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Mavericks' Mark Cuban Comment Causes Uproar; Michelle Knight's Message to Kidnap Victim; 2 Passenger Flights Barely Miss One Another.
Aired May 23, 2014 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon.
We're going to get more on our developing news now. We have been told by a source familiar with the situation that Donald Sterling's wife, Shelly, is in talks with the NBA to sell the Los Angeles Clippers but some candid comments made by another NBA owner really causing an uproar now. During an interview with "Inc." magazine, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban talked about his own bigotry, and that's what he says, everybody's bigoted (ph), saying everyone has prejudices in one way or another. But some say his reference to a black teenager in a hoodie, that that really crossed the line. Cuban later apologized to the family of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, but stood by the context of his answers. Last night, he tweeted a link to a second interview he gave, one he calls, quote, "an interview on race that you probably haven't seen."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CUBAN, OWNER, DALLAS MAVERICKS: My uncle was the superintendant of the D.C. school districts in the '60s. I remember us sitting down and it being very clear to me that we way we think in this family that everybody is equal, that if you go back and look at the history of people who were being repressed, it's never been for a good reason and it's never acceptable. And of everything and anything that you possibly can do, treating anybody differently for race, religion or any other reason, is wrong. But that doesn't mean you're not going to have those thoughts from time to time. We all succumb to those thoughts. And you have to realize that we have thoughts that are wrong. And my point in saying this is I do. I will go to the other side of the street. But to me, that makes me a hypocrite, in some respects, by trying to hold somebody else to a different standard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Let's bring in cultural critic and writer -- there she is -- Michaela Angela Davis, lighting up your screen.
That was a second interview that we had not seen. Why tweet this second interview out.
MICHAELA ANGELA DAVIS, CULTURAL CRITIC & WRITER: I think he wanted to give context. All along I was encouraged by his clunky, ironic --
LEMON: You were. DAVIS: -- insensitive remarks because I think it was an honest attempt to have dialogue about the complexities of race and bigotry and oppression.
LEMON: I thought we were going to disagree.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: You said it was ridiculous.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: I don't think the push back is ridiculous.
LEMON: No, I don't think the push back. But I think it's the controversy. Of course, you can push back.
DAVIS: Right.
LEMON: But I think the controversy is ridiculous because you can't have it both ways where we say we have to have this dialogue. We need to have this dialogue about race and we want someone who has no history of racism, has an honest dialogue. Then we say we want to shut them up. We shouldn't do that.
DAVIS: But, Don, we have to make a difference between what's honest critic and chatter. So there's a lot of chatter online about, oh, I'm tired of talking about race. We quiet that and have the patience and vision when this is an opening for discourse and I think that he has given us an opening for discourse. He was honest and willing to make mistakes. And I think that is really critical in moving this ball down the court.
LEMON: What great about him is he's also willing to take the criticism and respond to it.
DAVIS: Yeah. And also I had to go on Twitter and apologized because he apologized. We're still so raw and in so much pain about Trayvon Martin, that when we heard the hoodie reference, it gave a lot of pain. There are no scabs on our wounds. But he apologized and that's healthy.
LEMON: The hoodie thing -- and I was one of the first journalists to bring the Trayvon Martin to a national stage, one of. Everyone feels terribly for them. But every time someone mentions a conversation like a hoodie, is it always Trayvon Martin --
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: When you say "a black boy in a hoodie," this was so painful and so real, so very much like it Emmitt Till, that is the iconography. It's so much in popular culture. You have to be aware of the new iconography around pain and racism. I think we need to find a little -- expand our narratives outside of the stereotypes that we have been given beyond the hoodie. It hurts too much right now. Too soon. LEMON: Point taken. Too soon. Point taken. So when originally he said I'm a little bit worried about the slippery slope of taking someone's team away, then he got new information and changed his mind. He said, I got new information, I changed my mind on that. Then when you talk about the iconography, he didn't realize it in the initial comments. And then he realized it and apologized. That's a mature adult.
DAVIS: Yes. That's how we evolve.
LEMON: Because most people say --
DAVIS: That's how we evolve. He said you have to control your bigotry. I think you have to learn and grow and be willing to recover. There's a madness in racism and bigotry. And he made a distinction between bigotry, racism and prejudice. What we saw with Donald Sterling was racist, not just bigotry and biased.
LEMON: Donald Sterling was saying I'm not racist. I'm not a racist person. He doesn't realize --
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: And that's adding insult to ignorance.
LEMON: So what Mark Cuban is doing is opening himself up to the possibility that he does have biases, right?
DAVIS: Right.
LEMON: Then willing to learn. Most people would say I'm not a racist. I M tired of you talking about it, Don Lemon, I'm not a racist, blah, blah, blah, everything is not about racism.
DAVIS: I do think that most of us have some sort of vice. But those people who said they are tired of talking about race, I think our ancestors were tired of slavery. Our grandparents were tired of Jim Crow. Our parents were tired of the civil rights movement. I'm tired of black boys dying and black girls getting their faces blown off. If you're tired, get out of the way so people who are --
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: -- can do the greater work of being more equal.
LEMON: OK. So the question has been whether Mark Cuban is a racist. I don't think his comments were racist.
(CROSSTALK)
I don't think his comments were racist. I think they were.
DAVIS: Prejudice and bigoted.
LEMON: I think they were prejudice. I don't know about -- (CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: He was admitting prejudice, which I think is the most helpful thing that we can do. We have to stop being cowards about what we have been taught so that we can grow.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I really don't think bigoted, either.
DAVIS: I think he said -- well, he called himself a bigot. There you go.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: But I think he was showing that we have biases and prejudices, which most people do on some level.
LEMON: Great talk. I thought we were going to disagree. We didn't.
DAVIS: No. We can --
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: We can do that on that women thing? That is about being cute.
LEMON: Oh!
(LAUGHTER)
DAVIS: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: That was another -- you didn't get what I was saying. You didn't understand.
DAVIS: But you had a panel of feminists. Are you crazy?
LEMON: No, I'm not. I'm not crazy. I was making their point. Here is what I was saying.
DAVIS: What were you saying?
LEMON: When you're in this business, this business is about television business, we were talking about Jill Abramson being fired at "The New York Times" and about equal pay. I don't believe that equal pay in every circumstance, I think experience counts. Part of this business is about looks.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Part of it is about looks. If a let's just say someone with a haircut and a nice body comes out of college and is hired as a legal analyst they should not get paid what Sunny Hostin gets paid.
DAVIS: They will not get what Sunny's job.
LEMON: That's not true. That's not true.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: Oh, Don.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Have you watched television?
DAVIS: I am on there right now with a big 'ol afro.
(LAUGHER)
LEMON: Thank you, Michaela.
(LAUGHTER)
Have a great weekend. Appreciate it.
Michaela Angela Davis.
Coming up, Cleveland kidnapping victim, Michelle Knight, has a message for the woman who just surfaced after 10 years in captivity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING VICTIM: You have absolutely no clue what she went through to say things and say that she was lying or she is doing this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Hear more of her heartbreaking response next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The attorney for a man charged with abducting and holding a 15-year-old California girl captive for 10 years says his client did not do it. Medrano Garcia was in an Orange County courtroom yesterday. His bail was set at $1 million. He faces 19 years to life in prison if he is convicted. His lawyer says that Garcia is the one suffering and suggests that the alleged victim may have made up everything. The alleged victim, who is now 25 years old, said she feared for her life. She spoke publically to our Los Angeles affiliate, KABC. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED KIDNAPPING VICTIM: I'm so happy. I am so blessed to be with my family that I want all the time, all the time. That's what I wanted all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Michelle Knight suffered at the hands of convicted kidnapper, Ariel Castro, and came out to defend that woman. She lashed out against those who criticized the alleged victim for not running away sooner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KNIGHT: People shouldn't judge people by what they see and hear. There is a lot of people that go through pain. They can't stop it. They don't know how to cope with it. They don't know how to go through it. People shouldn't say anything about what they can't explain because it may be difficult for that woman, that woman that went through this. It's very hard for her when people are saying bad things about her and saying that she's lying. You don't know what went through her head. You don't know what that is doing to her. You have absolutely no clue what she went through, to say things and say that she was lying or she's doing this. You're making her life not able to function or heal properly when you do these things to people. You're making people not want to come out, not want to say anything. You're making people want to sit there and keep it to theirself and go through the abuse when you say stupid crap like that. I need a break.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry, Michelle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Emotion obviously very raw there. Michelle Knight wanted to keep talking after taking that break. Once she regained her composure and strength, here is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Let's just start where we were, Michelle, OK?
This hits so close to home. This is so hard.
KNIGHT: Yes, it does. It does hit really close to home. And I want to let her know that I care, I understand. And don't let anybody break you down. Don't let what people are saying about you hurt you or make you feel ashamed. Push through it. Ignore them. They're just ignorant. There are people out there going through the same thing you are and going through the same struggle regardless if they are man or woman. Don't be ashamed. You did nothing wrong. You did nothing. There's a lot of people that go through tremendous pain and just because you're not chained up and you're not locked in a basement doesn't mean you ain't trapped. I know exactly what it feels like to be trapped in your own mind and in your emotional mind. And told that you can't do anything about it. Nobody will care about what you say. I had that happen to me. And this is the most worsest feeling to feel like nobody cares, nobody understands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Indeed, a show of courage and compassion. She ended the interview by sending a direct message to the victim that she loves her. She also offered help saying she is here for her if she needs someone to talk.
Coming up on CNN, an extremely close call, this time, in the skies over Houston. Two United Airlines flights barely miss one another. How close they came, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This is scary news for millions heading to the airport this holiday weekend as we learn today about two more passenger planes that were seconds away from colliding. It happened on May 9th at Houston's George Bush International Airport moments after two United Jets took off.
Radio chatter between the air traffic controller and the pilots tells how close the planes were to disaster.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
TOWER: United 601, thank you. Turn right. Stop the turn right there, sir. United 601, stop your turn. Stop your turn. Stop your climb. Stop your turn, United 601.
UNITED 601 PILOT: Hey, you know what happened there?
OTHER PILOT: You all basically crossed directly over the top of each other. That's what it looked like from my perspective. I had no idea what was going on in the tower but it was pretty gnarly looking.
UNITED 601 PILOT: I'm guessing he was supposed to give us a left turn.
(END VIDEO FEED)
LEMON: Rene Marsh is CNN's aviation correspondent. She has more now -- Rene?
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Don, it has happened again. Two planes with passengers on board get too close in the skies and we now know the FAA is investigating.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
TOWER: 601, turn right. Right turn.
(END AUDIO FEED)
MARSH: Two more passenger planes get too close in the skies. On May 9th, United flight 601 and United 437 took off from Bush International Airport in Houston at roughly the same time. Shortly after take-off, flight 601 is told to turn right, putting it in the path of the other plane. Moments later, the controller seems to realize the mistake.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
TOWER: 601, stop your heading. Stop your turn right there, sir. United 601, stop your climb. Stop your turn, United 601.
(END AUDIO FEED)
MARSH: The two planes came within nearly a mile of each other. The roughly 300 passengers on both flights may not have been aware of the close call but the pilots were left with questions as to what went wrong.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
UNITED 601 PILOT: Hey, you know what happened there?
OTHER PILOT: You all basically crossed directly over the top of each other. That's what it looked like from my perspective. I had no idea what was going on in the tower but it was pretty gnarly looking.
UNITED 601 PILOT: I'm guessing he was supposed to give us a left turn.
(END AUDIO FEED)
MARSH: This is the third incident in recent weeks where passenger planes got too close for comfort. A similar incident over Newark Airport and another over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, all involving passenger planes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH: Don, the FAA tells us the controller involved was in training. He realized the mistake immediately and corrected the plane's course. We should note there was a trainer who would have stepped in if needed.
For the big picture we looked at FAA's latest numbers and we found, from 2012, it shows that planes got too close nearly 4400 times within one year. We should also note 41 of those were considered high risk -- Don?
LEMON: Rene, thank you very much for that.
And you know, I want to remind you about a new series coming soon to CNN, called "The Sixties." It's a decade that changed the world and reshaped American's lives that still affect us today. Be sure you check it out next thursday night, 9:00 eastern and pacific, right here on CNN.
In meantime, coming up, a mountain climber takes a devastating fall. 70 feet down a crevice in the ice, into the ice, and managed to survive it. Hear what he says kept him alive, next.
Plus, lots of great graduation commencement speeches at colleges around the country this year and we will give you a taste of some of the very best, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Welcome back. An American researcher rose to a life- threatening challenge. You can see it happen because Professor John All -- his one-arm climb after rib -- after a rib-cracking fall 70 feet down an icy crevice. It's like All landed on a ledge about three feet wide. Then he spent five hours saving himself. I want you to watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ALL, PROFESSOR & MOUNTAIN CLIMBER: I'm well. Thankfully, I didn't keep falling that way. I got trapped here instead, this ledge. My arm, I can't use. I'm going to have to somehow climb out that way. Oh. Oh. How the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) do I get back up there, though? Oh! My right arm is seizing up. I can't use it anymore. I'm going to try and sit above that, get through that, and try to head that way. Oh. I can't get out this way. It's too soft. I can't talk because I have a broken rib, I think. My chest is full of blood or something. So I'm going to have to crawl through there. Try and climb up and out through this thing. Hopefully, I can get out. I'm so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) close now. Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I hurt bad. Oh. I'm so close. It seemed so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) easy. Oh. Climbing all the way, over, up, over. So (EXPLETIVE DELETED) close. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I've just got to go a little further. I can do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: My god. Clearly anybody's worst nightmare. John All, seen here on Facebook, spoke with CNN and said the pain was, quote, "wonderful, because he was so happy to be alive to feel it." Unbelievable there.
Well, you know it's graduation season, and it's winding down now. The class of 2014 heard a little bit of everything when it came to commencement speeches. Here's a taste.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We've seen all too often that small actions can reverberate in large ways, whether it's sharing answers on a test, looking the other way when someone denigrates another human being, or taking advantage of the trappings of your office. Remember, your actions will define you. Your actions will define you in the eyes of everyone around you. It's not just what you do, but how you do it.
JILL ABRAMSON, FORMER EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES: What's next for me? I don't know. So I'm in exactly the same boat as many of you.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
ABRAMSON: Like you, I'm a little scared but also excited.
SANDRA BULLOCK, ACTRESS: You are loved and appreciated and supported for what you have to offer. I was trying to remember my graduation and, oddly, I couldn't remember anything. I thought I would remember how good I looked that day, but I looked at the pictures and I really didn't look so good.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: You know it's hard to feel the urgency as we sit here on an absolutely beautiful morning in Boston. You might not see climate change as an immediate threat to your job, your community or your families, but let me tell you, it is.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Here, in the United States, we tend to take education for granted. We just assume it will always be there for us. Let's not take it for granted. Education is so special, so powerful, so important. It shapes all of our lives.
CHARLIE DAY, ACTOR: A college degree does nothing. It collects dust. It does, however, mean something. It tells something to your community. It says, I have expanded my mind and destroyed by liver, but I didn't give up.
And although 44 of you here today took most of you more than four years to accomplish that goal, you don't have to tell anyone that.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
