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FL Police Searching for Gunmen in Deadly Club Rampage; White House: Russia Organization Behind Cyberattack of Meat Producer, JBS; NBA Fights Back Against Unruly Fans; French Open Under Fire; Granddaughter Shares Grandfather's Story of Survival Following Tulsa Race Massacre. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 01, 2021 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, what we know about the victims, we know one of them was 26-year-old Clayton Dillard III. And his father interrupted a press conference yesterday to express his frustration and anger as he's mourning the death of his son.

Police have not released the identity of the other victim.

But yesterday we heard police take to the news and put a call out for the community to help them in this investigation concerned about the silence.

And police are telling me that the community has responded. In fact, it was a tip that led them to that key piece of evidence, that led them to the car that was submerged in a canal about 10 miles from where we are today.

As for the motive, they're not going into much detail on that. We know there's an ongoing rivalry between two groups that led to this.

And they say this was a targeted attack that as you mentioned left 21 injured, and two dead, in a community completely shaken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Miami-Dade County is not immune to this plague that's striking our country right now. We're coming out of COVID, community are opening up and why you're seeing a propensity to violence. We need to get to those communities in trouble right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTIAGO: Police telling CNN today that detectives are working hard to build a strong case and that they have several people that they're looking at right now -- Ana?

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: And 240 mass shootings this year in America.

Leyla Santiago, thank you for your reporting.

And we have this just into CNN. The White House says it is now dealing directly with the Russian government after news of yet another cyberattack.

This one involving JBS, the world's largest meat processing company, the ransom ware attack disrupting production at the company's facilities in north America and Australia.

And CNN's Alex Marquardt joins us with the details.

What have you learned?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House is now confirming this was a ransomware attack against JBS Foods, which is a massive food company.

The White House is saying that this attack originated out of Russia. They are saying that it was criminals. They're not accusing the Russian state of backing any hackers, like we've seen recently, for example, in the SolarWinds cyberbreaches.

But this is a very significant series of attacks by these alleged Russian cybercriminals against JBS Foods.

I want to read you part of what the White House deputy spokesperson just told reporters.

She said that, "BS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization, likely based in Russia. The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals. The FBI is investigating this incident."

The president, according to his spokesperson, has directed his administration and the USDA to try to figure out how to mitigate any sort of impact on the nation's meat supply.

The U.S. does get a lot of its meat, pork, chicken and beef from JBS.

And what we know from JBS itself was that on Monday they said that a series of organized cyberattacks hit their I.T. systems, both in north America, so the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Australia.

That took their systems offline. They did have backup servers from which to operate and that no data was compromised.

But, of course, Ana, this does highlight yet another sector of critical infrastructure that is highly vulnerable to hackers to these ransomware cybercriminals.

CABRERA: Alex Marquardt, thank you.

NBA players speaking out saying they are being treated like animals, like we're in a human zoo, one player says, as another unruly fan attacks. [13:33:48]

The French Open under fire for how it dealt with Naomi Osaka, should star athletes be forced to talk to the press?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:38:43]

CABRERA: Well, the Olympics are seven weeks away now and Japan has just started vaccinating its own athletes ahead of the games.

The Japanese Olympic Committee says 200 competitors from seven sports were vaccinated today, and they're aiming to vaccinate about 800 by late July.

Still, the majority of Japan's population has not been vaccinated. And safety of athletes remains a top concern.

Already Olympians have started to show up. The Australian women's softball team, the first to arrive earlier today.

Things are looking brighter for the U.S. in the battle against COVID- 19. More than half of the population is at least partially vaccinated now. And new coronavirus cases are down to their lowest level since March of 2020.

Travel is booming again this past weekend nearly 9 million people went through TSA security check points at airports, that's a record since the pandemic began.

A popular destination, Las Vegas, is fully reopening today, that means restaurants, hotels and casinos will all be able to operate at full capacity.

Right now, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is in Israel, and he's there showing his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing what may well be his final days in office after 12 years of leadership.

[13:40:04]

These could be his final days because the leaders of two opposition parties say they have joined forces to form a coalition government to oust the prime minister, but it's not a done deal just yet.

Confronting one of the darkest chapters in American history. Soon, President Biden will address the Tulsa race massacre from the very community where a white mob attacked black residents and burned their thriving businesses. My next guest's family lived through it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It happened again, another incident involving an unruly fan at a major sporting event.

[13:45:04]

This time, a man running onto the court interrupting play at this NBA playoff game between the Wizards and 76ers. He was tackled by a security guard and then hauled away. He's banned from the Capital One arena.

This is the fifth time in a week we have seen unruly behavior at a game. The Celtics fan threw a water bottle at Kyrie Irving. And Atlanta Hawks guard, Trae Young was spit on by a fan in New York.

Let's bring in Jamele Hill, a contributing writer at "The Atlantic" and the co-host of the show "Stick to Sports."

Good to have you with us.

What is going on here? Why do you think there have been so many incidents?

JAMELE HILL, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC" & CO-HOST, "JAMELE HILL IS BOTHERED" PODCAST & CO-HOST, "STICK TO SPORTS": Well, I think a lot of these incidents were kind of always lurking beneath the surface, but I think we've just seen a real prevalence of them.

Obviously lately we're all getting back to normal because of the pandemic and restrictions being lifted and not that this is in any way normal.

But I think it's part of an ever-growing problem of the fact that there's a deep sense of entitlement and not in a good way that fans feel when they come to sporting events.

Sporting events are costing more and more money, there's a huge sports bubble in terms of financial interest. And because a lot of times these games cost a lot of money and just of our consumption in the culture of sports period people think that athletes belong to them and that they are entitled when they go to games to say anything to them and to become part of the action.

They don't understand, you're a spectator, you're a paying customer, that does not give you the right to personally violate anyone else's space.

CABRERA: Exactly.

Athletes have addressed what's happening. And there's been a suggestion that there's a racial component involved here. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYRIE IRVING, BROOKLYN NETS GUARD: It's been that way in history in terms of entertainment and performers in sports for a long period of time of just underlying racism. And just treating people like they're in a human zoo, throwing stuff at people, saying things. There's a certain point where it gets to be too much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Jamele, what did you make of that?

HILL: I think there's a lot of truth to what he said. He's right, historically this has been the case. Not the suggest white athletes have not been subjected to abuse from fans.

But there's a different level of it when it comes to black athletes. We have a situation where you have a sport like the NBA, which is 75 percent black. You have mostly white spectators, mostly white owners.

And so there's a dynamic there of ownership both real and implied in their minds that sometimes leads to these tensions.

I mean, you have athletes making a lot of money. And there's a lot of jealousy from fans of the kind of money they're making.

And when you add in the racial component of the fact that there's a lot of people who feel as if, you know, these black athletes, all they should do is entertain me and be here to fulfill my sense of entitlement it gives it a layer and extra edge.

And, you know, Kyrie Irving is exactly right, historically this has always been the case.

CABRERA: Does the league need to put more space between players and fans? Do they need harsher punishments? How do we fix it?

HILL: I think harsher punishment is a way to go. I think that these incidents, fans should not only be banned from that arena, but probably all arenas.

I think as you press more criminal charges you may see more of a deterrence.

I'd like to think that this is just a weird aberration, and not a sign of things to come. Because at this point the league, they have every opportunity to deal with this.

We saw what happened when it was the reverse situation, and players went into the stands, which, again, was incited by a fan doing something they had nothing to do -- they had no business doing.

And so unless they want to create a situation where you have a full-on confrontation -- what happened in D.C., lucky that that player got -- lucky that that fan got tackled.

If they made it to the court and these guys are vulnerable and feel the need to protect themselves, you're going to get an ugly situation.

These leagues really better get a handle on this before something even worse happens.

CABRERA: Let's turn to tennis. Naomi Osaka dropping out of the French Open citing mental health issues after being fined for not talking to the media. This is an athlete at the top of her game. Did this come as a surprise to you?

HILL: It did. It just came to a surprise that it got this far.

You know, her decision, when she made the initial announcement she was going to skip all these press conferences because she wanted to protect her own mental peace, it was very understandable.

And for the response to be not just from Roland-Garros, but from all the major sports tournaments to sign a letter that told her you will be fined for this but you'll face potential expulsion and also more fines it just really seemed like they brought a bazooka to a rock fight.

[13:50:06]

Because they're putting Osaka in her place, it's led to an untenable sense that you have the second ranked player in the world, an emerging

superstar in this sport who now doesn't feel comfortable in her own sport.

I would like to think there should have been a way of compromising, of figuring out a way that Naomi Osaka could compete in this tournament.

And I just think that the tennis -- not just the French Open but all the major sports tennis leagues, they chose the wrong option.

CABRERA: The initial statement from Roland-Garros has been deleted and it's a picture of other players who did speak to the press and it said, quote, they understood the assignment.

And reaction now from athletes has been mixed. I mean, you have a lot of athletes speaking out in solidarity with Osaka, saying her decision to do what's best for her is understandable. Others have said that talking to the media just comes with the territory.

You know, Osaka shared that she has been fighting depression, that she deals with a lot of anxiety from talking to the media.

What do you think about all this? Should it be a part of the job? Do professional athletes have a responsibility to talk to the media?

HILL: Well, we have to look at why they're talking and examine the purpose. And I think this is a great opportunity for the media to examine our role as well.

Why do we need these press conferences? What are they doing? What are they serving? Does the purpose still fit what it was supposed to fit?

Now, these are not -- these press conferences are not just for the athletes. They're also for these organizations and these leagues and events and tournaments like the French Open as well.

It's an opportunity for them to boost interest in the sport, to gain publicity, and for athletes to obviously market themselves and to brand themselves and to just create a better presence. Now, how these environments are operated, I think that can definitely

be examined. There's value there. But I don't think we have to make it such a painful exercise for everybody.

We also have to understand that everybody reacts differently to these types of environments. Naomi Osaka talked about in her statement about how she has always been someone who's been on the shy side.

And so when you're immediately thrust in the spotlight, we have to remember she is 23 years old, OK? When you're thrust in the spotlight, when you become the highest-paid female athlete in the world, there's a lot that comes with that.

I think most of us can agree at 23 years old, we probably couldn't handle that.

So, for everyone to act as if she's supposed to just have it together and supposed to -- and supposed to have this all figured out, I think that we're lacking a little bit of empathy there. We have seen a number of athletes talk about these struggles.

Michael Phelps being one. I was thinking about Ricky Williams, the former NFL player. He used to do post-game interviews in his football helmet because he had social anxiety disorder.

We need to understand just because they play a sport and they're great and they're dominant, that doesn't mean they're invincible, and so I think it's time for the media overall to examine these practices.

CABRERA: Well, she certainly is showing a lot of strength in calling attention to mental health and not being afraid to really speak her truth.

Jemele Hill, thank you for being with us. Good to see you.

HILL: Thank you.

CABRERA: Soon now, President Biden will address the Tulsa race massacre. You see live pictures there in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as they prepare for his remarks.

It was one of the darkest chapters in American history 100 years ago. It devastated a prospering African-American community. My next guest's grandfather survived.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:59]

CABRERA: Any moment, President Biden arrives there in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history.

On this day in 1921, an angry white mob torched and terrorized the city's Greenwood district, a neighborhood described as a you a utopic self-sustained black community. The mob unleashing hours of violence, hundreds of people killed,

killed, most of them black, their community destroyed.

And my next guest is the granddaughter of Otis Granville Clark. He survived the massacre and he shared his truth about the horrifying events that history books have largely neglected to tell.

Star Williams joins us now.

Your grandfather was 18 years old when this massacre happened. He was shot at. He survived that day. He lived to be 109 years old. I can only imagine his experiences in his lifetime.

What did he share with you about his memories from that terrible day?

STAR WILLIAMS, GRANDFATHER SURVIVED THE BLACK WALL STREET RACE MASSACRE: Well, he shared it was really a disruption of a very prosperous and happy community. And he never -- he didn't understand. CABRERA: Why would anyone want to kill people just living their lives for no reason?

WILLIAMS: And so, it was definitely a rude awakening for him. But he for sure carried what he learned as a young man, what he gained from Greenwood.

Fortunately, he gained a great sense of pride in being a young black man. But it was for sure a rude awakening, and just a disruption of his -- of the life and kind of his first encounter with racism and hatred and it was a rude awakening.

CABRERA: I can't imagine. I just can't imagine how personal it must be and painful for you to listen to some of his stories that he was telling you, but did you ever hear about this part of your community's history in school? Was it part of classes and history lessons?

WILLIAMS: I didn't. It was -- only through my grandfather. It wasn't -- unfortunately, it wasn't part of history lessons. It wasn't until really later years when the Race Riot Commission first opened up.

And the race massacre opened up in 1999 and just began to uncover. And even the mayor of Tulsa at that time had not heard. And I believe she was in college, the race massacre that had happened.

It was kept out of history. But we know if we don't know our history, we're going to repeat it so we have to know our history. We have to face our past so that we can move forward into a better future.

So, I'm glad that everything is really coming out so that we can know what happened and face the ugly past, but then we can move forward.

[14:00:02]

CABRERA: Star Williams, thank you so much for joining me for helping to shed some light. I wish we had more time.

I do want to mention your grandfather's book, "History, Life Through the Eyes of a 109-Year-Old," Otis Granville Clark.