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Trump Faces Increasing Criticism Over Coronavirus Response; Campaign Rally In Tulsa Fails to Meet Attendance Predictions; Phoenix To Host Trump's Rally On Tuesday; US Experiences 15 Percent Nationwide Increase In Coronavirus Cases; Need for COVID Safety Measures To Be Endorsed By Top Government; Bolton Claims North Korean Threat Heightened Since Trump Took Office; Protesters in the U.S. Continue to Rally for Racial Justice; Author: Racism in U.K. has Deep Historical Roots; Virus Continues Global Spread, Threatens Economies; Latin America Struggles to Slow Spread of Virus. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 22, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world.
I'm Michael Holmes. And coming up here on CNN newsroom.
Florida quickly becoming the new epicenter of the coronavirus in the U.S. and it's hardly the only state struggling to contain the spread.
Uninformed, unprepared and unfit. John Bolton's new book details a chaotic Oval Office. What he says about the threat of North Korea.
And a CNN exclusive report details the stark and troubling racial divisions in the U.K.
Welcome, everyone.
We begin in Washington where President Donald Trump is facing mounting scrutiny over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
After suggesting that he wanted fewer coronavirus tests in order to reduce the infection rate, administration officials have been downplaying the remark as a joke.
But health experts say the issue should not be taken lightly. The U.S. has already reported more deaths and infections than any other country by far and the number of cases is still rising in at least 20 states.
Well, now Mr. Trump is facing additional criticism from his former national security advisor.
In an interview with ABC News, John Bolton said the president isn't fit for office and that he would not vote for him in November.
In Tulsa Oklahoma, the president's attempt to energize his campaign failed to meet expectations.
The fire marshal says only about 6,000 supporters showed up to his rally even though the location can seat 19,000 people.
And as you can see, most people there -- no masks either.
That rally actually happened as Tulsa reported a fifth record setting daily number of cases on Saturday. Fifth.
Cases are on the rise in other parts of the U.S. as well.
Florida reporting more than 3,000 new cases on Sunday alone. Experts are saying the state could become the next U.S. epicenter.
New York City, once the epicenter, now entering phase two of reopening. Employees will head back into retail stores, hair salons, barber shops and offices.
Meanwhile, the White House preparing for the possibility of a second wave in a few months even though experts say the country isn't out of the first wave yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISOR: We are filling the stockpile in anticipation of a possible problem in the fall. We're doing everything we can beneath the surface, working as hard as we possibly can.
And so that's my role in this.
And to the extent that it does create jobs, that's a good thing. But this is a serious issue.
But look, last night was a campaign rally --
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST "STATE OF THE UNION": So you're preparing for a second wave in the fall?
NAVARRO: Of course, we're --
TAPPER: You're preparing for a second wave in the fall?
NAVARRO: You prepare, you prepare for what can possibly happen. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but of course you prepare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The threat of the pandemic was likely one of the reasons few people attended the president's rally.
For more on what went on, CNN's Martin Savidge reports from Tulsa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT:. The president's rally in Oklahoma was billed as a celebration but it was clear that coronavirus cast a shadow over it.
And one of the reasons is that it may have impacted the number of people who attended his rally.
It goes like this. Almost every week in this particular county, they have set new records for 24-hour transmission numbers as far as the increase of coronavirus.
Health officials have been warning that, with that kind of a spike, it was irresponsible, even dangerous potentially, for so many people to show up for a rally inside of a closed arena.
It's possible that, because of that message, many people decided for safety reasons, they might stay home.
The other concern though, is the issue of just how many people did show up.
The fire marshal is saying that inside the facility, which is capable of holding over 19,000, there were only 6,200 people in the building.
The Trump campaign is pushing back saying that they believe there were at least double that number that attended the president's event.
The difference is that the fire marshal is counting people inside of a building, the campaign says they were counting how many people went through the magnetometers, the security gates. Does it account for the discrepancy?
That's a significant difference but there's always been a problem with this administration and numbers.
Lastly, some city officials say it's possible that the projections that the campaign made as to the number of people could have actually scared people off.
[05:00:00]
They said there were over one million people that wanted to get tickets online, that 100,000 people were going to show up. And, of course, 20,000 would be crammed inside of a building.
It is suggested by some here that those kinds of numbers, people aren't accustomed to. And they felt that with that large a crowd there could be problems. And that many decided to stay home and simply watch it on TV.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Tulsa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Arizona, meanwhile, reported nearly 2,600 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday. The state's cases has nearly doubled in the past two weeks.
And Phoenix is where President Trump plans to hold another campaign rally this week.
The mayor there telling Wolf Blitzer that she hopes the president will send the strongest signal to his supporters to wear masks and wash hands and stay home if they are sick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KATE GALLEGO, PHOENIX, ARIZONA: I would ask the president to talk to his advisory council, the coronavirus advisory team, about whether it makes sense to come to a community that has seen a third of our COVID-19 cases in the last week.
Right now, the Centers for Disease Control does not advise large indoor events take place. This is a very concentrated environment, it is not safe right now to have any large events whether it be the president of the United States or a large indoor sporting event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, with the case of surging, Phoenix is requiring residents to wear masks in public.
But as Kyung Lah reports, it could be a challenge getting people to comply.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SNR. CORRESPONDENT: Pandemic? What pandemic? What do you see when you look at that bar?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:. Obviously, they're definitely not social distancing. And not wearing masks -- those are my friends over there.
If they have coronavirus, I have coronavirus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: This is the next state to host a presidential rally, Arizona. A growing COVID-19 hotspot and home to a fight over masks.
Look up and down the street and the impact of the virus is everywhere. Some businesses still shut down, bright signs warn to socially distance.
One bar worker in a mask, but many of these Tempe, Arizona residents?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE:. I think the masks are good, but I think they kind of act as a placebo to some extent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. MURTAZA AKHTER, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN, PHOENIX: It angers me
and I'm trying to be calm for this interview and the camera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Dr. Murtaza Akhter is an emergency room doctor in Phoenix, where he's seeing a dramatic increase in COVID patients. Just like the rest of the state.
This is what's happened to cases in Arizona since March.
The number of new cases continues to break records, nearly every day this week.
Arizona was among the first states to reopen. Businesses back. The gatherings followed.
Like the protests of police brutality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Our streets. Our streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: And masks in public, as we saw in Tempe, not always used.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AKHTER: To tell the whole world that basically, I'm a social Darwinist. If you die, I don't care, I just want my beer and burger is really -- even kindergartners have more empathy for other people. It's really upsetting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Dr. Akhter is one of more than 3,000 doctors and nurses to sign this letter.
The goal: To get Arizona's governor to issue a statewide mandate requiring masks.
Writing:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"Please stand up and help educate as well as protect those who do not understand" -- the importance of masks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Doug Ducey instead says he will leave those policies to each mayor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AKHTER: The governor of our state is saying I'm going to let the mayors decide; I mean, the mayors could potentially say I'm going to let the neighborhood decide.
And, as you can imagine, that breaks down pretty quickly.
LAH: So, ineffective?
AKHTER: Not as effective as it could be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: Publicly, Governor Ducey has shifted. Last week at his weekly news conference, he carried his mask in his pocket. This week, he arrived wearing it.
As Ducey prepares his state to host the perpetually maskless president on Tuesday for a rally at an indoor megachurch, the governor says the White House protocol will call for masks.
Ducey stressed the 3,500 capacity event should go on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DOUG DUCEY (R-ARIZ): We're going to protect people's rights to assemble in an election year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: The City of Phoenix passed an ordinance requiring masks in public places.
So when the Trump campaign is here on Tuesday, will they be subject to the ordinance?
The City says yes and has notified the White House about this ordinance.
If the president isn't wearing a mask, will that mean he'll get a ticket? Technically, yes; in reality, no.
The City says this ordinance is meant to be led by education. Only the worst repeat offenders will be subject to tickets and fines.
Kyung Lah. CNN, Scottsdale, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider is an internal medicine physician at Crossover Health in San Francisco.
Great to see you again, Doctor, it's been a minute.
Let us start with that comment by the president on coronavirus testing at the campaign rally.
[01:10:00]
Let's play that for folks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here's the bad part.
When you test -- when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people, you're going to find more cases.
So I said to my people, "Slow the testing down, please."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: According to the White House, joking.
But leaving aside how inappropriate that would be to joke about, he has said more than once that the downside of testing is finding more cases.
It seems that he wants fewer cases known, not fewer cases.
How dangerous is that message?
DR. SHOSHANA UNGERLEIDER, INTERNAL MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, CROSSOVER HEALTH, SAN FRANCISCO: Wow, Michael. President Trump's comments about slowing testing are like saying, "Gosh, I'm getting too many speeding tickets so I'm going to stop looking at the speedometer," right?
So any effort to restrict or slow down testing will mean more Americans will lose their lives, right.
Nationwide, in the U.S. we've seen a 15 percent increase in cases over the last two weeks.
Seven states have hit their single-day case records, just on Saturday. ICUs in places like Alabama had been at or near capacity for weeks now.
This topic of testing is really important. More testing does, in fact, turn up more cases.
However, Michael, if widespread testing was the entire reason for the rise in cases, you'd expect to see the proportion of positive tests go down, or at the very least, remain steady. We're not seeing that.
Hospital admissions would have been declining or flattened if this was just from more testing.
So instead, that figure is rising across the U.S.
This has nothing to do with more testing and everything to do with behavior. It's incredibly dangerous to talk about reducing testing.
We need to talk to people about following the guidelines, wearing masks, avoiding crowds, staying home if possible and washing their hands.
HOLMES: Yes. And if it's a joke, it's not a very funny one.
Also, he's wrong on testing number, again. The U.S. has not tested more people per capita than any other country, as he keeps saying. Not even close.
And other countries, the important thing is they've not tested more than per capita, many of them tested earlier which helped with the identify-isolate-and-trace aspect which keeps infection spread down.
Speak to the importance of that. That test, isolate and trace.
UNGERLEIDER: Well, as you pointed out, many other countries recognized early on, because they listened to scientists, that that was incredibly important.
Now that we have widespread community spreads in many locales across the U.S., it's a challenge to deploy those resources.
We did not have the public health infrastructure ready to go as we should have, given that we knew this was coming.
Of course, testing was not where it needed to be. Contact tracing, similarly. And then the isolation, just isn't even happening.
And so, we're a long way, frankly, from where we need to be. And I'm very concerned about it.
HOLMES: One of the other things that I think is worrying a lot of medical professionals. That Donald Trump has long demonstrated a disdain for science and advice of experts, especially if it conflicts with his political goals.
Tony Fauci just last week lamenting the lack of belief in science among a segment of the population.
How dangerous is that disdain when it's being pushed by the top and spreading in the community, for science and fact?
UNGERLEIDER: Michael, the anti-science sentiment that we're seeing across the country is an extremely distressing and dangerous.
For example, the fact that so many Americans refused to wear masks because they don't feel like it is unacceptable.
This has been backed up by this administration's disdain for science, as you put it, and an evidence-based public health response that has put us all in this position.
Nowhere in the world have we seen so many people die of COVID than in the U.S.
And what's more, this administration is now just urging Americans to forget about coronavirus. And frankly, many thousands more will die because of it. HOLMES: Yes. Yes, when you look at the numbers. It's not just
because U.S. has a bigger population, it's four percent of the world's population, has 25 percent of the cases and deaths.
And to that point, there are still 20-, 25,000 new cases a day. Hundreds of deaths.
I'm just wondering if you get the sense that the administration by painting a rosier picture of what's happening out there is that those numbers are okay, that that's tolerable somehow.
Two jumbo jets, as Sanjay Gupta puts it, two jumbo jets of people dying every day is acceptable.
UNGERLEIDER: Michael, there does seems to be apathy about the numbers of people who have become sick and then have died of COVID.
[01:15:00]
And to put this into perspective, the average indoor stadium in the U.S. holds about 19,000 people.
So that's nearly six and-a-half stadiums full of people who have died of COVID in this country.
I think unless you've have been personally affected, it seems as though many Americans either don't believe that this is serious or they don't care enough to change their behavior.
And again, to me as a physician this is unacceptable. Our behavior, every second of every day matters.
Nurses and doctors have been wearing masks to keep our patients safe in the hospitals for a hundred years. We know it reduces the spread of germs.
So from all of us, we beg you out there, regardless of what your friends are doing, wear a mask if you need to leave home. Wash your hands, keep your distance from others.
We all have the power here to save lives.
HOLMES: Great advice. And yes, far from going away, this thing seems to be growing.
Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, thank you so much. Good to see you again.
UNGERLEIDER: Thank you.
HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break.
When we come back, an explosive book by a former Trump aide comes out on Tuesday, just ahead.
What it says about the inner workings of the Trump White House. Also, a global movement sparked by injustice makes its way to the
streets of London where exclusive CNN polling reveals a deep racial divide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:00]
HOLMES: Welcome back.
Former Trump aide John Bolton says he won't be voting for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the November presidential election. Bolton says he will be writing in a conservative candidate.
All of this happening ahead of the publication of his tell-all book about the Trump Administration. It's called "The Room Where It Happened." It comes out on Tuesday.
CNN's Sara Murray with more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Former national security adviser, John Bolton, casting President Trump as an uninformed, erratic liar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA RADDATZ, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, "ABC News": Is the president lying?
JOHN BOLTON, FMR. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Yes he is. And it's not the first time either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Describing a commander-in-chief foreign adversaries saw as an easy mark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLTON: I think Putin thinks he can play him like a fiddle. I think Putin is smart, tough. I think he sees that he's not faced with a serious adversary here. I don't think he's worried about Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Claiming Trump was all too happy to take foreign help to boost his reelection bid.
Bolton's forthcoming book "The Room Where It Happened," a copy of which was obtained by CNN, offers this scathing summary of a Trump presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn't driven by reelection calculations."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Trump pressed Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to help him out with farmers by buying more U.S. crops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"Pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win" -- Bolton writes.
"I would print Trump's exact words but the government's prepublication review process has decided otherwise."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Bolton also confirms the case house impeachment managers laid out earlier this year. Writing that Trump said he would withhold security aid to Ukraine --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
-- "until all the Russia investigation materials related to Clinton and Biden had been turned over."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And he says Trump was prone to doling out --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"personal favors to dictators he liked."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
At one point telling the Turkish president he would replace Southern District of New York prosecutors to make an investigation into a Turkish firm go away.
Bolton says:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life which we couldn't accept."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And claims he raised some of his concern with Attorney General Bill Barr.
A long-time Republican who served in the Trump White House for 17 months, Bolton says deliberations there were like college food fights.
And calls Trump --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"-- stunningly uninformed" --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
-- unsure that Britain was a nuclear power and unaware that Finland was not part of Russia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, Bolton says the threat from North Korea is greater than when Mr. Trump took office in 2016.
During an interview with ABC News, he said he had no doubt that Kim Jong-Un's regime is continuing to work on its nuclear and ballistic missile program.
And he also criticized Trump's attempts at flattering the dictator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: Press mob, as you called them, comes in. As soon as they leave, you say the flattery began. With Kim Jong-un.
BOLTON: Well, every president has a style. But the idea that just this oleaginous layer of compliments to this brutal dictator would convince him that you could make a deal with Donald Trump, I thought was both was strikingly naive and dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: For more on this, I'm joined by CNN's Paula Hancocks in Seoul, South Korea.
I guess not a lot of North Korea watchers thought Mr. Trump's handling of Kim Jong-un would lead to much of substance. But it's interesting to hear the president's national security adviser say it.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Michael.
And some of the language he's using as well whilst describing his former bosses is quite remarkable. Calling him "stunningly uninformed," in the fact that the U.S. president had to ask him, how Korea was divided in the first place and how they had got to this point.
But he did try to make clear in this interview and also with the excerpts, that he didn't believe that meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, was a good idea.
He does claim that he pointed out that out to the U.S. president and told that he was being too hostile.
He also spoke a little bit about Singapore. This was the historic summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un a couple of years ago where there was a vaguely worded statement at the end of it.
And he said that, as far as he was concerned, the only thing that President Trump appeared to be concerned about was the photo opportunity as opposed to anything of substance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLTON: The threat from North Korea today is absolutely greater.
Because while all these photo opportunities were taking place, there's absolutely no doubt that North Korea's work on both its nuclear and ballistic missile programs continued.
[01:25:00]
RADDATZ: So on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate Trump's ability to make a deal on North Korea? BOLTON: Well, I think it turned out clearly, at this point, to be
zero. It's not that hard to make a deal if you are prepared to give away enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: Bolton was also asked about President Trump saying that they fell in love, that famous quote. Talking about him and the north Korean leader.
And he said that he believes Kim Jong-un would have had a good laugh out of it. Pointing out that that was a mistake from President Trump, believing that a better personal relationship would be equivalent to a stronger relationship between the two countries -- Michael.
HOLMES: Yes. And there were conversations about South Korea's role in talks as well.
Where you are in South Korea, how is all this being viewed or likely to be viewed?
HANCOCKS: South Korea is not welcoming this book by any stretch of the imagination.
What they have been reading about when it comes to President Moon and it comes to those close around him, is that they were the ones that were pushing for these meetings between the U.S. president and the North Korean leader. And not necessarily praising them for having done so.
Now we did have a response just now from the National Security Office Director, Chung Eui-yong, who was very much involved in this.
Saying that this was written by his own perspective and it was not truly reflecting the facts.
Talking about Bolton's book. Also saying many parts were heavily distorted.
So it's not just the Trump Administration that is going to be put out by this book and by his interviews, the South Korean government is not particularly happy about it either.
HOLMES: Yes. Incredible stuff. Paula, good to see you.
Paula Hancocks there in Seoul.
We're going to take a quick break.
And when we come back, as protestors confront institutionalized racism, an exclusive CNN poll finds just how troubling the racial divisions are in the U.K.
What can be done to change these perceptions? We'll discuss with an expert.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPAL TOMETI, CO-FOUNDER BLACK LIVES MATTER: People have been unaware, they've been silent. And it's been going on in our communities for generations.
And so why we created "Black Lives Matter" was to put a stop to the willful and negligent silence around these issues.
It's been seven years since we started, it's going to be eight in July.
And we're going to keep on pushing forward to ensure that our lives matter, to ensure that we are defending black lives and that we're investing in black communities.
People are just sick and tired. They do not want this nation to go in this direction any longer. And they're fed up. They've been hearing our protests and the chants and everything for so long.
And I think that they are realizing that things aren't going to change unless they get up off the sidelines, and that their silence is complicity. And we're seeing a see change in this moment and it's really heartening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:38]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to our viewers all around the world.
I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
A family in Atlanta preparing to lay their loved one to rest. A little over a week ago now, an Atlanta police officer shot and killed Rayshard Brooks. His funeral set for Tuesday.
The shooting has sparked controversy and debate over whether it was justified. Brooks grabbed one of the officers tasers and he ran away. The former officer then shot him twice in the back, killing him. You can see it unfold there. The officer has been charged with felony murder.
It is the latest in a string of deadly encounters involving black individuals and police. Last month, you remember George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. And that set off the kind of nationwide unrest not seen since the civil rights era.
Protesters of all races have rallied for weeks now from coast to coast demanding racial justice and equality with many cities showing unprecedented support for the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Black Lives Matter demonstrators took to the streets of London for a fourth weekend in a row.
Hundreds of peaceful protesters marching in solidarity towards the Houses of Parliament on Sunday, marking another weekend of anti-racism demonstrations there in the U.K.
Activists are telling British leaders they must tackle the racism plaguing black people in nearly every aspect of life.
As part of our initiative confronting racism, exclusive polling conducted for CNN across England, Scotland and Wales uncovered how stark these racial divisions are in what is a disunited kingdom. One poll found 64 percent of black people believe the U.K. isn't doing enough to address historical racial injustice.
British author, Afua Hirsch, explains how the black experience has been shaped by centuries of deeply-rooted racial inequality and why it is time for change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AFUA HIRSCH, BRITISH AUTHOR: There is a real tendency in Britain to believe that racism, and especially anti-black racism originates from a history of slavery, and colonialism is an American problem. We often sit in complacency and talk about how terrible things are in America.
The irony is this was a form of racism and ideology that was invented here in Britain. And for black British people, we have been living at Ground Zero of this ideology without recognition of the ways in which it has shaped our lived experience.
It's really fascinating how statues spontaneously became centers for protests during this movement because no one was really asking for them to be taken down as a specific response to the murder of George Floyd.
But for so many of us, they represent all of the unsaid and erased parts of our history. The reality is that we glorify people who were personally and institutionally complicit, even enthusiastic about the murder, the genocide, the appropriation of land, and the enslavement of black people.
Many of the figures that we elevate on statues were involved in military expeditions. People like Admiral Nelson, who is remembered for defeating the French in an incredibly important war for the British. But what is not remembered is that he personally support the slave trade. He used his political privilege to advocate against the abolition of the slave trade.
Winston Churchill, rightly remembered for his role in enabling the Allies to win the Second World War but it's not new to experience (ph) to acknowledge that remember that he also was obsessed with racist ideas about Africans, about Indians -- so much so that even his conservative Eton-educated cabinet colleagues were concerned that his racism was clouding his judgment.
[01:35:04] HIRSCH: Until we can look at these statues in an honest way and have a
conversation which has not been happening, I don't think it is acceptable to leave them in these positions where they are glorified in public spaces and all the messages that sends to British people about what we stand for as a nation.
Black people in the U.K. are living the everyday legacy of the system of racism that was created. Many black people in Britain are the descendants of immigrants who were specifically brought to this country to do low wage labor, live in substandard housing, their children to receive an inferior education. And we still see the results of that.
Black children are so much more likely to be excluded from school. Black people are more likely to live in inadequate housing in impoverished areas. Black people are more likely to work on unfair labor terms.
This is a moment where it is time to really hone in on the black experience and to stop tiptoeing around it as this society has always done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Important stuff.
Let's take a closer look at these new polls. Joining me now from London is Arike Oke. She is the managing director at the Black Cultural Archives. It's great to have you.
There are so many headlines from this survey and perhaps this isn't surprising that it's striking. The yawning gap between the white and the black experience of racism.
One example we have a graphic for it -- we're just putting up for people there, black people twice as likely as white people to say U.K. police are institutionally racist. How to change that perception to match reality? What do white people need to know most about the black experience?
ARIKE OKE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES: Good morning.
Well, I run an institution called Black Cultural Archives. We're the only black-led heritage organization in the U.K.
So what we try and do is actually educate people about black presence which goes back out 2,000 years in the U.K. So one of the things that needs to happen in the U.K. is education about how Britain has never been a mono-cultural country. It is always been multicultural.
Africans were in this country before English people. And so it's really important as we go forward to actually start to understand that we have a shared history and a shared heritage. And to challenge actually the idea in the education system and every part of British society that presents us as a mono-cultural nation. HOLMES: Yes. Because that's the one thing that shows up in all of
this, the problems. I mean it is across a raft of issues of policing, race relations in general, politics, education, employment, opportunities. What -- well, understanding is key -- but what do you see as action priorities?
OKE: So recently in 2018, the whole Windrush generation, it was revealed that the Home Office here shredded landing cards which proved their right to stay.
And after that "Lessons Learned Review" was published this year which showed that there was institutional racism right in the heart of government. And it made a number of recommendations of root and branch change that need to happen in government.
And then last week a Public Health England report came out looking at the disproportionate effects of the coronavirus pandemic on people of African, Asian and other ethnic descent. And that looked at institutional racism across the board as directly affecting health outcomes. And that made a number of recommendations as well.
So what we are looking at is actual change across every level of society -- not just in the curriculum, but also in the culture of businesses, government, health services, police.
HOLMES: Yes. And very true in this country, too. Coronavirus has really laid starkly vivid the disproportionate impacts on people of color. And one visually striking thing that we have seen of late in our country and yours, the attacks and removal of statues honoring people with colonial or racist pasts. And we have another graphic on that, too.
Whites less offended than black people. You know, I guess one question is, you know, why these statues have been around so long, honoring in many cases, racist people in history. That is a fascinating percentage there. 30 percent offended whites. How do you change those survey numbers?
[01:40:01]
OKE: With education. Again, so we have in Britain statues littering the streets that glorified people who tend to have been philanthropists, donate their money and then with Edward Colston, the statue that was pulled down in Bristol, his money paid for a lot of the built heritage in Bristol. It paid for a lot of what we see in Bristol now.
And so the idea that the statues that glorify these men is something that white people and a lot of black and brown people in the U.K. they just think of them oh, they're philanthropists. They're important to this town. They're important to this country.
But the conversation as Afua Hirsch mentioned in her report just before -- before this section -- the conversation about who those men were, where that money came from. That money actually came from the slave labor, enslaved Africans and indentured people from around the world. That conversation isn't happening. So it's not really surprising that so many people aren't offended by them because they don't know the context.
HOLMES: Yes, the understanding part again. I was just going to say very quickly, we're almost out of time, what goes through your mind when you hear people -- and this happens all the time here in the U.S. -- you hear the President say it. This is part of our history. Leave the statues be.
OKE: It is part of the history. And we are living through a historical moment and taking the statues down is part of the history of this country, and part of the history of America as well. We are living through historical moments and making history now.
HOLMES: It's important stuff. It's important work that you do. And I don't know, there seems to be a sense that there is change afoot following what happened to George Floyd and these conversations are becoming more open and more prevalent. And that it can't be a bad thing. It's a great thing.
Arike Oke -- thank you so much. It's a pleasure talking to you.
OKE: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, many protesters and activists believe police reform is just one part of the solution, but across the world, many black people share a belief that they are more likely to become victims of police brutality. And that is borne out by a lot of statistics as well.
Coming up next hour, we will be talking to a former adviser to the Metropolitan Police Authority. How policing in the U.K. differs from the U.S.
CNN NEWSROOM continues in a moment.
[01:42:34]
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
The coronavirus continues to spread around the globe with cases on the rise and economies being hard hit. Pepsi shut down a food factory in Beijing after several workers tested positive there for the virus. Some of the cases linked to a recent outbreak at a local market.
In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson says social distancing measures may be relaxed soon. He says the pandemic is, in his words, increasingly under control. The U.K. reporting 43 deaths on Sunday. More than a thousand new cases over the weekend.
Outside the U.S. Latin America has become another epicenter of the virus. Brazil, second to the U.S. with more than one million cases. Peru says it has passed 8,000 (ph) deaths; 250,000 cases. Now in Brazil, more than 50,000 people have died of COVID-19. Almost 7,300 in the past week alone. According to Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has the second most infections in the world.
Matt Rivers reports.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been another difficult weekend for Latin America and the Caribbean with the region's 33 countries now reporting more than two million confirmed cases of the coronavirus combined.
We know that more than half of those cases come from just one country, Brazil. And it was there over the weekend that health officials announced that the country's death toll has now surpassed 50,000.
Meanwhile here in Mexico City, officials had hoped to reopen certain businesses under limited capacity in places like restaurants and shopping malls as soon as this week, but officials were forced to scrap those plans as the number of cases here continues to rise dramatically.
But as bad as we know the health situation in this region is, we also know the economic situation is dire as well. The U.N. has already predicted a regionwide 5.3 percent contraction in the GDP as a result of this outbreak. And that will have dramatic effects on the region's poor.
A new report from the United Nations suggesting that roughly 16 million people could be forced into extreme poverty as a result of the fallout from this virus' spread.
And then there is this from a representative from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. He said in part quote, "In Latin America, we may have a historic setback in the fight against hunger. In a matter of months, we may lose what we have achieved in 15 years. Millions of people may end up going hungry. That is the gravity of the current problem."
And that is just a good reminder that the fallout from this outbreak is felt in many different ways throughout this region, beyond just inside hospital corridors.
Matt Rivers, CNN -- Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We will take a quick break and we'll check the markets ahead as investors grow concerned about these new outbreaks of the virus that has now infected nearly nine million people around the world.
We'll be right back.
[01:48:38]
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HOLMES: Asian markets kicking off the week in mixed fashion. You can see there that the Nikkei slightly down and Hang Seng down about half a percentage point. Investors mulling over a potential second coronavirus wave after the weekend saw a global surge in new cases.
CNN's John Defterios joins me now live from Abu Dhabi. I think that is what you guys in business call a pretty flat market there.
We are still in the first wave of the coronavirus. There is already talk of a second wave in the fall. What -- there are obviously concerns on the medical front but are there concerns on the investor front?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, there is a lot of investor resilience, I would say -- Michael at this stage. It is not off to the races in terms of the markets in Asia. But if you take a look at the S&P 500 futures and across the board for the Nasdaq and the Dow we are looking at a third to about half a percent.
So this is an upside leaning here. And if these markets hold up, we are looking at better than a 20 percent game for the S&P 500 from April who'd have the best performance in 20 years for U.S. markets.
And the all-share index with the FTSE is up 10 percent. That includes all the emerging markets who have been suffering, of course, because of the coronavirus. So not bad.
And as you suggested, over the weekend we heard from a G7-sized economy in California having record cases and the we see PepsiCo having to close a plant in Beijing. So it will be interesting to see how Xi Jinping, the president of China comes out with a response to it and whether this requires more stimulus for the Chinese economy.
They're still hoping to grow 3 percent in 2020 -- Michael, despite the fact they were the first hit by the COVID-19. That is half the level, but still 3 percent growth and we're going to be looking forward to the IMF's update in terms of global recession when that comes out on Wednesday. It will be a forecast for the remainder of 2020 at the same time.
HOLMES: Right. Right. And obviously, governments are not sitting idle. Tell us about some of the measures being taken to jumpstart some of these economies that have really suffered.
DEFTERIOS: I thought it would be better to give it kind of bigger view of it, right. We get one economy in Europe and that would be the United Kingdom which lost what -- Michael, we talked about it before -- better than 25 percent of its GDP in the last two months so they have no choice but to act.
[01:54:56]
DEFTERTIOS: The finance minister or the Chancellor of the Exchequer as they call him, Rishi Sunak, is reportedly considering cutting retail sales taxes and quite substantially on a policy statement that we'll probably hear very soon and also business rates for small businesses. You know, they did announce over the weekend they're going to reopen the economy, allow businesses to be more pervasive in the economy, particularly small ones who have been complaining about the fact they have been shut out.
And then here in the Middle East, you could take a look at the largest economy, which is Saudi Arabia, it's planning to put together a $4 billion investment fund for tourism. They have a lot of UNESCO Heritage sites and this is part of the effort to diversify by the Crown Price Mohammed bin Salman, away from oil.
And again, they lifted the curtain yesterday. They had very strict shutdowns here for businesses in Saudi Arabia. Those were wiped out 24 hours ago. And here in the UAE and particularly in Dubai, they're going to start welcoming international visitors from July 7th.
We saw again, Emirates Airline and Etihad based in Abu Dhabi really expand their destinations and then lay out very clear rules of what it's like for visitors that come into the country, but very importantly residents and visa holders and Emirati citizens, destinations they can now go to which are rated by the government here in a 3-tier system.
So a lot more clarity than we had just one week ago. And the markets seem to be pretty even-keeled about it -- Michael. No panic whatsoever yet.
HOLMES: All right. Well, that is good.
John -- always a pleasure. Good to see you my friend. John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: Thank you.
HOLMES: And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Michael Holmes.
Don't go anywhere. The news continues after the break with Anna Coren.
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