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President Obama Speaks At Benedict College In South Carolina; One-Year Anniversary Of Missing Malaysia Airline Flight 370 On The Horizon

Aired March 06, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Just moments ago, President Obama ended his town hall there at Benedict college in South Carolina which we had played some for you earlier. And he spoke for more than ten minutes. He talked about this week's reports from Department of Justice. One cleared Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The other really just hammered on the Ferguson police department for racist and profiteering practices against African-Americans.

Now, President Obama said that while problems like those in Ferguson certainly exist, people should not assume the worst of police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think that what happens in Ferguson is typical. The overwhelming number of law enforcement officers have a really hard dangerous job and they do it well and they do it fairly and they do it heroically. And I strongly believe that. And we need to honor those folks and we need to respect them and not just assume that they've got ill will or they're doing a bad job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I do want to mention we did just get some new information out of Ferguson and some of the fallout following the justice department's report. And we have learned that one person who has been fired since this report was released is the city's top court clerk. Two others still awaiting their fate as the ongoing investigation within continues.

I want to bring in a journalist who just penned a piece called "Yes, Black America fears the police and here's why." Nicole Hannah-Jones is joining me now from Atlanta.

Nicole, thanks so much for being with me. You just heard President Obama defend most police officers to a crowd of mostly African- American college students and yet you say most of black America doesn't trust police. How do you reconcile that?

NICOLE HANNAH-JONES, JOURNALIST: Well, I mean, the president has a role to play and his role is to kind of reassure his citizens. But I think the experiences that many black Americans experience in black communities, Ferguson -- the Ferguson report really rang true to them.

CABRERA: Do you believe that police are inherently biased?

HANNAH-JONES: No, I don't think that you can say that police are inherently biased any more than any other Americans are inherently biased. So with that said, they also share the same biases that many Americans (INAUDIBLE) have. And oftentimes that enters into the way that they're policing black communities.

CABRERA: And I know you in your article write that your experience in this country is probably so different from others who may not be of color. And you share an incident in this article about when you chose not to call police after hearing gun shots fired. And you realized that you were worried about being treated like a suspect instead of a witness. Tell us more about your personal experience.

HANNAH-JONES: Well, I think many, many black Americans of all educational backgrounds of all incomes have a very tense relationship with the police. In this particular incident that I was writing about, it wasn't even a decision not to call. It literally did not cross my mind or the minds of the other journalist who is were with me that day. Really the experience with police is one I've often tried to limit interactions because you don't know how it is going to turn out.

There's been so many instances that many of us can name where you see -- where we have seen innocent black people who have been harassed, abused simply walking down the street. And so there's a fear. And it often causes us to avoid interactions with police unless we absolutely have to and that's a problem.

CABRERA: And finally Nicole, I do want to make sure that we aren't, you know, coming across like we're demonizing police officers. That's definitely not the intent here. What would you tell those law enforcement officers who feel like they've been unfairly lumped in a group of bad guys of sorts when they really enter the profession to serve and protect?

HANNAH-JONES: I don't think it's about looking at individuals and calling out individuals. We have systemic issues with law enforcement. In New York city, law enforcement practices were deemed unconstitutional. In Ferguson, we have the justice department say the treatment of black citizens by police force, not by individual with unconstitutional. But I think we should get into trying to talk about whether or not they're good cops or bad cops at individual police. We have systemic issues with law enforcement and policing in back communities.

CABRERA: All right, Nicole Hannah-Jones, thank you so much for joining me.

HANNAH-JONES: Thanks for having me.

CABRERA: Up next, it's been almost a year since flight MH-370 disappeared. A whole year, if you can believe it. Up next, what the man in charge of Malaysian Airlines says about what happened. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It's one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation history. And it hardly seems possible that in the age of instant communications and high-tech aviation systems a Boeing 777 could simply vanish on a routine flight, but it did one year ago tomorrow.

Our Anna Coren is in Kuala Lumpur where grieving families are marking the slumber occasion.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, as the families of the 239 people onboard MH 370 prepare to commemorate the one-year anniversary since the plane's disappearance. The CEO of Malaysia airlines says the search must continue because the world deserves answers as to what really happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish that, you know, we will carry on looking for the aircraft. You know, I think the world needs an answer. The family needs answer as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: More than 40 percent of the search area in the Southern Indian Ocean has been covered and authorities are confident that the four ships scouring the ocean floor with sonar equipment looking for the wreckage will be finished by may.

Meantime, the airline's chief has defended the pilot of MH-370, captain Zaharie (ph) claiming he was responsible for the plane's disappearance are baseless and mere speculation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speculation. We do not suspect any one of our crew until it is evident. Captain (INAUDIBLE) was a very capable man. He's a 777 flight examiner. (INAUDIBLE) so we have no reason to suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: He also says that valuable lessons have been learned from the MH-370 tragedy with the airline stepping up the protocol and its flight tracking system -- Ana.

CABRERA: Thank you, Anna Coren again in Kuala Lumpur.

Tonight CNN will look at this mystery behind the vanished flight in a Special Report. That's at 9:00 p.m. eastern.

Next, the fallout over Hillary Clinton's email causing a rift among Democrats and the controversy continues. Did Democrats put all their eggs in one basket? Should they have a plan "b" for 2016 or will this just blow over? That debate next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: For months, maybe even years, Hillary Clinton has been perceived as the one, the only, the Democrat who can run for president in 2016 and win. But Clinton's recent email controversy has a lot of Democrats scattering running for cover, calling for a Democratic alternative. Boy, how a couple news cycles can change things, right?

I want to bring in a couple political voices to talk more about this. Hillary Rosen is a CNN political commentator. Also with us, Peter Hamby, CNN's national political reporter.

I want to start with an op-ed piece from CNN chief --

(NO VIDEO)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A 14-year-old bookworm has won gold to share her love of reading with every other kid. CNN heroes is recognizing her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then my parents thought I wanted to collect and distribute one million books to kids in need by the time I turned 18.

So welcome to the reading (ph) warehouse. I was 13 when I reached my goal. We have given books to about 16 countries and 40 states.

All the pink squares --

My new goal is to distribute books to every state in the U.S. and every country in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a preschool teacher with English language learners.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking for second through fifth grade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meeting the teachers, it's amazing. I hear all about the kids they serve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, sweetie. Keep up the good work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon, fifth grade.

CROWD: Good afternoon!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have about 1280 students, a large homeless and highly mobile population.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When (INAUDIBLE) came to my school, I was so excited and she just gave us books for free. It was amazing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: And next week, you will meet the first CNN hero of 2015. And you can nominate a hero at CNNheroes.com.

That is going to do it for me. "THE LEAD" -- that's with Jake Tapper -- starts right now.