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Reaction to Zimmerman Verdict; Church Congregations Start to Heal; "Glee" Star Dies; Investigation of Asiana Crash Deepens; "Glee" Fans Mourn Star's Death; J.K. Rowling's Secret Book
Aired July 14, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time since his arrest in April of last year, George Zimmerman began his day a free man. A six women jury acquitted him last night of all charges in the death of Trayvon Martin. But the story and the debate do not end there. This case has captured so much interest, in part because of combined elements of race with topics like gun violence, gun rights and self-defense.
Here in Sanford, Florida and across the nation, people rallied for Trayvon Martin vowing to keep fighting to honor the fallen teen. Others rallied to show support for George Zimmerman. Trayvon Martin's relatives tried to heal by going to church. Pastors from coast-to- coast mention the Martin in sermons today urging peace and compassion.
And despite the not guilty verdict, the nation's oldest civil rights organization wants to keep the fight going against George Zimmerman. The President of the NAACP Ben Jealous says he's calling on the Justice Department to launch a federal civil rights investigation. The Justice Department says the department continues to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial.
Let's bring CNN legal analyst and defense attorney Nejame and CNN's Martin Savidge here in Sanford, Florida. So Mark do you think the Defense Department is going to get involved?
MARK NEJAME, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: They are not going to touch it. They are just not done and it's already, we've already had a situation, the FBI has been down. They were down in the very beginning. They were investigating the police departments. They found nothing. And I think it's -- we need to be careful for people getting people's hopes up that there is going to be something more from this.
I don't see this fitting into any of the civil rights violations as far as, remember this criminal charge, it's still got to be beyond a reasonable doubt. And with all the depositions that have been taken with the public statements that have even been made by the state attorney as well as some of the counsel for the Martin family, for Trayvon Martin's family I don't see how the government can add anything that we haven't already heard that takes it to that level.
LEMON: So for organizations like the NAACP this is all for naught? NEJAME: I think that justice has already gotten it in my opinion. The FBI had it a long time ago, or a year ago. Plus, and you know that's got to take a look at the middle districts and their civil rights division. So I think they should absolutely do everything they can to always protect civil rights. And -- but I think it's going to be an effort in futility.
LEMON: I want to switch gears here a little because as people are pointing fingers at the media in this George Zimmerman trial this frenzy. I want you take a listen and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN JR., BROTHER OF GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: I'm not angry at the media. I think the media has to do a better job when you have people injecting race into the things. A red flag has to go up right away, especially after a case like this where two very crafty attorneys got away with fabricating a completely scripted narrative and selling it to the American people through the media, through CNN, through ABC, through NBC. They did it themselves you know to borrow a line from the movie "Argo," if you want to sell, I have the media sell it for you.
MARK O'MARA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You guys, the media. He was like a patient in an operating table where mad scientists were committing experiments on him and he had no anesthesia. He didn't know why he was turned into this monster. But quite honestly, you guys had a lot to do with it. You just did because you took a story that was fed to you and you ran with it and you ran right over him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Mark first to Mark and then I'm going to get to -- to Martin. What's your take on blaming the media for this?
NEJAME: You know it's an easy thing to do. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. You use the media when you want to get a cause brought out to the public and then when it doesn't go your way, you want to make them the bad guys. The reality of it is both sides use it. Even though the state attorney's office didn't make public statements, they had other people doing that for them. Trayvon's family, the very able counsel that they had; you had Mark and his team making statements all the time.
LEMON: Yes.
NEJAME: It energized people on both sides. But to blame the media for reporting what people want reported and then to disagree when in fact they say something you don't want, I'm sorry.
LEMON: One question I wanted to ask Robert Zimmerman Jr., is that he's blaming the media, but then he's on the media using the media to -- to speak about his brother and about the case in this I guess to draw some sort of compassion for his brother. He wasn't in that courtroom. He was in New York.
NEJAME: We haven't seen him yet. And I think that's very suspicious. You know does he even have the authority of his brother or of the defense council to be making the statements he's made? We haven't seen any statements from him that said that he's representing the family or his brother's asked him to speak for him. So I don't know if he is a loose cannon or if he's got permission that we've not heard about but he's not been alongside the family, the client, you know the defendant. They haven't seen him once shoulder to shoulder. We see him individually doing his thing --
LEMON: Yes.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But he does have something called blood which I think would give him legitimacy. He has the right to speak on his behalf.
(CROSSTALK)
NEJAME: He has the right, but I don't know if he got permission.
LEMON: And no, but no the interesting is listen I'm just -- just as a human being, if my -- I don't have any brothers, but if my sister was involved in something like this, I would want to be in the courtroom with my sister and my family for that.
SAVIDGE: Right I think he was -- I think he's very passionate. He has been very passionate. Mark is right that he has made some statements that have been perhaps more inflammatory than they have in explaining the situation from the family's perspective.
But you know to get back to what Mark O'Mara has also said and that is this claim that somehow this case was planted for the media to pick up on. You know, this has been -- this is what he would accuse Ben Crump of doing it. He manipulated the media. One of the points that are -- he's s pointing to is the -- the first images that came out of Trayvon Martin, a very youthful, very young, very small, child-like figure. These were in the photographs that were released by the family. That's what Mark O'Mara points at.
So what are the first pictures that we saw of George Zimmerman? We saw him mainly as a mug shot because that's what the media went for. They looked for photos they could find and they have rights to mug shots or public domain so that's what we saw of George Zimmerman, the man wearing prison attire. We saw a very youthful, very young child of Trayvon Martin. That's the kind of manipulation that he is referencing.
Is it a question for the media? Yes. I supposed the media must look at that.
LEMON: Yes it is a question but I remember when this story started. I remember the -- when -- how it played out because there was criticism that the media, why -- why wasn't -- why didn't this story get national attention?
SAVIDGE: Correct. There wasn't.
LEMON: Right and right and you know how the media works. Whatever is available, that's what you use. If you have those photographs available. And the media didn't know who Ben Crump was. The media didn't -- had no idea, at least the national media. Maybe locally, yes. But the national media had no idea.
(CROSSTALK)
SAVIDGE: I think what really happened here and what many would point out is to say, all right, what Ben Crump did was he saw a case where there was injustice and he brought it to the public by using the media.
LEMON: Right.
SAVIDGE: Mark O'Mara also used the media. I mean Mark is quite right that both sides used the media here in the presentation of their case.
LEMON: Right.
SAVIDGE: And that is not uncommon.
NEJAME: But remember, this was a dead 17-year-old child.
LEMON: Right.
NEJAME: A young black teenager who was just going to be another kid that was going to be forgotten. So his counsel -- I don't fault counsel for being strong advocates -- did what they thought they needed to do within ethics and the law to bring it to the forefront. And but for their efforts, this case would never have seen the light of day.
LEMON: Ok all right.
NEJAME: Now there is a conflict between the two because that is the natural thing. But as an advocate, if you're out there you've got a -- you've got a dead child, and you're representing the family, you want to get the attention done.
Now I fault NBC if in fact they had their editor I mean one of the reporters do an editing job. You know that's a different story.
LEMON: Now they said that they are suing -- they're suing NBC.
NEJAME: It's true that's right.
LEMON: All right lets -- I want to get this in. This has been very important. This has been talked about as well. President Obama today added his voice to the discussion. And also he weighed in on this early and he said in part, "We should ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves as individuals as a society how we can prevent future tragedies like this."
Listen, it would be great if there was some self-reflection in society. Martin, we heard similar statements before from the -- from presidents of the United States. And we find ourselves in similar positions. We found ourselves in similar positions in the past --
SAVIDGE: The President came out with a statement a couple of weeks after this began in which he said, "If I had a son he would have looked like Trayvon Martin."
LEMON: Right.
SAVIDGE: State of fact, absolutely. But also there were some who looked at that and said well wait a minute it appears that the President of the United States is taking sides in this particular issue. There is no doubt that what we hope to come out of this is conversation, an American conversation many different times.
LEMON: Right.
SAVIDGE: And some of that happened. Some of that is through the media. Some of that is going to take place in people's homes or their churches or on the street. But that is the good that comes from the --
LEMON: Do you think that -- let me -- let's bring up that particular point. It's by saying, I have a son, if I had a son he looks like Trayvon. Is that being race in it?
I'm just asking it. Is that bringing race in it? I mean it would --
(CROSSTALK)
SAVIDGE: It's a point of fact. It would be odd.
LEMON: It would -- it's a fact, it would be odd if George Bush said "If I had a son he would look like Trayvon." And you go wait what do you --
NEJAME: I think it's a compassionate statement. But you know what, sadly in this country there are thousands of dead young teenagers who would have looked like the President also.
LEMON: Right.
NEJAME: So maybe the testament and the honor we can pray -- we can pay is to go ahead and recognize that we've got too many dead young black men, but young teenagers who are young and wild and are not thinking. And maybe we need to go and spend a little bit more time figuring out how we can have the laws, gun laws, stand your ground laws, cooperative community, and address not just one young dead man who's got the media, but all the other ones who are in unmarked grave sites or only has a couple of family members coming to visit because that's going on as we're talking.
As we're talking right now some dead teenagers, somebody is getting shot and killed during this segment. So that happens routinely. Why are we not addressing why that's going on, as well?
LEMON: That is a terrific point I think that you're bringing about. I want to get back to the other point about whether or not it's appropriate for the President to comment on these sorts of things.
And again, it's just a question here. The President comments on soldiers. The President comments on -- he commented on a young lady who died after she went to the inauguration. And he comments on other things. Is it inappropriate for the President to comment on this particular story? Is that so out of the ordinary?
NEJAME: I need to qualify -- I was on the President's national finance committee a few years ago. So in light of full disclosure I did that. And I think it was inappropriate to comment on a specific case until all the facts are out. Now that the jury has rendered a verdict, of course, he can make a comment.
But while you still have jurors out there that have not been picked and we still are -- wanting not to enclose the case. You know when the President of the United States says something, it should mean something. And so I think that was not his best choice of words. I understand the compassion as a fellow father. But I think that on pending cases I think we need to watch it --
LEMON: That is the best explanation that I've heard for that particular point. Most of the explanations I've heard have been -- have been agenda-driven. It seems like it comes from someone trying to score political points for the President. Your point here?
SAVIDGE: I think what it shows us is the far reaches of this case. That it went far beyond the community of Sanford, well beyond the state of Florida, it went across the nation, right around the world to the point where the most powerful man in the world feels that he needs to speak in some way about it. I mean, it just shows you George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin and the interaction of that night touched so many lives in so many different ways.
NEJAME: And the -- and the unresolved issues that we still have to face in this country.
LEMON: Yes so here's what we do. So the solution we talk about, the way to start this is someone you don't know who doesn't look like you, go and start having these kinds of conversations with them.
NEJAME: I read a wonderful thing on Twitter.
LEMON: Yes.
NEJAME: Somebody said, wouldn't it be wonderful if, in fact, George Zimmerman had offered Trayvon Martin a ride to get out of the rain?
LEMON: Still ahead, many who did not agree with the verdict are coming out in support of Trayvon Martin today.
And in the wake of last week's Asiana airline crash, we give you an inside look at the tedious process of determining how a crash occurred.
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LEMON: People in Sanford, Florida, continue to gather in memory of Trayvon Martin this. This rally took place just a few hours ago at a park in Sanford. You know, it's just blocks away from where the verdict was read late last night. And like most of the demonstrations in Florida and across the nation, this event was peaceful.
The death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman were front and center in churches across the country. Pastors of all faiths were trying to help their congregations heal hours after the jury returned its verdict. CNN's Nick Valencia went to Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta to see how people there dealt with the decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR RAPHAEL WARNOCK, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why I wanted to love so much on our children this morning --
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Disappointed and frustrated -- the mood during Sunday's service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Once the spiritual home of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today the church was the site of a service dedicated to Trayvon Martin. The pastor's message was simple.
WARNOCK: Trayvon Benjamin Martin is dead because he and other young black men and boys are seen not as a person, but as a problem.
VALENCIA: In perhaps the morning's most powerful moment, the Pastor Warnock asked all parishioners 18 years old and younger to join him at the front of the altar. Dozens stood in unison holding hands. Many disappointed by the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial.
(on camera): Who of you all in this group has ever been racially profiled or felt that they were a victim of racial profiling? So when you look at a story like Trayvon Martin and you see what happened and the result, what do you guys think being young, black men?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes I be thinking I'm next walking through my neighborhood. Sometimes not only in my neighborhood, I would be like out like at the landing and stuff like that and there would be a lot of people just looking at me like even when I'm in business attire. I just think about all these cases and I'll be trying not to do some things like turn my music up loud or anything like that.
I just think and use that as like a tool to help me stay away from like the bad stuff that's been going on.
VALENCIA: The message of today's sermon was one of encouragement. Closing out his service, Pastor Warnock told the more than 2,000 parishioners in attendance that during times like this, it may be tempting to give up hope, but it's more important than ever not to give up or give in.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. Nick, thank you very much. From trial highlights to verdict action, tune in tonight at 8:00 Eastern for an "AC360" special "NOT GUILTY, THE GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TRIAL". That's immediately after this broadcast.
Next, Susan Hendricks is going to be back -- she's going to talk other news of the day, other big stories.
A popular star on the hit TV show -- the show "Glee" found dead in a hotel room. The details straight ahead.
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HENDRICKS: I'm Susan Hendricks at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Back to our live team coverage from Sanford in just a moment but first we want to get you caught up on other stories.
In Texas, demonstrators took to the capitol building as the senate passed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country, several arrests were made. Governor Rick Perry plans to sign the legislation. He defended the bill today on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: In the state of Texas, we put some substantial amount of money into women's health programs over the course of the last two years, partly because the Obama administration pulled our funding to the state of Texas because they disagreed with Texas restrictions on these abortions.
And most people, I think, in this country and in Texas certainly believe that six months is too late to be deciding whether or not these babies should be aborted or not. And we put the limit at five months in this bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDRICKS: Well, critics argue that the law will force the shutdown of most of the abortion clinics in Texas.
There is a warning today from the journalist who broke the story of the NSA surveillance program. In an interview with an Argentine newspaper, Glenn Greenwald says the man who leaked the material has more information that would be dire for the U.S. if released. Greenwald said Edward Snowden, quote, "has enough information to cause more harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had." "The U.S. Government," he goes on to say, "should be on their knees every day praying that nothing happens to Snowden because if something happens, all information will be revealed and that would be their worst nightmare," end quote. Snowden had said he will ask Russia for temporary asylum. But Russia so far has said it has not received a request.
"Glee" actor Cory Monteith is dead. He played Finn Hudson on the show. His body was found yesterday in his room in a Vancouver hotel. The cause of his death is not known but police have ruled out foul play. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.
Earlier this year Monteith entered a rehab facility for substance abuse. He was released in April. The "Glee" star was 31.
And Asiana airlines may take legal action against a California TV station. The station ran a list during a newscast on Friday reportedly revealing the names of the four pilots involved in the crash landing in San Francisco. The names were not real. They were apparently a tasteless excuse for a joke, but confirmed to the station by a summer intern at the NTSB. The news anchor did read the names out loud.
Investigators are hard at work trying to find out what caused Asiana Airlines, meanwhile, flight 214 to crash. Those investigators have been using examples from previous crashes to help them. CNN's Casey Wians shows us what they've learned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY WIANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Several Korean aviation accident investigators not looking into the Asiana crash got their training here, according to USC's aviation safety program inside an old Sear's warehouse where the twisted wreckage of plane crashes serves as a classroom for accident investigators.
THOMAS ANTHONY, DIRECTOR, USC AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY PROGRAM: What you see around here is a safety system that has failed.
WIANS: Instructors took me through part of the training.
ANTHONY: What strikes you with this thing?
WIANS (on camera): Well, what strikes me is that there was a big fire here and it doesn't look like anyone could have survived this.
ANTHONY: Now, you look over there, what do you see on that left wing?
WIANS: Well, I see twisted metal. It looks like some sort of significant trauma happened to that wing. Crashed into something, hit something. I don't know -- a pole.
ANTHONY: We teach the discipline of accident investigation namely to observe the fact, to document the fact and then let the facts take you by the hand and lead you to the next fact and the discipline not to conclude, not to summarize and not to think too far ahead but to stick with the facts.
WIANS: And so how wrong am? I. ANTHONY: You're right.
WIANS (voice over): But minutes later, I jumped to a faulty conclusion looking at different wreckage.
ANTHONY: It almost looks like a crumpled beer can and what we see here is the power of a thunderstorm.
WIANS (on camera): So lightning hit this aircraft?
ANTHONY: There is no evidence of lightning strike. This is simply evidence of an aircraft being torn apart by the severe turbulence that is contained in a thunderstorm.
WIANS (voice over): While investigators in San Francisco still are gathering information, there are clues.
MICHAEL BARR, USC AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY PROGRAM: We are pretty sure that we are going to look at how the air speed decayed to a point where three-fully qualified people on the flight deck didn't see it. Or saw it and didn't warn the captain.
In today's world, with the way these airplanes are made, the weak link is always going to be human factors.
WIANS: One question these instructors are beginning to ask is, have pilots become too reliant on automation? The NTSB says it's looking into the role an automated throttle may have played n the Asiana crash.
ANTHONY: If we can teach one thing, it is never one thing. It's always a chain of interrelated causes. The reason it's safe is this, it's that the lessons we have learned through accident investigation and through investigating the procedures, they're the ones that have changed this and made it such a safe form of transportation.
WIANS: Casey Wians, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDRICKS: Stay with us. Don Lemon is back with more live coverage from Sanford on the Zimmerman verdict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Just a little bit past -- half past the hour. Hello, I'm Don Lemon here in Sanford, Florida, with CNN's special coverage of the Zimmerman verdict.
The trial is over. George Zimmerman is a free man now. Emotions still very strong. How one case is sparking conversations about race in America, healing in America and the law in America. And despite the not guilty verdict, the nation's oldest civil rights organization wants to keep the fight going against George Zimmerman.
The president of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, says he is calling on the Justice Department to launch a federal civil rights investigation. And this morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," he spoke of patience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAACP: It's important. Just as we all put our faith in this -- in this justice system here in Florida and in the jury, that we let the justice system run its course. And the reality is in these types of cases where there are very serious questions, we know there will be a state phase, there will be a civil phase almost assuredly, and then there will be a federal civil rights phase. And we are putting our faith in that system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So not surprisingly, George Zimmerman's brother Robert Zimmerman Jr. sees race in this story, too, but in a completely different way. He spoke to CNN earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There is a lot -- a very big push now for bringing civil rights charges against your brother. What do you take of it?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN JR., GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S BROTHER: It sounds to me like what you're saying is that race was never a factor. I think that's the first thing she said. And believes or alleges, which has been disproven in a court of law that George somehow criminally profiled Trayvon Martin.
I think that I would encourage Mr. Jealous, who I describe as a self- professed civil rights leader. I don't think he does anything for civil rights by perpetuating a narrative that has now been proven false and calling for an arrest and then a conviction and it didn't happen. So now there is more agitation by the same players that were insisting that George was a murderer and a racist to begin with.
BOLDUAN: But the Justice Department is gathering information. I mean, the Justice Department is not directly responding to the NACCP's request, but it has -- it is gathering information and there is an investigation going.
ZIMMERMAN: Right. And we welcome actually that investigation through the FBI when they originally started investigating George. They've investigated I think about three dozen of his closest friends and acquaintances. And there is not any inkling of racism. In fact there's evidence that show the opposite. So I would encourage them to cool their jets, give, you know, everyone some time to kind of process what's going on. Agitation doesn't help us. It doesn't do anybody any good right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. So let me just tell you this if you're at home now sitting down watching -- you're watching this, sitting down and watching this. You're going to enjoy this conversation. You heard a lot from Robert Zimmerman Jr. You've heard a lot of what he had to say about race. Now we're going to hear a little bit different take on this.
He had some different comments in Spanish when he spoke to our sister network CNN en Espanol. And I'm joined now by Gustavo Valdes to tell us more about your conversation with Robert Zimmerman Jr.
And you and I talked about this, whether or not it would be different, right, if the media narrative at least would be different if George Zimmerman had been perceived as Hispanic, right?
GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN EN ESPANOL: As a minority group. You know, perception, the first impression is very important on any occasion. And in this case it took a few days, even weeks for people to really find out that George Zimmerman's mother is Peruvian, that he would be Hispanic. Some people kept going with the narrative that he was a white man who killed a black young man.
And that is the story that the whole world heard for several weeks. And it took a while. And even after we found out that he had this Hispanic heritage, I don't think that people got that impression during the trial. It was certainly not mentioned in court. I don't think a lot of the media, including ourselves, brought that up.
And I asked him this morning if he thinks that if their last name would have been different the reaction from the media and other people would have been different. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZIMMERMAN (Through Translator): Many in our family are now considered by many to be racist primarily for association with George. Primarily because of the narrative of Mr. Crump and Mrs. Natalie Jackson. This was a false narrative. This had nothing to do with the case.
And unfortunately, in this country, when people allege racism, they do not need to have proof. It's simply enough to allege and declare whoever it is can be a racist. And this person has to defend himself from these charges.
What must happen is that if there is a base, a foundation to accuse someone of something, that should be the first step to make such a serious acquisition. It must not be that lawyers simply declare racism and we all accept it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALDES: And something that he said is that he feels that the last name had a lot to do with it.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Do we have another sound bite? Do we have the last name sound bite? Because I would like people to hear that, if we could find it, where he talks about the last name. We don't have it? OK.
VALDES: Yes. So basically what he said if the last name wouldn't had been Zimmerman, it would have been Lopez or Gutierrez, that state of mind in the people would have been different. And the whole dynamic of the case perhaps would have been different.
LEMON: What would have been different about it, do you think?
(CROSSTALK)
Because people are going to perceive this as, and I'm wondering, is he saying that just because someone is Hispanic that they cannot be racist or they cannot be biased?
VALDES: No. I think what he's saying, because that he later said that we never heard about George Zimmerman being Hispanic. And he said that race should never have been part of this case. And that's his point. But he says, he thinks that in the public opinion, hearing a Lopez versus a black person might have played out differently, perhaps emotions wouldn't have been as high.
And even not long ago during the demonstrations here, I heard Latino people who say this is a crime against black and brown people and a white person got away. That information didn't get out. And what he is wondering is, if the perception, the public opinion where we keep talking about this case, even though his brother has been declared not guilty would be played out differently.
LEMON: I think that's a very important point. And just I've been throughout this story brutally honest. And when you came here and we had this conversation, if I were to meet you on the street and you didn't open your mouth, I wouldn't know what you were. I would assume that you were a white man.
VALDES: And there have been people, believe it or not, that because of my height and my name, my first name that some people --
LEMON: I would assume --
(CROSSTALK)
I would assume Robert Zimmerman is a white man. I would assume that George Zimmerman is a white man. I would not know unless someone said to me I am Hispanic. Unless George Zimmerman said, Don Lemon, I am Hispanic. Unless Robert Zimmerman says, I am Hispanic. Unless you said to me, I am Hispanic.
So most people in the world who operate in America see you as a white person. Do you realize that?
VALDES: That might be the case. And perhaps the point is that. That we should see the case for what it is.
LEMON: Right.
VALDES: And not the appearance of what happened.
LEMON: Right.
VALDES: And that I believe is the point he was trying to make. And again, he told me he feels like they didn't make a point about being Hispanic during the case because they felt race should not be part of the discussion.
LEMON: It's a great, great conversation. Thank you. And thank you for coming over, bringing it to our attention. We appreciate it.
Gustavo Valdes with CNN en Espanol.
Up next, the Sunday morning talk shows were abuzz with the Zimmerman verdict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So what news stories dominated the Sunday morning talk shows today? I'll give you one guess. Here is a quick look around the networks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the Circuit Court of the 18th Judicial Circuit in and for Seminole County, Florida, verdict, we the jury find George Zimmerman not guilty.
CANDY CROWLEY, ANCHOR, CNN STATE OF THE UNION CORRESPONDENT: You said you were outraged by this verdict. Who are you -- who is the focus of that outrage? Are you upset with the jury? Are you upset with the prosecutors? What went wrong?
JEALOUS: We're upset with a situation in this country where as black people, as black parents, as parents raising black boys, black girls in this society, that it feels so awful that our young people have to fear the bad guys and the good guys. The robbers and the cops and the self-appointed community watch volunteer who thinks that they're keeping folks safer.
AL SHARPTON, MSNBC HOST: It goes to the Justice Department. Clearly, there are grounds for civil rights charges here.
BENJAMIN CRUMP, MARTIN FAMILY ATTORNEY: Well, I think we would be intellectually dishonest, George, if we don't acknowledge the racial undertones in this case. There is a reason why everybody was watching this case and they wanted to see if everybody got equal justice.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We have the Chamber of Commerce, conservative groups all over America running ads telling Republicans, vote for this. This is a good bill. It gives us security on our border and it gives people who are here a pathway to citizenship.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I'm a big fan of what legal immigration has done for our country. I hope, even though the Senate bill, in my view is deficient on the issue of border security, I hope we can get an outcome for the country that improves the current situation.
