tv Kasie DC MSNBC June 14, 2020 4:00pm-6:00pm PDT
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we...will...never...quit. because they never quit. welcome to "kasie d.c." a deadly scuffle between a black man and atlanta police officers. i'll talk to the attorney for the family of rayshard brooks. i'm joined by joaquin castro. reforming policing and criminal justice. plus, racism and racing, i talk one on one with bubba wallace whose voice made sure the confederate flag a fixture at nascar races will fly no more
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as statutes fall across the country. protesters are returning to america streets once more their anger renewed over the death of rayshard brooks in atlanta. as cities and the congress get down to the business of changing policing policy in america, there is more difficult news on the streets as a scuffle that began as a dui stop turned deadly. in rapid succession, the police chief resigned, multiple body cameras and videos were leased and the officer that fired the lethal shots was fired. it followed a week where we saw a different type of disturbing image from around atlanta. intensely log lines of voters waiting in the rain as voting machines failed. turnout soared. tripling from the primaries in 2016. we have heard little from the president this weekend on the broad demands for police reform or about the brooks' case specifically. in a rare concession, the president reversed plans to hold
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his first post covid campaign rally in tulsa, oklahoma on juneteenth, the holiday celebrating emancipation. he is going to hold it a day later instead. i want to go straight to atlanta where nbc's morgan chesky has the latest on this -- these new development developments. >> reporter: tonight, anger and frustration in atlanta, crowds gathering outside the fire gutted wendy's where 27-year-old rayshard brooks was shot and killed by police during an attempted arrest. isaac lee, one of hundreds who came to pay respects. you had a chance to walk around and see the site, when you come here and see the site firsthand, what do you feel? >> sadness. disparity. afraid. >> reporter: you're afraid? >> i'm afraid because -- i'm afraid this is not going to be the last time this is going to
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happen. >> reporter: this eyewitness video shows a struggle between brooks and the police officers. the father of four grabs a taser, runs away and shoots towards police who returned with fatal gunfire. >> it's a legitimate fight with a legitimate use of force. >> reporter: the police union stand by the officer's actions saying the encounter changed when brooks turned and fire the taser. if someone is running away, is it okay to fatally shoot them. >> only if they attack you. he attacked the officer with a taser. he fires at the officer with the taser. >> reporter: and takes off. >> all in an instant. >> reporter: within 24 hours atlanta's police chief stepped down. the officer who shot brooks was fired and the other officer involved placed onned administrative duty. >> there is no way in watching that that officer's life was in immediate danger from a non-lethal weapon being pointed backwards. >> reporter: chris stewart represents the brooks' family
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and says police mentality has to change. his wife tamika had to break the news to her daughter. >> let my daughter know her father was not coming. she said what do you mean my father not coming? i said he's not here anymore. mama, no he's here. stop playing. he'll be here to get me. >> reporter: meanwhile, massive protests for the third weekend took place across the country as thousands ask for police reform and accountability. here in atlanta, hundreds gathering tonight in support of rayshard brooks. >> and they understand the pain. and even though i'm unable to protest by them out there doing it makes me feel amazing because if i had the strength to do it, i would be there myself. >> our thanks to morgan chesky for that report and joining me now is one of the attorneys for the family of rashayshard brook justin miller. mr. miller, thank you so much for taking the time to come on
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the program tonight. i'd like to simply start by asking for your reflections on how the city has responded in the wake of this tragedy. do you think that what has happened so far, the fact that the officer has already been fired, the fact that the police chief has stepped down, is that enough or do you still want to see additional steps taken in this case? >> is that enough? that's a good question. and i think the answer to that question is would it be enough if you lost a family member or a father and i think the answer would be no. so no, that the not enough. we think those are good steps, but we need to see more, and we're going to see more, and if not, we'll continue on the same
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path. >> what do you think needs to happen next here and tell us a little bit also about what mr. brooks was like. who is the person that we've all lost? >> so i mean, mr. brooks was a man like any other man and i don't want to say black man like any other man, he was just a human being like all of us are. he was working a temp job at a taco place and he was doing that for the last few months. the covid-19 kind of hit him hard just like it hit everyone else. he was trying to raise his three daughters and his stepson, and by all accounts, he was doing a great job of that. the day he was killed or the evening he was killed, he had just come from hanging out with his wife and his kids because it was his 8-year-old daughter's birthday and yesterday, the day when she found out her father
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died was the day she had her birthday party and we were sitting there when the mother pulled out cupcakes and it was surreal to see that little girl in her birthday dress waiting for her father to come pick her up to go skating and having to hear her mother say he wasn't coming. >> that's really -- that's heartbreaking. i want to play a little bit of what one of your partners in this case had to say about some of the details of the case. we saw a little bit about this in morgan chesky's report. the issues surrounding the use of the taser. i want to play this sound byte for everyone and ask you about it. watch. >> in georgia, a taser is not a deadly weapon. that's the law. that the what t that's what the cops are trained to do. you can't say he ran off with a weapon that could kill somebody when you say it's not deadly. he had other options than
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shooting a man in the back. >> so let me just put that question to you. i mean, did you believe that the police officers here had other options, other things they should have done. >> yes, they had several other options. i mean, just from the beginning of the entire altercation, they had other options. they didn't have to take this man or attempt to take him into custody because he was sleeping in his car. he was trying to do the right thing. he didn't want to drive drunk. he was stopped. he was not a threat to anyone. they could have taken his keys. they could have said hey, what's your wife's number? call her. let her come pick you up. they could have done any number of things. so once we get past this point, we get to the taser, once he's running away and you have his i.d., you have his car, you know who he is, you know the area he's in, he's been drinking and
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you have backup coming, so i mean, they could have done any number of things. wait for your backup. call for a helicopter. just a number of things and none of those would have resulted in his death. >> what's your understanding of how this is going to proceed from the perspective of potential charges being filed or other steps being taken against the officer involved? >> it our understanding right now that the d.a.'s office is deciding on what charges they're going to place on the officers. we don't know really. they don't confer with us on these things, but we'd like to see the officers charged with, you know, whatever they feel is appropriate and whatever they can get a conviction for because, you know, this is just unwarranted. it is continuing and we are seeing this time and time again and we are just tired of seeing it. i think last night, my partner,
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he was exasperated and couldn't really articulate any longer just how he felt about these situations and yes, sometimes there will be issues. i'm watching it right now as i talk to you, these things happen. but just because you tussle with an officer, it shouldn't be a death sentence for anyone. >> what do you have to say to the thousands, if not tens of thousands, even more who have taken to the streets over the last few weeks in the wake of george floyd's death and to those out in the streets of atlanta trying to say that this is enough? what's your message to them tonight? >> my message to them would be keep pushing. don't stop. i'd say be safe. you know, i am one of those who is not overly concerned with property or things. i do not want anyone hurt. i do not want any property
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burned or businesses destroyed, but i care more about the lose of a human life than i do about a wendy's. i care more about those three little girls and little boy that lost a father than i do about a wendy's. when the george floyd case kicked off and people in atlanta were upset understandably and stores got looted and things were broken. i care more about george floyd and his daughter than i do about the mall fortunately, unfortunately. >> do you trust the mayor keasha lance bottoms to do right by this family under these circumstances or do you have concerns about her healeadershi? >> no, i actually don't. i think generally she does a
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good job and her heart is in the right place. we hope she continues and does a good job going forward. she's not one of the people who i'm overly concerned about in this situation, and i think that the things that need to get changed, they have to start in a different place. i think she can certainly help but i think that a lot of stuff that needs to happen here is going to start in a different place and not the mayor's office. >> when you say a different place, what do you mean by that? what does need to change? >> the plaolice leadership, not just atlanta tax all over the country, has to understand the way policing has been done for the past hundreds of years in america is not going to work anymore. we have been policing our communities like the military, like in an occupied territory instead of a community. i remember seeing shows like the
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"andy griffin" show where the police officer knew everybody and what they liked to eat and everybody knew everybody. that does not exist anymore. when police officers come into neighbor 450hoods like these, t have bulletproof vests and heavy weaponry and armed to the teeth and residents are scared. situations like this will happen if the police are not trained corre correctly, these things will continue to happen. >> all right. justin miller, attorney for the family of rayshard brooks, thank you very much for your message sir and taking the time to talk to us and our viewers. joining me is political analyst michael steele. michael, always great to have you. let start, though, with these somber and difficult events that have been playing out this weekend. i mean, what's your initial reaction to what you saw unfold in atlanta?
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it does seem as though we're at least seeing some change in how public officials are responding. there was no delay in this particular case, but at the same time, here we are again, talking about a black man who has been killed at the hands of police officers. >> yeah, kasie, that's the critical point there. the public response by officials, okay, the lockdown, they fired people. they resigned. all of that is important and it's good to see it happen but the core reality remains. it goes to the heart of what your previous guest was talking about. two things, one, we're tired. we're tired. i had another conversation with my son about all of this. you know, you can see the kpas be -- his face he wants to engage
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in the everyday goings and comings of life. there is this thing hanging over his head. the community is tired of it. young black men are tired of it. their moms are tired of it. the community is tired of it. that's one. two, it goes to the core of what we should be looking at in terms of the policing asaspects. it's a bigger issue like race and things we need to tackle. if we can start in one corner because men are dying, let look at the policing. you have other alternatives besides pulling out your gun. you know he took your taser. your taser has a 1500-foot cord. there are two of you. do you really kneneed to shoot at that moment? are there other alternatives? other alternatives people want to see addressed up front now. the fact police have been trained from a more military
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perspective to pull their weapon on civilians in these types of encounters is, i think, the point that the boiled over the most with a lot of folks at this point. >> yeah. let's talk for a second about what can be done here because i mean, clearly, these protests have galvanized so many americans to the point where they are having a conversation in congress about how to make some changes that would have, you know, not been something they would have focused on at all just a few weeks ago. tim scott was on with my colleague chuck todd on "meet the press" this morning and seemed to raise questions what seems to be the critical issue here, the use of force standard. at what point do you use the deadly force we saw? he did say that there seems to be more agreement on banning choke holds for example. do you think that the conversation that lawmakers in congress and potentially,
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potentially in line with the president is something that can actually make a difference, or is the conversation not serious enough yet in your view? >> that's a good question, kasie. i'm a little bit at the point where it not serious enough yet. only because i don't see this necessarily as something that will be solved at the federal level. again, we're talking about the operative word here is community. these are men and women that protect and serve in communities. they are note federal police. they don't guard government buildings. they don't protect an individual like a member of congress or a president or some other official. these are folks who patrol neighborhoods. let start with the fact do you live in the neighborhood? do you know who the young men and women are in the community? we need to drill this down. i get the knee jerk response to create a federal solution, look
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to congress and have them past a law but i don't think that's necessarily going to solve your problem. i mean, just look at what we've done on the criminal justice reform space. look what we've done since trayvon martin's death and yet, still here we are. so i don't think the federal response is something i'm looking for salvation from. i'm looking for how our governors and ourbroadly across, we develop the consensus around what policing in our neighborhood should look like recognizing it should be different in a more urban community than suburban one, rural community versus a different type of another community. that the why one size fits all may not necessarily be the solution. it can give you some guidelines, choke holds, yeah, dumb, don't do that. but i think if we're going to look at that as a way to sort of get to some of the issues, i
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don't think you want to start at the federal government. >> fair enough. on the sort of broader political question, in terms of how just absolutely toxic much of our discourse has been especially around race that many critics say comes from the top from the president of the united states, he said this weekend he was going to move a rally that was scheduled for juneteenth in tulsa, oklahoma, the site of one of the, if not the worst episode of racial violence in our nation's entire history, do you think they just didn't know or that they did it on purpose and the backlash was so intense they decided to walk it back? was your -- what's your perspective on this decision to first of all, announce this and take it back? >> well, i think they took it back because the backlash was so
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great. i think probably the rational was okay, tulsa, that part of oklahoma one of the redder states in the country, the president wants to, you know, push this narrative around african americans certainly on the heels of what we saw happening with mr. floyd. i don't think all the dots were connected and a lot of it has to do with who is advising on these things? african americans do you have in the game to bounce the solution? someone could raise your hand you don't want to do tulsa because of that. do you really appreciate how african americans see juneteenth and what that means to them and you're doing something like this on that day. so there are a lot of pieces i just don't think they thought about because the folks aren't in the room to share with them that thinking. it doesn't mean the president and his team would have accepted it but does speak to who is in the room and help people
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understand and let me be specific, help white folks understand exactly when they say and do things like oh, when the looting starts the shooting starts. not going to go down well. it does matter kasie in the end, if you have people around who can help you understand what your administration is doing particularly as it impacts communities of color, this administration has lacked that from the very beginning and they're going to pay a price for it and continue to pay a price for it. >> well, and quickly, before i let you go, it seems like these numbers have moved to much on these issues, do you think this is durable permanent change towards police brutality? >> that's a good question. i think your put your finger on
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the knob of what we should be looking for beginning next week. you know, what happens tomorrow? how does this cement itself into not just the policies that we've been talking about but the psyche of the country. how much are whites willing to move towards african americans and understanding exactly how we feel about these things and do you really give a damn about that. don't mimic our hair styles and clothing and slang. that's crazy. what we need you to do is come in and understand and have a real conversation about why these things matter still after 401 years, that why we feel they haven't been addressed. why they still gnaw at us and why the two of us, black and white have to resolve this thing because everything flows in my estimation, kasie off of that. you put your finger on a very good point about how we
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internalize this and look at it not just through the depth of mr. floyd and others but more systemically in making the change we need to make in addressing race in this country. >> michael steele, always a great conversation. let's keep having this as the -- >> absolutely. i thank you for -- >> it's so important. >> yeah. >> thank you, my friend. appreciate it. still ahead, we have nascar driver bubba wallace and valerie about policing policy during the obama administration but first, congressman joaquin castro says when it comes to changing criminal justice we exist mostly stage between knowing and action. "kasie d.c." back after this. ds maybe we'll see things we've been missing. maybe it'll help us see just how connected we all are.
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welcome back. joining me now is democratic congressman joaquin castro of texas who serves on the house intelligence committee, always great to have you on the program. i want to start where we left off with michael steele with this breaking news out of atlanta over the weekend. you, of course, and your colleagues and the congressional hispanic caucus long worked hand and hand with the cbc as you address challenges facing people of color across the country. where do the conversations stand right now about what can be done to try and address incidents
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like this one? we know a little bit about what the plan is in terms of george floyd but are there new renewed conversations about for example a use of force standard and whether something needs to be done on that score? >> yeah, i mean, it really the people of this country that created the momentum following the murder we witnessed collectively of george floyd. they have created the momentum that spurred congress to take action until the house of venntivvenn ti -- venntives and policing act. reforming qualified immunity so officers are responsible for behavior and banning choke holds. manning no arrest warrants on drug cases, creating a database so that the federal government is told the use of force or excessive force incidents, all of these things accountability and transparency that will
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ultimately, i believe, make a difference in reforming our policing system in this country. >> you wrote a little bit for your hometown newspaper over the weekend about what you describe as essentially growing up on the wrong side of the tracks and how that affected your view of law enforcement and the situations that we are confronting today and we touched on this with the lawyer with mr. brooke's family. we're not living in an andy griffith type of world. the police don't know who they are policing. is that something represident-elected in yo exper fix that? >> in 2016 i stood up with a few members of the counsel in san antonio and urged the city counsel to reject the collective bargaining agreement in san antonio. in san antonio, that has the
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worst record of any city over the last several years, 70% of the time when the chief of police fires an officer for bad conduct, almost 70% of the time that officer is given his or her job back and so in 2016, i came out against the contract. over the last five years or so, we've gotten i think about $25 million for body cameras. now every sapd officer in san antonio is wearing a body camera and so yeah, i mean, in that op ed i wrote i mentioned i grew up on the west side of san antonio. it's heavily mexican american but this applies to after condition american communities, as well. people are perceived as living on this bad side of town. there is a judgment made not only by other people in the city but i believe by law enforcement about the quality of people that live there and also kasie, one thing i didn't write in the of ed because i only had so many
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words and so much space, police something not a marketplace. it's part of the basic infrastructure of this country so it's not like a community can decide that they don't like the prices at walmart so they are going to go to target, right? you've got to -- in other words, the policing system for black and brown people in this country and everyone is inescapable. it inescapable. what i said in many ways, the police force is both life saving for communities of color and also life threatening and there is an odd ironic thing that. these reforms are absolutely necessary and i'm glad that the converse is finally taking this issue up in a serious way. >> while i have you, i also want to make sure that we don't miss what is also an incredibly important story as we have been rightly focused on what happened in the wake of george floyd. we've also seen the number of
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coronavirus cases rising alarmingly in a number of states and texas has gotten pretty far down the reopening road. where do things stand in your view in your district specifically but in your state more broadly and do you think texans and americans are being responsible as we try to figure out how to open the economy back up? >> i think when you take a look at texas, look, all the governors were missfaced with a difficult situation and some handled them better than others. in texas and some states they were slow to test people and treat people and very quick to start reopening things and that's been the case in texas and so what we're experiencing is the number of infections skyrocketing. the hospitalizations going up and the deaths going up. that incline in the number of
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infections is incredible the last few weeks. so in essence, it's more dangerous in terms of contracting the disease right now than it was when everybody was quote unquote freaking out about it a month and a half ago and so, you know, arizona and a few other places have seen their intensive care units get to capacity in different parts of the state. i'm hoping obviously in texas and in san antonio that won't be the case but i do think that the federal government, the state government here in texas could have handled things a lot better. >> well, here is to hoping the toll for that and there are so many family whose are still struggling with this who are grieving loved ones, doing it in loneliness and i want to make sure we don't forget about those folks and urge everyone to still continue to be careful. joaquin castro, always great to have you on the program. coming up, how the trump administration has deviated from the obama administration when it
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. nearly 30 years ago a by stander took a graphic video of four los angeles police officers beating rodney king for 15 minutes as a dozen other officers looked on. a year later, all four officers were acquitted and almost immediately people took to the streets. with that as a backdrop, also in the 1990s, congress created a pattern of practice authority as part of the 1994 crime bill. it allows the federal government to sue any law enforcement entity engaged in a pattern or practice of police misconduct. these cases often end in what are called consent degrees where police departments agree to reform. under the obama administration, the justice department opened 25 of these investigations which resulted in 14 consent decrees. now compare that with the trump administration. just before then attorney general jeff sessions left his post in 2018, he sharply limited the use of consent decrees after
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claiming they reduced police moral. current attorney general william barr opened a federal probe into the officers involved in the death of george floyd but he has not opened a pattern or practice investigation into the minneapolis police department. i'm joined by former senior advisor to president obama and a point person in the obama white house on criminal justice reform including police reform. valerie jarrett who is also the author of "finding my voice." i'm so glad to have you on the program tonight. thank you so much. >> thanks, kasie. thanks. delighted to be here. >> of course. thank you. let's start there with, you know, this was a policy that was used extensively in the obama administration, the ability to try and get these consent dec e decrees to change police behavior and the trump administration sharply changed how the federal government was handling this. what did you work on in the obama administration on that
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issue, but also in other areas you know all of these areas so well, what is the trump administration failing to follow through on that they could be doing to try and make some of this a little bit better? >> let me start by giving you an example. in the death of michael brown, there were demonstrations in ferguson and president obama sent his attorney general at the timer rick ho eric holder to me the family of michael brown, law enforcement, activists to get a sense of what happened in that case and the information he learned on that visit caused him to begin this pattern and practice investigation to see whether this was an isolated example or whether or not the ferguson police had a practice of discriminatory behavior. he found they did require the city to go and participate as you said earlier in a consent decree that puts it under court supervision to ensure the changes that are necessary to
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end that pattern of discrimination are followed through on. another example would be after numerous deaths, far too many to repeat, president obama created a task force in 21 century policing which is a road map available to local law enforcement. we have over 18,000 local law enforcement agencies. there are guidelines and the justice department provided resources in training these local law enforcement agencies to the best standards the task force came up with. the task force had everyone from chuck ramsey who had been the superintendent in philadelphia to brittany, one of the demonstrators from ferguson to make sure we would be giving this a whole list tick approach and this is just a small piece of our overall criminal justice reforms. we know the current system is not just. it is not equal. the only way people will have confidence in the integrity of our process is if it is. we use all of the tools available to us to try to help
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these local law enforcement agencies get right. we couldn't change the hearts of every police officer on the street but what the public has the right to demand is that they can weigh in on how resources are used to police them, whether or not there is a national data bank for example to make sure we do background checks, are we training to make sure people are learning to deescalate? are we looking at biases or over conscious biases and weeding out officers? there is so much that can be done and it's just so disappointing this administration chose to walk away from the very tools that it has, let alone ask congress for additional tools. >> you mentioned resources and this is such a critical part of the debate. i have heard democratic politicians almost to a person reject the slogan defund the police, most notably jim clyburn who was saying defund the police, no, reform the police, yes. that underlying argument that
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the slogan i think for some people covers up is this idea that a guy with a gun, a cop with a gun is not the solution to every problem, that every 911 call doesn't really necessitate that response. what in your view is the best way and what are the key changes that we need to be looking at to try and solve that as a policy problem and do you think the slogan is problematic for that reason? >> look, i think it's really a matter of resources and pry wrortiwror -- priorities and values and every lawyer should go to determine what law enforcement looks like in that community. a couple weeks ago president obama called on all of the nation's mayors to look at the use of force in consqujunction h the community and certain obvious things like choke holds where you can't measure whether or not you're about to kill somebody. let's just get rid of those. let's look what the use of force
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strategies are with the community so there is a social contract there and if you don't have that basic meeting of the minds between community and law enforcement, it becomes impossible to police in a way that is healthy, particularly in communities of color where we have tensions and a lack of trust and i will say on a personal, kasie, every black family i know is just so exhausted and so frustrated and angry with having to teach their children that they have to behave differently. it's humiliating and it's dangerous and the heartening thing about this moment we are in is that there are so many allies of all races, of all ages who are taking to the streets and putting pressure on local law enforcement to reform and so i think it isn't a matter of more of less, what should police be doing? i'm a strong believer in community policing. when you hire from the community. when policemen and women get out
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of their cars and walk the beat and get to know the residents and there is a bond of trust, that's an important step in the right direction. every community should be going through this process with themselves to say well, what is policing look like here? you mentioned there are loats o times we call on police and dial 911 when maybe we need a social worker or educator to bring children back into the schools whether than expelling and suspending them. maybe there are other resources that we need devoted to the police like what i was mentioning for training and background checks, et cetera. so i wouldn't get caught up into the semantics, i would focus on tailoring law enforcement to make sure that it's meeting the needs and consistent with the values of every individual community and the federal government should be there with the tools that it needs to enforce a federal civil rights law that applies to us all. >> all right. valerie jarett, thank you so
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much for being here tonight for your personal insights, as well. thank you very much. a new poll of nascar fans shows that just 30% approve of a new ban on confederate flags at racetracks while 44% oppose it. the only african american driver bubba wallace bold recalled for the ban. he joins me next. recalled for the ban. he joins me next give me your hand! i can save you... lots of money with liberty mutual! we customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr,
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the first race was held since the sport issued a ban on confederate flags at all of the racetracks. nascar took the step wednesday after the only black driver in the top level club series bubba wallace called for it for it on monday. on the same day the ban was instituted, wallace took to the track in a special black lives matter paint scheme. that was just one of the topics when i talked to him this week. walk us through the decision you made to make the stand to race on the track with the #blacklives, matter. you're the only african-american nascar driver fulltime. what did the moment mean to you? >> yeah. so it all came about, some people might understand that was a no sponsor race for us, no funds coming in so we decided to take the initiative and make a
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positive change in our environment. we planned on running a blackout car, competition sparked around blackout tuesday. i was all in. then i started creating some ideas how we could implement some charities or organizations that could help push the needle as well. i said, let's go right to the root of it and go to black lives matters and use that hashtag. it means a lot. it's also misunderstood in a lot of ways. i think we try to do our best of helping people gain knowledge in what we're trying to support. it's black lives matter, too. it's not black lives are the only lives that matter, it's trying to create an awareness that our lives are just as equal as any other race out there. so there was a positive or powerful day, definitely my biggest race of my career. we put together a good performance, finished 11th there. the awareness and the positive impact it had around it was really special.
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crowd proud of everybody to let me use my platform. we're a team with small funding we decided to go that route and create a much bigger image than anything we could have thought. >> we saw nascar this past week also make the decision to ban the flying of the confederate flag, which, you know, has generated some opposition from your fellow racers. some said they don't want to race any more after that decision. talk about your reaction to nascar taking that stand. what do you say to your fellow drivers and others who are upset by this decision. >> i've only seen one driver, i wouldn't call him a competitor. i haven't seen him much on the track to be honest with you. the guys that i race with, my peers, are seeing articles and post race interviews where they are supportive of the decision by nascar and supportive of my stance on everything.
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that means a lot. so one driver that, like i said, i haven't heard much about in years, doesn't really count, doesn't really matter. hey, that's his opinion, and he's entitled to it. so you know, i'm proud of nascar for stepping up and being a part of change that needed to happen for a really long time now. the reason it sparked by interest so much is because you see these stories of people going to a race for the first time, whatever descent they are from and talk about how the confederate flag is felony and it makes them feel uncomfortable. whether i'm your favorite driver or not, i want you to come here and have a good time. get a hot dog, a beverage, a coca-cola, and go have fun and not sit there and give side eye to a flag that means -- has so much negative background to it. we should just get it out of there and allow people of all
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colors, races, backgrounds to come and enjoy the madness of our sport of nascar. >> obviously the flag has been visible at races for a long time, and we as a country have in fits and starts banned it from various monuments in different states have struggled with this question. what do you think about this moment, the death of george floyd, that made this change so sweeping that nascar would make a decision like this. >> the deaths of all the unarmed black men and women. i think george floyd, we had had enough. it was tragic to see that. we're thankful to video cameras for capturing that. we're tired of justice not being served in the judicial system is so far out of whack. that's what we're standing up for. we're treated differently because of the way we look. you see some of these videos of
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kids crying because they are realizing they could be harmed over their skin color. it's such a sad world we live in that that happens. i'm standing up with my peers and with my following, my platform to stand up for what's right to create change not only in the sport but the world, to show everybody we're all the same. we're all human. we all bleed the same, but we have to somehow open up closed minded people, oopen up their hearts and get them to listen and engage on conversations we're having instead of turning away from the narrative. that's been the challenge for us. we're going to continue to keep talking, keep having those conversations, keep pushing the narrative, keep pushing the envelope. who knows what can happen. i do see this being a really big crucial time for our country that is moving in the right direction. >> do you feel as though you're experiencing that yourself with the other drivers and people that you interact with every day
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as are they looking around and saying, wow, i really had a wakeup call here? >> yeah, absolutely. last monday ty dylan and i, competitor and i and friend of mine i grew up racing with since we were 13, 14 years old. for a while we've known each other since we were kids. he never understood or seen me as an african-american. he seen me as bubba wallace, race car driver, friend off the racetrack, what it was. i shared my stories what i went through with law enforcement and just social encounters that i've had, and it opened his eyes, and it really sparked something in his heart to be a leader on his platform as well. i'm really proud of ty. jimmie johnson has stepped up a lot. we're on the phone with each other just about every other day. he's calling and checking in
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with me. he's sharing instagram posts so powerful we sit and have dialogue after the fact. it's really cool to see that. certain drivers are taking initiative on themselves to make change in their communities. >> you even got some backing outside of your own sport from lebron james, who has clearly taken notice of this. what was your response to the atta boy you got from him? >> that was cool. i just texted my girlfriend, hey, just got a shoutout from lebron. my managers texted me at the same time i got a shout out from lebron. these cool. i appreciate the support from all platforms, all sports backgrounds, whatever it is. we're all in this together. louis hamilton, f1 driver, an idol i look up to every day reached out this morning on instagram. everybody is coming together. that's what we need, unity.
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>> my thanks to bubba wallace for that conversation. it was an honor to talk to him. coming up next hour, everyone expected amy mcgraph to be the democrat most likely to run against mitch mcconnell. with high-profile endorsements from alexandria ocasio-cortez and the louisville newspaper, could charles booker surprise the establishment in kentucky? we're back after this. e establi? we're back after this. and more one of a kind finds. it all ships free. and with new deals every day you can explore endless options at every price point. get your outdoor oasis delivered fast so you can get the good times going. ♪ wayfair. you've got just what i need. ♪ makes it beautiful. state of the art technology makes it brilliant.
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welcome back to kasie d.c. we're following new developments out of atlanta. rayshard brooks was shot and killed at a wendy's friday night. after the incident the police chief resigned. hours after that the officer who shot brooks was fired and the other officer on administrative leave. it happened after failed a sobriety, fought with officers and ran away with taser. it was recorded from angles. we want to warn you it is disturbing. in addition to footage from a bystander, the most revealing angle seems to be the one you're watching now from a surveillance camera at wendy's. the georgia bureau of investigation says it shows brooks running away from the officers, turned toward them and
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firing the taser before one of the officers shoots him with his gun. i spoke with justin miller, one of the attorneys for the family of rayshard brooks. here is what he told me. >> they didn't have to take this man or attempt to take him into custody because he was sleeping in his car. he was trying to do the right thing. he didn't want to drive drunk. he was stopped. he was not a threat to anyone. they could have taken his keys. they could have said, hey, what's your wife's number? call her, let her pick you up. they could have done a number of things. just because you call an officer, it shouldn't be a death sentence for anyone. >> just tonight an autopsy has been performed on rayshard brooks. the medical exercise said he suffered two gunshot wounds to the back and his death has been ruled a homicide while protesters took 209 streets the president of the united states was voicing concern about a video. but it wasn't the body camera footage, it wasn't the wendy's
quote
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surveillance tape but rather a viral clip of him descending a ramp at west point where he delivered the commencement address yesterday. just before 10:00 p.m. eastern time the president tweeted, quote, the ramp that i descended after my west point commencement speech was very long and steep, had no handrail and most importantly was very slippery. the last thing i was going to do is fall for the fake news to have fun with. the final 10 feet i ran down to level ground. momentum, exclamation point. joining me shannon and pbs news hour and nbc political analyst. thank you both for being here. it's always great to have you. let me start with you, because as we sort of underscored, as all this was unfolding in atlanta, another tragic death of a black man at the hands of
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police, this is what the president chose to focus on because of, we think, a story in the new york daily news kind of making fun of how he walked down the ramp and making suggestion about his mental or physical fitness or lack thereof. how would you put this into context considering what we know about the president of the united states? >> i think what we know about the president of the united states is that he's someone who is very focused on optics, very focused on his image and is very much wanting to come off as strong and in control and dominant as he goes closer and closer to the november election. so i think this hits a chord with the president because he doesn't want to be seen as weak, someone having any sort of difficulties going down a ramp. the bigger context is this is a president who has, at least critics say, really said inappropriate things in the middle of the nation mourning the loss of so many americans
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who have died, first, from police violence, african-americans being disproportionately impacted but also from this coronavirus that is continuing to kill a lot of americans. we've seen the president talk about conspiracy theories, lash out at democrats, do all sorts of things instead of talking about what he wants to do on policing reform or frankly what he wants to do in terms of how this second wave may happen and hit the u.s. i think this goes in and fits in with what critics would say is the inability to hit the moment his presidency is happening under. >> let me stick with you as well because we also learned the president is going to delay by a day the rally he had planned in tulsa, oklahoma, the site of that horrible racially motivated massacre on juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the emancipation. what does your reporting sai say about how this unfolded.
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was this intentional in the beginning? michael steele earlier in the program seemed to be willing to acknowledge that while maybe it was an oversight, didn't have anybody in the room who could tell them this could be such a problem, what's your take and your reporting on this? >> our reporting is it seems they may not have had the idea juneteenth was going to be come in siding with this rally. you have to remember tim scott, the only black republican senator, he quickly came out and said this shows why having diversity in your office at the white house is important. tim scott is someone very close to the president at times and kind of has his ear to the ground. he's essentially saying they basically didn't know any better. that being said the fact they are moving the rally shows they understood how big a problem this was going to be and for the president especially as he continues to have such a complicated and strained relationship with african-americans all over this country. also i want to say juneteenth
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we've talked about it as important to african-americans. you acknowledge very smartly, and i think it needs to be said again that juneteenth is an american holiday, celebrating when enslaved african-americans got the word they were free. that's something all americans should be celebrating. it's a good thing people are acknowledging this more and people are really kind of taking steps to really give this day its due when it comes to american newsrooms and americans workplaces all over the country. >> it's a great point. shannon, let's talk about what washington is looking to try to do to do what they can, anyway, to address these systemic issues we've spent the last week since the death of george floyd discussing. we know that the president seems to be preparing an executive order as she alluded to on reform, what do we know about what the white house is going to do and how that fits into the
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effort efforts of congress. >> kasie, our report indicates momentum for the white house to do something, policing reform or racial injustice, a lot of that has died down. i would say about two weeks ago white house officials were telling me, telling my colleagues that the president did want to do something. he was getting a lot of input, listening sessions. there was a talk about him giving a speech on racial diversity. last week, again, we were repeatedly told there was some action in the works, a potential executive order announced in there's on thursday. that really didn't come to fruition. it was only some minor frame works the president announced about what he was thinking on policing reform. now going into, again, the third week of the white house talking about doing anything, the expectations are quite low we're actually going to see something. i know from my sources that behind the scenes there are still people in the white house working with the hill, working with senator tim scott who is really kind of taking the lead
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on the senate on the republican side here seeing what they are discussing that the white house could get on board with. it does not look -- i don't have any indication at this point the white house is really going to be taking the lead on something when it comes to the police reform or something addressing the issues that the protesters have been demanding some action on. >> well, i think there was also some hesitance among senate republicans whatever the president would touch would be so toxic it would prevent him from getting anything done. shannon, let's talk briefly about the coronavirus as well. this rally that has now been moved off of the juneteenth date still planning to be held with tens of house of people. they are bragging online they have given out 18,000 tickets even though there's 20,000 seats. either way you have to sign a waiver, apparently, to attend saying you understand you could catch covid-19. what is the white house thinking about the risks of putting this
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many people together in the same place. >> well, you mentioned that waiver, kasie, which essentially is acknowledging there is a risk here. the waiver says you will not, essentially, sue the trump campaign or the venue or anyone affiliated with this event if you get coronavirus as a result of it. they are talking about a 19,000 seat arena packed full of people. these events often have a lot of cheering, shouting, which are things that cdc has said can easily transmit this virus so there is a big potential risk here. add on top of that the numbers out of oklahoma show they are having an increase, and to some extent a spike in cases at this very moment. the president, though, is committed to doing these rallies. the messaging out of the white house is this is behind us. the administration has a handle on this problem and they are looking forward. the white house does not want to be focused on coronavirus, regardless of what impact it might be having on people's
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lives and carrying on with business as usual whether it's going golfing in bedminster or holding a campaign or fundraiser is part of that moving past coronavirus. >> well, i do think it's important for us to underscore here that there are still plenty of american families, american health care workers, frontline folks who are dealing with this day in and day out who are grieving. none of us, i don't think, are forgetting this is going on. thank you both for coming on tonight. it's great to see both of you. still ahead, i'm going to talk to the district attorney who is investigating the brooks case. congresswoman barbara lee tries to end 150 year question, why are there still confederate statues in the u.s. capital. first, senate candidate charles booker. we're going to talk about his calls for the arrest of police officers involved in breonna taylor's death as well as his bid surprising the democratic
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welcome back. we are keeping a close eye on protests again tonight after the officer-involved shooting of rayshard brooks in atlanta. tomorrow also "narcos" three weeks since the death of george floyd in minneapolis police custody. officers involved in both of those cases have been fired and the officers in minneapolis are facing charges. the same cannot be said for the officers who shot and killed breonna taylor in the middle of
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the night in her own apartment during a botched raid. police were executing a search warrant as part of a drug investigation when gunfire erupted. a lawsuit filed by taylor's family said no drugs were found in the home and the suspect police were looking for during the raid was already in police custody. louisville city council voted unanimously to ban no knock warrants in the city this week because of what happened to taylor. the mayor says he'll sign it as soon as it hits his desk. joining me now kentucky state representative charles booker who is running in the senate primary hoping to take on mitch mcconnell in november. mr. booker, thank you so much for coming on the program tonight. let me just start with the situation in louisville. what do you think needs to happen to get justice for breonna taylor? >> well, i think it's critically important to listen to the people crying out. we had a young lady who was friends of my family and breonna
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taylor who had her door kicked a in and her life taken away from her by the very group we pay to serve and protect us. yes, they need to meet full measure of the law for the actions they have done. what we're not seeing right now is that accountability play out to meet the demands of our community. so folks are standing up and demanding justice. they are also demanding real change so this doesn't continue to happen will people are grieving in the streets and mourning in realtime. that's why i'm taking this stand. we're making it clear in this election but also in this moment we need folks to stand up, speak the truth, stand up on the front lines for us and fight for real chan change. >> i want to point out we had in our introduction to you you called for these officers to be arrested when, skt in, you have called for them to be fired. just want to make sure we're clear with our viewers on that. let's talk for a second. you're running to take on mitch mcconnell. this question of no knock warrants is one that is being had in congress. right now it doesn't seem as
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though the bill tim scott is working on is going to contain a ban on no knock warrants. what do you say to mitch mcconnell on that score? >> what i would tell him is he needs to listen to the people of kentucky. he's ignored us my entire life so i'm not surprised by it. but we're demanding humanity. we're demanding freedom and justice to be safe in our homes, in our sanctuaries. that's something we can all understand, which is why we're all standing from the there to where i am now. we know mitch mcconnell doesn't see us but i do. ime i'm working with our mayor and governor. i'm excited no knock warrants ber banned at local level, i'm working with a coalition to get it done at state level and washington. the big question is how we reimagine public safety all together and i'm building a movement to make sure you do. >> everyone assumed amy mcgrath
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was going to basically have a relatively easy path to position herself the way many democrats have tried to position themselves in your home state, in a middle of the road kind of way. you on the other hand have endorsements from aoc, bernie sanders. why do you think you are better suited to take on mitch mcconnell? why are you better suited to beat him than amy mcgrath is. >> as proud as i am that the national leaders and national media now see the wo, that we've been leaning on for years, i am most proud to see leaders in kentucky that are standing up and demanding change. i had two anchor institutions in journalism supporting my candidacy against the big money candidate.
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matt jones, one of the biggest voices in our commonwealth stood up to support me. leaders in labor, house democratic leadership, kentuckians for commonwealth, sunrise movement. we're building this for kentuckians. the reason we're best poised to win, it doesn't matter how much money you have if you don't have a vision. amy mcgrath may have support but she cannot understand the struggles on the ground. i've lived that struggle. i've gotten results. i'm building a coalition to prove it, exciting young and old, black, brown, white. building a coalition not only beat mcconnell and transform our future and we will. >> would you echo calls from black live matter activists to defund the police? >> well, i think now is the time we actually need to do that work. this is about fully funding public safety. what we've seen is continuing budgets of increase in law enforcement year after year
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where in the city of louisville, for instance, the budget for law enforcement is more than all the other city agencies combined. we see that at the state level and certainly at the federal level with our military industrial complex. our law enforcement are dressed up as militarized organizations that treat us as enemy combatants. what we're saying is instead of continuing to put tax dollars into creating this organization or this effort that doesn't keep us safe that we actually put money spot community, that we do the work of community policing, do the work of mental health, do the work of dismantling and disrupting poverty. we need men and women in law enforcement to join us doing that work. i've led for that for years. we criminalized poverty in kentucky. the only way we will change that is if we put people at the front of our agenda or the bottom of our knee or our foot. i'm proud to stand with kentuckians to demand real change.
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>> one more question before i let you go. have you seen any counts on the ground or as you're campaigning to suggest mitch mcconnell is afraid of running against you or sees drawing you in a general election as the better draw, if you will. >> mitch mcconnell is terrified of facing me, because he knows i'm everything he's not. he does not understand people. he will not inspire anyone. he does not speak to our issues. he has ignored and abandoned us. he know i will take the fight right to him. i'm not going to play games and wait for consultants to tell me what to think. i'm firing up people that even supported donald trump saying, charles, even if we disagree on things, we know you'll fight with us so we're standing with you. mitch mcconnell can't stand that. we will absolutely beat him and he knows it. >> we may get a chance to come
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out. charles booker, thank you very much for coming on the program tonight. we're glad to have you. we'll be watching your race very closely. in just a moment, a reckoning how we think about statues, schools in the united states. inside the effort to rename military bases and force confederate figures once and for all out of the capital they once seceded from. [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the calming scent of lavender
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so in the last several weeks it's taken one of the worst moments in history to bring down confederate regalea. this marks the shooting that left nine dead in south carolina. it was their blood shed that created the political will to finally pry the confederate flag off the grounds of the state capital there. we are seeing renewed moves to pry not just confederate names but also jim crow and segregationist figures from state capitals, federal buildings and college campuses like clemson university. the marine corps announced it would rename bases back in february. a key senate committee now advanced a plan to strip confederate names from military bases and other facilities within the next three years. it has split the republican ranks and the president has made it very clear he's against it. the attorney general jeff sessions has made sure it's
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become a campaign issue in the alabama senate race targeting incumbent democrat doug jones. one of the flash points has become whether speaker nancy pelosi can move or take down confederate figures who are still found around u.s. capital. here is my colleague leigh ann caldwell with a tour of the hall. >> three statues they want to get rid of are neighbors in this room including wheeler of alabama, high-ranking official in the confederate army during the civil war. over in the corner the white statue, an attorney whoed of didded the confederacy. jefferson davis of mississippi, he was the president of the confederacy. when speaker pelosi said these are traitors to the country
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jefferson davis was charged with treason at the end of the war. those charges were dropped and he was released from prison. democrats want to get rid of both statues in mississippi. james george signed for secession before civil war. back here in statuary hall looking at jefferson davis, an eternity, vice president of confederacy alexander stephens of georgia. robert e. lee, leader of the confederate army. when speaker pelosi was speaker first time she didn't have authority to kick him out of the capital, she relegated him into the crypt, the part of the capital with 40 massive columns that hold up the dome. this is wade hampton of south carolina. he was one of the largest slave owners in the south. u.s. capital website, though, they don't acknowledge that in their biography of him. they say he was successful and assumed the life of a planter.
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now, he went on to be a high-ranking official in the confederate army and on to be governor and senator of south carolina. adamantly opposed to reconstruction. now, more than 100 years later the senator that holds his seat, republican tim scott, one of three black senators in the senate currently and he is working on reforming the police. now we're in the capital visitor center, emancipation hall, which, of course, commemorates the day slaves were freed. here you have statues such as sa sa sakajawea. when they took a knee they did that with frederick douglass looking over them leigh ann
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mentioned he's being replaced by johnny cash. barbara lee forcing many of the confederate statues you saw taken out. e statues you saw taken out. the lexus es. a product of mastery. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. i wasn't sure... was another around the corner? or could things go a different way? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. -and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection
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a non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. so you can always say "yes" to putting your true colors on display. say "yes" to allegra-d. congresswoman barbara lee of california. congresswoman, it's always great to have you on the show. i'd like to start by talking about the proposal that you've made to remove these confederate statues from the u.s. capital. so far it seems like speaker pelosi wants some consensus, some agreement this is what needs to happen. do you think that's how this will ultimately get pushed forward? how much longer do you think these statues are going to be in the capitol building? >> first, thanks for having me with you this evening. i introduced this legislation in 2017 after the terrible charlottesville riots and
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uprisings. it was just a devastating time. we decided that we had to move ahead and make sure that any symbol of racism, any tributes to slavery, any tributes to those who were traitors should be removed from statuary hall. senator booker and myself introduced that in 2017. we have reintroduced it now with the chairman of the homeland security committee congressman bennie thompson to tell the library, joint matt on library of congress that these statues should be taken down. one, if the states want them back, you know, each state has two statues. they can have them back or we will send them to the smithsonian and they can do with it what they deem necessary. but i believe we're building consensus. i believe this moment is the moment when we have to address systemic racism, the legacy of
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slavery, the legacy of what we see today in terms of white supremacy and white nationalism and how these are manifested in the policies and programs of this government. we do not need to have in public places statues honoring those who were traitors who committed acts of treason and who wanted to preserve the institution of slavery in america. >> do you does it make you feel as a black, african-american lawmaker to walk by these statues every day. >> i feel angry. my grand fever was born in galveston texas in may of 1865. he passed away when i was 18. juneteenth comes right after he was born, so he was born into slavery.
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it really makes me very angry but makes me want to work harder to dismantle every aspect of systemic racism. this is one aspect of it. i have to fight and honor my ancestors and those who fought and died in this country to build this country to make sure any monuments to slavery, any monuments to preserving the institution of slavery, any monuments that enslaved africans for so many years, 401 years ago, that all of that is shattered, dismantled and disrupted. that is what i feel when i go through statuary hall, it's like anger and i've got to do something about it. that's why i'm working very hard to do something about it. >> obviously the symbolic nature of this very important, but you're also working with congressional black caucus on more legislative goals,
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priorities, police reform bill that we're working on. my question for you, knowing what we've been hearing from senator tim scott, who has been leading the effort in the senate on the republican version of this legislation, do you think that they are willing to go far enough that you can find a compromise that will be signed into law, or are you too far apart. >> i have to have hope, demanding change, young people making sure our democracy works and making sure black lives matters becomes central in every policy we pass in the federal government. i have hope we're going to get this done. of course it will take negotiations but there's no way we cannot move forward on a strong justice and policing bill that addresses transparency,
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demilitarizing police forces and really does not put one more dime into the police budgets. so we have to work hard to get this passed. so given mitch mcconnell is the senate leader, let's hope he recognizes this bill must pass and it must pass in a way that's strong, effective. of course many of the provisions of this bill have been introduced since the '90s. i'll tell you, it's really tragic. today we're mourning the loss of mr. brooks, mourning the loss of mr. floyd. it's about justice, it's about making sure police murders stop. >> congresswoman barbara lee, thank you for coming on the program tonight. it's always great to hear your perspective. i really appreciate it.
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>> nice being with you. >> coming up, breaking news in the case of rayshard brooks as the medical examiner's office releases results of an autopsy. the district attorney on that case joins me next. autopsy the district attorney on that case joins me next hey, can i... hold on one second... sure. okay... okay! safe drivers save 40%!!!
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we're following developing news in the death of rayshard brooks. the medical examiner's office just released the results of his autopsy showing brooks died after two gunshot wounds to the back caused organ damage and blood loss. meanwhile a decision earlier this week if the officers involved will be charged. that's according to the fulton county district attorney. mr. howard, thank you very much for coming on the program tonight. i'd like to start with the police department. at this point do you have everything you need? are you getting full cooperation from the atlanta pd? >> yes. we have everything that we need to make a decision with the medical examiner's report today, there is one other technical formality we hope to cross and that is the ballistics in this case.
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we have to make sure since there are two officers, two guns involved, we have to make sure that the project isles found in the body of mr. brooks came from one weapon or two weapons. once that is done, that will complete all the things we need to make the decision in this matter. >> can you just remind our viewers in this case there was a taser involved. mr. brooks apparently seized the taser from the officers and that ultimately led to this shooting death. is there any legal justification for the use of force in such a situation? >> well, there might be a circumstance that would allow
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one to be justified. the question we have to answer is at the time the fatal shots were fired, whether that officer fired those shots to save his life life, that based upon a reasonable officer would feel his life was about to be taken or that someone else would be seriously harmed or killed. but if the shot was fired for some other reason, then it is not justified. >> so if, in fact, your assessment is that he fired these shots without such reasonable fear, what would he potentially face in terms of charges? >> therefore three potential charges we're looking at now. one would be the charge of murder, which in georgia involves an intent to kill.
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the second charges the charge of felony murder, which involves a death that occurs as a result of an underlying felony. in this case that underlying felony would be an aggravated assault. the other charge that we're considering is a voluntary manslaughter. those are the three charges that we're currently considering. >> does it matter in your kind of deliberations, do we know if mr. brooks fired the taser? is that relevant to how you think about this? >> i think if you are looking at the videos, and we've looked at several videos from several angles, and if you look at the distance from mr. brooks back to the officers, if we look at what the officers knew about that
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taser, then i don't believe that the taser plays the prominent part that many people have talked about. what you have to figure out is whether or not a reasonable officer would feel that his life was actually in danger or about to be harmed at that time. that's what our analysis will be based upon. >> i'm sure for many reasonable people the concept of someone running away from you obviously raises questions about that. can you talk a little more broadly about cases like this in atlanta throughout your career. is this the kind of case you've prosecuted frequently? do you find you've had more support from the community recently to prosecute these? what kind of pressure do you feel around these kinds of
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investigations. obviously this is an incredibly high-pressure and high-profile moment for you and the work that you're doing right now? >> well, since the time that i have been district attorney, and i've been district attorney here since 1997, i believe this is the in 1997, i believe this is the 39th case we prosecuted involving police misconduct. i think it would become either the eighth or the ninth case that involved an actual homicide. we've never had any real problems with the community, because before we started prosecuting these cases, what the community said is they wanted police officers prosecuted when they presidentialed some act of misconduct and before my administration had it simply not done. the pressure we've received is the pressure from the police union.
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the police union has criticized my office at every turn for prg these cases. they call every prosecution a political contributiprosecution will examine the cases. if a officer performed an act that would be considered not justified, we move forward. but if the officer did nothing wrong, then we would also explain to the community that this officer should not be prosecuted. >> all right. paul howard. fulton county da. thank you very much for your time tonight, sir. i know you have a very busy week ahead of you. protests have continued in michigan this weekend as the governor said they're. it comes as michigan businesses
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reopen partially among the coronavirus pandemic. joining me is the state's lieutenant government garland grill crest. thank you for coming back on the show. it's always great to have you. i'd like to start with what's going on in your own community as you grapple with the fallout from the death of mr. floyd. where do you see relationships stand right now in your state, in your largest kmoounts between police officers and the communities that they're supposed to protect and serve? >> thank you for having me on the program. it's always a pleasure to be with you and your viewers. right now there are way too many people in the state of michigan who are hurgt. question see protests outside my home. there are other kmubts empathizing with the pain and the fear and the exhaustion and the anger that many black people
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are feeling in our state and frankly across the country when we see not only george floyd's murder, now rashean brooks's murder. the lack of trust, the lack of interest in one another and that strabd relationship is not establishble. it hasn't been sustainable for black communities for generations and that's been brought to bear in the most clear sense in our society right now. pile are ready for change and they're ready for us as lawmakers and leaders to do that. we've taken some initial steps doing things like you announced, expanding our commission on laurlt standards to include the community. the that's really important, because there was not enough civilian representation and oversight in that body,000 says how long. we believe people from the communities, the people closest to the problems, these people
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will be the people who have the solutions. >> what power do you have and the governor have to do some of these top line things that people are demanding? can you ban chokeholds across the state, can you ban no-knock warrants or not? >> we can do some things through executive order. we're waiting to hear about that. we need to invest in communities, we need to make sure that law enforcement does not have an adversarial relationship with the public. we set those standards and those values. they passed a significant set of reforms so that this body will add deescalation training as a requirement. put in a continued education
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requirement. they're professionals. they need to be treated by engineers or doctors. you have to keep hoping your craft and getting better at your job. we're working with the legislate your to the point we can. i think that we can do more in partnership with them. in the meantime we're checking out all the short we have as well. >> what was your relationship lying with police unions across the state? do you think that they can be an ally in this night. >> i think everyone has a role to play to fixing this broken system and this broken set of relationships and that includes police unions that -- they represent officers and officers are a member of the community. i can say that permanently since i was 14 years old as a black teenager and now as a black man.
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step up to the late like everybody else. >> all right. lieutenant governor garland gill crest. thank you for your time as always. we are thinking also amid the coronavirus pandemic. i know you guys have been pretty hard hit. unfortunately we don't have anymore time. that does do it for us tonight on kcdc. we'll be back tomorrow. joshua johnson will pick up after a short break. at 10:00 join joy reed for her special, "poverty and the pandemic." now from me, good night from washington. om washington so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
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the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard. hey there. i'm joshua johnson. good to be with you tonight from nbc news world headquarters in new york. fury over what happened in the floyd case to focus on what should happen now. now atlanta has another reason to be furious. it's one city with demonstrations against plate brutality nearly three weeks after mr. floyd's death. the gbi is investigating the kill of rachard brooks. an officer shot him as he ram away from an ep counter. he died by
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