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Grand Jury In Ferguson Will Not Reconvene Until Monday; Legal Talk

Aired November 22, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you live from New York.

The world is watching and waiting for a decision in Ferguson, Missouri. A 12-person grand jury must decide whether a white police officer Darren Wilson should be indicted in the fatal of an unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Law enforcement officials tell CNN, the grand jury did not reach a decision yesterday. It is still unclear when the grand jury will reconvene. Mostly peaceful demonstrations were on the streets of Ferguson until the very early morning hours overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got my hand on my head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't shoot me dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got any hand on my head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't shoot me dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, police say three protesters were arrested for blocking traffic and refusing to move out of the road.

A few hours ago today Michael Brown's father emerged to hand out Thanksgiving Turkeys. Brown's family is pleading for everyone in Ferguson and, really, across the nation to stay calm and peaceful no matter what the grand jury decides.

I want to bring in my guest, Aisha Sultan. She is a columnist with the St. Louis Post Dispatch. She has been covering this throughout. I have had the pleasure of having her on the program.

Thank you for joining us again, Aisha. Good to have you on.

AISHA SULTAN, COLUMNIST, ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: You wrote a lengthy profile that is going to be in the paper tomorrow talking about how people from all different races, all different socioeconomic backgrounds have been protesting throughout. And you focus specifically on millenials saying that they see themselves in Michael Brown. Talk to me about what the people on the ground are telling you.

SULTAN: So I interviewed self-young leaders who have sort of emerged from the Ferguson movement. And I think the way it came about was very organic. So initially people who saw Michael Brown's body on twitter, images of it or on facebook were drawn to the site, people who live here and might have had experiences with law enforcement themselves and wanted to know what was going on, what was happening. And once they got here on the street, there was such emotion, very powerful emotion, of anger, questions, confusion, hurt.

And that over the period of the next several months brought out and emerged young people who have not really been involved with organizing before or leading protests or direct actions that we've seen here in St. Louis and has brought out this spirit of this is our civil rights movement. This is our solemn moment and we have to speak out about these issues.

HARLOW: I want to read something for our viewers, Aisha, that you wrote back in August that it stood out to me and our team. You wrote quote "until we can tell our children and ourselves the more honest story about race in this region, we will be left with far worse tragedies to explain."

So what is it? What is the honest story you think needs to be told here alongside the story of what's going on right now with the grand jury deliberation? What is the broader context?

SULTAN: Well, that's an excellent question. And obviously the larger story is not just about St. Louis and about Ferguson, but about the nation and whether or not, you know, so many years after the civil rights movement do we still have equal projection for people under the law. Are people still treated equally by law enforcement? That is a critical question that has been raised here.

And what else like schools, criminal justice system, the way county government is set up? How does that feed into whether or not people have equal opportunity and are treated the same in our society? Because that is the goal of the country that we live in, right?

I kind of explain to people who don't live in St. Louis what's going on this way. So imagine you're in a room and there's something that smells bad in that room. There's like a rotting fish in that room. And after a certain amount of time you don't smell that anymore because you've gotten so used to that smell. And maybe it's only when you come in and out that you realize how badly it smells.

So there has been a problem with race and law enforcement and equity and resources in this area like there are in so many other communities in this nation. And so, what Michael Brown's shooting has done is started a larger conversation about these problems and how do we address them and how do we have systemic change. And of course, the (INAUDIBLE) issue tight now people want to see justice served in this situation for this young man, but it's opened up a whole big conversation.

HARLOW: Yes, it absolutely has. And I know you've been reporting specifically on the children of Ferguson and what this has been like, the length to which they've seen it all unfold.

Aisha Sultan, thank you so much for joining us today there. We appreciate it.

SULTAN: Thank you.

HARLOW: Well, our justice reporter Evan Perez is in Clayton, Missouri. He has new details on the grand jury.

Evan, what are you hearing?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, our latest information from our sources is that the grand jury is not planning to reconvene until Monday at the earliest. As you know earlier, we had indications from prosecutors that their plan was once the grand jury came back yesterday to hear some evidence to start the deliberations. They had hoped there would be a decision relatively quickly. They were planning to bring them back today. Clearly, those 12 people had other plans. They decided once they were done last night that they were not going to come back until Monday. Now, that pushes back the decision, obviously, on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the officer -- the Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown. It also means that we will continue waiting to see what they decide.

Now, we don't know what this means. We don't know whether they just want to see more evidence, whether they were having trouble making a decision, whether they're dead locked. You know, there's all these possibilities remain. And obviously, if they're dead locked that means there are no charges.

So right now, we are still waiting. We are waiting to hear what more we can get from the prosecutor's office and we'll let you know when we hear something.

HARLOW: And of course they don't need a unanimous decision to indict or not to indict. They just need nine of the 12 to be in agreement.

Evan, you're on the ground there. You've spent a lot of time in Ferguson. How do you think this is going to be received by the community there?

PEREZ: Well, you know, I think, you know, a lot of people are just sitting and waiting. We have people who come in, protesters who have come in from other states to spend the weekend because they were anticipating that this grand jury was going to come back with a decision this weekend and possibly an announcement on Sunday. So we will see what they called they have been holding protests almost nightly.

And so, we don't know whether they'll stick around and see when a decision comes. We know that obviously that some of the law enforcement here has been, you know, waiting. They've put up these jersey barriers here to protect the -- the state building that's behind me because they were anticipating all of this. So everybody is just basically waiting now.

HARLOW: Yes, absolutely waiting. Appreciate the reporting and the new update.

Evan Perez, thank you so much.

We're going to talk a lot about more about this recent development at the half hour with our legal panel so stick with us for that as we have just heard the new news on that front from Evan Perez.

Meantime, the United States military may not be ending it combat role in Afghanistan as scheduled. Remember, President Obama said just a few months ago quote "no direct combat in Afghanistan by Americans after this year, only training and support."

Well, sources close to the White House now say that deadline has been extended. I want to go straight to Erin McPike. She is at the White House for us.

Erin, what can you tell us about this? I know this is all unfolding in a "New York Times" article. And we know more now directly from the White House

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, we do. And basically, it is that possibly combat will not be ending. And you may remember back in May, President Obama gave an announcement in the Rose Garden saying that they were drawing down the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan but remaining for two key objectives. And I want to play part of what he said that day for you now. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've made it clear that we're open to cooperating with Afghans on two narrow missions after 2014. Training Afghan forces and supporting counter terrorism operations against the remnants of Al-Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: But this new order essentially allows U.S. troops to have more authority to go after the Taliban. So that is more than they would be doing just for counter terrorism operations against the remnants of Al-Qaeda. But if they need to go after the Taliban, if there is a threat to U.S. troops or Afghan forces, they can do it.

Now, we did get a statement from a senior administration official earlier this morning. I want to read part of that statement to you because it explains kind of what they're thinking.

The official says as part of this mission, the United States may provide combat enabler support to the Afghan security forces in limit circumstances to prevent detrimental strategic effects to the Afghan security forces.

That official goes on to say, while we will no longer target belligerents solely because they are members of the Taliban to the extent that Taliban members directly threaten United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan or provide direct support to Al-Qaeda. We will take appropriate measures to keep America safe. And what we are understanding is that the administration doesn't want

to happen in Afghanistan what happened in Iraq, the conditions that created both ISIS and Khorasan. They don't want the same sort thing to happen in Afghanistan. They want U.S. troops to have this freedom, to act against the Taliban if they needed it, Poppy.

HARLOW: And of course now everyone is going to want more specific details in the White House administration on exactly what that's going to mean on the ground. We will stay on top of it.

Erin McPike, thank you. Appreciate it.

Well, when the president -- or those protests, rather, broke out in Ferguson, you didn't have to be there to feel and see and hear the outrage and the anger. It was mirrored all over the internet and people followed it in realtime too. Ahead, we're going to look at how it spread online at lightning speed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: We've just learned to the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, will not reconvene until Monday, that this is in the killing of Michael Brown.

I want to go straight to Jason Carroll. He is love for us in Clayton, Missouri where the grand jury has been meeting now for this -- on this for months. Also joining me, Ashley Yates. She is an activist and co-creator of the Millennial Activists United.

Let me begin with you, Ashley. And then I will get to you, Jason. What is your reaction, your initial reaction in hearing that the grand jury will not reconvene again until Monday?

AHSLEY YATES, CO-CREATOR, THE MILLENNIAL ACTIVISTS UNITED: My initial reaction is hoping that this delay again in justice actually means that they are taking the time to review all of the evidence that we've already heard about.

I'll be honest. I'm not really feeling positive about it. We've heard that the jury wasn't sequestered. But you know, we are willing and we have proven that we are willing to make sure that the people in the streets, you know, kind of rest and make sure that justice is served. We're willing to let the process run its course. So we're anxiously anticipating and just waiting.

HARLOW: And Jason, I know you've been covering this throughout. And what we've heard in recent days is that the family of Michael Brown, the president of the United States, attorney general Eric Holder calling for peace, whatever the grand jury decides.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that's exactly what people here in Clayton are hoping for as well. And in terms of this most recent development and you know, when you talk to the people here, you know, they make it very clear that, you know, they've been waiting for this grand jury decision for quite some time. But in terms of exactly when it was going to happen, everyone out here basically knows it's pretty much a guessing game. And so because of that, everyone really feels as though they just want this to be over.

Anthony Gray, one of Michael Brown's attorneys yesterday when he was pressed on when the grand jury would make its decision, he said, even yesterday, he said look, he said it could be days, it could be longer.

The important point is not so much when for Michael Brown's attorneys or for the people here on the ground. It's not a question of when. That's what we're obsessed with here in the media. It's what the grand jury's decision will ultimately be and what the community reaction will be. That is what people here on the ground they are really focused on.

HARLOW: Ashley, do you agree with that? And also, perhaps, you could tell us a bit about your plans since you're one of those organizing the protesters out? If Officer Wilson is indicted, what the plan is at this point? If he is not indicted, what the plan is?

YATES: I will tell you, the plan is the same either way because this is not just about a scene (ph), this is not just about Mike Brown, this is not just about Darren Wilson. This is about a system that is corrupt. This is about a system that is suppose today serve and protect the people that has repeatedly taken the lives of black and brown people without accountability. We still haven't the case just here in Missouri up to (INAUDIBLE) that is still we have a lot of unanswered questions.

This is a nationwide problem. We have Tunisha Anderson (ph) in Cleveland that was just killed by a police officer. Just yesterday, the New York police killed an innocent man. And they came out very quickly and spoke on his innocence which is progression, but we still need to see justice.

This is not just about Mike Brown. So regardless of whether there's an indictment or there is not an indictment, we still need to address the systemic issues that prevail across the nation. So we will be out regardless.

HARLOW: Jason, I want to talk to you about that because again, as I have said, you've been on the ground throughout covering this. Our first guest, Aisha Sultan, brought up sort of the bigger context you have to look at this case and the grand jury decision within. In terms of the police department you've got a 53-member police force you've got four African-American police officers. Some have said we need to see more of a reflection of the community in the police force. But nothing has change on that front. What have you seen in the community throughout our reporting over these months, Jason?

CARROLL: I think it really depends on what part of the community that you're talking to, Poppy. You know, when you're here in Clayton, you know, I was talking the people who feel for the people of Ferguson, but they also in some way support Officer Wilson.

But they also acknowledge that there are larger problems here that need to be looked at. And they're hoping that once the grand jury reaches its decision, they're hoping that cooler head prevail. And people can actually think about the larger issues that are really at stake here.

You know, obviously you have a controversial shooting that took place. You've got two communities. And in fact, you got some of those who are sitting in the camp of Officer Wilson. You've got some of those who are sitting in the champ of Michael Brown and his family. And again, the hope is that these two communities that are on two very different sides can in some way come together once this grand jury reaches its decision.

HARLOW: Yes. And Ashley, what are your thoughts on that point? I mean, everyone hopes for progress in the end, right? And so, what do you hope aside from what is decided by the grand jury, but ultimately from your community what do you want to see?

YATES: Yes. My thoughts are that there are not two separate communities. There is one community. There should be one community. And that is the community that is angered and tired and hurt that an unarmed child was gunned down and that there has been no accountability. And as the community that expects the police to protect and serve and when they do not do such and when they -- their actions result in the loss of life, we hold them accountable.

I question anyone who stands on another side that think it is police should not be held accountable simply because they wear a badge. Anyone that takes that stance, I think they really need to reevaluate and think about why we're really here and that is the fact that Mike Brown Senior and Lesley McSpadden no longer have a child. And when you think about that, I think one community can come together and say you know what at the very least we deserve answers. And aside from that there has to be some justice for the life that was taken.

HARLOW: And the justice system is at work right now as we are just learning in the CNN. The grand jury will reconvene again on Monday as they continue to deliberate on this.

Thank you both, Ashley, Jason. Appreciate it. More coverage of the events in Ferguson straight ahead.

But first this, there were some really big names at the CNN Heroes all-star tribute held this week in New York city. The show doesn't air until December 7th, but here's what our Michaela Pereira saw with the sneak speak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in what's called the whale room. You're wondering why, right? Little hint for you.

The days leading up to the main event are action packed, cameras, lighting, HD video screens and the decor are put in place. And no show is complete without the rolling out of the red carpet. Before you know it, a transformation.

So inside this trailer my fantastic colleagues are putting the final touches on the show. Dare, I go in? Come on look alive people. We're almost at show time. On this night at the museum host Anderson Cooper and the CNN team

honor a very special kind of people.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360: A lot of these people, they don't have a lot of money, they don't have access to power. They don't have, you know, they are just people who saw a need in their community and set about trying to fix something.

PEREIRA: And here, the celebrities have turned out to pay them tribute.

Recording artist, Cheryl Crow who performed at CNN Hero inaugural event, is back for another special performance.

CHERYL CROW, SINGER: I'm grateful to CNN that they have started this program because there are so many angels out there on this planet that are doing God's work.

PEREIRA: For the night's honorees who never seek the spotlight, seeing it all for the first time is a moment to remember.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Anyone with a smart phone could follow the protests that other took Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting death of Michael Brown. Within seconds those protests het social media and people on twitter followed hem them moment by moment.

Our Rachel Crane looks at how quickly the chaos in Ferguson took over the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The protests in Ferguson are just one example of how social media can elevate a local event onto the national stage. Here's how it played out.

August 9th, the circumstances remain under investigation. But we know a white police Officer Darren Wilson fired at least six shots, killing an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown. Within 24 hours, over 140,000 tweets mentioned the incident.

August 10th a candle light vigil turns to chaos as hundreds of protesters take to the streets tweeting and taking pictures and video with phones. That night, first confirmed reports on social media that the police are using rubber bullets.

August 11th, the FBI opens a civil rights investigation into the shooting.

August 13th, more civil unrest. Tweets reach a rate of 5,864 per minute when two journalists are arrested while sitting in McDonald's.

August 14th, peek day for social activity when the President comment of Ferguson. More than 3.6 million tweets about the event.

August 15th, identity of the officer is revealed as Darren Wilson. A video is released of Brown allegedly robbing a convenient store.

August 16th August, a state of emergency is declared in Ferguson and a curfew goes into effect.

August 19th, a support Darren Wilson facebook page receives more than 20,000 likes since its creation on August 9th. A second facebook page I support Office Wilson is at 33,000 likes since its creation days earlier. Ferguson hash tags mentions on twitter heat over 7.8 million.

August 25th, Michael Brown is laid to rest and the funeral service. The nation waits to see what comes next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Our thanks to Rachel for that. We have much more on Ferguson ahead.

Up next, so our contributors discuss the latest from Ferguson and also the broader context. That is next. I'll be back here at the top of the hour. See you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Sally Kohn join today by Sunny Hostin and Margaret Hoover. Mel Robbins isn't here. She is with us in spirit.

Brand new developments in Ferguson. Sources tell CNN the grand jury will not reconvene until Monday. Twelve-personal panel is trying to decide whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August.

Sunny, you are a lawyer. Do you think the grand jury is struggling with this? Is this why we're seeing such a long process? Or is this just a conventional grand jury deliberation?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is anything but a conventional grand jury, right? I've been saying this from the beginning. I've never seen a case where the prosecutor throws every single piece of evidence in front of a grand jury, especially evidence that may not be inadmissible at trial.

So this is nothing unusual. And I think that the grand jury is probably not only struggling with the decision. They're struggling with the overwhelming amount of evidence that was placed in front of them. I mean, we don't know what they're struggling with, but I anticipate that it's going to take them a bit of time to parse through hundreds of hours of evidence.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Do you have a hunch, Sunny, on where this is going? I mean, do you have a sense that this is coming down quite soon, if you had to guess, before Thanksgiving? HOSTIN: I think before thanksgiving, but again it's so unusual. The

process has been so unusual. It's hard for me to rely upon my experience and my sense quite frankly because I've never seen it.

KOHN: You know, Margaret, do you think part of -- we're all saying we're waiting for the grand jury decision. But, are we partly waiting to see how the community is going to react. There's been all this anticipation, part of it trumped up based on what happened or didn't happened, got trumped up in the past, that really there's going to be violence and that's really what all the anticipation is about?

HOOVER: I mean, it seems there is anticipatory anxiety about how the local community is going to react. Some has suggested that maybe Governor Nixon was overbearing in declaring a preemptive state of emergency, for one when the governor comes down.

KOHN: Do you think he won't?

HOOVER: I frankly don't think he was at all. And I love to get you all talk on this. But it seems to me that there was clear and present violent and danger to local business owners to ordinary citizens after the last time.

Look. They started as peaceful protests but they turned into violent riots where local business owners, frankly, minorities also. Minority young business owners really suffered from huge damages. And insurance companies, by the way, couldn't even pay them back. And it is one of the things -- I mean, we've been talking about our local businesses and how they've suffered from that.

HOSTIN: I have to disagree with you because we're sort of saying that everything erupted in riots. Yes, there was --

HOOVER: No. There were peaceful protests.

HOSTIN: There were peaceful protests and there was some violence, right, some rioting. But it's been over a hundred days. And those peaceful protesters have returned. We haven't seen any rioting. We haven't seen any violence. And so, now, to suggest somehow that these peaceful protesters are, all of the sudden, again, going to riot again, I think misjudges and miscalculate is the situation.

But one other thing, I do think that this show of force, this calling of the National Guard escalates the situation rather than deescalates. It's almost as if it's a militarization, again, of the police force and any community is going to have a problem with that.

KOHN: I want to throw a tweet up actually on the screen, if we can pull that out from Jamele Bowie (ph) who made this point exactly on the scene.

He said this has been a consistent pattern, unilateral police escalation prompts minor response from more volatile elements who are minority in the crowd and not justifies the crackdown.

Here's the other question I want to get us into. So I did a piece for CNN's Web site this past week about in October there were protests in Keen, New Hampshire. A bunch of kids, mostly white kids, apparently got really drunk at the pumpkin festival. And they were overturning cars, they were throwing bottles and rocks at police. People were arrested. And those kids were referred to in the media as unruly whereas the, you know, kids who were actually protesting something, who were mostly black, in Ferguson, they're called rioters. They're called thugs.

Margaret, do you think there's bias in the way, we in the media, we as a country, react to protests from black folks versus white folks?

HOOVER: Certainly in some places they are. And I don't know that this protest, this pumpkin protest, was national news. I think certain places probably did call it -- didn't call it right. So I think obviously we have to have an objective standard.

HOSTIN: But there are so many examples of it. Remember Cliven Bundy? I mean, he is the separatist who is in Nevada who doesn't want to pay his taxes on his cattle ranch. And federal agents showed up and his people show up armed the guns. Nobody called that a riot. The National Guard wasn't called. The federal agents walked away.

KOHN: If that had been a bunch of black folks, we will be saying we aren't going to pay our taxes --

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: We all have to agree that we have to have an objective standard for these things. Protests have to be peaceful. Riots are violent. It doesn't matter what color your skin is. If you're violent, if you are breaking, if you're looting, that is the governor's job to prevent that.

KOHN: Clear point. And let's also note it is still very small minority of those protesters.

So, if you would like to read more about my piece on CNN, check it out on CNN.com.

So the question is, is this a situation in general in Ferguson where no matter what happens, no matter the verdict, the protests we're just going to all have our stereo types reinforced? Is that the kind of issue we are at the moment? We will debate that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOOVER: Welcome back. I'm Margaret Hoover. And I'm talking here with Sally and Sunny and we are tracking new developments involved in the Ferguson grand jury. Sources are telling CNN that the grand jury will not reconvene until Monday. How will demonstrators react now that they know that the waiting game is getting longer?

We've talked here about race riots in the course of American history. We want to revisit this because, Sunny, I'm wondering, uprising. You know, these in Ferguson, we have the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles with Rodney King. We had the Oscar grant rites in 2009 in California. Are these periodic episodes in American history, Sunny? Or do you think we're getting better?

HOSTIN: You know, I want to say first, I don't classify them as riots. I think it's protesting and I think protesting is very American. I mean, it goes back to (INAUDIBLE). We're talking about civil disobedience. It was something that Gandhi advocated, something that MOK (ph) advocated.

And I think that what we're seeing now, And I think we are seeing sort of a continuum at this point because when you go back to 1992 and Rodney can he think, remember that the police force was completely dismantled, the police monitor was brought in by the justice department and real change and positive change occurred.

And I think we've seen that all over the country. We have seen that in Louisiana. We have seen it in California, certainly. And I think this is Missouri's turn. I think this is Ferguson's turn because police brutality and racial profiling are real issues that still occur. We know there was a shooting just recently in New York.

HOOVER: So you think, you know, parts of the country have gotten better and some have lagged behind.

HOSTIN: Yes.

HOOVER: But we continue the conversation at his periodic moment when --

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: And quite frankly, I also think it's a continuation of what happened in the Zimmerman case. I think the African-American community is really protesting and sort showing their strength in numbers as a community.

KOHN: I think that is right. I think a couple things. First of all, we have to remember that when, you know, look at the era of civil rights sort of post-segregation America. The changes that happened in our country did happen in different phase in different places, right?

The north desegregated before the south. And so, we've been having conversations about albeit in perfect, all things, albeit in deeply troubled on the coast of this country about policing and racial profiling and police abuse and before they've hit other parts of the country. So hopefully, you know, the change starts to move faster everywhere else.

That being said, I think it's very troubling when we only have these kinds of conversations when there's an episode, when there is an event. How many more young people have to be shot? How many more young black men have to be shot and killed by police before we do something?

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: So, I'm glad you mentioned that because we have a quote actually from President Obama. Let's see if we can get it up on the screen. But it actually came in response to the Zimmerman trial and to the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

The president said, it doesn't mean that we're in a post-racial society. It doesn't mean that racism is eliminated. But you know when I talk to Malia and Sashia, his daughters, they're better than we were on these issues.

And so, the president in that press conference actually, you know, admitted that look, his daughters are better than he was. We actually are getting better and that there is this sort of move towards progress.

HOSTIN: And I think that is true. What is troubling to me is the reluctance of people to talk about race as a real issue, the reluctance to frame the conversation around racial bias. I just got a tweet. Someone called me a red neck racist which is something quite (INAUDIBLE). That's very interesting to me because I am willing to talk about race. It doesn't make me a racist or a race baiter. It makes me, I think, a realist. Do I think my children have it better than I had it? Absolutely. Do I have it better than my father in the 1960s? Absolutely. But again, it's a conversation that continues to need to be had.