i spoke with newark mayor ras t baraka abo protestin his city.araka, thanks so much for joining us. tynsidering that you're a that has a large black population, considering that we know that there'naa disproport effect of covid-19 on african americans, when you saw what happed to george fyd, when you saw the reactions that were happening in other cities, what were you thinking of for your own city? >> well, i knew that people were gog to prote i knew something was going to happen. it-- it was-- it walways a kind of-- always a kind of titular moment, a defini moment in history. and just like when emmett till was-- was lynched, tt was the first time african americans were lynched.e but eer nature of that, the-- the visual of that created such a swell, and the civil rights movement just exploded as a result of that. same thi with this. as soon as that happened and you're watching for eight minutes this guy standing on this guy neck with no-- kneeleon his neck with no sense of remorse, i actually told my folks on the phone-- we have regular calls bec

joining me now is newark mayor ras baraka. mayor baraka, what was the difference between you and the newark police department was able to do and other cities? yo when you look at fact you had thousands -- i think 12,000 out there -- protesting and not only were there no violence k-- ther was to violence reported that we can find, there were no arrests. how did you pull it off? >> couple things, one rk, god's grace. two, i think the organizer, larry hamm, are seasoned. they know how to organize events. this wasn't a spur of the moment thing for them. three, i think the police showed incredible restraint. we didn't come out there with riot gear with the intention of stopping inping a protest. we came out there to support the protest. that's a difference. and we host protests regularly in the city all the time. so the police aren't a stranger to that. lastly, i think the people of the community did an awesome and incredible job. the residents of the city. those folks that were there maintained peace, maintained order. they were o

i'm honored to be joined by new york mayor ras baraka, and keisha lance bottom, and the phoenix mayor and the stockton mayor. i'll say a few more words about them in a minute. i wanted to start just by saying that we are gathering at a time where we all as country, as these leaders in particular, are leading us as we go through moments of deep pain and anguish for so many americans. that has come to the floor in the last few weeks. a product of t is years and decades and even really centuries of unequal and unfair treatments. e murders of george floyd, breyonea taylor, ahmed arbery and many americans to shed light on systemic racism that is pervasive in our country. black people are not safe here not when they go out for a job, not when they go out to church, not even when they stay in their own home and they are too often killed at the hands of police. right now, our country is dealing with two diseases. one of them dozens of vaccines are on trial, medical professionals are working around the clock. and it is a global effort to become a common enemy. and still so many people are suff

well, ras baraka was elected mayor of newark in 2014 and has been fighting to reform the city's police since. crime in newark is down, so are payouts for police brutality cases. the mayor told us those accomplishments weren't his work alone. >> the residents of this city are proud. >> reporter: ras baraka is the mayor of newark, new jersey's largest city. in mask and gloves, he's leading his hometown out of the covid pandemic, and now he's navigating this national reckoning on race. five days after the death of george floyd, more than 10,000 people poured into the streets. unlike other cities, newark suffered no fires, no looting either. [ cheers ] what you can find on the streets of newark, dancing. >> our kids singing in the street is enough to drive the white supremacists back. >> what do we want? >> justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> reporter: by the massive protest's end, newark police did not make a single arrest. how did that happen? >> the police showed incredible restraint during the march and during the evening. >> reporter: four years ago, the city of newark negotiat

whole lot of talk about community control and civilian oversight as we see in newark with brother ras barakad brother larry hamm. but they want to immediately grab it and mainstream it. and when you mainstream it, you deodorize it. when you deodorize it, you sanitize and sterilize it. i come from a funky people. you've got to keep it funky. when you keep it funky, you're getting beneath all of the superficiality and dealing with the raw reality of struggle, pain, love, laughter, joy, freedom. >> i'm going to start by listening to some teddy tonight thanks to you. dr. cornell west, it's a pleasure. >> we love him. >> thank you for your wisdom tonight. thank you, dr. west. >>> coming up for us, it took 100 days, but new york city is reopening, and the virus is still very much out there. we'll have the very latest on what it's doing when we come back. >>> exactly 100 days after its first reported case of coronavirus, new york city has started reopening. but as new york's governor pointed out today, the pandemic remains a threat in the city that was, let's remember, the covid-19 epicenter, where

i'm honored to be joined by new york mayor ras baraka, and keisha lance bottom, and the phoenix mayor