Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY SUNDAY

Fifth Night Of Outrage In America With No End In Sight; At Least 13 States Activate National Guard Amid Violent Protests; L.A. Police Clash With Protesters, Crews Battle Fires Overnight; NFL Pledges Support for Social Activism. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 31, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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


VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: There is anger, there is frustration. The protesters across the country in the streets for a fifth night, they want change.

[07:00:04]

Dozens of cities, we saw the clashes between police and the protesters. We have not seen something like this, this broad across the country, in decades. You've got the social, the political, economic, and health crises all colliding at once.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: The centuries-old challenge of racism is meeting this unprecedented tragedy of 102,000 people who are dead in the U.S. from coronavirus and more than 40 million Americans who are out of work right now.

BLACKWELL: This is some of the video we're getting in from around the country, in many cases, nonviolent. But we have seen police and protesters go head to head, and some have ended deadly. A person died last night in Indianapolis. A young man died in Detroit on Friday.

PAUL: We are seeing law enforcement pushing back with more strict measures. The National Guard is being deployed, we know, in more than a dozen states. There were millions put under curfew as well in more than two dozen cities.

BLACKWELL: There's a big concern for authorities. They're focused on the looting and the vandalism, the arson, scenes like this. This is Target. And the company says it has temporarily closed 175 stores across the country, 71 of them in Minnesota, where this all started, after the death of George Floyd in police custody there.

PAUL: That is something, isn't it? And I want to go to New York with you now. We can hear a lot, obviously, going on there right now.

CNN's Polo Sandoval.

Polo, walk us through what happened there last night, what we're seeing across the country.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, it was another round of those fiery clashes between protesters and police, another round of arrests. Some of those even happening here in Times Square overnight. But when you hear from some of those peaceful protesters, they continue to say that their call for justice, their call for change, it will not be silenced.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): A wave of protests over the death of George Floyd spread from coast to coast on Saturday and spilled over into the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to be able to go into a white neighborhood and feel safe. I want to be able when a cop is driving behind me, I don't have to clench and be tense, OK? I want to be able just to be free and not have to think about every step I take.

SANDOVAL: Authorities responded to a fifth night of protests, while at least 25 cities across the U.S. enacted curfews, peaceful protests took place as well as acts of vandalism in cities large and small. Numerous states have either activated or requested National Guard forces to assist their cities. There was a scuffle in Times Square when several New York City police officers in helmets took down a protester to effect an arrest, and an NYPD vehicle could be seen burning near union square.

In another incident, an NYPD vehicle appeared to drive into a railing, blocking protesters, after items were hurled at the car.

(SIRENS)

At least three people were reported shot and one dead in a protest in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday night, this according to Indianapolis Police Chief Randal Taylor. Police are still investigating the incidents and have told citizens to avoid the area.

The Minnesota National Guard had more than 4,100 citizen shoulders and airmen responding to the Twin Cities, according to a tweet from the guard. The tweet said over 10,000 National Guard members are expected to join the response.

A group of protesters who were marching from Minneapolis to St. Paul tried to cross the Lake Street Marshall Bridge but were met with tear gas. Protesters could be seen running back in the direction that they came from. CNN's Miguel Marquez nearby as protesters held their hands in the air as some people shot off fireworks. Law enforcement let off tear gas and the crowd scattered.

Cars were set on fire in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Miami. Members of the California National Guard were deployed to L.A. to support law enforcement authorities amid protests, Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement to CNN. One demonstration in Los Angeles led to clashes between police and protesters. Police vehicles were vandalized by some protesters who kicked in the windows or sprayed the cars with graffiti. Police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators who chanted "Black Lives Matter" and "George Floyd."

Looting could also be seen as protesters went under a metal gate inside a store and walked out with various merchandise in Los Angeles. It was also an extensive looting in Philadelphia. Protesters there also vandalized the statue of former mayor, Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo, in front of the city's municipal services building, as seen in live aerials from CNN affiliate KYW. Philadelphia police say protests at city hall and the art museum began peacefully before a group of others began committing criminal acts, including vandalism, said authorities.

Aerial footage from CNN affiliate WLS showing protesters in Chicago vandalizing police vehicles.

[07:05:02]

Some throwing water bottles at police officers in riot gear, while others are seen lifting police barricades and throwing them at police cars. At a press conference last night, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she had been engaged the past six hours in, quote, watching a tragedy unfold in our city, which started out as a peaceful protest has now developed into criminal conduct.

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Secret Service police vehicles near the White House were vandalized by protesters with graffiti, seen in video shot by CNN.

In another incident, a fire could be seen burning behind the historic Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House. In Atlanta, members of the National Guard gathered at Lennox Square Mall after the police department said that it would be assisted by about 20 other agencies to monitor activity and protect retail centers.

In downtown, the Atlanta police department said one of their officers appears to have been struck by someone riding an ATV and sustained significant injuries as a result. Georgia governor signed an executive order on Saturday night authorizing the activation of up to 3,000 National Guard troops statewide, Kemp calling for the activation in advance of several planned protests on Sunday. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine activated the Ohio National Guard to respond to protests in Columbus, according to a release from his office.

Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin says she and Democratic U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio were among those sprayed during a protest in Columbus Saturday morning. Beatty tweeted a photo sequence of the incident.

Democratic Representative John Lewis releasing a statement Saturday night, saying he understands protesters' pain, but he called on them to refrain from rioting.

I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting, and burning is not the way. Organize, demonstrate, sit-in, stand-up, vote, be constructive, not destructive. History has proven time and again that nonviolent, peaceful protest is the way to achieve the justice and equality that we all deserve.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: Back here in New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio reacting to that dramatic video showing NYPD plowing into a crowd in Brooklyn yesterday. The mayor saying he wishes those officers would have found a different approach, but also said, quote, that the protesters in that video did the wrong thing to surround that police car, period. That reaction certainly not sitting well among many in New York City, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who says that reaction is, quote, unacceptable.

Victor, Christi, back to you.

PAUL: OK, Polo Sandoval, appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: We're seeing new video this morning. This was taken just moments before George Floyd was pinned to the ground.

PAUL: It's a 20-second clip. It's from a Cup Foods convenience store security camera. CNN confirmed the authenticity of the video with Cup Foods media relations. We want to be very clear here, we don't ever see George Floyd in this video.

What we see, as you are looking at it, four officers. One of them, at least, maybe a couple, begin, seem to begin to struggle with something or someone that may be in the back seat of that patrol vehicle, and at one point, one of them moves, obviously, around the back of the vehicle. But again, we do not see George Floyd in this video at all.

BLACKWELL: Let's stay in Minneapolis and talk about what happened overnight, where it all started. Officials used tear gas to try to clear out the crowds. They say some of the demonstrators threw things at police.

PAUL: CNN's Josh Campbell is with us with the very latest.

So, Josh, does it look any different to you this morning, now that they have the presence of the National Guard?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, still destruction here, Christi. We're days from the incident where police officers were involved in that incursion with George Floyd that resulted in his death, and parts of Minneapolis continue to burn. I can show you behind me, this was once a shopping retail center here. There are at least four businesses.

You can see overnight they were set ablaze by some of the violent protesters. The smoldering continues here. As we drove throughout the city, this is similar to many parts, businesses either defaced or set ablaze.

Now, there's a lot of graffiti around here as well. Some of the graffiti calling for attacks on police and burning some of the precincts from different parts of the city. Now, the scene behind me that you're seeing was the site of a violent confrontation last night between police officers and some of the protesters.

Now, this comes after the governor indicated that officials here would be using overwhelming force, in his words. There was a line of state patrol officers that formed behind us. They confronted these protesters, pushing them back. We're just about half a mile from the local police precinct, the fifth police precinct.

Now, what happened days ago, the third precinct here was torched by violent protesters.

[07:10:04]

Police did not want to see a repeat of that. Now, behind me also on the ground here, you can see where the police officers were staging. Those cardboard boxes, the pieces where they were preparing some of the projectiles that would then be launched into the crowd, those dispersion chemical gas, tear gas that was dispersed and spread throughout the crowd, trying to push them back, trying to get them away from the police station.

Now, of course, we know that this effort here was able to save the police station. We didn't see damage there, but protesters then moved throughout different parts of the city and set other structures on fire. Again, despite this call for calm, despite the call from the governor that we would see an overwhelming show of force, the protesters continue, at least some of them, to set these fires ablaze to cause destruction here in parts of Minneapolis.

BLACKWELL: And, Josh, what's the governor saying about the people who are participating here potentially coming from outside of Minnesota to join these demonstrations?

CAMPBELL: Yeah, one of the themes, victor, that we continued to hear from state officials is they're trying to make the point that not all of the protesters that are here are actually from this area. In fact, they're saying that a large number of them are coming from outside.

And let's listen here to the governor. He was really making a point, trying to distinguish between those who were protesting peacefully and those who were causing chaos. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: Minnesotans, this is a challenging time. Our great cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are under assault by people who do not share our values, who do not value life and the work that went into this, and certainly are not here to honor George Floyd. And they need to -- they need to see today that that line will stop and that order needs to be restored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: And part of restoring that order included that overwhelming show of force.

Now, interesting, when my crew and I arrived here at this location this morning, we were quickly confronted by a number of police officers. There were six vehicles. They wanted to know who we were. We showed them our identification. Now, they were polite. They were cordial. But they were leaving

nothing to chance. In fact, they told us that they knew we were coming before we even arrived.

There was a helicopter overhead in stealth mode that was taking a look at different neighborhoods, seeing where people were going, again, leaving nothing to chance as these protesters continue to cause destruction here in certain parts of the city -- Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: There's a long history of protesters coming or demonstrators coming in from out of town. When King went to Birmingham, from Texas, they were in from out of town. The question is, what do you do when you get there and the reason that you are coming in from out of town.

Josh Campbell there for us in Minneapolis, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thanks, Josh.

So, let's talk about this with Emerald Garner. She's the daughter of Eric Garner and founder of Eric Garner Foundation.

Emerald, good morning to you. Thank you for taking time to be with us.

EMERALD GARNER, ERIC GARNER FOUNDATION: Good morning. Good morning.

PAUL: Good morning. I would think that watching some of this happen again, it's hard for you. How are you doing and what do you make of what you see the last week?

GARNER: I would say that my emotions are very fragile right now. I am taking it one day at a time. We're six years later, and we have another Eric Garner, and we want it to stop.

I see all of the rioting. I see all of the protesting, and I can't help but think that if George Floyd was not killed and we didn't, yet again, get another -- get any type of, you know, swift, like pretty much any swift justice. And people are outraged. And that's just how I can put it.

BLACKWELL: Emerald, you say that you have seen the protests, you've seen the demonstrations. What you have not seen is the video of George Floyd under the knee of that now former officer. I understand that you didn't watch the video that so many saw of your father there for years. Tell us why.

GARNER: Because it's disheartening. It's -- how would you feel if you saw your loved one get killed on national TV? It's never going to be an easy thing. It took me a while to watch the video because it's like, I'm not eager to see a video of my father being killed. So, the first time that I watched it was during the CCRB trial, and that's when I got the full glimpse of the whole video.

And it was just -- it was, of course, heartbreaking. It was just a blow to your mentality. It's like, you know, to watch that, it just takes a piece of you every single time. PAUL: You know, and that's something, sadly, that you have in common

now with the family of George Floyd. You've been in this for so long.

What can you say to them, do you think, that might help them get through this?

[07:15:05]

GARNER: I mean, there's nothing you can really say to help someone get through something like this. All you can do is hope that they receive the proper help, the proper treatment, they, you know, take it one day at a time.

Just know that, unfortunately, there is a bunch of people who absolutely feel their pain, absolutely understand exactly what they're going through. And when I say that, I mean the victims' families. There's a whole host of families. And it's just -- it's just heartbreaking.

And the one thing that I would let them know is that, you know, there's a lot of people out on the front line, they're fighting for us, they're supporting us, and I would want them to know that they're not alone, unfortunately.

BLACKWELL: One important thing that has happened in this case that did not happen in the case related to your late father is the charge, the criminal charge. Derek Chauvin facing third-degree murder charge, manslaughter charge. People are calling for the other officers to be charged. Officer Pantaleo was not charged federally or on a state level.

What is your degree of optimism? Because I've heard about some lack of optimism from members of your family about the justice the Floyd family wants, that they'll get it. What do you believe?

GARNER: I believe everything is a struggle, and all we can do is fight. I don't -- I can't say what's going to happen in the future. I can only go with what's based on, you know, based on history. Nobody has been held accountable, and that's just the bottom line. And until officers are held accountable, there will be no change. And it continues to happen, and we continue so see no change.

So, that's why I am a strong advocate for the Eric Garner law. And it needs to be passed. And I don't doubt that if we had the Eric Garner law, George Floyd would not be gone. He would not be -- he would not have been killed because that officer would have been thinking about the Eric Garner law and how the Eric Garner law will federally indict you or appoint a special prosecutor and you will face federal time in jail.

BLACKWELL: Well, Emerald Garner, thank you so much for speaking with us, offering a context that really far too many people have to see, as we have all seen, a loved one killed on camera and the process that then happens after that.

Emerald, thanks so much. GARNER: Thank you so much for having me.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: This conversation continues tonight here on CNN, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. "I Can't Breathe: Black Men Living and Dying in America," a conversation led by Don Lemon. It's an important one, and we hope that you will be a part of it.

PAUL: And we are going to take you live to Washington, D.C., next. The National Guard activated to help protect the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:22:14]

PAUL: So, police clashed with protesters and were doing so while crews were battling fire in the nation's capital overnight.

BLACKWELL: So, this was the fire. We've got the video here, at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House.

Actually, it's behind the hotel. This was in a construction area. No damage to the hotel, but the building was covered in graffiti, including some statements about the president.

Let's go to CNN White House Reporter, Sarah Westwood.

So, a second night of protests there, police and protesters going head to head. But there's an important difference from what we saw the first night.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Victor.

The second night of unrest here in the nation's capital, but unlike on Friday night, we saw law enforcement, primarily secret service, keep those people further away from the White House. Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was blocked off, and the protesters were ultimately pushed out of Lafayette Park, which is also right across the street from the White House where we are now.

Now, there were skirmishes between protesters. In fact, pepper spray was even used on demonstrators.

And we saw the fire, as you mentioned, break out near the historic Hay-Adams Hotel, which is also right across the street from Lafayette Park, so pretty close to the White House as well. That appeared to break out on some type of scaffolding. It was a construction site. And luckily, the hotel itself didn't sustain any damage from the fire, but it was marked up with some graffiti.

And the nearby Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation building also had its windows smashed in, also had some graffiti written on it, too. And amid all this unrest, Victor, like more than a dozen other states, the National Guard was also deployed to help protect the White House last night. PAUL: So, a lot of people would like to hear more from President

Trump. We know that he was in Florida for the SpaceX launch yesterday. Did he address this?

WESTWOOD: Christi, we did hear the president address the unrest while he was speaking at the Kennedy Space Center down there in Florida. It was a much more somber tone than we've heard him express in the many tweets that he sent about all of this. He affirmed his support for law enforcement but also condemned the violence that we've been seeing.

I want you to take a listen to part of what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace, and I stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack and menace. Healing, not hatred, justice, not chaos, are the mission at hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: The president was back soon after that, taunting political enemies on Twitter, again, being more inflammatory, talking about all of these protests.

[07:25:02]

I want to read you one of the tweets that he sent last night.

The National Guard have been released in Minneapolis to do the job that the Democrat mayor couldn't do. Should have been used two days ago and there would not have been damage to -- and police headquarters would not have been taken over and ruined. Great job by the National Guard. No games!

And the president has come under fire for a number of tweets that he sent related to this protest, including in particular one invoking the images of vicious dogs, threatening that if protesters had breached the White House complex, they would have been met by vicious dogs and weapons.

That has been met by criticism, including from the mayor of Washington, D.C., who said the images of vicious dogs, those bring back painful memories for the black community, Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right. Sarah Westwood, always good to see you. Thank you, Sarah.

BLACKWELL: The likely Democratic nominee for president, Joe Biden, is talking about the violent protests. He says that protesting brutality is right and necessary. This is part of the statement.

He writes: These last few days have laid bare that we are a nation furious at injustice. Every person of conscience can understand the rawness of the trauma people of color experience in this country, from the daily indignities to the extreme violence like the horrific killing of George Floyd.

He also added this: We are a nation of pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us.

For more on the protests and the politics, stay with CNN. This morning on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER," national security adviser, Ambassador Robert O'Brien, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, all on the show this morning at 9:00 Eastern. "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER."

PAUL: When we come back, what justice looks like for George Floyd? The president of the National Urban League says all four of the officers involved in his death need arrested. Remember, only one has been thus far. He's joining us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:16]

PAUL: Well, we this morning can now count five nights of protests, despite the overnight curfews we've seen. In Chicago, demonstrators set fires to dumpsters in the middle of the street, protesters were throwing water bottles at officers. They were in riot gear. And police barricades and other objects were thrown at police cars.

BLACKWELL: In Florida, deputies say three people were arrested attempting to loot a mall in Tampa, 300 people were protesting at a parking lot. Police say the protesters -- some of them threw rocks, fireworks, water bottles at police. Ferguson, Missouri, the police department was evacuated after protesters threw fireworks and bricks and rocks into the building. No one was injured.

PAUL: You're seeing there what was happened in orange county, California. Protesters, some, threw rockets, bottle rockets, fireworks at Santa Ana police. This is according to the CNN affiliate there. Thankfully, no one was injured.

Police in Los Angeles say they have noticed an unsettling trend of several fires overnight.

Here's CNN's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The city of Los Angeles seeing not just skirmishes with the police and protests across the city but also fires at businesses in this similar shopping district.

I'm on Melrose Avenue. This is an area known for independent businesses, fashionable shops. And what you're looking at is the fire department in the city trying to put out the remnants of a fire in a shoe store and an adjacent nail store. And this fire started while we were watching another fire burn just half a block away at a separate shoe store. What the police department tells us is that they've been seeing these

fires happen shortly after looting takes place at them. And looting is something that we've seen up and down these streets here in the Melrose shopping district.

We've seen people breaking through the glass, tagging everything inside, and then cleaning the entire place out. The police department still trying to clear the streets, working with the Los Angeles sheriff's department. The curfew is in place in these overnight hours, 8:00 p.m. local until 5:00 a.m. local time in Los Angeles.

And what is getting a bit lost in all of this is what these protests began, what the message of them was and the reason why they started. And you can see it in some of the graffiti here in Los Angeles. This says, "I can't breathe, George Floyd."

We were watching one store as looters were running in and grabbing clothing and shoes and trying to clear it out, and there was a young black woman, a protester who was standing in front of the store screaming at the looters, saying, what are you doing?

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Thank you so much, Kyung, for that.

The president of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, is with us now.

Mr. Morial, thank you so much for taking time.

MARC MORIAL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: Good morning, Christi. Thank you.

PAUL: Good morning to you as well.

So, I want to ask you about what she's showing us here, what Kyung was just talking about. Do you have concerns that the looting, that the criminal act that we're seeing working its way into the protest could dilute the legitimate grievance that's behind this at the core?

MORIAL: It's clear that most of the people who are out in the streets are there for the purposes of protesting injustice, police brutality, spurred by the horrific and unnecessary death of Mr. Floyd.

[07:35:09]

But then secondarily, there are those who show up with malintent, show up to start fires, show up to start looting, show up to start problems, and we will not defend in any way those actions, but we don't want those actions to take away from the reason for the real outrage in this country.

And the reason for the outrage in this country is that people could see with their own two eyes that Mr. Floyd was killed by four Minneapolis police officers acting in concert with each other and that this is a continuation of a narrative where African-American men and women lose their lives at the hands of the police in a way in which their constitutional rights were completely violated, and there is no accountability, back to Trayvon Martin, back to Eric Garner, back to Tamir Rice, back to Michael Brown, to Sandra Grant. And I could name several for which there was no accountability. So, that's the reason for the anger and the concern.

But let's not defend the looters, but let's not suggest that everyone who is protesting is part of what I would call the effort to disrupt. And you're right -- we have to keep the focus on justice for Mr. Floyd. So, what does that mean?

All four of those officers should have been charged, not just one. All four of them should have been immediately arrested. And this raises continuing concerns about the ability and the propensity and, if you will, the commitment by, in this case, the local prosecutor, to bring about justice, to do an aggressive prosecution.

And that's been the narrative through most of these cases, where local prosecutors do not forcefully and aggressively investigate and prosecute these cases.

PAUL: So, Mr. Morial, the three have been fired, but what happens? Because you tweeted out, regarding the first arrest, that this is a good step. Next are three other officers should be arrested. What happens if they are not?

MORIAL: Well, then, once again, the justice system is not doing its job, or should I say, those in charge of the justice system are not doing their job. What makes the Floyd case so, I think, unique, Christi, is that if you combine all of the videos, we can see what happened almost from beginning to end, where you have a traffic stop for, quote/unquote, utilizing a phony $20 bill? And that traffic stop ends up with a man in handcuffs, a man on the ground, a man losing his life.

So, if there is not -- this is why -- this is why local prosecutors and local police need to understand that this is a moment in time where people are saying, you'd better do your job. You better do your job. We are tired and we're sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Now, that's not to suggest to justify at all any of the violence, but it is to say, it is to say that we need substantial police reform in this country. We need to understand that the systems have not been working. The federal systems, the state systems have not been working. And we have to have the will, indeed, to change it.

So we need a new law at the federal level. We may need at the federal level a permanent special prosecutor whose job it is to investigate and prosecute police misconduct. We need this justice department, which has been silent throughout, to step up and indicate that it will do its job. Its job is to conduct a civil rights investigation and to bring civil rights charges, if the local officials don't do their job.

So, it's been eerily silent coming from Attorney General Barr. He may have made one statement. But this is where the officials at every level have to give people confidence that they're going to do their job, and they can't equivocate and they can't drag their feet.

PAUL: Many would say it's also lacking some leadership from the executive office as well. Marc Morial, sorry, we've run out of time. Thank you so much.

MORIAL: Thank you, Christi.

PAUL: We appreciate your time. Take good care.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:44:23]

BLACKWELL: Listen, we've seen the videos of people expressing their grief and sharing their support. Athletes especially, for the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery.

PAUL: Yes, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell offered his condolences and his help now, saying, quote: We recognize the power of our platform in communities, and as part of the fabric of American society, we embrace that responsibility and are committed to continuing the important work to address the systemic issues together with our players, clubs, and partners.

BLACKWELL: San Francisco 49ers, or the team's owner, has pledged $1 million to organizations promoting social activism, including the athlete-run and founded Players Coalition.

[07:45:05]

Let's bring in now Carron Phillips, a senior writer and editor for "Deadspin."

Carron, good morning to you.

First, we've got this statement from Roger Goodell: Committed to continuing the important work to address systemic issues together with the players, clubs, and partners.

What's your read on that?

CARRON J. PHILLIPS, SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR, DEADSPIN: Well, good morning to you, too.

I didn't even read that statement. It was released yesterday, just because it would have been a waste of time. You have York there, the owner of the 49ers, that's going to pledge $1 million. Well, you know, a lot of this wouldn't be going on if you all actually listened to Colin Kaepernick four years ago. If he had have used that $1 million to sign him to a four-year contract or any other franchise in the league would have done that, maybe a lot of this wouldn't be going on right now. So, the words that Goodell and the league put out was just, I

understand, you know, you've got to put something out to the public, but those words having any impact at all, no. We've seen what happened over these last couple weeks, the last couple years. So reading that was just a waste of my time.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about really poignant, I think acknowledgement and tribute from Coco Gauff, 16 years old tennis star. She posted this video. Let's show part of it. It's a TikTok video. And the caption was "Am I next?"

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BLACKWELL: You've got a piece in "Deadspin" about this and you describe what we're watching, what she is now realizing. I'd like you to share what you wrote, what we're all seeing with Coco.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's this moment, if you're black and you're in this country, no matter how old you are, your background, socioeconomics, if you lived in the city, rural areas, urban areas or the suburbs, there will come a moment in your life, which will be a watershed moment. Every black person remembers where they were when it happened and how old they were, when you realize what America really is, that this country does not care for you.

And, you know, we will never know when that private moment was for Coco Gauff, but earlier this week was her public moment, where her tweets through that video you all just showed, where you know, it kind of hit her to understanding how black people are treated. And it doesn't matter that, you know, she's this tennis star that took the world by storm last summer, you know, at Wimbledon, you know, beating Venus Williams twice, who was her idol, and then winning her last tournament, I believe it was last October.

You know, all that is great, all that is good. She is on top, you know, in front of newspapers and everywhere. But you know, fast- forward a couple months later, and you see these tweets from her because it doesn't matter who you are. We've seen this with LeBron James a couple years ago in the NBA finals, when he had the "N" word spray-painted on the garage door of one of his homes.

Your fame, your money, your athletic tributes, your good works, they will never be able to take away the fact that you're black in this country, and Coco Gauff had that realization publicly earlier this week.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, we also saw it from another tennis star, Naomi Osaka, a grand slam winner, who tweeted: It's funny to me that the people who want to wear chains, blast hip-hop and the jam attempt to get dapped up and talk in slang are suddenly quiet right now.

We are hearing, though, from some white athletes who are at least rhetorically responding with some tweets.

PHILLIPS: We are. And this is what we've always needed. We've always needed white allies. Use your white privilege. That's a privilege we don't have.

And while I'm happy that, you know, more and more athletes and people are waking up, that is really good, but you know, this alarm clock has been going off for a long, long time. So, while you have been late to waking up, you know, as you can say, but we are happy to admit you are finally up.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, it's an important moment that hopefully doesn't end in just tweets, that even with all that we're seeing across the country, what then will be the policy change? What then will be the change that, you know, teenage black boys who are alone not feel that moment of clenching that one of the protesters talked about.

[07:50:00]

You've got a line in here that I have to read.

I know we're out of time, but you write here: It's an emotional war and we're all veterans. It's never post-traumatic stress disorder. It is endless.

Carron Phillips, I hope people go to "Deadspin" and read that piece -- thanks so much for being here this morning.

PHILLIPS: Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's been a rough week and we've been feeling it, but let's talk about human kindness, because it is out there, neighbors helping neighbors all over the place.

Take a look at some of these people in the recent days pick up brooms in their hand, cleaning up their communities. Yes, these are people who live there.

[07:55:00]

They're sweeping sidewalks, handing out food and water, cleaning up battered store fronts. They're making sure that seniors, too, have groceries.

Guys, let's see. I think this is Milwaukee here. Yeah. Milwaukee as they're cleaning up one of the store fronts that, obviously, fell victim to some of the protesters.

And then I want to take it to Atlanta, as well. As we can see somewhat some of these people are doing. Thank you so much for showing us there's still good in the world. And we hope you find some in the next week here coming up.

Thanks for being with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King is up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)