>> thanks to you at home for being with us at this hour. you're looking here, i believe, you're looking at the island of manhattan. but that doesn't look like times square to me. control room, can you tell me if that's times square. that looks like the west side highway -- it is west side

times square, and also the part of midtown manhattan near rockefeller outside our studios. the whole area was way more full than is usually is, of cops and traffic and pedestrians tonight, because the rockefeller center tree lighting ceremony was held here tonight, a high profile nationally televised event, but in addition to all of that expected chaos, the protesters upset about the eric garner decision effectively tried to crash that party tonight leading to the inevitable mofb of the no justice, no peace slogan into tonight's more apt slogan, no justice, no tree. protesters also were in manhattan, blocked traffic on a major north/south thorough fare on the west side of man hat tab, darted through cars, they laid down. one of the things they chanted over and over again is "i can't breathe." i should tell you this will be the front page of the "new york daily news" tomorrow morning "we

can't breathe." those words have become a part of the rallying cry tonight in new york city, but also in seattle, washington, people laying down in the streets there tonight to stop traffic. we're going to have a live report from saturday until just a moment in new orleans, more protesters tonight, more blocking of traffic. this was in downtown atlanta, georgia, tonight, some significant protests in georgia. we'll hopefully be getting a live report from raent. reports out of san francisco, people blocking traffic in downtown san francisco on market street to protest eric garner's death. also in los angeles tonight these protests tonight around the country have been at times echoing the hands up don't shoot rallying cry over the protest over the death of 18-year-old michael brown in missouri but you've repeatedly seen in terms of what people are chaptering and on their lines, repeating that line "i can't breathe" or

"we can't breathe" specifically about the case of eric garper and how he died. july 17th he was approached by police in staten island, police believed that he was illegally selling individual cigarettes so you don't want to buy a whole pack you buy one cigarette for 50 cents from a guy on the street. it is illegal but not the biggest deal of a crime. plain clothed police officers tried arresting him. he stumble, fell to the ground, at least three other officers converged on him and held him down forcibly and that is how he died. this video was posted by "the new york daily news" after his death happened. it was taken by a bystander on a cell phone. it clearly shows the one officer grabbing him by the neck and holding his head down with force jamming him into the pavement. the tape clearly captured in its audio eric garner saying what turned out to be his dying

words, "i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe." at least eight times. those words have become a rallying cry in these protests. tonight in new york and around the country, because "i can't breathe" were the last words that eric garner spoke as he was being killed. >> don't touch me. [ bleep ]. >> all right, get down. >> give us your hands, buddy. >> where are your hands, buddy? >> i can't breathe. i can't wreath. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> "i can't breathe." eric garner's last words. after staten island grand jury announced nobody would be indicted for his killing, today eric garner's widow and mother

responded to that grand jury decision at a press conference. >> this fight ain't over. it's just begun. i'm determined to get justice for my husband because he shouldn't have been killed in that way. he shouldn't have been killed in any way. he should be here celebrating christmas and thanksgiving and everything else with his children and his grandchildren, and he can't. why? because a cop did wrong. somebody that gets paid to do right did wrong, and he's not held accountable for it but my husband's death will not be in vain. as long as i have a breath in my body, i will fight the fight to the end, thank you. >> i am truly kiss appointed in the grand jury's decision this evening. i don't know what video they were looking at. evidently it went eight the same the rest of the world was

looking at. how could we put our trust in the justice system, when they fail us like this? they didn't only fail me, they failed many of us, and if we don't take care of this, they may fail you in the future. >> thashd are that's right. >> it's worth noting you if you had any day shoe view about the protests going on, if you're having deja vu because the protests are happening at the same time that protests around the country are still continuing about the kill of ferguson, missouri's michael brown. part of what you are seeing in new york and elsewhere is a direct and specific response to the eric garner killing and nobody being charged for having killed him in staten island. part of it is very specific to that case but part of it honestly is cumulative. go to the ferguson response tumblr page.

there's all the new events planned for the next two days around the country, for tomorrow in particular but over the next two days, under the headline of "ferguson response" but there's a heck of a lot more events plans now than yesterday at this time. that's because there are planned marches and demonstration rallies for michael brown's death in ferguson, missouri, and also now eric garner's death in staten island and the fact that there will be no trial for the killers of either of those men. ich of these police killings, each of these cases is different. they each have their own detail and stand on their own terms, each their own tragedy, but it is also hard to see them as standalone cases when they're part of a pattern of similar deaths, similar cases that keep happening in all different parts of the country with similar outcomes in the justice system. today at the press conference with the widow and mother and family of eric garner, their

response to the grand jury's decision that no one would be indicted for his death, today at that press conference the reverend al sharpton called for a single national march. in washington a week from saturday. >> we are dealing with a national crisis. where, in the last 90 days, from those three cases, to a 12-year-old boy in cleveland whose funeral was just today, how many people have to die before people understand this is not an illusion. this say reality that america has got to come to terms with. we have called on, from the beginning, the federal government to intervene in police cases.

we have no confidence in local, state prosecutions. the attorney general talked with mrs. garner and me today. they talked about an independent investigation. but let's be clear. let's be clear that while we ask for the federal government to move, we are moving that way on saturday, a week from this saturday, december 13th, we are having a national march in washington, d.c., where we are calling for the justice department to take this case and the case in ferguson and the case in cleveland. it is time for a national march to deal with a national crisis. >> that was earlier today. the protests that are ongoing right now in new york city and

around the country over the eric garner case, i should tell you, the ones about the eric garner case that are happening tonight, you should know in terms of the history of this story. this is the second round of large protests in this case, these ones that are happening tonight. the first round of large protests around this case came in august, specifically after the new york city medical examiner released its official report on mr. garner's death and that official report on his death called his death a homicide and concluded that what killed eric garner was asphyxiati asphyxiation, compression of his neck. that led to the first large-scale protests about eric xwa garner, they were large protests in new york city and peaceful. tonight the large protests are happening in new york and across the country, too, and it looks like there will be more to come. i want to bring in live from seattle, page cornwell, reporter for "the seattle times" out in

downtown seattle observing the protests there. paige cornwell, thank you for being with us. i appreciate your time. >> thank you, rachel. >> what's been happening tonight in seattle, what is the character of the protests there and what have the protesters been trying to do? >> well, the protests today has been smaller than in the past few days demonstrations. there's about 50 people right now, they've been walking through downtown seattle. i've observed officers getting out of a van with riot gear and wearing batons and pepper spray as well. for the most part it's peaceful. >> the you say the protesters are peaceful. have they been blocking off significant traffic? the pictures out of seattle looks like they have able to block roads. >> they have. i notice when police tell them to get out of the streets they actually do. at one point everyone was

waiting at the crosswalk and i realized it's because the crosswalk sign did not say go. so at this point they've been observing. >> page, i wanted to ask you, we've seen signs in seattle referencing john t. williams alongside eric garner and michael brown and others. is this related to the killings? >> yeah, in 2010, john williams was shot four times by police officer in daylight, and he had been walking across the street, carrying a knife that he used to carve wood. he was from a very prominent in a live american family that carved totem polls, and he couldn't hear very well, and the police officer said that he got out of his car, walked up to john t. williams and said,

drop the knife, and then shot him four times. he said that he had been -- that he felt like he was in danger because of the knife. however, it was a small carving knife. that officer later resigned and the city attorney acknowledged that there had been misconduct. >> paige cornwell, our reporter at "the seattle times" out with protesters tonight in the streets of seattle. paige, thank you very much for helping us understand what's going on out there. i appreciate it. we've been keeping an eye on protests in new york to the best of our ability. also, there have been some significant protests in atlanta, in san francisco, in oakland, california, which is just across the bay from san francisco. there's been large protests over the ferguson situation in oakland in recent days. we're joined by vivian ho, a reporter with the "san francisco chronicle" who has been in oakland, california, tonight watching the protests. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> what's the protest like in oakland tonight and how would you describe these protests compared with how they've been

in recent days about ferguson? >> tonight was pretty peaceful and very energetic. and there's a been crowd of a couple hundred protesters. a couple hundred at peak. they marched around, they chanted. but overall, compared to the protest last week, it remains a lot more peaceful, a lot calmer. the protests last week, there was some looting, some window breaking, bottles being thrown, that sort of stuff. >> vivian, in terms of the way that the protesters and police are relating to one another, does it seem like there are -- they're listening in both directions? what's the dynamic between police and protesters tonight? >> oakland has a very unique relationship with the police department. they always have. some recent police shootings, including officer grant, alan blooper, and just in general, you know, protesters try to

engage the police officers. police officers will ignore them. and every once in a while a bottle gets thrown at a police officer. tonight, i just saw one bottle being thrown. it was very peaceful tonight. >> ms. ho, thank you very much for being with us. i appreciate that. >> thank you for having me. >> we're going to go now to kate osbourne, a producer with the rachel ma maddow show. kate has been in and out of our offices tonight, charging her batteries when she can and getting out among the protesters. i understand you're near the brooklyn bridge. on the manhattan side right now? >> hello? >> hi. it's rachel maddow. you're not in trouble. don't worry. tell me where you are and what you're seeing. >> we're on the brooklyn bridge currently. we're just getting over the beginning parts of the bridge. it looks like they were going to stop them from getting on. and then the police just broke ranks and let everyone go back on. >> the protesters walking across

from the manhattan side to the brooklyn side, are they blocking all traffic in that direction? >> just a moment ago they stopped and sat down on the bridge. we're actually on the pedestrian part of it. so we're not blocking traffic as of yet. the cops had stopped the traffic that wants to get on to the bridge, but there is some coming from brooklyn into manhattan. >> okay. >> so a good part of it is shut down at this point. >> in terms of the character of the protests that you're in, you were with some other protest groups including the group, among the group blocking the west side highway tonight. what would you describe as the, sort of the character of the protest? the vibe and how they are relating to police? >> well, generally, it has been pretty copaesthetic. there has been some side arguments. personally i've seen at least a dozen arrests and attempts to cordon them into certain areas.

the minute that it gets a little bit heated, they tend to let them move on. what i found interesting is a lot of the people i've spoken to said tonight was the first night they came out, despite the fact that there has been ongoing protests in new york. >> interesting. >> i think that for some new yorkers, this particular one struck a chord, and new people came out. >> i understand. kate osborn reporting for us. from out on the streets among protesters who right now are crossing the brooklyn bridge from manhattan toward the brooklyn side. thanks very much. we'll be back in touch. it's interesting the way that these protests have unfolded. even if you just look specifically at new york city, specifically at new york city, you start to get a handle on where they are and what they're doing. you see a large mass of protesters like we just did on the brooklyn britain or outside rockefeller central in one place. then you realize it is not just one protest. there are significant knots of people making that big a splash somewhere else.

somewhere else in manhattan. somewhere else blocks away, even in another burrough. it has been a rapidly unfolding situation and a little unpredictable on boast the west coast and the east coast. we have much more to come in our ongoing coverage in the reaction to the new york city's grand jury decision not continue to diet the police officer who killed eric garner. lots ahead including the reverend al sharpton. stay with us. has the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®.

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today by a grand jury not to indict. police officers who had interacted with an individual named eric garner in new york city. i just got off the phone with my attorney general, eric holder. he will have more specific comments about the case in new york. but i want everybody to know here, as well as everybody who may be viewing my remarks here today, we are not going to let up until we see a strengthening of the trust and a strengthening of the accountability that exists between our communities and our law enforcement. when anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that's a problem. and it is my job as president to help solve it. >> president obama speaking earlier tonight about the grand jury decision in staten island to not indict the new york city

police officer involved in the choking death of 43-year-old eric garner this summer. look at this picture. this is eric garner's mother and his widow watching president obama make those remarks today. as they're watching, you see who is there with them. they're standing alongside reverend al sharpton. reverend al has been at the central of this case and the response to it for months, ever since eric garner's death in july. he has held rallies here in new york city as the legal process has been unfolding. earlier this month he also spoke at eric garner's funeral. >> when you can in broad daylight choke one of god's children, god expects us to stand up and demand justice and fairness and quit acting like that's just one of those things. this is not just one of those things.

>> reverend sharpton has been meeting with the garner family late tonight. he also spoke with the attorney general eric holder shortly after the grand jury decision was announced. late tonight eric holder also announced the federal department of justice has opened a federal investigation into eric garner's death. joining us live, reverend al sharpton, thanks very much for being here. i know it is a busy time for you. >> thank you, rachel. >> i know you have been with eric garner's family tonight. how are they doing and what is their reaction to this news today? >> well, they are absolutely outraged. but not surprised. we had said from the beginning, when this happened in july, that we wanted federal intervention. there was no confidence in a local state grand jury in staten island. and around the country, there is an intrinsic conflict with local

prosecutors dealing with local police because they work together hand in glove in terms of cases. a prosecutor depends on the local police for all of their cases. all of their evidence. which is why you need someone outside of that arrangement. outside of the politics. local prosecutors run for office. police unions are involved in either supporting or not supporting. a lot of different conflicting things that really makes people much more comfortable and the results, more fair, when you have outside people involved. that's why we call for federal prosecutor here as well as in ferguson, as well as in other cases. a week ago tonight, reach he will, i talked to you from right here at the action network where the parents of eric garner and his wife stood on this stage with the parents of michael brown from ferguson and the young lady from the young man

gurley who was killed by police in a housing project in brooklyn saying we would stand together for federal prosecution. a week later, another grand jury has come out now in new york. this is a national crisis. it is a napt problem. a few of us in the civil rights leadership met with the president and the vice president on this on monday. we cannot just go from else to else, city to city. there must be a national response. the federal government must come in and intervene on the issues of criminal justice and policing just as the federal government had to come in 45 and 50 years ago and deal with situations in the south. we no longer can have faith on the state to take care of these kinds of matters. no matter, regardless as to whether the state is missouri or new york or cleveland, ohio, where a 12-year-old young man was funeralized today, killed by

police who shot him in two seconds with a pellet gun. >> while we're talking to you we're also showing live images of the protests happening in new york city. they're not just happening in new york. there's been some protests around the country. the new york protests are big and they're disruptive. including the images we were just showing. including the shut down on the west side highway. there are big protests. people are very upset. what do you see as the role of public protest in terms of trying to get justice here? a lot of people are worried about the disruption, worried about the potential for violence, divisiveness. how do you think public protest plays a role? >> i think that public protests that are peaceful are doing america a great service. i think the true patriots are the people trying to correct what continues to happen. when you see this pattern in various cities of police abuse and all the public is asking for are trials.

all a grand jury is set up for is probable cause. if you have a video showing a man being choked and the chokehold is illegal in new york, a man saying 11 times on the video, once he's down and helpless, being held down by other police, saying i can't breathe, and the policeman continues to choke him, and that's not probable cause to go to trial, then we know that the system is broken. and all we're saying is, follow the law. the grand jury is not there to set up whether or not one is innocent or guilty. but whether there's probable cause to proceed. and i think it is important we say this. in other areas when people have questioned juries, no one called them rabble rousers, agitators. many americans question the jury in the o.j. simpson trial. they were considered people that had the right to their opinion. why when we questioned grand juries, are we all of these

names? we have the same right to question the process as anyone else does. and in this case, where you have a videotape, we have an obligation to stand up and question it. >> reverend al sharpton. president of the national action network, host on msnbc. thank you very much for your role in this. good to have you here. we have much more ahead as we continue to monitor these live protests and elsewhere around the country, responding to the grand jury decision to not indict a new york city police officer in the death of eric garner who was choked to death in the streets of staten island this last july. 

looking at a feed from the streets of new york city. this i think is along the west side highway. one of the main northwest arteries on the west side of manhattan island. today in new york, hours before the grand jury announced its verdict in the eric garner case, the verdict that has brought out all these protests, they nouged they would be moving up the initial deployment of body cameras for new york city police officers to wear while they're on duty. this was in the works in new york for a while but wasn't

actually expected to go into effect for another month. then today the day of the eric garner announcement, they moved up the body cam's announcement basically to now. in the ferguson, missouri case after a grand jury decided not to indict officer darren wilson in the death of 18-year-old michael brown, michael brown's family asked people to support their call for police officers across the country to be required to wear body cameras. there was no video evidence of wham in the shooting of amico brown in part because ferguson police did not regularly use cameras. on monday of this week, president obama announced that he would ask congress for $263 million to cover the cost of $50,000 new body cameras, plus training on the use of those cameras for police officers across the country. in the eric garner case, in the staten island case, there was video. what appeared to many people to be quite damming video that resulted, there was video in this case. the video wasn't shot by police cameras, it was shot by a bystander whose commentary made clear he did not approve of the way police officers were handling that interaction with eric garner.

but in this case, in this he think did, the existence of the video showing the killing was not enough to convince the grand jury that there was any need for a trial in this case. when the widow of eric garner was first told of the grand jury's decision today, the decision to not charge known in the death of her husband, her first words in response were, oh, my god, are you serious? she then said you can see in the video that the police officer was dead wrong. esaw garner is her name. she is eric garner's widow. she told the new york daily news right after she heard about the announcement today. the grand jury kept interviewing witnesses but you didn't need witnesses. you can be a witness for yourself, she said. oh, my god. you can be a witness for yourself when there is video evidence. but video evidence is no magic bullet, right? it adds to what we know but it does not necessarily determine

what happens next. joining us now, letisha james, the public advocate for the city of new york. an unusual job title but a really important one in the nation's largest city. letisha jones is the second in command ubld mayor bill de blasio. she has been an active pro opponent of the body camera program. thank you for being with us. i appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. >> first i have to ask, your decision, your reaction as a public advocate to this decision by the grand jury today that there will not be an indictment in mr. garner's death. >> obviously i'm very, very disappointed. and my prayers and my could not dole egss go out tort garner family. my office has been really focusing on reforms which is why since july, we've been pressing the de blasio administration and the bratton administration to implement body cameras for members of the nypd. we wanted to make sure we have an objective recording of every street encounter.

so earlier before the decision was made, we stood with the mayor and the police commissioner to announce this pilate program or pilot of cameras going forward. we recognize that cameras are not the be all and we recognize cameras are not the panacea. they're just one part of a plan for progressive change for the city of new york as it relates to aggressive policing in new york. and i'm calling on the governor of the state of new york, governor cuomo, to point a special prosecutor in the case of egregious police misconduct so there is an independent prosecutor. we all know, prosecutors rely upon the police department for their reelections. we know that there's an inherent conflict with police officers and that's why we need the independent special prosecutor to prosecute cases of police misconduct. and last but not least, we need sunshine as it relates to the grand jury proceeding. i'm asking district attorney donavan to release not part, not some, but all of the grand jury proceedings in this case so that the family, the garner family

long why they did not get an indictment. america will know why we didn't get an indictment. we all saw the video. our eyes did not lie. the video speaks for itself. it was unreasonable. it was excessive force and clearly, justice is not perfect and clearly justice will be served, on the federal level, the civil letter or some form in the future. i urge everyone to protest i recognize that protest is our strongest instrument at this time. and i applaud the young people for protesting all throughout the city today. young people have been in the forefront of change throughout the history of this country. if we're going to get change, it will be as a result of peacefully protesting in the city and in this nation for reform. >> let me ask you about one point you just made. about the prosecution of what you called egregious police misconduct cases. we heard from reverend al sharpton, my colleague here at msnbc and involved in his civil rights work and as an advocate.

he made the same point that you did there. that there is an inherent conflict of interest between local prosecutors trying to get justice for victims of police misconduct when their work as prosecutors is so intertwined with the police on their, on a daily basis and all the other time of prosecutions they bring. do you think that it is possible that there could be special prosecutors brought in specifically to prosecute police misconduct some. >> there are flaws in the system. i am an attorney. a former criminal defense attorney and that i know prosecutors work with police, the police department each and every day them rely upon them for evidence. they work with them in getting their cases and prosecuting their cases. that inherent conflict does not the individuals who are seeking justice, particularly when the defendant is a police officer. so what we're asking is we're asking for fundamental fairness. for justice. what we're asking for is an independent prosecutor in cases where there's egregious police misconduct.

>> letisha james, a public advocate, the number two position under mayor de blasio. thank you. letisha james joining us from the streets of staten island actually, from the site very near where eric garner was killed in july this year. these protests you're seeing in the streets of new york including some pretty disrummive protests start downing some big traffic news. these protests in response to the grand jury decision that there would be no charges brought against the new york city police officer who effectively killed mr. garner by putting him in what appeared to be a chokehold on the video that has been distributed so widely since that death. the big question now is whether or not any other charges might be brought even though local prosecutors are not bringing charges. could there be federal charges brought in that case? the person who would be very involved in that decision is the woman who has just been nominated by president obama to be the next attorney general of the united states. she is the federal prosecutor who would have local

jurisdiction geographically in this case. we have more on that ahead. stay with us. because beautiful skin goes with everything. [ female announcer ] aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals® oat with five vital nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. where do i wear aveeno®? everywhere. aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion.. and try the body wash too. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results™.

since mr. garner's death, the district office for new york, the civil rights division and the federal bureau of investigation have been monitoring the local case closely while allowing the

district attorney's office in staten island to proceed first. earlier today the grand jury failed to return an indictment in this case. now that the investigation has concluded i am here to announce the justice department will proceed with a federal civil rights investigation into mr. garner's death. attorney general eric holder speaking just a couple hours ago this evening. last time a new york city police officer was charged with killing someone with a chokehold, it was 20 years ago in the case of anthony baez who was killed in the bronx. in that case the officer whose chokehold killed him was charged at the local level unlike the eric garner case. in the anthony baez case, the officer was found not guilty at trial. then after that acquittal, the officer was then charged in federal court by federal prosecutors. and in the federal case, the officer was convicted and sentenced to seven years behind bars. now, in the eric garner case, nobody knows if federal charges will ultimately be brought against the officer in the eric garner case. but the federal prosecutor with jurisdiction for where this happened remarkably is this

prosecutor. loretta lynch who has just been nominated by president obama to become the next attorney general of the united states. how does that factor into this decision? joining us, mr. butler, thank you for being with us. now that we've learned that they have launch ad formal investigation, what are they looking for? what do they need to find to make a decision to bring federal charges? >> the standard is whether the police officer willfully and purposefully violated mr. garner's rights under collar of state law. that's fangsy legal language. what it usually means is that the police had some kind of racial animus or they were biased because of his sexual orientation or religion or gender, that's a federal crime. if it is just an ordinary homicide, it is not a federal

crime. and the issue there is, again, if it is a federal civil rights claim, there has to be that you wereful intent. it is a much higher bar. >> in this case, the officer who put what appears to be this chokehold on mr. garner before he died, has had a couple of complaints, lawsuits, civil lawsuits brought against him just over the past couple years from three different people allegeding that he made essentially racially charged decisions to treat them improperly as a police officer. would that sort of evidence factor into a decision by federal prosecutors in this? or would they be looking only at the interaction that happened between the man who was kill and the officer in this one instance? >> well, federal prosecutors like state prosecutors, have an extraordinary amount of discretion. so their main question will be, is there some kind of miscarriage of justice that happened at the state level that

means that we need to intervene. in the case that you brought up earlier, anthony baez, the trial judge of the state level after that officer was acquitted said that there had been a miscarriage of justice. he said that the police out and out lied on the stand. so there was a lot of pressure for a federal prosecution. if there's similar pressure here, this was an incident caught on time. the police officers ruled the medical examiner ruled the death was a homicide mr. garner's crime was selling a loose tobacco cigarette. it was caught on time and he was saying, i can't breathe. all of those rise in the i'ms of the attorney general and the presumptive next attorney general, loretta lynch. if that arises to a miscarriage of justice, surely there is a federal crime they can final to charge this officer. >> georgetown university law professor, former federal prosecutor. thank you for your insight helping us with this. we've got much more ahead as we

ten to look at live shots and alst live shots of the protests happening in washington, d.c. and in new york city and philadelphia and some other cities around the country. stay with us. take zzzquil and sleep like...

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we continue to monitor some live shots that we got with vantage points around new york city. after a staten island grand jury

announced there would be no charges brought against the new york city police officer for death caused by choking a 43-year-old staten island man named, a garner this summer. protests in new york in particular have not been particularly static. they've been moving around the city. in various degrees disruptive including the traffic and the rockefeller christmas tree ceremony. there have been no reports of significant violence or difficulty between police and protesters but the protests continue. we're keeping an eye on it. stay with us. let me get this straight... yes? lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, no discomfort, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? lactaid®. 100% real milk. no discomfort. and try lactaid® supplements with your first bite to dig in

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rockefeller christmas tree lighting was tonight. tonight in addition to that regular throng of thousands of people celebrating the tree, there have also been a large number of protesters converging at the same spot. the new york city mayor bill de

blasio canceled to talk with eric garner's family. i don't mean to be weird but one of the things you should know about mayor de blasio is he is really large physically. he is about 6'6". his wife is named shirlane de blasio. they have two children, a son and a daughter. i mention race as it relates to the de blasio family and also his height specifically because the mayor talked tonight with some real emotion about what it is like to have a high school aged african-american son who is a big guy. in the context of these recent police killings of unarmed african-american men in our country. >> this is profoundly personal

for me. i was at the white house the other day and the president of the united states turned to me and he met dante a few months ago and he said that he reminded him of what he looked like as a teenager. he said i know you see this crisis through a very personal lens. i said to him, i did. because we've had to talk to dante for years about the dangers that he may face. good young man, law-abiding young man who would never think to do anything wrong. yet because the history still hangs over us, the dangers he may face, we've had to literally train him as families have all over this city for decades. >> the reporting did i last week about the incorrect legal instructions given to the grand jury in missouri.

that today we got a response from the missouri attorney general about that. has come do right now protests continue in new york city. "first look" is up next. >> good morning, right now on "first look," protests in new york city and all over the country in response to a grand jury's decision not to indict nypd officer daniel pantaleo, the man's whose chokehold tactic banned by the nypd caused the death of eric garner. a giant leap for nasa, counting down to this morning's launch of the orion spacecraft. >> we begin with another grand jury not wanting to indict another police officer. once again president obama and his administration are looking at a federal charges. the department of justice has