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Don Lemon Tonight

Mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts; CNN/ORC International Poll Released Today Not Good News for President Obama; Video Shows Pro Football Player Ray Rice Punching His Fiancee

Aired September 08, 2014 - 23:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: President Obama is facing huge challenges at home and around the world. And he's also facing criticism for what Washington likes to call optics. Listen to how the president explained his bad optics to NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But part of this job is also the theater of it. A part of it is, you know, how are you -- how are you...

CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS: You hate it.

OBAMA: Well, it's not something that -- that always comes naturally to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Really? The president known for his stagecraft doesn't do it well? Don and I will explore that, next.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: It is 11 p.m. on the East Coast. This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. I'm live at New York's World Trade Center, where this week we remember the victims of 9/11. Hi, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Hi, Don. Great to see you. And great to see those beautiful pictures of that area coming back to life. I'm Alisyn Camerota. * CAMEROTA: Hi, Don. Great to see you. And great to see those beautiful pictures of that area coming back to life. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Tonight, an NFL star caught on tape knocking out his fiance. The shocking violence on tape cost him his job. But not his wife. She went on to marry him. Why do women stay in abusive relationships? We'll explore that.

LEMON: Plus, America faces a new and deadly terror threat from ISIS. But who poses the greatest danger on our soil? Is it ISIS or is it al-Qaeda? We're going to talk to the experts about that.

CAMEROTA: Also the Boston marathon bombers, lady al-Qaeda, and now one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists with possible ties to ISIS. They all attended the same mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What's going on inside that mosque?

LEMON: And the video is going viral. It is a brutal parking lot attack by a mob of teenagers. But there's more to this story than what you see. What is caught on tape.

Plus, more from my exclusive interview with Pharrell Williams. Why his latest project goes beyond music. But let's begin tonight with America's battle against terror. Which is worse, is it ISIS or is it al-Qaeda? CNN's Jean Casarez has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ISIS on TVs around the world.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: ISIS targets.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360: ISIS.

CASAREZ: Now new video showing the organization's alleged drone capability. In fact, every day new threats. ISIS is front-page news. But what about the other terrorist group formerly in the headlines? Al-Qaeda. Hardly mentioned at all these days. They're also known for their video presentations. Remember this? Osama bin Laden with his subordinates.

WILLIAM BRANIFF, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, START: Al-Qaeda the organization is going to have to respond or react to the presence of the Islamic state and the kind of attention and really celebrity it's gaining.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That certainly would encourage them to attack on the anniversary of 9/11, to do the spectacular, to send a message to the Islamic state.

CASAREZ: ISIS began as an al-Qaeda splinter group. Its goal is to create an Islamic state across the Muslim world. Even just this week opening up an India office, a country home to close to 200 million Muslims. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, professes to be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammad and can be compared to the infamous Osama bin Laden.

I think Osama bin Laden and Baghdadi share an appreciation of the notion that Islamism and Jihadism around the world cannot be leaderless. And therefore they act as leaders, as charismatic recruiters, and almost as a symbol of the group that are internationally recognizable.

CASAREZ: It has been 14 years since the terror attack right here in New York City. And as al-Qaeda competes now for the spotlight, some experts wonder if the answer for that organization is not another headline-grabbing move.

BRANIFF: In no way am I trying to fear monger, but it's important to understand that they have a strategic calculus playing out right now.

CASAREZ: Experts do agree al-Qaeda will not want to keep waiting in the wings while ISIS is center stage.

BRANIFF: I do believe that they must be highly incentivized to try to conduct an attack in the relatively near future or risk being marginalized by the Islamic state.

CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: There's also a mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts that's been getting a lot of attention lately. It's the only mosque in town and it seems to have attracted more than its share of extremists including the alleged Boston marathon bombers.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has been digging into this story and he had joins us now. So Deb, as we understand it, at least eight extremists and convicted terrorists with all ties to this mosque. What do we know about it?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we know is that law enforcement's been looking at this mosque for a long time now because there are simply too many people to ignore the fact that something's going on here. Now, that said, as you mentioned, this is the largest mosque in town. It's also the only mosque in town. And so, it really caters to a lot of students, a lot of immigrants, a lot of people in transit who are basically moving. You know, you've got the red line that runs through Boston and that's just a couple of blocks away. And so, it's a very easy place for all these people to come and to pray.

And what we found is that a number of the people, for example, the Boston marathon bombers, the alleged Boston marathon bombers, they were there, they came often. The congregation actually kicked Tamerlan out at one point. But others have also gravitated to this mosque.

Again, it was a small community. It's grown larger over time. But if you're going to pray, you go to a mosque, and that's where a lot of these people went. Again, about eight, only a handful but still a significant number nonetheless.

CAMEROTA: And Deb, there are also reports that some of the people who have gone to this mosque have ties to ISIS. What do you know about that?

FEYERICK: And they are. One of the women, she's an MIT trained knew neuroscientist. She was caught in Afghanistan back in 2008. She was actually carrying bomb-making materials for a chemical and biological attack against U.S. targets like the Brooklyn bridge and the statue of Liberty. And so she now has become the rallying cry for ISIS. As a matter of fact, they said that they would organize a prisoner swap in exchange for the American journalist James Foley in exchange for this woman, Dr. Siddiqui (ph). That never happened, obviously.

Now we're also told by law enforcement official that one man, a man by the name of Ahmed Abousamra (ph). He is under investigation possibly for his connections to ISIS' social media wing. This is somebody who went to university. He's got a degree in computer science, he speaks Arabic and English. So you know, again, this mosque, a lot of people are coming to this mosque because it is the only sort of game in town. But at the same time once they decide they're going to do something they leave. But unfortunately, they take the reputation of Cambridge with them.

CAMEROTA: So this mosque responded to all these allegations today. They released a statement saying they unequivocally reject ISIS and everything that they stand for. They also talked in terms of the extremists. They said as far as we know, these individuals lived in the area for quite some time and they did pray at the Cambridge mosque at one time or another. These individuals most likely also shopped at grocery stores in central square, that's the neighborhood, bought coffee from the nearby Dunkin' Donuts and withdrew and deposited funds at local banks. So basically, Deb, what they're saying is they had only the most casual of connections.

FEYERICK: Well, that's exactly right. And we spoke to the mosque spokeswoman and she really makes that clear. She says, look, our mosque is not a hotbed in the terrorism in the same way that universities are not hotbeds of terrorism. Do you have people who study, who get their degrees who then go on to radicalize and then do terrorist acts? Yes, you do. But that doesn't mean that a university is a hotbed for terrorism any more than it means that this Cambridge mosque is a hotbed for terrorism.

However, law enforcement officials will say look, we would not be doing our job if we were not paying attention to the people who were going to that mosque and who were coming out of that mosque. The majority of the people are good people. They're hard-working people. They're trying to make a living. They're trying to support their families. But at the same time because you've got this element that's really on the fringe you've got to be very careful about that. This mosque official told us that in fact the people who have gone on to commit these acts, in fact they never really integrated into the community. And because the community is open, because there's no real membership, people come and go as they want, that means that people will come to pray and then they'll leave.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, thanks so much, Deborah Feyerick, for explaining all that.

And we want to talk more about it. Let's go back out to Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Alisyn. Thank you very much for that.

You know, I want to bring in now CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes and also national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

Juliet, remember we were there in Boston and everyone was wondering what would be the fallout, what more might come out of the Boston area after the bombings. You are a former department of homeland security assistant secretary. A number of extremists have affiliation with this Cambridge mosque. Is there anything homeland security can do about it? JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Definitely. I mean,

there's a couple things. It's important to remember sort of where this mosque is. It's actually two blocks from my house. It is a very diverse neighborhood and does serve as a magnet for transient communities. It is on the red line, as Deb was saying. So both the homeland security and the FBI in this instance would definitely have some jurisdiction just given the evidence we've seen publicly to continue an investigation into the mosque.

Now, people should remember, they could be voluntary, right? I mean, in other words, people in the mosque might be willing to speak about what they know. But it's important that there's too many pieces at this stage for law enforcement to ignore. Simply because there's four walls and it's called a mosque. It does not mean that it's protected from any investigation any more than -- any more or less than the catholic church would have been during the child abuse controversy.

LEMON: Interesting.

KAYYEM: It is -- but you have to weigh it against obviously the free expression of a peaceful and lawful community in a very diverse neighborhood.

LEMON: And speaking of what they know, how do we know, Tom, that there aren't others connected to that mosque who might be planning another attack against the U.S.?

THOMAS FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Don, we don't know. And what they have to rely on is the outreach program that members of that mosque community understand what the threat could be and that another member could go bad and commit a terrorist act. And they would have to report that to the authorities, could cooperate with the authorities in the event something like that happens.

But the problem you have is that if you cannot link someone at that mosque, you know, an imam who was teaching jihad or promoting jihad or some other person, you're going to have a hard time to say that that mosque is at fault. It's highly coincidental and needs to be looked at and investigated.

But at the same time so far there's no evidence that there was some central character at that mosque that was actually encouraging this kind of terrorism. And in fact you have indication that's they didn't encourage it. Tamerlan Tsarnaev being kicked out when he made outbursts during prayer services.

LEMON: He was kicked out.

FUENTES: And they said get out, you're not -- we don't want you as a member of our mosque. So if anything, there's indications that they would not be supportive of people that have, you know, these kind of thoughts. But again, the authorities can't read minds. And that's the problem.

LEMON: Yes. And so Juliette, to Tom's point, I mean, is the mosque to blame? Because they did kick Tamerlan Tsarnaev out. You say just because it's a mosque it has four walls or it called itself a mosque, doesn't mean it can't be investigated. But is it to blame even, you know, can it be said it's to blame for that?

KAYYEM: Not at all. I mean, not at all. Because there's just simply no evidence. As Tom was saying, that there are some higher authority luring everyone into the mosque and then saying go off and create jihad and bomb marathons or go back to Syria or Iraq.

There is simply no evidence of that. Now, there's a lot of data points but you have to weigh that against the nature of a mosque in a neighborhood like this, which is it's open, it doesn't have enrollment forms, there's not any scrutiny about who comes in, it's open all day long for multiple prayers a day. This is part of what Muslims do, it's part of their faith, and we need to respect that.

LEMON: Can I --

KAYYEM: And to Tom's --

LEMON: Can I jump in here and ask, is there more radicalization -- is there more radicalization coming out of mosques than there are of temples or of churches? Juliette?

KAYYEM: For me? Yes, I mean, I'll answer like any expert. Who knows at this stage? I mean, there is evidence that there are a number of people who were radicalized. Were they radicalized because they were in that mosque probably not. There were people that came in. There's just no proof of that right now.

But if you -- I mean, obviously, Islamic radicalism will occur amongst the Muslim population, as would right-wing radicalism occur amongst, you know, white supremacists. This is just the nature of extremism. So it's hard to say whether more or less is occurring. There is tremendous outreach done to the Muslim community by law enforcement in particular in Boston, and I have long believed, as we saw in -- just a month ago in Ferguson, that that kind of outreach is actually the best way to find out what's going on in these communities.

LEMON: Tom, I've gone way past my allotted time. If you can do it for me in just a few seconds. Who should be more concerned about, or who are you more concerned about, Al Qaeda or ISIS?

FUENTES: ISIS.

LEMON: Simple answer. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

FUENTES: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, Don. President Obama faces a slew of challenges. And new polls suggest Americans do not think he's getting them right. Will his speech Wednesday turn that around?

And you've seen this shocking video. Ray Rice knocking out his fiance. But what may be just as shocking is that she married him after that. Why do women stay?

Plus, all's fair in politics. How this presidential odd couple ended up having a bit of a bromance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON You always want to be underestimated by your adversaries. He consistently benefited by being underestimated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Welcome back, everyone. A CNN/ORC international poll released today is not good news for President Obama. It shows his overall job approval rating stands at only 43 percent while 55 percent disapprove of how he's handling his job. It's probably no coincidence that it also shows Americans are worried about ISIS.

Joining us to dissect all this is Van Jones. He's the co-host of CNN's "CROSSFIRE" and Amy Holmes, anchor of "the Hotlist" at theblaze.com. Great to have both of you here.

Let me start by showing you both yet another piece of that poll that came out today. And it shows about the president's handling of ISIS. It says that only 37 percent of respondents approve of how he's handling ISIS, 59 percent disapprove. So Van, what does the president need to say on Wednesday to the American public to change that perception?

VAN JONES, CNN HOST, CROSSFIRE: Well, the president has a tremendous opportunity on Wednesday. Frankly, we may be missing this, but I think we're about to have a moment of actual national unity. Everybody from Rand Paul to even the far left is united saying we've got to dodo something about ISIS. I think the president has to be very clear about what we're going to do, what we're not going to do. But honestly, you have a situation now where you have this horrible group, they're almost cartoonishly (ph) bad and evil.

The president of the United States can actually I think say listen, if we can't stand against this kind of evil as one country, bring both parties together, bring all the countries of the world together to stop this kind of stuff, there's something wrong with America. I think he's going to have a very good opportunity on Wednesday.

CAMEROTA: Amy, do you agree?

AMY HOLMES, ANCHOR, THE HOTLIST: Well, I think the American public is waiting for the president to lay out his strategy, particularly after that disastrous press conference where he had none. And we heard members of his own party that were telling the president it is time to come to Congress and develop a strategy for ISIS.

Mark Warner, the senator from Virginia, he demanded a White House strategy. Dianne Feinstein, she's the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, and she's made now multiple public statements telling the president that the time for inaction is over and that she believes he's been too cautious. Even Senator Al Franken, the Democrat from Minnesota, sent a letter to Eric Holder at the department of justice to say that he was troubled by the president suggesting that he should just manage ISIS.

So I agree with Van that yes, there is bipartisan pressure on this president to come up with a strategy that he lays out clearly, that he articulates in detail in the particulars, what is his goal to the American people. And then we'll see if Congress votes on it.

CAMEROTA: I want to talk about the criticism that the president got for being totally tone deaf after he came out and announced that hideous beheading of James Foley and then he went golfing. Let me show you both how the president explained that on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I should have anticipated the optics. You know, that's part of the job. But part of this job is also the theater of it. Part of it is, you know, how are you --?

TODD: You --

OBAMA: Well, it's not something that always comes naturally to me, but it matters. And I'm mindful of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Van, theatrics and optics don't come naturally to this president? This is the president who used stagecraft at the democratic -- when he got the -- at the democratic national convention with the Greek columns, as we all remember. How can it not come naturally to him?

JONES: Well, I think he's actually on to something in that politics is two different things. It's the campaigning and it's the governing. I think this president has been brilliant in both campaigns, probably the best in the world when it comes to the theatrics of campaigning.

But I think he would say, and I think, you know, even my colleague would admit, when it comes to actually the politics of governing, you know, when you have a Ronald Reagan, who would use the White House to really rally the world, who really understood the pageantry of power, not the grassroots mobilization but the pageantry of power, and FDR, I don't see this president as someone who has excelled at that.

I think it's hurt him a great deal. And I think that tomorrow -- I'm sorry, on Wednesday night he has an opportunity to do what a Reagan would do, what an FDR would do, and use the power of that office to rally the country and the world. I hope he does it.

CAMEROTA: Amy, what did you think about that explanation of his?

HOLMES: Well, I thought the president was being far too modest about his mastery of theatrics, as Van points out. He's been very masterful at campaigning and using optics, as he puts it. I think the president thinks he sounds very smart when he uses words like optics and narratives, but in fact it makes him sound very shallow. The American people want to see the president dealing with reality, not what things appear to be. And you know, in this case with the golfing by the president's own

admission it looked bad, but what I take from that is that's your classic political non-apology apology, which is I'm sorry that you interpreted what I said in the manner that you did rather than taking responsibility that it was awfully strange that minutes after by his own admission he said that he was choking back tears talking with James Foley's parents that he showed up on a golf course grinning ear to ear, fist bumping, high-fiving. That's an emotional dissonance that a lot of people are put off by and frankly --

JONES: I have a different view.

HOLMES: It's slipping an emotional switch, and let me just add this. It seemed to demonstrate just a lack of seriousness and involvement in the ISIS crisis by going golfing. Presumably he wasn't talking about national security during those five hours.

CAMEROTA: Maybe we should just make a hard and fast rule that presidents aren't allowed to golf anymore. I'm sorry, guys. We're out of time. Thanks so much for the debate. We'll see what happens on Wednesday.

Van Jones, Amy Holmes, thank you.

When we come back, why do women stay in abusive relationships? This is a question that many people are asking now that that video has surfaced showing pro football player Ray Rice punching his fiance, who later married him. We'll talk about this next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Months after we first learned that NFL star Ray Rice had apparently, he attacked his fiance, the entire assault surfaced today in a video released by TMZ sports. Rice punches and knocks out his fiance, then his fiance, Janay, inside an elevator. This was back in February.

Janay is now his wife. And a lot of people are asking why Janay would not only stay with him but why would she marry him. We're joined by Areva Martin, attorney and legal affairs commentator, Mel Robbins, CNN commentator and legal analyst, and Marc Lamont hill, CNN political commentator, to talk about all of this. Thanks for being here, guys.

First I want to play for you Janay Palmer's statement, what she -- how she explained that she was going to stick with Ray Rice. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANAY PALMER, RAY RICE'S WIFE: I do deeply regret the role that I played in the incident that night. But I can say that I am happy that we continue to work through it together. I love Ray, and I know he will continue to prove himself to not only you all but the community. And I know he will gain your respect back in due time. So thank you guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: Aviva, I want to start with you. She says that she loves him and they're working through it. What do you hear when you hear her statement?

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I hear what -- Alisyn, I hear a lot of women who are, you know, involved in domestic violence. There's fear. Oftentimes there's isolation. There's shame. There's embarrassment.

But I think there's also something else we should talk about as it relates to African-American women and that is the fear of having their man placed in the criminal justice system. They know how difficult it is for African-American men once they are involved in the criminal justice system. So we see a large number of African-American women reluctant to call the police, reluctant to move forward with prosecution once the police get involved. And reluctant to have their spouse, their partner involved in the criminal justice system.

So we know in this case this man had a huge career. So Janay is possibly responding to her own concerns about ruing that career or causing him to have some kind of criminal conviction that would jeopardize his career.

CAMEROTA: Mel, go ahead. Do you agree?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: I do, Alisyn. And, you know, one other thing that I want to point out is what this victim is dealing with is perhaps a lot more than what we see a lot of women dealing with because on top of all of the shame and the self-blame and everything else that we see, and when I was at Dartmouth College I worked a domestic violence hotline as a crisis intervention counselor. And women stay with their batters for all kinds of reasons. Out of fear, out of love, as screwed up as that sounds. Out of fear of financial insecurity. And out of fear that they're going to have the you know what beaten out of them again if they get their batterers in trouble.

And what you say with Janay is you see a woman who not only had this happen in her private life but now she's having to realize that everything that she does is going to have an impact not only for the guy that she loves, and I say that with great caution, but a lot of victims feel that way, but also for the NFL, for the Ravens. And so she feels a lot of guilt and a lot of pressure not to make this bigger for a lot of reasons.

And so, you know, for that reason, Alisyn, I sit here and not only am I saying that the NFL should have done this when the first tape came out, but I'm also sitting here feeling a lot of fear for Janay because as the world is coming down and as Ray Rice is getting punished she's alone in that house. And I'm not suggesting that there's going to be more violence. But what I can tell you is I am certain, as I sit here today, that she's probably feeling very guilty. And she's probably feeling like I never wanted it to be this big. And that is a major problem because the only person we should be talking about right now is Ray Rice, not her. CAMEROTA: Well, let's talk about him because I do have a question

about that. And on the flip side, if there is another side of this, Marc, and I do want to talk to you about this, because anytime we ever see a woman of abuse, everyone in the media says she should leave him immediately, why is she staying, she had run for the hills. They have a child together. Is there no chance that someone like this, a man who's a batter, could ever be rehabilitated?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I believe that everyone has the capacity to be rehabilitated. Everyone has the capacity to be someone different and better, to learn, to grow, to heal. And I don't think it's our business or our job to decide whether Janay should stay in that relationship or not.

I think -- now, I think Ray Rice has the opportunity to rehabilitate himself. I don't think that has to happen as a professional football player. I think the NFL makes the right decision by saying we don't want you to represent our league, we don't want you to be here. But no, I think there is a possibility they can grow and get therapy and struggle and go through their religious traditions and maybe stay together. That's their choice. It might not be the choice I'd want her to make as my sister, as my daughter, as a friend, but that is the choice she has the right to make.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And Areva, what about that? I mean, there are all sorts of websites and group therapies and rehabilitation centers that suggest that men can turn this around. Is that impossible? Or can we hope that Ray Rice will be on the road to recovery somehow?

MARTIN: Well, everything we're hearing is that he absolutely is on the road to recovery, that they've been in therapy, and friends are reporting that they're very happy. And I think the child is a very important part of this. You know, Janay is not just making decisions for herself, and nor is Ray. This is about a little child. This is about keeping a family together. And I think there are many situations where men do learn from these situations and the family goes on and thrives. You know, the violence ends. But we can't bury our heads in the sand because we also know that many men that abuse women also repeat it. And sometimes it takes women seven, eight times to leave an abusive relationship before they do so permanently.

So I think this is a teachable moment. It's an opportunity for us as a country to grow, to learn, to love, to provide the kind of support that women need. And also for the NFL and any organization to take domestic violence more seriously. We don't need a videotape to cause Ray to be terminated or the NFL to institute stern policies. They should have done it because of the reprehensive nature of what was done to her in that elevator.

CAMEROTA: Great points, Areva, Mel, and Marc. And also, I just want to say that in all the websites that I read today about this, they said that if you can't leave as a woman the best thing that you can do for both of you is to call the police every single time the batterer is violent. And that's the only way that the cycle will actually be broken, is through some sort of law enforce the intervention. Thanks so much for all your insights. Great to talk to you. HILL: Pleasure.

CAMEROTA: Let's go back to Don.

LEMON: I'm going to show you guys another ugly assault. And this one is caught on video as well. A mob of teens violently attacked supermarket employees in the store's parking lot. But there may be more to this story than meets the eye. We're going to talk about it when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, everyone. Welcome back tonight. We have another disturbing crime that's caught on video. A group of teens pummel a Memphis grocery store customer and then attack two of the store's employees when they try to come to the victim's aid. So what is going on here?

I'm back now with Areva Martin, Mel Robbins, and Marc Lamont Hill.

Marc, I've been wanting to talk to you about this all day. I want you guys to take a look at this other graphic new video tonight. This one comes from Memphis, Tennessee. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They got a white dude. (bleep).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (bleep). (bleep).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Security.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So just around the horn here, round robin, quickly give me your response. First to you, Mel.

ROBBINS: It's just -- I don't even know what to say, Don. It just makes me sad on so many levels.

LEMON: Areva?

MARTIN: I think it's copycat. You know, in 2013 we saw the knockout game where teens were just walking up trying to knock someone out with one punch. And this is just a replay of that, Don. These teenagers who don't have anything to do --

LEMON: Marc?

MARTIN: -- and are looking for ways to get into trouble.

HILL: It's sad, it's inexcusable. I hope the victims get justice. It is inexcusable as disturbing. The only thing I would caution you not to do is turn this into another media scare where we start to say there's an epidemic of teen mobs or an epidemic of the knockout game, both of which were really urban myths and unsubstantiated. I want to make sure we don't do that. But we should also get justice.

LEMON: I want to ask you about that, though, because I want to ask you is there a race factor to a story like this? Because the witness who was there is a witness who's spoken to one of the television stations there. They have pointed out obviously the attackers are largely African-American. They said but the victims were both black and white. And the witness does say that this was a knockout game being played by the teens -- Marc?

HILL: Well, if it's a knockout game, then there should be an investigation. There should be justice. I don't deny that knockout games do happen. They've been happening since I was a kid. Again, my only caution is that we don't turn this into some kind of urban epidemic of violence and we make it seem as if there's this wave of crime. There's tens of thousands of assaults every year. Very few are based on the knockout game. And there will be some who will say, well, why isn't the media covering this more? Why is the media covering it up because black people are doing it? And that's not the point here. The point is if there's a victim who is attacked and there is justice then there's less of a story than if it's done with impunity. What we protest, what we investigate is not black on white or white on black. It's when people do things that are wrong and do it with impunity. That's not happening here. It seems that the perpetrators have been brought to justice and I'm glad.

LEMON: All right, I want to talk about my interview with Pharrell Williams. I hope you guys got to see it. I want you to listen to what he said about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHARRELL WILLIAMS, SINGER: That kid didn't ask to get killed. And so I feel like that officer should be punished. But then like at the same time like we've got to start looking at ourselves, too. Because we are feeling hunted. And we need to be able to avoid these things. And sometimes it's unavoidable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is he right about feeling hunted, Marc?

HILL: Absolutely. You know, I have a decent job and professional degrees and all that stuff, and I still feel hunted. I still feel vulnerable. I still feel endangered out in these public spaces. And I think that's a problem, to be young and black and poor and outside, only further exacerbates those feelings.

LEMON: OK. I want you to listen now to what he says about what he calls the new black.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You said to Oprah that the new black didn't -- correct me if I'm wrong. You that didn't rely on pigmentation or blame pigmentation, it was about the expansion of your mind.

WILLIAMS: Yes. And we also don't rely on other people. We're going to do it ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Areva?

MARTIN: I wish that were the world's view, Don. And as progressive as Pharrell is on that point, unfortunately, we see all too often that that is not how many Americans feel in this country and they still use race to divide, to discriminate and treat people differently. So although younger people may feel that way there are generations of people who disagree with that and act out on their disagreements.

LEMON: When we come right back, more on my exclusive interview with superstar Pharrell. Why his next project goes way beyond music.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back. Fashion week here in New York. And it draws the biggest names not only in fashion but also in music. I spoke exclusively just a little while ago with one of them. That's Pharrell Williams. Here's more of that interview. And we're joined by G star's global brand director Shabank-Carr Ray and along with Pharrell's business partner, Tyson Toussaint.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I thought during the whole Malaysian plane, right, we hadn't figured out what's happened, it's believed many people obviously lost their lives, but then we found out so much about the ocean. How much trash is in the ocean I think was startling to many people. Most people had no idea. And this is sort of the impetus to what you guys -- this is what you're talking about, the crux of what you're talking about, why you think your clothing is so important.

WILLIAMS: Yes. I mean it's -- the whole purpose is that like so many of us are blessed with great opportunities and you have to tithe in life. You have to give back. And especially to the people that have given it to you. You know, so much of the media is so consumed with like vanity and coveting things, versus actually thinking more from a global communal perspective of thinking about everybody and the greater good of everyone. Like if you don't have an ocean and you don't have life, the significance of life on this planet is exemplified by the idea that we have water. That's when you know that you have life. And so when that is contaminated you kind of don't have anything. So if anything, I joined this endeavor with Tyson and Tim for bionic yarn, and you know, it was a way to not kill plastic off but at least slow down the production of it and slow down the production of, you know, new polyester when we can just recycle the plastic from bottles.

LEMON: Do you think people are that conscious about what they're wearing, I mean? SHU RAY, BAND DIRECTOR, G-STAR'S GLOBAL: I think the thing is that if

you look at the fashion business, it turns over a lot of money, has a huge influence and impact globally, break it down to the denim business. Denim uses a lot of water because you've got cotton. So cotton uses a lot of water.

Your point earlier to Pharrell about the significance of water is that yes for the planet but also for human beings. You know, our bodies, we're more than 70 percent water. So water is something that I think people possibly do not consider in that way on an everyday basis.

LEMON: But how do you do that? How do you -- because you insist -- maintaining sustainability. You want to be eco-conscious. But it is a business, still.

RAY: Well, you've got to be able to put -- what happens in most business is that they have corporate social responsibility. So responsibility is alibi. You make a foundation, put some money in it and that makes you feel good or you can tell people about it. Other way of looking at it is you make it a condition of doing business.

LEMON: The key is to do it without being preachy with the message, right? How do you do that?

TYSON TOUSSAINT, PHARELL'S BUSINESS PARTNER: I think we do that by just leading with what the people who go to shop for fashion are looking for, something that looks nice. And we just went backwards from there. It is -- if you could embed this sustainable movement in something that looks nice, it would be pretty easy to reveal it to them later. Maybe six months after they've had the denim we could say there's x amount of plastic in this. That opens a conversation to teach them about what's happening in the ocean. And then from there we can go deeper and it just opens up their mind to thinking they can do more with just a purchase. They could purchase with a purpose, more than just purchasing for something to wear out at night. You know?

LEMON: I'm looking at you guys and it says "happy oceans happy life." How does that just not be a slogan or, you know, words on someone's back? Like how does that become real?

WILLIAMS: Well, we've seen people, you know -- sustainability is not new. We've seen people try in so many different ways, but there's such a negative patina on like, you know, things being recycled. You think it's going to be hard. You think it's going to feel like burlap, you know. You think it's going to be of less quality. That's why G-star stands out so strong in this endeavor, because they're an incredible -- incredibly reputable company, denim company worldwide who decided you know what, we're going to do something that's super cool. And then we can educate people in our product. So our messaging is actually the DNA of the product. You know what I'm saying? So through and through it is this fabric that is leading by example. It's not doing a lot of talking.

So we have messaging out in the world, and we have a couple billboards. They're a big company. So they have all that. But they really honestly don't care about that. What they really care about is that people are putting their money where their mouth is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thank you, Pharrell, Shubank Carr and Tyson. Appreciate that.

When we come right back, another person doing his part to make the planet just a little better for all of us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Welcome back, everyone. If you've ever tasted a New Jersey tomato, you know why New Jersey is called the garden state. But all that fresh produce does not always get to those who need it most. So this week, CNN Heroes is taking a small garden to the next level.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a working class neighborhood. It's difficult for a lot of us to afford fresh produce. We just have corner stores basically. And they don't have a large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

CHIP PAILLEX, CNN HERO: These are awesome, aren't they? I started the farm with my daughter. The first year we were able to get 120 pounds of produce with all the extra produce we brought it down to the local food pantry. I realize people are hungry for fresh food and vegetables. We grow, we glean and we give. When we first started the program, it was basically my family and now we're around 4,000 volunteers.

Excellent!

It's not just feeding people. Our goal is really to educate the folks who receive the produce.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Are you guys ready for some corn?

PAILLEX: When kids come out for the first time from the inner city, they immediately are struck by the fact that food grows out of the ground.

There you go.

For them to be able to actually harvest it and bring it home to their families, that was huge.

When is the first time you ate corn off the stalk, look at that? We also go to inner city areas and set up a free farm market.

Thank you, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have diabetes and high blood pressure. Some things that I need for my diet a lot of times I can't afford.

PAILLEX: You like this corn? Yes, this is good stuff. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since I've been going to the farmers market, I

have lost some weight. My sugar is better controlled. And the food is delicious.

PAILLEX: I believe that everyone deserves to be able to eat healthy. There's no greater reward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: To learn more about Chip and his good work, head over to CNNheroes.com. And that is going to do it for us tonight, Don.