welcome to wednesday. boy, we have an hour for you. i'm chuck todd continuing our b news coverage. former president obama will be speaking publicly for the first time since george floyd's death since the protests, the unrest, the ais arrest of the officer, derek chauvin, new charges.

he could publicly comment about president trump's handling of this current crisis. this will be a virtual town hall. it's hosted by my brother's keeper alliance, an initiative that obama launched as president to help address a crisis just like the one this country is facing now. we'll bring you his opening remarks live when that happens. also the discussion that will follow. not just those remarks, it's fascinating. we'll hear from eric holder, but we're going to hear from the former president just moments after keith ellison announced that charges against former officer derek chauvin has been increased to now include second degree murder. ellison also announced the three other officers had been charged with aiding and abetting and as protests continue around the country, ellison also urged patience.

>> i ask for your patience again while we limit our public comments in pursuit of justice. i also ask for your trust. that we are pursuing justice by every leaggal and ethical means available to us. trying this case will not be an easy thing. winning a conviction will be hard. in fact, county attorney freeman is the only prosecutor in the state of minnesota who has successful convicted police officer for murder. and he can tell you that it's hard. the very fact that we have filed these charges means that we believe in them, but what i do not believe is that one successful prosecution can rectify the hurt and loss that so many people feel. the solution to that pain will be slow and difficult work of constructing justice and fairness in our society. >> you're look at live pictures now outside of the twin cities as demonstrations there continue

and we're expecting the governor of minnesota to address these latest developments in just a moment. when the demonstrators who gathered today at the site of floyd's death first appeared to learn of those new charges in floyd's killing, this was f some of their initial reanchor. just take a look. >>. ♪ ♪ deep any heamy heart i do bel shall overcome some day ♪ >> quite remarkable. more live protests as news of these developments has made it on to plenty of smart phones and it's starting to sink in. dozens of cities have once imposed curfews again tonight

after things appeared to be calmer last night. as we await to hear from president obama during this historic moment, let' bring in shah quil brewster who's been on the ground all week in minnesota. our justice correspondent, pete williams is also here to help explain some of the changes in the new filings in the floyd case and also with us, paul butler, georgetown law professor and msnbc legal analyst. let's go there to the twin cities. you were there on the ground when word leaked out. there's sort of relief but still anguish? >> relief, anguish, celebration. those images you just showed, that's what we're still seeing here at the site where george floyd was killed and people have been going around and the circle, they're actually

kneeling now. didn't know that was going on. but the circle of people you see there, people have been going in in the middle of that irk circle randomly, spontaneously, going and speaking about what this means to them and what the death of george floyd. >> matt: has meant to them and you can see since the beginning of the day when you saw his son, he went over to the location, exact spot where floyd was killed. got on a knee, took a prayer. you also saw the governor come and pay his respects. that's what the scene has become. it's described by so many as sacred ground. where people come, pay their respects and have a sense of community. it's a diverse group of people. people from all walks of life, from all over the country that i've met and had interactions with. that's what you're continuing to see. the news they got today of not only officer chauvin, his charges being upgraded, but the charges against the other three officers is exactly what they've been calling for. they say it's overdue.

and they're saying now they want a conviction. that that was not enough. just the first step. chuck. >> i want to talk to you about some more things, but u i want play another bite from the attorney general, keith ellison, on how we're going to go. looks like we've been moving at, really quickly. but he's reminding people this is now going to take quite some time. take a listen to his comments. >> in a final angel is, a protest can shake a tree and make the fruit fall down but after that fruit is in reach, collecting it and making the jam must follow. the demonstrations and the protests are dramatic and necessary but building just just institutions is more of a slow grind but equally important and we have to begin that work as well.

>> it's been amazing what we've seen in nine days and the movements on charges being brought, officers being fired. that's been an amazing speed. i felt like this was a attorney general of minnesota saying okay, demonstrators, realize the next step here is going to take a while. >> he has been facing the pressure to have these charges. prosecutor has been facing pressure and that's going to take time. the one thing ellison said in in addition to calling for that calm and patience, it doesn't take calm and patience to start working at systemic issues and we heard some of that yesterday not just looking at this death with george floyd, but looking at the past ten years of patterns and practices with this

police department. looking to see if there's systemic discrimination. that's a big deal and what the protestors have been calling for. yes, they wanted these officers arrested, charged and they want to see a conviction, but they want to see changes beyond that and many people tell me they're noting things for the very first time and they're liking the progress they're seeing. chuck. >> shaquille brewster at the site. let me bring in pete and paul. there's a specific reason why the charges against derek chauvin were upgraded. walk us through that. >> well, i think one possibility here is this. remember that derek chauvin originally faced a charge of third degree murder, which is basically deliberate indifference to human life, act wg a depraved state of mind. under minneapolis, minnesota

law, you can't be charged with aiding and abetting third degree murder. that plmay be one reason. both the second degree and man slaugt er charge that derek chauvin now faces. that could be one reason. can you give us a sense of timing of this, of how long a case like this you know is going to take? to when should we expegt to have a trial for instance? >> i would think a is possible later this year. i think it moves faster than it does in the federal system, but there are some things to think about. number one, it may well be the prosecutors will try to get one of these officers, perhaps the one who's standing there in the video who was not holding george floyd down. may try to get him to cooperate and testify. that would take some time. the second thing is i don't

think it would be unexpected if they try to get a change of venue. now moving it out of minneapolis or st. paul, where ever else that i don't know about this. you might argue that passions are especially high in federal court, it's really hard to get changes of venue. the jury pool is just saturated with coverage and even then frankly seldom works. >> i don't mean to be this is a national story, is there a -- >> it's not like everybody else in minnesota didn't know what was going on. what i'm saying is it may not succeed. it could take some time. so i don't know. later this year, early next year, it's really hard to say. >> paul, as you heard pete

explain it, is that your assessment that most likely, they raised the charge to get aiding and abetting to stick, that needs to be for second degree murder or higher? >> these prosecutors are throwing the book at all four of these police officers so added is the keyword here. officer chauvin, former officer chauvin remains charged with third degree murder and now he's charged with second degree. the jury will have to choose between one or the other. second keg murder is felony murder in minnesota which means the prosecutors still don't have to prove intent to kill, which in this case is assault. if they prove that and the death happened as a result of the assault, they still get their murder conviction. the other officers are charged with aiding and abetting. the interesting thing there is if you help somebody commit a

crime in minnesota, you're eligible for the same punishment as if you had done the deed yourself so these folks are all looking at a lot of time and i agree with pete. their quoing the prosecutors will try to get one of these gentlemen to fold. to testify against the other officers. we know there's complicity because the police report they all signed on to was a lie so if someone wants to make a deal to testify against the other three officers, that person has a huge incentive. the ls thing i heard the protestors say four down u, what do they say, we got all four. they're a lopg wng way from get all four as the attorney general indicated. this is just the dping. it's one thing to charge officers, probably cause. it's a lower standard. to convict them, it's under reasonable doubt.

if one juror doesn't agree, the government loses, the police officer walks. >> paul, so the three officers charged with aiding and abetting, if chauvin doesn't get convicted of second degree murder, what happens to those charges? >> they can still be convicted. >> pete, they could -- okay. >> you can still be convicted. i think i'm right, am i not, paul? >> felony murder is a murder you don't intend to commit. there's a puzzle with how --

these are location, these a looking at a lot of they got they want and all four of these cops. >> is there any order? does the chauvin charge go first? >> i'm not sure. in federal court, generally, they try to keep these things together. surely if one peels off and that would be a separate trial. whether the other two would be tried. the two police officers who were with him, king and lane, whether they would be charged together or tried separately. tried together then chauvin tried separately. i just don't know.

>> what's your sense of what's most likely here. would the three officers be tried tat same time or separate then chauvin separately? this is going to be one of the first, each defense attorney will say no. i want my client tried by himself. in the freddy gray case in baltimore when numerous officers were implicated, everyone was charged at the same time. the judges ended up separating those into individual trials. >> paul, what is is part of this prosecution because not getting a conviction here would be pretty upsetting to the community. what do you think the toughest part of this prosecution is going to be? >> that's why the prosecutors

left in the third degree murder and also the voluntary manslaughter charge. >> paul, i don't mean to cut you off. president obama is about to speak. via live stream. >> president barack obama. >> man. thank you. that was unbelievable. and we could not be prouder. and you are a hard act to follow. so i can't wait to see what you're going to be doing in the future. good afternoon, everybody. all the panelists and participants. let me start by acknowledging that we have seen in the last several weeks, few months, the

kinds of epic changes and events in our country that are as profound as anything i've seen in my lifetime and i'm not a lot older than -- going to be 59 soon. although all of us have been feeling pain, uncertainty, disrupg, some folks have been feeling it more than others. most of all, the pain that's been experienced by the families. george, breonna, ahmad, tony and others, too many to mention. those we thought about during that moment of silence. and to those families who have been directly affected by tragedy.

please know that michelle and i grieve with you, hol you in our prayers, are committed to the fight of a more just nation because of your sons and daughters and we can't forget that even as we're confronting the familiparticular acts of vi that led to those losses, our nation is still in the middle of a global pandemic that's exposed vulnerabilities of the health care system, but also the disparate treatment as a consequence that exists in our health care system. that led to number of loss of

life in communities of color. so in a lot of ways, what has happened over the last several weeks is challenges and structural problems have been thrown into high relief. they're the outcomes not just of the immediate moments in time, but they're the result of a long history. of slavery and jim crow and red lining and institutionalized racism that too often have been the plague, the original sin, f of our society and as difficult

as these two weeks have been, they've also been an incredible opportunity for people to be awakened. to some of these underlying trends. and they offer an opportunity for us to all work together to tackle them, to america and make it live up to its highest ideals. part of what's made me so hopeful is the fact so many young people have been motivated and mobilized. because historically, so much of the progress we've made in our society has been because of young people. dr. king was a young man. when he got involved. caesar chavez was a young man. malcolm x was a young man. the members of the feminist movement were young people.

leaders of the environmental movement in this country and the movement to make sure that the lgbt community finally had a voice and was represented were young people and so when i walked, when sometimes i feel despair, i just see what's happening with young people all across the country. and the talent and the voice and sophistication they're displaying and it makes me feel optimistic. as if you know this country is going to get better. now i want to speak directly to the young men and women of color in this country who have witnessed too much violence and death. and too often, the it's come

from folks who were supposed to be serving and protecting. i want you to know your matter. your hives matter and your dreams matter and when i look at the faces of my daughters, and nephews and nieces, i see limitless potential that deserves to flourish and thrive and you should be able to learn and make mistakes and live a life of joy without having to worry about what's going to happen when you walk to the store or go for a jog or driving down the street. or hooking at looking at birds in a park. so i hope you also feel hopeful even as you may feel angry. because you have the power to make things better and you have helped to make the entire country feel as if this is something that's got to change. you've communicated a sense of urgency.

that is as powerful and as transformtive as anything that i've seen in recent years. i want to acknowledge the foerks in law enforcement that share the goals of reimagining police because there are folks out there who took their oath to serve your communities and countries, had a tough job and i know you're just as outraged about the tragedies as are many of the protestors so we're grateful for the vast majority of you who protect and serve. i have been heartened to see those in law enforcement who have recognized let me march along with these protestors. let me and side by side and recognize that i want to be part of the solution. and show restraint and volunteer. and listen. because you're a vital part of the conversation.

and change is going to require everybody's participation. when i was in office, i created a task force on 21st century policing in the wake of the tragic killing of michael brown. that task force which included law enforcement and community leaders and activists was charged two develop a specific set of recommendations to strent strengthen trust and foster better working relationships between law enforcement and communities they're supposed to protect even as they promote effective crime reduction and that report showcased a range of solutions. and and strategies that were proven and based on data and research. to improve community policing and collect better data and identify and do something about

bias and how police were trained. and reforms to use the force that police deploy in ways that increase safety. most of the reforms needed to prevent the type of violence and injustices that we've seen take place at the local level. reform has to take place in more than 19,000 american municip municipalitie municipalities. more than 18,000 enforcement jurisdictions and so as activists and every day citizens raise their voices, we need to be clear about where change is going to happen and how we can bring about that change. it is mayors and county executors that appoint most police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police unions and that

determines police practices in local communities. it's district and states attorneys that decide typically whether or not to investigate and charge those involved in police misconduct and those are all elected positions and in some places, they're are review boards with the power to monitor conduct. the bottom line is i've been hearing a little bit of chatter in the internet about voting versus protests. politics and participation versus civil disobese yens and direct action. this is not a either/or. this is a both and. to bring about real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make a power uncomfortable but we have to transform that into practice kl solutions to laws that can be implemented and

we can monitor and make sure we're following up on them. so very quickly, let me just close with a couple of specific things. we can we do? number one, we know there are specific evidence based reforms that if we put in place today, would build trust, save lives, would not show an increase in crime. those are included in the 21st century policing task force report. you can find it on obama.org. number two, a lot of mayors and local elected officials supported the task force report but then there wasn't enough follow through. so today, i'm urging every mayor in this country. to review your use of force policies with members of your community and commit to report on planned reforms. what are the specific steps you can take and i should add by the way that original task force was done several years ago.

since that time, we've actually collected data in part because we implemented some of these reform ideas so we now have more information and data as to what works and their organizations like campaign zero and color of change and others that are out there highlighting what the data shows. what works, what doesn't in terms of reducing incidents of police misconduct and violence. let's start implementing those. so we need mayors, county executives, who are in positions of power to say this is a priority. number three. every city in this country should be a my brother's keeper community because we have 250 cities, counties, tribal nations who are working to reduce barriers and expand opportunity for boys and young men of color, through programs and policy reforms and public private partnerships so go to our

website. get working with that. because it can make a difference. and let me just close by saying this. i heard some people say that you have a pandemic then you had these protests. this reminds people of the '60s and the chaos and discord and distrust throughout the country. i have to tell you, though i was very young when you had riots and protests and assassinations and discord back in the '60s, i know enough about that history to say there's something different here. you look at those protests and that was a far more representative cross section of america out on the streets peacefully protesting and who

felt moved to do something. because of the injustices they had seen. that didn't exist in the '60s. that kind of broad coalition. the fact that surveys have showed that despite some protes having then been marred by the actions of some, a tiny minority, that despite as usual that got a lot of attention and focus, despite all that, a majority of americans still think those protests were justified. wouldn't have existed. 30, 40, 50 years ago. there is a change in mind set that that's taking place place. a greater recognition. that we can do better. and that is not as a consequence of speeches by politicians. that's not the result of

spotlights in news articles. that's a direct result of the activities and organizing and mobilization and engagement on so many young people across the country. who put themselves on the line to make a difference. i have to say thank you to them. for to bring about this moment and just make sure that we now follow through. at some point, attention moves away. at some point, protests start to dwindle in size and it's very important for us to take the momentum that has been created as a society, as a country, and say let's use this. all right? thank you, everybody. proud of you guys and i know

that we're going to be hearing from a bunch of people who have been on the front lines on this and know a lot more than i do about it. proud of you. >> thank you, mr. president. >> you've just been hearing from president obama. he's been addressing the my brother's keeper alliance. a virtual town hall and in a moment, there will be a panel discussion that will include president obama and eric holder and we want to bring you that when it begins. in the meantime, joining me now are kristen welker and joshua johnson and cornell belcher, a pollster for some guy named president obama back when we all had a little less gray hair. nice to see you, sir. joshua, we want to remember that this foundation is about, he started it. this was about bringing a focus on uplifting young men of color. what did you make of the message he sent?

joshua, i think we have an audio issue. you may want to check. audio from you? >> how about now? >> any way, as i was trying to say before i interrupted myself, president obama made his presentation very much about young people. the young man who introduced him i was watching this stream before it started, he was doing this very powerful spoken word piece and young people dealing with violence on their streets. go to youtube when you get a second. very moving and soakepoke to th energy president obama praised in terms of how social movements happen. he was giving a lot of veterans of social movements have given in terms of a need to marry

protests with policy. with precise policy. during the 21st policing task force that it proposes. i don't think that's going to be as big a challenge now as in the past. because in the '60s, if you want to know what beyond a reasonable doubt meant or what the 21st century policing task force meant, you didn't have one of these magic know it alls that you could pull out of your puckett and find the information and send it to someone else who needed to know it. i don't think this is going to go the way previous movements have gone especially because this is an election year and there's a reason why president obama said every mayor needs to be on this because there's all these down ballot ticket items that democrats have not done nearly as good a job of republicans of galvanizing voters around actively demanding precise policies on.

so i think he was not only trying to get people who share his view to be active, but also to activate young people who may feel left out or think their votes don't count. >> kristen welker, i thought it was interesting the point he made about saying hey, this is not 1968. this is different. and i sort of, i take his point there but i'm just curious what you made of that. i thought it was interested and wanted to make that, definitely didn't, he's trying to change that narrative, that's for sure. >> absolutely, that line stood out to me as well, chuck. and in some ways, the former president's remarks were signature obama. we heard him make similar comments when he was in office that look, thing rs different but so much has improved since the 1960s. and you heard him talk about the coalition, the fact that we see a diverse group of protestors out on the streets.

this is monot just an issue bei fought by one group of people. so former president obama trying to find optimism in that and in those optics, you heard him thank the protestors at the end of his remarks. i thought it was also notable for the fact that look, he drew a sharp distinction with the way president trump is handling this crisis without mentioning president trump by name. he was careful in his words. carefully chosen and that's one of the attributes we associate with the obama presidency and this is really his life's work having left office. how to improve this situation, this ongoing crisis. tensions between communities of color and police departments all across the country and you heard him really stress that police departments have a role to play. young people have a role to play. his comments certainly i would agree with joshua, focused on the young people. quite optimis

clear that everyone has a role to play. >> cornell, you and i are the old guys in this quartet here. just warning you. i want to put up some polling numbers here. i felt like president obama was get iting at this. look at the monmouth poll. i want to put up changes are. are police r more likely to use force against black suspects? mnow it's up to 50% of white america. 87%, but 57% overall. the point is it seems as the g biggest change between ferguson and today is among white america on this issue. >> and that's the power of what we're seeing in this movement now and that's the power of what you're seeing there on the ground with those protestors that diverse swath of not just

african-americans, young white people, latin x, asians. it's a diverse swath of america. i say this before, chuck, the moment white people think they have skin in the racism game, game change in america. >> yep. >> this is different because we are actually seeing more whites think all of a sudden, racism is something that does in fact impact me. my community. and certainly this division is a problem for my children down the line. so i think this is going to be different. and i think the opportunity to mobilize this and to change and not be tribalized by this, you see it in what's happening and you see it on those young people in the street by the way and those young people in the street look a lot like the core of the obama coalition that organized the 2008 and 2012 and so many of them protested their vote in 2016. and didn't come out and vote third party.

>> i'm curious. how much do you think that the combination of the impact of the pandemic both on health and economics, coupled with the police, the examples of police brutality and abuse again hoeing up at the same time, almost was like a you can't ignore this now, white america. >> it was a perfect storm. it was perfect storm of angst but that video, and i've been hit up by, political hack because i work in politics. by republican consultants who say you know, this is not america. so for the first time, they're seeing it in ways that we've been arguing about it for a long time. i think this is different. again, you have, and look, even mitch mcconnell i can't believe, talked about what could congress

coabout this now, so this does feel different. >> it was interesting, joshua, that i thought the president, he former president obama was careful. he talked about that he had this 21st century policing program and he didn't mention that it was this administration that got rid of it. it's implied. but i thought that was interesting. he was, he stopped short of doing that. but why. what do you gain by saying it? i don't know. when he gave that virtual commencement address, there was that kind of sideways slight at the trump administration. but it's kind of almost too late in the day for that. like if this is going to change, it's going to change because a critical mass of everybody is

going to make it change and i think he knows how important this is and how this cuts across political lines, especially with young people. if there's one thing about 21st sempblry teenagers and 20 somethings that is dramatically dicht from their parents, it's that their highly, highly pragmatic. far more than partisan so if he says something like that, like the trump administration threw away my plan but we should do it any way, it instantly robs it of its ability to be a good idea. young people that i've chatted with, the reason they give you hope is because they're pragmatic and no matter wla it's what we're look at in philadelphia or anywhere across the country that's been protesting, you give them a good idea and even young people of different political stripes will be able to say, well, explain it. let me pick this apart and go to

snopes and then we can talk but they're not going say are you a shark. we've seen how far that's gotten us us politically. spoiler alert, nowhere. and today, young people are much more willing to focus on an idea that porks. >> kristen welker, we did hear tod today, this bill to come out of the house, possibly a ban, some sort of attempt to put a ban on choke holds. whether it's making it a federal crime or using money to coerce local police departments to change is unleclear. what i thought was interesting about the former president's remarks is he was basically saying hey, this is done on the local level. don't expect the federal government to make a change on its own. he didn't say it in those terms, but he was emphasizing this is about mayors and county

executives. >> that's right and that was at the crux of his 21st century policing policies. you're right, the conversation you're having with joshua, the president didn't mention the fact that the trump administration rolled back those policy prescriptions. he didn't have to for all the reasons joshua is talking about and also because top obama advisers are doing that work. they have been pointing out the fact that former president obama's policy prescriptions have not been enacted and that that is some of what thepg they think is useful in terms of dealing with this type of a crisis but obama made this a local issue athat was at the coe of so many suggestions. st it's about providing police officers with the tools and training they need. whether it's body cameras or

learning thow to interact with the communities that surround them. it's about giving young boys and men of color the resources they need in order to thrive. all of that stuff happens at the local level. i also think it's worth noting, which you recollect we may be getting a glimpse of what we're going to see from obama once the campaign really does start to ramp out. up. that he sees himself as someone who can help to frame the terms of this type of debate. >> well he's let's dip back in both the former attorney gene l general, let's listen in. >> i want to move to felipe cunningham, a councilman from the city of minneapolis where so much of this is centered. minneapolis is really ground zero in so many ways and it was home to george floyd and his family. philippe, i have so many questions for you, but first, i want to know how you're doing and what is happening on the ground in minneapolis in i see

here on the zoom call, my friend who is peacefully protesting in los angeles when he was hit with a rubber bullet. we've seen so many images of that kind of unnecessary confrontation and a lot o of them are coming from minneapolis. so how is home? the home team doing and what do we outside of minneapolis need to understand about what's going on on the ground? >> yes, well thank you so much for having me. thank you for that question. i too swrjust want to start offm here today wauf the strept of my ancesto ancestors. so on the ground in minneapolis, folks are mobilizing on a scale we've never seen before and a diverse coalition. very diverse coalition of folks is emerging, demanding justice. not only for george floyd, but justice in thousand city of minneapolis protects its residents. what we are seeing right now

from the ground and across the country is generations is trauma and rage at the violence bestoued on the black community by the state at every level of government. and i'll just add that i myself as a black, queer, transgender man, i, too, live both firsthand the trauma and the trauma that i have to carry around e experiencing violence as well as the generational trauma of my ancestors who survived slavery, so seeing all this, layering it on. what's interesting about the fact that all of this has really been ground zero in minneapolis is that we are an incredibly progressive city. at the aim time, we are also the city that has the most

significant racial despaisparit between white and black folks across the country. so this has just been boiling under the surface. i've been in office now for two and a half f years and within my first two years, i had to deal with three officer involved shooting deaths in my ward alone including one that was a suicide by cop. the trauma from those incidents. because the legal system deems their deaths justified. the evidence is clear overall. president obama spoke to the data we're' starting to see over policing, criminalization and mass incarceration have not kept our community safer. in fact, people getting caught in the criminal justice system, push iing us further to the

margins of society thus triggering a cycle that's often passed into generationally. what we're seeing on the ground in minneapolis is folks saying enough is enough and our system is obviously broke ben. and it's time for a new system of public safety in our city. over the year, we have heard from folks who believe that the solution is simply adding more police officers and we have also heard from folks who are reformers who want to advocate for incremental change, but even those voices are waning because our whole city has seen for the past three nights, that we have the ability to keep ourselves safe in our communities safe. so you ask how i'm doing, i'm a little bit tired because i've been up all night with my community organizing my community very closely with folks on the ground to post up patrol because minneapolis police departments, or the national guard r were hoeing up to protect our homes and our small businesses. we're seeing large scale protests.

in the community arepresent, we've been dealing with more right leaning groups terrorizing our community by burning down black owned businesses. so we've come together, pregnanting our own community and now it's time for for us to simmize strategies and make them sustainable. >> that was philippe cunningham, a local elected official in minneapolis giving you the lay f the land from his perspective. we're going to sneak in a quick commercial break and we will dip back in after that. k commercial break and we will dip back in after that gimme two minutes. and i'll tell you some important things to know about medicare. first, it doesn't pay for everything. say this pizza... [mmm pizza...] is your part b medical expenses. this much - about 80 percent...

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there may be no better way to show an example of what former president obama was just talking about, the change that cornell and i were talking about over the last five years, than what happened last night in ferguson, missouri. let's go to steve patterson, my colleague here at msnbc news. and steve, it was an historic night in ferguson, missouri. last night happened to be an election night. >> can you hear me, chuck? >> yes, go for it, steve. tell us about it. >> hey, chuck, yeah, sorry about that. the election of ella jones. she is the fist black and first

female all at once mayor of ferguson. i spoke to her today. you know, i asked her what that means to the community, what she thinks maybe it means to the nation because it's getting so much attention. and she said it's all about inclusion. specifically, to the citizens here of ferguson. for years they have dealt with this deep division in this community. i was a local reporter in st. louis years ago before ferguson really popped off after the killing of mike brown. and you could see that division. you could see it in city of st. louis. you could see it especially here in ferguson, where a large percentage of the population here is black, and a lot of the people that controlled it, a large percentage of that was white. and then when everything happened, obviously that exposed some of the deep divisions that were inherent here. she lived through all of that. she has been here for 40 years, saw the cooks, saw the protests, decide -- she was spurred to action by that. and became the first black city

council member in 2015. so she is used to blazing trails. but i think that just in speaking to people in town, it's given people a sense of hope, a sense of there is progress being made both here in ferguson and across the country. i think they feel, and she feels like because they've been through it so poignantly and so specifically all those six years ago now that maybe they can have a few lessons for everybody else to learn. and those lessons came from hard work. those ensuing years after the mike brown protests led to criminal justice reform, court reform, police wearing body cameras, police hiring minorities at a much greater level than they have before. and sees that as the baton to pick up and carry forward. and i got to tell you, we were up with protesters last night. it was well past curfew, into the middle of the night. they were marching in the middle of the street here in ferguson. at one point they were disrupting traffic. they had to do something to get people's attention. police recognized that. they roll up on all of us. we think oh, no, things are

going to go bad. and it turns out they were there to help the protesters keep doing what they were doing. it is community policing. a lot of those guys knew the people that were on the street. that was evident. and at the end of it, everybody was clapping and cheering for the police. really a remarkable sight that we've seen here in ferguson, especially on these streets. and that's something that they want to continue moving forward with. obviously, it's not perfect. a lot of the businesses that you might see behind me got hit. there was a lot of fires. there has been looting. there has been all of that. but by and large, the relationship with the police. the relationship with the city council and the community, has improved. and we've seen it. chuck? >> steve patterson, i love that you also earlier today with us showcased that handshake, a handshake between protesters, community members and police officers. >> yes. >> you know, it was symbolic. and as you said, a lot of work to do. but it is progress. steve patterson, thank you. joshua johnson, again, we started off talking about

president obama, ever the optimist. ferguson is an optimistic story, right? this is a story that goes from protest. it goes from shaking that tree, right, that we were talking about earlier. and you have five years later you get involved in politics, you can take -- you can take control of your community, if you work at it. >> it is an optimistic story. i think it is also the flip side of a cautionary tale. ferguson has its first black mayor. it has its second black police chief. ferguson is the kind of a city that could have easily gone the other way. we have to regular that that slogan "no justice, no peace" is not a bumper sticker. it is a warning. it is an if/then statement. do not believe for one second that ferguson could have fallen back into the same violence or worse that we saw when michael brown was killed. but people in ferguson decided

we can't live like that no more, and they made some changes. the question now is whether or not cities across the country will make those changes in and of themselves. this is nothing to do with donald trump or joe biden or anything like that. this has to do with executive leadership in local communities as pushed by the residents. so ferguson, i'm not sure i'd use the word optimistic. i think, you know, you got to have a dream, but also you got to put that dream to work. because we know as black people how good the promise is of elected officials have been when we have not pushed and pushed and pushed again. >> i'm low on time here, kristen welke. >> and you're well aware of that, but you grew up in philadelphia. and you grew up and watched that transition as well. philadelphia would go the other way at times when it came to certain instincts. think frank rizzo. >> oh, absolutely. frank rizzo and some of the

protesters in fact tore the statue of the former mayor of philadelphia down because they saw him as a symbol of someone who only added to these types of racial tensions. and i was in philadelphia, chuck, when charles ramsey was the police commissioner and really made that the focal point of his tenure there, community policing, and trying to improve and prevent the types of deaths like the one suffered by george floyd. and of course he went on to lead the task force of former president obama. so i think that this is something that is impacting communities all across the country. there is no doubt about that. i was out with protesters outside of the white house today, and i talked to them, and i asked them to reflect on the response that wee seen by president trump, the comments we've seen by vice president biden, who is of course the presumptive nominee. and they said look, no one seems to have the exact answer. this is something that we all have to fight for, chuck.

>> kristen welker, joshua johnson, cornell belcher, thank you for being a tremendous trio with me here as we bookended the barack obama town hall here. that's all we have for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with a complete "meet the press daily." and if it's wednesday, there is an all new podcast. the chuck toddcast is out. i'll discuss this moment of crisis with some guy named joshua johnson, hey, joshua. and eugene scott of "the washington post." check it out. "the beat with ari melber" starts right now. good evening. >> good evening, chuck. we start with breaking news. all four officers involved in the arrest and killing of george floyd have been charged with murder. this is all brand-new this evening. so let's go through it. one, the main officer who led this arrest pinning floyd's neck until he died had been previously charged with third-degree murder. now late today prosecutors upping that to the more serious charge of second-degree murder.