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Charlotte Protests Continue Despite Curfew; Police Won't Enforce Curfew If Things Stay Calm; Attorney: Video Unclear On What's In Victim's Hands; Athletes Reacts to Protests; Trump Appeals to Black Voters, Calls for National Anti-Crime Agenda; Obama Comments on Protests. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired September 23, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

[01:00:26] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm John Vause in Los Angeles. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We're following the BREAKING NEWS out of Charlotte, North Carolina where protesters are again on the streets defying a midnight to 6:00 a.m. curfew. The demonstrations, though, have been mostly peaceful, in sharp contrast to Wednesday's violence. But two officers are being treated after protesters sprayed them with a chemical agent. The demonstration started on Tuesday, that's when police shot and killed an African-American man. His family has now seen dash cam and body cam video of the shooting, and they say there is no clear evidence he was armed. Our Boris Sanchez is on the streets of Charlotte. He joins us live, Boris, as best you can tell from where you are, how many protesters are still out there despite that city-wide curfew?

[01:01:11] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really hard to tell, John, because they've been moving nonstop all night. To give you an idea, my colleague, our photographer, Jerry Simonson is wearing a fitness tracker, and from the time that they started walking earlier this evening, we've counted more than five miles, more -- well over 100 people, more than 200 at some points walking down the streets of downtown Charlotte making several loops around the area. The protests were mostly peaceful. This all started back at the Omni Hotel where things really got heated last night between officers that were in tactical gear and protesters. And the site of where a young man - a 26-year-old man was killed from what we're hearing was a civilian on civilian gunshot. From what we understand, that's still being investigated right now. Officials are looking at all kinds of surveillance footage to try and determine exactly how that unfolded and potentially press charges.

There earlier today, there was a vigil that started at about 8:00 p.m. There were local faith leaders that were gathered, saying prayers and holding hands in that area. There were very peaceful conversations being held by the community. That group started to swell, and that's when they started moving around the area. At one point, they stopped at a park, they stop again at the headquarters of the police department, chanting slogans. They laid down on the ground at one point to represent, you know, the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. And then, they got back up and started walking again. They walked toward a detention center, not far from police headquarters, where they started chanting to the prisoners, "We see you, we love you." And the lights, actually, believe it or not in the prison, started flickering so the prisoners responded to them. They continued moving, again, stopping in several different areas. But there was this kind of a waiting game. Waiting for midnight to see how police would respond, to see if they would enforce that curfew ultimately.

When we heard from Charlotte Police, they told us that as long as the protesters remained peaceful, they would not enforce the curfew. And this is very different than what we saw last night. We were actually just standing down the street from here last night. And there were fires set. There was a local news photographer that was shoved to the ground. Someone was badly hurting him. He was incapacitated, he couldn't get up on his own. Now, very, very different. The hotel that's across from the street from us, that was being vandalized last night, wild side of it now are several Humvees and National Guard Officers, service men and women that have been out here all night, keeping watch. You could see there are many of them to my left right now, and at one point, just down the street from here at our corner, we counted more than 25 of them. So their presence, very strongly felt here in downtown Charlotte. Again, the protesters remain mostly peaceful tonight. There were some tense moments, some words of agitation, but no glass being thrown at officers, no, you know, obvious acts of violence toward other protesters, mostly peace and a demonstration of peace here tonight, John.

VAUSE: Boris, thank you for the update. We'll check in with you again later this hour. We want to talk to one of the protesters now. Her name is Kristine Slate. She's a student at the University of North Carolina. She joins us on the line. Kristine, you're marching with the protesters in downtown Charlotte. What's the plan? Kristine, are you there?

[01:04:39] KRISTINE SLATE, CHARLOTTE PROTESTERS (via telephone): Hello?

VAUSE: Hey, Kristine, I'm glad we've got you. I understand you're marching with the protesters right now. How many protesters are with you, and I guess, what's the plan here? How long do you intend to stay on the streets? I think we're having some trouble hearing Kristine. So, some problems on the line that we'll try and get in touch with Kristine.

SLATE: Yes.

VAUSE: Because she is with the protesters. Kristine, you there? OK. I think we've lost Kristine, but we will try and get in touch with Kristine in a moment. But for now, let's bring in our Law Enforcement Contributor Steve Moore and Civil Rights Attorney Areva Martin for more on this. Steve, first to you, the curfew the police have said that while the protests remain peaceful, they won't remove the protesters from the streets. Is that - is that just to avoid any confrontation?

[01:05:29] STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I think so. And usually I am pretty -- I tend to fall along the lines, if you have a rule, you enforce the rule. However as we've said all along, these are not normal times. These are - these call for - this times call for some nuanced thought, and so the fact that they are not enforcing the curfew in order to avoid a confrontation as long as it stays peaceful, I think is a probably a wise decision.

VAUSE: Areva, does it then raise the point of, you know, why have a curfew in the first place?

[01:06:01] AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. I think it raises the bigger issue of the lack of leadership that we've seen throughout from the Chief of Police, from the Mayor of Charlotte, from the Governor of North Carolina. There was an earlier report on CNN that many of the protesters didn't even know that there is a curfew. So they haven't done a good job of disseminating that information. They haven't come forward and provided information throughout this entire day. In fact, they've been pretty silent. And I think the reason we continue to see these protests is because of a lack of transparency.

VAUSE: We'll get to that in a moment. But very quickly on the tactic, Steve, which are being used tonight, the National Guard deployed essentially to protect the buildings, the police then being freed up to deal with the protesters, that seems to kept tonight fairly quiet.

MOORE: Yeah, I think it's a brilliant plan. I think - I think there has been in contrast to what Areva believes. I think there's been some excellent decisions here. And the National Guard are not just -- it's not a bunch of soldiers coming in necessarily. National Guard troops have military police units. So these are trained -- likely trained police officers.

VAUSE: OK. And we are looking at some live images there, now from Charlotte, North Carolina. You can see the protesters are still out there. And Areva, one of the reasons why they are still out there is because they are demanding to see the videotape, the police tape.

MARTIN: Yeah.

VAUSE: Officials are still refusing to release it. The family of Keith Scott, they get - they got to see it today, and their lawyer actually described what was on the tape. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN BAMBERG, SCOTT FAMILY ATTORNEY: See officers yelling commands, you see Mr. Scott step out of the vehicle. His hands are down by his side. He is acting calm. He's acting in a very non-aggressive manner. He looks to be confused, to be quite honest. You do see something in his hand, but it's impossible to make out from the video of what it is. I do know that at the moment that he was shot, he was actually -- he actually appeared to be stepping backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I mean, there's a lot in there, stepping backwards, he was calm, his hands were by his side. Then why not put this tape out and show everybody?

MARTIN: That's the million-dollar question. So when we talk about leadership, I think there is a complete lack of leadership, where it's Ferguson all over again. And if we learned anything from Ferguson, we learned that the public demands information, and that the law enforcement officials need to provide the information. We're hearing second-hand accounts from the police chief, now we're hearing it from the family's attorney, but we're not getting an opportunity as the public to see the videotape, and that's a problem.

VAUSE: And so, we should emphasize the point here that is the attorney for the family. Sorry. Is the police - sorry.

MOORE: Exactly. And the other thing we - the other thing we learned in Ferguson is that what witnesses say and what the families say is not always something that even the United States Department of Justice will prosecute. I mean, the officer was cleared in Ferguson, and the officer may be cleared here. We don't know the facts yet.

VAUSE: Because there is still an investigation ongoing.

MOORE: Absolutely.

MARTIN: But we're jumping ahead in terms of positives -

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: Well, like calling him a murderer, that was jumping ahead.

MARTIN: Well, no. But that has nothing to do with this conversation. We're talking about transparency here. And so, whether someone is prosecuted is a different question. We're talking about restoring trust in a community that has lost trust. And you do that through transparency and accountability.

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: That I agree -- That I agree with.

MARTIN: It's not transparent when you don't provide the videotape.

VAUSE: OK. Well, the police chief there says, he will not release the tape, because he wants to maintain the integrity of the investigation, and he also had this reason.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERR PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE CHIEF: I don't want to set a bad press and -- that I'm releasing lots of video, and I think you could be destroying some of the trust of some of our most vulnerable victims especially those in domestic violence and sexual assault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, Areva, he's looking at the bigger picture here. Doesn't want to set a press (INAUDIBLE) MARTIN: Yeah. I don't even know what he is talking about, when he's

talk about sexual violence -- victims of sexual assault. He has a crisis on his hand, and as a Chief of Police, you expect him to step up and do what's right for this community and respond to this crisis. And this community is asking for answers. And it's important to note that this isn't just about the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. This is a community that has been plagued by issues of strained race relations between the African-American community and this police department. There was a 20-year-old African-American man, who was shot by police, he was tried, there was a hung jury. And again, there were questions about accountability and transparency.

VAUSE: Steve, from your point of view, the reasons put out there by the police chief, what do you think?

MOORE: I'm not seeing a valid reason not to release the tapes. Again, these are not normal times. And just because you release the tape in this situation doesn't mean you're obligated down the line to release it in another.

VAUSE: OK. There is some evidence from the scene. There is a photograph which we've seen. I'm going to show you that photograph now. It's - apparently, it was taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. At the bottom of the photograph, there is that black object. Some say this is evidence that a gun was found by police at the scene. I know it's difficult to actually make out what it actually is. But Steve, what's your take?

MOORE: Well, from my - from my experience, that looks like it's very possibly a gun. However, that's why we're going to go through the entire process. And my feeling is here, if there was no gun, then -- and the person complied with police - the police instructions, then the officer committed a crime. If however there was a gun, and he refused to put it down, then the person essentially caused the officer to shoot him.

VAUSE: Areva, as a Defense Lawyer, if you look at that photograph, what would you make of it?

MARTIN: Not very much.

VAUSE: Why so?

MARTIN: Because we can't tell what that is. And we just heard the attorney for the family say that they watched the videotape, and it was impossible to determine what - if anything was in his hands.

MOORE: The attorney for the family.

MARTIN: Well - OK, but that's what we have now. We have the attorney for the family speaking because we don't have the videotape, which the police won't release. So, if we don't want to hear accounts from the attorney for the family, let's get the videotape. We can't have it both ways.

VAUSE: Just stay with us because we have Kristine back on the line. She's one of the protesters who was actually on the streets of Charlotte right now. So, Kristine, just tell us, how many people are around you right now? How many protesters are still out? And what's the game plan here? How long do you intend to stay out protesting?

SLATE: Well, while I was out there, I believe there was close to a thousand, maybe more people out there. It was a huge crowd. It stretched over the course of several blocks. And I'm not sure how long the intention is to stay out, but there are still a lot of people there, and it's interesting sight to see.

VAUSE: A lot of people, I understand, were heading toward the interstate. Is that right?

SLATE: Yes. Yes.

VAUSE: Why heading to the interstate? What's the point of that?

SLATE: I honestly do not know the intentions behind heading to the interstate. I'm not sure what the purpose of that was. Me and my group that I came with, we decided to go to a different direction and head back to our vehicle. So, we are no longer there. But we were - we just left.

VAUSE: OK. As we're speaking to you, Kristine, we are look at live pictures of what looks like a number of protesters there on an overpass of an interstate highway, I think. But Kristine, you did speak with the police there because you were breaking the curfew at one point, it went into effect at midnight. What did the police say to you?

SLATE: The police said to us that basically as long - that the curfew was going to be enforced, however as long as we were protesting peacefully that no violence would - and there are like no outbursts of violence would occur, then there would be no repercussions. So, as long as we were all --

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE)

SLATE: -- just fully just speaking our mind. For example, like, with the incidences of last night, there were lots of people and lots of violence last night, lots of outrage. And they said if that was to happen tonight, then they would be forced to arrest and detain individuals tonight. However this night was not dedicated for that. That was dedicated to us and the protesters getting our voices heard, making a stand and even though we were breaking the curfew, that was our way of saying that we understand what the law enforcement is doing, and that they're only doing their job. However, we are here to get our voices heard and to say that enough is enough, and this is what we believe in.

VAUSE: OK, Kristine, we appreciate you being on the line, telling us exactly what is going on as we look at those live pictures there from Charlotte, North Carolina with a small number of people, small number of protesters, who appear to be now on an interstate. They actually did this on Tuesday night as well. It delayed traffic for quite some time. I just want to thank Steve Moore and Areva Martin for being with us this hour, of course, there are still a lot more to get you on the story, and we'll see you again next hour. So, thank you for being with us, as always.

MARTIN: Thanks John.

VAUSE: In the meantime, we'll take a short break. When we come back, we will return to Charlotte. The city is under a curfew after a third night of protests over a police shooting of an African-American man. Also ahead, basketball legend Michael Jordan reacting to the protests there. What he is now urging the residents of charlotte to do next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:17:15] (SPORTS HEADLINES)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:19:01] VAUSE: A glimpse inside the police command center there in Charlotte, North Carolina. The police department released these photographs on Wednesday night. Officials say they have access to more than 1,200 cameras across the city. A curfew is underway right now but police don't intend to enforce it after two nights of violent protests, Thursday's demonstration has been largely peaceful. So with more of that, let's bring you back in, Steve Moore, our law enforcer contributor as well Areva Martin as Civil Defense Attorney. We also have Brian Claypool who is a Defense Attorney as well. Thank you, guys, for being with us. Back to -- back to you, Steve. The -- earlier today, the Governor of North Carolina was putting some blame on the media for the violence that we saw on Wednesday. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. PAT MCCRORY (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Frankly, the media presence can also at times escalate, with all due respect, some people's behavior. Which I ask the media to be mindful of because as you give publicity or you film types of anarchy, it only encourages those to do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But the bottom line here is, you see, these days everybody has a camera, everyone's looking for a YouTube moment.

MOORE: Yeah.

VAUSE: It doesn't seem entirely fair.

MOORE: It's everybody's -- everybody in that crowd had a -- had a nice Hi-Def camera, so the other -- the other thing is, I strongly believe, and I'm -- and I'm not actually a journalist, but I believe that the media is there to make sure that things aren't swept under the rug and things -- people see things, and is he right? Yes, yes. Cameras can accelerate bad behavior, but that's a price of the free press.

VAUSE: Yeah, and again, we'll keeping a close eye on these live pictures from Charlotte, North Carolina. We can see a few protesters there now, remain on the streets, some have headed to an interstate highway. But Brian, to you, it would seem that the authorities there -- the police haven't really worked out how to deal with, you know, the issue of the media, with the cameras and trying to contain the situation.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right. Well, why do we have dash cam videos on police cars? Why do we have body cameras on police officers if we're not going to use those cameras and disseminate those or give them out to the public after a shooting? The indication it gives to people, John, is that police departments are cherry picking these videos. In other words, they get the videotape then they figure, "Hey, if this benefits us, we'll release it. If maybe it doesn't, then we'll hold on to it." That's the problem I have, first of all. Second of all, though, John, videotapes are usually the best evidence of whether there's been a justifiable shooting or not, but it's not the only evidence. And what we did learn some information from this videotape that the family saw, Lamont's lawyer said that his arms were straight down when he was shot and he was backing up, that is critical. Because even if he had a gun in his hand and it's downward, and his arms are straight down, and he's moving backward, then arguably, the police officer should not have shot. So, it's not a crime to carry a gun in North Carolina.

MOORE: Yeah, that's --

VAUSE: Okay. Look, I want to also -- I want you to hear something from the Mayor of Charlotte, because she is one of the few people who has actually watched this videotape. And I want you to listen to how she described it, and what her opinion of the tape is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER ROBERTS, MAYOR OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: I actually was able to view that video today, and I'm in agreement with our chief as well as the family of Mr. Scott, and both the family and the chief have said the video is ambiguous. It is not clear. We have a body camera in motion, you have things in the way and obscured views. It is not clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN: I think she misstated what the family attorney --

VAUSE: Right.

MARTIN: --said. He said it was very clear to him that Mr. Scott was walking backwards with his hands down.

VAUSE: He did - it was all clear if he had a gun.

MARTIN: Well, he was very clear that he didn't see anything in that tape to suggest that Mr. Scott --

VAUSE: Right. MARTIN: --aimed a gun or did anything to provoke the police officers or did anything to cause the police officers to be justified in shooting him. That was very clear to me in his statement.

MOORE: I think what this -- I think what this really shows though is what the difference is from people who have been on the street, being a police officer, being law enforcement and people who haven't. If somebody was walking towards you, or stepping back and they had a gun in their hand, you have -- and if you -- if you pull this, it really will - you've got to be on the street and understand what it's like and how quickly a person can bring a gun up and fire.

VAUSE: We did hear that from a lot from law enforcement officials.

MARTIN: But you know what? But that argument assumes that we're not intelligent enough to watch the videotape.

VAUSE: Yeah.

MARTIN: Let us see the videotape. Why are we hearing all of these accounts of the video tape?

MOORE: I'm agreeing with you. I'm agreeing with you.

VAUSE: We all agree that the tape should be released, but Brian, I guess, you know, the problem, I think, the mayor might have right now is a lack -- a simple lack of understanding of the complete lack of trust right now between the officials and the protesters and the African-American community. What she is saying is, I've seen the tape. It's ambiguous. You just have to trust me.

CLAYPOOL: Or also said that the video shouldn't be released during a pending investigation. That is -- that is a major problem as well. But there's a couple other ways, John, that we could find out whether he actually did have a gun. Police officers customarily had -- they wear a microphone on their lapel, John, and I will guarantee you that 99.9% of the time, if a police officer sees a suspect with a gun, he or she will immediately convey that information through audio dispatch. They will say, "Suspect has gun." So we need to analyze, for example, the dispatch tapes here. What was communicated by those police officers to dispatch? If they did not indicate that he has a gun, that is a plausible argument and a powerful argument to suggest he did not have a gun in his hands.

MOORE: That's not -- that's not --

VAUSE: Last word to Steve this hour or this moment.

MOORE: When you see somebody with a gun, you draw down on them, and you deal with the situation first, you communicate later.

VAUSE: OK. Again, we'll leave it for now, because, Brian --

MOORE: I've been there, have you?

VAUSE: OK. We'll keep this going for Brian. CLAYPOOL: We should be taking a position of cover as well. You shouldn't be walking right up on a suspect.

VAUSE: OK.

MOORE: Oh, thank you. Thank you.

VAUSE: OK.

MOORE: We'll talk. You can help me out.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break and we'll continue this discussion in a moment. We are continuing for the BREAKING NEWS out of Charlotte, North Carolina, protesters are still out in force for a third straight night. We'll have a live report from the scene in a moment. Also ahead, athletes reacting to the protest and the police shootings of African-American men. What the basketball legend, Michael Jordan, has to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIVDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, lay down like you have been shot. Everybody, lay down like you've been shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We're lying down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lay down and grab my -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:30:00] VAUSE: Protesters lying down on the streets in Charlotte, North Carolina. Police have no plans to enforce the midnight-to-6:00 a.m. curfew as long as the situation remains calm. The downtown streets were filled for a third night with many protesting the shooting of an African-American man. But Thursday's demonstrations have been mostly peaceful. Two officers are being treated after protesters sprayed them with a chemical agent. National Guard and state troops have been deployed.

Let's go to CNN's Boris Sanchez, who is live in Charlotte.

Boris, some of the protesters have headed to the interstate. They did that on Tuesday night. What more can you tell us?

SANCHEZ: They did that earlier tonight at one point, John. There was a huge crowd of people that were split up into two. Some continued to make circles here in downtown and others went to the interstate not far from here and met with a heavy law enforcement presence and there was tear gas dispersed. Many of those people were arrested and they moved away from that area.

The focus became downtown, where we walked, according to a fitness tracker, more than five miles across downtown. We made several -- at least four loops around this downtown area. It all started with a vigil for 26-year-old young man, the protester that was killed during a shootout where another civilian apparently opened fire.

There was a vigil and prayer service for him. People were holding hands and having very frank, heated conversations. The crowd then continued growing and growing and they took off and started walking. At one point, stopping at a police station, lying down to simulate a police shooting. There was a very different tone in the air tonight. Partly, I think, because of the way this protest started with faith leaders going about in prayer and starting it as a memorial service for the young man that was killed protesting here last night and for Keith Lamont Scott.

We also saw a reduced interference from law enforcement as the crowd was moving around there was certainly a police presence and a National Guard presence as well. A lot of the servicemen and women were heavily armed. But there wasn't a direct confrontation. They let them continue walking. There was that 12:00 p.m. curfew, but as long as they were peaceful, the officials let them continue.

At this point, if they are headed toward the highway, they will likely meet another law enforcement contingent there. Right now, where we are downtown, things are mostly peaceful. In fact, we've seen a lot of the National Guard has headed away -- John?

VAUSE: Boris, thank you for keeping us up to date. We appreciate it.

Boris Sanchez, live there from Charlotte.

Meantime, basketball legend, Michael Jordan, has reacted to the violent protests in Charlotte. The chairman of the Hornets basketball team said in a statement, "In light of the tragic events in the past three days it's more important than ever that we restore calm and come together in peaceful demonstration and conversation and in constructive, and non non-violent ways. '

Joining me here in Los Angeles, senior writer for ESPN, Arash Markazi; and social commentator, Segun Oduolowu.

Thank you for being with us.

Segun, first to you. Jordan made no mention of the fact that the Charlotte team store had been damaged. But for someone who is such a big figure in the African-American community would this statement had been more meaningful in front of a camera?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: It would have.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Why not?

ODUOLOWU: I grew up loving Michael Jordan. I played college basketball and coach kids in basketball. Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time. He is just an absentee landlord when it comes to social issues. There have been numerous opportunities for him to speak up throughout his career, and he always played it safe and he always goes with cash. He always goes with capitalism before people dying over his shoes. Now it's in his backyard. He went to the University of North Carolina. Charlotte, this is his home territory. He is the only black owner in the NBA. To make this mealy-mouthed comment without -- you know what, Michael, put yourself in front of a camera.

VAUSE: Step up?

ODUOLOWU: Like, we loved you in stadiums. Step up. You are repped by Nike, just do it.

VAUSE: This is a development. He has only spoken out once on a social issue, and that's was only a few months ago.

ARASH MARKAZI, SENIOR WRITER, ESPN: That was in July. And that was another thing that he pre-wrote, and who knows who helped him with that statement.

And you know, to your point, that statement would have been more powerful in a press conference or in the community or somewhere where they can see and hear Michael Jordan himself. This is in Charlotte at the hometown where his team is. This is definitely one of those situations -- the first time he did it was July 2016. His career spanned from 1984. He retired and came back, for it to take this long. But that was during a time period -- not to excuse it, Tiger Woods didn't come out, Michael Jordan. That was when guys did not do this. For players to come out now and say sports is your escape. It should not be an escape any more. There are things we need to talk about.

[01:35:42] VAUSE: Also the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, Cam Newton, is also speaking out about the unrest. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAM NEWTON, CAROLINA PANTHERS QUARTERBACK: I know from being a black person it's a lot of black people that don't do right by black people. You can't be a hypocrite and say a white man or a white police officer killed a black man. Nah, that's still messed up. But we still got to have a clear-eyed vision on both sides. It starts with holding everybody accountable and policing yourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Segun, that is a guy who previously said America is beyond racism. This is a positive direction.

ODUOLOWU: You don't get to have it both ways, Cam. But I have more respect for Cam Newton as the quarterback of the Charlotte Panthers standing in front of a microphone and putting his face and himself to the comments.

Arash, you were there at the Espy's when Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul, they put themselves in front. Lebron James, who is as big as any basketball star has ever been in

the sports, willing to put his name and brand and himself in front of his statements. I respect what Cam said. And he's right, black people don't always do right by black people. But when we are talking about people paid to protect and serve, to work within our communities, people that are licensed to carry guns, and we believe, we put our trust in them, the police officers have a higher level of responsibility than people walking the street. I agree with being responsible, but police need to do better.

VAUSE: Arash, in the '90s, they did not do that, but they are now. Is a lot of it because of Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback? There is a "Time" magazine cover. He is on the front of it. This is the guy who started the protest a month ago kneeling during the national anthem.

MARKAZI: There are two points. The Espy's is a fun event. It began with a somber message and a challenge. Chris Paul, Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo challenged the people in the room. You have a platform to do something with this platform. And Colin Kaepernick, who is not the starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, made a stance, and people could say what they wan, but because of that -- I mean, this has gone to high schools. Marching bands are now kneeling. Sports are an escape but it is a flat form. Sunday afternoon, the Carolina Panthers will play a game in front of national television sold-out crowd. I can promise you there will be something, whether they kneel or do something, the players can't be silent.

VAUSE: There is a poll that came out that found that Kaepernick is the most unliked, the unpopular player in the NFL.

ODUOLOWU: It's unique. He's the most unliked player in the NFL but his Jerseys are the top selling Jerseys.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

ODUOLOWU: It's like Cam, you can't please everybody. To some people, Kaepernick is a hero. To others, he represents everything that is wrong. How dare he take that stance. But, again, sports may be an escape but it's the beauty of what Dr. King said, content of your character, not color of your skin. Sport is merit based. Treat me based on what I do and not what you assume I am. If you stomp me, don't assume, because I'm black, with my hands up, don't assume I'm a criminal. Treat by my actions. That's not what they're doing here. People are being shot in the street, not for their actions, but because of what they think they're going to do. It's not fair.

VAUSE: We'll leave it there.

Segun, Arash, thank you very much. Appreciate you coming in.

ODUOLOWU: Thank you.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. Next on NEWSROOM L.A. how Donald Trump is using the unrest in Charlotte to try to appeal to African- American voters.

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[01:42:56] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Police in Charlotte, North Carolina say they will not enforce the city's curfew if protests remain peaceful. Demonstrators have been protesting for three days now after police killed an African-American man on Tuesday. The family of Keith Lamont Scott and the city's mayor watched the video of the shooting. They say it is unclear what may have been in Scott's hands when he was killed. Thursday's protests were much calmer, but two police officers have been treated. Protesters apparently sprayed them with a chemical.

While Charlotte protests the deadly shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, Donald Trump is condemning demonstrators that turned violent. He's also calling for a national anti-crime agenda to combat crime in the U.S. and he's appealing to African-Americans to join his campaign.

For more, let's bring in Eric Bauman, the California Democratic Party vice chair; and John Philips, a CNN political commentator and a Donald Trump supporter.

The situation in North Carolina, this is a state that is crucial in deciding the next president of the United States. What do you think the impact of the police shooting and the few days of violence we've seen will have on the outcome.

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We have daylight between now and the election. That is unclear. But chaos is not good. Chaos is specifically not good if you are the party in power. We saw what happened with Hurricane Katrina where blame was shifted from the mayor to the governor all the way up to President Bush. You're doing a good job, Brownie. And you could see elements of that happen here. We just don't know at this point.

VAUSE: A heck of a job. But I get your point.

Eric, could this drive more African-Americans to vote?

ERIC BAUMAN, CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY VICE CHAIR: You know what, with Donald Trump's reaction is to say we need a national program of Stop and Frisk --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: He said that about Chicago.

BAUMAN: He said what a wonderful job that did in New York. This is a program in which African-Americans and Latino men were targeted 85 percent of the time. I don't think this is the solution you want. What it probably does is drive people of color ever more strongly decide the Democrats. We would all prefer peaceful protests. There are legitimate reasons. Back and brown men are being killed all across the country and police are also being targeted. None of us think that is a good thing. But our response should not be to agitate. Our response should be to promote good, peaceful protests. [11:45:33] VAUSE: With that in mind, President Obama has made his

first comments about the violence in Charlotte and he is pushing for a peaceful resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's important to separate out the pervasive sense of frustration among a lot of African-Americans about shootings of people and the sense that justice is not always, you know, color blind. The way we change the system requires us to be able to reach out and engage the broader American community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: John, an appropriate response from the president?

PHILLIPS: I think it's a mistake if you make broad generalizations or broad strokes about any one incident. These are specific incidents with specific individuals and specific facts. And if you let a narrative take hold and control the story line you forget the details and what happened there. What happened in North Carolina is different from what happened in Oklahoma earlier in the week, which is different from what happened in Ferguson.

VAUSE: Eric?

BAUMAN: I agree with that and I think what we shouldn't lose track of is that there -- that there is an ongoing problem that we have not solved. And what happens is as a nation we become divided instead of saying what is going on? Why is it that so many people have been killed by police? Why so many people of color have been killed by police and why are police officers being targeted and what can we do to heal America? And not make it a partisan issue but make it how we heal our nation and that's where we need to go.

VAUSE: Donald Trump was at a campaign rally in Philadelphia and talking about the violence in Charlotte. He was taking a sympathetic tone, especially for the African-American community. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The rioting in our streets is a threat to all peaceful citizens and it must be ended and ended now.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: The main victims of these violent demonstrations are law- abiding African-Americans who live in these communities and only want to raise their children in safety and peace, and with a good education. That's what they want. And we're going to give that to them. We're going to give that to them.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: We had that statement, which was off a prompter. We have another statement, at an earlier stop, which was ad-libbed, and it seemed to be a white stereotype. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will stop the drugs from flowing into our country and poisoning our youth and many other people. And if you're not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television at night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: John, again, his campaign tried to clarify, saying he was referring to Chicago, not what's happening in Charlotte right now. But there are mixed messages going on, to say the least.

PHILLIPS: In the first, I thought was spot on. Part of the problem and part of the reason why you see what you're seeing play out in North Carolina and other cities with the protests is there is a fundamental disbelief that the government is an honest broker. A lot of people don't trust the courts or cops or elected officials. Whoever is the next president has to be the president of all of America. Even though he is not going to win the black vote, I think it's important for him to go to the black churches and important for him to ask black Americans for their vote. If he does win this election and is the next president of the United States, he has to be an honest broker.

VAUSE: There is one last clip I want to play. It's symbolic of the problems the Trump campaign is having. It's the county chair from Ohio. These comments were from Miss Kathy Miller.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY MILLER, COUNTY CHAIR, OHIO: I don't think there was racism until Obama got elected. We never had problems like this. I'm in the real estate industry. There was none. Now, the people with the guns and shooting up neighborhoods, and not being responsible citizens, that's a big change, and that's the philosophy that Obama has perpetuated on America. I think that is all his responsibility. If you are black and you haven't been successful in the last 50 years, it's your own fault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:50:21] VAUSE: Miss Miller has since resigned. But, Eric, what impact does that have?

BAUMAN: I'm not willing to give Donald Trump or the media a pass for allowing this to happen. He makes these kinds of hard, racist comments, and his newly inspired team backs him away and gives him a new statement to make, and that's the clip you run with. But he read it off a teleprompter. What came out of his mouth was that that was a drug-inspired description, not that it was about a man shot to death, but a drug inspired conversation. And unfortunately, all the folks with the tattoos and the neo-Nazi symbols and all that stuff are part of his base.

VAUSE: 10 seconds, John.

PHILLIPS: Look, I don't think drugs started that or caused the violence there. I think it was a mob mentality and it got out of control.

VAUSE: We'll leave it there. We'll talk to you guys next hour. Appreciate it.

When we come back here, we'll head to North Carolina after a short break and we'll tell you how police are dealing with the mandatory curfew after the third night of protests over the police shooting of an African-American.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:55:25] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Police in Charlotte, North Carolina plan not to enforce the curfew if the protests remain peaceful. Before the curfew, two hours ago, police reported that two officers were being treated after protesters sprayed them with a chemical. But overall, a different scene compared to Wednesday when the demonstrations turned violent. The protesters want authorities to release two videos showing how a police officer shot and killed an African-American on Tuesday. The family of Keith Lamont Scott has watched the videos and says they do not prove he was armed.

You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with another hour of news and the very latest from Charlotte in just a moment.

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[02:00:11] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.