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CNN NEWSROOM

Zimmerman Case Cause Racial Tension; No Soda Stamps; Mayors: No More Food Stamps to Buy Soda; Heat Win Second Straight NBA Title

Aired June 21, 2013 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Right now, look, you don't have all the components open quite yet. So we'll really watch closely to see if it holds on to some meager gains.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, but still, Stephen, I mean, stocks went down 500 points over the last two days and then on the third day, investors are saying, good time to buy. And then the stock market will go back up.

STEPHEN MOORE, EDITORIAL WRITER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, quite possibly. Look, I'm still pretty bullish on the economy as Christine knows.

Look, the thing that's really interesting about this, Carol. The Fed and Ben Bernanke did not announce the other day that they were taking the punch bowl away. They were saying, right, Christine, they might take it away some time in the future and just that, so, you know, cause so much nervousness on Wall Street that you saw this big -- this big selloff.

I don't expect the selloff to continue. I think this was just a little bit -- what they're calling a temper tantrum because they said they were going to tamper down the amount of money --

ROMANS: A taper tantrum.

COSTELLO: A taper tantrum.

MOORE: I'm sorry, taper. Taper.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Taper tantrum.

MOORE: Taper tantrum. Yes.

ROMANS: You know, Ben Bernanke, it's so interesting, because Ben Bernanke didn't -- Ben Bernanke basically said we're going to go on a diet sometime next year and that's what got everybody so worried about a diet that hasn't even started yet.

MOORE: Exactly. And you know --

ROMANS: But just the fact that he was so clear about going on a diet is why people are so concerned. COSTELLO: Yes, but the thing is, is taper means the economy is improving.

ROMANS: Yes, you're right.

COSTELLO: I mean, Wall Street is just kind of jittery because they're not going to be propped up any more. But it's not going to really hurt them in the long run, is it, if the economy is improving?

MOORE: You know what, the -- the explanation here is --

ROMANS: But the big concern is Europe and China. The big concern is Europe and China, though. The one thing, Carol and Stephen, that people are worried about is, are they right? Can the economy, the U.S. economy really go it alone?

I mean, look, you've had all this Fed stimulus and you still only have 2 percent growth? Is the U.S. economy really healthy enough with Europe, Europe doing so poorly and China slowing. Can the U.S. really do it on its own? Those are the questions that are nagging.

COSTELLO: Stephen?

MOORE: Yes. The point -- the point I was going to make is that, you know, we've had near zero interest rates now for the last three or four years. The Fed, Carol, believe it or not, they have pumped $3.6 trillion, that's trillion with a T.

ROMANS: Yes.

MOORE: Of money into this economy through these asset purchases. And you know the thing I wonder about, Christine, is if this is the way the markets reacted to this, you know, warning that maybe in a year or two we may taper back on this, you know, what is Wall Street going to do when they actually start pulling back in actuality? Because, you know, our fear at "The Wall Street Journal" is that if you just keep up this addiction to cheap money and this is like crack cocaine to all these stock traders. You worry whether the market will crash once you pull all this money back.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Christine Romans, Stephen Moore, thanks so much for your insight. We appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Coming up next in NEWSROOM the murder trial of George Zimmerman has caused a rift in this country, both racially and politically. We'll talk about the implications when we come back.

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COSTELLO: With the jury now seated opening statements in the George Zimmerman murder trial will get under way on Monday. Some people are really surprised by the makeup of that seated jury. Five white women and a black or Hispanic woman. Interesting since race is a big factor in a trial that's much more than a case of self-defense or murder.

Thousands of people hit the streets to protest when Sanford, Florida, police did not initially charge George Zimmerman with any crime. Protesters argued that was because Trayvon Martin was black and wearing a hoodie.

The case quickly caused a racial and political divide with big named conservatives like Sean Hannity defending Zimmerman and liberals, even President Obama, voicing support for Trayvon Martin.

So let's talk about those larger implications surrounding this trial with HLN contributor Jason Johnson, he's in Sanford, Florida. He's a professor of political science at Hiram College, and chief political correspondent for politic365.com. And Reverend Eugene Rivers, pastor of Boston's Azusa Christian Community.

Welcome to you both.

REV. EUGENE RIVERS, PASTOR, AZUSA CHRISTINE COMMUNITY: Good morning, Carol.

JASON JOHNSON, PROFESSOR, POLITICAL SCIENCE, HIRAM COLLEGE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Thanks for being here.

Jason, I want to start with you. A lot of racial tension there in Sanford. Starting with a fight over seating arrangements in the courthouse. A white Baptist minister and he's a pretty big minister. He has 30,000 followers. He wanted to sit behind the Martin family and the defense complained. Why?

JOHNSON: Well, because the defense doesn't want someone with that strong a connection to the white community in Sanford to be sitting behind the black family. Look, a lot of this case is about symbols. Symbolically what does a hoodie means? Symbolically what does it mean to have a white pastor with 30,000 parishioners sitting behind a black family that's suffering for the loss of their son? So each side is trying to work on the opposites and the symbolism. And the defense made the first move.

COSTELLO: So will that white pastor be sitting behind the Martin family or did -- was he forced to move?

JOHNSON: Yes. So what the judge did is they sort of split up the seats. So now you're going to have two seats for pastors behind the Martin family, two seats for pastors behind the Zimmerman family and they're going to be able to rotate. So it's a sort of odd musical chairs. It's strange.

COSTELLO: Reverend, what do you think of that?

RIVERS: It's part of the absurdity of the theatrical quality that this entire tragedy has taken on. This now is a media event. It's a happening. You have marches and, ironically, in the middle of all of this theater, black males are killing black males. Ninety-three percent of the shootings of black males are committed by other black males. Black people are 12 percent of the population and 49 percent of the homicide victims. It's crazy.

COSTELLO: I know where you're going --

RIVERS: And so we've got this theater --

COSTELLO: I know where you're going, Reverend, because you've written about this case has everything to do with race and you questioned, like, would we care if George Zimmerman was a black man who killed a black teenager?

RIVERS: We would not. In fact, I wouldn't know who Trayvon Martin was. We wouldn't know who Edward Zimmerman was. Because, because if we asked the very basic question, how many black males have been killed in Florida since this incident? I venture to say that most of us, in fact, 95 percent of us could not name one black individual that's been killed since the racial card or the racial dimension of this thing wasn't in play.

COSTELLO: OK, look, we have to talk about the racial dimension because it's certainly there, right, Jason? Because I know you talked to people who were happy that nearly all white jury was seated. Why is that?

JOHNSON: Oh, definitely. I spoke to members of the Goldsborough community which was the original black community that was absorbed by Sanford almost 100 years ago. And look, there is real fear down here in the black community of backlash from the white majority. They're afraid of white people walking down the streets and playing vigilantes.

So there's a feeling here that if Zimmerman is found guilty by a mostly white jury, at least black people won't end up suffering the consequences. And I've got to disagree with the reverend. I so think there is a class element, as well, having to do with Section 8 Housing in these communities. I think we probably would have heard about this case anyway even if the point is the death of young, black men doesn't usually get national attention.

COSTELLO: Yes, because this case is also about the gun culture, isn't it, Reverend?

RIVERS: Yes, well, listen. We're talking about alligator wrestling, trailer park folk that love guns. It's the south. So there's not -- that's not quite news. It's southern, you know, trailer park gun culture. And that's been part of this ever since the first Scott- Irish landed there.

COSTELLO: Jason?

JOHNSON: That's not entirely it. Look, I walk this neighborhood. This is one of the nicer areas in Sanford and what you really got going on here is that that community was affected by the housing boom and now you have people from Section 8 housing living there and, therefore, residents, homeowners who happen to live in that lake park community started to profile people who they thought were from Section 8 housing. So there's a big class element to this. It's not just all about a bunch of country bumped who love their guns and thumped the bible.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, opening statements set to get under way on Monday. This should be interesting. I've to stop it here.

Thank you so much, Jason Johnson and the Reverend Eugene Rivers.

A group of mayors want to ban the use of food stamps to buy sodas and other sugary drinks. That's a good question for you. Should taxpayers pay for sugary drinks for poor Americans? We'll talk about that, next.

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COSTELLO: The food police. Many of us don't like the idea of banning certain drinks, even if they contribute to the obesity problem in this country. But what about people on food stamps? Should taxpayers foot the bill for sugary soda if there's evidence it's unhealthy? Eighteen big city mayors say, yes, it's time we limit what people can buy with food stamps. One of the 18 is the Baltimore mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The mayor joins us this morning.

Welcome, mayor.

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE: Good to be here with you, Carol.

COSTELLO: It's nice to have you here. You and 17 other mayors sent a letter to federal lawmakers to consider this idea, why?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Because we see the impact of poverty and poor health that the impact that it has on our communities. In Baltimore we have various life expectancy rates in our communities of over 20 years. So your life expectancy is impacted by your level of poverty and your level of health. And I think it's important for government to take reasonable steps to try to address the issue.

COSTELLO: Why try to take a freedom, let's call it a freedom away from the least powerful among us?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Well, I think you can think of it as a freedom, but I also think it's about a subsidy for something that we know is unhealthy. We spent over $147 billion a year fighting obesity or dealing with the problem of obesity. That's not something that I think that we should subsidize.

COSTELLO: But, let's face it, soda's cheap. It's cheaper to buy than say other nutritional drinks. They usually cost more. So why burden those with less money with this?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I don't think it's a burden to try to encourage people to be healthy. I want to encourage people in the stores that serve the people in our most vulnerable communities to serve healthier options for people. We can't continue to think that we can do the same thing and have different results. We have life disparities, life expectancy disparities and we have an epidemic of obesity and we have to do something about it.

COSTELLO: But why single out soda? Why not ban potato chips and candy and other unhealthy foods?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Well this isn't about what's being subsidized and it's not banning and it's about what's being subsidized with the snap benefits and really this is about protecting the snap benefit in the federal farm bill. We want to make sure that it's there for families that rely on it for basic nutrition, and that's what snap benefits are for basic nutrition. And I don't think any of those things that you mentioned would qualify.

COSTELLO: Do you think that lawmakers will listen? Federal lawmakers will listen?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I hope so, I think mayors are very pragmatic and we have to deal with the issues on the ground. We know that the epidemic of obesity. It's -- this is about -- it's bad health and it's bad economics. We don't want to subsidize things that we know and making our communities unhealthy and we want to make sure that we're -- we are setting the tone in the nation to provide a road map to a healthier country.

COSTELLO: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake thank you so much for joining us this morning.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Abercrombie & Fitch should have known what would happen. We'll tell you what the retailer did now to generate a swift and angry response from the fans of Taylor Swift. That's next in the NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: Checking our "Top Stories" at 50 minutes past the hour.

More attention focused now on New England's -- New England Patriots' tight end Aaron Hernandez as police investigate the shooting death of a Dorchester, Massachusetts man. Police say Oden Lloyd died from a gunshot wound. His body found Monday, less than a mile from Hernandez's home. The two reportedly were friends.

In Arizona the doughy wildfire has scorched more than 7,000 acres of the Prescott National Forest, forced more than 400 people out of homes. Dry weather and strong winds are fuelling the fire; only 10 percent of the fire has been contained. So far, no homes have been destroyed and no injuries reported.

"Don't mess with T.S.", that's what Taylor Swift fans told Abercrombie & Fitch. The retailer had started selling a T-shirt with the words "More Boyfriends than T.S." poking fun at the singer and her famous relationship issues. Fans pelted the company with so many complaints about the shirt, it's now pulled that T-shirt from its stores. Staying on the entertainment page, Kim and Kanye West have named their baby, are you ready -- the little girl will be known as North as in -- that means her name will be North West. That's the name. The couple says they'll call her Norrie and she will have no middle name. I guess it's better than southeast.

Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, the Miami Heat repeat -- "Bleacher Report" takes a look at a classic Game 7 of the phenomenal NBA finals.

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COSTELLO: It's what everyone is talking about this morning. What a game, what a series. The Miami Heat beat the Spurs last night in Game 7 of the NBA finals to claim their second straight title. Here's Andy Scholes with "Bleacher Report." Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: And good morning Carol. Last night's Game 7 certainly lived up to all of the hype. And when it was all said and done, LaBron and the big three now have not one, but two NBA titles. Now Game 7 was close for the entire 48 minutes. Miami up three in the fourth quarter. LaBron kick it over to Shane Battier he knocks down the three. Battier came out of nowhere in this one and makes six of eight from downtown. That put the Heat up six.

But the Spurs would not go away. Tim Duncan comes right back. He's going to get the end one to go. That cut the lead back to three. Then down two with under a minute to go and this play is one I'm sure Tim Duncan will remember for a very long time. He misses the point blank shot. That would have tied the game.

Very next possession, LaBron James comes through with the dagger right here. He finishes 37 points, which ties the record for the most pointed in an NBA finals Game 7 victory. Heat win, 95-88. LaBron is your finals MVP for the second straight season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LABRON JAMES, MIAMI HEAT: This team is just amazing. And the vision that I had when I decided to come here is all coming true. Through adversity, through everything we've been through, we've been able to persevere and -- and to win, you know, back-to-back champion -- back- to-back championships. It's -- it's an unbelievable feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And the celebration for the Heat will continue Monday morning with a victory parade through downtown Miami.

Well step aside, Mia Hamm there is a new queen of scoring in women's soccer. Last night Abby Wombach passed Hamm as the all-time goal scoring leader in an international competition. Wambach scored four goals in the first half of the USA win over South Korea. She now has 160 goals for her career.

Well the White Sox/Twins yesterday, you've got to check out this catch. Ramirez hits this ball right down the line. Check out the ball boy, Carol. COSTELLO: Yes.

SCHOLES: It goes up and gets that one.

COSTELLO: Wow.

SCHOLES: Now this ball boy he has -- he has some baseball in his DNA. His name is Paul Neshek, he is the younger brother of Oakland A's pitcher Pat Neshek. I'd say he has a pretty bright future ahead of him.

COSTELLO: You better throw that to fans.

SCHOLES: Yes you've got to give it to a little kid.

COSTELLO: Thanks Andy I love that.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break.

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