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Ray Lewis, Other Ravens Players spread Message of Nonviolence; What Youth Need for Making Right Choices; Baltimore Police News Conference; Woman Talks about Life in Freddie Gray's Neighborhood; Civil Unrest Often Tied to Social Woes Pushed to Breaking Point. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 30, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:35] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just a reminder that we are watching and waiting for that Baltimore police news conference to happen. They say they're going to have them every 90 minutes. So we'll take it as soon as we can.

Meantime, let's talk football in the city. Several former and current Baltimore Ravens players have taken to social media, spreading a message of nonviolence in response to what's happened here in Baltimore. Many of them have been around, including Baltimore Ravens linebacker, Ray Lewis. They have been asking and pleading for peace. In fact, Ray Lewis recently posted this: "We must come together. We can stop the violence as a community. These kids have to have real leaders. We need everybody to join this movement."

Now Ray Lewis is taking his message into the city schools. He actually went to several schools this morning and spoke to students there.

He also spoke with my colleague, Ryan Young.

Ryan Young, tell me what he said.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were there with the coach and the Ravens players. John Harbaugh was also talking to students, talking about having discipline in your life. Ray Lewis also pointed to the communities and buildings, like the ones behind, us where he said he wanted to see some of the students to get an opportunity and chance. He talked about his own life and the fact that at some points his stomach was empty because he didn't have food because he grew up in poverty. He wanted to give the message to kids to make sure they grew up to have a chance to have a fruitful life and make a step forward.

This is part of his message as we walked and talked between two schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY LEWIS, FORMER BALTIMORE RAVEN'S LINEBACKER: From the beginning of time, you know why everybody's praising the young lady who snatched her child up. That's what mothers need to be doing. Your kid's running around on the street, it should have been a war between mothers and sons or whoever was out there. My mom would have slapped me. If I would have turned around and saw my ma, I would have asked the Lord to bring me home. I would not want to deal with that. And that's what he saw. But that's what we need, man. It's got to go back. That's what message is. The messages is they ask, where do we go, where do we start? We've been starting. Now that you have a voice, keep voicing it. Keep voicing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Brooke, we had a long conversation, not only about what's going on here, but how the media is coffering it. What he was asking for, and quite honestly before he decided to talk to us, he wanted the idea that nobody would just go away after this was all over. He says, it's going to take years to repair. He talked about the idea there needs to be investment, especially in the small children seeing this for the first time. He's worried after everyone leaves and the lights are gone that there's going to be a community left behind that's going to need jobs for these young men. Several of the people in the crowd were asking him questions about how do they prepare for life. He said, hey, pull up your pants, stop being on the cell phones all the time. Concentrate and try to change your life. That's a message he wants to go beyond Baltimore. He talked about Detroit, Cleveland, cities that have urban issues that he wants to help.

BALDWIN: I love it. I was in one of these communities earlier today. We'll hear my interview with this 24-year-old in a moment. So much about is this the leaders talking to the young people in these communities. So I'm wondering that if you got a chance to flip the camera around and see some of these young people and how they received his message.

YOUNG: Well, absolutely. We had to talk to some of the young people, which was the best part. We did that live on CNN a little earlier today. Some of the young football players, some of the young leaders at that school who took that message in. When he asked for silence and was talking to them with such passion, they were listening. Sometimes you have after voice that's a little different. Not a politician. Someone who's speaking from the heart. I think that message cut through the crowd. But he was challenged because they asked questions about what's going to happen next. The kids were upset because they felt like they were being blamed for the riot. They said, look, you saw adults in that crowd. It wasn't this high school that started the riot. He said he absolutely understood that. He said, but stop thinking about what's being reported and let's try to change what's going on within your own heart and make this community better day by day.

[14:35:59] BALDWIN: Ryan, do me a favor. I want to keep this conversation going.

Just a heads up to our viewers. We got a two-minute warning before this police conference, so we're going to take that live.

In the meantime, I'm curious specifically, Ryan, when you're talking to these young people at this school -- and I understand they're frustrated. They don't want to be blamed for Monday. What is it that they need in these communities to make the right choices?

YOUNG: Well, you know, honestly, we're already working toward this in your show and the next hour. Just the idea of investment and jobs. A 17-year-old man stood up -- I did say man -- stood up and said, look, I need help. I need money. I need a job so I can eat. That really reflected throughout the crowd. Another young man said we need to change how we do things. So you have voices that are speaking up quite differently than they have before. I can tell you, even the teachers were impressed with some of the young people and what their expressions were. Ray Lewis says, look -- as we were walking and talking, we need to bring back discipline that, respect for adults. But at the same time, we have to show them there's a future. What he's worried about is some of these kids have already given up on life at the age of 14, 15, and 16.

BALDWIN: This young woman I spoke with today, you know, her father's incarcerated. Her mother now is kind of in her life but was really absent as she was growing up. She was so grateful for her grandmother.

Oh, I'm going to cut myself off.

Ryan Young, thank you very much.

We want to go to this police news conference here in the city of Baltimore. Let's listen.

CAPT. J. ERIC KOWALCZYK, BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT: I have some information that I want to bring you up to speed on. Yesterday, we talked about the administrative process was catching up. Monday night, we were in a heightened state of emergency. We were taking quick and decisive action. There was a lot of administrative processes that had to catch up with that.

I want to give you updated numbers on injured officers. This is a sum total from when the violence first began on Monday to where we are today. In total, we've had 98 officers report injuries during the course of the events. Of those 98, 43 required some sort of emergency treatment at a hospital. 13 of them are out on medical, meaning they are unable to come in to work at all. And 15 are on light duty, meaning they're able to perform administrative functions, but they're not able to work on the street. Another 15, after being treated, remain full duty. So a total of 98 officers have been injured during the course of the events.

Yesterday and then into the overnight hours, we released a total of 106 people as a result of the 48-hour deadline to file criminal charges. We will continue to pull video footage and have our investigative units look for people whose identification we know that matches with video evidence that shows criminal activity. We will then file the appropriate charges to ensure that they are criminally charged.

Our deployment is similar throughout the city today as it was yesterday and the day before. We're continuing to monitor intelligence and social media to look for any events that might take place today. We have the same sort of response that we had yesterday with resources throughout the city. In the event something pops up somewhere, we're able to quickly shift resources to address it.

Again, with safety being our top priority for both our officers, our citizens, and the city, we are aware that at 4:00 this afternoon, there is a planned march from North Avenue down St. Paul to city hall. We do not know how large that will be and what potential impact that might have on vehicle traffic. We're asking motorists to use caution in the area.

The curfew is in effect tonight. It will be enforced. Last night, we had nine adults and two juveniles who were arrested for curfew violations. The vast majority -- and I don't have a breakdown -- of those arrests occurred between midnight and 3:00 a.m.

With that, I'll take questions.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Captain, the commissioner dropped a bombshell when he said there was a second unscheduled stop of the van, of the police van. Was he suggesting -- are you all telling us that the arresting officers covered up or lied about stopping that police van after Freddie Gray was inside the vehicle?

[14:40:20] KOWALCZYK: Still, what I tell you is we've stated from the beginning when we have information that we're able to share, we will. As the commissioner said today, it would be inappropriate for us to further comment on the status of the investigation. It is now in the hands of the state's attorney.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But you've left us hanging. I don't know -- do you mean it was just unannounced, or was it covered up?

KOWALCZYK: Again, as I just said, we have released information as we're able to do so. And we've now turned the case over to the state's attorney. Sir, I really can't answer further. I understand there are questions people want to have answers to.

(CROSSTALK)

KOWALCZYK: Sir, I understand there are questions people want to have answers to.

(CROSSTALK)

KOWALCZYK: But unfortunately, we can't talk anymore about it.

Other questions?

Sir?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At any point on Monday during the unrest, was there ever a point at which your agency received any kind of stand down or reduction of response or any order from any agency --

(CROSSTALK)

KOWALCZYK: So what we've been saying consistently since Monday is that we deploy officers for an event that was originally supposed to be a high school gathering, 13, 14, 15-year-olds. We worked as that event escalated. As the number of people and ages escalated, we worked to deploy resources to match the event we were seeing, the violent. The commissioner talked about the fact we were undermanned and overwhelmed by the number of people and the level of violence we saw, which is what led us to where we are today. We had officers that were out there. I came down and talked that afternoon. We had 20 officers injured in that initial encounter. What you saw was us deploying resources and continuing to move forward, continuing to attempt to disperse the crowd, continuing to, without any break in the action, attempting to address the violence.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You released 106 people you said. Of the people that have been arrested, how many have actually been charged? To follow up on that, have you charged anybody who struck your officers that first day?

KOWALCZYK: I have to look to get the breakdown of arrests for you. At the next briefing, we'll get that information for you. What I can tell you, of the 201 people that were initially arrested during that initial 48-hour window that we've been talking about, 106 people were released without us charging them. The others were criminally charged.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you give us those numbers again? Speak this way.

KOWALCZYK: Sure. I'm sorry. So during the initial encounter, we had the 201 arrests. We had the 48-hour window we've been working with for the administrative process. 106 people have been released without criminal charges being filed yet. They will be filed. The remaining people have been criminally charged.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Every stop the van makes, it's supposed to log. Is that correct?

KOWALCZYK: So as I've said, we put out as much as information --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is just general. Every stop a police van makes, they are supposed to log and report that stop. Is that correct?

KOWALCZYK: I understand, sir. I understand the question. And we understand people have a lot of questions. But right now we've turned the case over to the state's attorney's office and we're not going to comment further on it.

Does anybody else have any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you comment on "The Washington Post" report that there is information that Freddie Gray injured himself?

KOWALCZYK: What we've been saying consistently since last night is we cannot comment on the case. We cannot take the risk of compromising the case. And that's --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sorry to go back at it, but you didn't answer my question. Did you receive any directive that said temper your response or hold back or anything to that?

KOWALCZYK: I think the best answer that I can give you to that question is the answer that I gave you. If you look at what our officers did, they stood in the face of a violent -- you know, the commissioner showed last night what that rocked look like. These weren't little pebbles that were being thrown. These were chunks of cement with serrated edges and glass embedded in them. That's what was being thrown at our officers. There were cameras from across the city that were covering what was happening there. They saw our officers continuing to do everything that they could to end the violence, to make sure people in that community were safe. And they did not stop. They never yielded. That's what we expected of our officers.

(CROSSTALK)

KOWALCZYK: We'll brief again in another hour and a half. I continue to urge people to follow us @Baltimorepolice on Twitter. We'll be putting out information as the day continues.

Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

[14:44:44] BALDWIN: All right. We just wanted to make sure and take that. He was asked, you could hear those reporters asking about those two really key questions that the commissioner dropped about 90 minutes ago. One, that there was this undisclosed stop of this van that was carrying Freddie Gray. Why did the public not know about it? So he wouldn't comment on that. He also wouldn't comment on "The Washington Post" report that a source told "The Post" that the other prisoner inside the van believes Freddie Gray was intentionally trying to injure himself. No comment there. The investigation now sitting today, one day ahead of schedule with the state's attorney's office.

But let's talk about the people of the city. For the people in Freddie Gray's neighborhood here in Baltimore, you know, run-ins with police, it's part of life. The city's Winchester district is home to people held in state prisons. In fact, more people held in state prisons than any other neighborhood in this entire state.

And I went out this morning walking with a 24-year-old woman, Kiarra Boulware, who's been clean for a year. She turned her life around after growing up with, as she referred to it, limited options. No parents present. And she knows these streets almost better than anyone. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So you grew up in east Baltimore, born and raised.

KIARRA BOULWARE, BALTIMORE RESIDENT: Born and raised in east Baltimore.

BALDWIN: And tell me about how you moved here to west Baltimore.

BOULWARE: Life became unmanageable. My grandmother raised me. She worked a lot to take care of us. So I often hung out with my friends, my peers, my classmates and got into the wrong things, drugs, alcohol.

One of my friends came here. She got herself together. And she came back and grabbed some of us. And we came here. Out of all of them that came back, I'm the only one that stayed.

BALDWIN: You're the only one that stayed.

BOULWARE: Only one that stayed.

BALDWIN: I want to talk about your life here, but first, tell me, when you say you got mixed up in the wrong things, drugs, what drugs, how did you get mixed up?

BOULWARE: Marijuana, alcohol, Ecstasy, a mixture of using and selling.

BALDWIN: Using and selling?

BOULWARE: Yeah.

BALDWIN: How easy is it to stand out here on a street corner and sell?

BOULWARE: Not easy at all.

BALDWIN: Not easy?

BOULWARE: But when you believe you have limited options, that's what you do, until you learn otherwise.

BALDWIN: Did you grow up always believing you had limited options?

BOULWARE: No.

BALDWIN: Then what changed?

BOULWARE: My grandmother always worked hard and instilled in us to work hard and take care of yourself and go to work to do the things you needed to do for yourself. But throughout her working, the presence of a parent was missing. So in hindsight, we kind of raised ourself.

BALDWIN: Presence of a parent, meaning your dad, who's been incarcerated? BOULWARE: Yeah. My mom, who isn't incarcerated, but just wasn't

active. We have a good relationship now, but you know, I'm grown now.

BALDWIN: Why is it important for you to know about the history of Baltimore?

BOULWARE: Because you don't appreciate something unless you know the specifics of it. You can't appreciate something that you don't work hard for. So if we don't understand the hard work of the building of Baltimore city, we can't understand the effect of the destruction.

BALDWIN: Let's go back to what you're talking about with limited options. What options were limited to you, are limited to so many people in this community?

BOULWARE: Education, recreation. We have no recreation centers in this community. But our Penn-North Center has become a vessel. Our primary care was adults with substance abuse problems. Having a director that's so passionate -- when I came in and implicated we need something for the youth, he was all for it. We understand, like I said, there's no recreation centers around here.

BALDWIN: Just sitting here and looking around, you have all these different row houses, right. I see a grocery over there. I've seen liquor stores. I've seen churches. That's it.

BOULWARE: That's it.

BALDWIN: I mean, we're all here covering this story, the death of Freddie Gray, who I think lived right around here. When you see police roll through, how have your interactions with police been?

BOULWARE: The police doesn't bother me because I don't bother them, per se, in this moment. But my interaction with police officers, period, is that we -- this all started because police officers, allegedly, killed a man, a young black man. Now media has made these same officers victims. I don't understand that. I don't understand how they have become victimized in a situation where a young black man was killed with still no answers. But it's in a light where, oh, we have to make sure our officers are safe, just in the last week or so. But we have to make sure we're safe every day. This is something we've been dealing with our whole lives. Not just a black race, but any race that's in poverty or a minority, period. We've been dealing with police brutality forever. It'll never change. We're so busy blaming each other and bashing each other and murdering each other that we're easy target. They always say united we stand, divided we fall. Right now, we're divided because some people are like, oh, no justice, no peace. Then others --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:50:58] BALDWIN: What does that mean to you, by the way, no justice, no peace, when you hear people saying that?

BOULWARE: I think it's just an expression of anger, hurt, built-up frustration. We're not going to stop bothering you to get those results until you give us those results.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Kiarra, thank you so much for spending time with me.

We have much more of our conversation coming up next hour. I have to stand here and tell you, she's been clean for a year. She's been at Penn North Recovery Center. It's not quite one year old. Already has a staff. It's helped 100 people turn their lives around. We wanted to recognize them as this phenomenal place. Their website, Penn- North.com, if you want more information.

Coming up, we're going to continue this conversation, spring boarding off my chat with Kiarra, what needs to be done in these communities, some of the points she made about why aren't officers coming from these communities and becoming cops, what needs to be done, how should these leaders be speaking to Baltimore city youth, all of that.

You're watching CNN's special live coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin in Baltimore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:54:46] BALDWIN: You just heard my conversation with 24-year-old Kiarra. I thought she was pretty phenomenal to sit with me today.

I wanted to have a broader conversation. Civil unrest so often can be tied to social woes pushed to their breaking point. Many times these woes involve economic and urban neglect. You have unemployment, poor health care, substandard housing and schools, lack of nutrition. The west Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray lived has the highest incarceration rate in the state. Its median household income is less than $25,000. The incidents of domestic violence ranks far higher than the city average. Row upon row of these abandoned homes blanket the city's depressed areas. People here in Baltimore, like so many others who live in these impoverished communities, they endure these daily hardships to get by day by day by day.

Ruth Ann Norton, executive director, Coalition to End Childhood-Led Poisoning. Also here with me, the Reverend A.C.D. Vaughn, with Baltimore's Sharon Baptist Church.

Welcome to both of you.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: This is the most important conversation I think I'm having all day long because I wanted to get into the neighborhoods and talk to these young people to understand what the day-to-day life is.

I think first with you, in terms of lead paint -- it seems so simple, this little detail, lead paint in these homes that have been there for decades affects these young people years later like Freddie Gray.

RUTH ANN NORTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COALITION TO END CHILDHOOD-LED POISONING: Decisions that we made in 1938 that said we were mandating -- the federal government mandated the use of lead-based paint in low- income housing, in communities like Winchester in east Baltimore, where kids were dying in the '40s, '50s from lead poisoning, but that toxic legacy and that decision has stayed in these houses for decades. And the trajectory of kids coming out of a lead-painted house, a house that there's no investment, high rates of asthma. Number-one reason kids miss school, lead poisoning, the major contributing to learning disabilities, to the inability to read well, and a major contributor to violent and aggressive behavior.

BALDWIN: A trajectory --

(CROSSTALK)

NORTON: It starts there.

BALDWIN: I first read about it and thought, how am I talking about lead paint? We've lost this young man. But it's all connected.

You are in the heart of these communities, Reverend. You heard this young woman saying, I had limited options from a young age. She says, why aren't more police officers coming from my community to protect and serve? Why not?

DR. A.C.D. VAUGHN, SHARON BAPTIST CHURCH: Why not? And I can speak as one who's been here most of my life. I went to elementary school there, one block from where I pastor right now. I went to elementary school there. Back then, everybody was community. Everybody looked after each other. You didn't just see your elected officials when crisis came along. But people could identify with them. When I came along, everybody knew the neighborhood policemen.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUGHN: So there was a relationship established between the community and them. Unfortunately, now, as pastor, I see youngsters who really have no hope for a future. And I think what we're seeing right now is the cry of their hearts saying, hear us, not only hear us, show that you really care for us by providing the things that we really need.

I was one-time janitor of the church I pastor now, Sharon Baptist Church. Thank God I had the community support that supported me. When I went to college, there were no grants. There was no money from the government. There were limited scholarships. But I went to church based on the dollar bills, fives and tens, that people in the community gave to me, because I felt I had the strength and they let me know I could be somebody. What's happening here is you're raising generation after generation who has the same hopelessness.

BALDWIN: Hopelessness.

VAUGHN: That's right.

BALDWIN: You say we need to hear them. That's why I went there today to listen. But she says we need community centers. She explained to me how one gets into dealing drugs on the streets at age 14. She explained it to me. So now what? NORTON: You can't make one-off investments and say we're going to

solve generations of poverty. You cannot set up communities and put lead paint on the walls and allow disinvestment and think we'll occasionally open a rec center and close it. We'll occasionally open a pool and close it.

BALDWIN: There has to be commitment.

NORTON: We have to go all in if we want to stop the story of Freddie Gray.

BALDWIN: Who needs to go all in?

Final question, where does that money come from?

NORTON: Federal government has to go all in.

VAUGHN: Federal government, city government, state government. And they have to go in beyond the crises.

NORTON: That's right.

[15:00:07] VAUGHN: When this situation is over, when --

BALDWIN: When we pack up and leave.