>> this afternoon, a memorial service will be held for george floyd who died last week while in police custody in minneapolis. we will have live coverage of the service, which is being held at north-central university in minneapolis, beginning at 2:00 eastern here on c-span. >> with the federal government at work in d.c. and throughout the country, use the congressional directory for contact information for members of congress, governors, and federal agencies.

order your copy online today. >> our next guest not only wearing a hat, he actually wears two hats. the mayor of union city, georgia, and also the second vice president for the national league of cities. vince williams, thank you for being with us this morning. thank you for having me this morning. city,tell us where union georgia is. how big is it? guest: union city is approximately 10 minutes south of the great city of atlanta. we have a population of a little less than 25,000 great people. about 19.6 square miles. we are nestled 67 minutes away from hearts phil jackson international airport.

-- hartsville-jackson international airport. what is that organization's mission? guest: the mission of the national league of cities is to leaders.m for local to be able to understand and also navigate through many of the issues that most of us don't get an education on. don't go to school to be an elected official. certainly, with the help of the national league of cities and all of the great opportunities they have to share with many resources, to be able to navigate your many complex issues that drive it also can impact our cities from day-to-day. it gives you insight as to how to have conversations with the federal leaders, state leaders. but also, most importantly, were

constituents as well. i have been a benefactor of the national league of cities for a number of years. as ast got elected in 2007 city councilmember and became the mayor in any 13. it has been a phenomenal opportunity for me, but also i am blessed to where the second vice president hat of the national league of cities. host: mayor williams on with us this morning to talk about issues facing cities -- not just cities, but the entire nation, the protests happening in cities and the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. we welcome your calls and comments at (202) 748-8001 four republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents and others, (202) 748-8002. you mentioned you are just south of the atlanta area. of the spinoffme

of what is happening in atlanta. first on the covid-19 pandemic. give us a snapshot of what it is like in your community. inst: in my community, i am , the dominanty community of caller, if you will. as it relates to covid-19, i am aware it is considered -- i have a vulnerable population. my city is made up of a population of seniors who have retired to this area because of its proximity to atlanta, it also to the airport. covid-19, we have been impacted like many cities with closures of non-essential businesses. many have started -- georgia was one of the first states to open up. i tell you certainly, i am one of the first to celebrate the

generating economy. i can't support it right now because my area, my citizenry, and many of those that are around me, any of the other cities around me, and just like me are not ready because our numbers are not scaling down at all. our numbers are gradually rising each and every day. primarily because there is more testing being done. we are thankful for that. however, when you start the testing, we were going to start getting positive numbers. that's a good thing, that it is also an alarming thing because we have a lot of people who are not adhering to the information from the cdc, and also our department of health, by utilizing those of like safety adherence is and protections. it has greatly impacted us from an economic standpoint and we certainly see it from a health

standpoint. host: after the killing of george floyd, tell us your personal reaction, but also how he reacted as mayor in terms of anticipating potential protests, potential unrest there in union city. guest: i'm going to speak to the protests. certainly, the first amendment speaks to that. peaceable protests. certainly i am a supporter of that, have always been an advocate of that. i had the great pleasure, i was born and raised in memphis. i certainly recall a number of protests around the time dr. extremelyher king was vocal and prominent as it relates to protest. but never did he drive a protest to rioting and looting. that is when you lose the message of what the issues are. get to a placean where we can sit down and have

real conversations. certainly, there is a conversation that needs to be had in this nation. i hope that our federal leaders are paying attention, but also i hope our federal leaders are extending a listening ear to be able to know and hear and understand the plight of people of caller, especially african-americans. aere is and has been disproportionate amount of injustice and we must address that. host: i think we may have lost your audio for a moment, but we will ask you this for we get calls. you, as the national league of cities, what is the national league of cities on covid-19, and the federal government, what are you asking of the federal government? in terms of legislative response, funding, etc. guest: the national league of cities, have what is called a campaign.

a simple, that is approach called cities are essential. certainly, the federal government has come out with the cares act, certainly has started dispersing direct funding to a number of cities and states, and even counties. if you are not a city that has a population more, certainly, we have been out of you got nothing. the equation and that l availabe to us. it is unlikely to ever be available. one of the things we are doing, we are pushing that the federal the coronavirus relief funds for all minister polities to be able to address the issues that we are all impacted by because this is not just a big-city issue. this is an every city issue.

certainly i applaud those 36 cities because there are only 36 cities in that criteria. doesstates, apparently, not mean anything to our federal leaders. i hate to say that, but that is what it appears to be. they getake sure that an understanding that their hometowns and those people basic support as we elect them, they have really given them a slap in the face. that they don't matter. host: one quick question. to be clear, we talked about governor kemp and the reopening in georgia. there in union city you have chosen not to reopen on the scale that the rest of the state is. businesses of our that were considered non-essential, i have spoken to a number of my business owners and they have decided that they were not ready to open. there were not prepared.

many of my businesses, which are small businesses, and certainly honorable men and women who scraped to do all they could to start their businesses, they don't have the financial support to be able to take care of some of the small things, such as making sure they have all the safety measures in place, such as masks or sanitizing stations and different things like that. theiraking sure that employees that work for them, that they are taking care of. an event such as cobit -- this is something that is enough those 100-year markers. certainly with cobit here, it is going to impact many cities like union city around this country of our small businesses will not have the capacity to bounce back. we have taken the approach that

if we can get the federal government to assist cities that are under the 500,000 population marker, we can navigate through some of that funding to be able to assist some of our small businesses that need the assistance to be able to reopen and also to be able to get back on their seat -- back on their feet. --will start with peter in host: we will start with peter. caller: a big thank you to everyone at c-span and a big thank you to everyone on the front lines and people who do the right thing in times of trial and difficulty. i want to say that, i think we should recognize the awesomeness of a lot of america's mayors. who haver people governors and mayors that are not more thoughtful. my main concern is that, in

looking that there may be a ,econd wave by whatever cause you know, we are looking at a potential second wave. i'm concerned the federal government will penalize america's governors and mayors and people in urban areas and all of us in general. takeworried that they will the stance we see from police, the aggressive first, dominate, at that kind of gave your with the citizenry. i'm worried the federal government does that all the time to our mayors and governors who are trying to do right by the people. thanks -- host: thanks for the call. vince williams. any thoughts on what our caller had to say? guest: certainly what the caller stated is true. there are many leaders around this nation that are doing the right thing. certainly we must at all times

do our best and strive our hardest to do the right thing. the national league of cities, we are one of the organizations, if not the only the real program provides training and resources to apply lens policies and drive initiatives and programs. city leaders must step up to take the lead with their police

departments and committee members to address racial and goodies -- racial inequities. to approach our 100 year in the next couple of years. resourcesny helpful available to members and community leaders. cindy outs hear from of hendersonville, north carolina. guest: i am concerned about the protests. protested in 1968 against the vietnam war. man and i amblack white and we got discriminated against for being together. concern is about the

protests -- what effect will this have with covid? you shut down all the cities because of covid and everybody was quarantined, we shut down all the businesses. and all the protesters are out there. most of them are wearing masks, but they are singing and shouting. they are spitting on people by accident. affect our country if we have a second way? city in myery small small business did get assistance. aree it is the way you addressing the government to try to get the money. i don't know. my small business got money and we are in a very small town. my most concern is about a second wave of the covid.

: cindy makes a lot of great comments. but what i have to say first as it relates to receiving support from the federal government -- and i applaud that and i am glad you did get it. unfortunately, this proportionately, a lot of small business owners are not as astute when it comes to putting together the necessary information on applications and forms. any of them just don't qualify. certainly we have to look at that. just because you don't qualify doesn't mean that your business should not still be supported. we are working with the number of our businesses who have had that challenge by reaching out to the small business administration. but also not even receiving the ppp that other businesses have. i have some businesses that have

been able to navigate through that, that i have a larger proportion that have not received anything. certainly to cindy's comment about the protests, i'm not concerned about the protesters as long as it is a peaceable protest. what i'm concerned about are those that are inserting themselves into protests where they are not there for the protests. they are there to wait tonight for, to attack, to loot, and pillage. those are the people and those of the individuals i am concerned about. the protesters, there are a number of protesters around this country that are doing it the right way. at this juncture where we are right now, i am looking at many, many sites around this country where the police are being purposely targeted. those are things we must address. city leaders have a greater capacity to create real, tangible changes in policing and

certainly creating policy that federal governments will ever have. we got to make sure that we are stepping in and part of the solution. certainly, we do not want to wait for tragedy to occur in our city to address these pressing issues. host: on your comment about looting, a front-page story in the wall street journal. looting deals as second blow. small businesses were already reeling from shutdowns because of covid-19. let me ask you, a comment from one of our viewers on twitter says this. being a black mayor of a community in georgia is the trifecta of being in the wrong place at the right time. racism and white supremacy surround you and governments neglect and oppress you. it has been like this since the country began. do you feel you are at the wrong place at the wrong time? guest: i do not. i feel like i'm at the right

place at the right time. i have been able to navigate through this relationship aspect as it relates to working with our leaders, from county, estate, and even federal level. i have a great working relationship with our governor. certainly he has been extremely supportive of what we do here in union city, but what we do in the state. he and i don't agree on all policies, but certainly that's life. we have to find a balance, you know, but certainly i don't have a problem with disagreeing. it's how we disagree. but certainly i have had a great working relationship with all of my federal delegates. it has been a promising opportunity for my city and