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At This Hour

Michael Brown Funeral Today; Quake Rocks Napa, California; American Hostage Freed in the Middle East

Aired August 25, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Good morning. I'm John Berman.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And I'm Michaela Pereira. It's 11:00 a.m. in the East. 8:00 a.m. out West.

BERMAN: Remembering Michael Brown, what they are calling home-going services, getting under way for the unarmed black teenager who was gunned down by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, more than two weeks ago now.

You are looking at live pictures from Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis.

PEREIRA: Music, singing, people greeting, there are celebrities. There are stars. There are civil leaders, members of the black community there.

The voices of outrage over the shooting are now silent. Michael Brown's father requested peace on this day, the day that he and his wife lay their son to rest. That request is being honored by the thousands of mourners gathered at this ceremony. There's so many people there they've had to use an overflow room.

For many people, Michael Brown's tragic death was another painful example of racial profiling and unequal treatment of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

We have our correspondents, guests, and analysts on hand @THISHOUR.

BERMAN: I want to begin with Don Lemon outside the funeral service. Stephanie Elam is on the street where Michael Brown was killed.

I want to go first to Don outside this church, and, Don, we've seen this really remarkable procession over the last several minutes right behind you.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN TONIGHT": Yeah. And in that procession, John and Michaela -- good morning, by the way -- in that procession we saw Michael Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, arrive just a short time ago in the limo. She was met out front by her -- the family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, of course was Trayvon Martin's family attorney as well, and there's the picture of her. And she arrived, and have to say, I saw her yesterday, I saw her a couple of days before, and she had really looked defeated, obviously. Who wouldn't considering the circumstances?

But just this glimpse from -- we were, I guess, I don't know, I guess just a couple of feet away from her. She looks really strong today, and she looks good. And it should not go unnoticed that she wore red. And I'm sure there's a message behind that. There's a message of strength behind, you know, the fact that she's wearing red today. And She looks good, and she looks strong.

As you saw in the front row, we saw the Reverend T.D. Jakes -- Bishop T.D. Jakes on the front row, Martin III, Bernice King attending the funeral. We saw the talk show host, radio show host, Tom Joyner, and Spike Lee of course sitting as well, and a number of other dignitaries.

But as I spoke to Trayvon Martin's mother yesterday, I think she said something that was very profound, John and Michaela. She said, if it were up to me, I would have all those people sitting to the side or in an overflow room, and that would weed out the people who came just for the camera presence, because this day is really about the Brown family and about the Brown loved ones.

It's great to have all that support, but this is about the people who knew him and who were closest to him, John and Michaela.

PEREIRA: And that's the thing, because at the end of the day, while this is serving as something more significant to a lot of other people, this is a very, very, very, very intensely personal day for this family.

We know it's a big family. Something like nearly 400 to 500 members of the Brown family are expected at this service, Don?

LEMON: Yeah. Absolutely. And Reverend Charles Ewing, who is one of -- who's a family member, he is the great uncle of Michael Brown and the uncle of Lesley McSpadden, the mother.

And I interviewed him just a couple of days ago, and I asked him what he's going to say. He's giving the eulogy. And he said, I'm going to talk about our family having a number of different reverends and members of the clergy in our family and how it's a god-fearing family.

I'm going to talk about how Michael was raised. I'm going to talk about -- quite honestly, he said -- how surprising it was for him to see the videos of Michael in the convenience store and how that was a departure from the young man that he knew.

He said he's going to -- I said, are you going to -- have you been writing over the last couple of days. He goes, I may be jotting stuff down, so that I can remember it. He says -- he said, I used to try to preach from notes, and that didn't work, so he said, my note is God. I'm going to preach from whatever God tells me, however -- you guys know this -- however the spirit moves me.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

LEMON: And that's what he's going to do. And let me -- can I just talk about yesterday, Michaela and John? You -- I'm sure you -- Michaela, I know -- you and John saw the interview. That's right. You were both on the morning show.

And, I mean, for the first time, the mothers of Trayvon Martin, the mother of Sean Bell, who lost his life back in 2006 when police officers shot him, they met Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother, for the first time yesterday, and it was something to behold.

It was very moving, and if she's wondering anywhere, how she's going to deal with this, if she has any support, she needn't wonder anymore because those ladies have her. They've got her back.

BERMAN: You know, and I think today is such an important day for her, for the family, because after two weeks which has been filled with turmoil, many days, they need a chance to mourn. They need a chance to say goodbye to their son, their brother, Michael Brown.

I want to bring in Stephanie Elam right now. Stephanie is in Ferguson. What we're looking at right now are pictures from St. Louis, this church in St. Louis, seating 4,000 for the services that are being held today.

Stephanie is in Ferguson where we've been focused on so much of the time for the last two weeks. Michael Brown's father calling for peace today, Stephanie on that street, on those streets, are we seeing that today?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, John and Michaela. I've been now in Ferguson for a week. I got here on Monday last week. The energy of this city today versus the way it felt a week ago is completely different.

It's -- there's a pause for reflection here. People are quiet. There's a sort of a solemn vibe if you look behind me, because you can see right here, that's where Mike Brown died. That's where his body was laying in the street for about four hours, right here. This is where this community saw this, was devastated by this.

So they're really taking this time to reflect and remember Mike Brown. And (inaudible) those people are saying to me that could just as easily have been my son and looking at what this means for the community.

But the energy here is not at all angry. It's not violent. It's just a moment of reflection. And you can feel it.

We recently just had a group come through here of young college students and they actually go to Harris-Stowe State University, which is the only historically black college and university in the city of St. Louis, all young black men who came here. They spent the morning going to a elementary school to cheer on those kids as they started their day as they begin their semester today as well, but they wanted to come by and see this.

And at first -- you know, to talk about what Don was saying, at first they were thinking they wanted to go to the memorial, but they decided to do something that had more of an impact on their community.

And that's why they decided to focus on education and those elementary school kids and then coming here just to have that moment, because they are just about the same age as Mike Brown. So it was really interesting to talk to them and hear their perspective.

Also interesting to note that they're optimistic, this situation, this boil point that had sort of welled up here in Ferguson between police, between black folks and white folks, they do believe it can get better.

Despite all of this, there was -- I heard optimism from every one of the young men that I spoke to.

PEREIRA: And it's really very interesting to note that today, Monday, the first day of school for a lot of kids in Ferguson. There's going to be a lot of tough conversations in those classrooms, Stephanie, both the high school, elementary school.

White kids and black kids and every other colored child, they're going to have questions for their teachers, I'm sure, so hopefully the teachers can use this opportunity and there can be some conversations that will be certainly much needed.

BERMAN: Look, it's the first day of school in many of these communities, also a day when a lot of 18-year-olds are going to school, to college for the first time. Michael Brown will not be.

Don, again, you're sitting outside that church today. We're beginning to see those seats now almost completely filled up. You've talked about, you know, the Reverend Charles Ewing who will be the pastor who will be delivering the eulogy.

Who else will we hear from today?

LEMON: We're going to hear from a number of people, as I said. Tom Joyner is here, who's a radio talk show host, Bernice King, Martin III. We're going to hear from T.D. Jakes.

Now these are scheduled speakers, so we're not sure if they're going to get a chance to speak, but probably they want to hear from folks as much as possible.

We're definitely going to hear from the Reverend Charles Ewing and from several community leaders and members of the clergy here as well.

We're also going to hear from Benjamin Crump who is going to deliver a message from the family. I don't think the family is going to deliver a message, but one never knows in these particular situations. The -- listen, the church is -- the temple is full, I mean the number of people who have gotten in. So now people are starting to go into the overflow room, so the seats that you see there, I think that they have them reserved for the family members, and those several hundred seats that you see there.

So the overflow room is now overflowing as well. And I don't know. Can we get this shot behind? I know L.Z. is here, but there's a shot behind L.Z. where there's -- you see the motorcycles lined up, and there have been several -- a motorcycle gang, right, you said, L.Z.?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Motorcycle club.

LEMON: Motorcycle club.

GRANDERSON: From all around Missouri, some as far away as an hour away.

And when I spoke to them and asked, Why did you come, they said they just wanted to show support, that it could have been our kid, that it could have been us, and they just wanted to come out and support the Brown family and let them see numbers to let them know that they're not alone.

LEMON: And I thought that was a really cool thing.

Of course L.Z. will be joining us, you, in this hour for other coverage. But I just wanted to get that in there.

John and Michaela, back to you, very moving day here in St. Louis.

PEREIRA: Really moving to be sure. Among the other guests that we know have been invited and are attending, you mentioned, Don, that Sybrina Fulton and Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Bell will be there.

But, also, interestingly, the cousin of Emmett Till, the aunt and uncle of Oscar Grant, who was killed in the San Francisco Bay area. There is a growing number of people who feel that they want to be there to support the Brown family.

BERMAN: Also three representatives from the White House, from the Obama administration. There are people who have been there for several weeks, also, as Don was just saying, who were involved in the protest.

But, today, three members of the White House, including Broderick Johnson, an assistant to the president who heads up My Brother's Keeper. He is there as well. Interesting to see the administration reaching out like this.

We're going to get back to these services, these "home-going" services as they go on over the next hour, but first we want to given you some of the other stories we're following right now.

An active-shooter incident was reported at Virginia's Fort Lee this morning. The army installation was put on lockdown but in the last hour, thankfully, the all-clear was given. No word at this point what sparked the warning.

PEREIRA: An American journalist is now free after being captured by Islamic rebels nearly two years ago in Syria. Forty-five-year-old Peter Theo Curtis was released yesterday by a Syrian rebel group. They have ties to al Qaeda. He is expected to be reunited with his family shortly.

Sources tell us the U.S. was not involved in negotiations for his release, and it's unknown if any ransom was played.

BERMAN: Great Britain says it's close to identifying the man who beheaded American journalist James Foley. The man speaks on this video with a British accent, a lot of people say a London accent. He's wearing all black in the video.

Britain's ambassador to the U.S. says they have been using sophisticated technology to analyze the man's voice. Linguists say the executioner sounds like he's younger than 30, educated in Britain from an early age.

U.S. air strikes continue to hit ISIS targets, this after President Obama vowed the U.S. would be relentless in striking back against Foley's killers.

PEREIRA: Strong shaker in California over the weekend, people in California's Napa Valley, they are now in clean-up mode after the strongest earthquake in the Bay area in 25 years.

And it didn't just rattle nerves. It did damage, and it hurt people. More than 100 people were injured in the quake early Sunday morning.

BERMAN: The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the damage could be in the billion-dollar range. Historic buildings were damaged. The water system still not back to normal there.

We have Dan Simon now joining us from Fairfield in, California. Dan, we can see the damage behind you.

PEREIRA: My goodness.

BERMAN: I guess really the amazing thing, the lucky thing, is here no one was killed.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that plays into the theme here. The "San Francisco Chronicle," you can see the front page, "Wake-Up Call." That's definitely what it is.

They are really doing two thing here in Napa -- and I'm in downtown Napa -- and that's, one, doing a survey of the damage, a comprehensive survey of the damage and really beginning the full-scale clean-up. And it's going to be a while.