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Battle in Pennsylvania Over Ban on Race-Related Books; France Claims Targeted Killing of ISIS Chief in Sahara; Afghan Women Living in Fear Under Taliban, Some in Hiding; World's Largest Plant to Capture Carbon Dioxide Opens; Nicholas Bring Heavy Rain, Flooding Threat Along Gulf Coast; U.S. Gymnasts Testify Before Congress. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 16, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: The former Minneapolis officer sentenced in George Floyd's killing will be back in court today. Derek Chauvin will be arraigned before a federal judge in St. Paul, Minnesota. Chauvin faces two federal indictments over and arrest in 2017 where he reportedly kneeled on the neck and back of a 14-year-old boy for more than 17 minutes. But unlike Floyd, the teen survive even though he was injured. Chauvin faces unreasonable use of force and other charges.
A federal judge has scheduled an October 1 hearing on a U.S. Justice Department request to freeze the new Texas abortion ban. The DOJ wanted an immediate ruling, but the judge could issue a preliminary injunction allowing some clinics to resume abortions. The U.S. Supreme Court let the law stand earlier this month in a separate legal challenge. It bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often before most women know they're pregnant.
Students in York, Pennsylvania are fighting back against the school district's ban of certain books dealing with race and history. The students say the school board isn't addressing the concerns of a multicultural student body and as Evan McMorris-Santoro tells us, there is something else the books have in common.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think the adults who banned these books have read these books?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, definitely not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.
CHRISTINE ELLIS, LEADS PROTEST OVER BOOK BAN: Because I don't think a moral compass could let you ban books that say equality and loving each other.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): These teenagers in York, Pennsylvania are standing up to the latest example of controversy surrounding history and race that is affecting a growing number of America's public schools.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The school board cannot just silence our voices.
[23:40:00]
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): Last fall, the all-white school board of the Central York School District unanimously banned a list of educational resources.
VICKIE GUTH, TREASURER, CENTRAL YORK SCHOOL BOARD OF DIRECTORS: That resource list, which has a lot of bad ideas and some books that I would definitely not want in our district.
And I do not feel it's balanced and I think it's divisive.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): That list includes a children's book about Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafzai's autobiography, CNN's Sesame Street Town hall on racism.
SESAME STREET: Racism? What is that?
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): And much, much more.
ELLIS: This is "Hidden Figures." The movie was --
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Like from the movie?
ELLIS: Yes.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Where the kids version of from the movie?
ELLIS: Yes.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): It's frustrating for the students.
EDHA GUPTA, LEADS PROTESTS OVER BOOK BAN: This is a board that after hearing their students' concerns about diversity in the district, hearing my struggles with race being an Indian-American and consistently feeling like I didn't belong, after all those conversations for weeks on end, they still pursued this book ban.
OLIVIA PITUCH, LEADS PROTESTS OVER BOOK BAN: I want to learn genuine history, I don't want to learn a whitewashed version. I want to hear all of it. I don't want to -- I don't want everyone to be worried about how we feel because no one was worried about how BIPOC members of the community felt.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): The ban caused school librarians to pull books from shelves and is creating real fear among educators.
BEN HODGE, THEATER TEACHER, CENTRAL YORK HIGH SCHOOL: I have to now, with this resource ban, think twice about whether or not I should or could use a James Baldwin quote as an opening for my class.
PATRICIA JACKSON, ENGLISH TEACHER, CENTRAL YORK HIGH SCHOOL: There are teachers looking over their shoulders, wondering if someone is going to be at their door, darkening their door, that you said something or you mentioned something or you used something you were not supposed to.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): The fact that all of the banned materials are by or about people of color is just a coincidence, according to the school board president. Concerns were based on the content of the resources, not the author or topic, she said in a statement. She and the rest of the school board refused to speak on camera. She says it's not a ban. The materials are frozen while the board vets them. But the process is still ongoing after nearly a year. That suits some parents in this 82 percent white district just fine.
MATT WEYANT, PARENT IN CENTRAL YORK SCHOOL DISTRICT: I don't want my daughter growing up feeling guilty because she's white.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): That sentiment is spreading. At least 27 states have passed or are considering policies strictly defining what students are allowed to learn about race. One expert says the York ban is something new.
NATALIA MEHLMAN PETRZELA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, THE NEW SCHOOL: This seems pretty egregious. I mean, I can see how certain trainings or workshops that some parents take exception to seem really outside of what a history class can be expected to do. But the kinds of texts that are being banned here make me feel that there is now just sort of an allergy to anything that mentions race or racism.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): This is about more than a book or a movie or even a curriculum, some veteran teachers say. In York, they worry it's a war on their profession.
JACKSON: I am not an enemy of the state.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's right.
JACKSON: I am here to take care of your babies when they walk into my classroom. There are some I'm looking up at but they're still babies.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, York, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Colorado's Attorney General has issued a scathing report on the city of Aurora's police and fire departments.
[04:35:00]
A 14-month investigation found patterns of racially biased policing and excessive force and said the fire department has a practice of illegally administering the anesthetic ketamine to control suspects. 23-year-old Elijah McClain died in 2019 when police stopped him as he walked home from the store. Officers placed him in a neck restraints hold and paramedics injected him with ketamine.
Coming up next, Afghan women turned out to protest against the Taliban fearing the return to a repressive past. And now threats have forced some into hiding.
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BRUNHUBER: France says its military forces have killed the leader of the Islamic state in the greater Sahara. French President Emmanuel Macron called it, quote, another major success in our fight against terrorist groups. The ISIS leader had claimed responsibility for the 2017 ambush of U.S. forces in Niger that killed four American soldiers. CNN's Cyril Vanier is live in Paris. So, Cyril, tell us more about who was killed and how important this is in the war on terror in the region.
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, France is claiming a major victory in its war on terror this morning with the killing of the man they described as the founder and leader of the Islamic state in that part of Africa -- Islamic state in the Greater Sahara. His name, Adnan Abou Walid al Sahraoui, his last name a reference, obviously, to his presence in the a Sahara Desert, where France said he was responsible for an atmosphere of terror.
The quote from the French Foreign Minister, he is the source of massacres, violence, and atmosphere of terror across the region.
[04:40:00]
Now he is the person who as you said, not only masterminded an ambush in Niger four years ago that killed four U.S. soldiers, along with four Nigerian soldiers, but also an attack on French aid workers that killed six French humanitarian workers in the summer of 2020. The French Foreign Minister considered him enemy number one. That's how he referred to him this morning. And he was also a high priority target for the U.S. They had put a bounty on his head over the last two years offering $5 million to anyone who would provide information leading to his capture -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, Cyril Vanier, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says the best path to stability in Afghanistan is to engage with the Taliban. Khan sat down with CNN for his first interview with an international news organization since the Taliban to control in Kabul. He talked about Afghanistan's future and says the Taliban are looking for international help to avoid a crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IMRAN KHAN, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: If you do not back this government and do not help the people of Afghanistan right now, it's not a question of people of Afghanistan -- Taliban, it is people of Afghanistan. If we, the world international community, does not help them, what choice have we got.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: In the past few weeks women across Afghanistan have taken to the streets to protest against Taliban rule. Now many are living in fear and in hiding worried that much like their rights and freedoms, their lives could also be at risk. CNN's Nic Robertson has more from Kabul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): In happier times, Taranom Seyedi save children from abuse, paid for it with profits from a construction company she built. Now she is in hiding from the Taliban in fear for her life.
TARANOM SEYEDI, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND BUSINESS WOMAN (through translator): They are trying to threaten us and execute us secretly as they did to many of my female friends.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Her cry in the Taliban's eyes protests taking to the streets two weeks ago demanding equal rights. She was beaten and bruised. Ever since, Taliban death threats have stalked her. So much fear she now hopes if death comes it's fast.
SEYEDI (through translator): I am not afraid of death, but I wish when they find me, they kill me quickly. If they torture me first, then they will me without any honor. Everyone wants to die with dignity.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Before the Taliban, she was well-known, popular, ran for parliament, might've been elected if not for endemic corruption. She hoped her high-profile might save her. Now has no idea what to do.
SEYEDI (through translator): How long can I be brave? How long do we have to fight? In fact, fight with whom? With whom to talk? With whom to discuss? We are in darkness with no way to get to a brighter future.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Across the country, many more women like Seyedi hide in fear of the Taliban. They share all the new social media posts that they say show arbitrary abuse that are both hard to verify and the Taliban deny. For now, though, they are the only way that women can protest their plight.
MAHBOUBA SERAJ, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Everything is at stake right now because we are actually facing a situation that we are so disliked by a group of people who are actually running this country. They can't even look at us.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Mahbouba Seraj is Afghanistan's highest- profile women's rights activist. She returned from the U.S. when the Taliban were ousted two decades ago. She won't leave again, she says. Will stay here to defend women, get the world's attention.
SERAJ: They are going to make problems. They are going to raise their voices. They are going to start, you know -- the world is becoming a very small place now.
ROBERTSON: These are brutal guys with guns who turn them on crowds.
SERAJ: It's true. But for how long? They're going to be killing everybody. Is that what they want to do? ROBERTSON (voice-over): Seyedi is facing an agonizing choice. She is the breadwinner, her brother's family, and the abused children she rescued depend on her.
SEYEDI (through translator): They need me, so I need to be strong and that's really hard.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): But to stay is to risk death.
SEYEDI (through translator): We tried a lot to have a better Afghanistan, to have a better life, to have a better future. In fact, me and my friends didn't expect that one day we will be forced to leave our own country. But they took everything from us.
[04:45:00]
ROBERTSON (voice-over): What happens now, she says, depends on her calls for help to the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and others. If she does leave, Seyedi vows to fight on.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Some young female soccer players from Afghanistan have fled the country and the Taliban. More than 80 people including players, coaches and family members made it into Pakistan through a border crossing. They received flowered garlands as they arrived in Lahore. A Pakistani soccer official says they'll be under tight security if they apply for asylum in third countries including the U.K., U.S., and Australia.
The urgent need to address global warming is sparking technological innovation. Coming up, how a huge plant in Iceland is pulling pollution out of the air. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:50:00]
BRUNHUBER: Facebook, the parent company of Instagram, is once again under scrutiny by U.S. lawmakers after an in-depth report by the "Wall Street Journal" revealed the social media giant is more than aware that its photo sharing platform is causing emotional and psychiatric harm especially for teenage girls. Lawmakers are once again calling for Facebook to abandon its plans for a child's version of Instagram.
Saying in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: The recently uncovered evidence published in the Wall Street Journal underscores Facebook's responsibility to fundamentally change its approach to engaging with children and teens online. That starts with Facebook abandoning its plans to launch a new version of Instagram for kids.
In the fight against climate change, companies around the world are trying innovative methods to deal with carbon pollution. They're developing ways to capture carbon dioxide, store it or reuse it. And in Iceland, one plant will suck it from the air and send it underground where it will turn to stone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): In Iceland's rural hillside enormous futuristic looking fans are using an unusual method to fight climate change.
DR. JAN WURZBACHER, CEO AND COFOUNDER CLIMEWORKS: We have turned into operation our plans, which is the largest carbon capture plant currently operational in the world with capacity of 5,000 tons of CO2 that are captured from the air every year.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): A Swiss startup partnering with an Icelandic carbon storage firm developed the plant named Orca, a reference to the Icelandic word for energy. Powered by renewable energy from a nearby geothermal plant, Orca's eight large containers use high tech filters and fans to capture our suck planet heating carbon dioxide from the air. From there --
WURZBACHER: And we are then handing over this year to our partners from Carbfix who injected underground. And the CO2 there is mineralized, then is turned into stone literally, and then it's happening within a period of two years. So that's the really most safe and most permanent method of removing CO2 from the atmosphere that is currently available on the market.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The technology is innovative but expensive and needs more development before it could impact global warming. 15 climate capturing plants worldwide removed less than 10,000 tons of CO2 in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency. That pales in comparison to the billions of tons of carbon emissions the world releases each year.
But Orca's developers say they're planning to scale up and leading air capture firms say they are seeing more investment and government interest in their technology. A hopeful start they say in the growing fight against the world's climate crisis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): And to learn more about this and other climate- related stories, visit our website CNN.com/climate.
Well, what was tropical depression Nicholas is dumping heavy rains along parts of the Gulf Coast and it's now threatening to bring dangerous flash flooding to parts of the South still reeling from hurricane Ida. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is tracking system and more trouble in the tropics.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Kim. It has been so soggy along portions of the Gulf in the last couple days and really going back a few weeks, of course, with Ida's presence across this region. But notice two-day rainfall estimates putting it as much as 6 to 8 inches widespread, pockets of 14 or more inches coming down in and around Galveston. So, you would imagine the flood alerts still remaining in place. New Orleans, Baton Rouge still underneath that concern of flooding.
But here's what is left of Nicholas, pumping in the tropical moisture in parts of Georgia and of the Panhandle, even as far north as the Carolinas there getting into some rain showers this morning and should continue through much of Thursday. On the back side of it, it is a bit drier. We could still see some pockets of thunderstorms develop here, so flooding is going to remain a concern.
But see that color brown right there? That is all the dry air filtering back in behind this feature. So, we do expect at least a bit of a break going into Friday as the system tries to rain itself out across this region. Again, the heaviest rains do look to remain east and north of this area.
Across the tropics, high probability of formation in the next five days, 90 percent chance. Slightly lesser percentage there sitting just off the coast of Africa. Closer to home, a 70 percent probability of a tropical system forming in the coming days. And of course, we're watching exactly where the models are indicating where these systems could end up.
But the one here near Africa poised to develop and push toward portions of the Windward and Leeward Islands later on it to this weekend. The one closer to home, steering environment, which just about every model does want to guide this away from the United States. So, some better news in that sense. But again, worst watching the southerly storm over the next several days. There's a flooding concern around the Southeast, increasing clouds around parts of the Western U.S.
We know fire weather has been a huge story here and finally we are getting a taste of autumn, onshore winds, cooler temperatures and even some wet weather to be had, so certainly going to help the firefighting efforts Across the Western United States going into the next couple days. Highs only in the upper 60s there in Seattle, 92 in Dallas and temperatures around New York City, not too bad, 75 degrees -- Kim.
[04:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: There are new revelations in the abuse scandal involving some of America's top gymnasts. Here is Don Riddell with a minute in sports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, thanks, Kim. Four American gymnasts have again bravely relived the trauma of their sexual abuse scandal. Accusing the FBI and the Justice Department of playing a role in their suffering. In a day of explosive testimony at the Senate, the athletes including Simone Biles and Mckayla Maroney accused FBI agents of mishandling their allegations which allowed the abuse to continue.
Meanwhile, it was a thrilling night of action in the Champions League, but a disappointing one for Paris Saint-Germain. Lionel Messi full debut playing alongside megastars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG could only draw one-all against Brugge.
Elsewhere in group "A", a big win for one of the another tournament favorite Manchester City who's big new summer signing Jack Grealish scored a one in a goal in their 6-3 win against RB Leipzig. And there was no shortage of excitement of where at Anfield where Jordan Henderson scored the winner as Liverpool came from behind in group AC Milan in group B. That is your minute in sports, Kim, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much. And that's it for CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber CNN Center in Atlanta. "EARLY START" with Laura Jarrett and Christine Romans picks things up after a quick break. Please do stay with us here at CNN.
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