i'm fredericka whitfield. much more with my colleague don lemon. >> fred, don't go. come on. >> i'll hang out. >> it is your friday. enjoy. have a great weekend. okay? >> you, too. >> always a pleasure. hello, everyone. i'm don lemon. thanks for joining us. here's what's coming up this hour. police in ohio have discovered the bodies of three women they believe may be victims of a serial killer. we'll tell you why. we're continuing the conversation on race relations taking place this week in the streets, in the white house and now on capitol hill. >> we have made significant progress but i think that recent events have obviously highlighted the differences that remain. >> trayvon! >> what's the status of race relations in our country and what needs to be done to move the conversation forward? plus -- >> talk about a close call, we'll show you how this all

plays out. we'll begin in east cleveland, ohio, where police made a disturbing discovery. the bodies of three young women found wrapped in layers of plastic so badly decomposed police are unable to identify them and the mayor says there may be more victims. live in the east cleveland neighborhood where the bodies were found, anna, police have a man in custody they believe is connected to the gruesome case. what do we know about him? >> reporter: they have a man in custody, don. that's exactly right. 35-year-old michael madison. he is an african-american. a father of two and well-known in this community so he's currently helping police. he is the number one suspect. as you say, a gruesome suspect in the neighborhood. three bodies, one of them found in the basement in the home directly behind me and then a garage 20 yards away and another in a vacant lot i should say close by. so, all of these bodies wrapped

in plastic garbage bagsing they believe, and taped up. the women in the fetal position. michael madison, he is in custody and the mayor of east cleveland really believes that there could be more bodies. he says firstly, michael madison alluded to that and he was inspired by a serial killer by the name of anthony sowell. this is a man that killed 11 women here in cleveland and convicted of it in 2011 and now currently on death row. let's have a listen to what the mayor had to say. >> this is a sick individual who appears to have been influenced by another vick individusick in. it is horrible, atrocious. we believe a this individual we're dealing with killed three women in a span of about ten days. that is insane. and we know that if he had been out for one more hour there's no

telling what would have happened. >> reporter: quite a frightening segment there from east cleveland mayor gary norton but i can tell you a search is under way. not far from where we are standing. and the neighborhood, people have been coming out and helping going through vacant homes to see whether they can find any other remains that may still be there. so that is the situation at the moment, don. >> unbelievable. okay. we'll check back with anna coren in cleveland. to mississippi now where questions remain after a mysterious murder four months ago. a young, black, gay mayoral candidate, care mattic. before his campaign could take off, he was dead. mcmillan's body was found dumped in a delta in february. the key suspect is behind bars at the local jail awaiting a hearing next month but in this

month's -- in the months since the killing, the sheriff said very little about the case and adding to the suspicion there may be more to the story. mcmillan's family attorney darrell parks joins me from houston, texas, now. cnn reached out to the sheriff's department with an open records request and so far has no response. they also have not responded to an interview request. what makes you believe, we're wondering, that the death is more than just a random killing. what makes you believe that? >> well, without question, don, the mere fact that the sheriff refuses to talk on the issue draws serious concern. >> just because he refuses to talk on the issue. why does that give you -- you don't think they're just having an investigation and they don't want to give up their information? you think they're hiding something? >> well, the mere fact that mr. reed has no court date, they

have given no information to the family and not contacted from the sheriff or the d.a. >> so what are you saying by that? >> well, you know, i'm getting feedback here but i'll say this. they have more in any situation where you have the victims. they have a right to get information. to date, the sheriff or the d.a. has not contacted the family. >> okay. let's move on. i want to ask you about the text messages. there were text messages from mcmillian friends and the comments of his mother about how he feared for his life and refuses to sign the autopsy by the coroner. the first time in 24 years. >> it draws great suspicion around the case and wonder when's going on with clarksdale,

mississippi. so, think of the text message, i think the department of justice is looking into it. and in relation to the autopsy, the autopsy itself shows serious issues with the autopsy, especially the injuries to his body. and so, they have many lingering questions in the situation to be answered. >> what do you know about this suspect who's in custody now? do you know anything about the suspect? >> very little about him. so they're really unable to say much about him but, you know, when you think about this case, marco white young person as you see in the text messages, she was very suspicious of the people locally and some of the conversation that he was getting both the text message and the conversation. and he let some people know about that. now, that aspect of this investigation we have contacted washington department of justice and the u.s. attorney for the

district of mississippi concerning that issue. >> the mcmillian family is asking for federal investigation, so what's next? >> well, what's next is i think that we have to keep pushing. you know, this situation is -- as you know, the sheriff is black. how somebody -- the establishment in the local area is not black. and so, you know, one of the issues you have heard come up in the course of many of the issues talking about in this past week with black on black crime, this needs to be part of this but it's a political overtone to it and our firm came in and worked with the national black justice coalition with the gay and lesbian issues in our country and worked with them there in northern mississippi. for whatever reason, it is kind of different that this sheriff who refuses to give information

about the status of the case, i sent an e-mail actually to the sheriff asking where they were. they referred me to the d.a. i asked the contact person in the d.a. i didn't get a contact person. it is very absurd in the memphis society to get a defendant that doesn't have a court date at all. it's very absurd in the society when you don't have someone from the victim's advocate contact a person's family after they've been murdered. >> yeah. >> i actually myself checked in to other parts of mississippi if in the normal course of business whether or not they normally have victims advocate. and they do in other parts of mississippi. that's what makes the situation very, very odd. >> well, mr. parks, we'll be checking back in with you to see what happens and see if the mcmillian family gets justice and if it oes indeed solved. if you get an update, let us know, okay? daryl parks.

okay. moving on now. it is rosy esp arza's first trip to six flags and ended badly. witnesses describe what they saw. >> she goes up like this. and then when it drops to come down, that's when it released and she just tumbled. it didn't hit me until we got back down to the bottom and i said, like, she was no bigger than i was. like that could have been me and then i like -- i los it. >> they were screaming when they came back and trying to get out of the restraint and screaming, my mom, my mom, she's gone. >> very sad. i'm -- i feel horrible for the family. >> here's what witnesses telling "the dallas morning news." the victim expressed concerns of the safety bar. authorities are investigating the cause of this accident. the blistering heat's blanketed much of the u.s. is being blamed for two more deaths in milwaukee. raising the total this week to five. a 64-year-old woman found dead

in her home. the temperature was 93 degrees inside the house and all the windows were closed. they feared violence. 69-year-old man died after being hospitalized with a body temperature of 102. earlier this week, three men were found dead of heat related causes in their homes. a tornado rips through a college in northeastern ohio causing extensive damage. the twister destroyed the school's gymnasium and three other buildings. luckily it happened early yesterday. no one was in the buildings and no injuries were reported. phil mickelson says he played the round of his life and more than good enough to win the first british open. he shot a 66 today and 4 birdies in the last 6 holes. tiger woods stumbled to the finish with a final round of 74. rachel nichols will join us later this hour to talk about

the win. congratulations to him. with tears from a juror, a heated exchange and expletives and the suspicion death of a witness, the trial of reputed mobster whitey bulger is a wild one. we'll hear from a man who worked for bulger right after this. . at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors, where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey. ♪

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now to the most exciting trial not on television, talking about the trial of reputed mob boss whitey bulger and last week's testimony was some of the

craziest yet. he once worked for bulger and the author of "rat bastards: the life and times of south boston's most honorable irish mobster." red, let's go back to wednesday when stephen rakes was found dead less than 24 hours after he learned he was dropped from the prosecution's witness list. it is unclear how he died but authorities say the death is suspicious. so what's your take on this? >> well, i mean, you know, i feel -- my condolences first of all to the family, don. there was this discrepancy in the testimony of one of the witnesses. when he had said before and then changed his mind about the whole situation with mr. rakes and how he was shook down for his liquor store. that said, mr. rakes went out

after the court trial was -- had ended, went out and gave an interview to the news saying, hey, he had his day and i'm disputing what he says and i'm going to have my chance on the stand. well, a few days later, i knew right then to be honest with you he wasn't going to be put on the stand by the government. the government wasn't going to let him dispute one of their star witnesses. wasn't going to happen. whether he was a victim or not. and, you know, that's just the way it goes sometimes. unfortunately for him, he waited 30 years to tell his story and never get the chance to do it. what happened? who knows. i'm not going to speculate on this. >> you don't think it's suspicious? >> it's too early to speculate. you know what? i don't want to say that it's suspicious. i mean, it's a bit bizarre, yeah. you know what? who knows what it is? i don't want to speculate. >> all right, red. >> it is not a polite thing to do. >> you must have good reason if you're hedging a bit here.

>> yeah. i mean, out of respect to -- out of respect to the family and respect to him, also. >> all right. let's move on to thursday, red. okay? because steven "the rifleman" flemmi took the stand. he was the right-hand made for nearly two decades. they exchanged some on sceneties and then by friday he admitted the role in ten killings. he says bulger ordered including the strangling death of his girlfriend, 26-year-old deborah davis. it was that testimony that brought one of the jurors to tears. red, you worked with bulger. did you know flemmi and how damaging do you think his testimony is? >> yes. i knew stevie well. you know, let's put it this way. i'm saying it from day one. i've said it to deborah feyerick on your show cnn. stevie is the nail in the coffin for whitey bulger.

he is -- he was his partner. he was there for everything, don. he was there for all of the meetings with the fbi. he was there for 90% of the killings. and everything that whitey did he knew about. whether he was there or he wasn't there. he was well informed. they were partners. but, in the end, we know who the real boss was because, hey, what guy would let a man, okay, kill his own girlfriend? someone that he loved so much. whether he had dropped, you know, a little word to her saying that, you know, they were associated with a fbi agent and had to meet him for, you know, and stuff like that, doesn't make -- doesn't matter. if he loved her that much, he would have never let him strangle her to death. >> red, flemmi's going to be back on the stand for

cross-examination before the prosecution wrams up the case. then it's the defense's turn leading to the big question -- will whitey bull ler take the stand? do you think he'll take the stand? >> well, there's a choice of words that i would like to use on television but i can't. >> thanks. >> yes, you're welcome. i'll be considerate and say, he has a lot of guts in some ways but, you know what? i say he doesn't have the guts to get on the stand. i challenge him to get on the stand. let's hear what he has to say. you know? his ego might be big enough an he does have a big ego. but i still challenge him to get on the stand. if he gets on the stand, they'll eat him alive. >> huh. when you -- when steven rakes and see what happened with him, you're hedging and said it's a little odd. don't want to say it's suspicious. do you worry about your own

safety after you come on television and say all this stuff? you don't hold your tongue. you say it like it is. do you ever worry? >> a guy who's walked the walk and has never ratted on anyone as we know, i can walk down any street anywhere any time and respected for being a man and taking responsibility and not pointing the finger at anyone in my life or in the life that i lived at the time. these guys here, they're the first guys to get on the stand, to save their soul, to save their hide and point the finger at each other. i didn't. i have nothing to worry about. >> jon "red" shea, thank you, sir. >> thank you, don. coming up, this was the cover that sparked outrage around the country and these are the photos a boston police officer released in protest. see how thousands of people are trying to save his job.

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"rolling stone's" cover of suspected boston bombing dzhokhar tsarnaev is sparking fresh outrages. senator john mccain said it's horri horrifying. >> i thought it was stupid. i thought it was glorifying an individual that represents the -- represents a great threat to innocent lives and which is

responsible for the taking of innocent lives and i thought it was stupid and i thought it was inappropriate. >> several national chain stores refusing to sell the magazine. the photo is a self portrait shot by the 19-year-old himself. it is in circulation for months. it appeared in the "new york times," on the 5th. and other publications, as well. meanwhile, a movement is under way to try to save the career of a massachusetts state police sergeant. sean murphy was enraged by the cover. he released bloody photos of the night tsarnaev was captured telling "boston" magazine he wanted the show a more accurate portrait of a terrorist. he was suspended for the unauthorized release of those photos. now facebook page is set up urging that sergeant murphy be reinstated. more than 30,000 likes.

murphy's status will be reviewed this week. meanwhile, more information about a possible link between tamerlan tsarnaev and a triple murder in 2011. police never questioned him about the victim but a victim was a close friend and deborah feyerick talked to a gym owner where they trained. >> reporter: with the terror attack on boston three people in john allen's world were about to collide. three people who trained in boxing and mixed martial arts. all three are now dead. and key among them is bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev. were you surprised at the demeanor 72 hours before those bombs -- >> unbelievable. just him entering the ring. i mean, you know, like jumping over both legs. feet shoulder height. >> reporter: right. >> hopping in.

jumping rope. like, yeah, like he was on top of the world. >> reporter: allen trained both tsarnaev and another russian speaker, ibrahim tadashev. >> they prayed to mecca in the gym. ibrahim did it from day one. >> reporter: they were getting closer? >> seemed so. >> reporter: allen said they trained together in 2011. that same year tsarnaev's friend brendan mess was murdered in a near beheldi ibeheading along w pals. tsarnaev was never questioned in relation to the murder or other two thickets, weissman and teken. did he ever tell you that police had come to speak to him, about what he knew about brendan, the jugs, anything? >> no. you know, i mean, around here, they call it nhi.

>> reporter: which issome. >> no humans involved. >> reporter: okay. with which means? >> there were three drug dealers murdered over drugs and money. >> reporter: that was the perception. one of the victims faced drug related charges. shortly after the murders, one moved to florida. tsarnaev left boston and went where it's believed he was radicali radicalized. was it weird he disappeared? >> no. we had been in serious die nothing about him becoming a professional boxer. he was disillusioned and he was very hesitant to do it. >> reporter: allen says he ge fbi agents the name. he was shot by a fbi agent after allegedly implicating himself in the murders. what questions do you have over the death of ibrahim? >> i think everybody has questions. that's a bizarre story and

situation and hard to believe. >> reporter: a seemingly bizarre coincidence of two unthinkable crimes and a cast of characters all connected to tamerlan tsarnaev and his days working out at a boston gym. deborah feyerick, cnn, boston, massachusetts. >> all right. well, the middlesex doeistrict attorney's office said it's conducted a thorough investigation from the start and active an ongoing. from the streets to the white house, trayvon martin case is sparking conversations around this country. and now, it could prompt changes on capitol hill. we'll explain. all business purchases.

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today that trayvon martin conversations moved outside to inside. saturday's call to action compelled thousands of people to rally at federal buildings and courthouses in more than 100 cities around the country. today, lawmakers and news makers took to the air waves. >> they can also see that stand your ground law may be something that needs to be reviewed by the florida legislature. >> in arizona. >> or any other legislature that passed such legislation. obviously, a lot of things need to come up for review but to somehow condemn the verdict of the jury you would have to show me where the jury was corrupted in any way. >> a lot of shows, of course, taped and washington d.c. let's go to washington and

athena jones. that's what senator john mccain had to say this morning, agreeing with president obama that stand your ground needs to be looked at. who else made the rounds today talking about the zimmerman verdict? >> hi, don. well, probably doesn't surprise you a lot of people had a lot of things to say not just about the zimmerman verdict here but also about the president's response to this case and the debate and outrage it's ignited. i want to play a clip of two shows. one from "state of the union" and a democrat of california followed by pbs host tavis smiley speaking on "meet the press." it's a mix of views we saw today. >> i have never seen a president of the united states address this, address it personally and that's a big difference. now you have a president to say, i remember when that woman clutched her purse. i remember hearing the door locks click. that makes you think more when

you own president says that and hopefully that's what helps us change an attitude. >> the president is the right person at the right place at the right time to do more. i'm not part of the anything is enough generation. i want the president to step in the motion as colin pointed out and lead us in a complex conversation about these very different issues. i don't want him to shrink from the calling of this moment historically. >> and so, there you have an example of the mix of views. interestingly, the congressman's point echoed views i heard when i went out immediately after the presidential remarks and spoke to ordinary people around the mall here in d.c. many of the african-americans i spoke to were really pleased to hear the president speak in this personal way about this case and about his own experience being black in america and something we haven't heard him do in that personal of terms in his whole presidency. on the flip side, of course, you have tavis smiley who's a pretty reliable critic of the president

saying he wants more. we heard what he said on "meet the press" and on friday he sent out tweetds for the president to do more and wasn't showing leadership on this issue. i think the conversation is certainly going to continue, don. >> i think he said this week and paraphrasing is weak and sweet as kool-aid was a tweet. sharp, focused language. thank you very much. >> thanks. coming up, see the unbelievable performance at the british open next.

all eyes were on tiger woods but phil mickelson stole the

show. woods faulted today as mickelson caught fire and stormed to victory. rachel nichols joins me. rachel, tiger gets compared to nicolaus. phil is like arnold palmer. risk taker, favorite of the fans. >> by winning this, his first british open, he moves up the pantheon and you're right. he is a risk taker. phil mickelson is brave on the golf course and sometimes ends up seeing the spectacular or it's foolish. we saw that just last month at the u.s. open when he was leading on the final sunday and then ended up blowing it coming in second. he was open after that tournament talking about how quote heart breaking it was. well, he also talked today about how he recovered from that. how he got from there to here in this message.

>> you have to be resilient in this game because losing is such a big part of it. after losing the u.s. open, it could have easily gone where -- gone south where i was so deflated. i had a hard time coming back. but i looked at it and thought i was playing really good golf. playing some of the best of my career and didn't want to stop me from some potential victories this year and potential great play an i'm glad i didn't because i worked harder and in a matter of a month i'm able to change entirely the way i feel. >> and we saw that great moment off the 18th. him hugging his entire family wrapped up in each other. phil's wife, amy, very publicly battling breast cancer a few years ago. an emotional moment and phil's long-time cad by "bones" weeping on the side. i don't know if the camera shows that. don, we can nicknamemake a guy d

bones cry, it's right on, right? >> absolutely. thank you. >> absolutely. did you see that? well, that happened. yes. that happened in russia. classic lesson about not trying to pass a wide load on a narrow two-lane road but what about the reflex of the driver who avoided the clipping car without a strap? everyone survived the spectacular crash. good reflexes but i think a little luck, not a little luck. a whole lot of luck. was involved, as well. my goodness. coming up, we've been talking a lot about race in this country, especially after the president spoke out on friday about race. but what about class? race and class. not many people are talking about that. we'll discuss next. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done

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george zimmerman acquittal sparked so much discussion, so much soul searching nationwide and two of the most interesting columns on cnn.com this week, lz is a commentator and dean is a columnist. lz, we'll start with you. to be a parent of a young black man in this country is to be torn between wanting your son to see the world with no boundaries and warning him of the boundaries that are out there.

moving him into a safe neighborhood and then fearing for his safety. it's nerve-racking to tell you the truth. anxiety grips my body each time he leaves home. seeing the defense attorneys grak grim jokes and gloat after the not guilty verdict doesn't help matters. your son is probably the main reason this case hit home for you and listening to parents of black kids, especially young black men, black boys, i think they worry about their safety a lot more than people may realize. >> and for different reasons. >> absolutely. it is a true struggle for me because i am a product of the hood, if you will. i grew up on the east side of detroit. i never went to a private school. i went to public schools. i grew up on government cheese, government pork. so i understand that aspect of life and i came out from it and i think i did all right.

and there's a part of me that never wants my son not to go through that because it made me the man that i am. it made me strong and it made me resilient. but at the same time, i don't want to make my son in to a social experiment. i don't want him subjected to that environment because of all the bad things that can happen to him. the first time i was mugged was in elementary school. i don't want my son mugged and i constantly struggle between the community i grew up in which was predominantly black and poor and then in an environment that is a higher class that may be predominantly white. he may lose some things but i gain a measure of safety. it is a different danger but i don't have to worry about the black on black crime rate. it's a struggle. it's frustrating. it's infur yating. this is part of the dance i do as a parent of a young black male. >> okay, dean. i'll get to you. no matter how much money you make, no matter how much status

you have, you can never buy your way out of that. >> no, no. you can't. i mean, as i said, i constantly am filled with anxiety. in the neighborhood we live in chicago, fairly safe, predom nabtly white. i wonder if someone may look at him jogging in the cold with a hoodie on and wonder what is this young black male doing in the safe white neighborhood. i don't mean to sound racist. i'm sure it sounds racist -- >> but you wonder. >> this is the things -- these are some of the things that goes through my mind. will someone look at my young black child jogging because he is on the cross country team and wonder if he's running to or into trouble. >> okay. >> that's just one of the things i have to deal with. >> dean, you write about a racial empathy gap you say. here's a quote. you say you don't have to agree with the opposing views but you should listen and try to understand them. but when was the last time you

heard leaders, community groups regardless of race say, hey, let's look at it from the other side? i haven't. do you see people coming together on this issue? >> i think it's going to take a lot of work and i think, frankly, in this time and age when there's a racial issue we cheat it for our own race and side like a sporting event. we come together and demonize each other. >> can i stop you right there? i don't think it's true. >> i think it's true. >> have to have an empathy and to understand and just say, that what the president said day before yesterday that the president has some validity. i'm actually -- i'm actually rooting for the white guys and the white lady watching this and who don't -- may not understand. >> that's different. >> yeah. >> right. but look what happened to president obama. he made that speech and instantly people on the right pushing back. not letting the words sink in. how can they be ratism? we have a president. he's black. re-elected twice or saying things about trayvon martin. in chicago, 94% of the black

people killed by black people. instead of thinking about it from the point of view as a white person, what's it like to live in a world where you're considered suspicious because of your skin color? i used to be white. i'm arab american. after 9/11, i live in a different world. i'm racially profiled and it's a new experience for me. it was eye opening for me. shocking. nothing you want. so, all i do is i ask and half white. i ask my fellow half white citizens, think about what it's like to have your skin color, determinant factor of if you're suspicious or not. how unfair? for the african-american community, look what it must be like. you don't have to agree. think of a white person in a community where the only black people you see are criminals. of course you're suspicious of black people. and it's not right. you don't have to agree with either

>> jon huntsman used to talk about -- >> i've got to go. my producer tells me i have to go. but it's just funny. i don't know if dean is an angry white guy, the angry muslim guy. >> i'm just angry, don. i'm just angry. >> thank you, guys. i appreciate it. wish we had longer but unfortunately we don't. we only have a limited time. thank you both. we're going to talk to -- everyone says, don, if you're going to talk about the generation gap when it comes to race, why don't you talk to some young people? okay. we're going to do it. we're going to do it live, coming up. huh...fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. mmmhmmm...everybody knows that. well, did you know that old macdonald was a really bad speller? your word is...cow. cow. cow. c...o...w... ...e...i...e...i...o. [buzzer] dangnabbit. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know.

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okay. i'm going to get you some live pictures now from texas, and it's in houston. but the reason this is important is because this is -- this is a pro, what you're looking at live pictures from khou. this is a pro trayvon martin rally. this is in river oaks, a pretty exclusive neighborhood of houston, texas. and they are marching towards a pro-george zimmerman group, which is at a mall. and so there you see do you have the police presence? do we have the v.o. of the -- the video of the other group? and so they're trying to keep these folks off the streets, trying to keep them on the sidewalks. this is the pro zimmerman group at a mall in the river oaks neighborhood and they have been

protesting and holding up signs. some of the stores didn't open today and they were holding up signs because the zimmerman group is at the mall. and then now this -- so the stores didn't open. so now this trayvon martin group is marching towards them. so we'll see what happens. we'll keep you updated on that. hopefully nothing will happen and both sides will just do what their right as americans -- what they can do, just protest. protest peacefully. you can do that in america. so we'll keep you updated. let's move on now. we want to talk about race relations with a new generation. each generation's views on race relations become more fresh. they gain a fresher perspective. this week our nation's first african-american president talked personally about racism. thousands rallied to show outrage over george zimmerman's not guilty verdict for the shooting death of trayvon martin. you just saw two rallies there, one of them live, the other one you saw a video of. so we want to know how does generation y handle race relations? so let's bring in shelby lena

clayton, a student at the university of georgia joining us from los angeles. and there's chadwick smith, an incoming student at the college of worcester joins us in atlanta, and then collin christianson a student at emer & henry college joins us in washington. how are you guys doing today? you guys look nice. >> thank you. thank you. >> first i want to talk about the "n" word because rachel jeantel says her generation has tweaked the "n" word. >> start spelling it n-i-g-g-a. >> what does that mean to you? >> means a male. >> a black male? >> no, any kind of male. >> black or white? >> chinese you can say nigga. but nigger, i advise you not to

be by black people because they're not going to have it like that because that's a racist word. >> okay. so chadwick, to you first. just today, i'm having lunch with a friend. he said he was at dinner last night with a group of people. one of the guys said to him, he's half puerto rican, the other guy said hey, what's up, my nigga. he said what did you say? he said he was offended by it. not just black people say this word to each other. do you agree with rachel jeantel that it's okay for anyone to say n-i-g-g-a? >> anyone, no. i think black people can use the word with the "a" ending just because it holds a lot of meaning -- derogatory meaning behind it and it's hurtful. i don't think anyone can use that word. >> but young people use that word. don't tell me you don't. >> no, i do, i do. >> so you use it but you wouldn't want to use a white

people use it? >> i wouldn't want to hear them say it but sometimes i just let it roll off my shoulders when i hear it. >> so shelby, as a young black female, do you agree with rachel jeantel? how do you react to someone when they say the "n" word in your presence? >> i think it has a lot to do with the pop culture that our generation is actually basically listening to the music that some of our artists have used that word in their lyrics and some people it doesn't really matter what race and whether -- what socioeconomic background, they have used that word numerous times in everyday lifestyles. so i don't necessarily like the word, especially how it's evo e evolved and just everyday jargon, but i do think that it has a lot to do with our pop culture and how it's been able for people to use that every day. >> do you use it? >> i mean -- no. >> come on, tell me the truth. >> not in the terms -- not in the terms of how rachel jeantel

was -- i don't really like that word so i try not to use it. >> but you do -- you have used it? >> well, it -- yes, but not in the way that rachel jeantel was stating how i used it. >> all right, okay. collin -- don't be nervous. that's okay. we're all just being honest here. collin, what do you think of the word? >> i mean personally, as a white male, i think it -- as much as you tweak that word, it still has a very negative connotation. and i think it is synonymous with the lesser form that it was used in in the jim crow era. and i think that we really need to value our fellow human beings and not use derogatory words like that, because i don't think you can divorce the word even in its modern sense from its negative connotation that it definitely gained in the jim crow era. >> a lot of people said they didn't understand. and even the witness which was interviewed here on cnn said she

didn't understand rachel jeantel and a lot of african-americans said yes, i understood her and a lot of the younger people said i understood her. did you understand, collin, what she was saying? is it a generation gap? >> yeah, i definitely understood when she was saying in the sense that our generation is definitely influenced by -- as shelby said, we're definitely influenced by awe pop culture, by a media addiction that's predicated on the use of these words. and i definitely think it may have come across to the jurors a little bit differently because they are so much older than our generation. but i think, you know, president obama is correct, that each generation gets better and i think with the next generation and the generations to come, that even these words may become less frequently used. >> okay. so colin, chadwick, shelby, thank you all. you guys were great. you don't have to worry about if you use the word or not, no one is going to be mad at you, all right? i want to have you guys back. >> thank you. >> when we have more time. we had some breaking news a