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we're watching as protests continue to grip the nation around the killing of george floyd. in washington right now, what could be the largest police brutality protest in this city thus far according to d.c. police. thousands occupying what as of this week is black lives matter plaza. as the floyd family just finished holding a private memorial in north carolina after public viewing earlier today. as protests stretch into the 12th day, millions of americans are asking the question, how did we get here? george floyd's death was uniquely tragic but didn't occur in a vacuum, we covered just recently the deaths of ahmaud arbery and breonna taylor, in addition to other misconduct we

couldn't cover because of lack of time. often it's the civil rights lawyers of the families that bring things to light. i'll be joined by attorney for arbery and taylor and the floyd families, ben crump, will tell you what we have to do by acknowledging and illuminating the problems that we face. we will continue to do that. america should be asking itself, what can we do? theme tonight is anguish and action. and we look now at the global conversation about the way

forward. joining me tonight, my panel. where we are now seems different. we've seen things last as long, not with the numbers or clearly the diversity. what do we do with this in terms of policy, where do we make sure that the energy is directed toward concrete things that literally change the areas we need? >> i hope each person marching is registering to vote and preparing a voting plan for november, the presidential election and also local state

elections. so much money and funding goes through state houses and allocations go through local and state channels. and hope every person marching has filled out the census. that's how people get left out of funding. and hope that a lot of allies marching today don't just do a victory lap congratulating themselves going out in the hot sun and helping colleagues, they will do the heavy lifting once this is done. refrain all week is many black americans are exhausted, traumatized by what we have to continuously see, mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers murdered on camera, not even talking about black trans people

murdered consistently and hard to get any press. i really hope the non-black allies will pick up the baton and carry us across the finish line not just in november 3rd but local and state races across the country. >> those low ballot races are important. i can't remember since my youth that republicans may never have come on the policy side that many of us in civil rights and activism wanted, they had counter plans. richard nixon with black capitalism and arthur -- in his administration drew up a plan. this president said going to get

20% of the black vote but no plan, what do you have to lose with me, and they have not issued a plan around the question of policing even in the middle of this floyd movement, how do you as republican explain that and how do you feel about it? >> i definitely want to attempt to explain it, rev, i don't agree with it. most of your audience knows my position for the president. from political perspective however, think the reason the president is unlikely to put forth such a plan is because he recognizes that police unions are one of his biggest supporters. he's made it clear he wants to be the president of law and order. he's been careful to dance around the protest, even though this is a moment most presidents would attempt to unify the country, this president has tried to do alternative step.

i think for many people going into november this is different moment for different reasons. this is a different moment for this president, but this appears far beyond those others. as you stated in opening remarks and previous hour, african-americans, white americans, hispanic americans, lgbtq members and individuals from every race and creed you can imagine coming together, saying that democracy we have will be no more or less than what we make it, our willingness to stand up and speak out against what's wrong. see so many people doing that. to professor grier's point, it's not enough just to challenge the executive. when you think about police forces and qualified immunity and other policy issues, those take place at legislative level, state and locally. your mayors, city managers, beyond this moment when the

cameras go away, people have to focus on those things to see the real change to prohibit instances like what occurred with george floyd and others going forward. >> dr. grier, when you look at fact that many americans are now saying that president trump has handled this wrong, many were outraged at his going into front of st. john's church across from the white house that had been the victim of some violence and vandalism and held up a bible, and many people are saying that this could lead to his defeat if there is the right turnout. but it's the low ballot that deals with a lot of these issues, how important is it for

that to be communicated to those of us in this movement calling these questions? >> we've talked about this, always ring alarm that protest politics and electoral politics must go hand in hand. look at mayors and state senators and legislators, they have such a large hand in how we live our day-to-day lives. environment policy, voting, policing, education, not just schools and roads, when you think about every facet of how government touches your life, it's usually location or state level and sadly many americans have no idea who their local and state elected officials are. i would implore your viewers to do your summer homework, figure out who the people are, and look at their records. many people run unopposed, been in office 10 or 20 years and

reelected on name recognition alone. many are doing fantastic job, some really do need to be challenged and pushed out for newer, fresher version of what your city should be. >> thank you both for being with me. joining me now from rayford, north carolina, just after george floyd's memorial service, is civil rights attorney ben crump, representing the floyd family, and philonise floyd, the brother of george floyd. i know this is a hard day for you but you and your family have shown strength. saw you in minneapolis, meeting you in houston to speak at the final funeral, tell people how you and the family feel and what you really want out of this tragic and painful time, what is

it you want deep in your heart to come out of this with? >> what do you and your family want out of it? >> we want justice, first, no justice, no peace. second i just want my brother to be laid down and rested perfectly and everybody looks at that because i don't want his death to be in vain. he's loved by so many, and we need people to come together. we're united now. that's basely it rev sharpton. >> i think we lost sound. >> can you hear us now? >> okay, i hear you now. i hear you. attorney crump, following what

philonise said. >> yes, sir. >> the efforts you've been dealing with, family that philonise has become one of the most articulate in this. around justice as we go into houston and final funeral services and committing of the body and remains, this family has said they remain committed. you're going to be doing things in washington, we're having march on washington end of august. what do we need to do, what do we need to continue to make sure this moment turns into a movement that really changes things? representing so many cases, what do we need done? >> yeah, rev, as you know, george floyd is different. as philonise just said, they want justice first and foremost, however we have to use this moment to not only get justice

for george floyd's family but get justice for so many others who have been killed unjustly and unnecessarily. reverend, in great britain and france and australia and germany and canada they have massive marches claiming justice for george floyd, end racism. all around the world. >> philonise, as you've been able to hear from people, from just people in the streets, white and black, asian, american indian, latino, all the way to people that have held the highest offices in the country, what does that say to you that your brother has come to represent? how do you deal with this that george, your brother, who you talked about at the memorial service in minneapolis, y'all grew up in the same bed, that your brother has now literally

changed the political and social landscape of the world? >> i feel good about it. my brother, the lord took him away to be a vessel to change this world, and i truly believe that. because everybody is coming together, and we're having justice now. we're reuniting right now. we've got to take more steps and one step closer right now. hopefully these officers can be arrested and convicted of first degree murder even if though right now are seeing second degree murder. >> all right. we're going to have to leave it there. thank you for stopping. i know it was hard coming right out of the memorial service. i'll see you in houston. thank you for spending this time on this special hour. benjamin crump and philonise

floyd, thank you so much. coming up, live updates what's happening there. what's happening there

let's go now to my colleague richard lui for a look at what's going on around the country. >> thanks, rev. this is what we're watching right now. protests and memorials in the

name of george floyd, they're continuing to take place across the country. we're going to follow what's happening and joining us now nbc news correspondent cal perry. he's in louisville. avipa shivaram in richmond, virginia. cal, let's start with you on this where the march there is in the name of breonna taylor on this saturday. what are you saying? >> reporter: that's right. it would have been her 27th birthday yesterday. so yesterday we saw for the first time in a week a celebration here. was very violent last week but yesterday i think the tide really turned. it was peaceful. we saw people making a massive birthday card for her. and then today we saw thousands of balloons going into the air to remember her. it was a nice moment here, especially in a city that has seen so much violence last week. it was of course sunday into monday when we saw david mcatee shot and killed, 53 years old, well known in the community, in some kind of shooting between police and protesters. the details of that are still very unclear. as you said, breonna taylor being remembered. she was killed in mid march. and so much of the discussion about how she died is how police arrived at her apartment to begin with, how did they get

that warrant? what did they say to the judge when the person we know they were looking for was already in custody, when there were no drugs found in the apartment. a lot of questions being asked. the police chief was fired last week. that made a big difference i think with the demonstrators. but people want to know what's going to happen to those three officers. the investigation is still ongoing pop the fbi has taken it over. hopefully we'll hear something next week but at least for tonight it seems as though things are remaining quiet in louisville. richard. >> that pain still being felt a day later after that remembrance of her birthday. thank you, cal. let's go to you, dipa, there in richmond, virginia. i understand the sheriff was in front leading one of the walks today. it brings us back to not too long ago in ferguson, missouri when we saw the sheriff do the very same there. >> reporter: richard, it's been a very busy week in richmond and of course very emotional as well. but what we've been seeing for the past couple nights as you see the six story-tall statue of robert e. lee is where protesters are have been

marching. there's also been a lot of peaceful gathering here, a lot of people here to educate each other, teach each other. i've seen all day families bringing their young children here to read about this moment and learn what's going on right now. there's been a lot of peaceful gathering, a lot of prayer. last night breonna taylor's birthday as cal had mentioned. folks here singing happy birthday to her. i do want to point out in the backdrop of all this going on the governor announced on thursday he's taking steps to remove this giant confederate monument that's here behind me of robert e. lee because of what it represents and what it symbolizes. and as we talk about these conversations, you know, around systemic oppression and violence against black people in this country, there is also an ongoing conversation about these symbols all over the state, especially in virginia, which was formerly the capital of the confederacy. so there are kind of these multiple layers of conversations going on here in richmond specifically. we heard from the mayor, who told me yesterday that he wouldn't be surprised if this monument behind me comes down in the next couple weeks. as these peaceful protests continue here in richmond,

virginia that's also something that we're keeping an eye on as things move forward. richard? >> that location of great controversy for many in the state. thank you so much, deepa. thanks, cal. rev, back to you. more later. >> richard, cal, and deepa, thanks to all of you. coming up, i'll speak to the mayor of houston, sylvester turner, about his task force on police reform. ♪

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coming up later this evening our special coverage continues with my colleagues ali velshi, joshua johnson and katy tur. they'll be discussing the latest developments around the country. that's right here on msnbc. so stick around. there's still much more to come on our special edition of "politicsnation: anguish and action," after the break. action," after the break

welcome back to this "politicsnation" special report. after a week of memorials the body of george floyd will be laid to rest tuesday in houston. joining me now, the city's mayor, sylvester turner. mr. mayor, thank you for being with us tonight. on tuesday we'll lay to rest george, who really lived there, grew up there. born in north carolina but

raised in houston. had only the last two or three years i understand from the family gone to minneapolis looking for work. but he's really a houston person. and many of us are coming in to join pastor remus, and attorney crump and i will be speaking on the program to lay him to rest. >> yes. >> how are you and the people of houston preparing for this occasion? >> let me just say, reverend sharpton, we look forward to having his family back. and this will be his final resting place. and having you and all the others that will be here in the city of houston, when his body returns. in fact the police will escort him to the funeral home, and then eventually to the church itself. we want to pay proper tribute to him. we want to be very supportive of this family. i will tell you we're expecting thousands of people to attend the public visitation on monday.

on monday night city hall will be lit up in the colors, his high school colors, crimson and gold. and i've encouraged other mayors across the country to do the same. and to pay tribute to him, to honor his family, but to show our solidarity in the reforms that need to take place. that's the main thing. >> tell us about those reforms. want to stop you right there because you have initiated, the city of houston has started dealing with some police reforms because you had to deal with the issue of police misconduct right there in houston. >> well, i will tell you, we've already banned choke holds. that's been done. that's not allowed in the city of houston. we've already eliminated no-knock raids. we've learned from past experiences that were bad. we've already taken steps to eliminate that. i'm establishing this mayors task force on policing reform. it will be established immediately with recommendations expected back within a 90-day

time period. we have an independent review board but we think it needs to be even strengthened to be more impactful. so we want to take a look at that. we want to examine all of our police policies, practices, and procedures. essentially, reverend sharpton, what we have learned from all this, people want us to listen. so this will be a police task force that will be primarily citizen driven. and we'll await their recommendations and then we will act accordingly. but it needs to be done with the greatest degree of urgency. >> when you say people want people to listen, those in authority, one of the things that you would recommend to mayors watching you as the host mayor of the final services and resting place for george floyd is that they need to listen and then put into some actions that are based on what people are saying and what makes people feel protected under the law? >> absolutely.

don't just -- as the mayor, and i met with some of my council members, we shouldn't just do things that we think is right, doing it on our own. people want us to listen to them, to garner their input. they've already provided a number of suggestions. it is important, for example, with this task force that it be citizen-driven, made up of citizens themselves inviting their input and their suggestions. and then we take into account what they are recommending to us and then institute those institutional type changes. that's what we want to do. otherwise, it's almost as if we've seen the protests and we've decided to do what we think is in the best interests rather than taking the time to affirmatively listen to them and then affirmatively move on those recommendations. we've gotten certain things in place, but the training needs to be reviewed. deescalation training is critically important.

crisis intervention training. we have those things. but the question is how can we improve them? and just like i mentioned about the independent review board, we have it in place. body camera footage. when do you release it? okay, what's the criteria? because the presumption should be that you want things to be presented to the public, you want to be transparent. that should be the presumption. and if you're not going to disclose, what's the criteria? and that needs to be spelled out so people will have a clear understanding on how we're going to proceed moving forward. >> transparency is important. one of the real problems, and i've talked about this in minneapolis at the eulogy, is that across the board blacks have had to deal with a knee on their neck in areas across the board. and even you as mayor, people cannot underestimate, you've had to deal with racial barriers that others may not have faced. how do you think america's going

to come to terms with this question of race? i don't care if you're barack obama or just somebody on the street. race is still a reality in america. you're a mayor of a major city in texas and you still have to deal with it. how do we get america to understand this is not anti-american, it's the best thing for this country? >> it is in america's best interests to have this conversation and then to get it right, to be transformational. otherwise, there will continue to be unrest in our cities. burnings will continue to occur. people will get your attention unless you address it and make transformational changes. it must be real and substantive. not in terms of just police but communities and neighborhoods that have been underresourced and underserved, where the pain and hurt are occurring every day. >> all right, mayor sylvester turner, thank you for being with us.

and look forward -- >> look forward to seeing you, pastor sharpton, reverend sharpton. >> all right. thank you. and even though it's a sad occasion i will be glad to see you again and we'll try to help hold this family up at this hour of grief for them. coming up, one last look at washington, d.c. and what's expected to be one of the largest protests since george floyd's death. we'll be right back.

let's go back to my colleague richard lui for another look at the activity around the u.s. today. >> hey, rev, a lot's happening. protests have spanned across the country coast to coast for the black lives matter movement. joining us now, nbc's jacob soboroff in downtown los angeles. we also have garrett haake in the nation's capital. garrett, something you know very well, that tension about the national guard. and what's the latest on that?

>> reporter: well, richard, a lot of the national guardsmen and federal officials who had been policing these protests really from close up and personal with the protesters have been removed entirely or removed at least to the very edges of the protests where you see behind me, some d.c. national guard who've been out here unarmed. you do not see those federal officers standing face to face with protesters as we've seen in earlier days. and in fact, d.c.'s mayor is trying to get a lot of these out of state national guardsmen to go home. she sent letters to the governors of ohio and new jersey yesterday saying that their guard that showed up here in d.c. at the behest of the president wasn't invited by her and wasn't welcome to stay. new jersey's governor said they were getting their guys out this morning. no word yet from ohio. richard. >> thanks a lot, garrett. let's get over to jacob soboroff in los angeles. jacob, protests everywhere in the southland. >> reporter: everywhere, richard. i mean, to try to give you a good vantage point from here, walking into the middle of the heart of the civic center in downtown los angeles.

all over the place. this is heading toward city hall here in downtown l.a. you can see the big building there. where there have been over the course of the last weeks congregations, gatherings day after day after day. today the message that was really echoed here after big concessions by the mayor and the city council saying they were going to take 100 to 150 million dollars out of the police department to put it into services, is that very concisely if you make change impossible revolution will never happen. and that's what they're calling for on the streets, 100 to 150 million dollars is not nearly enough. we're hearing of course messages about breaking down, dismantling the systemic racism in the policing of departments like the los angeles police department for people out here. but we're also hearing echoes of reverend sharpton's beautiful eulogy for george floyd talking about releasing, getting out of the systemic oppression from all kinds of systems in this country, from the education system to the health care system. they're disproportionately affecting african-americans and people of color all throughout the country.

those are messages that continue to be echoed here on the streets of downtown los angeles. those are messages that will continue time after time to be echoed until people here believe that they see change. that's what they're saying and they're continuing to say it here in downtown los angeles, richard. >> well said. jacob soboroff in los angeles. garrett haake in washington, d.c. and rev, back to you. the hunger's out there, as your eulogy also showed. >> richard lui, jacob soboroff, and garrett haake, i thank all of you. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us. and because we don't know exactly when

this crisis is going to be over and we don't know exactly when the stock market will reach its bottom, we've got to be prepared for this to last a long time. if you assume that you're out of work for nine months but you end up only being out of work for three, well that's great. but if you think you're going to be furloughed for three months and it lasts for nine, well that'll be emotionally devastating. so, we've got to prepare ourselves. tangibly and practically, as well as psychologically and emotionally.

this nation is in a position of standing at the cross-roads, of deciding whether we're going to go the road of ignoring the cries of millions, ignoring the history that has led to this moment, or whether we're going to walk the path of trying to not only heal wounds but start a new day here in this country. there must be not only a conversation but there must be accountability and enforcement of the laws. is it really that hard for people to get equal protection under the law? is it really outrageous for people to say we want to be able

to trust the police that we call for our safety? all police are not bad. most are not bad. but is it too much to say the bad ones need to be held accountable and that no one is above the law? particularly those that ought to be protecting and enforcing the law. is it really radical to say that public servants ought to serve the public and that we expect those that are trained and pass that training and are given a badge to represent the state and a gun, that they should not have the same emotional reactions that ordinary untrained citizens that don't have the power the state have? are we really trying to act like this is something far-fetched? or are we going to reasonably say we need to really deal with

this issue? we also need to look at the fact, in my eulogy in minneapolis, i asked people to stand up for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, that's how long this officer had his knee on george's neck. takes a lot in you to hold somebody down that long. do you know how long that is? what could be going in your mind? do you ever think about i should stop? do you ever think about this is against training? did the other three officers in that amount of time ever stop and say, wait a minute, this is wrong? it's a long time to just hold someone down. i'm going to end this special edition with 8:46, six minutes and three seconds in he lost consciousness and was unresponsive.

that's a long time, if we've calculated with the clock here, that's how long he was laying there. there's no excuse.

had enough time, they had enough time. now what will we do with the time we have? good evening. i'm katy tur. it's 7:00 p.m. out west and 10:00 p.m. here in the east on what has marked a 12th day of protests across the united states following the death of george floyd while he was in police custody. as we speak giant crowds are still gathering in america's big cities even as curfews loom in some of those places. but the protests have not been limited to our major urban centers. the demonstrations have reached smaller cities in rural america like