Return to Transcripts main page

First of All with Victor Blackwell

Gaza Ceasefire Holding, Release Of Israel Hostages Expected Soon; Gazan Returning Home During Ceasefire Reacts To Destruction; Trump On Ceasefire: "It Will Hold. They're All Tired Of The Fighting". Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 11, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:41]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, I'm willing to bet that people in Israel and Gaza really don't care who wins the Nobel Peace Prize, who gets credit for any deal. They just care that there is a peace, that there is a deal. And for now, at least, a ceasefire in Gaza is holding.

It was a demand that reshaped the 2024 race. The uncommitted movement, remember that put real pressure on President Biden to take action. And when he left the race, Vice President Kamala Harris inherited that pressure. Now, if the deal holds, it is the Trump administration that is on track to see all the remaining hostages be released. That's a sight the world looks forward to seeing everyone, and it could start in just a few hours.

So much has been lost in the time that it took to get here. The next big question is what does the future look like for the Palestinians that remain in Gaza? They are innocent civilians who had nothing to do with Hamas and the October 7th attacks, but have had their homes, their lives destroyed, loved ones killed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHADHA AL NAJJAR, GAZA RESIDENT (voiceover): The scale of destruction is indescribable. Nothing remains in its place. All our bedrooms are destroyed. Only the roof remains intact. It hasn't collapsed, so that will shelter us in winter. But it may take 50 years to restore it to what it was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Ruwa Romman is with us this morning. She's the first Palestinian American woman elected to the Georgia legislature and got national attention when she was denied a slot to speak about Gaza at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. She is now running for governor. And John F. King is with us as well. He is a Georgia state official, but here in his personal capacity. Thank you both for being with us.

Ruwa, let me start with you. How much credit does the president deserve for this deal that we're seeing between Israel and Hamas?

RUWA ROMMAN (D) CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR: I think your introduction was perfect and spot on. It's not necessarily about credit. It's specifically about what the outcome is and will be. We haven't, we don't know what's going to happen. This is at the very beginning of this, and we've seen other ceasefires fall apart. But you know, I will say at the end of the day, this was a deal that's been on the table for a long time. And so we're grateful that it's finally coming to fruition and people are able to return to what little is left and begin the very long and arduous road to recovery.

BLACKWELL: John?

JOHN F. KING, RETIRED MAJOR GENERAL IN U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: I think that we've done this is not the most difficult part. This is the very beginning of a very, very tough process still to go. We've been here before. President Clinton was at the same crossroads. We find ourselves. What happens, you know, now after the disarming, the implementation force of the Arab nations in the area, that's going to be the key of and then establishing some form of governance to be able to start rebuilding.

But I think we have the right players. The sufficient amount of pressure has been made on so many of the countries in the region to have an interest in having peace. And most importantly, the killing has stopped, which is the fundamental challenge that I think that this region desperately needed.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we showed the live shot of the Israeli Gaza border this morning several times, and I've noticed. and we can put it up now. I've remarked that it's the first time in a very long time that we did not expect smoke or see smoke there.

But John, to you, we heard from Ruwa that said that this is not about credit. The President certainly says it's about credit. He is bemoaning not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Do you think, or how much credit do you think that the President deserves for this?

KING: I think the President deserves a lot of credit because he, unlike other presidents, he was able to put pressure on both allies and people who were invested in supporting, you know, one side or the other. And he was able to put pressure on the Israelis. He was able to put pressure on the, on the Turkish government, on the Qatar government, on the Saudi government. I think this is the first time that we put pressure on all parties to stop the killing. And I think that was an innovative process that has not been tried before. Economic pressure, military pressure, you've seen all of the above. And I think that's been effective at least to get us to this point.

[08:05:01]

Now, there's many opportunities for this to become derailed in the fact that, you know, we're going to have us, you know, soldiers in the region handling, and we could talk about that some more later on. But the fact is that all the parties are invested in the success and the ending of the hostilities, to me is something remarkable. BLACKWELL: Let me read for you. If you remember, you were on this show

last year. This is when you were denied a spot at the DNC because you wanted to speak to the delegates and at least speak from the other portion of the party that's calling for a ceasefire, calling for a path to peace. And you sent your speech, the draft of it to our show, and I want to read a line from it.

"You called on your party to reach a ceasefire, end the killing of Palestinians, free all the Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and begin the difficult work of building a path to collective peace and safety." The Republicans, the president seems to have done what Democrats could not. And you still say that it's not about credit for the president. Explain that if this -- and you went on to endorse the Vice President and her candidacy.

ROMMAN: Correct.

BLACKWELL: There are also several Democratic leaders who are welcoming this development, but leaving the White House out of it. Expound if you would.

COMMON: So I want to -- so first and foremost, it wasn't just about me being the speaker back then. I think people forget that it was just any speaker. I just happened to be the most public name presented. But I did find it interesting. There was that we didn't mention that part of the reason this worked was that pressure on Israel. And again, I'm fine to say that this White House put pressure on Israel and was able to, I think there was a headline about how Trump kind of really had to have a difficult quote, unquote "conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu." We've seen a lot of those difficult conversations.

But the other piece of this that I think we're forgetting is for the first time in a very long time, there was increasing support from, for stopping military aid to Israel, which really put some of that pressure on it. And that pressure, and I'm a deep believer in sort of a grassroots bottom up approach, is came from a public that was shifting both Democrats, Republicans and Independents that had come to the table and said we no longer support spending money on this. So, yes, I'm fine giving the White House credit where it's due.

But I also want to remind people this was a two-year pressure campaign that was building on whoever is in power to start putting some of that pressure because we can put pressure on, you know, Turkey and others who were trying to also be partners in this peace negotiation.

But this only came about when there was real pressure on the Israeli government as well, that was continuing to move rightward.

BLACKWELL: And we've also seen in popularity polls across the U.S. in both parties, to a greater extent in the Democratic Party and also with younger voters and respondents, that shift in sympathies from Israel to those Palestinians as well. John, on the question of this Nobel Peace Prize, the president said that it would be an insult if he didn't win it. I mean, nominating ended what, two weeks after his inauguration, right? So this would not have been part of the conversation. The White House communications director said that, "There will never

be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will. The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace."

I mean, it's kind of, you know, he's got the whole world in his hands talk from the White House. Is this not a bit desperate from the President and the White House bemoaning not being awarded this prize?

KING: I don't have a whole lot of faith in the Noble Committee. They've selected a number of people over the years that didn't do anything except for show up. I mean, I would hate to say, but, you know, President Obama, you know, got the Nobel Peace Prize for getting elected and he certainly, he --

ROMMAN: Yes, I mean certainly, there was a lot more there. But doesn't get elected.

KING: Well, but he did not do -- he got the Nobel Peace Prize 14 days after he got elected. He got, I guess, you know, so -- and he certainly, you know, participated and sent me and many of my fellow soldiers to many of conflict zones, drone plenty of people. And so if you're really trying to quantify who's been ended con, you know, conflicts, I would -- in my opinion, President Trump has done a much better job of ending or trying to end conflicts than President Obama ever did.

ROMMAN: But you don't think the problem here, though, is that in addition to ending some of those conflicts, he's starting other ones, particularly in Latin American countries where we're starting to see sort of a movement into places like Venezuela. And I think the concern that I have when we have these conversations is, yes, we can argue about Nobel Peace Prizes and things like that, but the reality is we also need to be looking at policies and what's being physically done. I think sometimes we get so into some of these social conversations that we're not looking at what's happening on the ground. Like, yes, you're right, there was droning started, really escalated under the Obama administration.

But I remember very clearly seeing a chart that showed, at the beginning of the Trump administration, there were more strikes in three months than the entirety of a whole year under an Obama administration. And so we do -- and this is why it's so important to have folks being able to independently question some of those leaders, whether it's at the Pentagon or other places that are now being curtailed. And we're seeing some of that curtailing of journalism because that's the only way for us to find out these facts of who actually did end a war or start a war or that kind of thing.

[08:10:21]

BLACKWELL: We've got, we've got more to talk about. Need to take a quick break, but State Representative Ruwa Romman and John King stay with us. Not the John King you're thinking, the other John King. Retired General John King.

A lot more to talk about. 4,000 federal workers waking up unemployed. Many more are working without pay. One federal worker and union representative called that slavery. The head of the largest federal worker union in the country is here is here.

It is American, full stop. Period. But is he all American? A right wing group is pitching an "All American" Super Bowl performance as an alternative to his show. Culture critic Michaela Angela Davis will be here to react.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:48]

BLACKWELL: It's no surprise that this happened. They forecasted it was coming, but that doesn't lessen the blow for the affected families. Thousands of federal workers are finding out that they're losing their jobs. The White House says the firings will be, quote, substantial. And so far, we know about 4,000 layoffs across seven departments happened on Friday. The administration is blaming Democrats and the still ongoing government shutdown. But the man currently responsible for the budget, Russell Vought, had warned of mass layoffs even before the shutdown was official.

You remember this video? The same man that the White House touted as the Grim Reaper in the video they posted online, the American Federation of Government Employees, it's the largest union representing federal workers. And in response to the budget chief saying the rifts have begun, that's the reduction in force, they posted in reply, the lawsuit has been filed.

Everett Kelly is the union's president and he joins us now for his first interview since these layoffs. Everett, good to have you back on the show. On behalf of your more than 800,000 members. What's your reaction, your response?

EVERETT KELLEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Well, thank you first of all for having me, Victor. You know, I think that this is absolutely un-American to have such actions taken against very patriotic employees. So we have initiated a lawsuit. We anticipated that this would occur. And so we're ready and we're ready to fight legally for, against these actions.

BLACKWELL: And the lawsuit is obviously to block the mass firings during this shutdown. The number we have is 4,000, and we're sourcing your lawsuit with the AFL-CIO against the administration. Is that a number certain? Is that an estimate? How do you arrive at that number?

KELLEY: Well, that's an estimate just based on the data that we have collected. Victoria, you know, we are not accurate, completely accurate because this administration has just ceased to provide data as they should provide. So it's an estimation.

BLACKWELL: Let me play for you what the President said. This is at the Oval Office when asked about the number of layoffs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many layoffs have you authorized for this first round and from which agencies?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: And it will be Democrat oriented because we figure, you know, they started this thing so they should be Democrat oriented. It'll be a lot and we'll announce the numbers over the next couple of days, but it'll be a lot of people, all because of the Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: The President says the firings are Democrat oriented. First, what's your understanding of what a Democrat oriented job is, and your reaction to his partisan phrasing of it?

KELLEY: You know, I don't know what a Democrat job is, and certainly a Democrat action. This is my philosophy. I don't care, you know, whether you're Democrat or Republican. Right now, this government is shut down. Right now, I have 820,000 federal employees that I'm representing. About 750,000 of them may being furloughed, and another 4,000 have lost their jobs as a result of it. I don't care, you know, if -- if -- I don't care if it's a Democrat or Republican.

I'm not asking anybody to fold here. I'm just asking you to come to the card table and start playing the cards.

BLACKWELL: Now, the president also this week said that there might be some federal employees who are now furloughed who will not get back pay. The Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, said that's a non-issue. Do you believe it's a non-issue?

BLACKWELL: I certainly believe it's illegal, just like most of the actions that this administration has taken. So we will fight that as well if need be. I certainly hope they will come to their senses and not try to violate the law that this president himself has signed into law.

BLACKWELL: Let me play for you something that your secretary Treasurer Johnny Jones said this morning. I spoke with him in the context of TSA workers who are essential workers who are working but they are not being paid. Here's how he framed it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNNY JONES, SECRETARY-TREASURER, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOV'T. EMPLOYEES: We're the only country in the world where you can, or any place pretty much that I've ever heard of that forced people to go to work without being paid. That reminds me of somebody building the pyramids back into about 4,000 years ago.

[08:20:14]

BLACKWELL: Well, those would be slaves. Is that what you're saying?

JONES: Correct. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying like --

BLACKWELL: Just so I'm clear here, you're equating the essential workers, TSA, because that's who you're speaking for today, to slaves. JONES: Yes, because we are being forced to go to work to work knowing

you're going to get paid at some point, but you know, you don't know how long it's going to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, so you're the head of this organization. Do you believe that the air traffic control workers, the TSA workers, those essential workers who are working without pay, are essentially slaves?

KELLEY: Well, you know, Victor, these workers have gone through so much in the last nine months. You know, from Elon Musk, DOGE, Chainsaw to the five bullet point email, probationary workers being mass fired, and now they are being forced to work without paying. You know, we've seen reports that Trump, you know, plans to, you know, not pay them, you know, or decide who he's going to pay.

Yesterday, more than 4,000 of these patriotic employees received notices that they will be legally fired. You know, these workers have been through so much over these past nine months. The President will not stop until --

BLACKWELL: I hear you, Everett and --

KELLEY: What I'm saying is I --

BLACKWELL: Go ahead.

KELLEY: I understand why he may feel that way. I don't equate it as slavery, but I understand why employees might feel that way because of what they've gone through.

BLACKWELL: All right, Everett, I was just trying to get to that answer and I thank you for it. Thanks for the conversation and your first interview since the announcement of these layoffs.

Let's bring back now Georgia State Representative and Georgia governor candidate Ruwa Romman. And along with us, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commission, John F. King, Republican, retired major general in the Army National Guard, former police chief. A lot going on your resume. Mr. King.

Let me start with you. What's a Democrat oriented job?

KING: I don't know exactly what that means. I just, I am telling you, I'm pretty tired of listening to the people in Washington D.C. of blaming each other. I said, you know, me, and the representative can't get away with that here in Georgia.

BLACKWELL: Yes, but you just posted something on social media blaming Jon Ossoff for the shutdown.

KING: I absolutely.

BLACKWELL: So there's some blaming that's coming as well.

KING: I absolutely blame. He is part of the problem.

BLACKWELL: Well, then you're doing exactly what they're doing in Washington.

KING: But the opposition is doing the same. I'm tired of listening to this pointing fingers at each other to blame it. The job of people to go to Washington is to pass a budget and to govern. And if they can't do it, maybe they ought to send that authority back to the states. Well, we have to. By law, we have to. We can't just go home for a long weekend. We can't just throw a temper tantrum because we lost an election and not get the job done of a legislator.

And I think this the, you know, it's not just so much the TSA employees. Obviously, the people who I'm passionate about is the families of our soldiers, many of them currently deployed, and their families are currently seven to stand and getting free assistance for food here in Georgia.

BLACKWELL: I'm glad you brought that up because I want to get you in here, but you brought up the military. There is a bipartisan legislation, a proposal to pay the troops because if this is not resolved on Wednesday, they'll miss their pay on the 15th. You got dozens of Democrats and Republicans, more than 140 co-sponsors. Speaker Johnson is rejecting this bill to pay the military. Should he allow that bill to be taken up to pay the military during the shutdown?

KING: They need to get the bill is on the table, passed, voted on.

BLACKWELL: Independent of the deal on the ACA subsidies, there is a bipartisan piece of legislation with dozens of Democrats and Republicans who say even if we can't figure this out, we have to pay the military. Should they do that?

KING: They should, but I think they should deal with the bill that's currently on the table. People can't. We're tired of listening to people throw a temper tantrum, stomping their feet, and just deciding, oh, we're not, we don't like this because we lost an election. They have a bill on the table. They need to vote for it.

Five people, five Democrat Senators are holding any other discussion from taking place. And I think that's embarrassing.

BLACKWELL: Ruwa.

ROMMAN: So, you know, I think the, and I'm sorry to say this, but I'm somebody who is very honest about sort of the shortcomings of politics in general and why a lot of people have lost trust in government. But the idea that Democrats, and in particularly, Senator Ossoff owns this in any way is preposterous because Democrats have had control of the House and the Senate before, and we didn't have shutdowns because Democrats sometimes to the anger of their base, have actually negotiated --

KING: We've had plenty of shutdowns on the Democrats.

ROMMAN: Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. They've negotiated.

KING: We've had plenty of issue.

ROMMAN: But the -- actually --

KING: I've been overseas deployed and not gotten paid because of shutdown.

[08:25:07]

ROMMAN: Here's what I've said, and I actually have to look this up. In my lifetime, every shutdown has been under a Republican administration. And I get it. I might be younger than most. That's fine.

BLACKWELL: You were alive during the Obama administration.

ROMMAN: That is the -- but no, that was like by control of like the legislature. Who controlled the Congress at the time --

KING: President Obama had a super majority of both houses.

ROMMAN: Not in, not in 2020. At the time -- at the time, Ted Cruz was behind this. And what happened was Democrats went to the table in order to reduce the amount of that shutdown. So every time that Republicans have controlled, particularly the Senate, they have failed to negotiate and have tried to ram through time after time, a transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top.

BLACKWELL: But listen, if you're tolling for a negotiation, Mike Lawler confronted the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, with Bill 5145 that said that we'll extend the ACA subsidies that are expiring at the end of the year for another year, right? He is demanding that the subsidies be permanent.

Now, Chuck Schumer has not gone that far in the Senate. Should there be a deal that extends them, even if it's not permanent, to get the government going again, four years, five years to reopen the government.

ROMMAN: I mean, to be clear, the hold up is not the House. I want to be -- I think it's really important to focus on because sometimes I think we get lost in the specifics of government and who has which lever to pull. The focus right now is on the Senate.

BLACKWELL: But that's what I'm saying. Chuck Schumer has not said that he's drawn the line making it permanent.

ROMMAN: Right, right. Exactly.

BLACKWELL: Should there be a negotiation to say five years?

ROMMAN: I mean, to me.

KING: Why would -- why would --

BLACKWELL: Hold on, hold on.

ROMMAN: So the part that I actually don't understand is why are we negotiating this? Why are we negotiating people's health care? People cannot survive without health care. The fact that we are even negotiating on subsidies instead of pushing for example, coverage for everybody, instead of figuring out how to lower health care costs, it's an absurd position to put as anchor to be able to say, well, actually, let's just, people are going to get sick in five years. It's not like sickness goes away in five years.

BLACKWELL: Understood. And I'm not dismissing that. But this is the point at which we are now 11 days into the shutdown. Should there be a negotiation on an extension, even if not permanent, that let's say goes beyond the year 5145, but there should well, HR-5145 I should not say the year 5145, but that there should be some negotiation that is an extension, if not permanent, to get the government back.

ROMMAN: I think the ask is for a negotiation instead of ramming through any kind of budget and policy. You know, at the end of the day, that is how it works in Washington. And again, like I said, sometimes at the anger of the base. But they have negotiated, and we're not seeing that with Republican counterparts in D.C. right now.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ruwa Roman, John King, thank you both. Our conversations about race and identity are especially timely right now. And so is an upcoming memoir from Michaela Angela Davis, who tackles her own connection to those topics. She joins us live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:11]

BLACKWELL: Well, apparently some people need a reminder. Puerto Ricans are American. You can speak Spanish and be American. Really? You can speak any language you like and still be American. So then why did the late Charlie Kirk's foundation, Turning Point USA feel the need to make its own so called All American show for the Super Bowl. Performers? TBD. But they want an alternative to the NFL's selection of bad Bunny.

The Puerto Rican superstar is seeing a groundswell of support from a lot of folks. After all, we're just months removed from right-wing outrage over Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance. And it's sparking a conversation about who gets to be called an American. Who gets represented on arguably the biggest stage of the year.

Michaela Angela Davis is with us. She's the author of this beautiful new memoir, "Tenderheaded", where she grapples with questions of race and identity. She talks about culture and her career. It's a fantastic book. We'll talk about it in a moment.

But first, let's start on Bad Bunny and this all American halftime show. I went to the website that they promote this, and they have a survey question asking visitors what they want to hear. Americana, hip hop, country. One of the options is anything in English. I wonder your reaction to this. MICHAELA ANGELA DAVIS, AUTHOR, "TENDERHEADED: A MEMOIR": Well, I'm

happy for them that they're trying to, instead of complaining, find an alternative. But anything but English versus Bad Bunny. Good luck with that.

I don't know. It just feels petty, you know, this is -- Bad Bunny is a tremendous artist. He's globally beloved. His music is fun. He's got swagger, he's incredibly funny, and he's really smart, and he's globally beloved.

And so I think trying to discover an alternative probably isn't the best route for them, but maybe they'll get some good data out of that survey. Because I don't even know what's Americana. I don't.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

DAVIS: I don't know.

BLACKWELL: And that's interesting because I've talked here on this show about Americana, and some of you know, I'm also an art collector. And some of the images that we typically associate with Americana when we are all American. Those images should and have changed over a while.

Let's talk over -- talk about the book because I don't want to run out of time. My copy is -- go ahead.

DAVIS: I was just going to say the Americans that were here first kind of look more like Bad Bunny than anyone who speaks English, you know.

[08:35:03]

So I think this is a good time for us to really examine who and what is American and who are we becoming, you know?

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. Let's talk about the book "Tenderheaded," which early on in the book, you thank God that you are not. And you talk about your grandmother and styling your hair and all of the ceremony that is around that.

Why now? Why did you decide to write this memoir?

DAVIS: You know, at a certain point, I mean, it ties into what we're talking about. This time in America, like after reconstruction, is really important for us to have a record and for us to archive who we are and what an American journey can look like. And there's very little imagination for black women. Complex people of color.

I mean, even the title "Tenderheaded" is not known to everyone. Right. So it is -- it's a way for us to sort of celebrate each other and our culture as African Americans, but also to expand the idea of who and what is American for everybody, for the world.

BLACKWELL: You know, I talked to you during the break about just how beautifully written I found this memoir to be. You write about your Aunt Joanne on page 37. Her face held a delicate combination of beauty and suffering. The tension between the two rendered her stunning. Chanel red lipstick was all the enchantment it required. She smelled like rose water and buttercream frosting. Barley brown, long and live with dark hair, neither straight nor curly, but heavy, thick and to her shoulders.

It is just beautifully written. I want to talk about some of the lessons that you learned from, you know, working with Oprah Winfrey and Mariah Carey and Diana Ross and Maya Angelou. What's the most powerful one you can pass on to the viewer? Who needs one this morning?

DAVIS: Well, it's the last chapter, or literally the last tangent with Maya Angelou. And when she locked me in the bathroom at the Ritz Carlton and told me that my ancestors had paid for me.

BLACKWELL: Yes, those are reparations. She told you, sitting there on that toilet seat. She made you sit down. Michaela Angela Davis. Yes. I told you. I read the book now. I read the book. I think my producer told me. I got it.

DAVIS: You know, Toni Morrison said --

BLACKWELL: Go ahead.

DAVIS: I've taken a note from Toni Morrison, who wanted to write for the audience in the way in which they deserved it. And I believe that black people and black women deserve the best from everyone.

BLACKWELL: That's a good place to end. Michaela Angela Davis, I thank you very much for your time this morning. I thank you for this memoir, "Tenderheaded" the memoir is out next Tuesday.

All right. Tis the season for Halloween displays, but there is one in Alabama that's causing real fear among Hispanic neighbors. We'll show why and the surprising identity of the couple behind it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Skeletons dressed in ICE coats.

BLACKWELL: Yes, these Halloween decorations are getting a lot of attention online. They're in Mobile County, Alabama. They show skeletons wearing ponchos and sombreros climbing over a homeowner's fence, being apparently chased by other skeletons wearing T-shirts that read ICE Federal Agent.

Locals and people on social media are calling these decorations racist, insensitive and divisive. The woman who set up that display released this statement. Every year I make tongue in cheek Halloween decorations with a topical theme at my home. I like decorating for Halloween and other holidays and rotate these decorations pairing periodically. My husband has nothing to do with these other than mowing the grass

around them. I made this one playing both on my Cuban background and new needed changes in federal immigration enforcement. My parents were legal immigrants and I have plenty of immigrants throughout my family. I'll make a new one shortly. We have no shortage of topics to cover.

Now, Michelle Burch in that statement mentioned her husband. Well, why is he relevant? Well, because her husband is Mobile County, Alabama Sheriff Paul Burch and his department released his wife's statement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're supposed to be the wife of a law enforcement officer, you know, a keeper of the peace. And this display right here is not peaceful in any kind of way. It's not funny. It's not cute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So your wife taking the blame for this one, too? Get the hell out of here with that. Showing your true colors, bro. And I'm supposed to trust you? Yes. People of Alabama better wake up.

BLACKWELL: I spoke with Grace Resendez McCaffrey. She owns Latino Media Gulf Coast.

GRACE RESENDEZ MCCAFFREY, OWNER, LATINO MEDIA GULF COAST: Immediately, I felt kind of a sense of sadness because we worked so hard in helping our community in becoming more unified and diverse.

[08:45:07]

To see a public figure, an elected official representing this type of display just took everything backwards.

BLACKWELL: What have people in the community said about this?

MACCAFFREY: Maybe he may not value our community as much as the rest of the community and what that speaks to in terms of our safety. I appreciate that she acknowledges her Cuban background. Unfortunately, putting that together with a racist display that she created actually causes harm within the Latino community because it does cause division.

BLACKWELL: And the Latin Festival is this weekend.

MCCAFFREY: Yes. Is it possible that we may not be as protected as others should something happen? And the other side of it is whether or not we'll be targeted while we're trying to participate in a community function?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were day in and day out with Homeland Security and ICE in Mobile. I'm not aware of any operations targeting, you know, the Latin Fest.

BLACKWELL: CNN reached out to Mobile County Sheriff's Office for an interview with the sheriff about the decorations, but the sheriff did not respond to our request.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Coming up, this new mural is meant to teach people about a racist massacre that happened more than 100 years ago. But does it go too far? I'll speak to the artist about the criticism, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:08]

BLACKWELL: You may have never heard of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre. Here in the city, there's now a new mural depicting the attack to commemorate the 119th anniversary. Now, for some people, this is hard to look at. The images are violent, but the artist says the images listen. They're part of American history.

A local newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said in their write up that the painting reminds south side residents of a violent but triumphant history. Now, according to Capital B, there was recently a tense community meeting about the mural, and some residents are upset about the images and the lack of input. The outlet spoke to Dr. R. Candy Tate. She's an art historian and leader of the Coalition to remember the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre. And she says this unfortunately missed the mark.

It didn't reflect the community voice and it didn't reflect the legacy of Brownsville. Well, this Atlanta debate about how we depict painful parts of our history, it's just one example of the broader national debate happening. So for artist life this week, I spoke with the murals artist to ask how he's handling this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FABIAN WILLIAMS, ARTIST: My name is Fabian Williams. I'm an artist located in Atlanta, Georgia. The name of the mural is the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre. This was happening all over the South. So it happened in Tulsa, it happened in Wilmington, happened in Rosewood. And the idea, the purpose was to destroy black towns and take the wealth.

I just read as much as I could about what happened and tried to condense it into a piece that spoke about what happened, why it happened, who inside it and how did it stop.

And emotionally, man, it's draining. Imagine getting up every day and painting people that look like you getting brutalized in light of what's going on in the country right now. So it was a heavy lift. A lot of people in the area were concerned about the size of the illustration that depicted white on black violence.

The La Petite Journal, it was a French publication that covered the massacre. It was one of the only ones that came out with an illustration depicting the violence. How do you tell that history in a way that's appealing? You know, if it wasn't for those 256 men that took up arms against the mob, who knows what could have happened? You know, that's what stopped it. It was 256 are black men.

A lot of comments I got were, well, there's other things that were great about Brownsville that could be highlighted. And the thing is, how do you tell the story about a little massacre in a nice way? But we also have to tell the truth about what happened and confront it because we don't want those things happening again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Fabian tells me that he has no plans to repaint the mural, but there may be more painted to add context. To follow Fabian and his work, check him out on Instagram at Occasional Superstar. That's his handle.

Now, if you see something or someone that I should see, tell me. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, X, Bluesky and you can listen to our show as a podcast. And make sure to check out the newest episode of CNN's original series, "New Orleans Soul of a City." Tomorrow night's edition explores the origins of second line parades.

[08:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL DINERSTEIN, TULANE UNIVERSITY: Second lines are the oldest weekly ritual in American culture, perhaps except for going to church. It's more than 150 years old. It is very important to the history of segregation, racism in the city.

WENDELL PIERCE, NEW ORLEANS NATIVE: In segregated times, black folks couldn't get insurance, so we pooled our money in social aid clubs. You see the second line parade, but the social aid part of that was it was a grassroots insurance company. If your mom take sick, the members of the club would give you some money. If your daddy dies, we're going to send him off. Nice.

BIG CHIEF SHAKA ZULU, GOLDEN FEATHER NATION: First line is the deceased and the family of the deceased. The second line is the banner entourage that follows it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: A new episode of "New Orleans: Soul of a City" airs tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

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 after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)