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New Day Saturday
White House Beefs Up Security As Peaceful Protests Continue In D.C.; Trump Touts Jobs Report As Protests, Unrest Sweeps The Country; NFL Commissioner Says He Was Wrong About Player Protests; Tiger Woods Issues Statement On George Floyd's Death And Protests; Brazil Overtakes Italy As Country With Third Highest Death Toll; Disproportionate Number Of Black Men Incarcerated In U.S.; Traveling Pianist Shares Message Of Hope Through Music. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired June 06, 2020 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:00:00]
ROCHELLE BRADLEY, NURSE: And it's very moving for me.
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CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: The protesters held signs including "I Can't Breathe" and Black Lives Matter. And Bradley was holding a sign that said: "Take it from a registered nurse, when someone can't breathe, help them." Great news there stay close. Next hour of NEW DAY starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's his name?
CHORUS: George Floyd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's his name?
CHORUS: George Floyd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're tired over here. We are tired and we want to see change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peaceful protests across the country, have health experts worried.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a potential, unfortunately, for this to be a seeding event.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to keep reminding people it is dangerous to be close together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another shocker on the economy, only this time of good one.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is probably, if you think of it, the greatest comeback in America.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I was disturbed over to see the president basically hanging a mission accomplish banner when there's so much more work to be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Sun is up on a beautiful morning. It's Saturday here. That's Atlanta looking across Centennial Park across downtown. Good morning to you. A large demonstration is expected today in Washington as police tactics are being scrutinized.
PAUL: Yes, officials there have put up fencing, look at the barricades here. This is all outside the White House.
BLACKWELL: Also, hours from now, there's a public viewing private service as well for George Floyd. This one is in North Carolina. His death, you know is what sparked a renewed focus on racial injustice.
PAUL: And there are calls for change overnight that were heard across the nation for the 11th straight day now. A big chunk of this focus, of course, on police brutality here in America.
BLACKWELL: Now, some parts of the law enforcement culture are in question over the last several days. We have seen police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at non-violent protesters. And there is an investigation right now after a 75-year-old man was allegedly shoved to the ground.
PAUL: I want to begin this morning in New York. CNN's Polo Sandoval has been looking at all of this overnight and putting this to very latest. Polo, good morning to you. Talk us through what we've seen over the last 12-14 hours here.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi, certainly I look back at various situations that we've already seen across the country the last few days here and what you hear from activists such as here in New York and really across the country, it seems that there is this concern that would appear to be these heavy handed tactics in various situations could potentially be the response from some police officers to this growing call for police reform.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, praise God.
SANDOVAL: The end to an emotional and difficult week across the country marked by an 11th consecutive night of demonstrations in cities large and small. A call for justice expanded on Friday to include incidents of suspected police brutality. Buffalo, New York to Washington State, a video emerged of a march incident. Manuel Ellis died after being physically restrained by Tacoma Police. His attorney says, Ellis can be heard yelling, "I can't breathe," on Tacoma Police dispatcher audio from the night of his encounter with police and death on March 3rd.
This response from Washington Governor Jay Inslee: "Today, I committed to Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards at the state of Washington will conduct an independent review of the investigation and any charging decisions related to the death of Manuel Ellis." Ellis his family calling for the firing of the officers involved. It's the same demand being made by activists in Atlanta, where video shot on May 29th appears to show an officer body slam a young woman breaking her collarbone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I removed the barricade, and I get back in the car and all of a sudden, I just be hands out my window trying to snatch me out, snatches me out and pretty much slams me down. We weren't a part of any of the (BLEEP), looting or anything. We were peacefully protesting. And once that didn't, you know, wasn't there, we pretty much you know, was headed home.
SANDOVAL: The officer involved in that incident has been placed on administrative assignment while Atlanta P.D. conducts an investigation. The Minneapolis City Council on Friday pending the final OK from a judge approved an agreement barring police from using neck restraints and chokeholds. Four former police officers charged in George Floyd's killing are in jail. A large crowd of protesters headed for Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. last night. The words "Black Lives Matter" now emblazoned in yellow paint this message on a street leading straight to the White House. Curfews were lifted or allowed to expire in many cities. But in New York, that restriction remains in place to the weekend.
[07:05:10]
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): The curfews are designed to let the police be in a position where they can stop the looting. And that has been a serious problem in many cities.
SANDOVAL: With demonstrations likely to carry on through the weekend and Hatton's district attorney vowing to not prosecute protesters arrested for so called lesser offenses including unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct. The policy won't apply to suspected vandalism or looters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And already we've seen a handful of police departments across the country take actions against certain officers for the actions they took against protesters last few weeks. New York City, included, Victor and Christi, yesterday we learned to NYPD officers placed on unpaid suspension for questionable interactions that they had with protests just last week.
PAUL: All right. Polo Sandoval, always appreciate you. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Thank you, Polo. From New York to Washington now and specifically the White House, where CNN's Sarah Westwood is live for us. PAUL: Yes. So, Sarah, talk to us about the President's declaration of victory here, not just on the jobs report that came out, which was good -- they were good numbers, but also with the unrest sweeping the country.
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And that's right, Christi and Victor, the President yesterday taking a victory lap on the jobs report on Coronavirus and on the protests, declaring that the jobs numbers that we're encouraging, as you mentioned, more than 2 million jobs added could lead to what he described as the greatest recovery in American history.
But of course, with sweeping declarations like that, he is risking having his own mission accomplished moment here that is declaring victory long before the economic hardships brought about by coronavirus have ended, for example, the unemployment rate still remains above 13 percent. And the President is coming under scrutiny for invoking George Floyd's name and in declaring victory and unity related to the protests that we've seen across this country. I want you to take a listen to that moment from the press conference yesterday.
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TRUMP: Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying this a great thing that's happening for our country. It's a great day for him. It's a great day for everybody.
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WESTWOOD: Now, the President's comments there drew criticism from many, including former Vice President Joe Biden, who responded by calling those comments despicable. The fact that the President would invoke George Floyd's name during press remarks is that were ostensibly devoted to jobs numbers. The President so far has done little to address police brutality or systemic racism. The concerns, obviously, that are animating the protests that we've seen across the country and including here in the nation's capital.
The President this weekend will spend Saturday and Sunday behind closed doors here at the White House and behind this expanded security perimeter that we've seen around the White House complex with protests here in Washington and an even perhaps larger one is expected in D.C. later today. The President was expected to travel to New Jersey this weekend initially, but that trip was scrapped, Victor and Christi, after aids advised that it would not be good optics for the president to be at his golf property in New Jersey this weekend.
BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood, thank you.
PAUL: Listen, we're seeing solidarity protests in all parts of the world that's not just here in the U.S. A lot of cases, this is despite rules that are in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters in Sydney, for instance, cheered when they found out a ban on their protest was overturned. BLACKWELL: The rallies there and in other Australian cities are in
support of the Black Lives Matter movement and to demand an end to the deaths of aboriginal people in custody. New rallies are expected today in France. The outrage there has been reignited over a 2016 police killing with some parallels to what happened with George Floyd.
PAUL: And more protests are set to happen in London today as well. There's a push for demonstrators to follow social distancing and wear masks there.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Nic Robertson joins us live from London now. Nic, you're in a park where I assume this one of the protests is expected to happen. Give us an idea of what is expected today.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, literally right outside parliament. So, this has taken a message to power, if you will. The protests here are expected to get underway in about an hour's time. But let me show you there are people gathering here already. Just coming down the steps here.
If you look at some of the pictures here, some of the placards, this one's really interesting, isn't it? "I understand that I'll never understand, but I'll stand with you." That's a message you're hearing a lot here. Police here, obviously, keeping an eye on the situation but it's low profile policing here. And as you were saying, social distancing is a big thing.
The Mayor of London has been calling for it the Prime Minister, the Secretary of Health has been calling for social distancing at these protests. You can see people gathering here. This is already a bigger number than we saw yesterday. I was down here yesterday for a protest flooded around the streets of London. So, the message is very clear: Black Lives Matter.
There's a race problem here in the UK, people want to support George Floyd. They want to support what's happening in the United States and they want to bring a message that is an issue to be dealt with here. And that's why they're bringing it out. That's why they're bringing it outside of parliament. Because we saw today in Australia, you have the protests now. They're rippling out. It's not just one city in any country. What was it today in Australia? Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney -- Sydney, overturning a court ruling.
[07:10:35]
In France today, it's not just Paris where we've seen protests, but Lille. We've seen protests now in Kenya. We've seen protests in Sweden. We're seeing protests in the Philippines, just yesterday evening, and in Ottawa and Canada. The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined a protest there and took a knee with the protesters to show his solidarity. That's not something we've seen from political leaders here.
There's an ethical question that has been thrown in, thrown up for them, which is: put your support with the protesters, tell them that you understand that there's a race issue here in the UK. The counter argument is that they don't want to be seen joining protests, where the message here still is a very important one around coronavirus, which is social distancing. These protests that we've seen here have been mostly peaceful.
BLACKWELL: All right, Nic Robertson for us there showing that racial injustice is not just a problem reserved for the U.S., people around the world, making sure that they get some change during this moment. Nic, thanks so much.
PAUL: So, big development in the 2020 presidential race this morning. CNN is projecting Joe Biden now has the number of delegates needed to officially secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
BLACKWELL: As a recent primary, put them over the top, he now has more than 1991 delegates to claim the nomination at the party's convention in August. The former Vice President released this statement, I'm going to read part of it here: "It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic Party has ever fielded. And I am proud to say that we are going into this election, a united party.
I'm going to spend every day between now and November 3rd fighting to earn the votes of Americans all across this great country so that together we can win the battle for the soul of this nation, and make sure that as we rebuild our economy, everyone comes along," that from the former Vice President. The Commissioner of the NFL, he's changing his opinion about players protesting saying that he was wrong for not listening to his athletes. But what should we make of not mentioning one person's name in this statement? We'll talk about that.
PAUL: Also, we just saw Nic Robertson talking about what's happening around the world with these protests and bringing to light something that a lot of people are still thinking about here: coronavirus and how the protests may be affecting that. It is still a concern we're going to tell you what we're learning about that in a moment. Stay close.
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[07:17:17]
BLACKWELL: Bit of a reversal. Let's call it an emission from the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admitting now that he got it wrong about player protests and apologized for not listening to them. This backtracking less than 24 hours after more than a dozen football stars released a video pushing for stronger statements of support from the NFL. Last night, Goodell's statement finally echoed their demands. Let's bring in now Carron Phillips, Senior Writer and Editor for the Sports Web site, Deadspin. Carron, good morning.
CARRON PHILLIPS, SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR, DEADSPIN: Good morning, thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: All right. So, let's start here. First, the NFL released this statement. It is not received well, let's say. Then, there's this video that is produced by stars of the league, let's show a clip of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we, the players would like to hear you state. We, the National Football League.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the National Football League --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the National Football League --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Believe Black Lives Matter Black.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Black Lives Matter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Black Lives Matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So, then, the NFL releases a second statement hit some of the points but not all of them. And then last night, this from the commissioner.
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ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe Black Lives Matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Did he get it, right?
PHILLIPS: No. No. Because there's a laundry list of factual examples that let us know that this league and Roger Goodell have not gotten it right. There have there been a lot of pivots as we've seen three statements in the last couple of days. Yes, but less, you know, remember how this all went down. Colin Kaepernick is still out the league. He's still outside, free agent. And if you remember on the Web site a couple weeks ago, they had him as retired.
Eric Reid, one of his good friends who also knows them is still an on- site free agent. Last fall, we had the workout, that was kind of a last-minute thing in Atlanta if we know how that happened. Then, after that, we had Roger Goodell come on T.V. and said you know we've moved, we've moved on from (INAUDIBLE). This is a league that still only has three black head coaches with 70 percent of the players are black. This is a league that still only has two black gyms, and this is a league that's never had a black majority order or on the presidential level to run a franchise.
These statements are coming out. You see him on Twitter. You see Roger Goodell's video and you saw the, the very powerful statement from the players they released the other day. But this is a lot of talk. These statements are great, cool, donate all the money, always need money to get things done. But if we're going to actually see anything from the NFL, it will be from here on out in next coming seasons and in the future to see what actually happens in here about equality, diversity and trying to eradicate racism.
[07:20:32]
BLACKWELL: Yes, there are a lot of people who wondered specifically why the, the name Colin Kaepernick was not mentioned considering how a lot of this conversation started with his protest. Let's move on to the Jordan Brand committing $100 million over the next decade to cording to the statement organizations dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education after being famously apolitical for years, decades. What's the significance of the shift of the Jordan Brand now entering this, this arena?
PHILLIPS: Well, there's two ways you can look at this. You can say this is Michael Jordan maturing, this is Michael Jordan looking back on some errors that, you know, he may have committed when he was younger and then being like, OK, maybe I should have done that a little different, maybe I should have paid attention to, you know, political situations that were happening.
And as you know, now, especially after the last dance or the criticism that came from that, from that situation, you know, Republicans buy shoes too. That quote came back up, as we watch that. Or you can look at this from a standpoint from people who are saying, you know, Michael Jordan is just doing this now, because some of that criticism happen. But $100 million is $100 million. Am I happy? Am I pleased with this? Yes.
But you know, we're going to look at Michael Jordan and see if this thing really were with him and we can -- only the future knows that but this was a, a step in the right direction for Jordan. You know someone of his of his magnitude and you look at his past and the decisions he stayed away from, you know, obviously compared to a LeBron who is you know, always out in front always using his voice form. So now, to see Jordan coming around, if this is really organic and authentic, this is a great thing to see.
BLACKWELL: All right, so let's talk Tiger. Tiger Woods, he released a statement this week. He was slammed. Steven Naismith, Shannon Sharpe, a lot of people said it was insufficient. You had the, the you with the furthest from anyone I read. Let me read the statement quickly though. This is from Tiger Woods: "My heart goes out to George Floyd, his loved ones and all of us who are hurting right now. I've always had the utmost respect for our law enforcement.
They trained so diligently to understand how, when and where to use force. This shocking tragedy clearly crossed that line. I remember the L.A. riots and learn that education is the best path forward, we can make our points without burning the very neighborhoods that we live in. I hope that through constructive, honest conversations we can build a safer unified society." The headline of your piece: "Tiger Woods hates being black." How do you get from that statement to that assertion?
PHILLIPS: Well, let's look at the history of Tiger Woods. He doesn't consider himself black, he came up with some term, I still can't pronounce it, (INAUDIBLE) or whatever this term is, that actually doesn't exist. But when that mug shot came out a couple of years ago, he was definitely reminded when the police department put black as his race under his photo. But when you think about Tiger and all that he meant for black people and you know, he was our interest as a race of people into golf.
That statement in itself is so very damning and problematic, because I believe in a second sentence he automatically is defending and praising the police where if you just scroll social media and refresh your timeline and the past 48 to 72 hours, you have seen some videos of some very horrific things that have come from the part of law enforcement. He talks about how this was shocking. I don't understand how this has been shocking because since 2015, we've been seeing videos almost every year of some black person being killed just for being black by law enforcement.
And then he talks about, you know, the L.A. riots. He didn't mention why the L.A. riots happened this because we as a as a world, as a nation, as a global society watched what happened to Rodney King, and then we also saw all of those policemen get off. There's a lot of things that happened and it happened over the last couple of years and decades. And in that statement from Tiger Woods, it was like he just was totally immune and was not living on this earth as a human being or a black man to realize what has happened.
BLACKWELL: Yes, that statement has been criticized again. You went further than anybody I read. "Tiger Woods hates being black." And you're getting some pushback for that as well. We'll leave it there. Carron Phillips with Deadspin, thanks so much for being with us.
PHILLIPS: Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: All right.
PAUL: So, very nearly two states, two death in states, I should say reporting an increase in new cases of coronavirus. Of course, this is happening as their reopening accelerates and protests are sparking fears of new outbreaks. We do have some new information for you on that pandemic. Stay close.
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[07:29:37]
PAUL: 29 minutes past the hour on this Saturday morning. We're glad to have you here. There are reports we want to tell you about. The Texas Governor Greg Abbott is asking the Republican Party Chairs of for Texas counties to resign after promoting conspiracy theories around the death of George Floyd.
[07:29:52]
BLACKWELL: Let's start with Cynthia Brehm, the chair of the Bexar County Republican Party. She suggested that Floyd's death was a staged event to hurt President Trump's re-election. There's no evidence that Floyd's death was staged.
Keith Nielsen, the GOP chair of Harris County in Houston area. He reportedly posted to Facebook an image of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the quote, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, with a banana.
PAUL: Yes, he later deleted the post, right? Victor, and accused people of misinterpreting the image.
BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. In response, Senator Ted Cruz called on Nielsen to resign with the message, "Stop saying stupid, racist things."
Now, to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. More cities and states are taking steps to further open up their economies, even as new outbreaks are pumping up across the country.
PAUL: Yes. So, there are 22 states now seeing an increase in new cases over the past seven days. Eight are holding steady, there are 20 seeing a drop, but overall, more than 109,000 people have died here in the U.S. because of the virus.
BLACKWELL: Now, there's a new survey that shows a third of Americans have engaged in some risky behaviors and efforts to prevent COVID-19, one of them is gargling with bleach.
PAUL: Yes, the survey was taken just last month after President Trump's widely panned briefing in which he pondered the use of disinfectants to treat the virus. By the way, Doctor Saju Mathew was with us imploring you, please not to do that. It can really do you some serious and internal damage if you ingest or intake any disinfectants or bleach.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
PAUL: So, as coronavirus cases are surging, also, in Latin America, we should point out, the World Health Organization is warning countries in that region just not to open too soon.
BLACKWELL: Yes, Brazil has now overtaken Italy as the country with the third-highest number of deaths related to coronavirus. And for the first time, Mexico records more single -- more deaths in a single day than the United States. Let's go now to our reporters around the world covering all of the latest developments.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matt Rivers in Mexico City, where we are without question in the worst days of this outbreak so far, consider the overall death toll here which now stands at 13,170, nearly 20 percent of the deaths that have been recorded so far have come in just the last three days.
The overall case total here is now just north of 110,000. But despite all of that, Mexico's government has begun to reopen slowly certain parts of the economy. Here the World Health Organization has urged countries throughout Latin America to not reopen their economies too quickly because they say the outbreak in this part of the world is far from over.
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brazil has overtaken Italy as the country with the third-highest death toll from COVID-19. On Friday, the Health Ministry reported the total number of deaths had topped 35,000 while confirmed cases was over 645,000.
Nonetheless, many Brazilian cities from the hard-hit Manaus, in the Amazon, to Rio de Janeiro, started to reopen and relaxed social isolation rules imposed in mid-March, despite warnings from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 had not reached its peak in the region and transmissions were still intense.
Meanwhile, Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro threatened to follow Donald Trump's lead and leave the World Health Organization over what he called political and ideological bias.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: All righty. Thanks to both of them.
BLACKWELL: Black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than any other racial group. The growing racial disparity in the U.S. criminal justice system. We're going to address this really important conversation, is next.
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[07:38:31]
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this racial disparity in the number of black men incarcerated in the U.S. Consider this, according to The Sentencing Project, close to 10 percent of black men in their 30s are behind bars on any given day. It's about twice as high as Hispanic men, five times higher than white men, and 25 times higher than Black Hispanic, or white women.
Joining me now, executive director of The Sentencing Project, Marc Maurer. Marc, good morning to you.
MARC MAUER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SENTENCING PROJECT: Hi, good to be here.
BLACKWELL: And so, let's start here. I mean, we're going to talk about criminal justice system but I don't want to oversimplify it, because there are a lot of factors, a lot of variables that play into that disparity. Just set for us the scope of challenges that must be addressed to close that gap. MAUER: Well, certainly, you know, involvement in crime is one factor that leads you into the justice system. But also, we know that race plays a role at each stage of the system.
Starting with law enforcement, you know, the horrendous stories we've seen in Minneapolis and elsewhere recently, on day to day basis, documentation of racial profiling by police.
We have a cash bail system that distinguishes the rich from the poor. Your access to get into a treatment program rather than incarceration. At each stage of the system, the resources you bring to the system and bias decision-making by some of the practitioners, all of this can contribute to the disparities we see in the prison system.
[07:40:09]
BLACKWELL: So, let's break down a couple of those. You know, I have read and listened to more than a few stories from white people who I know and don't know, about when they passed a counterfeit $20 bill, which is the crime that Mr. Floyd was accused of, for the reason that officers were called. And the -- in these stories, the police aren't even called.
What informs that disparity in the initial response to either get law enforcement involved and the reaction and response from law enforcement?
MAUER: Well, you know, in some respects, we're talking about several hundred years of racism, and we like to think we had a civil rights movement, we got beyond that, and we have made many changes in society. But we all grow up with certain racist, stereotypes, and biases, and we're not proud of it, but we have to recognize it's there.
When people are making decisions, when individual police officers -- it's a structural question too. You know, what does the police agency look like, what is the message that's coming from the administration of the agency, how were people evaluated?
You know, we need to look at how individuals are making those decisions, and then, review the data and say, OK, it looks like we're treating two different people very differently here. How did this come about? And you have to go at it, again and again, to make sure that people understand, this is not the right thing to do.
BLACKWELL: So, there's this op-ed in USA Today that says that changing the law on double standards and the justice system is, "woefully insufficient". The line that stood out, "The same urgent energy and spirit of unity that has emerged to change the laws that govern our justice system must come together to help us -- help us breakdown more fundamental barriers across society."
Reverend Sharpton said at the first Floyd Memorial on Thursday that this is a different time. Are you convinced that this is a different time and that the protests we're seeing will lead to some policy change? MAUER: We'd like to think it will go in that direction. I think it's up to all of us to see if that's possible. You know we're seeing both with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as, the protests around racial disparity.
Criminal justice decision-makers can move quickly if they feel they should do it. So, in local jails around the country with the pandemic, some of those populations are down 50 percent, because the jail administrators recognize that this is a real crisis situation, dangerous situation, and also people are being held in jail in many cases merely because they don't have money to post their bail. So, why are we keeping them in jail? Because of their poverty.
If we can learn some of these lessons from the current crises, then, we at least have a chance to start to turn these numbers around.
BLACKWELL: Marc Mauer with The Sentencing Project, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
MAUER: Thanks for having me.
PAUL: All right, let's talk about some hope here. Because there is a message of that through music. One man's cross-country journey to heal the community in Minneapolis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:45:02]
BLACKWELL: Hey, when you head out today, make sure you take a bottle of water. You know, they always say make sure you stay hydrated. But water can also help you lose weight, put you in a better mood, keep you healthy.
CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard takes a look at how different types of water are processed and explains how much you should drink.
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Although it may all look alike, not all bottled water is the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD: Terms like spring, purified, and artesian, refer to water's condition before it is bottled. Springwater comes from an underground source and must be collected up the spring before it's treated and packaged.
Purified water can come from any source but must be highly treated. Like distilled or deionized before it's called purified.
Mineral water, it's different from other types because of the constant level of minerals and elements it contains. Nothing additional can be added to it.
As for artesian, that refers to water from a well that taps a specific layer of rock or sand through which the water flows and is stored. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD: The research is still out as to which type is best for your health. But the most important takeaway is to make sure you're drinking enough water, whichever type you choose.
For women, experts recommend to drink around 11 cups a day, and a little more than 15 cups for men.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN, the world's news network.
PAUL: Well, there's a man in Minneapolis who had a message of hope that he wanted to bring, and he wanted to do it in a very memorable way.
BLACKWELL: Yes, he is a musician with a piano in tow, and he drove 12 hours from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis to attend the memorial for George Floyd. Here is what happened next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIDE MARTELLO, PIANIST: I'm from Germany, and everybody is telling me how awful the pictures are, the medias are. So, I just want to do something. Music is a perfect medium to restore peace, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It didn't matter who it was -- white, black, brown. A little girl came up and, you know, played the Happy Birthday.
[07:50:02]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A best you could play too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was exciting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It bring a whole different vibe to us and everything. Yes, we, in the middle of a protest, in the middle of a riot, but, you know, music can change people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not rioters, we're not thugs, we're not looters. You see this beautiful classic music.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just glad I had a chance to share my experience with the world, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody would have imagined that any of this like, would happen. Nobody would imagine that there would be a guy with a piano in the middle of the street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see someone and you don't know what they have in them, you don't know what talents they possess, and you don't know what type of leader they can be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone is out here celebrating, everyone out here dancing, loving, whatever, and we're having fun. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what Minnesota is about. This is our community, this is our home, and rather than the damages we've seen, which regardless of how you feel about it, this is what we're about. Coming together. The music.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need to hear us. Change starts with us and them. It starts with both sides. We got to meet in the middle, we got to come together as one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't matter what you look like, it matters who you are in here, and how you show that to the world. And you all saw that today, so, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: I tell you, music is healing.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
PAUL: All the way around. And to see it first-hand like that, to know the guy drove 12 hours. That is -- that is commitment and that is intention at its best.
BLACKWELL: And you know, the idea that he would one, drive 12 hours with the piano to offer his talent, whatever you have, right?
PAUL: Whatever -- we've seen the people who travel with crosses that they take to, in many different scenes and people who go, and there is a guy who has a sign that says free hugs.
PAUL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: This man goes and plays music. And music is a universal language to offer some type of support, some warmth, it's good to see.
PAUL: And to see all the other people who took their turn there too, we can just offering it up. It was -- it was something.
BLACKWELL: I'm sure they all appreciated it.
PAUL: No doubt about it. So, as we talk about this, George Floyd's death, and the passion that it has ignited in people, the last couple of weeks. There are not just people here in the U.S., they're around the world, and they're calling for change.
BLACKWELL: Yes, we'll take you to some of those locales. The next hour of your NEW DAY, starts in a few minutes. But we want to end this hour, remembering some of those killed senselessly, in part, because of the color of their skin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:59:26]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TERRENCE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: What's his name!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Floyd!
FLOYD: What's his name!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Floyd!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're tired over here. We are tired and we want to see change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peaceful protests across the country have health experts worried.
ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: There is a potential, unfortunately, for this to be a seating event.
BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: I want to keep reminding people, it is dangerous to be close together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another shocker on the economy, only this time, a good one.
TRUMP: Today is probably, if you think of it, the greatest comeback in American history.
BIDEN: I was disturbed over to see the president basically hanging a mission accomplished banner when there's so much more work to be done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
