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Holiday Weekend Marred By Mass Shootings; Russia Claims It Remotely Detonated A Tank Packed With Explosives In Possible New Battlefield Tactic; At Least 100 Letters With White Powder Sent To Kansas Lawmakers & Public Officials; CNN's Victor Blackwell Unearths His Family's History. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 19, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, you look at, particularly 2019, look at that spike on your screen. From 2019 to 2021, there's a spike of about 25 percent gun deaths. So we're still at that remarkably high level of elevated of gun deaths.

Of course, as we talk about all of these numbers, we can't forget we're talking about individuals, people, people this past weekend that were going to Juneteenth celebrations, they were going to Father's Day events, they were going to a music festival, all rocked by gun fire.

Most troubling of all, the Centers for Disease Control tell us the number-one killer of children in this country, Boris, is firearms.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, a staggering loss of life.

Josh Campbell, from Los Angeles, thanks so much.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A possibly new and alarming tactic in the war in Ukraine. Russia using a tank as an improvised explosive device. New video released by Russia, showing what it claims is a tank, packed with tons of explosives, remotely detonated in a Ukrainian stronghold.

Now this video does seem to show a tank hitting a mine shortly before exploding, which complicates part of Russia's claim here.

In the meantime, a senior Ukrainian official says Kyiv's forces have recaptured eight southern settlements over the last two weeks. Russia's Defense Minister denies that, though, saying it successfully repelled Ukrainian advances.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Zaporizhzhia.

So, a lot of conflicting information here about what's been going on between the two sides, Ben. What is the latest from the front lines?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the day started with fairly optimistic news coming from the Ukrainians, that within -- since the offensive began about a week and a half ago, that they had managed to liberate eight settlements, about 44-square miles.

But as the day progressed, the situation looked a little more ambiguous, particularly around this town called Piahutky (ph), which is about an hour's drive from here.

The latest we are hearing is that it's taking heavy shelling and air strikes from the Russians. And that even though the Ukrainians appear to be nominally in control, that the situation is really so ambiguous, that even if there are Ukrainian troops in the town, they don't seem to be secure at all.

Therefore, what we're seeing is the Russians do seem to be relatively prepared for this Ukrainian counteroffensive. And as a rule, it's much easier to defend than retake a territory.

As you mentioned, the Russians seem to be using a new tactic where they are stuff -- this is a T-54 tank, dating back to the Soviet era, just after the end of the Second World War.

According to the Telegram channel of the Russian defense minister, they put as many as five or six tons of explosive in that tank, and basically somebody put a brick, perhaps, on the accelerator, aimed it at the Ukrainian lines.

But it appears to have hit a mine about 300 yards from that line -- those Ukrainian positions but creating a huge explosion.

We don't know at this point where there were any Ukrainian casualties, whether the Russians were able to take advantage of that explosion to advance into the Ukrainian lines.

But it certainly is a new tactic that we are seeing here -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, we'll be keeping out eye on that.

Ben Wedeman, live for us in Zaporizhzhia, thank you.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Coming up, a fishing competition ending in controversy. We'll tell you why this 600-pound catch was disqualified, costing the team that caught it and spent hours reeling it in, a cool $3 million.

[13:33:52]

Plus, Republican officials in Kansas are on alert after at least 100 letters containing a suspicious white powder were sent to state lawmakers and public officials. We have the latest from Kansas, when we come back.

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[13:38:31]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Here's a look as some of the other headlines we're following this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. A fishing crew out a $3.5 million prize after its more than 600-pound

blue marlin -- you see it there -- was disqualified from a fishing competition.

The Big Rock Marlin Tournament said the disqualification was due to a, quote, "mutilation of the fish by a shark or other sea creature." The idea being it was easier to reel it in.

The runner-up, team Sushi, went on to win first place with a blue marlin weighing more than 484 pounds. That's not so bad, either.

Also, an investigation is underway in Arizona after a man died falling over the edge of a popular tourist attraction over the Grand Canyon. You see it there.

Officials say the 33-year-old man was on the Skywalk, a glass bridge that spans about 70 feet out over the canyon's rim, when he went over the edge, plunging 4,000 feet into the canyon.

Severe weather in Jasper County, Mississippi, has left at least one person dead, and nearly two dozen others injured. According to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service, the reported tornado left widespread destruction around east central parts of that state.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Republican officials in Kansas are alert after at least 100 letters containing a suspicious white powder was sent to state lawmakers and public officials.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has been testing some of those letters and they say, so far, they have found no biological agents of concern.

[13:40:04]

CNN's Rosa Flores has been tracking this story and she joins us now with more details.

Rosa, you spoke to a lawmaker who received one of these letters. What did they share with you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Boris, I spoke to Representative Stephen Owens. He says it was a terrifying experience. He says that it was calculated and that it targeted Republicans.

He says that the return address on the envelope appeared to be from one of his constituents. He didn't think twice when he opened that envelope, but then, of course, that's when he saw the powder inside.

He says, so far, all the recipients that he knows about are fellow Republicans.

And he shared a photo of that letter with us. Take a look. He points specifically to two sentences in that letter that say, quote, "to honor your recent accomplishments, it's important not to choke on your ambition."

Now he points out, of course, this is a very cryptic message, but he thinks this could be a reference to the super majority that the Republicans have in the Kansas House and the Senate and that that majority was used to override nine vetoes by the Democratic governor.

Now all of this is very controversial in the state of Kansas. One of those involved the definition of a man and woman, and the other involved transgender sports.

Now, he also states that it was calculated because he -- because of the return address, he and others simply just opened these letters.

Now, authorities are not specifically talking about motive at this point. There is no one who has been arrested.

But he's not the only one of the representatives who feel targeted. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED KANSAS STATE LAWMAKER: Kansas legislators that are Republicans are being targeted. There is some message, the message is somewhat unclear, but it was intended to be threatening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, Kansas authorities say that they have tested some of these letters -- and these are 100 letters that went across the state of Kansas to public officials, and they have returned negative for common biological agents.

But, Boris, of course, there is huge concern in the state of Kansas because of this, and they do point out, authorities point out there have been no injuries -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Rosa Flores, thank you so much for the update.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Ahead, our colleague, Victor Blackwell, uncovers a piece of his own past as the nation marks Juneteenth, a commemoration of Union troops arriving in Texas and enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation and freeing 250,000 enslaved African-Americans in the state.

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[13:47:35]

KEILAR: Today in America, we commemorate Juneteenth, the annual holiday that celebrates the end of slavery, specifically the arrival of Union troops in Texas in 1865, freeing 250,000 enslaved African- Americans in the state and enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years after its signing.

In Charleston, South Carolina, at the site of one of the world's most prolific slave ports, a museum has been built honoring the thousands of Africans forced to leave their homes under barbaric conditions.

The International African-American Museum also severs as a memorial and a research center allowing African-Americans to connect with their ancestors to find answers about their place in American history.

And my CNN colleague, Victor Blackwell, is joining us now with that.

Victor, you actually worked with the museum for several months to research your own family history. Tell us what you discovered.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. They actually did all of the work. I answered a few questions, and for six months, they traced my family back 300 years.

And to say that I was surprised by what they found, that would be a severe understatement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Very few moments in my career have ever brought me to this.

(on camera): This is -- oh, man.

(voice-over): It happened at the International African-American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, which opens this month. Six centuries of history packed into 150,000 square feet at the historic Gadsden Wharf.

TONYA MATTHEWS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSEUM: Above 40 percent of all enslaved Africans would have come in through Gadsden Wharf. We've been referred to as the ground zero of importation of enslaved people into the United States.

BLACKWELL: Dr. Tonya Matthews is the museum's president and CEO.

(on camera): Space of solemnity or celebration?

MATTHEWS: Yes. I refuse to choose.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Tribal art and contemporary fashion, relics of protest and reports of resistance.

MATTHEWS: It's this infusion of trauma and joy, constantly, that we like to talk about here. You get the full story, but you're going to get all the context in it.

BLACKWELL: What arguably is the best illustration of full context is the museum's Center for Family History. It's a team of researchers with access to millions of records that can trace African-American lineage sometimes back to a slave ship that came into this very port.

[13:50:06]

The expert genealogist here spent months tracing my lineage. And this was the day of the long-awaited reveal. DR. SHELLEY MURPHY, HEAD GENEALOGIST, INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN

MUSEUM: Make sure you've got a box of Kleenex by you and sit there and enjoy.

BLACKWELL: That's the museum's top genealogist, Dr. Shelley Murphy, on the laptop. She's joining us from the University of Virginia.

MURPHY: This is a tree, just a snapshot of your tree. And I'm following your maternal line.

BLACKWELL (on camera): Wow, that's a lot, just seeing the tree.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): You see that box? Well, that represents David Veney, my great grandfather's great grandfather. He lived in coastal Richmond County, Virginia, on a farm with his wife, Judy, and their 18 children.

And in 1871, he filed this claim to be reimbursed for livestock and supplies requisitioned by Union troops during the Civil War.

MURPHY: Another thing that is significant is that he owned the land that he's on. And it was 23 acres.

BLACKWELL (on camera): Where did a man --

MURPHY: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- in the 1870s, so soon after the end of slavery, get the money to buy 23 acres?

MURPHY: Absolutely. And -- and the thing of it is, I would even question, he said he was freeborn.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Well, for some answers, we have to go back more than 300 years to my great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-grandmother, Mary.

She arrived on a ship in Northumberland County, Virginia, in 1712, before America was America. Her granddaughter, my eight-times great grandmother, Bess, was with her.

That's according to this centuries-old deposition that Dr. Murphy's team uncovered. Why a deposition? We'll learn that a little later.

MURPHY: And Bess, at the time, was about 13 years old. Witnesses apparently said they looked like they were Indians.

BLACKWELL: Researchers believe that Mary and Bess were actually Mattaponi, like these people of that region of Virginia called the Northern Neck.

MURPHY: We're not sure where they came from, but Thomas Smith of Richmond County did enslave one of Bess' children, and that was Sarah.

BLACKWELL: And it's Sarah, my seven-times great grandmother, who changes the trajectory of her children and all her descendants who followed.

MURPHY: There was a law back in 1705 that declared that all children that are enslaved or free, their condition would be based on whatever their mother was.

BLACKWELL: Remember, Sarah and Bess arrived free people.

MURPHY: So, Sarah has a lawsuit that's filed saying we're free.

BLACKWELL: This is the actual lawsuit filed by Sarah, suing for her freedom and for the freedom of her descendants. And that deposition, it was from a witness who saw Mary and Bess arrive decades earlier.

MURPHY: So, in 1791, the court agreed with Sarah, and her children and grandchildren and all of those relatives who were descendants of Mary and Bess are going to be free.

BLACKWELL (on camera): That my ancestors filed and sued for their freedom, it is remarkable.

MURPHY: We're not done.

BLACKWELL: We're not done. We're not done. OK. We're not done.

Let me get a -- let me get a Kleenex, Doctor Murphy.

MURPHY: I -- I told you, have a box there.

BLACKWELL: All right.

(voice-over): But not all of Sarah's family was free.

Before the court's decision, Sarah's enslavers illegally sold her daughter, Rachel (ph), and then Rachel (ph) was sold again. And for the next 20 years, unaware of the court's ruling, Rachel (ph) and her children remained in bondage.

When she learned of the decision in 1807, more than a quarter century after her mother's groundbreaking lawsuit for freedom, Rachel (ph) filed this lawsuit against her enslaver, claiming that she was the daughter of a free woman and therefore she and her children should also be free.

MURPHY: And guess what? The witnesses and things all came through and they were awarded their freedom.

So, what do you think?

BLACKWELL (on camera): Man. This is -- oh, man. To be an enslaved woman suing your slave master, to do it twice in one bloodline is just remarkable.

MURPHY: And Virginia.

Your line started out enslaved and became free to up until where you're at right now. BLACKWELL: It became free because those women fought for it.

MURPHY: A few women. I'm going to tell you what, Victor, the women in your family is unbelievable.

[13:55:02]

BLACKWELL: Hmm.

It fills in a lot of gray, a lot of blank space. There was nothing there. There was an assumption. Now there are names, relatives, and places and stories. It certainly fills in more of the story of my family's place in this country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL, I'll tell you, those were tears of joy and tears of gratitude to those women who sued for the freedom of their children and grandchildren and descendants moving forward.

Listen, if you want to start this work for your family, go to the Web site for the International African-American Museum. They put the resources there.

You can start with what you know and then branch out. And as they grow, the Center for Family History, they will start to have appointments one-on-one to do for you what they did for me.

And as invaluable, as I've called it since it was completed, a digital heirloom for my family -- Bri?

KEILAR: Unbelievable, Victor. I'll tell you, we were, during your piece, gathered around the return monitor silently watching, almost in disbelief as each part of this story revealed itself.

How much does that mean to you as you have this sense, as we got in your piece of, you know, the celebration of something also so awful, but have you this sort of push and pull that I can see happening unfold even in your own personal story?

BLACKWELL: Yes. You know, I think the director of the museum said it best. It is the co-existence of joy and trauma at the same time. The joy that these women fought their slave masters for a better life for themselves and their children but also that was the condition in which they were in.

And what it probably took to sue a slave master in Virginia in the 18th century, what they endured.

Again, joy, gratitude, but it's still reverberating internally and throughout my family.

Now what does this mean? Put this into the context of your life and all the little things that you think are so big now, there were people hundreds of years ago who sued to be free so that you would have an advantage in life. I'm still working my way through it honestly.

KEILAR: Victor, thank you for taking us on that journey with you. We do appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thanks.

KEILAR: Jim?

SCIUTTO: That is a truly incredible story, you're right, Brianna.

Another story we're watching this morning, time running out for people on board a missing submersible in the Atlantic Ocean. The Coast Guard is now involved in the search. Can they find that sub before it's too late, before the oxygen runs out? An update ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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