Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Don King Drops N-Word While Introducing Donald Trump; Tulsa Police Shooting Stirs Controversy; Protests in North Carolina. Aired 15-15:30p ET

Aired September 21, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:01]

RAMSIS ADAM, DIRECTOR OF ANALYTICS AND SIMULATION, BOEING: Designs used to be done in what I would refer to as silos. You don't want that system of marking up a design and saying, here's my input, and passing it on to the next person.

If there's an error in it, and it's not caught, it keeps getting passed on. And you don't discover that you have a problem until you start to build the thing.

The power of being together virtually allows us to be able to be a lot more productive, but also be able to come up with solutions much faster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Authorities, they are bracing for even more protests after violence broke out last night in Charlotte, North Carolina, all of this erupting in the wake of the shooting of another black man at the hands of police.

Some of the protesters here, they turned on police. In total, 16 police officers were hurt, multiple vehicles damaged, fires lit and looting broke out. Police releasing tear gas canisters just to try to disperse some of those crowds.

Charlotte police say Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old father of seven, was armed. This is what police say. But Scott's family say he didn't have a gun, they say. Indeed, it was a book. The officer who shot Scott was African-American, is African-American, but his daughter claims her dad's killing was about race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My gosh, you all, look, the police just shot my daddy four times for being black. They Tased him first and then shot him. Talk about he got a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gun. They just shot my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) daddy. My daddy is dead!

They just shot my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) daddy! They just shot my daddy! He's dead! My daddy is dead! My daddy is dead! My daddy is dead!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Those harrowing cries live-streamed on Facebook the moment she learned her father was killed.

First, let's go to Nick Valencia. He's live in Charlotte for us right now.

So, Nick, police reportedly, they do have some sort of footage of the shooting, but they're not releasing it. Tell me why.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They do have video and they said it's part of the investigation.

But part of what's adding to the frustration here among protesters, this is a law that was signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory earlier this summer, HB-972, which makes public -- makes body cam footage from police officers, dash-cam footage unavailable to the public unless a judge orders it to be so.

Also, what's complicating here things is the competing storylines, these competing sets of information, one set of facts being released by the police, the other said of facts, the family says, being released by them. They say there's no way Keith Scott could have been armed, that he didn't own a gun. But police say he was armed at the time of the shooting.

Here's what we do know happened, Brooke. At about 4:00 p.m. yesterday, police say they were serving a warrant for the arrest of somebody completely different. That's when they saw Scott come out of the car with a gun. He went back into the car, they say, and reemerged holding that handgun. He didn't comply with orders to drop the gun.

According to police, that's when at least one officer opened fire, fatally shooting him. Now, just right after the shooting, almost immediately after that fatal shooting of Keith Scott, his daughter took to Facebook to stream a live video.

During that video, she finds out Keith Scott had been killed. It was very raw, very emotional. That video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times and that added to the demonstrations yesterday of those that are trying to confront police officers.

At a press conference earlier, the police chief addressed some of those allegations being made by the Scott family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG, NORTH CAROLINA, POLICE CHIEF: People are watching how we respond, how we react. And I'm optimistic that the results of our action will be positive, will have positive outcomes.

But it's time for the voiceless majority to stand up and be heard. It's time to change the narrative, because I can tell you from the fact facts that the story is a little bit different as to how it's been portrayed so far, especially through social media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: There seems to be an intense amount of public distrust here with the police department that fueled the frustration last night, at least 16 police officers injured in violent protests. At one point, Interstate 85, one of the main thoroughfares into Charlotte, was briefly shut down by a group of demonstrators.

There were other demonstrations being planned today. Just a short time ago, we heard from a local affiliate that local organizers say they have called off those protests to focus instead on a community town hall that they expect to have.

[15:05:01]

We're also hearing a new statement from the attorney general who is speaking out against this -- or on this topic, I should say, saying it should be thoroughly investigated to find the truth and make sure justice is done.

There have been at least six fatal police shootings here in 2016 in Charlotte, according to local affiliates. All of those shootings, Brooke, have been found to be justified -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Keep you hear to the ground on what the community is saying and what police are saying. Nick Valencia, thank you.

As far as the officer is concerned here, the officer who shot Keith Lamont Scott, he's now on paid administrative leave. His name is Brentley Vinson. He joined the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police force just two years ago. In fact, this is a photo we have of him from his time at Liberty University.

It's a Christian school where he played football for a couple of years and then majored in criminal justice. Vinson then went on to join the Carolina Panthers before he became a police officer.

And my next guest knows officer Vinson. Just a short time ago, I talked to Michael Scurlock, who formerly played in Charlotte for the Carolina Panthers, has also worked in law enforcement in the sheriff's department for York County and talked to officer Vinson as recently as last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SCURLOCK, FRIEND OF VINSON: I think both sides are torn. I know the families are torn of the life that was taken. I know the officer is torn because he had to take someone's life.

I have never met any individual, any officer that goes out on a daily basis and says, hey, I'm looking to take someone's life. So I know having the opportunity to speak with Brent Vinson that just last night and... (CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You talked to him just last night?

SCURLOCK: Just last night. I know he's torn.

And any time, no matter if it's justified or unjustified, it's tough when you have to know that you had to take someone else's life.

BALDWIN: Wow. I was told you hadn't talked to him. So you have talked to him. This is news. What did he tell you?

SCURLOCK: Well, without going into great detail, I can tell you that it was -- it's nothing easy. It's nothing easy. And I know that he expressed that through the emotions of his voice over the phone.

And it was a very brief, short conversation. But I assured him that, you know, as much as our community is praying for the loss of Mr. Scott as well, we will also be praying for him as well. And I believe he has a strong support within the community, as well as the Scott family as well, so this at some point in time will all be resolved and brought to light.

BALDWIN: I don't want to pry too much more on I know what was a private conversation, but all these protests, Michael, all these -- these officers injured, shutting down I-85, did he at all -- did the officer at all comment on the outrage in the wake of what happened?

SCURLOCK: Well, I didn't -- Brooke, I didn't ask him. I didn't push that, just because the sensitive the nature of where he was at this point in time of this night.

And I didn't want to ask real sensitive questions like that. I wanted him to have time to just spend with his family as well and just let him know that he and that I'm here, along with my family and others, are here to support him and just have him in our prayers as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Michael Scurlock, thank you so much for your time.

We're also following the deadly police shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There are multiple video there is that show 40-year-old Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, standing next to his car middle of the highway -- remember, his car had broken down -- hands in the air when one officer decides to shoot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Don't shoot! UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Black lives!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Matter!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Black lives!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Matter!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Black lives!

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Matter!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: These are just some of the voices, some of the cries there in the community in Tulsa and police videos of the incident further fueling criticism of the case.

His family spoke exclusively to CNN about Terence Crutcher, his four children, and race and policing in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JOEY CRUTCHER, FATHER OF TERENCE CRUTCHER: The video was released I think on Sunday, and the first time I was able to watch it was on Monday. And I lost it. It's the most devastating thing that has ever happened to me in my life.

LEANNA CRUTCHER, MOTHER OF TERENCE CRUTCHER: What's breaking my heart is that his youngest son, we call him little Terence, asked me day before yesterday, where's my dad? Because he hadn't seen him in a couple of days.

So, in his mind, he's wondering what's going on so. We told him, because we are people of faith, that dad went to heaven. And that kind of satisfied him for the moment, because he knows dad is in a good place.

[15:10:10]

QUESTION: Hillary Clinton talked about your case. She called it intolerable to see something like this. What do you think that this is now a national conversation about what happened to your son? L. CRUTCHER: Well, it should be talked about. People should be

discussing it. And we need to come to some type of way of making this right, getting justice for not only Terence, but for all of those killings across our country.

DR. TIFFANY CRUTCHER, SISTER OF TERENCE CRUTCHER: I hear someone who was paid to protect and serve us prejudging my brother. He didn't know my brother at all.

And I have so many friends who are officers of the law, and they stand with us, and they say that's not representational of who our public servants are supposed to be. And it just validates what we have been angry about, what we have been confused about, what we have been hurt about.

QUESTION: Because he looks like a bad dude, what does that say to you?

T. CRUTCHER: It says that anyone who's big in stature or may have brown skin, it just seems like they automatically criminalize or demonize or say, hey, you know, we're going to get you.

I'm really sad. And I have friends who have young boys, and they're afraid to go to driver's ed. They don't want driver's licenses. They're afraid. And that saddens me.

QUESTION: You want them to know that your brother was not a bad Tuesday, he was a father and a brother and a son.

T. CRUTCHER: He was all of that.

All last night, I have been flooded with love and support from people all around the world from all different backgrounds, all different cultures.

And one that really broke me down and really touched my heart was one of his professors at Tulsa Community College, who said: Terence was in my sociology class last fall. He never missed a class. All he talked about was his children. And his final presentation that he did was on Christianity.

And she said her heart breaks and she's going to miss him. And I lost it. And so that big bad dude mattered. He truly mattered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Powerful interview there.

Ana Cabrera is live in Tulsa for us right now.

Ana, I know you talked to the attorney for Betty Shelby. That was the police officer who shot Crutcher. What did he say?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he is saying they're anxiously awaiting the results of the investigation done by the police department here. Of course, that's the criminal investigation into whether the use of

force was justified. He tells us that his client, officer Betty Shelby, did an interview the local investigators on Monday and that he's hearing their criminal case could be wrapped up as soon as the end of this week, turned over to the DA's office.

So that's a little bit on the timing. He said there's a lot that is not on the video, the video that caused so much outrage and even sparked the Department of Justice to open up a civil rights investigation, where you see Terence Crutcher with his arms up as he's walking away from the officer back toward his vehicles.

What we have learned from the attorney is officer Shelby happened upon Terence Crutcher on that fatal night. She was actually responding to a domestic violence call that was unrelated, and she is coming down the roadway, sees him standing in the road, continues and then finds a car parked in the middle of the roadway.

He says it was still running. She does an inspection, and turns back and has an exchange with Terence Crutcher, which he does not respond to questions. He, we're told, disobeys several of the commands to keep his hands out of the pockets, continues to keep putting them in throughout the conversation.

He tells us she feared that he may have had a weapon either on him or in his vehicle and he maintains, the attorney maintains, that officer Shelby believed he was reaching into the vehicle perhaps to grab a weapon when he she opened fire, killing Terence Crutcher, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. Ana Cabrera in Tulsa, thank you so much.

Meantime, other than covering these shootings here, we also want to talk politics and the politics including Don King. Did you see this? Don King today in a church in Cleveland dropping the N-word while introducing Donald Trump, all of this after Donald Trump says places like Afghanistan are safer than America's inner cities.

We are going to have a discussion on that.

Also, more breaking news, the FBI now releasing this photo. They want you, if you know who these people are, to call them. These two apparently were seen removing a bomb from a bag in New York City over the weekend. And they are releasing this new video showing scorch marks in the New York/New Jersey bombing suspect's backyard.

[15:15:02]

So much more to talk about. You're watching CNN's special coverage. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Let's talk Charlotte. Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has just weighed in on the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by a police officer there. Cam said he wouldn't speak specifically on the incident because of a lack of information, but what he did do was talk about social injustice overall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAM NEWTON, CAROLINA PANTHERS PLAYER: I have a son. How will it be -- and a daughter that I'm responsible for. So how would I be if one day they come home and it's no more daddy, you know?

And it's not like -- it's just like, OK, well, you can get a settlement for -- it doesn't matter. Money doesn't matter in that. We just need people to be held accountable. And that's all.

[15:20:01]

When you look at the most dangerous cities in America, you know, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chicago, Miami, Louisiana, I know, from being a black person, it's a lot of black people that don't do right by black people. So you can't be a hypocrite and just say, oh, well, a white man or a white police officer killed a black man.

Now, that's still messed up. I'm not sitting up saying that it's OK. I'm just saying we just still got to be -- have a clear-eyed vision on both sides. And it starts with everybody holding each other accountable and policing yourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Atlanta.

Stephen Jackson, retired NBA player, spent part of his career in Charlotte with the Bobcats, currently the Hornets.

Stephen Jackson, so, so nice to have you on. Welcome.

STEPHEN JACKSON, RETIRED NBA PLAYER: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: I'm sure you heard Cam Newton there. Also just wanted you to come on and just tell me -- you have followed the shootings, especially most recently Charlotte and Tulsa. What's your reaction?

JACKSON: Well, it's sad.

And a lot of people say a lot of things, but my question is really, why every time a black man get pulled over the cops are so nervous? Why do we seem so threatening? I think we all have the same rights. We're all human beings.

We all wake up, tie our shoes and do everything the same. Why are they so nervous when a black man is pulled over? And that's the biggest question. Do they know something we don't know? That's just the question. I don't know why. Why do they get so nervous when they pull us over? That's the big question for me.

BALDWIN: Why do you think it is? Do you have any law enforcement friends, Stephen? JACKSON: Well, I do. And I have never had any problem with law

enforcement to that extent.

But maybe they feel threatened by us because we're more powerful than we even know. Being a black man in America, we dominate sports, we dominate entertainment, so we have a lot of power. And I don't think we know that.

And I just think we have been treated -- as a black man, I know the black race has been treated so bad for so long. I think a lot of it is out of guilt and understand that we feel a certain way, the way we have been treated.

And I just don't understand. Like I say, I have a lot of police friends in my hometown who are from my hometown who do a great of policing because they're from the area. They know the people in those areas. So I think the perfect answer to stop these problems is to have police from these areas police their own cities.

That way, they will know the people and allow those situations to be resolved.

BALDWIN: You heard in Dallas that police chief then saying, come join us, after his own officers were killed there.

But I wanted to talk to you. As a Carolina guy, specifically, this story out of Charlotte, it's tricky depending on who you ask, because there are two very different versions of the story. Right? The family of the victim says he had a book, he was reading a book in the car.

Police say no, it wasn't a book, it was a gun, they found a handgun on the scene.

What do you make of these two very different versions?

JACKSON: It's kind of hard to -- you feel sympathy for the family. You want to believe the daughter.

But at the same time, there's a lot of great policemen out here that have nothing to hide and do tell the truth. So you're kind of in a gray area.

But, at the end of the day, I'm from Port Arthur, Texas. I have seen warrants get handed out in my day with guys that actually did commit crimes and did commit murder, and they didn't get shot and get their lives taken.

So, like I said, it's a way to do it. And it just seems like it's some type of way that these officers that are killing these people are kind of nervous when they're approaching people. And the reason why, we all don't know. But you never can make an excuse for somebody committing -- killing someone. You never know what's going on in their mind.

You can give them all kinds of tests, you can ask them all kinds of questions, but you never know exactly what was going on through their mind at that moment.

BALDWIN: There are members of the black community in Charlotte who are furious. I'm sure you have seen the video of the protests last night.

They basically shut down part of I-85. You know I-85 is a busy, busy highway.

JACKSON: Right.

BALDWIN: You have this pastor and community leader essentially calling for an economic boycott. I want you to listen to what he said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. B.J. MURPHY, NATION OF ISLAM: So, I say take your money out of North Lake Mall. Take your money out of South Park Mall. Take your money out of the Epicenter.

Hell, let's don't even have the CIAA this year. How are you going to party, have a drink in your hand and we ain't getting no damn justice in here? Let everybody feel the pain economically of what we're feeling physically when you kill us.

So, that's what we're calling for. We're calling for an economic boycott in the city of Charlotte. Don't spend no money with no white folks that don't respect us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Stephen, you hear him. And you hear his passion and his frustration. But do you think that that is the solution? Do you think that that will help?

JACKSON: No, I think coming together is always good.

Like I say, as a black man, we have more power than we know. But at the same time, that's not going to fix Brenda and Casey's mama that is living in those projects that can't feed their kids or can't pay their bills. That's not going to help them.

[15:25:05]

So, I think there's a way to do it. A lot of times, a lot of these businesses that you want to boycott, you have a lot of black people that work for these businesses and depend on that check every month.

So if you're not going to reach out and help these families directly, that's a different situation. But like I said, there's ways to do it. Coming together is always good, but it has got to be done the right way and you have got to be able to help people that's willing to boycott.

BALDWIN: Let me come back to your point about maybe some of these officers are nervous. Right? That was your word. Maybe they're nervous going into some of these communities.

But when you look at Charlotte, you have a black police chief and the officer who shot and killed this man is African-American.

JACKSON: Right. Right.

Well, that's a touchy situation, because, like I said, we are on the gray line not knowing if it was a book or a gun. If he did have a gun, then officers are taught to protect themselves. And that's only right.

And when serving a warrant, as I have seen before, the officers are definitely on edge because a lot of the times, when they're serving these warrants, they're serving these warrants to people who are willing to kill who have no love for anyone. So I can understand that.

So, like I said, I'm kind of with Cam on this one. It's kind of a gray area. I really don't know what really happened. But at the end of the day, any time a life is taken and there's some controversy in it, it's a touchy subject.

BALDWIN: I want to play some sound.

Shannon Sharpe, Shannon Sharpe, former ball player, he was recently on a show talking about some of these shootings and this is his advice he offered up to white people. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON SHARPE, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I see a guy selling C.D.s and he's killed. I see a guy selling loose-leaf cigarettes and he's killed.

See, that's what gets us up in arms, because you say noncompliance is a death sentence. We see what happened in Colorado. The guy killed 12, and they take him alive. We see what happened in North -- in Charleston, nine parishioners. He drives. Not only do they take him alive. They take him by Burger King because he's hungry.

So you think we're supposed to be OK with this? Don't tell us what to grieve for and don't tell us how long we should grieve. Oh, slavery happened. You -- And I'm like, hold up, wait a minute. It happened. It existed.

I say, I have never heard a person tell a Jewish person, the Holocaust, you weren't in the Holocaust. Your mom -- they don't say that. But they tell -- oh, you're black? Get over slavery. Your mom wasn't in a slavery. You weren't enslaved.

No, hear me. I'm trying to have a conversation, because this is what will happen. The peaceful protests, we will try peaceful rap, like Colin Kaepernick sitting down and taking a knee. And then, when you won't listen, we will make you hear us.

You will have a Ferguson, you will have a Baltimore, or you will have a Watts in the '60s. You don't want that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Have you noticed, Stephen -- I mean, also people are bringing up that this suspected bomber over the weekend, the New York/New Jersey suspected terrorist, right, who you have the seen of video of him, wheeled away, shot in the arm, wheeled away alive.

This is a man, according to the charges, wanted to kill people. And you compare that to these unarmed black deaths in this country. How do you view that?

JACKSON: There's a lot of -- you can look on YouTube and see countless times where a white man was waving a gun, actually shot in the air, and got arrested without getting shot.

So there's definitely room to fight that case. I mean, it happens a lot. And you have got to understand that. Racism has been going on for a long time. Slavery has been going on for a long time. It still exists. It's 300 years, and there's still racism on black people. It hasn't went anywhere.

And we have to understand that. But, at the same time, it's more blacks getting killed on camera than anything. And if a lot of these cops or whoever was killing these black people are getting arrested and being accountable for their mistakes, I see people every day get pulled over for a pound or two of marijuana, and they're getting 20, 30 years.

So, if you can get away with murder, it is going to cause a problem when black people are not getting justice for little countless things like this.

BALDWIN: Stephen, one more question and then I promise I will let you go.

But I don't know how close you have been following this election. But you have Donald Trump today. He was in this African-American church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. And he was introduced by the infamous.

JACKSON: Don Coon.

BALDWIN: Don King.

JACKSON: Yes, I have seen him.

BALDWIN: There you go.

So, let me play this for other folks who haven't, when he slipped up and used the N-word. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON KING, FOUNDER, DON KING PRODUCTIONS: I told Michael Jackson. I said, if you're poor, you're a poor Negro. I will use the N-word.

But if you are rich, you are a rich Negro. If you are intelligent, intellectual, you're an intellectual Negro. If you are a dancing and sliding and gliding nigger -- I mean Negro.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Does that bother you? Does he bother you?

JACKSON: Yes, I mean, I have never been a...

BALDWIN: That was a sigh.

JACKSON: He -- he's just -- he's a pawn put up there to help Donald Trump.

I think Don King has always...