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George Floyd Laid To Rest After Emotional Last Memorial; President Of Tanzania: Country Is Free Of COVID-19; China Flexes Military Might Amid Coronavirus Pandemic; George Floyd Laid to Rest after Emotional Final Memorial; Protests Lead to Change in Policing; Protester's Friend on "Presidential Brutality"; U.S. Has Not Dealt with Sin of Slavery; World Health Organization Clarifies Comments about Asymptomatic Spread; Yemen Could Suffer Devastating Outbreak. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired June 10, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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BROOKE WILLIAMS, GEORGE FLOYD'S NIECE: Someone said make America great again.
But when has America ever been great?
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The man known around the world for how he died, remembered for how he lived as family and friends gathered to say goodbye to George Floyd.
But from the White House, no words of comfort for a nation in crisis, just a retweeted conspiracy theory.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Now we have something that indeed turned out to be my worst nightmare.
VAUSE (voice-over): And America's doctor, who's guided this country through outbreaks of HIV/AIDS, Ebola, swine flu and bird flu, so many others, put the coronavirus at the top of his most feared list.
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Welcome to viewers from all around the world. I'm John Vause. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: For more than two weeks now, we have heard almost every grim detail of how George Floyd died a death at the hands of the police, which was both cavalier and cruel. But on Tuesday at a memorial service in Houston, Texas, we got to know
a bit about George Floyd's life. He was larger than life in many ways, it seems. And now in death, he is a symbol of racial injustice embraced by so many around the world.
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VAUSE (voice-over): After an emotional celebration, filled with music and tributes, he was laid to rest. His body was taken by horse drawn carriage to a final resting place, with crowds chanting "Say his name" and "We will breathe."
Floyd died pinned under the knee of a white police officer, technically a chokehold, which has now been banned by police departments in these American cities; so, too, across France. Other reforms are now being considered across the United States.
Perhaps the biggest change could happen in Minneapolis, the city where Floyd died, which is now moving to dismantle its entire police force.
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VAUSE: The funeral service for George Floyd saw friends and family grieving the loss of a father and a brother. It was also at times part political rally, demanding change to the justice system, change in the White House.
Amid tears and laughter, many at Floyd's memorial talked of this moment as being a turning point for the U.S. and its long painful history of race relations. CNN's Sara Sidner was there.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fourth and final farewell for George Floyd, a man whose death has sparked new life into a movement.
His family members breaking down in front of the casket just before his body was sealed inside forever.
REV. GUSTA BOOKER, GREATER ST. MATTHEW BAPTIST CHURCH: Let justice run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you and I thank god for giving me my own personal Superman.
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WILLIAMS: No more hate crimes, please. Someone said make America great again, but when has America ever been great?
REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: We must commit to this family all of these families, all five of his children, grandchildren and all, that until these people pay for what they did, that we're going to be there with them because lives like George will not matter until somebody pays the cost for taking their lives.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unlike most, you must grieve in public and it's a burden, a burden that is now your purpose to change the world for the better in the name of George Floyd. .
SIDNER: Among the 500 family and friends of Floyd inside the Fountain of Praise Church in Houston, the black American families who know their pain all too well, their children killed by police too. The family of Ferguson's Michael Brown, New York's Eric Garner and Dallas' Botham Jean attended the services, offering their support.
Protests around the country pushing cities around the nation to consider police reform after two weeks of nationwide demonstrations. The Houston police chief himself demanding reform from the inside out.
CHIEF ART ACEVEDO, HOUSTON POLICE: The community recognizing bad policing when they see it and there are still too many instances where bad policing is tolerated. So, we need to -- we need to say no.
SIDNER: The Houston mayor going further, announcing at Floyd's funeral an executive order to ban chokeholds among other reforms.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-TX), HOUSTON: In this city, we will ban chokeholds and strangleholds. In this city, we will require de- escalation.
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SIDNER (voice-over): In Minneapolis, a judge approved a restraining order to stop police there from using neck restraints and chokeholds.
In Los Angeles, officials announcing a moratorium on one type of chokehold.
In New York, a promise by the mayor to cut some police funds and move them to youth and social services.
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SIDNER (voice-over): Back in Texas, a procession following Floyd's casket to its final resting place, his body to be laid to rest next to his mother, whom he cried out for in his final moments.
SIDNER: The Floyd family has been on a three-city sojourn and held their heads up high in four memorials. They are finally able to say a final goodbye as George Floyd's body is buried next to his mother.
The last mile, he was taken in a horse drawn carriage so that the public could also say their final goodbye -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Houston.
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VAUSE: On the day when George Floyd was buried, the president made no mention of Floyd. There were no words of comfort or reassurance, no call for unity and calm.
Instead, Donald Trump smeared another victim of alleged police brutality. This 75-year-old peaceful protester, who last week fell to the ground after being pushed by police in Buffalo, New York. The president retweeted an unproven conspiracy theory, that the protester was a member of the far-left anti-fascist group, Antifa.
We have more from CNN's Jim Acosta.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With police brutality under the microscope on the same day relatives gathered in Texas for George Floyd's funeral, President Trump is lobbing grenades from his social media bunker.
The president is promoting a baseless conspiracy theory about 75-year- old Martin Gugino, who as pushed to the ground by officers during a protest in Buffalo, tweeting: "Buffalo protesters shoved by police could be Antifa provocateur. I watched. He fell harder than was pushed. Could be a setup?"
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The protester pushed by Buffalo police was appearing to use common Antifa tactics.
ACOSTA: The president cited this thinly sourced segment on the pro- Trump TV network OANN.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called the Antifa allegation, fabricated.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I mean, if there was ever a reprehensible, dumb comment and from the president of the United States, at this moment of anguish and anger. What does he do? Pours gasoline on the fire.
ACOSTA: Asked about the latest Trump outrage, a few Senate Republicans took issue with the tweet.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Yes, I saw the tweet. It was a shocking thing to see. And I won't dignify it with any further comment.
ACOSTA: While others were doing all they could to avoid our cameras.
QUESTION: This Buffalo protester.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS): I haven't read the damn thing. I don't want to...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
ACOSTA: GOP Senator Marco Rubio told CNN: "I didn't see it. You're telling me about it. I don't read Twitter. I only write on it."
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said: "You know, a lot of this stuff just goes over my head." And South Dakota GOP Senator John Thune added: "Most of us up here would rather not be political commentators on the president's tweets."
TRUMP: Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, this is a great thing that's happening for our country.
ACOSTA: The president has done little to ease tensions across the U.S., laying low behind his fortress-like fencing, ever since his administration brutalized protesters for a photo-op.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden appeared in a video at Floyd's funeral, calling for an end to police misconduct.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away from racism. It stings at our very soul.
ACOSTA: Even Mr. Trump's own advisers have questioned his actions, with one surrogate telling CNN, the president should avoid giving an address to the nation the subject of race, saying, quote, "A speech lacking genuine compassion at any point would not help. He's just not genuinely compassionate."
The president has instead seized on the wishes of some protesters to defund the police, an effort aimed at diverting money away from law enforcement agencies. But Democrats working on police reform say, that's not even in their bill.
REP. KAREN BASS (D-CA): Well, because I don't think that that's the appropriate thing to do. I think what the president is seizing on is the fact that he knows his poll numbers are dropping.
ACOSTA: The president is also being contradicted by Attorney General William Barr over why Mr. Trump ended up in the White House bunker during the demonstrations.
WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker.
ACOSTA: That's not what the president told FOX.
TRUMP: I was there for a tiny, little short period of time and it was much more for an inspection. There was no problem during the day.
ACOSTA: Republican senators met behind closed doors to work on their own proposals for police reform. But those GOP senators, led by South Carolina's Tim Scott, came out of that meeting, noting that they did not come up with anything concrete yet.
As for the president's tweet about Martin Gugino, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was also asked about it but he also declined to comment -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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[02:10:00] VAUSE: Long-time friend of 75 year-old Martin Gugino says the president's accusations that the incident was faked is nonsense. He says the president's tweet was horrific and his friend is now a victim twice over.
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KEITH GILES, MARTIN GUGINO'S FRIEND: He is the victim of police brutality on that video, that was painful, but this morning, he was the victim of presidential brutality. And that was very, very surreal.
But I want people to know this is not, you know, an anonymous person.
This is someone I've known for 13 years. This a man who was 75 years old. He was not in very good health. He was a very kind man, a very funny man. He's a human being, he's a person.
He doesn't work for -- he's not an agent of the deep state. I promise you, he does not know how to turn his cell phone into some kind of a, you know, high tech James Bond device. That's not who he is. And it's ridiculous for anyone to suggest that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Some protesters are now calling for the removal of Confederate statues, symbols of America's history of slavery. But a judge in Richmond, Virginia, is blocking the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
A temporary injunction has been granted after one Virginia resident argued the state is obligated to guard and protect the statue under an 1890 deed.
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VAUSE: Joining us from New York is Nikole Hannah-Jones from "The New York Times Magazine" and creator of the 1619 Project, which reexamines the legacy of slavery in the United States.
Nikole, thank you for being with us.
NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Right now, statues of Confederate leaders in the South are coming down. Streets in New York City are being renamed to honor the group Black Lives Matter. These are symbolic gestures. But symbolic gestures are important.
Is this too early to declare this a watershed moment in the history of the United States?
HANNAH-JONES: I never want to predict how we will view things that are occurring right now. But it certainly feels like a watershed moment. This will certainly be a moment, no matter what ultimately comes from this, that I think is remembered in history. We are seeing the longest stretch of protests, probably since the
1960s, protests in every state in the country, the multiracial nature of the protests.
And, yes, I think of the picture of the two black ballerinas, standing at the base of the Robert E. Lee statue in Virginia, that is now being taken down, after decades of black people trying to get that taken down; the statue of the racist mayor of Philadelphia that has been taken down, it certainly feels like we could be having a watershed moment.
It's a symbolic reckoning so far. Symbols are important. That is why we erect monuments to people. But I hope that it will go further than symbolism as well.
VAUSE: At George Floyd's memorial service in Houston, Al Sharpton spoke about America's racist history. He referred to his name which is not really his name; it's the name of the man who owned his grandfather.
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AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: That is how deep race is, that every time I write my name, I am writing American history of what happened to my people. I can't talk about what my great-grandparents did. They were enslaved and we are still being treated less than others.
And until America comes to terms with what it has done and what it did, we will not be able to heal, because you are not recognizing the wound.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That particular chapter of American history, some white people may be aware of it but they are not confronted by it multiple times a day.
So until there's recognition for the sins of the past, can this country address the problems of racism and the trouble of the present?
HANNAH-JONES: No, this has been a long-standing issue in America, this sense of denial about how foundational slavery and anti-black racism is to the United States. One of the things that we hear all the time as black people, is slavery was a long time ago, get over it.
But it's clear this country has not gotten over it. Our modern policing system is the direct descendant of the slave patrols. The fears of black men that are often used to justify these killings is a fear that was borne out of slavery and trying to control a population that wanted to be free.
So we have never dealt with the sin of slavery or the 100 years of legal apartheid and racial terrorism that followed. And because of that, we are in the circumstance we are in the United States today. VAUSE: If you look at those past moments with Martin Luther King, for example, these days the vast majority of Americans speak of him with pride. Earlier this year, the FBI honored Dr. king. They tweeted him on MLK Day. This is the same FBI that described him like this in 1963.
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VAUSE: "We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security."
Before King was assassinated, most Americans did not approve of Dr. King.
So if this moment becomes a major point in history, would you expect some degree of whitewashing, just like they did with Dr. King's past?
Doesn't that in some way indicate that the problem is still there?
HANNAH-JONES: If history holds true, what we will find is, after a while, after the tolerance runs out, there will be an effort to suppress the movement and then to co-opt the movement. We have seen that again and again.
Most white Americans probably have never read the entire "I Have a Dream" speech, nor have they read most of Dr. King's speeches. By 1967, he was writing speeches about the fundamentally racist nature of this country and arguing that most white Americans were actually very content to keep the racial hierarchy in place.
He was the most hated man in America and the majority of white Americans opposed Dr. King. Then, he was ultimately assassinated. So, yes, I think this is what a lot of people fear, is that we have these kinds of revolutionary periods, where enough white Americans believe that we have gone too far and need to work towards our founding ideals and equality.
But that attention is very fleeting. Then we tend to see that followed up by a period of retrenchment and backlash. So it is yet to be seen, a sustained period, where a majority of white Americans actually believe that the fight for equality is a necessary fight.
This is not something that can change overnight or can be done overnight. It has taken us literally centuries to get to this point. And if we are going to actually become the country that we present to the world, we will have to learn to treat the most marginalized people in our society as full citizens. And we haven't done that yet.
VAUSE: Yes, and it has been a long time. Nikole, thank you very much. We appreciate you being with us.
HANNAH-JONES: Thank you.
VAUSE: Demands from protesters are now growing to defund the police. Even those who support that can't seem to agree on what it actually means. More on that in a moment. And, with the coronavirus being the worst humanitarian crisis in the
world, it could soon become even worse.
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VAUSE: The United States is approaching 2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, by far the highest number in the world. Infections are rising in other countries as well. America's leading expert in infectious diseases says this pandemic is his worst nightmare.
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FAUCI: Now we have something that indeed turned out to be my worst nightmare, something that is highly transmissible. In a period, if you just think about it, in a period of four months, it has devastated the world and it's not over yet.
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VAUSE: Meantime, the World Health Organization is trying to clarify a statement from Monday about how the virus spreads, now saying it is possible for people without symptoms to transmit the virus, after saying those cases were, in fact, very rare. Here is the startling remark the official made.
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MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, WHO: It still appears to be rare that an asymptomatic individual actually transmits onward.
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VAUSE: The coronavirus is continuing to aggressively spread through Latin America, with Brazil, Chile and Peru facing the brunt of the infections. In Mexico, cases are continuing to spike. However, the WHO is now saying the country is nearing its peak. CNN's Shasta Darlington has the latest.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Americas are now home to nearly half of all COVID-19 cases with more than 3.3 million infections, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
Data shows a surging of the virus in countries that have not been heavily affected before, like Panama and Costa Rica. They said it continues to spread aggressively in Peru, Chile and Brazil.
On Tuesday, coronavirus infections and deaths in Brazil shot up; more than 32,000 new cases and 1,200 deaths in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro lashed out at the WHO in a tweet after one of its officials suggested the spread of COVID-19 by asymptomatic people was rare.
"Millions were locked up at home, lost their jobs," he tweeted.
He also threatened to cut funds to the WHO, just like President Trump did -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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VAUSE: Yemen's humanitarian crisis has been considered the worst in the world for years. Now experts fear it could get even worse, as the country deals with the growing coronavirus outbreak as well as a shortage in national aid. CNN's Sam Kiley joins me live from Abu Dhabi with more on this.
It's kind of a perfect storm for Yemen, right?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Things could not be worse, John. Just recently, there have been and will be more rainstorms that will hit the coastline. That will help to spread the endemic infections, particularly of cholera.
More than 100,000 people have already been diagnosed with cholera in Yemen. Now we are seeing some staggering statistics coming out of the temporary capital in Aden. This is our report.
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KILEY (voice-over): Delivery of the dead by pick-up truck. No mourners, just medics in hazmat suits. Another suspected coronavirus victim has a lonely burial. No one knows the real scale of the pandemic in Yemen. But here in Aden, authorities are recording a death rate three times higher than normal.
LISE GRANDE, U.N. HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR, YEMEN: The U.N. has been warning for months now that the virus is likely to spread faster, more widely and with deadlier consequences in Yemen than in almost anywhere else. There's no question that there are hundreds, probably thousands, maybe even now 10s of thousands of people who have been impacted by COVID.
KILEY: Cholera is endemic here. The U.N. feeds 12 million people, half the country. Five years of war has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes into camps, hotbeds for infection.
He said, cholera and the wars are one thing and corona is something else. But with corona, no matter where you go, you find it.
Blasted by war, Yemen's health services were already near collapse when the virus struck. Dr. Sabel (ph) told CNN doctors are hiding from their places of work and staying at home in fear of the virus and the scarcity of occupational safety capabilities that has caused a huge crisis.
And his brother in law died of what is suspected to have been covid- 19. He says that the three hospitals turned them away.
"Who should we complain to?
"We are tired of this life. We live to survive. Every morning we wake up to hear of 10 or 15 people who have died," he said.
[02:25:00]
KILEY (voice-over): And now, the U.N. is warning that its operations in Yemen are facing massive cuts after a one billion dollar shortfall in international donations.
GRANDE: You know, a week before the first COVID case was confirmed in Yemen, we ran out of money and had to stop allowances for 10,000 frontline health workers all across the country, in the middle of COVID. It's devastating.
KILEY: For a nation already on life support, COVID-19 is a blow that could be fatal for a vast number of Yemenis.
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KILEY: A lot of that funding shortfall for the United Nations is being blamed, effectively, on the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, who, between them used to come up with over $1 billion worth of aid.
The Saudis and the Emiratis have been backing the government in a civil war against the Northern Houthis. Certainly Emirati officials are saying they don't want to stop funding; they just want to stop funding the U.N., because they don't believe that the U.N. can manage to keep the money away from their Houthi enemies.
So they are faced with a conundrum there and certainly the position of the U.N., given more than half the country is dependents on some form of U.N. aid, they really need the money.
VAUSE: Sam, thank you.
Russia has the third most coronavirus cases in the world, almost half a million. Only the U.S. and Brazil have more. But somehow, this is a head-scratcher, Russia's official death toll is just over 6,000. Officials in Moscow are declaring victory as the capital emerges from lockdown.
Here is Matthew Chance with an exclusive interview with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's accused of hiding the true extent of Russia's coronavirus pandemic, of abandoning exhausted doctors to its ravages using the lockdown to crack down on dissent.
But the Kremlin's chief spokesman is now defending his country's coronavirus response.
Back in March, President Putin said the situation in Russia was under control, in fact better than in other countries. but within a few weeks, it had suffered the second highest number of coronavirus infections in the world. What went wrong?
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN PRESS SECRETARY: Well, actually, nothing went wrong except the coronavirus itself. Our country uses the maximum possible amount of test for coronavirus. And the more you test, the more you detect.
CHANCE: That is not just the number of viral factions. It's the fact that the mortality rate as well is remarkably low. And it sort of, added to this suspicion that Russia is somehow been manipulating the facts, manipulating the figures, perhaps in order to prevent the Kremlin from being criticized.
PESKOV: No, I don't agree with that assessment. Have you ever thought about the possibility of Russia's healthcare system being more effective?
CHANCE: Is that your explanation?
PESKOV: Given an opportunity for more people to stay alive.
CHANCE: In fact, the strain on Russian healthcare has been one of the most alarming features of Russia's pandemic. Across the country, doctors complaining of poor conditions, lack of personal protection equipment and unpaid wages.
There was even a spate of mysterious plunges of doctors out of high windows. Perhaps a sign of desperation with their plight. There have been protests too, rare in Russia, but still worrying for the Kremlin, as approval ratings for President Vladimir Putin sink to all-time lows.
CHANCE: How concerned are you that this pandemic has dented the popularity of President Putin, perhaps irreparably?
PESKOV: President Putin has stated numerous times that he didn't care about his personal rating. That in politics, if you are a real statesman, you shouldn't think about your ratings. Because if you think only about your ratings, you won't be able to take responsible decisions.
CHANCE: Decisions like when to ease restrictions. Despite a stubbornly high infection rate, Moscow is now lifting its unpopular lockdown ahead of a key public vote to extend Vladimir Putin's rule. Maybe the Kremlin does care about ratings after all -- Matthew Chance, CNN.
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VAUSE: As the Black Lives Matter movement takes hold in Europe, there is renewed outrage over controversial statues and monuments. Protesters are taking action. Details in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:30:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: An outpouring of music, emotion, and memories of George Floyd who was laid to rest in Houston after dying pinned down by the knee of a white police officer. The anger of his death has spread around the world, bringing new life into the Black Lives Matter Movement, with all these people demanding racial equality.
Huge crowds also filled the streets of New York Tuesday, again, demanding police reform. Protesters are increasingly asking for defunding of the police. In Madison, Wisconsin, the slogan was painted on a government building. Now, Brian Todd takes a closer look at what all of this could mean for public safety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a rallying cry since the police killing of George Floyd. Protesters, activists, and some city officials calling for police departments across the U.S. to be defunded. It's painted in huge block letters on city streets from Washington to Wisconsin. But how would it work? Some who support the idea want to strip all police funding and dissolve entire departments?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't want no more police.
TODD: But other advocates want to reallocate some but not all money away from police departments and funnel some of it to training civilians to do some of the jobs police have always done.
LISA BENDER, PRESIDENT, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL: We've done an analysis of all the reasons people call 911. And I've looked at ways we can shift the response away from armed police officers into a more appropriate response for Mental Health calls, for some domestic violence calls, for health-related issues.
TODD: The cities of Eugene and Springfield Oregon have a service which does just that. It's called CAHOOTS. In some instances, instead of police, dispatchers in Eugene and Springfield send out Cahoots teams, two civilians in each a medic and a trained crisis worker to respond to what they call non-criminal calls.
EBONY MORGAN, CRISIS INTERVENTION WORKER, CAHOOTS: We can respond for welfare checks. We can check on folks who maybe need some mediation. If there's an argument, we can de-escalate. If someone is in a neighborhood kind of just acting odd, we can just check on them and make sure they don't need anything.
TODD: Ebony Morgan says CAHOOTS helped more than 20,000 people in those situations last year alone with their noncombative unarmed approach.
MORGAN: I've seen police presence agitate some folks and they get a little more intense for whatever their experience has been. When they see us, they know that we're just there to talk. And if they tell us to leave, we'll leave.
[02:35:01]
TODD: Some police advocates say that approach simply doesn't work when you're walking up to a potentially dangerous domestic dispute.
JAMES GAGLIANO, FORMER SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Think that you're going to send an unarmed therapist or social worker to the scene of a domestic dispute where somebody has beaten up their partner, shot their partner, or committed some act of violence against them. And you think that you're going to send somebody there without their required equipment to protect themselves, and the innocent person that their response help, that's falling.
TODD: Advocates for defunding police say that money can be used to pay for schools, hospitals, housing, and mental health services in poorer, marginalized communities. All of which they say helps increase safety. But one police chief is worried about what could suffer.
ART ACEVEDO, CHIEF, HOUSTON POLICE: The first thing will go will be training all the things we need to make sure that we have the properly trained and professional police that are law -- that our communities deserve.
TODD: As for the calls to completely dissolve some police departments, there's been one American city which did try that approach. Camden, New Jersey notorious for violence and police corruption, completely disbanded its police department in 2012. But it wasn't replaced with no police department at all.
Camden started a new police department from scratch and that did work to cut down violence and corruption. Still, no city the size of Minneapolis has ever tried it. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And in Europe, there's growing outrage over controversial statues and monuments. The statue of Belgium's King Leopold II has been removed in Antwerp after it was faced during anti-racism protests. Leopold's troops killed millions of workers at rubber plantations in Congo. And in London, the statue all the 18th-century slave owner Robert Milligan has come down after a petition for its removal.
Meantime, in Bristol demonstrators are not waiting for official approval for monuments to be removed. On Sunday, they brought down the statue of the British slave trade and philanthropist. CNN's Nic Robertson reports on how Britain is confronting it's colonial past.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Britain lurched around a corner confronting the worst of its colonial racist past Sunday as protesters at a Black Lives Matter march in the port city of Bristol toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, then trundled it through the city's tarmac streets, and tossed it into the sea, the same harbor where slave ships once docked.
MILES CHAMBERS, FIRST POET LAUREATE, BRISTOL ENGLAND: It could only have happened that way. It could only have been ripped down. What is that doing up there? It'd be like you having somebody that has abused your family all your life, you know who he is, and I got a statue and I put it in your friend garden.
Colson and his employer, the Royal Africa Company dominated the transatlantic slave trade. He helped ship an estimated 100,000 people from Africa to the U.S. and the Caribbean. One and five of them died along the way.
Colston, whose name adorns buildings, streets, even schools in the normally restful city was also a philanthropist. The controversy over his racist past has been brewing for years.
CHAMBERS: We have politically tried to go around. We had gone to the debates and meetings. We've had meetings with the council, meetings with Colston hall, radio debates, T.V. debates, and people were -- if I can say, pointing around.
ROBERTSON: Condemnation with caveats came quickly.
BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: I will not support or indulge those who break the law. If you want to change the urban landscape you can stand for election or vote for someone who will.
ROBERTSON: Similar long, simmering frustrations over contentious Confederate statues in America are coming to a head too. So is this the moment when the U.K., the United States, and others recognize the pain of the past that Black lives matter, and reimagine their countries on new values.
In the fabled University City of Oxford, that's the pressing question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now's the time to change do things in a different way rewriting history. And if you have to take a statue from there and put in a museum, so be it.
ROBERTSON: The statute of Cecil Rhodes, a leading colonialist who built his fortune off black labor, and bequeath scholarships here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this country, there is such an ingrained sort of systemic racism that hasn't been questions or looked at or saw or dealt with for far too long.
ROBERTSON: No sign Oxford plans to grant the protesters their wish and the conversation about that new future yet to happen too. Nic Robertson, CNN, Oxford, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:40:09]
VAUSE: Well, a large mural has been unveiled paying tribute to George Floyd and Adama Traore, a black man who died in police custody in France. French photographer J.R. and Belgian artist Zenith created this mural in 10th district of Paris. The artist say it shows I have both men looking at the horizon, while in the foreground there are marks on the ground where Floyd died in Minneapolis.
Well, the President of Tanzania claiming his country has eradicated COVID-19. Some experts though are skeptical. We'll have a live report straight ahead. Also, China flexing some military might as President Xi Jinping uses the coronavirus pandemic to his advantage. We'll explain when we come back.
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VAUSE: Tanzania's president says, by the grace of God, his country is now Coronavirus free. But the World Health Organization has some concerns over Tanzania's strategy on COVID-19, also a lackluster implementation of social distancing. Data is scarce. The African nation has not released any official numbers of the Coronavirus since April 29th. That's according to the Africa CDC.
The last check though, Johns Hopkins reported 509 cases, 21 deaths. And CNN's David McKenzie is with us now live from Johannesburg. It's not so much that the data is scarce, it's just that maybe it's not really based on science but more on what the President would like to see which sounds awfully familiar.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly about politics and not about science. You're right, John. And it doesn't really bear a logic that you could have 500 some cases in April and the U.S. Embassy warning in May that there was very high likelihood of someone to get COVID-19 in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital, and now the president announcing that it's all over. So it really doesn't add up.
The President has been -- John Magufuli has been really in recent weeks downplaying the risk of COVID-19, telling people not to wear masks. There's been very little social distancing, as you say. And also, there has been a culture of fear within the country.
We've been speaking to people over the last few weeks trying to ascertain exactly what's happening in Tanzania. And really, doctors, medical workers, administrators are extremely afraid to talk. They can even be prosecuted for talking. Opposition leaders say that there is a big problem with COVID-19, but it's extremely difficult to know exactly what's happening in that East African country.
I spoke to the head of the Africa CDC. He said it's clear that there isn't an end to COVID-19 in Tanzania. And he pointed out why it's important that all countries battle this virus and that there isn't any kind of weak link because it threatens everybody. Take a listen.
[02:45:30]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN NKENGASONG, DIRECTOR, AFRICA CDC: COVID will not be declared over in Africa if it's still lingering in any member states because of the rate and pace in which we are interconnected. So for example, if we dealt with COVID in Kenya, Ethiopia, and neighboring countries, Uganda, and Tanzania has cases, then it becomes a threat to a sub- region and an entire continent, and possibly the entire world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Well, John, across Africa, you've seen a steady increase of cases, particularly in countries like Algeria, and now South Africa seeing a much quicker rise in cases. Overall, though, many parts of the continent haven't seen the predicted spike in cases yet.
The head of Africa the CDC said we're only in the early part of what he calls phase two of this pandemic on the continent. John?
VAUSE: Yes. Apparently, according to the President there, drinking ginger, lemon tea, little steam therapy should do the trick. David, thank you. David McKenzie in Johannesburg. Well, with much of the world continue to grapple with the coronavirus, the original Epicenter, China, is appearing to take advantage of what could be described as a global destruction. CNN's David Culver has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Touting what is calling the success in containing the novel coronavirus outbreak, China is now shifting its focus to military preparedness, making what some U.S. military experts perceive to be power moves on multiple fronts.
JOHN KIRBY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The American military in the Pacific is approaching this as a very significant growing security threat to our interests in the region and with good reason.
CULVER: A Chinese military expert is even warning that a direct conflict is possible between China and the U.S.
WU SHICUN, CHINESE MILITARY ANALYST: The two sides if not managed well, there be accidental fire. Such confrontation might lead to spiraling tension or lead to the age of a full-fledged confrontation.
CULVER: China is flexing its military muscle, trialing its new aircraft carrier at sea a few weeks ago, and last year, parading some of its latest missile technology through Beijing. President Xi Jinping address China's National People's Congress last month, saying, China should comprehensively strengthen the training of troops and combat preparedness.
In recent weeks, Chinese troops were sent to China's border with India. The two countries disputing territorial claims. Government- controlled media releasing these images of China's military in action. And last year, Chinese paramilitary troops mobilizing to the border with Hong Kong, a not so veiled threat against the city months after pro-democracy protests, which led to Beijing imposing new national security laws for the semi-autonomous territory.
But among the area's most concerning for the U.S. and its allies, the South China Sea. China claimed these waters as sovereign territory within a designated boundary, which an international tribunal has dismissed as without legal basis.
Nevertheless, China has built up its naval presence here. It's constructed islands where recent satellite images appear to show more permanent military bases. Some Southeast Asian nations have alleged China has even harassed foreign vessels carrying out oil exploration and fishing.
What's happened out there in recent months is most alarming to the U.S., its allies, and other Asian countries. They see it as China using this moment when other countries are distracted with their own coronavirus outbreaks to become increasingly aggressive.
To counter the Chinese claims, the U.S. Navy has conducted multiple freedom of navigation exercises in the sea in recent months, as well as sailing through the Taiwan Strait. Wu Shicun says those exercises show it is the U.S. provoking China.
WU: The United States is a troublemaker to the South China Sea.
CULVER: Wu suggests that while China has no desire for conflict, the Chinese will protect its sovereignty at all cost.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.
CULVER: Especially as President Donald Trump tries to win reelection.
WU: The Trump administration would use the South China Sea issue to convince U.S. people, that the United States has a hardline stance towards China.
TRUMP: China has also unlawfully claimed territory in the Pacific Ocean, threatening freedom of navigation and international trade.
[02:50:07]
CULVER: Experts are now calling for a channel for negotiations to ease the tensions between the two sides, but that seems increasingly unlikely.
KIRBY: The U.S.-China relationship is without question the most critical, the most important bilateral relationship that we have in the world. And right now, it's broken.
CULVER: A complete severing could set the two world powers on a collision course at sea. David Culver, CNN Hainan Island, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, still ahead, the pandemic brought a screeching halt to a decade's long boom in the airline industry, and now it's heading for its worst annual results ever.
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VAUSE: Well, the airline industry has been devastated by this pandemic. The International Air Transport Association believes carriers will lose $84 billion this year, making it the worst year in the industry's history. And the group says it will get even worse next year. France has pledged nearly $17 billion to support Airbus, Air France, and the wider aviation industry. The Economy Minister says the bailout will secure 100,000 jobs over the next six months.
On Wall Street though, another record-setting day for the Nasdaq. The tech-heavy index ended at an all-time high for a second straight day, briefly rising above the 10,000 mark for the first time on Tuesday. The Dow and the S&P 500 both closed lower. CNN's John Defterios has more on this frp, Abu Dhabi.
OK, let's start with the airline industry. Boy, you know, will recover? And it's not going to look the same. This is -- this is the big question. What does it look like once they sought through all the losses and all the bailouts, you know, how many will be left? Where do we fly? What will we be looking at in terms of air travel?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, I tell you, John. Some are suggesting here in the Gulf with the big Gulf carriers, we may not get back to a normal by 2023, and the new normal may be extremely different. This is the sector on the front line of the pandemic, no doubt about that. And the losses that we're talking about from IATA are about three times what we saw during the global financial crisis.
And it's not helping right now that individual governments are setting their own policies. It's their right. Let's say for example, the U.K. is saying there's a 14-day hold on people coming in for Tourism. That's going to kill off the business.
So, let's give the context of the revenues. We've talked about the losses before. They had revenues of over $800 billion in 2019. That was right near a record. Look at the drop for this year. And then the carryover you were talking about into 2021 coming in below $600 billion. That's the forecast. So, what we're talking about here is 100 billion dollars of losses in two years.
I flagged the Middle East carriers. Emirates has the largest long-haul fleet in the world in a 115 A380s. They're getting parked right now and some may not come back into service. And they're laying off pilots and cabin crew link to those aircraft.
And you talked about Air France, John, the $17 billion bailout. They're very concerned -- and you were based in China for years, that the U.S. and China because of the pandemic can dominate the global aerospace industry, which has generated 65 million jobs if you add in the airline sector and tourism to it.
And they want the European Union to have a role particularly when it comes to manufacturing with Airbus in the south there of Toulouse.
[02:55:03]
VAUSE: OK, let's talk about the Stock Market because we can't -- I want an answer here, because we keep talking about this. Like, the Stock Market is meant to be indicative of the economy. DEFTERIOS: It's our daily subject, John.
VAUSE: It is. It really is. It just baffles the mind to think, you know, the unemployment rate is so high in the U.S. and other places around the world, that you have the airline industry talking about, you know, trillion-dollar losses over a period of years and bailouts, and yet, you know, we're seeing these record numbers. Is it just the equity which is out there, the money which is being pumped by the Fed?
DEFTERIOS: Well, there's not a lot of places you can find decent returns, John, that's the reality in the property sector, particularly major cities around the world is going through a major correction. We know that bond yields are at historic lows. So where do you go? And the Federal Reserve has sent the signal with $3 trillion worth of funding will provide the liquidity for the stock market to move higher. That's the case.
And I was -- I thought you'd asked me that question, so I went back and see irrational exuberance. Remember the phrase from Alan Greenspan who was the former Fed chair? It was in 1996 about the tech bubble. I'm not saying we're there again yet. We'll leave that to Jerome Powell in his testimony later today.
But the NASDAQ finished just below 10,000, and we know tech companies benefit from the pandemic like the Amazons of the world, or Zoom. They're making revenues out of this. Google, for example. But to this ability, when you see Wall Street, on one side and Main Street on the other with 43 million job losses, we'll hear from Jerome Powell. We're eager to see what he thinks about that Friday jobs report, the rally in the Stock Market.
And the final thing, john is black unemployment, which is shot up above 16 percent again. And because of all the tensions we see with protests around the world, what are the policies from the Federal Reserve to say we need to focus like a laser on this segment of the market and minorities throughout the United States.
VAUSE: Yes. Look, I understand, you know, the stocks are a leading indicator, the unemployment is a lagging indicator once where we were, once we're going, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. John, thank you. John Defterios, I appreciate that. See you probably tomorrow, mate. Thank you. Or the next hour, maybe.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause and I will be back with more news with John Defterios in Abu Dhabi probably, after the break.
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