Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Floyd Officer Bodycam Footage Released; Uncertainty over Reopening Schools; Food Banks Face Demand; Restaurants Struggle During Pandemic. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired August 11, 2020 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER: Hands.
GEORGE FLOYD: Please, Mr. Officer --
OFFICER: Both hands.
FLOYD: I didn't do nothing.
OFFICER: Put your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hand up right now.
FLOYD: Please, I didn't do nothing.
OFFICER: Let me see your other hand.
FLOYD: I didn't do nothing. Right, what I'd do, though? What'd we do, Mr. Officer? I didn't do nothing.
OFFICER: Put your hand up there.
FLOYD: God dang it.
OFFICER: Put your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hand up there.
FLOYD: (INAUDIBLE). I got (INAUDIBLE).
OFFICER: Jesus Christ, keep your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hands on the wheel.
FLOYD: (INAUDIBLE) shot. I got (INAUDIBLE).
OFFICER: Keep your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hands on the wheel.
FLOYD: Yes, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Lane pulled his gun 14 seconds after approaching the car.
What does that tell you?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, they escalated the situation from the very beginning. I mean I saw the video. It didn't really shed much new light on what took place there. Certainly nothing that justified what ultimately happened to Mr. Floyd.
But, again, pulling your gun -- not only pulling a gun, but pointing it at an individual in most jurisdictions, and I presume that Minneapolis is not any different, that's prohibited unless you are authorized to use deadly force. In other words, you're in a situation where there is a possibility that deadly force could be used. That was not that kind of situation at all.
And when you start things off like that, it's easy to escalate. It's not that easy to de-escalate. And I think that's what you saw there.
HILL: And if it's easy to escalate, to your point, that's a -- why they're told not to do it.
The Minneapolis Police Department had previously said that it wasn't going to release this footage because, of course, of the investigation into the officer's response, but here it is.
Does that surprise you?
RAMSEY: Well, you know, listen, I come from a school that if it's -- if it's there, get it out. I mean bad news does not improve with age. And so if this is something that's controversial, get it out. To hold it back, think about Laquan McDonald for an example, it just makes it worse once the video does surface. And, believe me, it eventually will surface, no question about it.
So that's something that I'm not in agreement with. I think you get it out and let the cards fall where they may.
HILL: Charles Ramsey, always good to have you with us. Thank you.
RAMSEY: Thank you.
HILL: The number of children infected with coronavirus nearly doubling in the last month. So how now are schools balancing the push to reopen with the need to do it safely?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:36:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The news this morning, coronavirus cases are up 90 percent among children in the last month. We heard from one infectious disease expert who says that kids spread this virus just like they do the common cold.
So, how should parents feel about this? Well, joining us, one of our favorite parents, CNN's Bianna Golodryga, with the very latest.
Good morning to you. I'm sure your kids are out there somewhere about to make noise during this hit (ph).
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, one -- one's downstairs, the other's still sleeping. So if you can keep it down, John, I would really -- I would really appreciate it.
But, look, I think a lot more parents are nervous and you look at what the president is saying, he's not that nervous right now, which is why it was interesting for me to see the governor of Georgia yesterday talking about schools reopening, saying that he thinks, quote, the week went real well other than a couple of photos.
Well, we know what those photos showed. They showed jam-packed hallways, many students not wearing masks, and now, of course, we know there are multiple outbreaks in the state of Georgia. Georgia just one of many states now opening in-person classes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA (voice over): Nine out of 12 Florida counties are expected to start face-to-face instruction this week despite the state having a coronavirus positivity rate hovering around 15 percent.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): Yes, that's about six weeks from now.
GOLODRYGA: Kentucky's governor now recommending that schools wait until late September to begin in person classes.
This follows multiple states opening schools only to see some shut down days later after reported cases of coronavirus, as well as a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital Association, stating that there has been a 90 percent increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among U.S. children over the last four weeks.
School districts across the country continue to evaluate whether they are adequately prepared to reopen for in person classes.
DENEEN DRY, NURSE, BUCKS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, PENNSYLVANIA: I don't think I'm going to be prepared until it happens.
GOLODRYGA: Among those concerned, some school nurses, like Deneen Dry, who will be on the front lines of Covid when she returns to work in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
DRY: This will be and is unchartered waters for our schools. Something that we've never had to face. And the uncertainty is actually -- is frightening.
GOLODRYGA: As of Monday, the state's third largest school district announced that it will be starting the school year fully online. It's just the latest district to make that decision.
Of the 101 largest school districts in the country, over half are planning for online only instruction in the fall. That's more than 7 million students starting the school year virtually. Of the 25 largest districts, so far all but six have announced an online start. One of the few that will be open for face-to-face instruction, at least part of the week, the nation's largest school district.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY, NY: First day of school is a magical day.
GOLODRYGA: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the majority of families in public schools say they're planning to send their kids back.
DE BLASIO: We must do it safely. We can do it safely. We've set very stringent standards. We have to meet those standards.
GOLODRYGA: Only a quarter so far opting for only online learning. Yet even remote learning is not without potential health risks and frustration, as demonstrated by this video from Mansfield, Texas, showing parents waiting in long lines to pick up their children's devices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no way two people can serve the whole of Mansfield. It was just ridiculous.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: So, as you can see, Erica, there really is no easy solution here. And we should note that in Mississippi, another state where schools have reopened, the state health officer said 22 different schools have reported cases so far. Of the 34 cases, 19 were among students, 15 were among employees. Superintendents in the state of Florida are now asking for rapid tests to be delivered to schools. Of course that would solve a lot of problems if you have a case. If you have the rapid testing, you can do a lot more contact tracing that way.
HILL: Yes, it would certainly make a big different. Bianna, thank you. Great to see you. And, nice work, the kids stayed quite.
GOLODRYGA: I know.
[08:40:03]
HILL: Time now for "The Good Stuff." And it's really all about coming full circle in Texas. On March 23, 1995, Dr. Bryan Cox delivered Lauren Cortez at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. Twenty-five years later, Dr. Cox was there again to deliver Lauren's baby. Little Logan James was born on July 26th. Cortez says her mom couldn't be in the hospital with her due to the pandemic, but mom kept reminding Lauren she needed to recreate the old picture. And as you can see, Dr. Cox happily obliged.
When Lauren posted the pictures on Twitter, there were more than 700,000 likes. Awe, look at that. Dr. Cox tells CNN one reason he became an OBGYN is that there are so few specialties that have so much happiness. Cortez says the families Dr. Cox cares for love him right back and noted that he sang "Happy Birthday" to Logan in the delivery room just as he did to her 25 years earlier.
BERMAN: They all look great, including Dr. Cox, by the way -- HILL: Right.
BERMAN: Who has aged incredibly well. I'm loving, you know, the older guy, longer hair.
HILL: Oh, interesting. Is this -- are you going to grow your hair out again, Berman? Is this what you're telling us?
BERMAN: Well, my hair is always growing out, it's just -- it's just, you know --
HILL: Yes. I noticed Gupta's growing his hair. My kids have noticed.
BERMAN: He looks good.
HILL: They like it.
BERMAN: Sanjay looks good. We all aspire to look like Sanjay.
HILL: We all want to be Sanjay in our next life, that's for sure.
As we look at what is happening around the country, so many restaurants closing down for good or fearing that that could be next for them because of coronavirus restrictions. How to keep independent restaurants alive and the millions of people they employ, the communities they serve. How can you do it all? We're going to speak with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson about some of his efforts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:46:17]
HILL: The struggle for millions of Americans to put food on the table is very real. Some folks in Texas have been lining up at food banks there before sunrise to get essentials.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joining us now live from Dallas with more.
And this is a story, Ed, we're seeing play out across the country.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it becomes even much more dramatic now that unemployment benefits, at least for now, have been suspended for millions of people across the country. And organizers of this food distribution from the North Texas Food Bank say they expect long lines for much of the day here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice over): In the middle of the night, a fleet of trucks carrying more than 10,000 boxes of food arrive in a desolate Dallas parking lot.
VALERIE HAWTHORNE, NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK: You want Dr. Pepper or coffee?
LAVANDERA: Valery Hawthorne of the North Texas Food Bank is making sure all the crates are perfectly lined up. The last time the North Texas Food Bank sponsored a drive-thru food giveaway was in May and Hawthorne knows that life has only become more desperate for millions of people struggling through the pandemic.
HAWTHORNE: These distributions truly reveal what the need is and how many of our community members are just one paycheck away from hunger. So we have to be out there to support them during this time.
LAVANDERA: The first people in line were Pauletta Johnson and Arthur Ferrazas. They arrived three hours before the food giveaway even started. Pauletta is on a fixed income and cares for her grandchildren. Arthur is a handyman and says work has dried up in recent months.
PAULETTA JOHNSON, DALLAS RESIDENT: It helps feed the grandkids when they're here, when they over, and it just -- it just means a lot. It -- I don't really have the money. I'm on a fixed income. And I don't have the money to buy some of the things that I need to get. So that's why I'm here this morning.
ARTHUR FERRAZAS, DALLAS RESIDENT: It means a lot, you know? It's a little bit of help, you know? It's going to help us a lot, you know? I've got two kids at the house, so my wife's kind of just sick right now, but not with the virus, you know? So that's why I'm here.
LAVANDERA: At this food delivery event, about 100 volunteers will distribute more than 10,000 boxes of food for nearly 8,000 people. The images of long lines seen at food book distributions are a searing reminder of the economic toll inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. The images taken over recent months span the country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our families tomorrow will be receiving a box that has noodles and rice, some fruit and nut mix, some cereal.
LAVANDERA: That's why it doesn't surprise Valerie Hawthorne to see thousands line up before the sun comes up, just days after millions of people have lost their $600 a week unemployment benefit. Since March, about 3.1 million Texans have filed unemployment claims.
HAWTHORNE: We know that the need is out there. We know that it's great. And what this pandemic has done has just shone -- shine a light on poverty and hunger and our communities that are in desperate need.
LAVANDERA: From this warehouse, the north Texas food bank is districting more than a million pounds of food per week. Jesus Baca (ph) is a disabled former law enforcement officer and says these boxes can feed him for up to three weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How does that help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, financially strained. I've got house payments and doctor bills and so on that I've got to pay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: So, John and Erica, all of the cars you see behind me filled with just the individual stories, everybody a little bit different, but everyone sharing in that struggle and during this pandemic as they try to make ends meet here.
[08:50:11]
And this is one event trying to service that need. The organizers here tell us that what is being given away here is about $50 worth of food that would feed a family of four for about a week. It doesn't sound like much, but for many of these people, it is a lifeline just to get through this coming week.
John and Erica.
BERMAN: Yes, every day is a struggle. Every day is a struggle and every little bit helps.
Ed Lavandera, thank you so much for shining a light on that.
Joining us now is Marcus Samuelsson, the award-winning celebrity chef, restaurateur and advisory member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition.
Marcus, thanks so much for being with us. We have a lot we want to talk to you about.
MARCUS SAMUELSSON, AWARD-WINNING CHEF, RESTAURATEUR AND COOKBOOK AUTHOR: Yes.
BERMAN: But on this subject that Ed just brought up, food insecurity, you're doing your part. I mean you're out there. You see it. The Newark Working Kitchen has distributed 200,000 meals since March. What do people need to know about food insecurity?
SAMUELSSON: Well, I mean, it -- first of all, it's real and in urban America this is going to stay way after the pandemic, right? And we've have two amazing partners (ph). We've had -- worked with (INAUDIBLE) Central Kitchen and we worked with Newark Working Kitchen. And the Newark Working Kitchen, I think, is very specifically interesting and different. It's a model that you can actually move across the country. So we have (INAUDIBLE) and Dan Katz (ph), so you have the private sector coming in, working with non-profits, and we're also working with the city and we've also got the help of, you know, celebrities, like Michael B. Jordan that is from Newark, to get the word out.
You know, and in times like this, you need people from all sectors to work together. So this is something that Atlanta, Detroit, other cities can really take this model. It really does really three things, right? We serves -- we serve the neediest and we serve first responders. But it also allows us to hire our restaurant community back to their restaurant. Over 25 restaurants in Newark has helped -- helped us with this. They were able to hire their staff back. And also the infrastructure of food that's completely interrupted, we're able to order food from farmers again. So -- and we -- we will be back. It will take a long time, but we need people to really -- from all of that (INAUDIBLE) communities to work together.
HILL: To your point, that snapshot of how you're working in Newark alone, right, you're keeping more than two dozen restaurants going.
SAMUELSSON: Yes.
HILL: But it's this chain, right, of people. There's something -- I think the numbers are 11 million people that work in independent restaurants. But when you broaden it out to the farms, to the bakeries, to the craft breweries, we could be talking about 60 million people.
SAMUELSSON: And a vast majority of them aren't working right now. And things are looking bleak, especially for when the weather starts to get cold and we have to move inside.
HILL: No, absolutely, Erica.
I think that people, and even the government, they love restaurant in, but restaurants should really be -- they should be really two buckets. It should be sort of the fast food restaurants and then it should be the independent restaurant. And that's why we started the Independent Restaurant Coalition. (INAUDIBLE) over 500,000 independent restaurants in this country, like you said, 11 -- between 11 and 16 million people work within these restaurant, whether you're delivery or whether you work as a line cook or a server. So these are -- these are major, major parts of the workforce, right? And right now between 60 to 70 percent of them are unemployed.
And this is going to have a major impact on neighborhoods across the country. And we're at a pivotal point. Are we going to -- are we going to not have that -- those favorite restaurants in our neighborhoods? Those are really like the heart and soul of the neighborhoods. And we really need Congress to pass this $120 million bill. We need -- we need the president to sign the bill. And you wait -- the way private citizens, during this pandemic, have been amazing. We work across the aisles. We work together. We just saw how volunteers come together in Texas. That's happening across the country.
We also need the politicians to do their job. I don't know if he signs the bill from the golf club, we just need the bill to be signed. So, you know, we, as restaurateurs and chefs, you know, always talk about recess and when -- we don't have vacations. We -- this is -- this is the most crucial point in our history in terms of restaurants.
BERMAN: What happens --
SAMUELSSON: And about 11 to 50 (ph) million people is going to be unemployed.
BERMAN: What happens if you don't get that money?
SAMUELSSON: I don't know. I know that we're resilient. I know we're going to work very, very hard collectively. Right now it's been, you know, private fundraising. It's been -- and we might go back to that, right? But that's not a long-term solution. You know, I'm very fortunate that, you know, we have a -- we have -- as a celebrity chef, I'm connected. I have a large platform. But I don't -- I'm not the majority out of my industry. [08:55:00]
Like the majority are just that neighborhood restaurant that employs 10 to 12 people. But, you know what, it takes care of 45 people in terms of families and so on. And that's how the restaurant life in America looks like. And that's why we need the $120 billion bills to be signed.
HILL: So this has -- and we should point out that this package has bipartisan support as we're looking at it. And you make the point that the restaurants were kind of left out the first time around.
SAMUELSSON: Yes. Well, I mean, the restaurant, as an industry, is always looked at a little bit differently, right? You know, I look -- I think about, you know, major corporations like Boeing, for example, get this enormous relief packages. Just -- you know. And last time they used $43 billion of that to do buy back stocks, you know? You know, the CEO, the chefs of the restaurants, the restaurateur owners, you know, we don't -- we don't actually necessarily beg for help, we just want our job back. We just want to go back to work. And now they're saying -- the government's saying, like, well, just start hiring people back. Well, people aren't coming back to the restaurant yet. That's why we need this $120 billion relief fund.
BERMAN: Marcus Samuelsson, we thank you for the work you're doing and thank you so much for being with us this morning. Be well.
SAMUELSSON: Thank you so much for having me.
BERMAN: All right, a lot of news this morning, including new information about kids and coronavirus. We pick up right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:00]
