Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Salesforce Public-Private Partnership Aiding School Reopenings; Cars Line Up at North Texas Food Bank as Unemployment Expires; China Sanctions U.S. Lawmakers Over Hong Kong. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired August 11, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
TOMAS PUEYO, CORONAVIRUS ANALYST: And so if -- let's assume that the fatality rate gives (ph) you five percent of all people who get infected, and we're able to reduce a little bit the transmission rate to, say, around 50 percent of the population to find herd immunity. That is around 150 million Americans. 0.05 percent of that is what, something like 750,000?
So we're close to 200,000 deaths -- in actual deaths, not the official ones -- and we may only have to go to around 5, 6, 700,000 --
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Goodness gracious.
PUEYO: So there's still a few of them to go, yes.
SCIUTTO: Just a staggering, staggering number. Tomas Pueyo, thanks for breaking it down for us. I know it's hard for people at home sometimes to digest all the numbers, but it's good to have you to help. Thanks very much.
PUEYO: Thank you, Jim.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Yes, for sure. We need to hear those numbers, as tragic as they are.
OK, ahead for us, bridging the digital gap, the digital divide? It is a huge challenge facing so many children and their parents right now, as so many schools shift to remote learning. What is actually being done to fix it? One Fortune 500 company, offering what they can do to help. We'll have more on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:35:47]
HARLOW: OK. So as you know, a number of children have already started going back to school, many of them learning online. And this brings up the digital divide that so many are facing, especially low-income families.
And it's wider than ever. A new Pew Research Survey conducted shows that more than one in five parents say it's likely their children will not be able to complete their schoolwork because they don't have access to a computer at home. That is 20 percent of American children, folks. And nearly 30 percent of parents say it's likely their kids will have to do their homework on their cell phone.
This morning, news from Salesforce, they're trying to mitigate the impact of the unjust reality of unequal access. Joining me now is Salesforce chief philanthropy officer Ebony Beckwith and Oakland United School District Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell.
Thank you, Ladies, for being here and for addressing what I think is a crisis in American education, and I can't believe it's still happening to the extent it is in America in 2020, but this is what we're faced with.
So to you, Superintendent, you opened your schools yesterday. And it's online learning right now for students. Can you talk about what the 50,000-plus children in your district are facing?
KYLA JOHNSON-TRAMMELL, SUPERINTENDENT, OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Yes. Extreme just adaptive change, and just getting used to a new way of learning, a new way of connecting. Yesterday, there was a lot of creativity in terms of virtually building relationships with students.
(inaudible) staff and in partnership with Salesforce and so many others, we've been working to figure out how to ensure every single student has a device, connectivity and tech support. It has been just a huge undertaking and we are looking pretty much day-to-day, to connect with families and to students to ensure that they have what they need.
HARLOW: And I should note, you're both products of the public school systems in your respective cities. For you, Superintendent, Oakland, you went to their public schools; for you, Ebony, you went to San Francisco public schools.
And you look at the numbers right now from the Census Bureau, 17 million children across America lack high-speed home internet access, more than 7 million don't have a device to learn on. This -- I'm interested if you could share what Salesforce is doing, your announcement this morning, and where it came from. I mean, why to step in on this front.
EBONY BECKWITH, CHIEF PHILANTHROPY OFFICER, SALESFORCE: Sure. I think the why, Poppy, is that COVID-19, as we're seeing, has completely transformed -- and, really, will continue to transform -- every aspect of our lives. And one of the most notable is in education.
So a few months ago, really, we launched Work.com for businesses and governments to allow them to reopen safely. And that's been wildly successful. So now, as districts like OUSD are planning to return to the classroom, we're announcing Work.com for schools.
And really, what that is is, it's a technology command center that gives schools the tools they need to reopen safely whenever that may be. And we're also really excited to announce $20 million in grants to five public school districts across the U.S. So that's in Oakland, in San Francisco, in Indianapolis, in Chicago, and New York.
And this really brings our total global investment in public schools to $118 million, with $85 million going straight to San Francisco and Oakland school districts.
HARLOW: I'm glad to see that they can get that help for sure, but Superintendent, to you, I mean, the fact that the private sector has to step in here in this way, does it show a failure of government to be able to provide equal access for all our kids in this crisis?
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: I would say what this crisis has shown overwhelmingly are the deep inequities that have existed in our nation for a long time. And I think particularly the crisis that all major districts, particular urban school districts that serve a high percentage of low-income and students of color, is that really the device piece, it's really a human right similar to electricity and water. It's pretty impossible to engage in society without those tools.
And so what we're doing is with partnerships like Salesforce and other business and community-based organizations, we're hitting the ground running to do what we can while we do the necessary work in terms of state and national policy so that we can be in a situation where we don't have to keep having to have these major fundraising creative events --
[10:40:20]
HARLOW: Yes.
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: -- in order (INAUDIBLE) we need.
HARLOW: Well, you know, and I truly believe you need sort of private- public partnerships always, right? The government can's always do it all.
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL (?): Absolutely.
HARLOW: But I do think we've seen a failure of government on so many levels, Ebony, in this crisis. If you look back to what the CEO and founder of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, did a few months ago, I mean, working to coordinate flying in PPE for hospital workers form overseas because they weren't getting enough of what they needed.
Can you just speak to, as a company, what it was like to recognize, look, like, the government's not going to fill the gap here, there are going to be a ton of kids in our, you know, home state facing this inequity. How was that decision made?
BECKWITH: So, Poppy, we believe at Salesforce that business is the greatest platform for change, and we're really focused on that. So we want to use the tools and resources that we have to get involved. Because the government alone, as you mentioned, can't do it, right? So it's going to take public-private partnerships to make this work.
So at Salesforce, we've been, you know, giving to the schools for eight years right now, and we're doing it again because this year, our schools need us now more than ever. It will be one of the most difficult school years, different school years in history for administrators and for students alike.
And it's been a privilege to work with district leaders like Kyla who are innovative and really recognizing that the need for partnership and the need to do more to keep the students safe.
HARLOW: Can you talk, Superintendent, finally, about -- I mean, the latest data from April showed us that about 9 million school-age children in America right now are not going to be able to fully engage with their school online. Not to mention, by the way, all of the essential workers and parents who have to leave the home and can't afford child care to help their children with these assignments.
What are you up against, even if you have adequate resources -- WiFi connectivity, laptops -- for most or hopefully all of your students?
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: A lot of what we're up against is just a huge need for support, particularly around socio-emotional learning support and a lot of the huge food insecurity that we're seeing.
And so our mission in Oakland and our vision as a district is that we believe that we're best positioned to close opportunity gaps through partnerships. And that is why that we have reached out and we really rely on our longstanding partnerships with business partners like Salesforce. We have a lot of other partnerships within our city as well.
And so we are seeing on a daily basis just some of the challenges around social isolation for students, food insecurity, just all of the impact of unemployment and the unpredictability and just the unknown of the situation right now.
And so we feel (ph) it's (ph) our responsibility as educators to leverage the support so that families are in a better position to support their students with the learning.
And so I do see this as an ongoing situation --
HARLOW: Yes.
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: -- Salesforce has been a wonderful partner with us, in conjunction with Eat, Learn And Play, the Currys' foundation, to enable us to provide fresh food to families. So --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Yes, I'm --
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: -- particular. And you know, food insecurities are two areas that we're deeply passionate about.
HARLOW: I'm so glad you brought that up because school is where many students receive, you know, nutritious meals --
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: Absolutely.
HARLOW: -- both breakfast and lunch. Thank you, Superintendent, good luck as you get the school year off to a start --
JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: Thank you.
HARLOW: -- and Ebony, we appreciate you. Thanks so much.
BECKWITH: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes.
[10:44:00]
SCIUTTO: Remarkable video just in to CNN, hundreds of cars lining up at a Dallas food bank right now. Just look at those pictures there. Organizers say they are facing unprecedented demand amid the economic slowdown from the pandemic, a live report after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Right now, seeing it really just proves the struggle for millions of Americans in this pandemic, and just how real it is.
HARLOW: Take a look at this. These are aerial shots -- look at that line, that line of cars. That is in Dallas this morning, and they're lined up for a food bank with people desperate, in need of help to feed their families. Our Ed Lavandera has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the middle of the night, a fleet of trucks carrying more than 10,000 boxes of food arrive in a desolate Dallas parking lot.
VALERIE HAWTHORNE, NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK: Probably drop them here.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Valerie Hawthorne of the North Texas Food Bank is making sure all the crates are perfectly lined up. The last time the North Texas Food Bank sponsored a drive-through food giveaway was in May, and Hawthorne knows that life has only become more desperate for millions of people struggling through the pandemic.
HAWTHORNE: These distributions truly reveal what the need is and how many of our community members are just one paycheck away from hunger. So we have to be out there to support them during this time.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): First people in line were Pauletta Johnson and Arthur Ferrazas. They arrived three hours before the food giveaway even started. Pauletta is on a fixed income and cares for her grandchildren; Arthur is a handyman and says work has dried up in recent months.
[10:50:04] PAULETTA JOHNSON, DALLAS RESIDENT: It helps feed the grandkids when they're here, when they're over and it's just -- it just means a lot. I don't really have the money, I'm on a fixed income and I don't have the money to buy some of the things that I need to get. So that's why I'm here this morning.
ARTHUR FERRAZAS, DALLAS RESIDENT: It means a lot, you know? It's a little bit of help, you know, I think it's going to help us a lot. I got two kids at the house, so my wife's kind of real sick (ph) right now, but not with the virus, you know? So that's why I'm here.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): At this food delivery event, about 100 volunteers will distribute more than 10,000 boxes of food for nearly 8,000 people.
The images of long lines seen at food bank distributions are a searing reminder of the economic toll inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. The images, taken over recent months, span the country.
HAWTHORNE: Our families tomorrow will be receiving a box that has noodles and rice, some fruit and nut mix, some cereal.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): That's why it doesn't surprise Valerie Hawthorne to see thousands line up before the sun comes up, just days after millions of people have lost their $600 a week unemployment benefits. Since March, about 3.1 million Texans have filed unemployment claims.
HAWTHORNE: We know that the need is out there, we know that it's great. And what this pandemic has done has just shine a light on poverty and hunger and our communities that are in desperate need.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): From this warehouse, the North Texas Food Bank is distributing more than a million pounds of food per week. Jesus (ph) Baka (ph) is a disabled former law enforcement officer, and says these boxes can feed him for up to three weeks.
HAWTHORNE: How does that help you?
JESUS (PH) BAKA (PH): Really financially strained. I got house payments and doctor bills and so on I got to pay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And Jim and Poppy, the food bank deliberately scheduled this event for this day because they knew it would be just about a week after most people were losing the unemployment benefits.
And you can see the demand, the line of cars has been going on, coming through this, the fair park grounds here, just south of downtown Dallas, for almost two hours. The line, stretching about a mile and a half from our vantage point here -- Jim and Poppy.
SCIUTTO: Yes, and each of those families has a story of hardship now.
HARLOW: Yes. SCIUTTO: Ed Lavandera, thanks so much for bringing that to us.
HARLOW: For sure, it's really a picture that says a thousand words. Ed, thank you for the reporting.
[10:52:47]
Ahead, China sanctioning prominent U.S. lawmakers as tension continues to rise between the two countries over Hong Kong and the new law there. We'll have the latest, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Well, China has imposed sanctions on nearly a dozen Americans, including six lawmakers for what China is deeming, quote, "bad behavior." This is all related to Hong Kong and the latest round of back-and-forth in terms of sanctions between the two countries.
SCIUTTO: Well, yes. And China, putting Hong Kong very much under its thumb now, stifling dissent there, arresting a major newspaper owner.
HARLOW: YEs.
SCIUTTO: CNN's Ivan Watson, he joins us now. Ivan, you've been covering this for a long time. Tell us the situation in Hong Kong right now, what China's doing exactly there that folks at home need to understand.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. On July 1st, the Chinese government rewrote the rules -- literally -- for Hong Kong, giving the Chinese Central Government the power to investigate, arrest and prosecute people here suspected of sedition, subversion, collusion with foreign powers. That was a big turning point.
Hong Kong is supposed to be an autonomous former British colony until the year 2047, with certain democratic freedoms. I think what's surprising everyone here is how quickly the tolerance for dissent is being squelched.
You've had at least two dozen people arrested under this controversial new national security law, a dozen opposition activists barred from running for elections, elections that were scheduled here for Hong Kong next month, that have now been postponed a year on the grounds of the coronavirus pandemic, which critics say is actually a pretext.
And then the scene of some 200 Hong Kong police raiding the newsroom of a Hong Kong newspaper yesterday that just happens to be owned by one of the most ferocious critics of the Communist Part, a man named Jimmy Lai who has also been placed under arrest. I don't think anybody expected this curtain to come down this quickly over this city -- Jim and Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes, decades, decades sooner than any --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- anything was laid out. Ivan, thank you very much.
Before we go --
SCIUTTO: Yes, I -- yes.
HARLOW: Sorry, I've just been reading --
SCIUTTO: No worries.
HARLOW: -- I've been reading during the show. It's a big day for you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Thank you, thanks so much.
HARLOW: Your new book is out.
Quick pitch to people out there, because I'm about halfway through and it is gripping.
[10:59:59]
SCIUTTO: Listen, I took a look at four years of the world under Trump, under his foreign policy, upending not only relationships with adversaries but allies.
