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Nykea Aldridge Murder Showcases Gun Violence; Clinton, Trump Prepare for Debates; Nate Parker Opens Up on Past Rape Charge. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 29, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


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[14:31:43] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

Two brothers now charged in the murder of a Chicago mother of four. They are expected in court today. The mother is 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, one of eight murdered victims in Chicago this weekend alone and more than 450 shot and killed in the city since the start of the year. Aldridge is also the cousin of NBA star Dwyane Wade. And police stress that is not the only reason why her killing is, quote, "noteworthy," according to them. They say Aldridge's case represents repeat offenders where they don't care who they shoot. Aldridge was just walking along with her newborn, three weeks of age, in the stroller, when the mother was caught in crossfire. The brothers, according to the police, are gang members and were currently out on parole. And the day Aldridge was killed, her cousin, Dwyane Wade tweeted this, "My cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. Four kids lost their mom for no reason. Unreal. #enoughisenough"

Aldridge's mother mourns for her daughter, her grandkids, but it may actually surprise you what she says about the accused killers here.

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DIANE ALDRIDGE, MOTHER OF NYKEA ALDRIDGE: They miss their mom. They want their mom. It just hurts to hear kids saying they want their mom and their mom won't be in their lives anymore. Only through spirit, only through -- the only way they know their mom for the rest of their lives, the only thing they have to go on is what they had. It's just heartbreaking. Oh, God. It's heartbreaking. And is truly, from the bottom of my heart, is forgive them. I can't bring her back but is forgive them and is just pray to God that they pray to God to ask for forgiveness for what they have done. They have taken a person's life senselessly. And is just love them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sadly, my next guest has experienced tragedy like the Aldridge's family. Tamar Manasseh, the founder with Mothers Against Senseless Killings.

I'm struck by that mother who lost her child whose grandchildren are asking where their mother is. First to you, before we talk about your group, what message would you have for that grieving grandmother?

TAMAR MANASSEH, FOUNDER, MOTHERS AGAINST SENSELESS KILLINGS: I have the same message for that grieving grandmother that is have for all of the grieving grandmothers. I've seen this before and my heart really goes out to the Aldridge family and the Wade family and our entire organization mourns along with them. But we mourn with the entire community. Nykea, there were eight other people being murdered. This scene plays out across the city this year. It's a lot of people going through this. It's a lot of people hurting. And the message is the same for all of them. We can actually -- these things could have been prevented. They can all be prevented. We just had to do something to make that happen.

[14:35:28] BALDWIN: Well, you're doing that. You started this group. Your friend died trying to break up a fight. Can you tell me what you do?

MANASSEH: Her name was Lucille Burns and I didn't know her. I had never met her before. But I knew her because I'm a mother and I know what it's like to try to do the right thing in the wrong time. The thing was, if somebody is trying to prevent violence and they are murdered, then somebody really should stand up and say something and step up and say something for them, speak up for them. And I feel you have to say something, it's time for us to take our communities back. So we intervene. We keep bad things from happening. We've done it for the second summer straight. We know that it works and can be done.

BALDWIN: Tamar, you have an experience of a shooting death in your family. Why do you care so much? Why are you doing this?

MANASSEH: I care so much because right now we all should care. I'm a mom. I have a 20-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son. I couldn't be Nykea Aldridge or her mom. I couldn't have kids grow up without their mother and my life mourning one of my children. I couldn't do that. So before death came to my door, before all of this -- this visitor that comes to so many homes of mothers in Chicago, before it came to my house, I had to make sure I did everything I could to prevent that and that's what this is. This is me actually being proactive. This is us being proactive.

BALDWIN: A group of moms coming together. Tamar's group is Mothers Against Senseless Killings. Reading what police said, apparently, it was just a look between these two guys on the street corner and that's when the guns rang out and that is when Nykea was killed.

Tamar Manasseh, thank you for sharing your story and voice, and hopefully you'll get inquiries into your organization. It sounds phenomenal. Thank you.

MANASSEH: Thank you so much. Thank you.

BALDWIN: You've got it. You've got it.

Coming up, we'll talk with a Grammy winning rapper from Chicago. Why police are now apologizing to him for how police officers treated him after he was robbed at gunpoint, and also his challenge to Donald Trump.

Also ahead, less than a month away from the first presidential debate. How those candidates are preparing. They have different methodologies. Why the debate moderator is still undecided. Folks, we're less than a month away. We'll be right back.

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[14:42:43] September 26th, September 26th, let me say it again, September 26th, circle it on your calendar, that's when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will square off in the first of three debates. The two candidates are so different in how they're preparing. Hillary Clinton is pouring over briefing books, taking in tips from the most seasoned debate coaches in the Democratic Party. Donald Trump is taking a more casual approach. If you read this piece in "The Washington Post," their reporting is this, that "He has summoned his informal band of counselors to his New Jersey golf course for Sunday chats over bacon cheeseburgers, hot dogs and glasses of Coca-Cola. They tested out zingers and chewed over ways to refine the Republican nominee's pitch to Americans."

Joining me is Todd Graham, back with us, director of debate at Southern Illinois University. And he recently won the national debate coach for the third time in a row.

Congratulations, Todd. great to have you back.

TODD GRAHAM, DIRECTOR OF DEBATE, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY: Thank you. Thank you.

BALDWIN: We remember, of course -- you're welcome -- all of the primary debates especially on the Republicans side when you had all those guys and one gal on the stage and Trump really made a name for himself with all those one liners, the zingers. But we you're one on one with Hillary Clinton on the stage, how do you think that will work?

GRAHAM: I don't think that will work very well. Trump will start normally and at ease. Donald Trump has given feature length interviews where he's been just fine. He can go without insulting. But if all he is doing is preparing the insults and zingers, a good quote came from a guy named Bret O'Donnell, who used to be a debate coach, and he's a Republican debate strategist now, and said, "That won't play well in a 90-minute debate because it can only go so far." I don't think that's what you need to be working on.

BALDWIN: On the flip side, obviously, you have to be doing your homework. The Americans, especially those undecided, want to know where you stand on policy, on substance but it has to be a delicate punch. At the end of the day, you want that voter to have that punch in the gut, I like that person, correct?

[14:45:11] GRAHAM: That's exactly right. These two candidates have one thing in common, and that is that their favorable ratings go down the more they talk.

BALDWIN: Are low.

GRAHAM: The more they talk. So I would coach them to talk less, get your point across, be succinct, and give up time to the other person.

Let's see how they're preparing. Hillary Clinton is doing exactly -- if you watched the last 20 debates, she's doing what you should expect. She's studying, she's studying Trump, she's studying policy. And Trump is preparing for it just like he did, which is, his personality, his zingers, et cetera. He's got three people supposedly helping him. He has maybe Laura Ingraham, maybe Roger Ailes, and Steve Bannon. For clarity, I'll call him Race Bannon, from the old "Johnny Quest" show. Although, on the scale of rough but lovable, the Bannon works for "Breitbart," so he's more on the lovable. I think they will make it so Trump comes out and he's very forward and a little vicious, but you have to be so careful, because the more he talks, the less people will like him, just like in Clinton. This is a tricky debate for both.

BALDWIN: They have not selected a moderator. Todd Graham, who would you pick?

GRAHAM: Well, you've already said you might be out of the country. You're my first choice. So, all I know is I'm not watching the debates --

BALDWIN: Don't tell everybody that.

GRAHAM: I'm not watching the debates if they say we won't have Brooke.

But there are three people that I think would be fair. The first is NBC's Lester Holt. He doesn't have a lot or debate experience. He seems to be, across the board, a very steady figure that both campaigns would like. For network news, I have one from your and one from FOX. Believe it or not, I think Chris Wallace would be excellent, even though FOX is seen more slighted to the right. Chris has been very good at hosting the debates and very forward in fact- checking. So he would be excellent. And from CNN, his very best job he's ever done was this year. Anderson Cooper had an excellent moderating term at the event. And Trump likes Anderson and on his show quite a bit. I think they would be easily accepted by both campaigns.

BALDWIN: September 26th, I'll be at every one but one, Todd Graham.

Todd Graham, thank you so much. Lots to talk about ahead of these debates. Thank you.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

BALDWIN: We'll pass the memo on to Anderson. That'll be a pretty fun job.

Meantime, coming up, actor and director, Nate Parker, breaking his silence amid calls to boycott the new film "Birth of a Nation." Parker discussing the rape allegations he faced and was cleared of 17 years ago. Why is it resurfacing now? That's coming up.

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[14:52:02] BALDWIN: Nate Parker breaks his silence. He's a director, producer and writer of the Sundance film, "Birth of a Nation," which captures the slave revolt of 1831 led by Nat Turner. And now he's speaking about an incident in his own past. In 1999, he was a student at Kent State University and Parker and his roommate were charged with raping an 18-year-old student. Parker was cleared in trial a couple of years later, and his roommate's guilty verdict eventually overturned in appeal. Now amid all these calls to boycott his new film, Parker is opening up in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Ebony's Britni Danielle.

We have Britni with us now.

Britni, thank you so much. Congratulations on the interview. I have so many questions for you.

BRITNI DANIELLE, EBONY MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me

BALDWIN: You've got it.

This happened 17 years ago and you wrote in your piece, "To paraphrase Tyra Banks, we were all rooting for him." What happened?

DANIELLE: The optics became incredibly awkward. What happened was this rape allegation, which has been around, as he stated, before in his Wikipedia page, but because he wasn't a big star or well know, most people didn't pay attention to it until the Sundance year, the film became a juggernaut and an Oscar contender. With that comes a lot of scrutiny. I think before this, people were rooting for him. This is coming off the heels of "Oscar so white" so even a lot of studio people and academy people were probably hoping that, you know, this --

BALDWIN: Would be it?

DANIELLE: -- takes pressure off the diversity conversation and then things went wrong.

BALDWIN: And then he talked to you. And in talking to you, what I was struck with is how he described how he was back in the day. He said, listen, "I was a dog. I was a player." He talked about how he perceived consent at age 19. What did he share with you?

DANIELLE: He talked a lot about what you just mentioned, that he's been -- since this whole controversy broke, there's been a whole lot of criticism, people have been saying they are not film. There's been positive and negative op-ed, people trying to separate the artists from the film. And apparently he's been reading all of it and while he's been reading all of it, he's been having conversations with friends, some of which -- some of who are rape survivors and so it opened his eyes, he says, to toxic masculinity and rape culture and male privilege. When he was young and a college student, he was a student athlete, too. He was just trying to get girls. He was trying to get girls to go back home with him, trying to get girls, he says, to say "yes," trying to get girls to have sex with him, you know. Owned up to that as a young man, and now he sees that that is not how he should have been.

[14:55:34] BALDWIN: So candid with you in your interview. Thank you so much for sharing a bit of it with us.

Britni Danielle, thank you for sharing with us. I appreciate it.

DANIELLE: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, top Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, stood by her husband, Anthony Weiner, during all of those sexting scandals, but today she announced it is over. She plans to separate after the former congressman and mayoral candidate faces a new round of allegations of sexting with a woman who is not his wife.

We'll be right back.

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