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CNN NEWSROOM
Weeklong March Underway in Ferguson; Netanyahu's Nationality Bill; 12-Year-Old Gunned Down in Cleveland; UAV Accidents on the Rise
Aired November 29, 2014 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, you're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
A weeklong protest march is now under way in Missouri. It began a short time ago in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson at the site where Michael Brown was gunned down by white police officer Darren Wilson in August. Of course, this week we learned the grand jury decided not to indict Wilson.
Well, over the coming week marchers expect to cover about 20 miles a day as they make their way to the state capitol. Next Friday, the so- called journey for justice marchers will rally in front of the governor's mansion in Jefferson City.
Our Ed Lavandera is with those marchers and Ed, the NAACP organizers say they want to invoke the civil rights marches of the '60s. Tell us what they hope to accomplish in the weeks ahead?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, as you mentioned, that's the image and the spirit and the theme that they want to evoke here. The march just started, several hundred people leaving Canfield Street, the site where Michael Brown was shot and killed by Darren Wilson back in August and this will be a seven-day, 120-mile journey from Ferguson, Missouri, to the state capitol in Missouri and we're joined by the president of the NAACP Cornell Williams Brooks.
Cornell, your goal in doing this is what?
CORNELL WILLIAMS BROOKS, NAACP PRESIDENT: Our goal is really to bring about reform of policing in this country and an end to racial profiling.
LAVANDERA: And you've talked about how you want to evoke the themes of the 1960s civil rights movement and the marches from Selma to Montgomery. Why is that important to you?
BROOKS: It's really important for us in 2014 to draw from the wellspring of history. The Selma to Montgomery march was predicated on a deep moral foundation. It began with the death of a young African-American man by the name of Jimmy Lee Jackson. And this march begins with the death of a young African-American man Michael Brown. We believe the same that in the same way that that march changed American history, we believe that this march can change American history. In other words, we're marching twice the distance of the Selma to Montgomery march. We are reaching out to the length and breadth of not only the country but the state. Because we believe that nonviolent protest is not only morally purposeful, it is also strategically effective.
In other words, we can speak to the conscience of the country. We can convince people that there's more to be gained by our lowering barriers of race and class, there's more to be gained by our police departments engaging communities rather than operating as occupying armies in the midst of communities.
LAVANDERA: When you talk about being effective, I think the image of you guys walking past the burned-out buildings and the destruction there on Florescent (ph) is not lost on a lot of people I think.
BROOKS: Our challenge is this. When buildings burn, not only represents a loss of property, it also represents a loss of trust. A loss of moral credibility. And we believe that we're 99.9 percent of these young practitioners of democracy have protested for over 100 days nonviolently. We want to make clear that that's the message.
Michael Brown's family want his memory to be honored by justice for him and his family but also reform of the system. We believe that that can be brought about.
LAVANDERA: Our host Suzanne Malveaux wanted to ask a question. Suzanne, go ahead.
MALVEAUX: Ed, if you can ask Cornell very quickly, I know there were obviously a lot of backlash in the Selma march. What is he seeing around him? Are there people who are supportive, largely supportive, or are there people out there who are calling them names or supporting them? What do they see along their path, their journey there?
LAVANDERA: Suzanne's asking your thoughts on the support and what you're seeing around you as you engage and start off this march.
BROOKS: I'm incredibly encouraged and inspired by the support. We have young people who have come from as far away as Brazil. We have young people who are walking with us from the Cantfield Apartments and we have young people from Ferguson and we have civil rights activists who remember the days of Martin Luther King.
The point being here is this is a family struggle. It's a multigenerational struggle. It is not a struggle that can be relegated to black or brown communities because we know that gay and lesbian people are profiled. We know that Muslims are profiled. We also know that African-Americans and Latinos are profiled and so to the extent that we represent a coalition of conscience, we believe that we can all collectively stand together against racial profiling.
At the end of the day we're hoping to tap into our shared humanity and also our shared citizenship. It's important to us. We believe that we can be just that effective.
LAVANDERA: All right, very good. Thank you, Cornell. I appreciate the time. Good luck walking.
All right, Suzanne, this is just the first few miles of this march. Another seven days to go and it's just now starting, Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: All right. Ed, we'll be following you all the way there it looks like quite a brisk pace there. Ed, we'll join you tomorrow as well. Thanks again. Appreciate it.
There is unrest tonight in the streets of Egypt. CNN crews are capturing this scene as Egyptian security forces lobbed tear gas and fired bird shot at protesters converging near Tahrir Square. The crowd was upset that former president Hosni Mubarak was effectively cleared today in the retrial of the charges linking him to the deaths of hundreds of protesters back in 2011. The crowd chanted "the people want the fall of the regime" as they demonstrated but the scene was altogether different in an Egyptian courtroom earlier.
That's what you're hearing Mubarak supporters cheering after a Cairo judge dismissed the charges stemming from the revolution that toppled Mubarak from power. The 86-year-old ruled Egypt for 29 years he was convicted back in 2012. It's still unclear when Mubarak could be released. He's also serving a three-year sentence for a separate embezzlement conviction.
We could see the United Nations security council vote in the next few days on whether to create a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Today Arab League foreign ministers cast a resolution to set a time frame for doing just that. They say they will formally introduce the bill at the U.N. in a few days.
Well, meanwhile, Israelis, they are split over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed nationality bill. Now what this proposes is the law would declare Israeli the nation's state of the Jewish people. But some Christian and Muslims who make one-fifth of Israeli worry that the bill sends the message that they are second class citizens.
Our CNN's Ben Wedeman is reporting from Jerusalem.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The flag, the symbols make the point. Israel is a Jewish state. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political allies don't think it's enough. His cabinet recently voted 14-6 for a bill that would put into law that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people.
"Israel," he told his cabinet "has equal and individual rights for every citizen and we insist on this but only the Jewish people have national rights. A flag, an anthem, the right of every Jew to emigrate to the country and other national symbols. These are granted only to our people and its own and only state." He and others have been at pains to stress that all Israeli citizens more than a fifth are Muslims or Christians, are entitled to equal rights. Opponents say the nation-state bill has another purpose.
HASSAN JABAREEN, GENERAL DIRECTOR, ADELAH: To send a message to the Arabs citizen that you are a second class citizen.
WEDEMAN: Hassan Jabareen runs Adelah, a group fighting for civil rights for Israel's Arab minority. The proposed law, he believes, sends all the wrong signals.
JABAREEN: If you are American, imagine that in the law American constitution will be -the constitutional definition of America will either be Christian state or white state.
WEDEMAN: Significantly Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Shimon Peres have come out against the proposed law as has the attorney general.
YOAZ HIDLAN, COLUMNIST: I think the mission of the state of Israel, the mission of the government, is to maintain Israel as a Jewish and democratic state which --
WEDEMAN: Yoaz Hidlan, Prime Minister Netanyahu's former media adviser supports the bill as codifying the need to maintain a Jewish majority.
HIDLAN: This is what we are doing the last 67 years. We prefer one group over another. We let every Jew from all over the world, from Russia, from Japan, from the U.S.., to come to Israel and to become a citizen.
WEDEMAN (on camera): The bill could come up for a vote as early as next week. The cabinet is split over it. The country is split over it. And at a time when tensions here are already high, it could only make matters worse.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
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MALVEAUX: And still to come Sunni forces battling ISIS in western Iraq face a gruesome fate after running out of ammunition. That report, up next.
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MALVEAUX: In the Middle East, Kurdish fighters are locked in a so- called death struggle against ISIS for control of a northern Syrian town of Kobani. While U.S..-led air strikes pounded ISIS positions east of the town, ISIS attacked with suicide bombers on the ground. At least 30 people were killed in the most recent fighting. And to the south a grim outcome for Iraqi tribal forces who have been battling against ISIS in Anbar province. The Iraqis were holding their own until they ran out of ammunition and were overrun.
Jomana Karadshah has this bloody aftermath and we've got to warn you here that these images are brutally graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOMANA KARADSHAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Body after body lined the street in this western Iraqi town. The killings, a chilling message from ISIS. Fight us and this will be your fate. The men are believed to be from the Abunami (ph) tribe, one of the few of the tribes in the Arab tribes in Anbar province.
For month they fought back ISIS standing their ground in the town of Hip (ph), until they were outgunned in October.
"We ran out of ammunition and we had to withdraw our forces who were defending the tribe. We were presented to ISIS as a gift on a golden platter," says (INAUDIBLE) one of the tribe's leaders. He said without support they've paid a heavy price. 700 killed. Many executed just this year.
In 2006, (INAUDIBLE) was part of the awakening movement. Sunni tribes recruited and paid by the U.S. military to fight Al Qaeda which turned the tide in that war. After the U.S. military pulled out in the 2011, the tribes were neglected and marginalized by the Shia-led government driving many to join ISIS.
(on camera): The revival of the Sunni tribal force is a key part of the U.S's current strategy to defeat ISIS. But so far, the tribes like (INAUDIBLE) say there's been no sign of direct help from the United States and the new Iraqi government has yet to make good on promises to arm them.
(voice-over): Coalition air strikes have not been effective (INAUDIBLE) says, ISIS is still powerful and capable. Iraqi military and tribal forces have struggled to stop the extremists groups unrelenting assault to take the little that remains of the country's largest province including its capital Ramadi.
"We ration the ammunition we have and ISIS bombard us with tens of thousands of bombs. ISIS support their people." He tells us they have a supply line from ARakah (ph) in Syria to Anbar.
If Anbar falls to ISIS the militants will tighten their grip on the vast territory they control stretching from the Turkish border to Syria all the way to the western outskirts of Baghdad.
To shift the balance (INAUDIBLE) says they need weapons and more air strikes and they need them fast. "People will be killed in cold blood and there will be more massacres. We're getting killed because of our friendship with the Americans. Does a friend abandon a friend like this?" he asks.
For now (INAUDIBLE) he prepares his men for their next battle. How long (INAUDIBLE) flag will fly high over this patch of Anbar will depend on the country he calls a friend.
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MALVEAUX: A family of a 12-year-old boy gunned down by a Cleveland police officer is now looking for answers. 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot one week ago to after waving what turned out to be a toy pellet gun in a park. Rice was shot two seconds after police arrived on the scene.
Now, some say the officer who shot Rice reacted too quickly. Others say the toy gun looked like the real thing. Well, people from Rice's community held a meeting last night to talk about gun violence and police relations.
I want to bring in CNN's Rosa Flores who is talking to the community about this and clearly, two seconds - you got to have a context here but two seconds seems like an awfully short time to determine what went down.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I know and imagine being that family member that looks at this video because the surveillance video was released and you see the exchange between police and your son and then your son ends up dead. So it's a very, very tragic moment for this family and for this community and here's the interesting thing. So, this family has reached out to the community and asked them to react peacefully to have a conversation, a constructive conversation among themselves and with police.
And guess what? That's exactly what they're doing. I want you to look at video of a church gathering that was held yesterday. And you'll see that these supporters are expressing their grief but then they're applauding police. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFED MALE: This is a hate crime. That hurt me to my heart. I had to pull back. I couldn't take it.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: I know that there is a great deal of unrest in the community. God, this is why we call upon you, because you are a god that can make things better.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: I've been on the job 30 years and I never had to shoot anybody. And I've been out there.
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FLORES: Now, isn't that an interesting moment, Suzanne, where you hear the applause from the people after that really emotional account by one of the supporters. Now, surveillance video was released. The 911 call was also released and one of the very interesting things here is that the caller actually tells the dispatcher that the gun could be fake so take a close listen to this - this 911 call.
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UNIDENTIFED MALE: I'm sitting in the park at West Boulevard, by the West Boulevard Rapid Transit Station. And there's a guy with a pistol pointing it with everybody. The guy keeps pulling his arms. It's probably fake but do you know what it's scaring the (INAUDIBLE) out of me.
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FLORES: So, a really tough moment there, Suzanne. Now, of course, we know what happened. The gun was actually fake and the boy is dead.
MALVEAUX: And it was also an investigation before in to Cleveland PD, right?
FLORES: Yes, we've been digging in to this today, the DOJ investigating the Cleveland Police Department and they've been doing that for over a year. We got an e-mail today from a spokesperson from the DOJ saying that the investigation is ongoing and, Suzanne, it's going to be interesting to see what happens in light of the Rice case.
MALVEUAX: And it seems like that man was just heartbroken. You could hear it in his voice.
FLORES: You could just feel the pain in that community.
MALVEAUX: Rosa, thank you so much. We really appreciate that.
Planes, birds, now drones. Coming up how the FAA plans to regulate the newest hazard now in the sky.
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MALVEAUX: As if pilots didn't have enough to worry about while flying add collisions with drones to the list. That's right. As drone prices continue to drop more people buy them, number of pilots reporting near collisions is now on the rise. Now the FAA is trying to figure out new ways to regulate them. Here's our CNN's Tom Foreman.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York's busy airports appear to be the epicenter of dangerous encounters involving unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. The alarming new FAA report says recently three aircraft on the same day reported a very close call with a UAV near La Guardia.
Another pilot said he almost hit one. Yet another spotted one just below his right wing and two commercial jets almost struck a trash can-sized UAV 5,000 feet in the air.
The worry is rising coast to coast. Remotely operated aircraft have unexpectedly popped up over government buildings, national parks, sports stadiums, highways, and even at the airfield where Air Force One is based. With the FAA working up new rules to cover commercial UAV operation the report could set the stage for tough regulations and Mark Dombroff said it should. He's an attorney who specializes in aviation issues.
MARK DOMBROFF, AVIATION EXPERT: If nothing is done we'll have a midair collision in which a lot of people lose their lives.
FOREMAN: Enthusiasts have imagined a brave new world in which UAVs deliver medicine, chase down criminals and even drop down purpose chases from retailers. UNIDENTIFED MALE: The industry is really growing. It's an exciting time for drones. There's a lot of new technology coming out every month.
FOREMAN: But federal approval for any commercial use has been extremely rare. When a man used a UAV to shoot commercial video in Virginia in 2011, the FAA fined him $10,000 and the National Transportation Safety Board just confirmed the agency's right to do that.
(on camera): So up until now, a lot of people have operated in this gray space saying it's more like a model, it's not really like an airplane. But that gray space is going away.
DOMBROFF: You may not agree with the FAA but the FAA has defined it as black and white, you are either a hobbyist, recreational user or you're not.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Amateurs will still likely be able to fly their UAVs within existing rules but the new commercial regulations expected in weeks will almost certainly launch a new debate about government power, private rights, and public safety.
Tom Foreman CNN, Washington.
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MALVEAUX: And the FAA administrator will be on "State of the Union" tomorrow morning to talk more about this. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues at the top of the hour.
Next on CNN, Dr Sanjay Gupta takes his family on a journey halfway around the world to uncover his roots.
