken out over his arrest.

Those are just 2 of the cases that surfaced this week alone. And now their communities are rallying around them. They're protesting. They're holding fundraisers for legal fees. Neighbors are speaking out as character witnesses. Even if they voted for the very administration carrying out these efforts.

A similar story has been playing out in a small town in Georgia. 19- year-old Ximena Arias-Cristobal was wrongfully pulled over in Dalton earlier this month. The Dalton police admit the arrest was a mistake. She was detained for two and a half weeks by federal authorities. Ximena is now out of ICE detention.

In her corner has been a Republican state lawmaker, Representative Casey Carpenter. He wrote a letter advocating for her release, calling her a person of high moral character, and he has launched a petition asking Congress to overhaul the immigration system. State Representative Kasey Carpenter and Ximena Arias-Cristobal are both with me now.

Thank you for being here. And, Representative Carpenter, let me start with you. What is it about Ximena's story that compelled you to write this statement as a character witness and do more than, at the very least, stay silent?

KASEY CARPENTER, (R) GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: The reality is that's not the first letter that I've had to write. I live in a very diverse community, and unfortunately, we've had a lot of folks that have been detained for ICE. Ximena struck a chord among our community, got a huge outpouring of support. But for me personally, you know, we have friends that know each other.

We attend the same church. We attended the same high school. She goes to Dalton State. Just a great kid with a bright future. And I thought it was an easy letter to write to support this young lady.

BLACKWELL: Ximena, did you expect at the start of the administration that you would have to be on heightened alert, considering the characterization of what the president said would be his priority? Those who threatened safety of communities.

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL, COLLEGE STUDENT RECENTLY RELEASED FROM ICE DETENTION: I did not think so. It never crossed my mind, since he did say he was going to get all the criminals, and I didn't fall into that category.

[08:05:01]

BLACKWELL: You've been released from ICE detention, but you could still be deported. You left Mexico when you were how old?

ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: Four years old.

BLACKWELL: And do you have any connection to Mexico or know what would happen or where you'd go if you were deported? ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: Absolutely not. I know I have family in Mexico, but I

don't really know them. So it would be very hard to go to Mexico and start fresh.

BLACKWELL: Representative Carpenter, there are Republican members of Congress who are saying the Venezuelans in Florida who have temporary protected status. And really across the country is some of these countries, these people who've come here during the Biden administration, that they are law abiding, that they are members of the community, and they don't fit the profile of the promise from the president. Why is this now spreading to raids of restaurants, arresting college students? Why do you think that has become part of the priority for the administration?

CARPENTER: I don't know that it's necessarily a priority of the administration. I think, unfortunately, if you don't clarify with law enforcement who they're supposed to detain, they have to detain everybody. In the state of Georgia, if you get caught jaywalking and you don't have legal status, they have to detain you.

We have to develop a system that says, you know, these people are really a danger to society, detain these people. There's not enough funds to run all these people out of the country. So let's focus on the -- it's like triage, right? You don't, a guy comes in with a headache, you don't address him. The guy that's bleeding, that's been shot, that's the guy you address.

Same with immigration. We have to focus on the people that are dangerous to society and to Americans.

BLACKWELL: I went back and read the roll call of the vote for the Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act last, which requires local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE and transfer undocumented immigrants. You were the only Republican in the legislature, House or Senate, to vote against it. Considering what we've seen, if it were to come up for a vote again today, you think you'd be alone in the legislation as the only Republican?

CARPENTER: I hope not. You know, that bill kind of got fast tracked after the horrific incident in Athens with Lake and Riley, and it got fast tracked through the legislature. I think if people would sit back now and see what the consequences are because I've had calls from my colleagues across the state that have experienced what I've experienced. Kids that are leaving graduation that are in a fender bender, and then they get detained and miss graduation. Good kids, good families.

And so I think I would hope they would at least take a pause and say, change the language of this legislation, and let's focus on hardened criminals, because nobody wants criminals here. I think that 90 percent of Americans don't want that. But I think the majority of Americans would appreciate a pathway for people that have been here and not committed crimes for 20 years.

BLACKWELL: Ximena, I read that you said, despite, you know, you not being violent or one of the criminals, that the president said that he would prioritize. When you were in custody, you felt like you were being treated like one of quote, one of the worst criminals ever. How so?

ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: At the detention center, you're deprived of a lot of your human rights. And so it makes you feel like you're a criminal in a detention center there. It's not supposed to be a place where you're treated like a criminal. It's to detain you until you figure out your legal status. But instead, you treat it as if you were in a prison.

BLACKWELL: How is life for you now?

ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: It's difficult having to go. My everyday life, it's changed a lot, and I can't go back to my regular life.

BLACKWELL: And Representative Carpenter, what are you asking for from Washington? From the administration, but also from Congress?

CARPENTER: Sure. Get off their duff, right? I mean, we've been dealing with this issue for 40, 50 years. Reagan did a lot back in his day, but then they didn't secure the borders. And I think you have to attack it. Four pronged approach.

You have to secure the border. You have to get rid of the bad guys. You need to give people a pathway that have been here for 20 plus years. And then you also need to speed up the process for others to come in the country.

Private industry needs employees. If we're going to have tariffs that bring business back to the United States, we're going to need workers. So we need an efficient system for visas, et cetera.

If you do all that at once, a nice across-the-board approach, then you have a solution on who's in power is dangerous and these people become volunteers.

BLACKWELL: This climate especially that is high, I hate to say never, but it's highly unlikely that legislation like that's going to get through Congress and to the President.

[08:10:05]

CARPENTER: I mean, I don't know. The President has been open about extending it to people, adding years to it. He talked about that. In his first term, there was a bill on the table and Pelosi wouldn't allow it to go through House because it had funding for the wall. So if everybody can get rid of who's going to win and who's going to lose on issues and allow everybody to get a win, I think the American people would appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Representative Carpenter and Ximena Arias-Cristobal, thank you both for being with me this morning.

Trump administration is stepping into a New York district fight. So it's over a school's use of a Native American mascot and they're arguing it would be discriminatory to get rid of it. Plus, I'll speak with a white suit because she says a library blocked her from performing monologues as black citizens, civil rights icons. Should she have been allowed to perform.

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[08:15:45]

BLACKWELL: On New York's Long Island. Massapequa High School is the home of the Chiefs. And to go with that name, the school also has a tribal inspired logo and mascot. The state's Department of Education does not approve of that, and they've threatened the school could lose state funding if it does not stop using Native American references.

Well, enter President Trump and the federal Education Department. The President weighed in on social media in April to call New York's opposition an affront to our great Indian population. He then put his education secretary, Linda McMahon, on the case, and she visited the school Friday.

Secretary McMahon announced that the department will investigate whether it's state education officials who are actually being discriminatory by threatening funding over the name and imagery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA MCMAHON, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: We absolutely did find that this is a civil rights violation here in Massapequa. The State Board of Education and to the Board of Regents, we would like to have you voluntarily come sign the resolution that would allow the Chiefs to continue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Germaine Smith is the former General Counsel and Secretary of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in New York. He's also advised the New York Department of Education on mascot restrictions. Sir, thanks for being with me.

First, what's your reaction, your response to what you heard there from Secretary McMahon?

GERMAIN SMITH, FORMER GENERAL COUNCIL SECY., SHINNECOCK INDIAN NATION: Well, thank you for having me on this morning. It's almost laughable and disgraceful. You know, those comments about it being discriminatory. The Shinnecock Nation and other tribal nations in New York State, we've had our share of issues with New York State ourselves, but the New York State Education Department has been a partner to the Shinnecock Nation and all of the Dr. Betty Rosa, Chancellor Young, Assistant Commissioner David Frank, Anel Alstead with MDK. They have been partners with tribal nations around the state.

Clarissa Jacobs, Christina Coughlin, the Education Department as a whole. And they've got it exactly right. And the United States Education Department has it exactly wrong in this case.

BLACKWELL: Okay, so when she says that it is the state that's being discriminatory, help me see the other side of this. What is the impact of the imagery of the Mascots on indigenous people and children specifically?

SMITH: So when I got involved in education, obviously, as most do, it's for the well-being of the children. And in my particular case, being a tribal leader on Shinnecock Nation, you know, my focus was the well-being of our Shinnecock children. And we performed poorly in our local school district for many years.

Part of that is the generational trauma and the psyche of our Shinnecock children and native children all around the country who believe that we don't exist anymore. It's a part of it. And that imagery looks at us and speaks to us as a stereotype. We all look the same. We all wear headdresses. That's not true.

We come in all different shapes and sizes. And my own daughters have said to me, Dad, we still exist. Why are we being used as mascots? So that's the harmful effect that it has.

And I speak from experience on that. So to say that the Massapequa School District is being discriminated against is absolutely laughable.

BLACKWELL: And part of the case that they make about this being discrimination against the district is because they say that the state allows other names derived from groups like the Dutchman and the Huguenots. What do you make of that comparison? That to have a team called the Dutchman is no different than having the Chiefs and that imagery in Massapequa.

[08:20:00]

SMITH: Well, I don't know about you, but I've never been on a train with a Dutchman or, you know, or a Huguenot or sit next to one in a restaurant. But every day, you may not know it, but you probably pass a native, an indigenous person in New York State. And so, it's hurtful to us. It's not. It's absolutely not the same thing.

And I can't even speak to those other mascot issues. But when it comes to indigenous people, we don't like being portrayed as a mascot as a thing of the past as history.

BLACKWELL: One of the demands from the secretary is a deal rescinding the ban and also to apologize to Native Americans for having discriminated against indigenous people and attempting to erase indigenous history. You're on this advisory council to the Board of Education. What's your advice?

SMITH: My response to that, my advice, we have to continue the fight. You know, this organization that the Education Department has supporting them, I believe they started in 2017. I don't know that much about them. I'm not sure of their native roots or ancestry or what tribal affiliations they have. But I can speak to New York State and our brothers and sisters upstate, our sister tribes, and on Long Island here.

I know that the National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, fully supports. Mark McCarroll sent a statement fully supporting the ban on mascots, and that it is hurtful to our children in our culture.

BLACKWELL: Even at the risk of federal funding.

SMITH: I'm sorry.

BLACKWELL: Even at the risk of losing federal funding.

SMITH: You know, I don't think that if it comes down to that, I can't speak for New York State, but I know as tribal nations will continue that battle. And New York State Education Department has been a strong partner of ours.

BLACKWELL: All right.

SMITH: And I think they will continue the battle.

BLACKWELL: Germaine Smith, I thank you for your time this morning.

Native tribes say Oak Flat is a sacred site. Think of a historic church or a temple, or mosque. But a Supreme Court decision means it could soon be destroyed. To mine for copper. An Apache leader who has been fighting against this is here to react next.

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[08:27:06]

BLACKWELL: This week, the Supreme Court declined to stop a land transfer in Arizona that will lead to the destruction of a site sacred to Native Americans. The Western Apache people say they've practiced religious ceremonies at the site known as Oak Flat for centuries. The fight over the land started more than a decade ago.

Now in 2014, Congress approved the transfer of the federal property in the Tonto National Forest to the company Resolution Copper. President Trump initiated the exchange in the final days of his first term.

And in 2021, the nonprofit Apache stronghold sued. They said the transfer violated the First Amendment's free exercise clause and a law that requires courts to apply the highest level of scrutiny to any law that burdens religious freedom. It argued that the decision could lead to tearing apart federal religious protections in other situations.

Well, last year, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals ruled that the transfer is not subject to federal laws protecting religious freedom. And Wednesday, the court declined to review the case, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.

Gorsuch called the decision not to hear the case a grievous mistake. Here's what he wrote.

"Just imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on so questionable a chain of legal reasoning. I have no doubt that we would find that case worth our time. Faced with the government's plan to destroy an ancient site of tribal worship, we owe the Apaches no less. Wendsler Nosie Sr. is a leader of Apache Stronghold. The organization

that filed the suit, and he lives on Oak Flat. Thank you for being with me.

First, I need some context and perspective here so that I and the audience understand the severity of what is going to happen. What does Oak Flat mean to Native people, especially the Western Apache?

WENDSLER NOSIE SR., FMR. CHAIRMAN, SAN CARLOS APACHE TRIBE: Well, again, thank you this morning for being on with you. First of all, it's our identity. It's who we are and what we were created to be on this earth. And so it begins with the creation of Mother Earth, and it's installed into our children to become who we are today.

And so by eliminating this place, you're eliminating what God had touched the earth on this part of the world with. And so it's going to be completely devastating if this occurs because now you're going to have not only a you will be having like a mental social effects and then as far as how the Mother Earth is intertwined with who you are as Native people.

So it's going to be a devastating effect because this is really like the last route of Native people in this country is our religion and it's our identity and who we are. And so that's what is really at a stake about what the past is and what the future is going to be.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I read that there are some religious ceremonies that happened only at Oak Flat. And so if Oak Flat is then transferred and then is mined for copper, do those traditions just disappear? I mean, they cannot happen anywhere else?

NOSIE: Well, it totally disappears because again, in this particular place is where we have angels. You know, just like the Bible talks about angels, it's the same thing. Native Americans still exercises those ancient religions that was given to us from the Creator. And so when this place goes, that also goes. And that's why it's an important topic to all religious groups here in America.

BLACKWELL: Let me read for you the finding from the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that the land transfer did not impose a substantial burden on religious exercise. And they say that's because it doesn't coerce or discriminate on the basis of religion. What's your reaction, your response to that scope that because it doesn't coerce, it doesn't discriminate, it's not applicable.

NOSIE: Well, that's really an untrue statement because if you look at what the environment does, as far as when we talk about 80 percent of water, when you talk about human beings tied to the land, when you talk about, you know, what the religious practice is, and like I was telling a lot of Christian people around the country, is that it's no different than the beginning of the Bible or where the Bible actually comes from.

So, you know, that's why these laws in America needs to be changed. That's why these consultations that they have with Native American people are so critical and then also having the right people at the table. And so it's going to really be detrimental not just to us Native people, but to the country itself. Because you're talking about the environment.

When you talk about religion and environment, they go hand in hand. So it's going to be a disaster thing that the United States is walking into.

BLACKWELL: I wonder, is there some special significance of it not just being transferred, but transferred for mining?

NOSIE: Well, when you come back to who owns, you know, I mean, you're talking about two foreign mining companies, you're talking about China, called a government state entity that's going to control, you know, this area. So if you look at the profits and you look at what they're after then versus what religion is, there's an unbalance because religion and the earth itself and the water pockets, I mean, that's forever and ever if we take care of it.

So this is why the Nepal (ph) was very critical in the 2014 when John McCain gave the exemption because it totally wiped that out. So you would clearly see the unbalance, you know, of what this land base is all about. From religion to. To the future of the country.

BLACKWELL: Wendsler Nosie Sr., thank you so much for explaining it to us. And thank you for your time.

The skulls of black people were taken from New Orleans and sent to Germany for racist research. And now, more than 100 years later, they are back in New Orleans and will finally get a dignified burial. This morning, the story of the 19, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:46]

BLACKWELL: Now to a story that hit my algorithm this week that you might not have seen on TV. Today there will be a memorial service for 19 people who died in the 1880s, but only now are being shown their rightful dignity.

The 19 individuals had their crania, their skulls, taken from New Orleans and sent to Leipzig, Germany, for racist research being done at the time. Dr. Eva Baham of Dillard University and her Cultural Repatriation Committee has been leading the effort to bring these remains back.

Their research uncovered the names of the 19. They were Adam Grant, Isaac Bell, Hiram Smith, William Pearson, Henry Williams, John Brown, Hiram Malone, William Roberts, Alice Brown, Priscilla Hatchet, Marie Louise, Mahala, Samuel Prince, John Tolman, Henry Allen, Moses Willis, and Henry Anderson.

In partnership with Dillard, the city of New Orleans and others, the remains were recently brought back to New Orleans. Dr. Baham shared with us how that effort came together with help from the University of Leipzig. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EVA BAHAM, CULTURAL REPATRIATION COMMITTEE, DILLARD UNIVERSTY: They told us that they came into this collection about three years ago. We can't write the past. We can't make it right. But what they wanted to do was, let's repatriate them the way that they should be.

And so, they prepared them in just such a respectful and warm manner, ever so carefully wrapping them and making sure, because we're talking about cremia, making sure that they would not be damaged. Put them in linen, secure sturdy linen boxes. Ms. Wagner decided, oh, we need to have a special touch on this. So she stayed up all night making origami flowers to place on each one of the linen boxes and then packaging them in a secure, protective crate.

One of the things that we did not want was to have anybody else touching, actually touching them.

[08:40:03]

So they -- the Rose Funeral Home personnel took them out box by box and placed them securely in their hearse for transport. We had a soloist, a trumpet player who played for us beautiful hymns while we took them out ever so carefully, each person took them out of the hearse and into the funeral home and place them as directed, beginning with the mayor of New Orleans and then the president of Dillard. And then of course you'll have me as chair of the committee and everyone else on the committee and others came.

And then we read a brief bio about each person. And then of course I read a piece from Viktor Frankl's search for meaning about the lives. And of course he was talking about people who were incarcerated, if you will, in these concentration camps in the Holocaust. But the very core of what he was talking about, lives that mean something, applied here as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Dr. Baham says that she hopes that by publishing the names and the approximate ages, they may be able to find descendants of the 19. Today the visitation will happen at 9:00 a.m. local time at Dillard University's Lawless Memorial Chapel. That will be followed by memorial service at 11am local time. There's a live stream if you'd like to watch. Just search for "Fair Dillard" on Vimeo.

Coming up, an actress wanted to pay tribute to black civil rights icons in her one woman show. But she says that she was blocked from doing that because she's white. That actress is now suing. She joins us next to explain why.

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[08:46:26]

BLACKWELL: The story of black civil rights icons like Mary McLeod Bethune and Harriet Tubman. They're important to tell. And the one woman show, women warriors, pays tribute to those women among other historical figures. Its creator is Annette Hubbell. She's a writer, she's an actress, she's white.

Annette is now suing officials in San Diego and the Labyrinth, the county library. She says Branch called off a performance of her show after she refused to replace the black character she planned to portray. Annette Hubbell is with us now along with her attorney, Chris Barnewolt. He's taken up her case for the Pacific Legal Foundation. Welcome to you both.

And Annette, let me start with you again. You wrote this show, you wrote the book on which it's based. And so how did you come to choose the characters that were going to be portrayed at this library in California?

ANNETTE HUBBELL, WRITER, ACTRESS AND CREATOR OF "WOMEN WARRIORS": I have a repertoire of eight different characters that people can choose from. And the library chose the characters they were wanted me to portray. Some of them are white, some of them are black, one is Dutch, two are English, one is Irish, four of them are Americans, five are white, three are black. And they could choose from any of those.

BLACKWELL: And so they chose -- they chose Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mary McLeod Bethune and Harriet Tubman.

HUBBELL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And so you agreed upon those three. And then when did that change and how did they tell you.

HUBBELL: This was planned about four months in advance. And about two weeks before the performance, I got a call saying they wanted me to change out the two black characters for white ones because it was inappropriate for me to be performing these roles. And I said, I won't do it. It's a principle of the thing. And so they canceled my performance.

BLACKWELL: Let me play a bit of this is you portraying Sojourner Truth. I want to play a bit of that from a previous performance.

HUBBELL: Okay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUBBELL: Born 1797 in a Dutch house, New York. Born a slave. The first 30 years of my life were marked by verbal and physical beatings, especially from the master and Mistress Dumont. Didn't matter that I was most of 6 feet tall, arms muscular from work and a back that showed a strong will. Slave did not return a fight or talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I just want to show people that you're not putting on like dark makeup as you're portraying these black women in your one woman show. What was your response, your reaction to that request to repl. Black women with white women? HUBBELL: Well, this is the first time I have ever had that experience.

And I said, you don't understand. I'm honoring these women. They should be honored. They can teach us things. We can emulate them. And they said it didn't matter. And I said, you mean I can only portray women of courage and character if they are white. And she said, that's pretty much it.

There was dialogue after that, but I couldn't convince them of my intent. And so I took it to a higher level and they weren't interested. And so here we are.

[08:50:04]

BLACKWELL: Here we are. And let me come to you with that attorney Barnewolt, and I'm going to read from the county's motion to dismiss filed this week and get your reaction response. Coercing the library speech through the application of anti-discrimination laws through the inherently expressive library production alleged in this case would inevitably weaken the library's ability to function and pursue its missions.

And they go on to say on a different passage, defendants claim only the right not to express a particular unintended message that they do not wish to express that would be, quote, inescapably interwoven into any performance in which a white woman would speak in the first person perspective as a black woman. What's your response to that?

CHRIS BARNEWOLT, ATTORNEY, PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION: Well, Victor, my response to that is that the Constitution forbids the government from discriminating against any individual based on their race. Now, the government is trying to claim here that they have a government free speech right to discriminate. And they're trying to say, don't worry, this only applies to Annette. But if the government can discriminate against Annette, it can discriminate against anyone. That's wrong and it's illegal.

BLACKWELL: And so, Chris, what's the relief you're seeking here?

BARNEWOLT: So right now, all forms of relief are on the table. We ask for declaratory relief, which is the court saying that what San Diego County did is illegal. We would like injunctive relief, which is the court saying that they can't do anything like this again in the future. And damages are also on the table to prove the point that this was wrong, to treat Annette this way.

BLACKWELL: And so, Annette, I'm sure you've heard it. I'm not the first person to introduce this, that there are some people who've reacted to your story and have said that there requires a certain sensitivity, a certain cultural awareness to play black women. What do you say to those who are critics of your approach or wanting to play Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Harriet Tubman?

HUBBELL: I think heroism transcends ethnicity. I have done so much research on these, collaborated with experts in their field, visited the historic sites. I'm an actor, and this is what actors do. We play roles. But mine is done in such a way that there is honor and sensitivity. And I have -- well, my audiences appreciate what I do.

Most people have never heard of these greats. And how can you admire and learn from someone if you don't even know who they are. And some of my most ardent supporters in my audiences are black women who come up to me and thank me for bringing these stories, these women to light and honoring them in the way that I do.

BLACKWELL: Annette Hubbell, attorney Chris Barnewolt. Thank you both.

We did get this statement from -- this is from the San Diego County, and I'll read it to you. While the county cannot comment on the litigation, the San Diego County Library remains steadfast in its mission to promote an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. This includes ensuring that our programs align with our values of equity, respect and inclusivity. Each library program is individually evaluated based on specific context, structure, and potential impact. We strive to create spaces where multicultural communities can share their own stories authentically.

Coming up, we've been following Clarksdale's quest to get a special screening of the hit movie "Sinners." After all, the movie is set in their town, but there's no movie theater nearby. Well, something cool happened this weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BR EAK)

[08:58:24]

BLACKWELL: Art is Life this week is a follow up. We recently told you about how the film "Sinners" is set in the town of Clarksdale, Mississippi. But a lot of people who live there could not watch the movie because Clarksdale has no movie theater.

That's why Tyler Yarborough stepped up. He started a petition for Ryan Coogler, the director and the crew behind "Sinners" to visit the town that inspired the film and screen the movie.

Well, look at that. This week, Ryan showed up to kick off days of screenings and big crowds followed the watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is actually our third time seeing Sinners, but we actually wanted to view it in its hometown, like where it originated from.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think just soaking up so much wisdom from the cast and the crew and just being in a space of where there's just fellowship, community, and just the Mississippi culture.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel awesome. You know, this is a new Clarksdale as of today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes us feel special that he cares about this and about us. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This movie will put a light on Mississippi. So we

turn over. Now we're looking up, hoping someone will see us looking up and come give us a hand again and again. This thing just began.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Events in Clarksdale wrap up today. One more thing to note. "Sinners" is a Warner Brothers film, and WBD is also the parent company of CNN.

Now, if you see something or someone I should see, tell me. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, X, and Bluesky. You missed a conversation or story, check out our show's website and you can listen to our show as a podcast.

[09:00:00]

And make sure to tune in to this week's episode of "Eva Longoria, Searching for Spain." That's tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

I thank you so much for joining me today. I'll see you back here next Saturday at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Smerconish is up next.