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One World with Zain Asher
Russia And North Korea Leaders Strengthen Ties; Boeing CEO Faces A Bipartisan Grilling On Capitol Hill Over Company's Troubled Safety Record; A Senior Biden Administration Official Says The White House Has Postponed A High-Level Meeting With Israel About Iran. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired June 19, 2024 - 12:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:30]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Threats of an all-out war. Israel's military approves operational plans for a potential offensive against Hezbollah in
Lebanon.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: ONE WORLD starts right now. Also ahead, the White House postpones a meeting with Israeli officials after stark remarks from
Netanyahu regarding weapons shipments. The White House says it doesn't know what Netanyahu is talking about.
GOLODRYGA: Also ahead, birds of a feather. Putin and Kim vow to tighten ties.
ASHER: And later, she's black, she's beautiful, she is dynamite. We celebrate Juneteenth with the woman who designed the very first black
"Barbie".
GOLODRYGA: All right, hello, everyone, live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching ONE WORLD. As Washington works to deescalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah on its northern border
with Lebanon. There's word of another diplomatic rift between the U.S. and Israel.
GOLODRYGA: A senior Biden administration official says the White House has postponed a high-level meeting with Israel about Iran. This after Benjamin
Netanyahu claimed the U.S. was withholding military aid in a new video.
ASHER: The Israeli Prime Minister says the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, assured him when they met last week that the U.S. was working to
remove bottlenecks. Blinken later refused to comment on that meeting. I want you to listen to what Netanyahu said in the new video and pay
attention to the White House response here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: It's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and
ammunitions to Israel, Israel, America's closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies. Secretary Blinken
assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We generally do not know what he's talking about. We just don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Separately, Israel is warning Hezbollah there could be potentially an all-out war after the Iran-backed militant group published a
provocative video appearing to show military and civilian sites in Israel. This comes as the Israeli military approves operational plans for a
potential offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon. CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Beirut, Lebanon.
Again, this video catching a lot of people off guard, Ben, and another indication of Hezbollah really being provocative here in its ongoing
conflict back and forth between Israel, where it does appear that this particular crisis is only escalating.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I don't know if I'd call it provocative, I think Hezbollah is sending a clear message about
what they can do with Israel. Now, Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general, just finished a fairly long speech a few minutes ago, and he described that
video that Hezbollah put out, nine minutes of video footage of Haifa, its environs, the port.
He described it as psychological warfare. And not only that, he said, we have long hours of footage of Haifa, outside Haifa, and beyond Haifa. So,
what we're seeing, if one is to take him at his word, is just a very small part of that. And it really indicates its abilities.
Now, what we've seen since October is that Hezbollah on the border with Israel has been on an almost daily basis targeting Israel's surveillance
and observation positions on the border. So, it's perfectly plausible, given that they've done that, that they can get a drone across the border
and have it spend, in the words of Nasrallah, hours collecting this video footage, which it is put out for the public to see. Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, Nasrallah went on to say that an invasion of the Galilee was indeed on the table if the fighting did continue and intensify between
the two sides. Ben Wedeman, thank you.
ASHER: All right, the ties between Russia and North Korea have now reached a new level.
[12:05:04]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): That is the word from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has just wrapped up a two day visit with North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un.
ASHER (voice-over): This is a new video of Mr. Putin's departure from Pyongyang. The two also signed a new strategic partnership deal. According
to Mr. Putin, the treaty includes a mutual defense provision in case either country is attacked.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Now, you're hearing the Russian national anthem played in Pyongyang, the two leaders also attended a wreath laying ceremony
at Liberation Monument there.
ASHER: The alliance with Russia is being viewed as certainly beneficial for Kim Jong-un and the sale of his weaponry.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, we'll have to see how this cozier relationship with Russia will affect relations with China, as well. CNN's Mike Valerio takes
a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By the end of the celebrations in Pyongyang, after an indelible image of two authoritarian leaders riding in
an open limo, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought ties between their two countries even closer, announcing a
comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that includes assisting one another in the event of aggression.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for the provision of mutual
assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement.
VALERIO (voice-over): Kim hailed what he called a new alliance. The Great Democratic People's Republic of Korea-Russia alliance, which will become a
watershed moment in the development of this bilateral relations, finally raised its anchor in history and announced its solemn departure here today.
It's unclear if Wednesday's agreement is as strong as a 1961 treaty between the USSR and North Korea, which called for automatic mutual defense if one
of the countries were attacked. But notable during the pageantry in Pyongyang, no tanks and no weapons parading past Kim Il-sung Square.
Analysts say it's a fine balancing act for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un not to draw too much attention to a linchpin of his strengthening bond with
Russia, an illegal exchange, according to the U.S. and South Korea, of weaponry and weapons technology between Moscow and Pyongyang.
PETER WARD, RESEARCH FELLOW, SEJONG INSTITUTE: The fact that they're not showing off missiles is probably because although we have very credible
intelligence now indicating that North Korean missiles are being used on the battlefield in Ukraine, they don't want to necessarily draw too much
attention to missiles in the relationship with Russia.
VALERIO (voice-over): In front of the cameras, Kim pledged his full support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. U.S. officials say North Korea
has sent Russia more than 10,000 shipping containers since September, deliveries of munitions or munitions related material.
Russian forces have also launched at least 10 North Korea made missiles on Ukraine since September, a U.S. official said in March. Both countries deny
such weapons trades are happening.
VALERIO: Suzanne and Bianna, of course, China does not want any change, military alliance or anything that could change the status quo here on the
Korean peninsula and would potentially add more American troops. You know, just an hour and a half, two hours from where we're standing, we have close
to 30,000 American troops who are stationed here on the Korean peninsula. We have yet to hear from China. We have reached out to the Pentagon.
We're hoping to get a comment from the Pentagon or the U.S. National Security Council. Of course, it is a holiday in the United States,
Juneteenth. But watch this space, another meeting coming up in the near future in Moscow. The question is, did we just witness an authoritarian
version of NATO's Article 5 emerge before our very eyes here on the Korean peninsula?
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, it is fascinating when you ask the question about China. It wasn't so long ago that China and Russia, we should note, were working
alongside the U.S. effectively to try to contain North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Things have quickly changed in the past few years. Mike Valerio,
thank you.
ASHER: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, let's get some more insight into the alliance between these two countries. We're joined by CNN's national security analyst, Steve
Hall. Steve is the CIA's former chief of Russia operations. So, we saw a lot of pomp there in Pyongyang. The first visit by Vladimir Putin in over
25 years, clearly sending a message to adversaries around the world.
This mutual defense pact, though, there wasn't a readout released about what exactly it entails. There was a similar one in 2000 between Russia and
North Korea. But that just said that the two countries would have communications with one another if either party were attacked. How
concerned are you about what this specific defense pact could entail?
[12:10:00]
STEVE HALL, FMR. CIA CHIEF OF RUSSIA OPERATIONS: Well, I'm not really concerned at all because it's based on the idea, at least as has been
stated, that this is a pact, that this is a defensive one, that you know, would protect Russia or North Korea if they were to be attacked or invaded.
This is, of course, a supreme irony because neither Russia nor North Korea, last time I checked, has been attacked or invaded or militarily messed
with.
The North Koreans are flying ballistic missiles over Japanese airspace. The Russians, of course, are invading neighboring countries, this time Ukraine,
the time previously it was Georgia. So, you know, this is basically just, I think, for show. It's to show the world that there is this arrangement,
this agreement.
But, you know, in reality, when you really think about it, you have a former superpower, Russia, going pretty much hat in hand to North Korea to
ask for weapons and assistance in their war against Ukraine. It's just amazing to me that Russia has arrived at this position, not at all like
China, which is, of course, a much more significant player these days.
ASHER: So then, okay, that doesn't concern you, the fact that this could be, I mean, you mentioned the fact that this is a defensive, this is
defensive in nature. But what does concern you? I mean, the very fact that you have Vladimir Putin going hat in hand to North Korea, the fact that
North Korea is supplying weapons to Vladimir Putin to support the war in Ukraine. And on top of that, you have the prospect of Russia supplying its
superior military technology to North Korea. Does that concern you?
HALL: Yeah, that part is more concerning. I wouldn't anticipate. So, here's how I think it's going to go. I think the North Koreans would ask
the Russians for everything. They would say, look, give us all of your nuclear technology, teach us how to launch rockets better so that we can
have a better nuclear ballistic deterrence.
Failing that, give us the technology and then failing that on down the line. I mean, North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world, so
they'll take pretty much anything from Russia, food, fuel, the rest of it. So, we do have to keep a very close eye on that. The Kremlin, of course,
has said, no, they would never do that.
But whenever the Kremlin says, no, we would never do that, like when they say, no, we would never invade Ukraine, it's worth watching very carefully.
I think the other thing that's concerning is that it's clear, given the warming of these bilateral ties, that the North Koreans are going to
continue to provide weapons to Russia, who will then turn around and use them in Ukraine.
So, that's always something that has to be balanced. But you know, somebody who's got to do a lot of the balancing here are the Chinese. The Chinese
have much bigger, they have a lot more to lose. And so, they need to be very, very careful with how they deal with this situation.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, we do know that North Korea is developing hypersonic missiles, as well. When you talk about the technology transfer from Russia,
anything that they could provide, it's always interesting to see who is accompanying presidents on these types of visits. And you have the head of
their aerospace unit there in Russia, obviously the energy minister, as well.
Could we actually see Vladimir Putin make some kind of promises or pledges that the more missiles and the more artillery North Korea supplies them,
perhaps dangling some of the more advanced technology like hypersonic missiles that Russia has boasted that they've already developed?
HALL: Yeah, I think we've seen the beginnings of that already. I mean, yes, there is talk about better advanced technology. And of course, in
addition, you'll recall that when the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Russia, one of the places that they visited was a space launch
facility. So, there's some beginnings of some messaging.
It's unclear as to whether or not that's just sort of setting the stage for something that's going to happen or whether or not that's a geopolitical
signal that's being sent to Western democracies saying, hey, don't mess with us because we're in the process of working with North Korea on launch
technology.
That said, the South Koreans, I think, also have something to say about this because the South Koreans have not yet sent weapons to Ukraine, but
they have told both Russia and North Korea, if you take actions that are going to be threatening to South Korea, that could change and they could
begin using their pretty substantial military technology to get that stuff on the plane to Ukraine. So, Russia also has to be careful.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and we should note that it was just last year that we saw a new pact signed by the South Korean president and President Biden where
the U.S. would be providing nuclear submarines, nuclear armed submarines to South Korea, or at least station them there, as well. So, a lot of
countries, South Korea, Japan, really watching all of this closely, as well as China. Steve Hall, thank you so much.
ASHER: Thank you. All right, Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for second term as South Africa's president.
GOLODRYGA: And the leader of the African National Congress party has a difficult task as he seeks to hold together the first coalition government
in modern South African history. The ANC failed to secure a majority in parliament for the first time in 30 years in national elections last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER (voice-over): And while many South Africans celebrated, the reality is that the coalition government has major challenges ahead.
[12:15:02]
It must find ways to deal with poverty, the rising unemployment and inequality that are plaguing South Africa right now. All right, still to
come, raging wildfires turn deadly and destructive in New Mexico as thousands of people literally run for their lives.
GOLODRYGA: And also ahead, we'll take a look at this tech company's rise to become the world's most valuable company. It underlines the role
artificial intelligence could play in the global economy in the future, and now.
ASHER: And the newest U.S. holiday, a day of reflection and celebration. We'll talk to you about the meaning behind Juneteenth when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Today, June 19th, is the day that America is celebrating the end of slavery in this country.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, Juneteenth only became a federal holiday in 2021, but its roots go back to the 1860s, when Black communities in Texas would gather to
recognize the anniversary of the day they were set free. And for many Black Americans, it is a day of reflection, to look back at their courageous
ancestors.
ASHER: Yeah, Juneteenth advocates say that this holiday is not just for Black Americans, but actually for all Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): It is deeply embedded in my soul that the comprehension of Juneteenth should not be those of us who are the
descendants of enslaved Africans But it should be a moment in history that we will say to America, remembering is not bad, it is not wrong, it is not
an attack, it is not divisive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN will be celebrating Juneteenth later today with a special, hosted by our one and only Victor Blackwell. Here's a little bit of his
conversation with legendary singer, Patti LaBelle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: So, when you tell these stories, and you think back to the early '60s, and you were touring with the Bluebells,
considering the social differences, the cultural differences, do you think of those times fondly still?
PATTI LABELLE, R AND B SINGER: Oh, I have to. That's my life.
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
LABELLE: That's how it started. Doing things when we were doing them, and not being honored, and not being treated well.
BLACKWELL: How did you continue to sing through it, to perform through it, even at some times when you weren't treated the best?
LABELLE: You sing, that's your job.
[12:20:01]
And I'm going to sing no matter what. If you treat me well, if you treat me not so well, that's what I do. And I will continue through bad times,
because we have to keep on moving on, and never stop. Never let anything that somebody did to you that made you feel less than a penny, bother your
craft. And that's what we do. We sing. And we've had some moments that will make some other people maybe stay home, but it just kept pushing us up. The
worse we were treated, the higher we went.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: That was just a snippet of that really riveting conversation. Victor Blackwell, of course, joins us live now. Victor, my question to you
is, especially as somebody who's actually not American, is, you know, we are celebrating Juneteenth at a time when many would say that in this
country, when it comes to equality, when it comes to the rights of black people, we are moving backwards.
You know, we're about to celebrate, or rather not celebrate, mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court essentially ending affirmative action when
it comes to college admissions in this country. A lot of black people saw that as a huge blow. We've talked about book bans. We've talked about Ron
DeSantis essentially banning African-American studies as an A.P. course. Just give us the lay of the land as we mark Juneteenth today in terms of
where we are as a nation when it comes to racial equality.
BLACKWELL: And we'll get to that certainly in the special tonight. My conversation with John Legend, he's a philanthropist and an activist. In
addition to being this celebrated songwriter and singer, his focus is on ending mass incarceration and the great disparities as it relates between
races on imprisonment and reducing recidivism, investing in schools, as well.
He has an organization that tries to level the playing field for under- resourced, under-supported, underfunded public schools. You know, you can't have a conversation about the mass incarceration in the United States
without talking about the school-to-prison pipeline and how we can all get involved earlier.
This is a holiday that is not just a commemoration of June 19, 1865, when those enslaved people in Texas learned that they had actually been freed
several years before. It's not just a celebration of the progress that's been made over centuries in black communities. This is a moment of a
clarion call. This is a moment of a status check. What is the work we still have to do?
I spoke with Smokey Robinson, a legendary Motown singer, who says voting rights and making sure that laws passed across the country do not impede on
the right to vote. And we've seen what's happened in this country. This is not a moment just to look back. It's a moment to look forward at the work
that still has to be done.
GOLODRYGA: And you know, Victor, when you hear people like Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, obviously a Texan herself, just say there before your
introduction that this is something not to exclude the rest of the country from learning about, from honoring. Today, too, Condoleezza Rice wrote an
op-ed saying that Juneteenth was America's second real day of independence here.
From your research here and from the people that you talk to, how important is it to make this as inclusive of a holiday as possible? I just, I worry
sometimes because it's June 19th. My kids happen to still be in school, but a lot of schools are out for the summer.
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
GOLODRYGA: And these types of conversations are best at times had in a classroom. What are some of the things that you're hearing about what this,
what this means?
BLACKWELL: Well, this is not just a Black American holiday. It is an American holiday, just as, you know, Memorial Day is not a day just for
military families. It is a day for the entire country. The grandmother of Juneteenth, as she known, is known, Miss Opal Lee, who was in her nineties.
She started after she retired trying to get this holiday that was typically only celebrated in Texas or mostly in Texas to be a national holiday.
And I learned from her and you'll hear from her in the special tonight, she says that this is a season of freedom. Fourth of July in the U.S.
Independence Day celebrates freeing the land. June 19th, Juneteenth celebrates freeing the people.
And that this is a season of freedom where we as a country can celebrate the freedoms that have been achieved and the work that still needs to be
done. So, to invite people in to ask questions there. I'm hosting this from the African-American Museum of History and Culture, the Smithsonian Museum
in Washington.
[12:25:00]
And I spoke with the curator and they have put resources on their website to start this conversation. What can you do? Take a moment just to reflect
and to -- to see what role you can play in extending freedom to people, maybe in your neighborhood or on the other side of town.
ASHER: So, well said.
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
ASHER: Especially the fact that it is a holiday for all Americans. This is not just a black holiday per se. Victor, we're going to let you go. Thank
you so much.
BLACKWELL: Good to see you both.
ASHER: Good to see you, my friend.
GOLODRYGA: We'll be watching.
ASHER: We'll have much more on Juneteenth later on this hour, including reflections on the holiday from the designer of the first ever black
"Barbie", a conversation I can't wait to have in about 30 minutes or so from now.
GOLODRYGA: It'll be a treat to hear from her just as it was a treat to hear from Victor Blackwell and watch the CNN special event Juneteenth
Celebrating Freedom and Legacy. It airs at 10 P.M. tonight right here on CNN, and you can stream it on CNN Max. Well, still to come for us,
environmental protesters to face Britain's most famous prehistoric structure with paint just one day before the summer solstice. Details
ahead.
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ASHER: All right, welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. The first storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has been named and is bearing down right now on the coast
of Texas.
ASHER: Yeah, tropical storm Alberta has officially formed in the Gulf of Mexico.
[12:30:02]
The storm has yet to make landfall, but it's out of bands already lashing the coastline. Right now, communities are dealing with high winds, heavy
rain and storm surge. As you can see here, a lot of areas are already having to deal with flooding. Alberta is expected to make official landfall
in Mexico, sometime overnight.
GOLODRYGA: And happening right now in New Mexico, thousands of people are living a real life nightmare as raging fires devour everything in their
path. A state of emergency remains in place and at least one person has died. The number of homes and businesses destroyed by the blaze has nearly
tripled to 1400 in less than 24 hours.
Yeah, take a look at this video of a ski shop, literally, I mean, completely engulfed in flames. Witnesses say they heard explosions, there's
a fire tore through their community. And just a short time ago on CNN, we actually heard from a father who made the gut-wrenching call to flee his
home with his wife and their newborn and their three-year-old child, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC MORO, FLED NEW MEXICO HOME: We don't know what's going to happen with our home. And my daughter was crying when I was packing stuff up. She
thought we were leaving the home. She thought we were never coming back. And I said, no, we're not leaving. We're not giving up the house. It's just
dangerous right now. And we have to, you know, in case, you know, the fire comes, we have to be prepared. We can't stay here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: It is heartbreaking to hear what people are going through. Meantime, further west, crews in California are making some headway
battling wildfires. Los Angeles County's Post fire is now 39 percent contained.
GOLODRYGA: While the U.S. is battling wildfires ahead of the summer season, communities around the globe are now struggling with their own
heat-related issues, as temperatures soar to record levels.
ASHER: A major heat wave is impacting large parts of northern China this week, but the country is not alone. CNN's Bill Weir reports on how actually
countries around the world are struggling to deal with deadly heat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is not even officially summer yet, and the heat is already taking lives by the dozens.
In India, during recent elections, at least 33 poll workers died of heat stress on the same day. At least 41 Jordanians perished as they made their
pilgrimage to Mecca, where yesterday they set a new all-time high at over 125 degrees.
And in Greece, at least three tourists lost their lives simply by hiking without enough water or shade. While those places are used to stretches in
the triple digits, the American northeast is not. And on a planet overheated by fossil fuel pollution, Maine must now brace for the kind of
heat and humidity found in Miami. And big cities are bracing for a strain on everything.
UNKNOWN: Extreme heat is the most dangerous weather phenomenon we have in New York City.
WEIR (voice-over): In the northern hemisphere, new science finds that last summer was the hottest since the birth of Christ. And in the U.S., heat
took the most lives since records began in the '80s. This year is on pace to be even hotter, pushing disaster management into uncharted territory as
the climate crisis manifests by region and by water whiplash, either too much or never enough. In the parched southwest, wildfires kicking back up
from Riodoso, New Mexico to near Los Angeles.
UNKNOWN: Every one of us is concerned with the wind. That's the single most driving factor of this fire.
WEIR (voice-over): And after a wet winter brought more plant life to California, there are worries that a scorching summer could turn it all to
fuel. But when you pray for rain on an overheated planet, you must specify not all at once. From Brazil to Florida, days of torrential rain created
floods in homes and cars and lives, hitting some in Fort Lauderdale who are still cleaning up after last summer, which brought the kind of rain and
flood that is only supposed to happen once every thousand years.
DANIEL SWAIN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UCLA: So, right now, it looks like certainly this summer is going to feature a lot more extreme and in some
cases record breaking heat in different parts of the globe. But, you know, to be quite honest, what we're seeing now is the taste of what it's going
to be like all the time in just a decade or so.
WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: I mean, it really says something that we're already covering this in June.
ASHER: Yeah.
GOLODRYGA: I mean, typically the past few years, it's been something that we talk about in August, but this is here to stay and it is very
frightening. Well, to England now, where two environmental protesters have been arrested for vandalizing the ancient monument Stonehenge.
ASHER: Yeah, the group "Just Stop Oil" posted this video on X of two of its members basically spraying orange paint on probably the most or one of
the most iconic British landmarks. The incident taking place on the eve of the summer solstice when thousands are expected to gather at the sacred
site to mark the event.
[12:35:02]
This is the same group, by the way, who grabbed headlines last month for smashing the glass, protecting the Magna Carta at the British Museum in
London, as well.
GOLODRYGA: All right, still to come for us, we'll look at Nvidia's rise to the top as the largest public company in the U.S., edging out Microsoft and
Apple.
ASHER: Plus, Boeing CEO apologizes to families of plane crash victims and is grilled by senators during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Why haven't you resigned?
DAVE CALHOUN, BOEING CEO: Senator, I'm sticking this through. I'm proud of having taken the job. I'm proud of our part of this record and I am proud
of our Boeing people.
HAWLEY: You're proud of this safety record.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, the CEO of Boeing faced a bipartisan grilling on Capitol Hill over his company's troubled safety record at a Senate hearing on
Tuesday. Dave Calhoun also came face to face with the families of passengers killed in two fatal Boeing crashes.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, during the hearing, he was questioned by U.S. senators over allegations that the company has cut corners, put profits over safety
and retaliated against whistleblowers. Listen to one intense exchange Calhoun had with Republican Senator Josh Hawley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAWLEY: Why haven't you resigned?
CALHOUN: Senator, I'm sticking this through. I'm proud of having taken the job. I'm proud of our proud of this record and I am very proud of our
Boeing people.
HAWLEY: You're proud of this safety record.
CALHOUN: I am proud of every action we have taken.
HAWLEY: Every action you've taken?
CALHOUN: Yes, Sir.
HAWLEY: Wow. Wow. There's some news for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Calhoun also apologized directly to the families of those who were killed in two crashes involving Boeing planes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALHOUN: I apologize for the grief that we have caused. And I want you to know we are totally committed in their memory to work and focus on safety
for as long, as long as we're employed by Boeing. So again, I'm sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
In 2018 and 2019, Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia claimed 346 lives. That led to a 20-month grounding of the jet to fix a design flaw
that caused the crashes.
ASHER: All right, turning now to tech news, NVIDIA has surpassed Microsoft to become the largest public company in the United States. And it happened
very quickly, by the way. The computer chip maker's market capitalization hit roughly $3.34 trillion on Tuesday.
[12:40:06]
GOLODRYGA: NVIDIA's chips are essential in producing processors that power artificial intelligence systems. The chip maker posted a blockbuster first
quarter, noting a 262 percent increase in revenue and a 400 percent rise in profits year over year. CNN's Matt Egan is following all of this for us
from New York.
Those are numbers that any executive would be envious of. And really, Matt, it tells you that a company that focused on video games and was famous for
that has now become the most powerful company in the U.S. because of its now focus on A.I.
MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bianna and Zain. It's absolutely fascinating. And it is really all because we are living through
this modern day gold rush. And NVIDIA has positioned itself as the company that's making the picks and the shovels for this gold rush, right? Now it's
all about artificial intelligence. NVIDIA's computer chips, they power chat GPT and all of these other A.I. models.
So, they really have become the brains here. They are fueling this boom and it's paying off in spades. I mean, the share price has had this meteoric
rise. It's up something like 300 times over the last 10 years. They had to do a 10 for one stock split because the share price had just become too
expensive.
And now, we have a situation where NVIDIA has gotten past Amazon and Alphabet and even Microsoft and Apple to become not just the biggest
company in the United States, but the biggest, most valuable company on the planet. It's worth almost twice as much as the biggest foreign competitor,
Saudi Arabia's oil giant, Aramco.
And when you put this market cap into context, right, $3.3 trillion, that is more than the entire GDP of some major countries, including France,
Brazil, Italy, Russia, and Canada. So, one company is worth more than all of those, any of those economies. It's absolutely amazing.
Now, if anything, though, one of the questions now is, has NVIDIA gotten almost too big, right? Because now, it is just accounting for so much of
the overall stock market. And the whole stock market is exposed when and if sentiment shifts around A.I., right? Like what if investors suddenly become
concerned about profitability in this space? What if there's some thinking that maybe these companies have gotten overvalued? You could have a
scenario where an NVIDIA sell-off tanks the whole stock market.
But for now, clearly the times are rolling. Investors are really focused on this boom. A veteran tech analyst, Dan Ives, he tweeted that it's just 9
P.M. in the A.I. party, and he says that this party is going to keep going till 4 A.M. So, clearly, there's a lot of euphoric sentiment right now
about this company. It's incredible.
ASHER: It just has happened so quickly. It wasn't so long ago their market cap was $400 billion, and now we're talking about $3 trillion. So, you
know, is it too fast, perhaps? I mean, that is the question.
GOLODRYGA: I mean, 9 P.M. is already way past my bedtime, Matt. Partying has already surpassed where I am. But I agree with you. We're just the tip
of the iceberg in terms of where A.I. is going and where investment dollars follow. Matt Egan, thank you so much.
ASHER: Thanks, Matt.
GOLODRYGA: Partying till 4 A.M. We'll be following.
EGAN: Thanks guys.
ASHER: All right. Still to come, the first ever Black Barbie and the trailblazing women who had a role in actually creating the doll. We'll
speak to one of the women who designed the iconic toy when we come back.
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[12:45:00]
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ASHER: All right, this Juneteenth, as we celebrate the importance of African-American culture, we are reminded that representation starts at a
young age.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): The little white girls, they can see possibility in their Barbies.
UNKNOWN: And there was nothing that I can relate to.
ASHER (voice-over): A new Netflix documentary releasing today called "Black Barbie" tells the story of how the first black Barbie doll was
created in 1980.
GOLODRYGA: Mattel had black dolls as friends of Barbie until the late '70s, and then designer Kitty Black Perkins led the way in designing the
very first black Barbie.
KITTY BLACK PERKINS, DESIGNER OF THE FIRST BLACK BARBIE: I designed the Black Barbie to reflect the total look of a black woman. She's black. She's
beautiful. She's dynamite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And we are so fortunate right now to be joined by Kitty Black Perkins, who designed the very first Black Barbie. The documentary is
obviously releasing today, Juneteenth, and obviously that's the reason behind the documentary being released today. Kitty, thank you so much for
being with us. So, my first question to you is you were a woman who was born in racially segregated South Carolina in 1948.
We've been talking a lot about the importance of representation, how important it is for young black girls to have a positive self-image growing
up. Just based on your own childhood, just take us through how your own self-image has evolved over the years and how it's led you to this point in
terms of you designing a product that has changed the self-image of millions of black women around the world.
BLACK PERKINS: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. Yes, I was born in 1948 and I basically lived and did everything in the black
community, which means that I did not venture out into the world. Growing up, I had a lot of white dolls and a lot of them were dolls that were given
to me by my mom's, the people she worked for.
Black dolls were in my neighborhood nowhere. My mom bought me a book of paper dolls and I was able to color the paper dolls so that they would be
black. And a lot of my girlfriends in the neighborhood would do the same thing. And the impact that made on my life at an early age, I realized that
the reason I painted them was because I wanted them to look like me.
And my self-esteem was very, very low when I left Spartanburg to go to Los Angeles. And I think that one of the reasons was because I didn't really
feel that I felt that I fit in. And one reason I didn't feel that I fit in was because I was black. And when I started working for Mattel, they
welcomed me with open arms.
[12:50:01]
The company was just fantastic. The whole idea of designing a black Barbie was absolutely okay. It was -- the timing wasn't right. So, I didn't start
designing the doll until about 1979. It's when I first worked on black Barbie.
Mattel assembled a team to work with me of highly experienced hair designers, engineers, packaging designers, marketing personnel, sculptors,
and everybody on the team was so, so interested in trying to make this doll look the way that she was supposed to look. And it was just so, so
rewarding.
GOLODRYGA: And yet it took 21 years, Kitty, to get to that place. And I love how you say, listen, no offense to blonde Barbie, but you were focused
on making and designing black Barbie to be the complete opposite of blonde Barbie. And the impact this has had, I mean, there's empirical evidence of
the impact this has on young children, young girls in particular.
And it's so important as the documentary portrays a focus group where young children are asked about who they think is the prettiest Barbie. And one
black girl picks out the black Barbie named Brooklyn. And she says she's the prettiest because she has black skin like all of us. When you hear that
from children today, especially given what you told us about the lack of any representation in your dolls growing up, what is that feeling like for
you?
BLACK PERKINS: I have to tell you that it felt really, really good. I used to hang out at Target. And once my doll hit the shelf in Target, I stood
there just to listen to the comments that the little girls made when they saw the doll for the first time. And I was elated. The first thing they
would say to their little friends, oh, she looks like me. Look, her skin is just like mine. Oh, and somebody else would say, oh, she has a short
natural. And look, she has a pick instead of a comb. So, all of that in itself was just so gratifying.
ASHER: We have come a long way. There's still so much work to be done, but we've come a long way in terms of the evolving beauty standards in modern
media and what is actually deemed as beautiful. I look at the black Barbie doll and you can't see it, but we can see it on our screen right now.
And she is gorgeous. She's gorgeous. And I just want to ask you, what are the consequences of young black girls growing up without a positive self-
image, without seeing representation in terms of beauty standards in America, without knowing that, you know, black skin, black hair is just as
beautiful as that of other races.
What are the consequences of that? Well, that's why Black Lives does matter. And the whole idea of letting your girls know that they are
beautiful, they are gorgeous. I love the idea that there were so many beautiful black models.
Even in our music, we look at our lead singers and we look at the icons and stuff in music. And we notice the beauty in it. We have to continue to talk
to our girls to let them know that it's okay to have a little bit of kink in your hair. It's okay to wear a short, natural. It's okay to wear long,
curly hair.
We have to just keep stressing the importance of that. And I believe that knowing that we have a black Barbie out there with Barbie's name, it
elevates the doll to the point where little girls know that they're accepted now.
[12:55:02]
ASHER: And by the way, I came of age when Naomi Campbell burst onto the scene. And I'm British like she is. And just seeing that, the profound --
we were talking of this yesterday, actually--
GOLODRYGA: Yeah.
ASHER: -- the profound impact that had on me just seeing somebody who had similar features. I don't look anything like her.
GOLODRYGA: Oh, yes, you do. I told you that. Now we're going to get into our private conversations. But yes, beautiful.
ASHER: But just seeing somebody, you know, with my type of features, you know, out there on the world stage and being accepted just had a profound
impact on me. So, thank you so much for the work that you have done, especially culturally.
GOLODRYGA: And thank you to your aunt and uncle for buying that ticket for you to go to California. I love that story. It has paid off dividends. So
kudos and bravo to them.
BLACK PERKINS: Thank you so much for having me. And hopefully Black Barbie, this is not the end. This is the beginning.
ASHER: Yes, I like that.
GOLODRYGA: Absolutely.
ASHER: Kitty Black Perkins, designer of the very first Black Barbie. Happy Juneteenth, my dear. Thank you so much for coming.
BLACK PERKINS: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Best of luck with the documentary too. Well, that does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: Or Naomi Campbell. Just saying. We'll leave it there. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
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END
