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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Vulnerable Communities Face Harsh Threat From Winter Storm; Study: Poor, Disadvantaged People Face Longer Outages After Storms; Anti-ICE Protests Not Cooling Down Despite Bitter Cold. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 24, 2026 - 8:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:22]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, this winter storm that millions of people are waking up to this morning is massive. It stretches from the Gulf Coast to New England, includes places that rarely see these freezing temperatures, snow and ice. Two thirds of the U.S. population is under threat. We're talking more than 230 million people on alert, and we're expecting records to be broken in a lot of places and power to be out.

And as we often learn, with most crises, disadvantaged or underserved communities will feel more of an impact and in this case, for longer in the cold and dark. There's a lot of data to back this up in this disparity. But one study in particular stood out to me. It's from Georgia Tech.

A few years back. They looked at the extreme weather events and the impact of power outages. Think about this line explaining their findings. Listen to this.

"Results show that when comparing affluent communities and poor communities, given the same kind of impact from weather events, poor communities experience power outages that averaged 170 minutes longer." In other words, no power for almost three hours more on average. Just because you're in a less privileged socioeconomic situation. Think about what that means for the folks who are already struggling to keep their houses warm, and now they have to worry about a prolonged period of time in the cold and the darkness or family that's struggling to afford food. And now they have to brace for some of that food going to waste if it spoils during a lengthy outage, and how do they replace it?

So let's get more perspective on this from one of the study's authors, Professor Scott Gans. He's with us. He's now an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside.

Professor, thank you for being with me. This studied storms, eight major storms, 2017 to 2020. What did you all find as it relates to the disparities in power restoration? Give me more.

SCOTT GANZ, ASSISTANT PROF. OF MANAGEMENT, UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE: Yes, so what we wanted to do was look over the entire southeast over a long period of time, a lot of storms. And we wanted to ask, are things different for more vulnerable communities than for less vulnerable communities? And that's just exactly what we found.

So we found that if we use the center for Disease Control Social Vulnerability Index, which is probably the most commonly used measure of social vulnerability, it takes lots of things into account when evaluating how vulnerable the community is to a natural disaster. We found that if we move that measure by 10 percentile points, that's associated with a 6.1 percent longer outage on average, following severe weather. And that's a big number, as you talked about in the intro.

BLACKWELL: And so on average, 170 minutes longer in the cold and the darkness. Is this disparity or the delays, I should say, are they conscious or a coincidence, or is that question even oversimplified?

GANZ: So, from our analysis of the data, we're going to have a hard time explaining why we observe this pattern. But we conjecture that a lot of it has to do with standard operating procedures related to storm recovery. So the way that large utilities set up their storm recovery processes is to first prioritize critical infrastructure, think fire departments. Then large commercial and industrial customers, and then they turn to households, and what they do is they try to recover as many households as they can as quickly as possible. And on the one hand, this logic makes a lot of sense, but on the other, we can think of a lot of reasons why this approach might implicitly bias against more vulnerable communities.

BLACKWELL: And so I imagine if the goal is to get the grocery store back online or the hospital back online first, and disadvantaged communities are in the food deserts away from the grocery store and don't have that close proximity to the hospitals, just by default, they are facing a delay in the return. What's the fix? Is it a reconnection strategy or is it resilience?

[08:05:04]

GANZ: So I don't think that there's one easy fix. I think there are a lot of them, right? One of them is to integrate metrics related to vulnerability into the standard operating procedures. If you know that there is a community that you can get back online more quickly and have a big social impact by doing it, and you have a community where you know that people are going to have a harder time dealing with the impact of the severe weather on their own, it makes sense to prioritize it. But it also makes sense to make communities more robust.

One of the goals of our study was by getting the data out there, policymakers can help to communicate with their constituents that, hey, it's just the case that this is how we recover following large major natural disasters. And if you're in a part, if you're in a region where the lights are going to be out longer, let's invest in backup generators.

Let's make sure that you're able to refrigerate your medicine for sufficiently long, even if, for example, you know, your refrigerator turns off. These sorts of things.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And that -- and that's part of the concern is that the people who -- listen, if you're -- if you have to throw away all the food in your fridge and freezer, doesn't matter what your income is, middle, upper middle, that's going to hurt. But for someone who is struggling to fill it the first time, there's a disproportionate impact on having to go and buy that food again. Professor Scott Ganz, I thank you so much for the conversation and the research.

Listen, the cold is not keeping people from protesting in Minnesota. A lot of people in Minnesota say that they're now galvanized by the case of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. He was taken by ICE and is being held with his father in Texas. And now this image has become a visual counter to the administration's argument that they're focused on targeting criminals. The worst of the worst.

Another big headline in that city is the release of civil rights attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong. She was arrested and charged with leading anti ICE protest that interrupted a church service. This morning we're getting our first look at how the arrest actually went down. And here's some video that was released by her organization, the Racial Justice Network.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to be a trophy for mega, so I'm asking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it Department of Policy from court if it's not him? Please talk reporting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was instructed to record you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's not going to be on Twitter. It's not going to be anything like that. We're not going to (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's so weird that she wouldn't record it.

UNKNOWN MALE SPEAKER: Everybody else here is recording it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is part of what we do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. But that's my husband.

UNKNOWN MALE SPEAKER: And so again, we don't want to create a false narrative.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's my husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So the video is notable after the White House took this real photo of Armstrong's arrest and then posted this fake image on the left to social media accounts. The White House account. It's been digitally altered to make it look like she was crying. Georgia Ford is following this all closely as an independent

journalist based in the Twin Cities and covered that church protest. Armstrong was arrested for organizing.

Georgia, thank you for being with me. And to hear the federal agents say this isn't going to end up on Twitter. We're not trying to create a false narrative. And then that is exactly what happened. Explain to us the disparity between what the White House is trying to show and what actually you have through your reporting on that tape.

GEORGIA FORD, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST IN TWIN CITIES: Well, Victor, the one thing I'll say is extremely telling from that seven minute video that has been published by the Racial Justice Network is that this was a surrender that was calm. This was a surrender where you can hear Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney, as well as the St. Paul School Board member Chantal Allen talking with these agents. There's even one moment where they all kind of laugh when one of them almost slips on ice. You can hear Nekima's husband asking if he can give her a kiss before they detain her.

But the one thing that the footage does not show, Thursday morning between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. there was actually a case of mistaken identity. The St. Paul School Board member Chantal Allen's wife was actually arrested by mistake. And it wasn't until they took her in for booking that they realized she was not Nekima, and so they had to release her.

Shortly after that, Nekima and Chantel were both arrested at the Aloft Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. But as you pointed out, it's a stark contrast to watch the actual footage of the surrender in comparison to the image that was posted where it appeared as though Nekima was hysterically crying. And so you can see from the video that just wasn't the case.

[08:10:12]

BLACKWELL: And we know that they have both been released after the Department of Justice tried to keep them in custody. A judge denied that request. I also mentioned the detention of Liam Ramos. There was this massive protest yesterday. Thousands of people out in subzero temperatures going to the target center. How much of what you're seeing there from protesters is about the immigration crackdown, and how much of it is now being exacerbated by things like, of course, Renee Good, but also Liam Ramos, the how of it?

FORD: That's a great question. I think it's all compounding, to be honest. We have seen protests happening here in Minnesota daily since the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent. But as you said, those protests are only growing every single day as new issues occur, as different situations pull at the heartstrings of different people. More people are getting involved. More people are speaking out.

And these protests, they're happening at different locations. There's been daily protests at the Federal Whipple building, daily protests at the Memorial site. There was a citywide student walkout where students all across the city of St. Paul marched from their respective schools meeting at the Capitol to rally. We've seen protests happening outside of hotel rooms where individuals are confirming that ICE agents are staying.

And you know, the thing here, I think, for people who are not in Minnesota, that they may not understand. These demonstrations, these protests are not being organized by one organization. They're not being organized by the same individuals. These are all being organized by different people. Some of them happening very organically. But the through line in the messaging, at least for the protest that I have covered, it's been the same.

People are demanding ICE out of Minnesota, and they are demanding a proper investigation into the death of Renee Good.

BLACKWELL: So let me ask you this. A judge rejected the DOJ's attempt to charge Don Lemon, who was covering the protest inside City Church last weekend. You were covering the protest there. Actually, the video that we see of Nekima Levy Armstrong, she's holding a microphone. It's got the logo of your news outlet on the mic flag. Have you heard from federal authorities?

FORD: No, I have not.

BLACKWELL: OK. Georgia Ford, independent journalist there in the Twin Cities, who's on the ground covering what's happening with the protest and the ICE operations. I thank you so much for your reporting and your time.

All right. If Democrats make a comeback, will DEI come back too. Coming up, an early sign of the push against diversity initiatives in reverse in a state that now has Democratic leadership.

Plus, I'm going to speak to the creator of a play that depicts Harriet Tubman like you have never seen her before. Sounds cliche, but trust me, you have never seen this before.

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[08:18:09]

BLACKWELL: One of the first moves of the Trump administration was to get rid of DEI initiatives. But now are we starting to see a shift?

The Virginia governor's office just switched party control from Republican to Democrat. And now Democrats in power are already working to unwind anti-DEI initiatives. Take the Virginia Military Institute. Its state funding is now under scrutiny. A bill has been filed aimed at figuring out if the school is doing enough to battle racism and sexism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN HELME, (D) VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES: Today, we filed a bill that will make sure that taxpayer money in Virginia is only used to advance the interest of Virginia. It takes a look at the Virginia Military Institute and makes sure that they're doing the right thing for Virginia.

They're moving past their lost cause ideology. It's a really incredible opportunity to make sure we're advancing leaders of character in Virginia that we're moving forward with the changes that are needed to VMI and not promoting the Confederacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, part of this renewed focus on VMI is tied to its leadership change last year. Retired Major General Cedric T. Wins became the school's first Black superintendent in 2021. But last year, he was forced out. Major General Wins is with me now.

Sir, thank you for your time this morning. And so here's the question. Do you think VMI can change? That's the central question of these bills that are moving through the State House.

MAJ. GEN. CEDRIC T. WINS (RET.), FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE: Sure. First of all, thank you for having me. I would tell you that absolutely VMI can change. And I would tell you emphatically that VMI has changed and has certainly moved under my tenure away from the celebration of things related to the lost cause.

BLACKWELL: There was one of the bills. There are two bills moving through, and there's one that would dissolve the board at VMI, and this board that actually made your superintendents the shortest in the nearly 200 year history of the institution, and place VMI under the direction of the board that oversees Virginia State University, which is an HBCU. Would you support that?

WINS: So I would ask or hope that the problem that exists that is being looked at by this task force really focuses in on the issue of governance. I can tell you that as I came into the institute back in November of 2020, that we had an extremely good board, a board that was rich with experienced leaders and leaders of all walks that understood the importance of the relationship not only with the administration of the governor, but also understood the importance of the relationship with the legislature and how vital that was to the success of the school. And over time, there has been the evolution of bad governance as a result of a political assignment, as if the values of the institute, the things that we instill in our young leaders, we was limited to only one party versus the other.

And so I think we need to move away from the party association, the party affiliation of what it takes to do good governance at a college university like VMI, and reinstill the fact that you're putting in board members that are focused on what's in the best interest of the Institute from a fiduciary and operational perspective.

BLACKWELL: So one of the lawmakers who filed the bills this week, Dan Helmer, who we just heard from, he posted this soon after. Your contract was not renewed or your superintendents wasn't renewed.

"There needs to be a real discussion about continued taxpayer subsidization of VMI in light of what appears to be a board decision to terminate General Wins for his work against racism and sexual assault at the school." How much do you think this is about you and about your dismissal, this challenge of VMI's funding?

WINS: Well, I can tell you it's hard to say. I know that I built extremely solid relationships with the members of the legislature, regardless of their political affiliation. They saw a lot of progress being made. They understood the challenges that I had walked into as the new leader of VMI, both in terms of what we're going through with COVID and what we're going through with these accusations and say they were seeing progress. So I suspect that they are a little stunned by the fact that with the progress that was being made, that the board did not see or did not value that progress.

And so I suspect that they want to be assured that the direction of the institute under a new leader continues to move on the path that I had set and was right for VMI to make sure that were building the right kinds of leaders in the 21st century with our student body.

BLACKWELL: Major General Cedric T. Wins, thank you so much for joining me today.

So the U.S. turns 250 this year. Slavery is a part of that history and yet in America's birthplace, a tool to reflect on that is now dismantled. Next, I'll speak to the former superintendent of this site in Philadelphia who is calling what happened vandalism.

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[08:28:15]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And we are taking a look at the winter storm that is making its way across the country. This is a live look at the radar. You can see all the purple color. That's the snow. The green is rain. But all this pink, that's where you've got kind of a mix of the wintry preset, the sleet, the freezing rain, but is going to continue to make its way off to the East.

Look at these temperatures, though. 24, 21, 26, 28. So it's no wonder why you have so much of this coming in the form of the frozen precipitation. And that's just going to continue as we make our way through the day. So you'll notice by tonight now it's starting to spread farther east. States like the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, into Kentucky.

And then as we go into the overnight now, it starts to spread into areas of the mid-Atlantic and eventually into the Northeast by the time we get to Sunday morning. So, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, really starting to see some heavy snow by about L time tomorrow down for folks in the south, though, most of it really starts to wrap back up by tomorrow night, especially as we head into the overnight hours and very early portion of Monday.

In total, this is where we expect to see that ice. We could be looking at half an inch to even as much as an inch of ice total in some of these places. When you get that kind of accumulation on trees, on power lines, the weight from it is what pulls those down. So we could be looking at widespread power outages in some of these places.

Snowfall going to be heaviest in that dark pink area where Victor, we could be picking up more than a foot of snow total.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you. All right. The city of Philadelphia is suing the Trump administration over the removal of an exhibit about slavery. It's been at the Independence National Historic park for years. Now, this exhibit was located at a site called President's House.

The display honors several people who were enslaved by President George Washington and includes a timeline of slavery in the U.S. the Interior Department said in a statement that the Park Service is acting in accordance with an executive order from President Trump. Well, the City Council president calls the removal totally unacceptable.

[08:30:09]

Cynthia MacLeod is speaking out. She's a longtime former superintendent of the Independence National Historical Park. Cynthia, thank you for being with me this morning. You called the removal vandalism. Why?

CYNTHIA MACLEOD, RETIRED SUPERINTENDENT, INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK: The amount of disrespect that the leaders, I think, outside of the National Park Service have shown to the individuals who lived at this site and whose stories were being told. The amount of disrespect is just outrageous.

And so, yes, I akin it to vandalism. Their stories were not told in the mainstream of public history for some centuries, and it was a bit of a struggle to have them told. I was very proud of the exhibit that opened in 2010, and now the panels are gone. The stories don't go away.

And actually, I thank you for helping to amplify those stories now. Maybe they'll get even more attention now than before. And I have to think they'll come back.

BLACKWELL: And that's an important point, though. The stories are not gone for whatever the efforts of the administration are. The stories are still. But in prep for our conversation, I found a comment that you left on a Facebook post about the time of your departure from the park. And you wrote this. The stories are about the promise and paradox and legacy of our foundational time seeking freedom while enshrining slavery, discounting women, and mistreating Native people. Talk about the virtue of not only telling the stories, but telling the stories in that place.

MACLEOD: The National Park Service in all of its sites tells real stories, true stories of real people and places. We feel the place has a great deal of power. Reading about it in history books is great or even historical fiction. But being at the place and hearing the stories, feeling them, has an amazing power.

And our goal is always to encourage more learning, more discovery about these myriad of people. And it helps us understand ourselves better. If you have a minute, I'd like to talk about own a judge a little bit.

BLACKWELL: Oh, go ahead. And I got just a minute, though.

MACLEOD: OK. All right. Well, just to -- the stories of enslaved people have. Have many different aspects. One of the people at the president -- who served in the president's house worked for George and Martha Washington, self-liberated from that site when she was 19, when she learned she was going to be a wedding present to a granddaughter. So that -- that is such an uplifting story to me. And shows agency, shows smarts, shows all kinds of networks.

And so I just wanted your audience to hear her name. It's important that we speak all their names and learn about her more.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And I appreciate that because what I try to do on this show is introduce to the conversation people that you otherwise would not meet, you otherwise would not hear of and the stories you're not going to hear on any other show.

Let me ask you this. The executive order that the president signed that led to this removal and the changes in the Smithsonian, the White House says that these displays inappropriately disparage Americans instead of focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people. To that you say, what?

MACLEOD: I say on a judge was just as much of an American as anybody. And it is a powerful, uplifting story. I also think that if people think that telling some things about George and Martha Washington that aren't exactly flattering, well, they're human and warts and all. We need to know our history doesn't take anything away from George Washington's greatness as a president, as a military leader. We need to learn it all.

BLACKWELL: Cindy MacLeod, I thank you for your time and your insight.

So here's a question. Is it a tribute or is it ill considered, some say thoughtless? Coming up, why people are not happy about Nike shoes paying tribute to LeBron James and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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[08:39:25]

BLACKWELL: I've been thinking this week about how we honor our heroes. Now maybe you've seen this tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is from a collaboration between Nike and LeBron James. Now Nike is honoring the fact that LeBron has played 23 seasons in the NBA with a special series of shoes.

So the Honor the King sneaker is a tribute to a defining game LeBron played on MLK Day in 2008. It has the word equality on the back short. But what stands out here is the shoe's color. That shade matches the color of the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated.

[08:40:07] Now, it's also the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. And Nike tells us it's in that context that the color honors the site. Nike says they've long supported the museum. But here's the thing. The museum's president told the New York Times, they didn't get a heads up about this. Dr. Russell Wigginton said, quote, we certainly don't mind people recognizing and appreciating the work that we do and what happened here, but we have not been a part of any aspect of that, of the sneaker coming out.

We reached out to the museum and asked if Dr. Wigginton had more to say on Nike's explanation and just what he thinks about the shoe. And they said they're not weighing in on that just yet and they're welcoming more direct dialogue around the subject.

But other people have thoughts. One columnist for the New York Times sports publication The Athletic wrote, as far as tributes to King, this is as big of a miss that I've seen. A brand expert wrote for Time magazine, when Nike ties Dr. King's assassination to a consumer product, it makes light of his sacrifice. This is not commemorating his life. It is commodifying his death.

And ESPN sports commentator Clint Yates wrote, the fact that this is real indicates yet again that not enough black folks are in the rooms at Nike or that they don't feel empowered enough to speak up. What a disgrace.

Now, that's not the only tribute that has a lot of people debating this next clip circulated on Socials this week. It's one snippet from a much longer performance of a theater piece called "Harriet Tubman: Love Slave." I want to play it for you. And heads up if you're watching right now with kids, not graphic or anything, but be prepared to possibly have to explain to them what's happening here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby, I'm back. Baby, I'm back. What? I am back. Baby, I'm back, back, back, back, back, back. Baby, I'm back, back, back, back, back --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes. So I never really thought I'd say this, but that is Harriet Tubman twerking. The creator and producer of Harriet Tubman Love Slave says people are seeing and sharing this short clip are missing a message actually rooted in history. And Terrell M. Green joins us now. Terrell, thank you for being with me.

And I told you during the break, I did something that a lot of people who are commenting online have not done. I watched it on YouTube, watch the performance, and we meet Harriet Tubman as a young woman. Actually, she's not even Harriet Tubman yet. She's Araminta Ross meeting John Tubman.

So talk to me about the setting and the period. Fill out the picture that led to what we saw there. TERRELL M. GREEN, CREATOR AND PRODUCER, "HARRIET TUBMAN: LOVE SLAVE":

Yes. So thank you so much for having me, Mr. Blackwell. When I started "Harriet Tubman: Love Slave," my cousin sent me a viral trip that was going around about 2024, saying Harriet Tubman was not real. She was made up by the U.S. government. That got me into looking. How do we present Harriet Tubman and all the elements of Black culture in 2026?

Just as her last guest said, enslaved stories. Enslaved American stories are important. And as we see, you know, the -- as the slavery exhibitions in Philadelphia are being taken down, it's important that we keep these stories relevant.

So I approached "Harriet Tubman: Love Slave" when I read about Harriet Tubman's first marriage to John Tubman, where she was enslaved and he was born free. Both of them trying to safeguard freedom, her gain it, him safeguard his freedom.

The institution of slavery was in the way of their love. I saw a story that was relevant today. We could replace slavery with deportation, mass incarceration, these huge systems that get in the way of love. I wanted to present Harriet Tubman in 2026 to an audience who thought she wasn't real via TikTok.

So what did I do? I put it in rap, which is today's oral storytelling, and I took dances that were rooted in Western African and Central African. Mapuka is the dance which we know today as twerking and incorporated in this piece. Harriet Tubman is tied to that lineage, as all black Americans are.

BLACKWELL: And so for people who may first be concerned about the rapper Hip Hop, I mean, Hamilton won how many Tonys by doing the same thing of telling their stories? So that kind of undercuts that. But let me ask you about this. For the people who say that this specific clip that they see of Harriet Tubman twerking called the depiction disrespectful, dishonorable, totally offensive, and that there's a degree of reverence that she deserves, you say to those critics what?

[08:45:05]

I say to whom is this disrespectful? And the question that I -- the answer that I constantly get back to me, right to that person who's saying it. So oftentimes, this is something rooted in an image that we've seen Harriet Tubman as our savior, what she is. We've seen Harriet Tubman, Post 27. My play looks at the first 27 years of her life. Right before she had to free 70 to 80 people on 14 missions. She had to free herself. She had to free herself from a marriage to a man who told her, I would tell on you if you keep asking me to escape with you.

She came back to find him, just as you see in that scene. He was nowhere to be found. He told her, I'm remarried to a free woman.

So what I say to folks is, you know, as you see something online, you know, it can be posted or taken out of context. It's important. You know, I am a graduate of USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, where we're taught to do investigation and interrogation when something speaks our curiosity.

So that's what I say to folks. I say, do see the show and its full context. We've made it available so that the answers that folks need are there. But also we're here, right? We saw Harriet Tubman as someone who, like many black women, have led crusades to save people.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

GREEN: However, at some point in her life, she needed love. And she was looking for love.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I will read this as we wrap up here. You wrote that "Harriet Tubman: Love Slave" says, F you to slavery, to respectability, politics, and to the erasure of black intimacy and agency. It asserts boldly autonomy where there was once ownership and voice where there was once silence. Terrell Green, thank you so much for being with me.

"Harriet Tubman: Love Slave" will be playing in Los Angeles the last week in February. Again, I appreciate the conversation.

All right. She is just 8 years old. This is a fantastic story nominated for a Grammy. You're going to meet Aura V and her dad, Fyutch, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Ageless," "Buddy's Magic Tree House."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mega Ran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Harmony."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:50]

BLACKWELL: What were you up to when you were 8 years old? Well, Aura V is nominated for a Grammy with her dad FYUTCH as her music partner. Their album "Harmony" is up for Best Children's Album at next week's awards ceremony. We met up for Artist Life this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAROLD SIMMONS, MUSICIAN: My name is Harold Simmons, a.k.a. Fyutch and I'm a music artist and educator in Charles County, Maryland.

AURA VALENTINA SIMMONS, MUSICIAN: My name is Aura Valentina Simmons. I'm the age 8 and my artist name is Aura V and I'm in White Plains, Maryland.

H. SIMMONS: Wanted to make some songs for kids, some songs for the parents and adults. And we started with the song called "I Am Love, I am Light." We recorded it when she was four years old.

I thought, OK, we need to do some more daddy daughter songs, you know. So that kind of started the momentum and we just kept going, kept releasing singles until we had enough songs for a whole Daddy Daughter album.

A. SIMMONS: It's really fun. It's like when we perform, it's like I like being on stage with him. It's nice and relaxing. We get to meet new people. And the best thing, you get to have fun and spend time together. My first favorite one is the song on the album "Harmony." And then my second favorite one is another song on the album, "The Greatest Song Ever." And then my third favorite song is "The I'm The Vine Light" remix.

H. SIMMONS: I really try to make the messages as universal as possible and the purpose driven lyrics to challenge people. I try to sit in that range when I'm making songs. I want it to be things that you can have conversations with your kids about, but also are reminiscent of Stevie Wonder aspirational songs. We got to do better, y'all. So that's kind of -- I'm trying tow that line.

OK, so the day of nominations, I turned on the YouTube live feed and I watched it. And they didn't announce the children's music category because I didn't realize they do that on the website, not on YouTube. And my agent and other people texted me, you got it.

I'm about to go pick her up from school and surprise her.

A. SIMMONS: It was so, so, so exciting. It was super fun. I was not really expecting it.

H. SIMMONS: The staff, the principal, assistant principal, the counselor, everybody's asking, y'all excited? He said, parents stop us in the pickup drop off line. They like, oh, my God, we saw y'all. So she's definitely quite the school celebrity now.

It's the best feeling in the world as an artist, as a father, as a son whose dad plays saxophone. And my dad is featured on the album.

[08:55:04]

My grandpa, before he passed, he was a trumpeter. So from this tradition of music, to pass that on to her and to share this with her, it's just continuing the legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, Aura V says that if they win, she wants a steak. She wants to go out and eat to celebrate. She wants they have some future collabs in mind, too. Hey, Taylor Swift, Kirk Franklin, Katseye, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell, Kehlani. Stay tuned for that feature request from Aura V sometime soon.

Meantime, of course, we're wishing them all the luck next Sunday at the Grammys. Now, if you see something or someone I should see, tell me. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, X and Bluesky and you can listen to our show as a podcast. First of All, is now also streaming live and available anytime in the CNN app. For more information, visit CNN.com/watch.

Thank you for joining me today. I'll see you back here for first of all next Saturday at 8:00 Eastern. But you're not done with me yet this morning. I'm anchoring a bonus hour of headlines. All the news, especially about that big storm coming up after a short break.

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