captioning sponsored byro newshour pctions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'moo judydruff. on the newshour tonight, unrest in these united states protests across the country call for justice as pockets of violence and chaos erupt in the streets. then, president trump orrates governand calls for crackdown. look at this critical moment in amecan life. and, roots of anger-- we are on the ground in minneapolis toho examinw a history of racism sowed the seeds of today's protests. >> i've been stopped so many times for the color of my skin. i've been harassed forskhe color of m. as far as i can remember. i mean, when i walk out the house, i have to worry about what's going to happen to me >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can findea yourselfng in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial plannind advice for today, and tomorr.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and sung institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and byontributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: dozens of american cities are bracing for newte protests, and ially, new violence, tonight. outrage over police killings of

black victims has fueled unrest from coast tcoast. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. h >> alcindoistoric protests. a nation reeling. f and an uncertaure ahead. today, americans across the country woke up to burned buildings, shattered store fronts, and walls littered with gr >> say his name! george floyd! >> alcdor: this is the aftermath of a weekend filled with some of the largest demonstrations seen in a generation. they erupted over the police kiing of george floyd. he was a black man who died after a white police offer kneeled on his neck with three other officers standing by. in more than 140 cities across all 50 states, tens of thousds took to the streets. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> alcindo demonstrators from boston to los angeles rallied against the sproportionate police-killings of black people.

the protests were largely peaceful. but, with nightfall in someth places, tone changed, and cities burned. footage social media showed the moment demonstratorson t a n provoke police.s he attempted to in new york city, demonstrators came head to heaanwith police. d looting disrupted parts of there was similar trouble in washington, philadelphia and elsewhere. a curfews.cities imposed nationwide, at least 23 states and the district of columbia called out more than 17,000 national guardsmen. his brother spoke to crowds. >> if i'm not over here wild enough, if i'm notver her blowing up stuff, if i'm not over here messing up my community, then what y'all

doag? what are yll doing? y'all doing nothing. because that's not going to bring my blower back at a >> alcindor: in some cities, y police expressed solidarth the peaceful demonstrators. teen protesters in washington struggled to wasar gas from their eyes.ci in new yorty, some police cruisers drove into crowds. and in atlanta, a police office wafired after dragging black college students out of their car and tasing them. through a historically tumultuous weekend, president trump spoke only through twitter. there, he blamed anti-fascist "ganizations or "anti for the violence. on a phone call with governors today, t president called for harsher crackdowns. >> you have to dominate, if you your time.wasting they're gonna run over you you're gonna look like a bunch te jerks. you have to domiand you have to arrest people, and you have to try people and they have to go to jail for long periods of time. >> alcindor: this afternoon, white house press secretary m

kayleinany weighed in. >> the president has made clear that what were seeing america's streets is unacptable. violence, looting, anarchy, lawlessness are not to be tolerated. these criminal acts are not protests. they are not sttements. these are crimes that harm innocentmerican citizens. >> outside the white house this weekend the >> alcindo outside the white house this weekend, the newshour spoke to demonstrators like jaden olley, who said lives like his are on the line. what do you want them to understand about your life as a black man? >> i just i'm i'm as equal as anybody else as valuable as anybody else in the world, just cause i'm a human being and just like anybody else. so i just i just want justice for everybody, not just justice eefor people that he would justice should be for. >> alcindor: when you see the video of george floyd, do k u that could be me? >> always. i was eight years old

mind when the trayvon martin case happened. and ever since then, i understood that it could be me. >> alcindor: demonstrator taylor jones says that's a painful reality for her, too >> my plans were to actually be a police officer, but then i realized that that one good apple in a bad batch really doesn't ma a differe because once you sign your life over to that badge, you have to be loyal to who you work for and that just wasn't me. i should not havg to fear leav house and not being able to breathe or my mom calling me crying because i'm f protesting my rights and she is scared i won't come back home. >> alcindor: this weekend, m of police violence in america echoed around the world. in auckland, new zealand, stres filled with protesters chanting in support of "blac lives matter." and in londo demonstrations there became violent as clashes erupted with pice. back in minneapolis toy, civil curfew was imposed and if other

cities. attorney ben crunounced arights back in minneapolis today, civil rights attorney ben crumb announced the results of a private family autopsy on floyd. they said sustained pressure on floyd's neck ad back by all four responding officers are what killed him.su >> the scar tiof georgeil floyd's deathbe permanent scar tissue on the sub conscience of america. >> and the minneapolis police chief said the three officers >> alcindor: and theceinneapolis pohief said the three officers who watched floyd's killing were "complicit." but, they have not been arrested or charged in hs death. yamiche alcindor.ru i'm they officialld george floyd's death a homicide. also today the police >> woodruff: also today, the police chi of louisville,

ntucky was fired, a month efore he retires, when officers killed a bla mly today, and failed to record body-cam footage. a black woman was killed by louisville police, in march. as you saw in yamiche's report, d outrage and protest erup cities across the country. amna nawaz takes a closer look. >> nawaz: that's right, judy.wh started in minneapolis last week spread to dozens of cities this weekend. and thousands of protesters were arrested. we've got reporters across the country: pbs newshour special corespondent fred de sam lazaro is in minneapolis. rickey bevington of georgia public broadcasting is in atlanta.an cerise castle of public radio station kcrw is in los angeles. welcome to you all, and fred, let's go to you in minneolis first, this is ground zero in many ways. this is where george was

killed, or where the protests began. bring us up to speed on what has been happening or the last two to three days and what is happening there now. >> what's happening here now all around me vey close to the third precinct which was burned down, is a lot of cleanup activity, amna and officials mere in minnesota allowing themselves for the rst time t be optimistic. the governor has loosened the cuew hours. so they're a little shorter. certain national guard deployments on standby are now being sent home. there is a sense that people can be a little more optimistic, that for this afternoon a fundraising drive to which more people contributed $2 million to help small businesses that have been devastated these lat few days. so for the first time we're getting a sense from minneapolis that can look post george floyd

into its future. >> certainly good news for so many people, but fred, juút to follow up, i wder if you can tell us about what that official response has been?de we heard pre trump on that reported call with governors earlier hail the response from governor walz saying he had done a good job. what have you seen and what doet that mean abhat you think people there can expect tonight? >> governor waltz-- walz pushed back a little bit while agreeeg that the d up police presence which was no nonsense yesterday d helpe-escalate the situation. he said this was militarily unsustainable. that was on one of two points that the governor seemed to make in hws conference today. the other point is he said the compliance with the stay at home pls, essentially from officials, were escalated to be stay at home commands.

d there was a great deal more compliance and tranquility in the city, relative to the days before that. so, so there was a little bit of pushback from the governor on what caused this. he said this is just not milirily or socially sustainable, itis the antithesis of how we live. all eyes are on tonight to see how it evolves in mnenolis. >> and we'll be watching as well, cerise castle, i want go to you er in los angeles. you were out covering the protests in the fairfax ditrict of los angeles. an area with a lot of shops and arestaurants, touristttraction. describe for us what you saw over the course of the hours that you were there. >> sure. i came out to cover a protest that was happening at pan-pacific park around noon on saturday. i was there for about six hours and in that time i was walking with protestors as they made their way throughout thect dist lots of them for the most part with peaceably gathered.o i saw lts of signs, lots of

group chanting and even some aztetpeople that came ou and rformed a ceremonial dance which you can see in the photose you areing now. now things did start to get a little harry as the afernoon wore on. at one point about 500 people had gatheredt the intefere section oferly and fairfax and a saw a number of police t cruiset had beenut on fire. that was the only real violence i saw when i wasut there, for the most part, like i said, people were gathed peacefully. at one point, however, around 4:00 is when things started to turn up a little bit. that was when police in full riot gear made their way to the intersection and began firing rubber bullets without warning at protestors and at jisourn such as myself. i was actually hit with a rubber llet in the arm and by los angeles polanice. i haven't really heard any word from the police department as to why theyershooting at

journalists. ly>> very briyou mentioned to my producer you saw kind of two groups of people out there. what did you mean by that? >> sure, well, for the mos part, most of these protestors that i am seeing out here came th the intent to peacefully demonstrate and exercise their first amendment rights. on the other hand, there are people that are sort of takgin advantage of the police being preoccupied with these demonstrators and sending all their resources over there. these people that are coming in and choosing to break into stores and steal from them e, you know, taking advantage of those are the two groups ofd. people that we're seeing covered by most of the meia and these protests. but there isn't really a lot of differ rent yaition be two groups. however on the ground, it is clear that these really are twof ent groups of people with two completely different agendas. >> rickey bevington over in atlant tell us about wht you were seeing covering the the

protests, did did youe something similar to what rise was kriebing. >> the police presence was robug, professional, oized and calm. the group however last night that i saw was less unified. there were definitely people there to peacefully protest against police brutality. parents with small children, couples holding signs. there were other groups of people who appeared ready for conflict with police, in fact those conflicts within the groue were clearone group of protestors began to tear apart a construction site stealing the fencing to create a barricade in the roar otheprotestors were screaming at them to stopg sayat the property damage does not represent the message that they were there to send. >> rickey, do you have any sense based on the community and people you have beend alking to e official response of what is ahead for atlanta tonight? >> atlanta is under a 9 p.m. curfew fr the third evening in a row.

authorities do believe that there will be more activity today. earlier this afternoon about 55 people were rested for blocking the road in front of city hall. there were about 157 arrests on saturday night, about half that many last night. authorities are hoping for a downward trend. >> cerise, very briefly in just couple seconds, doou know what officialare anticipating in los angeles? >> well, tonight we have a curfew in place as well. the curfs in l.a. county range from as early as 1:30 this afternoon to as late as 8:00. we have brought in the national guard to help dispercent people and make sure people adhere to that curfew. but i self he already seen that a number of protests pla are outside the curfew hours, so we can expect law enforcement to be out onhe streets enforcing that tonight. >> we'll all be watching. and we hope all of you stay safe. thank you for joining us tonight, rickey bevington, cerise castle and of course fred de sam lazaro in minneapolis,

stay safe. >> thank you. >> woodruff: there will be more peaceful protests around the country throughout this night. but there will likely be charged confrontations as well. we talk with two people whose experience matters. michael nutter is the former mayor of philadelphia. and christopher swanson is the sheriff of genessee county, michigan. he got national attention for his approach to demonstrators in int this wkend. here's how some of that went. >> we want to be with y'all for real. so i took the helmet off, laid the btons down. i want to make this a parade, not ast pro you tell us what you need.wi

>> wal us. lk with us. walk with us. walk with us. walk with us. walk with us. walk with us! (cheers and applause) >> so sheriff swanson watching that video, why did you decide to do that? you were expressing solidarity with these protestors. >> you are right. and thanks for having me. and i can tell you that that night on may 30th was a history on how to handleot ts in a way that was our goal. our city is already under eno oppression. we are already dealing with economic issues, water crisismi and a pan and it was just the right thing to do. as a veteran police officer who knows the community, i saw acts of kndness with fit bumps, a small hug and i went to my right, and i saw that. and i said i'mngahe helmet

off, we're putting our batons down and i'm walking in the crowd. and when i did that, that act of vulnerability, probably wasn't best tactical rules by any means, it sent a message. and that message was that i need not who we are, what happened to mr. floyd. and when i said that to the crowd, the second qust wn, what doe need to do now? is to walk with us, that changed everything. h because now thd a point. and they wanted somebody to listen to, and that's what was the game changer. >> woodruff: mayor nutter, former mayor nutter, how often does something like that happen, ju your experience? >> unfortunatelyy, it's pretty rare. and the sheriff swanson, thk you for your leadership. i also understand that somhing similar happened in campton, , w jersst across the river from us here in philadelphia. i thi increasingly, judy,

these issues, these challenges n only be solved by partnership and cooperation. by police and community working together. but also because of the racial aspect of this, black americans ed to hear that white people really do understand and are not only listening but they're hearing what we say. the issues and challenges, you know, if you think about the last three, four months, what has happened. suddenly worldwide pandemic, everyone's forced into their home. virtually no one can work. thousands, millions of people have lost their jos. 40 some million americans have filed for unemployment. and then w see the video from ahmaud ar berry's assassination, chased down by two or three white people, kill him.

we see mr. floyd killed in the streets, a new autsy report, homicide at the hands of police. we see or hear abut mr. cooper in central park where unfortunately a white female uses race as aeapon to against mr. cooper who was doing nothing. and that could have turned outly very b and incident after disinlt after judy, they are really pissedred, off.>> woodruff: well, that's te way a lot of people feel, sheriff swanson, how do yo know, how, how does someone in law enforcement, in your position know when thement is right to do this? because as we said, there are a lot of people who want these protests to beeaceful, but there are sometimes, you know, things get out o control people get involved who take things to a different place. how is law enforcement to handle that? what's the bestpproach.

>> first of all, you have to know your community. mayors spot on. i'm sure he knows phillie better than anybody. but if you sepate yourself, especially as a police executive from the streets and how you go and you lose touch, and you become tone deaf to what the language is, that separation creates a divide. and now it just so happens that divide is police against african-americans. that it sets a tone, but that tone request can be reversed. we saw that in flint michigan. in eight minutes and 46 seconds, one individual who wore the same uniform, but isn't who we are, he raced years of inroads thatha communitie built with their people, that law enforcement has tried to hard, that mayors and townships and cities across the nation have tried to build. but those relationships were e y. and i letll you, the 127

years on the job, it wasn't just something that i thought of. i would like to say that i strategized, it wasn't it. i love my people. i love the people in the community. rve them for my entire adult life. i felt comnortable, althoug the best tactical decision as i mentioned. but i knew that if i laidown my weapon and i walked in a position of vulnerability, they would see me as an action, not just words.ik justmayor said, people are tired of words. and when they saw that, it changed their hearts. and we haven't stopped there. ere are demonstrations right on the front of our lawn, took care of people, served them, no issues. today we had more demonstrations, served them, protected them, three days, no arrests, no fires, no injuries. >> woodruff: let me just finally, we have less than a minute, mayor nutter. president trump today is calling on governors to get tougher,

saying if you don't domine e you en as weak, they will see you as jerks. is this a mssage law enforcement should be heeding, governors should be heeding. >> that is just accelerating the feeling of oppn ressat black people, latino people, other people of color have already donald trump has no idea how toa ge any crisis. he has no, as the chief talked about, he has no feeling of the street. this is not about domination. this is about working with but judy, you eluded to something and i want to take it ad on. there are some people at these protests whose interests are not about mr. floyd. whose interests are not about black people, whose interests are not about equity and justice. ere are people wh want destruction. they want chaos, they wantus con. and they mesh into, they meld into some of treowd. and the next thing you know you have chaos. now donald trump likes chaos.

because he can now play to his political base, that he has to keep these people in control. it say political game that he is playing. and we're talking about life-and-death. the life-and-death of people and the life-and-death ofs. communit >> woodruff: mayor michael nutter, sheriff anson, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: let's focus more on some of the deeper systemic issues that are underlying the demonstrations and civic unrest shing the country. we have three voices to join us for that. roxane gay is a noted essayist and author whose work frequently focuses on race, feminism, identity and privilege. anna deavere smith, an award- winning playwright and actorrk whose have explored questions about race, class and that includes "notes from the

field," which was adapted into a -film by hbo and will be broadcast tomorrow. and tay anderson is an actwhist in denvehas been leading protests there. he is so a denver public schools board member. weome to all three of you and tay anderson, let me start with you first. you are elected to the school board. you were part of the power structure but you are also a young african-american man. what do u take away from theof deat george floyd? >> first off, ank you for having me. as a black man every day i wake up and wonder, will i be able to go home. interaction with being pulledo over and not knowing what do you reach for fst, or do you put your hands up or put them out of the window. and so to see that george fyd was killed is heartbreaking. but it is not the first time that we have had to gather like

this. i hope that it will be the last. >> roxane gay as you listen to the voices of those who are protesting, what do you hear d is it what you're feeling inside you? >> absolutely. i'm hearing and i think what all of us are hearing that are listening is rage. and people saying it's enough. every single day, almost,w ne atrocity comes to light. and people can only tolerate so much injustice and oppression. n and we'w seeing the consequences of not dealing wita police brty. and unfortunately, the response in most places has been to respond with more policing. which is actually not the swer. so i am frustrated. the protest as the prote are and just wondering when is it going to change but i don't know ihwill. >> anna deavere smith you have been writing about race and

about socecial jusabout the criminal justice system for years. what is different this time? >> well, there is one thing thao e is notably different. and that is the exotion of the people in the street doing thepr ests. and more than one newscaster has commentedd that it's not just black people. and you know, this word, ay i heard from younger people takes on a new meaning for me. and i think actually if there is evidence about how education, particularly in colleges over the last two decades have increased sort of people's awareness of one another. and people's awareness of black culture and that many of the whle people there and theack people out there, peacefullyti prot, have been influenced by people like toni morrison and even to experience very powerful

culte al makers like rk of shonda reims or jay and the have experienced it together. and they expect a lot more from the system. >> and tay anderson, are those some of the messages you feel are co you are expressing your own rage do you feel some of this coming across? >> yeah, we have an, in denver we have explicitly ked what we call allies that are showing up to please not escalate our behalf. but those asks have been ignored. and right nowe are seeing our city being destroyed. and st not in the name of black organizers or black lives matter people are taking it on their own vow lis and st heartbreaking to see that the who come out to support the cause are using nda.cause for their own age >> woodruff: is that, roxane ga is that somethi that

disturbs you? you said a moment ago it's hard, words to the effect, it's hard to have hope. why is it hard to have hopeno righ? >> it's hard to have hope because there's no change. the is no productive respoe. there's no leadership at the federal level because the president is the racist in cheaf. sohen you see that evn in liberal states like california and a liberal city like los angeas where today we hve curfews at 1, 4 and 6 p.m., how do you have hope when even the moiberal of government is t responding with anyingut reinforcing the police state. and yesterday, last night in protests in louisville, kentucky, a 53 year old black man david mack ady was murdered by police. so how do y have hope when during a protest against police violence, anotr black man is murdered. it is incredibly frustrating. >> woodruff: and i want to come back you, tay anderson,

on that beause you look at what is going on and to some extent clearly the violence that is happening is causing people to say, this has gone too far. on the other hand, there is still a great sense of injustic> eah. we understand that there is a great sense of injustice. and it is heartbreaking to see us continuing to gather lik this but we heard this morning that the family of george flyd, they're asking us to please be peaceful. that's one of the things we're asking here in denver, isb pleapeaceful and respect our ask. >> woodruff: and is that, is that being heard? >> by some it is. unfortunely, not by all. an we're hoping that if you claim to be an ally, that you will sta listening t the asks of the black community atly here

in dever, colorado. now organizers in different cities and different states mayi be d different things, but here in denver we are asking people to please keep the peace. >> woodruff: and that brings me back to what you said a ment ago ana deavere smith, because you said, there is a sense of rogress you seein the makeup of who is protesting and the message thais coming out. and yet we just heard roxane gay say it is hard because it just keeps happening er and over again. >> well, no, i mean i see a direct line from lynchinto this, right? lynching is, i think de fined as extra legal, execution. anddthat's really what hapd,pe right, chauvin was wking outside the bounds of what was acceptable. and i was in the court room in los angeles for that seciad after the riots there. and i saw how hard it is to bring police officers to

justice. how hard it is to put them in jailt we thought tcond treatment was also going to have them all walk and as you may recall twod did, and two dot. and of course i was in baltimore right after the beating and killing of freddie gray. and again, you know, so i understand the frustration. in my citings, the peaceful, the peaceful crowd and the make-up of that crowd giving me some hope, it is also a call out to q educatiote frankly. right, is the power of education and the power of art to, you know, increase empathy and just teach people more about the world. >> woodruff: what is it going to takgaroxany, i mean i come back to what you said a moment ago, and i reread what you wrote in the new york sometimes on sunday. yosaid eventually doctors will find a coronavirus vaccine but black people continue to wait for a cure for racism.ty of hope

it's bleak z. >> if is petty bleak. and i don't even mow what to do with that. because we can't say there is no pe because otherwise what are we telling ou children and what be we telling ourselvesut how we're going to live out the rest of our lives. but we need systemic reform. and i don't knoathat we cn expects the police to reform tiemselves. like the insti is corrupt. and so i think reform is going to have to come externally and we're going to have to reay expand our imaginations to reimagine what law enforcement might look like if racismidt underpin it. i don't know where to begin but i do know that we need totart havi conversations with our elected officials and they need to start doing more than just simply rei state in response to these kinds of uprisings.e becae protesting is not going to stop until someone acknowledges why the protests happened in the first place and it has to be more than just a speech abort we supeaceful

protests. peaceful protest is tant and necessary and i agree with what tay said. it's really frustrating to see people ignoring the black please, stop t is helping our cause t say bunch of kids from the suburb, anarchists and probably white supremacists coming in and probably, creatin these problems. and it further shows that we're not going to be taken seiously because even when we try to advocate for ourselves white people come in and try to ruin it with their own nonsense. so it is frustrating. >> woodruff: and tay anderson, back to you, do you have a sense have answers that ouris goi generation, the older generation clearly has not had? >> i think our generation needs to one, understand the pornses of voting.a becausot-- the importance of voting because a lot of the clang we want to see is held at the ballot box. we have to be able to go out there and seek the change that we want to seek.

i think our generation is waking up. but think there are people in this generation that are using this moment and this omovement for a tre twitter, foa tiktok video or to go viral on social med which is disgusting. we shouldn't have white kids come frk the suburbs throwingf st police officers on our behalf to be cool for a nice trend. that is not what we have asked r. and st hurting us more than it is going to help us. so hopefully what i plan to see in the future is that we areo ableart coming together and actually start understanding that black lives mater is not about asking for special privilege. it's just saying black people just want to be seen as humans.: >> woodrwell, we have to leave there. but for now, tay andern, roxane gay, anna deavere smith, this is just one part of a conversation that continues. and we thank you all for being part of it tonight. thank you. >> thank you.

>> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, u.s. health officials ed fears that the ongoin mass protests could fuel new covid-19 infections. that came as deaths nationwide neared 105,000, including some 26,000 nursing home patients. meanwhile, the floris welcomed visitors for the first time in two months, while the world health organization again urged caution in reopening: >> we need to be carul this isst l a killer virus and there's still thousands of peopleng everyday drom this virus, so we need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense where virus by its own volition deded to become less pathogenic that is not the case at all. >> woodruff:tiarts of the can also opened for the first time since march, and shoppers returd to london's camden market.al

onstreet today, the dow jones industrial average gained 91 points to close at 25,475. the nasdaq rose 62 points, and, the s&p 500 added 11. and, the artist christo, known for massive, temporary public arts displays, has died. he passed away sunday in new york. there was no word on the cause. christo and his late wife, jeanne-claude, gained fame for swaddling rge structures in fabric. over the years, they wrapped: the reichstag in berlin, a famous bridge in paris, and floating barrels in london, among many others. christo was 84 years old. >> woodruff: let's go back to where this began, minnesota. the problems in the twin cities

withriminal justice there go much deeper than the george floyd case. of the 100argest metro areas in the country, minneapolis's income g between whites and african-americans is t second worst-- nearly $ 50,000 a family.ai to special correspondent fred de sam lazaro. >> reporter: the police killing of george floyd, captured on bystanders' cell phones. peaceful protests that quickly turned into olent and chaotic riots, reducing entire city blocks to ashes. in the middle of a deadly pandemicthe city fell into a vicious daily cycle: cleanups under sunshine, and, by nightfall, violence, looting, and standoffs with armed law enforcement authorities. >> say his name! george floyd! >> reporter: on sunday, thou, at the site of floyd's killing, protesters gathered for a

peaceful rally. >> i've been harassed for the color of my skin.s as farcan remember. i mean, when i walk out the house, i have to worry about what's going to y.ppen to me toth >> when i saw e video. i literally wept. and it just broke my heart. and i thought about that could be my brothers, that could be my dad. that could be anybody. my uncle, my cousins and i couldn't not come out here and protest this injustice that was done.or >> rr: in some ways, minneapolis may seem like an unlikely flashpoint for americs worst urban race riots in decades. 16 fortune 500 companies have thr headquarters here in minnesota. the state has a reputation of ing both prosperous and progressive. there's a commonly heard expression around here that go"" minnesota nic" but in minority communities, you'll have many people say that that's not entirely true. >> you're doinwell if you're white. minnesota nice, if you're white. >> reporter: mike griffin is a counity organizer in

minneapolis. >> we need the leadersp of this city, the leadership of the haate to really lean in on are the structural problems that are making this community so angry. >> reporter: among those problems: an educational achievement gap that is one of the worst in the country, a dark history of discriminatoryus g practices, and sharp income inequality.ee >> what you'reg on the streets as folks show up in protest is their kind of outward illustration of what tand rage look like.or >> rr: brittany lewis is a professor at the university of minnesota's center for urban and regional affairs. we met her in north minneapolis, where she grew up. neighborhood over the weekend, it was the site of a massive food and supply drive for residents alrey suffering through the coronavirus pandemic, and now after the rioting the loss of so many grocery and retail stores.u >>lready had a community suffering from a lack of

resources, food, community and access. a lot of folks who lost their jobs were in the service industry, black and brown people. and then george floyd happened. >> reporte she says long before george floyd, minories in minnesota have faced a different kind of discrimination. >> there's an overt form of racism, right? that you might be used to. but then tre's a subtle a form of racism that gives you thees imon that you're welcome, you're invited, we want you to engage. but then you learn really quickly that's not exactly what ey want at all. >> reporter: however, lewis says the george floyd killi highlights the most glaring and certainly the most raw example of inequality for many african americans-- the difference in how their communities are philando castile, a 32-year old black man was fatally shot during a traffic stop. the year before, a minolis police officer fatally shot 24-

year-old jamar clark. th cases sparked outrage, protests and talks of change. and four years ago, the minneapolis police department put in place new policies aimed at reducing the use of force and enquiring officers to inte if they observe a colleague being abusive. >> this is a cycle that we personally here have s on play out fisix times just in the last five years in minneapolis. >> reporter: tony wi is a member of a group which wants to radically change the city's approach to public safety. >> i think for those of who have been following this history and the culture of policing here in minneapolis, it's a watershed moment in terms of the community that's protesting rigt now is no longer saying that we thiin reforms are to fix the underlying problems here. >> reporter: even police chiefs around the nation are expressing outrage and frustrater george floyd's killing. >> i don't kw of one police

chief in minnesota who has looked at that video and said that is the right technique. >> reporter: andy skoogman is the executive director of the minnesota chiefs of police. >> for me personally, there is a sad irony in all of i do believe that minnesota has worked very hard over the last 10, 15 years to improve community relations. we need to double down on that and figure out ways that we can recruit more diverse candidates, but more better quality candidates just in general. >> reporter: but for young black men in minneapolis, ths will have to go far beyond police departments. >> i'm going to call 911.r: >> reporne day after george floyd's killing, a white man threatened to call the police on a group of young black megwhile they were all work out in using their office

building's gym. >> the threat of, you know, i'm gonna call 911. you know for a black person, if you said to a black person in america now is essentially, to a certain extent a death threat. i reporter: 24 year-old a hassan says the situation t.mees is when our phoneakingn >> reporter: hassan's colleague, 22 year-old zak ahmed, recorded and posted the interaction online. the video soon went viral and the white man who had confronted them was kicked out of the >> racism that you face on a day to day, we just as a blackju person, yo learn to deal with those things and not, you ofknow, make a big deal ou them. but i think people should start recording thesthings so that, you know one by one, we can stop things like this from happening in t future. >> reporter: but aft a volatile and chaotic week,

university of minnesota professor brittany lewis is uncertain about that future. >> i fear this is not taken seously. >> reporter: even now? >> reporter: even no i'm not going to lie to you. i'm worried beuse right now people are we're still in the feelings of protest and rage. but ere's still a trial. there's still-- we're-- this is a long road. newshour i'm fred lazaro in minneapolis. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with a contentious conversation that president trump had todawith governors. buarfirst, take a moment to from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps kp programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: back in 2016,

special correspondent charlayne hunter gault went to gary, indiana to learn about thatto city's wormprove the relationships between the community and the policert depant. >> reporter: karen marie freeman-wilson bame mayor of her native gary, indiana, after three attempts. high on her list of priorities was improving relations between the police and the predominantly black co town with high unemploymentk dating b the steel mill closures in the '70s, in addition to a history of police brutality and crime. but mayor freeman-wilson is starting to change gary, and we sat down wh the mayor to discuss her solutions. mayor freeman-wilson, thank you for joining us. how high on your list of priorities wasolice community relations? >> well police community relations was very high on my list, because public safety was one of the greatest concer in

our community. we had and still have a very high murder rate. had and have a high rate of crime even though it's gone down. a lot has to do with the fact that there's frustration associated with not having employment, with not havinge, adequate incith poverty, and as a result of that, peopled o be angry or angrier and as a result of that anger, you will find that people resort to violence sometimes. w reporter: but at the time you took office, the real conflict between the community and the police. whou was the biggest problem had to deal with there? >> well there was distrust of >> residts often thought that perhaps the police were involved in illegal activity or more often didn't care about what happened in nehborhoods. there's a big gulf in between

the facthat some of our police officers do not live in the city, and as aesult of them not living, they did not understand what was happening in the neighborhoods. >> reporter: so what did you do? >> well we became involvedn the national initiative on building police and community trust, an initiative out of the john jay college of criminal justice as well as other anlkso they come in, they ta to the community, they provide training for the police department. our police departments have all gone through implicit biastr ning. >> reporter: what's that? >> that's training to really check your biases. to ask you to look at the way you look at other people. so do i look at yo certain thing and how does that impact how i interact with you? so as a police officer do i look an african-american male, whether i am an african-american male or not, and think a certain thing and as a result act a certain way tords that person?

>> reporter: so what would youof say is a resulhat? >> what we've found is that police lisn to the community more, the community listen to there's more positivee, interaction, we've aund that there's more of an effort to interact wh a crisis is not occurring. and son august we will have >> reporter: wt's the mplexion of your police department and does that matter? >> about 55% of our police department is african american, another 35 to 40% is caucasian and the remaining officers are latino and that absolutely does matter. i think it's important that young african american children see police officers, s people in authority that look like them. >> reporter: what you've achieved here sounds pretty good, actually sounds very good. is it applicable in other

circumstances in other cities? >> i believe that the solution is really for the police to establish a rapport with the community that does not necessarily involve an official interaction. sometimes it's midnight basketball, other times it's some type of youth league, sometimes it's an explorers program where you are recruiting young people to be id with the police, other tighs it's just nrhood forums or neighborhood meetings where you when you know the officers then you're less inclined to think that they are there to harass you and when you know thun community yorstand that the overwhelming, the overwhelming number of citizen are law abiding people.

>> reporter: and you mentioned earlier that your murder rate is going wn. what do you attribute that to? >> we attribute the reduction in the murder re to the fact that we have now focused on those i think a lot of people were callinit broken window policing. now we are-- to be involved in iminal behavior, and we send them not just a punitive messagu we send them a message that we would like to see you becomec prve law-abiding citizens. we want to support you in that effort. buif you choose to continue on the road of crime, if you nonproductive beior, we will hold you accountable for that. so when do you tell them that?

>> we focus >> well we focus on those individuals who are on probation atd parole and we conduct they refer to as call-ins. and so these call-ins are meetin, that involve the community, meetings that involve individuals on probation and parole, and essentially what we tell them is we want to help you, we want to support you, but we also want peace and safety in this community and the killing has to stop. >> reporter: well mayor freeman- wilson, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and a news update w, as evening begins here in washington police are firing tear gas, depying flash banks to dispercent peaceful protests near the white house.

additional national guard troops have been called in.p president troke in the rose garden moments ago. he says that he will dispatch heavily-armed soldiers to protect american streets. those are the president's words tonight. it all very closely.be watching and that is the newshour for tonight. before we go, we are at a moent in our country when pain is added to pain already there, in the streets, calls for justice. we know from experience, answers won't come quickly but we will do our part to listen calmly to all voices, to keep on strifing foa society that respects and honors each human lifera regardless oe, gender, ethnic background, orig relus belief. even in the midst of a pandemic, we owe you no less. i'm judy woodruff, from all for all of us at the pbs newshour, thk you, stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs

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