tv MSNBC Live MSNBC August 17, 2014 12:00pm-2:01pm PDT
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press." i think the blood of michael brown and others cry from the grave that this should be a point where enough is enough. >> new demands for justice in ferguson, missouri and for the violence and looting to end. in just about an hour, community leaders hold a major rally there to honor 18-year-old michael brown and to call attention to the questions still remaining around his death. also, the u.s. ramping up its fight against isis militants in iraq. more air strikes today as u.s. fighter planes back up. the ongoing humanitarian effort. we'll have a live update from erbil.
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and fewer hands but more patients? the fight against ebola getting harder and more dangerous in west africa. this as a new debate grows over who gets limited doses of an experimental drug. i'm t.j. holmes in today for craig melvin. first, ferguson. we learned just hours ago attorney general eric holder ordered another autopsy on the body of michael brown. the attorney general cites extraordinary circumstances. this will now be the third autopsy after local investigators and the brown family. now, you heard from missouri governor jay nixon just yesterday on our show right here. he declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in ferguson. so how did that go last night? chaos and violence last night erupted in the streets as hundreds defied that midnight to 5:00 a.m. curfew. police once again fired tear gas to try and disperse demonstrators despite this promise from highway patrol
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captain ron johnson saturday. >> we will enforce that curfew. we won't enforce it with trucks. we won't enforce it with tear gas. we'll communicate. we'll talk about you know what? it's time to go home. it's time to go home. >> johnson, however, says the decision to use tear gas came after one person was shot last night by an armed protester. >> we brought out the tactical unit. they got on the street at which time we looked through the binoculars, the subject came out holding a handgun. they deployed tear gas -- first they deployed just gas initially, smoke. we call it smoke. we had a subject standing in the middle of the road with a handgun. we had a police car shot at tonight, and, yes, i think that was a proper response tonight to maintain officer safety and public safety. >> seven people were arrested overnight. meantime, we got our first look
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today at the officer who shot and killed michael brown. nbc news has confirmed that this is, in fact, officer darren wilson. he's here receiving a commendation from his police department earlier this year. the 28-year-old grew up in the st. louis area and has been a police officer six years. these photos were published saturday by yahoo! news. ferguson police have not responded to several requests for comments on the photos. police say he stopp eped brown his friend johnson for walking on the street. they s i want to turn to ferguson and msnbc.com reporter amanda sacuma. we are the day after the first night of the curfew. what's the tone, what's the mood today? >> reporter: the residents of ferguson and the greater st. louis community at large
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really needs this time to be able to grieve and this rally will be able to give them this opportunity after a week of protest, rowdy uprisings, and aggressive police crackdown. residents say that they hope that this rally will be a chance to actually get to the root of why they're all coming together in the first place, to answer why and how an unarmed 18-year-old could be shot by a police officer in the middle of broad daylight. now, hours before the rally was slated to start, there are already dozens of support certifies who are milling around the greater grace church. now, the church holds just under 1,300 people and organizers hope that this will be -- will remain a peaceful demonstration and a peaceful rally and will not get out of hand and they do believe that they will have to only maintain the 1300 people who are able to be held inside of the church. so there's no telling what will happen later this afternoon. >> amanda, are we getting any
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indications of when we might hear from police and investigators again like you just mentioned, all the questions that people still have. are any coming anytime soon today? they've been keeping us pretty much regularly updated. >> reporter: now that the federal medical examiner will be giving that second autopsy, those results are likely to further delay this investigation. now, as officials said yesterday, there are more than 40 fbi agents who are canvassing the neighborhood around where mike brown was shot, and they're looking for more eyewitnesses to come forward to piece together the time line of what exactly happened last weekend. now, residents here are growing angry and there's a bit of unrest for answers to what exactly happened and they really want the results of this case. so there's no telling how long protests will be further and how long they will be gathering, and it will be seen in the coming days and weeks how long it will take before those prayers are answered. >> amanda in ferguson for us. thank you so much.
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again, to our viewers, we're standing by within the hour expecting a major rally there in ferguson expecting the parents of mike brown to actually be in attendance. you will see it live when it happens here in about an hour. president obama making an unusual return to washington tonight in the middle of vacation. he's been briefed regularly on the volatile space in ferguson while in martha's vineyard. of course, the situation in iraq as well. really a lot of flash points around the world right now. nbc white house correspondent kristin welker with the latest on the president's return in martha's vineyard. hello to you. why is he going back to d.c.? >> reporter: well, the white house is being pretty secretive about why, they haven't given us a whole lot of details. here is what we know. we know he's headed back for two days of meetings with top officials. he'll be meeting with his chief of staff, also with vice president biden. he'll continue to get regular updates about ferguson, about iraq, but we don't know what the nature of those meetings are.
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senior administration official saying there's a lot going on right now. he was taking a two-week vacation so he wanted to go home for a couple days just to get caught up, just to get caught up with his top officials. to give you some context, t.j., about how unusual this is, the only time the president has really cut a vacation short was back in 2012, he was in hawaii. it was over the christmas break and that was in the middle of the fiscal cliff negotiations. he went back to d.c. for a few days and then returned to hawaii. of course, that was a very different case because there was a pressing deadline. in this case there is no pressing deadline, so it may be that the white house is very aware of the optics of taking a two-week vacation in the middle of so many international crises and also obviously pressing issues on the domestic front. i can tell you though that the white house says that there won't be any knee-jerk headlines that come out of the president's two-day trip to d.c. i will be traveling back to d.c. with him though so if there are any big headlines i'll be there to cover it and then we return to martha's vineyard tuesday
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night. >> you give us some perspective how unusual it is to take a break from vacation, but give us some perspective of how unusual it is to see the president make such an unusual move but how unusual is it that we get nothing from the white house about it? and you get all kind of conspiracy theories out there, everybody wants to speculate. some people thought he might have a major immigration announcement to make. we're told that's not going to happen. how unusual is it for it to be so little information about what seems to be a pretty unusual move by the president? >> reporter: right. no, it's a great point. certainly not something that we had anticipated. i can tell you though as for that immigration announcement, that's still on track to happen by the end of the summer. it is possible that will be part of the president's discussions when he goes back. we know he's considering taking some type of executive action on immigration. we know immigration advocates want him to go big. they want him to do something that would grant work permits to
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millions of people that would allow as many as 5 million people to stay here. i don't have any information about him deciding to go that big, but i do know that he's not necessarily shying away from that idea, so still in the process of considering all of his options and again he's on track to announce that at the end of the summer. i don't think we're going to get that announcement this week, t.j., but you're right to point out that certainly not the norm that we would get so little information about what the president is going to be doing during the first two days of the week. >> all right, well, enjoy your two-day trip back to d.c. and we'll talk to you again soon, kristin. thanks so much. ten minutes past the hour now. following developments on the american military operation under way and apparently ramping up this weekend against the militant group isis. here is house intelligence chair mike rodgers earlier today about this growing isis threat. listen to this. >> before 9/11 there was single level threat streams coming to the united states, so pretty serious. obviously they got in and conducted the attacks on 9/11.
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now you have multiple organizations all al qaeda minded trying to accomplish the same thing. >> take a look here. you're looking at new video from u.s. central command of an american military air strike against an isis armed truck near the mosul dam on saturday. u.s. conducted 14 more air strikes in that area today. military described them as supporting humanitarian efforts and protecting critical infrastructure in iraq. nbc's ian williams is in erbil, iraq, for us. ian, tell us, humanitarian operation, a military operation? this is starting to some to look more and more like a military offensive. >> reporter: it is, t.j., and i think the president is about to get better news. we're hearing kurdish forces supported by u.s. air power is close to taking control, taking back control of iraq's largest dam, the mosul dam, which has
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been in the hands of the isis militants now for ten days. now, kurdish military leaders here tell us that they have taken control of the eastern part of the dam and other parts surrounding the dam. they're being delayed by booby traps and roadside bombs. supporting the kurds in this onslaught today has been considerable american air power. by my calculation possibly the biggest we've seen so far during this period. 14 strikes destroying we're told 19 military vehicles as well as a checkpoint. this has enabled the kurdish forces to push back we understand isis away from that area around the dam, and as you say, u.s. military officials saying this is in order to protect critical infrastructure and, of course, it doesn't come much more critical than the dam
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which provides water, electricity for a good chunk of northern iraq and, of course, its destruction and that was a fear, would have a devastating impact. so this could well be -- we could well see here some significant and encouraging news for the first time in several days, t.j. >> what's the news though as well in syria? we've been talking about iraq a lot and rightly so, but meantime isis has reportedly been gaining territory in syria. tell us about what's happening there and also what their gains mean for the ongoing civil war snp. >> reporter: well, this has always been an issue with isis. whatever happens here in iraq in terms of hitting back at them in terms of pushing them, they've still got their base, they've still got their resources. they still hold a good chunk of syria which they can always fall back on. that's a source of much of their arms, of much of their cash. what we are hearing today though is the government forces in syria, assad's forces, have attacked the isis headquarters
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in syria. now, this hasn't happened for some time. the implication being that they were quite happy to see isis develop and to attack other more secular opposition forces in syria, but it does remain an issue because even if they're pushed back from iraq, as long as they've got that syrian base and, of course, the u.s. has been very reluctant to do anything about that, they will remain a significant threat, t.j. >> nbc's ian williams for us in erbil. 13 minutes past the hour. we're less than an hour away from a major rally to take place in ferguson, missouri. community leaders, people from across the country gathering to demand justice for michael brown. his parents expected at that rally as well. up next, we'll be heading back to ferguson to hear from a key voice in the community. was the, revolutionary by every standard. and that became our passion. to always build something better, airplanes that fly cleaner and farther on less fuel.
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60 minut 0 -- 16 minutes pa hour. this is new video of a train collision. this was a head-on freight train commission in arkansas, the northeastern part of the state, an hour and a half drive outside of memphis, tennessee, actually. the ap is reporting two union pacific crew members were killed in that collision of two trains. you see a lot of those cars off the track. again, two people killed, two employees who were on board those trains during that collision. we understand according to ap several people had to be evacuated from their homes because of some of the materials that these trains were carrying but apparently many of those people were able to go back to their homes. that's according to the associated press. emergency management officials saying they don't have information just yet on the cause. when we get it, we'll bring it to you. but new pictures into us there of that train collision in northeastern arkansas. get back to our top story here today out of ferguson,
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missouri. the governor there, jay nixon, he made the rounds on the sunday show where he defended his decision to impose that curfew in ferguson. >> local elected officials and others called on me to put a curfew in place so we could guarantee peace late last night. of the thousands of protesters and community members out there, i think they made a difference. in order to get justice, we need peace. those are intertwined and we look forward to keeping the peace and getting justice. >> patricia bynes is a democratic committeewoman of ferguson township. she joins me from ferguson now. you heard the governor, you heard the governor yesterday as well. how did that curfew work out last night? >> hi, t.j. well, the curfew, it was enforced by about 11:30 -- i would say starting 10:30 a lot of us starting walking around the crowd asking people to go home just in case they were not aware that there was a curfew. there was a few small determined
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group of people who refused to leave. again, the officers asked for a plea for them to leave for the curfew, and things just got a little testy at about 12:45. that's when there was a conflict -- >> were you in favor of it in the first place? >> well, actually i have been out here every single night and people need to understand that while what they see on tv are businesses, behind the businesses are residences. there are people who live here. i'm sure they're not able to sleep at night because the protests are loud and ongoing to 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning. for them to be some type of middle ground, i understand why there was a curfew in place especially for the sake of public safety. >> what else -- what is going to keep people from protesting until 2:00 in the morning? what's going to keep folks from
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maybe lashing out and expressing their anger sometimes in a violent way out there on the streets? is the only thing we can do now is wait for more information or do we need to see an arrest? what do you think it's going to take? >> i believe it is a combination of giving the public more information but also people want to see this man charged and arrested. if you would like to see some of the anger and the rage get toned down, we're going to need to start focusing more on the process of justice and that's truly going to start for this community when this officer is arrested. >> i want our viewers and i want to you listen to something as well. this was an interaction between captain ron johnson, who has been getting a lot of credit, he was the highway patrol captain brought in to take over. this was his interaction. >> please tone down. >> why are we out here? >> tone it down. i'll answer your questions. i'll listen to you and i'll
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listen to you. let's not scream at each other. >> you first. >> if i had answers to give you, young man, i would. >> can he only go so far and what i mean by that is he was one on one with a young man last night or at least that evening who was upset and he talked to the young fellow. he said bring your voice down and let's talk. can that only go so far in helping to calm things down like you just mentioned? it might take an arrest. >> well, i think it's a fantastic beginning. i have seen captain johnson walk up and down these streets not only during the day but also at night. i have seen angry people confront him almost sometimes belligerent confronting him, asking him questions. he's not shying away, and he's giving them all the information that he possibly can, so, one, especially for someone in the law enforcement community, it's a fantastic start because that has not necessarily happened and that communication needs to be
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there. so it's a great start, but honestly what people really want is to see this officer charged and arrested and that is really going to help, but his more i would say just -- the way he's going about this, treating everyone here like human beings, acting like they're listening even while he's in uniform, that's extremely effective in being able to get answers out here. >> are you going to be at the rally today? what should we expect to see here in the next 45 minutes or so? >> i think we're going to see another beautiful gathering of people who are passionate about mike brown, people who are passionate about police brutality and police harassment, and i don't expect anything to go wrong. we're going to see a lot of people from all over the world. i have met people all over the world coming here to protest and that's what we're going to see again. >> democratic committeewoman of ferguson township, patricia bynes, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we will be watching closely and to our viewers, that picture you were just seeing, that is
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inside the greater grace church in ferguson, missouri. that's where this rally is going to take place in 35 minutes. expected to start and, again, expecting to hear or at least see the parents of michael brown, jr. to be in attendance. we will be covering that for you right here. and that deadly shooting of michael brown by police in ferguson has triggered nationwide outrage. we've been watching the outrage in ferguson but it's been across the country. it's prompted daily protests against police brutality all over the countries. our partners at now this news take a look.
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bottom of the hour. a live picture inside a church in ferguson, missouri, where a rally is planned to take place about a half hour. this is greater grace church, about 1,300 people can fill into this place and you can see -- from this picture at least it looks pretty full already, but the parents of michael brown, jr. expected to be in attendance. a major unity rally as its called. you will see it here live. but right now i want to turn to nascar legend tony stewart. he's sitting out a second consecutive race today. the three-time race has virtually withdrawn from the sport after the car he was racing last week hit and killed fellow driver kevin ward, jr. well, last night there was an emotional tribute to remember that driver, kevin ward, jr. nascar and other small tracks have implemented new safety rules, but questions remain about the future of racing and the future of tony stewart. jeff covers nascar for "usa
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today." thank you for spending time with us. tell me s there a responsibility still that tony could be looking at charges? >> yeah, i mean, the case certainly remains an open one. the sheriff had been giving daily updates and then said it's going to take another couple weeks. we're still looking for more video, looking for more witnesses, and so he was saying that for now there's nothing criminal that they've found but it remains an open investigation. >> where is tony stewart right now? it seems like we got that paper statement and he said how bad he felt and had his condolences for the family of kevin ward, jr. but where is he and what is he up to now? he's sitting out his second consecutive nascar race. >> his representatives say he is surrounded by his closest friends and family but they're not saying where he is. he's not at home in indiana, but supposedly he's with a support system. his representatives say he's grieving right now, too, and obviously he's been in the
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spotlight and, you know, a lot of people are blaming him for this, but, you know, he's grieving and going through the process, maybe not in the same way the family is but obviously feeling pretty bad about what happened. >> well, that awful incident we saw last week in which that young man, kevin ward, jr., he was only 20 years old, hit and killed on that dirt track. you're seeing some video of it from last week. nascar, this wasn't an officially sanctioned nascar race, that dirt race where the young man was killed, but nascar implemented new rules and did it fairly quickly saying these drivers, our drivers, you can't get out of your car anymore and try to confront somebody that may have just bumped you or is responsible for knocking you out of the race. a wire here says a young man had an incident on a track where the driver had to jump out of the
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car because the car was on fire. that's a different situation. how has this changed racing? even unusual for nascar, it wasn't even one of their sanctioned races but they took immediate action. >> right. well, i think what you're seeing from nascar is they're trying to take the lead and show a good example because they're the number one motor sport series in the united states, and they -- the short tracks like the local dirt tracks will follow suit a lot of times on the rules that they implement. so i think they're trying to show like, hey, we're a leader in this field even though like you said it wasn't a dirt race. the exception to the rule about not getting out of your car is like what we saw a few minutes ago, kyle larson crashed at the michigan international speedway and his car was on fire. obviously he's allowed to get out of the car if he's not going to stay in the car and, you know, be subjected to that. but, you know, they're trying to not get into the incidents where like tony stewart was a few years ago where he threw a helmet at matt kenseth at
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bristol motor speedway and was right in matt kenseth's path. they're trying to stay away from that. however, like you said, i think that changes things because nascar is about the show. they have used that moment in their commercials. they've used that to promote the sport. now you're not going to have that anymore. >> you know, people say -- one of the people like about nascar, they're sticking around and waiting for the wreck. they want to watch the wreck. i watch nascar and i'm guilty of that moment, the show, to see tony stewart -- that's one of the things people like about him is that he is so brash, he is so in your face and he'll jump out of a car and could be front a car running around a track and that led to tragedy this time around. what could this possibly mean for the sport if we were to see tony stewart charged in something like this? and maybe that's probably going a little too far but one other thing probably better for you to answer, just how difficult is it for the investigators, they would have to get in tony stewart's head. wouldn't they need some kind of
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intent to prove that they could move forward with charges? they would have to prove he had some intent to hitting the young man, would they not? >> well, that's right. i think unless there's another video that comes out that shows some angle of him swerving or something like that and to this point there has been nothing like that, i think it would be very difficult to prove because like you said, tony's kind of the only one that really knows what happens and what he was thinking, and so i don't know. as far as him sitting out for a while, right now it's up to him when he'll return. and i don't know when that would be. i don't know what impact the charges would have because that would obviously be devastating to the sport. tony stewart, you think about him along with jeff gordon and dale earnhardt, jr. some of the biggest names in nascar. this is not some back marker driver. this is a big name. it has a huge impact on nascar going forward. >> jeff gluck from "usa today" thank you so much. we turn to a check of the top headlines.
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we reported this earlier citing extraordinary circumstances attorney general eric holder has asked the justice department to conduct its own autopsy of the body of michael brown, the teenager shot and killed by a ferguson, missouri, police officers last saturday. this officer darren wilson. a big rally is scheduled for 4:00 eastern time, just about 25 minutes from now. we'll have that for you live here. pope francis traveling through south korea made a strong gesture to reach out and improve the catholic church's relationship with china. the pope insipsed christians were not coming as conquerors seeking to take away the identity of others. texas governor rick perry is further defending himself against a grand jury indictment of two felony counts of abuse of official capacity. at issue his decision to veto $7 million in funding to the office of district attorney in travis county. perry had threatened to pull the
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funds unless the d.a. resigned after she was convicted of drunk driving. she refused to resign. this morning the republican governor said even democrats were questioning the indictment. >> david axelrod said that this was a very sketchy indictment. profe i think across the board you're seeing people way in and reflecting that this is way outside of the norm. this is not the way we settle differences, political differences, in this country. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches?
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civil rights movement in the 1960s talking about what's eing seeing on the ground in ferguson, missouri. people are expected to attend a rally demanding justice for michael brown. you will see it here live and the family of michael brown, his parents in particular, are expected to attend. at a church service earlier this morning, ferguson residents called for peace. >> we need to tell those ruining our communities, they're ruining our community, they're ruining their community, that we will not allow this to happen. we need to stop the looting. we need to stop what's going on and we need to work together as a community. >> i want to bring in "huffington post" reporter ryan riley. ryan, thank you for being here. i want to pick up on something that congressman lewis said. he said essentially you can't have -- if we don't have justice, we're not going to have peace. however, the governor goes in the exact opposite and he says
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we cannot actually get -- we can't -- we have to have the peace first and then we do justice. so you have two sides actually wanting it in different order. i guess what's the middle ground there where you have protesters saying we are not going to back down until we get justice. the governor saying, well, actually we need you to back down first before we get to the justice you want. >> yeah, i mean, it's a really tough situation. i think last night you saw that demonstrated when johnson was talking with a masked protesters who was insisting he thought if this was a situation that was reversed, if that protester had killed a cop, he would be behind bars right now. and that's what a lot of these protesters want. they want to see this officer behind bars right now awaiting trial. and that's not something that can really be provided, not something that can really happen right now. you have these two simultaneous investigations on the local level as well. obviously on the federal level. the federal level investigation has been sort of stepped up and they're doing another autopsy for it and we had fbi agents
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canvassing the area yesterday. even some residents i spoke with yesterday were skeptical about that fbi investigation and, indeed, a couple of the people who -- one of whom said that he reacted and came outside after the shooting took place and saw some of the aftermath sort of refused to open the door for the fbi agents who came there and they left cards at the door but it's a tough situation and it's not -- there's not really an easy solution. >> we saw what happened after that midnight curfew last night. we saw some violence and one person was shot last evening as well, some arrests. but what was the reaction you saw? what sense did you get once the announcement came that there was going to be a curfew? how was that immediately received in the community in your opinion? >> well, i think there is some contention -- one of the new black panther party leaders who i spoke with who had been keeping the streets safe on thursday and actually was
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complimented by captain johnson for his work said that that was too early, the curfew was too early and he wouldn't have any credibility with the people he was trying to sort of rein in if they were forced off the streets at m.d. nigidnight. last night we were told the reason officers moved in was because there had been some limited looting a the -- at a barbecue restaurant. it's not clear exactly what was taken interest the barbecue restaurant but that's the justification for why they were allegedly -- they came in. >> "huffington post" ryan riley. thank you so much. we know you have more reporting to do and getting ready for this rally so thank you. we'll check in again. again, to our viewers, that rally under 20 minutes from now expected to get started. you will see it live on msnbc. also up next, the ebola outbreak worse than we think? so says public health officials. aid workers starting to leave
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about a quarter from the top of the hour. new indications that the ebola crisis is bigger than we thought. "the new york times" reports today that liberia, population 4 million, has fewer than 250 doctors left in the entire country. according to the liberia medical and dental council. seven doctors have contracted ebola, two of them have died. new reports today of armed looters attacking clinics. violence in liberia this weekend causing ebola patients to flee their hospital beds for safety thereby increasing the risk of spreading the deadly virus. we have an assistant professor of the school of medicine. that sounds pretty scary. you only have to many doctors and so many of them getting the
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virus, a couple of them dying but people with iebola are fleeing? >> that's the most alarming part of this. the virus can be treated with supportive care but this culture of mistrust is what's most alarming because in terms of the doctors leaving this is turning doctors against each other. they're not collaborating, african doctors versus american doctors. and also country against country. the fact that even with the treatment before, that was a question as well. so you have this culture going on and then with the riot, the local people are starting to distrust these quarantine centers and other stuff so it's making things worse in that sense, too. >> what is an aid organization to do? you have to balance -- you have doctors in there treating people in west africa who maybe weren't prepared for this. >> exactly. >> maybe not there to deal with ebola. what do you do? they are the only line of defense who can support these folks but then you want to protect your own people. what do you do? >> exactly. there's no right answer to that.
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if you think about the doctors, they could save a live in west africa or save a life here. in that sense which life is worth more? plus what impact can they have? you have that ethical question. i think the thing we need to focus on, too, is other types of supplies that people might need. so there are rumors now that people are running out of food, especially these quarantine centers because no one wants to transport the food there. that's something to look at, too. >> what are we to make of this experiment drug? we know the two american droctos that are back here now got the treatment. we don't know if it helped them or not. they are doing better but we don't know if that's the reason. people talk about this experimental drug. it's not like it's about to help the masses. we're talking about a handful and i mean maybe two or three people with these doses. what are we supposed to make of it and who gets it and does that have an impact? >> it's in a limited supply and we don't know if it works. we don't even know if it could kill people in different stages.
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that's another problem but the u.s. does have these labs where you can actually use the technology to multiply the doses to make more quickly. it might not be sudden but it might create more doses. we need to look at that. there are some research on vaccines and other stuff that we can expedite. if you have a vaccine, health care workers could take it before going to that area. if you have a treatment then you have infected people who are there who can get the treatment. these are two different ways of approaching the problem. i think also we need to think about what can we do to actually get food and medical supplies to these places? with that riot, for example, when they took away chlorine and some of the other things that people had to actually protect themselves from ebola virus, what are those health care workers going to do now? they can't even protect themselves. and taking away the bloodstained bed sheets and stuff, that's another problem because now you have got ebola virus out there in other parts of the community and who knows about other riots as well. >> last thing i want to ask you about and this is news we just got today is a report of a nigerian man in spain showing
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symptoms of ebola. he doesn't have a final diagnosis just yet but he had been there a couple days and now he's starting to show the symptoms. what do you think, we hear that and everybody says the chance of somebody getting on the plane and making it to the united states is very low. we just haven't seen it happen yet but what do you think when you hear cases like this? we have to wait but still the possibility of this may be happening down the road as this continues to spread? >> i think it's very low. i don't think we need to worry about it necessarily. we have to realize there's a big difference in terms of the quality of care that people might get. if someone had ebola here, yes, it could spread but if we had them in a hospital in our isolation wards and stuff we could provide better treatment. people with ebola don't necessarily die from the virus. what happens is they get dehydrated, kidney failure, liver failure, they might get infected with other viruses and those things kill them. we have the ability to improve that fa satality rate.
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>> doctor, thank you for coming in. we appreciate you. a difficult topic. we've been talking about this for a while and now we're being told it's getting worse and worse and we don't have it in control in the don't have it un control in the least bit. thank you. we are ten minutes to the top of the hour, getting ready for a rally for michael brown in ferguson, missouri. opening prayer under way now. this will start at top of the hour. his parents are expected to attend this rally. we will have it here for the live on msnbc. stay with us. sics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier.
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don't let anyone assassinate your son's character. they have to stand up for their son, they have to stand up for justice. we are with them 110%. >> tracy martin there this morning on msnbc. he's the father, of course, of trayvon martin giving advice to the paints of micha parents of . any minute we'll see the start of that rally. it is scheduled to start at the
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top of the hour, may are juror rally pore mifor michael brown n ferguson, missouri. not sure how many people will end up. attending but from that picture, it is packed at this point. the parents of michael brown are expected to attend. want to check in with todd johnson, home page editor of thegrio.com he's there in ferguson for us. what can we expect from this rally and what tone can we expect today? >> reporter: how you doing, t.j.? i think from the rally, viewers can expect a tone of calm and a call for peace and productivity. certainly reverend sharpton in his remarks earlier this morning at the church condemned folks that would destroy property and loot and participate in some of the activities that police are certainly wary of. sharpton finding no value in that. i think in this, this is just an
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opportunity to not only give the community to sense to see the family of mike brown and to kind of re-affirm the kind of young man that he was and to kind of, again, put a value on his life, regardless of what the surveillance video has shown, his family has said, and certainly reverend sharpton, the attorneys have also said that, again, a box of minicigars or whatever the case is not worth his life. i think the focus of this rally today will be a sense of peace and calm. certainly i expect the issue of the curfew to be addressed and how for community residents to move forward in peace and to avoid these type of confrontations with police after hours because, again, those type of incidents, as the family has said repeatedly, don't necessarily help the cause for push for justice. >> todd johnson, we will leave it there. we will sneak in another break.
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that is the church, inside the great ee eer grace church in ferguson, missouri, a rally for mike brown. you can expect to some see community leader, some politicians will address the crowd. that picture kind of tells the story that that church right now is packed. 1,300 people can fit inside that church. feels like a church service at this point. they had an opening prayer and now music is going. the parents of michaelle brown expected to be there. not sure if they will address the crowd but you will see that live. some of my msnbc contributor and colleagues will stand by with me as we take you through the next hour live. stay with us. want to know how hard it can be...
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you are seeing a live picture, folks, inside greater grace clurnlg hurch in merg sof missouri at a church that can hold 1, 300 people. it is a rally for mike brown, the 18-year-old man shot and killed by officer darren wilson a week ago yesterday. in the week we have seen since his death, we've seen rioting, looting, violence on the street, and protests as well. we have seen quiet and calm protests, peaceful protested. we have seen people in the community come out to protect the community from some of those who would be violent and do looting. we have seen all of this. it has been an emotional roller coaster week for the folks in
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ferguson and around the country but today we are going to at least see michael brown jr.'s parents at this rally. we do anticipate -- there is a possibility at least we could hear from them at this rally as w well. this has been a week we have seen back and forth between the ferguson police department, st. louis county police, the highway patrol, the governor's office. none of them have been necessarily airline to calm the tension. maybe this rally will be what calms people down. t.j. holmes here. taking you through the next hour as we go through this rally. i have here with me some of my colleagues, goldie taylor, many of you know as an msnbc contributor doing some fantastic reporting and commentary on this
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story out of ferguson, missouri. also in studio with me, jalani cobb, raul reyes, jim cavanaugh, msnbc.com law enforcement analyst. so good to have all of you here with us. i want to also let folks know we have our todd johnson with me as well who's been doing some reporting there for us on the ground. he is the home page editor of the grio.com in ferguson, missouri. goldie, let me start with you. i wasn't able to talk to you personally. after the curfew went into place. what was your reaction? we'll get your reaction to what we saw on the streets last night but just the reaction to the fact that a curfew was put in place yesterday? what was your reabc news to that? >> i think historically i have some moral difficulties with curfews in a country where we are the home of the free and the brave. however, i stand behind those
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community organizers on the ground who wanted to respect the curfew last evening. but how you see this curfew really depends on how you see the constitutionality of it, how you see the morality of it. that really sort of skews how you see the events unfolding last evening. >> jim cavanaugh, let me bring you in. did the police at some point last night -- we'll keep these live pictures up. we saw some arrests last night of people who would not disperse. last night did the police just not have any option? captain ron johnson of the highway patrol said we're not going to handle the curfew if people are out. we're not going to handle it with tear tanks or riot gear. we're going to handle it communicating. did he run out of options last night and communicating wasn't an option and they had to use at
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least some degree of aggression? >> i think captain johnson was sincere and he wanted to do that peacefully just like he did it the night before, quiet, kind of a softer touch. really, police are peacekeepers. your goal is to keep the peace. you really don't need to ramp it up. he had the right touch, the right tone. but when people show up with firearms, a person was shot, they had to change and address what they were facing. i think looking at it afterward, we had six arrests. don't know that anybody was injured seriously in nothose arrests. no mass looting or anything like that. nobody killed or er seriously injured. one man shot, critical, and a perpetrator at large. but i hope tonight it is calmer. goes right back to the root of
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this. what needs to be done is what's on the signs that all of the citizens of ferguson hold up. that is no justice. you feel for ferguson -- i do. look at what they have to do to get justice. march down the street with thousands of people, make signs, protest. they have to bring in national leaders just to get justice. nobody should have to do this. nobody should have to do this for justice. i did arrest people on the street, if there were a few witnesses, i'd grab them right up. i think people are frustrated by that. >> what we're seeing here, you talk about that frustration. i'm glad we have this picture up because it sets a different tone. we were getting ready and it's not much that -- it's been upbeat to hear this music and people are up and clapping, cheering. it's church sunday for a lot of
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folks. you spent some time in ferguson over the past week. not a lot of this. unfortunately, so much attention placed on what was happening in the street that was negative. there was plenty positive happening in the street as well. peaceful protests, people wanting to mourn, cry, support and hug each other, quite frankly. can we take a turn here with something like this and maybe these pictures getting out and almost a revufl? it is called a unity rally. how are you feeling just seeing these pictures now? >> let me just say this. the overwhelming majority of the people who have been out there have been peaceful. there have been a handful of people who have resorted to looting or violence. that's been widely denounced by people who were there. the thing that we see there, that church, that's more representative of what people have been doing for the entire time that they've been down there. there are people having planning functions.
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committees are being created to come up with what the long-term demands of this are. what i really suspect here is that what started out as a gathering when people first saw michael brown's body laying on the street, which was left there for four hours, by the way. if people talk about civic unrest, one sure recipe for it is to have a person who's been shot by a police officer and left in the street for four hours while that community has to baste in its grievances for the entire time. people gathering are saying what do we do next, institute long-term change. what started as a gathering became a protest and is now really becoming a movement. >> let's listen in for a second, folks. this unity rally is under way. that's bishop l.l. jones, founder of his greater grace church. is he kicking things off. let's listen in for a second but i'll keep my handle here close by. >> not only do we mourn with him, we will continue to pray
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for them, and we will be there to encourage them. you see, it is very important that we come together, because we live in a time where diversity sometimes is not accepted. but it is important for us all to get along. these words i think are very important to remember. turn to someone and tell them -- let's respect all. when we get to a place when we can respect everybody because of race, creed or color. respect everyone, because everybody in this nation should have a fair opportunity and chan chance. so in the city of ferguson where there have been so much press, things that we've seen have not looked very nice, i do want to say ferguson is a great city. amen.
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has good people. but sometimes there are things that take place that can blemish all of that. that's why we're here tonight. here to show that together we do stand in a unified fashion working together that will make our city a better city. and not just ferguson. for what has happened here to affect the entire nation. not only the entire nation, but specifically also that our young people have a tremendous opportunity of life and that not only just the young people, but let's look at our school districts. other things that have been suffering. but my job is to calm and to welcome you. welcome you with love, kindness and to remind everybody that whatever we do, let's not forget
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god. we need his help in what we strive for to do. may god bless you one and all. we're now going to call for - d and i don't see him but we're going to call for attorney ben crump, as i was toll to do. attorney ben crump is not here at this moment -- or he's coming out shortly. i tell you what i'm going to do, i just saw captain johnson a moment ago. where was captain johnson, everybody? captain johnson has been doing a very fine job amen.
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i'm going to call for captain johnson. he's a very fine man and he's working very hard. you're in our prayers. everybody, captain johnson. >> good evening. >> good evening. >> i want to start off by talking to mike brown's family. and want you to know my heart goes out to you you and i say that i'm sorry. i wear this uniform and i just stand up here and say that i'm sorry.
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i'm full right now. i came in here today and i saw people cheering and people clapping and this is what the media needs to put on tv. the last 24 hours have been tough for me. i did an interview last night and the reporter said, something's wrong. your tone has changed. he said, are you tired? or is something bothering you? and i said, my heart is heavy.
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because last night i met some members of michael brown's family. one of the gentlemen is sitting here. there was a young lady and another young gentleman. and they brought tears to my eyes. they brought tears to my eyes. and shame to my heart. but i can tell you, and i've said it before. my daughter wrote me a text and it said peter and jesus. she said, daddy, i know you're going to get scared. i said, yes, i am. not scared for me. but scared for us. and she said, dad daddy, when p failed jesus, he picked him back
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up. and i needed today to get back in the water. and i'm going to tell you, i'm going to be here as long as it takes. my words will be honest. if we talk about it behind cloelsed doors, i'm going to tell you. so if you don't want me to know, don't tell me behind closed doors. because when this is over, i'm going to go in my son's room, my black son, who wears his pants hanging, where his hat cocked to the side, gotta toos on his
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arms. but that's my baby. and we all ought to be thanking the browns for michael, because michael's going to make it better for our sons, so they can be better black men. so they can be better for our daughters so they can be better black women. better for me so i can be a better black father, and we know they're going to make our mamas even better than they are today. let's continue to show this nation who we are. continue to show this country who we are. but when these days are over, these days are over, and mike brown's family's still weeping, and they're still on their knees
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praying, no matter what positive comes in our lives, we still need to get on our knees and we need to pray, we need to thank mike for his life, we need to thank him for the change isthate is going to make and make us better. i love you, i'll stand tall with you and i'll see you out there. thank you. many times as we wear our badge of hon more, no matter what our being a pagoccupations still are fathers and mothers, and we still feel for our children. and that's why it is so
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important for us to pray for our children. teach our children and lead our children. i may ask for our praise team to come back again. i think you should actually turn to somebody and say -- unity. >> unity. >> that's what we're here for, everybody. because we all have feelings. we all have desires. we all want to see our families see everybody treated fair an everybody say respect all. that's what we want do. and if we respect all, we can unify ourselves. now on the ggc praise team. >> hey, folks. i'm coming back to you here. t.j. holmes in the studio with some of our contributors here as
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we watch and listen to this unity rally. raul reyes is here in studio with me, attorney and contributor here. i wanted to come to you earlier for you to comment but i want you to get were your self-together. why is it as we sit around this table and people around the country, i'll ask you, just for yourself, why was that so emotional for you to hear captain johnson say what he just said to that congregation, not sounding like a highway patrolman. >> i'm a little embarrassed, but that man was speaking from the heart, speaking to this crowd as a father, as a citizen of community, as someone who's just acknowledging to the brown family i'm sorry. how much have we heard that from anyone this last week? just those words. i think what he said was so p
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profound. you can tell from his speaking he knows this community, he wants to be part of the community. i was so tremendously affected because he was affected by the heartbreak in this town. i also think when i see him, when you talk about some of these communities of color -- the fact is they are so disenfranchised from civic engagement, from participating in the system, from working to make their communities better. sometimes all it takes is a man like this of the community with stature as a law enforcement officer and also as a dad. i love that he said that his son wears his pants sagging, has tattoos, just speaking as a dad. that just gives him unbelievable moral authority. >> you said there was context to what he was saying. literally, he's from that area. he said yep, my son essentially looks like mike brown. pants sag iging hat to the side
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tattoos on his arm, that's my baby. that's my black son. some of what he did say was, yes, i'm in this uniform but i need to apoll guogize to you. he took a direct shot at some of these law enforcement officials out there in front of those cameras and this is the last thing we've heard come out of their mouths. >> what did he not say was almost as important what he said. he said i wear this uniform. i feel like i need to apologize. by implicitly we are talking about the parade of people who we've seen in uniforms that have many things on their minds but apoll xogy was not one of them. what he also said was implicitly, i'm recognizing your humanity. you get the sense that much of this discord could have been avoided. much of the disruption and anger and difficulty we've seen over the past week could have been avoided had someone like captain johnson made a simple statement like this on day one.
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we recognize this is a terrible situation. we know that you all are in pain. we see you all as human beings. and we apologize that, under whatever the circumstances, this young man's life is gone. >> goldie, what you're seeing on the left side of your screen, folks, this is moments ago when he was introduced at first. it took a few moments because he got a standing ovation when he stepped to that podium. goldie, you were probably affected the way we were watching here as well. this man sound like he had some training in a pulpit, quite frankly, standing up on that stage in a church. he doesn't sound like a highway patrol man who was there to give you a press conference or some information or details about what happened. he sounded like a man of the people and he sounded like a man who has been in a pulpit before. >> absolutely. hearing him and seeing this service makes me miss home, it makes me miss ferguson. i stopped using the word tragedy to describe this because that
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leaves room to indict mike brown. that's not what we want. what we want here is the truth of the matter. i think that this officer standing in that pulpit renews a hope among this community that they can have a meaningful, credible connection. hope and conversation with the people who are hired and mandated to serve and protect them on a daily basis. so he renews that spirit of hope for them. i heard a father in that pulpit. as a mom, my boys, both of them, have tattoos, sagging pants and h hat cocked to the side and they are still my baby. by the way, my stepfather was a homicide dekt nif st. louis. this is the first time i've ever heard a law enforcement officer stand up and say they were sorry to a victim like that. >> this was one of those poignant moments, his speaking as a father. this was captain ron johnson just a few moments ago.
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we'll get you back to the live rally in a second. right now there is a song going on. but we'll let you hear one of those poignant moments from ron johnson just a few moments ago. >> because when this is over, i'm going to go in my son's room, my black son, who wears his pants sagging, wears his hat cocked to the side, got tattoos on his arms. but that's my baby. >> he's talking to that audience, yes. he's talking to his community, no doubt. an something else he hit on. as we are back to the live picture there waiting for more speakers to city to the podium. let our viewers know we expect to hear from a couple of attorneys representing the family, ben crump, anthony gray.
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also martin luther king iii. reverend sharpton. we know the brown family is expected to be in attendance. we just don't know if they will address the crowd or not but we'll stay with this live rally for you. to our gentlemen here in the studio, he mentioned something that was a direct -- he took a couple of shots at a couple folks but we deserve the shot, the media. the pictures that are being shown. i ended my show yesterday in frustration. wow, after the governor talked about the curfew, we're talking about something else besides the fact that this 18-year-old was gunned down in the streets. the media should be showing these pictures. you've said this has been more the tone than from the pictures that the nation has been seeing. >> yeah. other thing that i have to say, i talked to a wide range of people across class lines, across geographical lines, people who lived in ferguson, surrounding communities, people who have driven in from our places. one thing from people who are
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there, i've got an universal disdain for the looting and rioting. nobody supported it. there were people saying they were embarrassed. one woman got choked up because she didn't want to see black people behave in that way. she took it very personally. that can't be emphasized enough. that wasn't what the majority of people out there were out there for. now what's happening, as you see in this community now, the people are starting to raise much deeper, much broader questions about how it even got to this point. i talked to six black men almost in a row about the electoral recent election and political structure. they went back to the high school's function. that if people get into a fight in high school, being arrested, charged with assault, that sometimes people get criminal charges and they're not allowed to register to vote even before they are old enough to register to vote. these things have implications for the political structure, implications for who winds up being the police chief, the fire
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chief, who is on the school board. these things play themselves out. the other thing that people talked about, two weeks before michael brown was shot the black county executive lost in a very racially charged primary to a man by the name of steve staner, commercials had some real racial implications to them. they were thinking about those things. superintendent, black, of an enfirl white school board was removed just seven months before this. two of the most visible black public officials left public office right ghf happened. people are thinking about this in a very broad context. >> these are details, things boiling in this community for a long time. you talk about the past seven months but really years. we are just now -- yes, the media is there now but this is not just about mike brown.
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yes, that was what set it off maybe, sure. but it is not just about mike broup. we bishop 4r679 l. jonl.l. jone introduce people. we are being told that there is a mile-long line outside of people trying to get in. this is from one of our contributors, msnbc.com, tramaine lee. these are folks outside. it is raining the past couple of days in missouri. but these are folks outside trying to get in. we're told this greater grace clurn church in ferguson can hold 1,300 people. we are told there is a mile-long line outside of people trying to get in wanting to be a part. we are also told they are outside having a good time, they are peaceful right now at this rally. coming up on the bottom of the hour, while there is a song taking place, we'll sneak in a quick break.
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this church can hold 1,300 people. the church is pack. mile of people are gathered outside but the rally continues. ben crump, the attorney for the family is just taking the podium. >> want to thank you for opening up this beautiful sanctuary for us to come together united and stand for justice for michael brown jr. certainly want to thank the organizations who are the forefront of this rally. want to thank the national bar association. president pam means who you will hear from in just a second. and the national action network whose president is reverend al
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sharpton who you will certainly hear from this afternoon. but as we talked about, brothers and sisters, what we are here for is not to have a show or anything like that. we're here to talk about justice. we're here to talk about standing up for our children. because if we don't stand up for our children, nobody will stand up for our children. and so before we have family members address you, we want to have representatives from the national bar association, president pam means, and attorney darryl parks, past president and member of the
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legal team for michael brown. please come to the podium. give a round of applause. >> amen, church. amen, church. there is a passage in the scripture that says what the devil made for bad, god made it for good. eric gardner, john crawford, izelle ford. switch the name. god allowed this mother to birth an angel to bring a face to police brutality. we came today to let you know that the national bar association stands with this family as we call for an independent investigation. justice for michael brown. we don't want the federal government to oversee the process. we want you to take over the process.
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♪ >> isn't she powerful! you know, there's only one victim in this case. reverend slaharpton, there's michael brown. and for some reason, there's some people that think that he should stand trial. well, michael brown shouldn't be on trial, america. the person who shot him should be on trial! that's who should be on trial. so we have to stop the victimization of michael brown. see, he laid down and lost his life. the officer went away. so to everyone who would want to continue to assassinate his
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character, you should stop. he didn't kill anybody. the issue in this case is simple. why would that officer shoot him in the way he did as he tried to surrender? michael brown deserve justice. >> at this time, we will have a family representative of michaelle brownmichael le broin brown's family come and address you. please understand, leslie and michael, michael's parents, will not be speaking today, butbrown you. please understand, leslie and michael, michael's parents, will not be speaking today, but it's
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not because they don't want to thank you. it's just a heavy heart they're dealing with today. you know, reverend jackson, as it has often been said, nobody volunteers for this position that they find themselves in nobody wakes up and say, "i want to be a martyr for a child who was executed in broad daylight." and let's be clear about this, reverend al, as we talk. your community deserves transparency. you all deserve to know that the police department will work in the best interests of your children. and there is nothing that can
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justify the excuse-style murder of leslie's son in broad daylight by this police officer. there is nothing that can justify. no matter how they try to distract us. we are very focused on getting the autopsy done. getting the ballistics expert. making sure we look at the trajectory of the bullets so we know that this was an execution and as attorney grey and others have said, when you put your hand up in the air, this means surrender! don't shoot! in the most hardened criminals in history, when they put their hands up, we didn't execute them. so i want you all to pay close
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attention as this autopsy is revealed to you. and you see who's telling the truth. the witnesses who all say that he put his hands in the air and say the police kept shooting. or how they tried to do the smoke and mirrors and try to say let's don't talk about what happened when you shot him like a dog in the street. let's go try to assassinate his character after had he assassinate him in person. so don't lose focus what this is about, brothers and sisters. they tried it with trayvon, now they trying it with michaelle. please give a round of applause
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for family member ty pruitt and attorney anthony gray, a member of the legal team here in st. louis, missouri, as they come to the podium. >> so before i say anything, i just wanted to kick it off like that. because what i want you all to remember is, that michael brown was not just some young black boy. he was a human being. he was a younger cousin. he was a son. he was an uncle, a nephew. he was not a suspect. he was not an object. he was not an animal.
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but that's how he was killed. this -- >> hands up. >> -- was the last actions that our family member made before he went to rest. this will be stuck in my family's memories for the rest of our lives. so when you protest -- >> hands up, don't shoot! >> -- love for all, y'all. >> at this time we will -- now,
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there's going to be a lot said in the next 48 hours. and even more said after that about leslie and michael's child. just know that this was their child and they love their child. they had every right for their child to have due process of the law. what is due process, you say, president means? due process is when i put my hands in the air. you don't execute me because you
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had a bad day. when i put my hands in the air, you don't decide to be judge, jury and excuser on that day. what is due process, you say, attorney gray? that you don't leave my body on the concrete for four hours! that ain't due process. that ain't dignity for leslie's son. so when we say what we're here for today, united for justice for michael brown jr., what we're really asking for is simple justice. we're not asking for anything extraordina extraordinary. they just want what anybody else would want if their children were shot down in broad daylight. a fair and impartial investigation. they want to know that they will have their day this court, that
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the killer of their child will be held accountable to the full extent of the law. reverend al, they say we having a rush to judgment. but it wasn't a rush to judgment when they left him down there on the ground for four hours trying to get their story together? wasn't it a rush to judgment when they tried to assassinate his character on friday? and so we stand with this family so they won't be by themselves and they know they're not going to be by themselves. remember the same feeling you have right now. because five, six months when they finish this investigation, and they going to -- they just going to smear his name. they going to say everything about him. but just know, he had a right as an american citizen to due process of the law.
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without further ado, leslie's father made a call around the same time they reached out to me to a civil rights pioneer, much in the same vein as reverend jesse jackson, in the same vein as benjamin hooks, the same vein as the martin luther king jr. and he's going to talk about that legacy. but his grandfather called my friend, reverend al sharpton. and like he always does, reverend sharpton answered the
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bail. so reverend sharpton, the parents want to come up to the podium just for asking the bell for their child. please welcome to the microphone reverend al sharpton. >> let me say, give the parents a hand. this is a defining moment. in this country. all over the world, whether you look in russia, whether you look in the middle east, whether you look in africa, the debate is
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how the rights of people are dealt with by the state. ferguson and michael brown jr. will be a defining moment on how this country deals with policing and the rights of its citizens to redress how police behave in this country. there will be no tolerance of you trying to change the issue now. in three weeks we saw a woman pummeled on the freeway in los angeles. we saw a man choked to death on
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video while he said "i can't breathe" 11 times. then we come to ferguson, missouri, the show-me state, and see a young man 18 years old shot down in the streets unarmed. and rather than you address it, you try to smear the young man rather than uphold the principles of justice and dignity. i want you to know, these parents are not going to cry alone. they're not going to stand alone. they're not going to fight alone. we have had enough!
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and anybody that is going to be taken seriously in this country need to address policing and michael brown. i heard some of the senators talking. one of the leading candidates for president? jeb bush, hillary clinton, don't get laryngitis on this issue. nobody can get to the white house unless they stop by our house and talk about policing. let me be clear. when the grand father called me and i came and met with the father and mother, i told them,
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i'm not no driver-by activist. we will be here until justice is achieved. and let me be real clear. i know they're going to smear michael. they may even try to smear the parents. they're going to call the lawyers names. they're going to call me names. but i come from brooklyn, a section called do-or-die. i been in the movement of joe madison since i was a teenager. you direct operation bread basket under reverend jackson. when i was 13. in all of my life, i've never seen nothing more despicable
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than, while this mother and this father and their families haven't even had the time to bury their son, the police chief would release a tape trying to disparage his name while his mama's still weeping, while the family hasn't even laid him to rest. how can the young folk of the city believe in a system that would try to spit on the name and character of a young man who hasn't even been buried? then you have to come out and say, well, it had nothing to do with the shooting. then why did you put it out?
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first of all, let me tell the media, the tape i saw -- they talk about they got a tape of this great robbery. i saw a tape of some young guy that may have been shoplifting. there's a difference between robbing and shoplifting. now i don't condone either, but you don't have to stretch it to help a smear campaign. but the issue is not whether he shoplifted. the issue is not whether he did before. the issue is how a young man with no deadly threat, no life
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extenuating circumstances, was shot multiple times. that's the issue and that's the issue america's got to deal with. we don't want no double talking. we don't want no but-siding. we want to know where justice is. we heard tonight from officer johnson. we're not anti-police. we don't think all police are bad. we're not anti-sitting down and solving the problem. but there's a difference between calling for peace and calling for quiet. peace means that we have equal protection under the law. quiet means just shut up and silent. we are not going to shut up.
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we are going to come together and have a real peace in this country. let me clear up one misnomer. they say, well, why is the family talking about the federal government coming in? officers of the federal government coming in. one, if you look at what the chief did, you know why the local people can't trust local authorities. how you going to trust them that smear a victim to bring the issue before anybody? second, i've got experience in this. i was involved in a movement where the cops were prosecuted. i was involved in rodney king. supported anthony baez. so i have a record of knowing
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what these federal laws do. race is not required in a federal case of civil rights if law enforcement is involved. excessive force by the state is a violation of civil rights. so why y'all running around, media, looking for something that don't need to be there, we never proved race in ander in loui mmt louimer. we proved excessive force by the state. so there is clear federal exposure here. let me say this, bring my brother on. w we want an action plan. we understand the anger.
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we're angry. but you're not more angry than the parents. and while you show some of the young people out of control, show some of the young people that went out there last night, night before last, and helped clean up and stand up in their neighborhood. this is not about generation. there are young people that want justice, that know how to protest peacefully. some are angry and out of control. others are taking advantage of it. and don't take advantage of their child. there's the difference between an activist and a thug. don't loot in michael's name. we are not looters. we are liberators. we are not burners, we are builders!
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three things. one, we are going to have a dignified, a incomparable service for their son. the day they choose to lay him to rest, we don't want nothing to move. but showing our commitment to justice for this family. second, we want to deal with the militarization of police in this country. the shocking display of military
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operations. we saw millions of dollars roll down all kind of military equipment like you were at war with your citizens. if you got enough money to bring all that equipment in here, you got money for jobs for these young people. martin iii and i met with state senator nasheed and others that we have met with.
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these people we will work with. we need to bring jobs to the young folk. they are mad because they get up mad every day because you've given them no future. we need to, since you showed us you got some money, we're going to show you how to spend it. thirdly, we're going to have a drive in this town. 67% of the city black.
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