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Queen's State Funeral Set For Monday Morning; Attorneys For Migrants Urge Criminal Probe Into Flights; Russia Attacks Ukrainian Infrastructure; Future Of The British Monarchy; Hurricane Fiona Approaches Puerto Rico; Safe Drinking Water Restored To Jackson, Mississippi; Queen Consort Camilla To Give Televised Tribute Sunday Night. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired September 18, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. Joe President Biden and other world leaders preparing to join a nation in saying goodbye to Queen Elizabeth. We're live in London for the final day before her state funeral.

Some cities in the U.S. say they're near a breaking point, providing a mass influx of migrants who claim they were misled. We will look at how they're coping as Republican governors vow to send more.

And Puerto Rico braces for a tropical storm that could strengthen to a hurricane. We will take you to the CNN Weather Center for the latest.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: It is 10:00 am in London, the final full day that people can come to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth. Public viewing is set to end in less than 24 hours. That's when the queen's coffin will leave Westminster Hall in preparation for her state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday morning.

Those who were in the hall at 1:00 pm yesterday witnessed the queen's eight grandchildren holding vigil, have a look.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Prince William and Prince Harry, along with their royal cousins, surrounded the queen's coffin, just as their parents had done the day before. Even though Harry is no longer a working royal, the king granted special dispensation for him to wear his ceremonial uniform and medals. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Also on Saturday, the king took some time to personally greet people waiting in the queue and to thank them for their support.

As we've been reporting global leaders are traveling to London to honor the late queen. President Biden and the first lady arrived on Saturday and will be among the heads of state attending the funeral on Monday. Arlette Saenz has more on the Bidens' visit.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in London late Saturday night as they are preparing to honor the life of Queen Elizabeth II. That will start with events on Sunday afternoon as the president and first lady will travel to Westminster Hall to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth.

They will also later sign an official condolence book before attending a reception held by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, which will also include other members of the royal family.

The president spoke with King Charles on Wednesday to offer his condolences to the family. But that reception could possibly give them a chance to offer those condolences in person, face-to-face, to both the king and other members of the royal family.

Now on Monday, the president and first lady will be among the up to 2,000 guests who will be attending the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey. No official guest list has been unveiled yet.

But the president is expected to be one of many world leaders who will be on hand for those ceremonies, including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and also the president of South Korea.

Now also, the U.K. had initially said that President Biden would be meeting with the new prime minister, Liz Truss, on Sunday. But both the White House and Downing Street on Saturday announced that that bilateral meeting will actually take place here in the U.S., in New York, on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

But this trip to London will offer President Biden an opportunity to express condolences from the American people to the British people, as well as honor the life of Queen Elizabeth, who they met last at Windsor Castle in June of 2021.

The queen hosted the president and first lady there. And in a statement after her passing, they said that she charmed them with her wit and moved them with her kindness. And the president also said that she wasn't just a monarch but she defined an era -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: People continue to join the queue in significant numbers and CNN's Nada Bashir has been meeting many of them. She joins us now in London.

I'm struck by the patience and the devotion of those who have had to wait for hours there in the cold.

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BRUNHUBER: What have they been telling you?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Devotion is the word for it, Kim. Many people that we've been seeing today once again have been waiting overnight in pretty cold weather, I have to say, for their chance to pay their respects to the queen.

We are just outside of the Palace of Westminster where the queen is lying in state. Her coffin will remain there until around 6:30 in the morning tomorrow local time. That is the last opportunity for members of the public to file past coffin where she's lying in state to pay their respects.

Many of the people we have been speaking to time and time again over the last few days have told us this is simply a moment of history they did not want to miss. Waiting in the cold for hours was simply worth it.

And, of course, that waiting time has been fluctuating; sometimes it's as low as six hours, five hours. But at the moment it's around 14 hours long. So people really are waiting quite a while for their chance to pay their respects to the queen.

What we've also seen, which is quite interesting today, is people beginning to pitch up tents right here in Parliament Square just across from the Palace of Westminster but also, of course, we're right beside Westminster Abbey, where the queen's state funeral will be taking place on Monday.

This is very route which the queen's coffin will follow in that procession ahead of the funeral, followed closely on foot by the queen's children and the new monarch, King Charles III.

We spoke to some of those who have been camping out since Friday, some of them, hoping to catch a glimpse of that procession. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're Canadian and the queen was also the head of state of Canada. And we're here to pay our respects after 70 years of service.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: History, that moment and here just to say that you were there. And I'm with my mom. Just to do it together is quite the experience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have all come, none of us know each other so we have all come by ourselves. But we had a fantastic night and met some real characters. It's been great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my mom went to Diana's when she was young so she wanted us to feel the experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Look, preparations are underway; we've seen the roads being closed; a significant police presence; the infrastructure being built for the dozens of members of press, set to be covering the funeral on Monday.

We have seen already what appears to be foreign dignitaries. We will be seeing hundreds of foreign dignitaries attending this funeral on Monday.

BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much, Nada Bashir in London.

Coverage of the queen's funeral begins on Monday right here on CNN; that's 6:00 am in New York, 11:00 in the morning in London.

The Biden administration is slamming some Republican governors for sending asylum seekers to other states. This after Florida's governor used taxpayer money to send two planes of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts last week.

The White House says the governors of Texas, Arizona and Florida are using migrants as pawns in a cruel political stunt. Yet communities in northern liberal states and cities receiving the asylum seekers are rallying to help them. CNN's Athena Jones has more from New York.

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ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in New York City, Mayor Adams is considering a number of options for dealing with this huge influx of migrants the city has seen in recent days, including temporarily housing them on cruise ships.

This is something the city isn't sure is going to be able to do but something to look into. This is something he said in an exclusive interview with local affiliate WCBS. He also said the city is looking at opening another 38 emergency shelters. That's in addition to the 23 emergency shelters that have already been propped up to deal with this surge.

We're talking about huge numbers here, nearly 12,000 migrants coming into this city just in the last several weeks. About 8,500 of those migrants are being housed in the city's shelter system.

They're being offered services through a welcome center hosted in the American Red Cross headquarters here in New York. They're being offered services like food, shelter, medical screenings, vaccinations. This is similar to what we're seeing with the migrants who landed on Martha's Vineyard on Wednesday.

They have now, all 50, been voluntarily transferred to Joint Base Cape Cod, which is being used as an emergency shelter, a place that was used in the past as an emergency shelter for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

And there they will receive wrap-around services; again, clothing, hygiene kits, nutrition, have their needs assessed. They'll have access to health care, to mental health and crisis counseling and also to legal services.

Civil rights attorneys who have been working with the migrants on Martha's Vineyard said they interviewed dozens of them and that the big issue here is the lack of coordination.

The fact that they were sent thousands of miles away and there was no notice given to the cities and towns receiving them. Listen to more of what she had to say.

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RACHEL SELF, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: They were lied to again and again and fraudulently induced to board the planes. They were told there was a surprise present for them and that there would be jobs and housing awaiting for them when they arrived.

This was obviously a sadistic lie. Not only do those responsible for this stunt know that there was no housing and no employment awaiting the migrants, they also very intentionally chose not to call ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: That lawyer said some of these migrants have -- are due in court, due in immigration proceedings, as early as Monday in places that are thousands of miles away from where they are now -- San Antonio; Tacoma, Washington.

To be clear here, these migrants are asylum seekers. They have been processed by federal immigration authorities and they are awaiting court dates. Under federal law, they are not here illegally; they are not unlawful, they are not unauthorized.

They are vulnerable people fleeing difficult situations, some of them having traveled through up to 10 countries to get here.

We also know that this is a potent political issue for these red state governors, like Florida's Ron DeSantis. We know that, for Republican voters, immigration is one of their very top, most pressing issues. But again, a lot of these critics of this move saying that it's cruel, it's inhumane and it's undignified -- Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Geological Survey says a 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck Taiwan's southern coast. It's toppled several buildings, leaving some people trapped under the rubble. It also derailed a train and caused a bridge to collapse but so far it's unclear if there are any casualties. CNN's Will Ripley is in Taipei.

Will, you've experienced some of the shaking.

What more can you tell us?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, my place is about 200 miles or so from the epicenter. And Taiwan gets a lot of earthquakes. We get -- we get literally thousands of earthquakes over the course of a year.

There have been 50 just in the last 24 hours since the first quake which was a 6.4, which we initially thought was going to be the biggest quake and then the aftershocks would be smaller.

But just a few hours ago there was a 6.9 magnitude quake; that's the one I took this video of. In a building like mine, which is up on a higher floor, even though the building is designed to withstand these earthquakes, I paused for a moment because they're happening constantly.

And you feel -- you almost feel like you have sea legs at some times because -- I think we might be shaking; I don't want to say for sure because I can't verify. But it's a constant thing when you are going through a period of quakes like this.

This is the most quakes and the strongest that I've experienced since I've been based here in Taiwan earlier this year. But it is a relatively common occurrence. When you have smaller buildings and older buildings, these are the ones that are vulnerable to collapse.

So you see these pictures coming in of just, you know, you have businesses, you have homes that have collapsed, we know in the county four people were trapped, only one has been rescued so far, there was a bridge collapse in a rural area, we don't know how many people were affected if any.

There was a train derailment; all the passengers safely evacuated, no casualties. We know that a local school was also damaged.

Yes, I think the ground is shaking now. You know, again, sometimes it's a bit more subtle and it's hard to tell. But it is unnerving, Kim, when you're going about your day and, all of a sudden, everything beneath you starts moving.

And it's been something that's been happening quite a lot over the last 24 hours here. In Japan's -- in Japan, one of their outlying islands, they did have a tsunami warning that has since been lifted from that 6.9 magnitude quake.

But they are bracing themselves for the impact of this huge typhoon approaching, with gale force winds, high waves and storm surge, that the meteorological association says could be worse than people ever experienced before, a disaster which Japan might see every few decades in terms of landslides and flooding.

The shaking likely to continue here in Taiwan, aftershocks from this major earthquakes a few hours ago. BRUNHUBER: Gosh. Well, let's hope the worst is behind you. I really

appreciate your on the spot reporting there. Will Ripley in Taipei, thanks so much.

Ukraine is revealing new images, claiming they are evidence of grisly crimes during the Russian occupation. Still ahead the discovery of alleged torture rooms in areas held by Russia.

Plus, a new problem for Russian state media, how to argue things are going just fine if military operations are clearly headed south. We will have that story and much more after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Russian state media are reporting a major firefight in the occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. They report Russian troops clashed with a group of armed men in the city on Saturday.

The report says the group was neutralized without saying who they were. Ukraine has been making incremental gains in the region and now says Russian troops are constructing a makeshift river crossing to be used as an escape route.

Meanwhile, the U.N. nuclear watchdog says the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant has been reconnected to Ukraine's power grid. The plant isn't producing electricity for Ukraine but it needs external power to cool down the reactors.

Ukraine says Russia is taking aim at its infrastructure after its retreat in the Kharkiv region. Ukrainian officials say Russia unleashed missiles, rockets and airstrikes on at least 30 areas across the country on Saturday.

A short time ago, Ukraine reported a new missile strike in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, which left one person injured. But as Ben Wedeman reports from Kharkiv, Ukraine doesn't plan on stopping its offensive.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainian forces continue to gain more ground in the Kharkiv region, although at a slower pace than over the last two weeks, while Russian forces are trying to dig new defensive lines in the areas they still control.

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WEDEMAN: The governor of the Kharkiv region says that his priority at the moment is to restore basic services -- electricity, water, heating -- in the newly liberated areas. While efforts continue to exhume more bodies at the mass burial site

outside Izyum and Ukrainian officials are showing journalists what they say were Russian prisons, complete with torture rooms.

This area continues to come under bombardment from Russian forces. Early Saturday morning, Russian missiles slammed into an industrial site here in the city of Kharkiv. In a nearby town, a Russian barrage, according to Ukrainian officials, killed an 11-year-old girl -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Kharkiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: As Ben mentioned, Ukraine has reported a second horrific discovery following the rout of Russian troops in the northeast, reportedly showing what they described as torture rooms in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine say they discovered more than 10 of those rooms after the Russian retreat, along with alleged torture devices.

CNN has reached out to Russia for a response. Ukraine now says Russia has committed more than 34,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression since the war began. President Zelenskyy says Ukraine will go after the perpetrators. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Torture was a widespread practice in the occupied territory. That's what the Nazis did. This is what the Russians do. And they will be held accountable in the same way, both on the battlefield and in courtrooms.

We will establish all the identities of those who tortured, who abused, who brought this atrocity from Russia here to our Ukrainian land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The announcement of torture rooms follows the discovery of a mass burial site in Izyum. On Saturday, local residents went there to find the graves of their relatives believed to be buried there.

Ukraine says at least 440 unmarked graves were found at the site after Russia's recent retreat. One man found the grave sites of relatives, killed in a Russian airstrike back in April, but he says he wasn't able to visit their graves until now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The local funeral company that conducted burials gave me the list. They buried the bodies in bags, without coffins, without anything.

I was not allowed here at first. The Russians said it was mined and asked me to wait. And there were a lot of them in the woods so it was scary to come here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Russian state media is struggling to sell recent military defeats in Ukraine as anything but. Earlier, I spoke with a Russian journalist and asked him if President Putin could listen to some hardliners and push for a mobilization. Here he is.

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ALEXEY KOVALEV, RUSSIAN JOURNALIST: So you've probably seen the polls to suggest that 55 or something percent of Russians support the war. But they are very implausible because, you know, the official pollsters did not ask Russians if they support the war because the very word "war" is forbidden in Russia. It's a criminal liability to call it the war. Officially it's a special military operation.

Independent polling suggests about 60 percent of all Russians don't really care either way. They will support the war as long as it doesn't affect them personally. About 15 percent are anti-war and another 15 are actively and genuinely pro-war.

This is the group of people that are now demanding -- that are accusing the Russian minister of defense basically of treason, because they are not -- they are accusing the Russian defense minister of sabotaging Vladimir Putin's orders because he is not basically committing more war crimes.

And this is -- this group is small and marginal but they command a sizable media resource. They are bloggers with the combined audience of maybe 2 million or 3 million people.

So Vladimir Putin has two very different messages for these groups. For the 60 percent of Russians who are -- will answer yes to any question, as long as it doesn't really affect them in a personal way, as long as their sons and husbands and brothers aren't drafted into the army, for them, the message this isn't really a war; it's a special military operation fought by professionals.

So you don't have to worry about anything. For the other group that he also depends on, because they are actively involved in the war and they're helping the war effort through crowd funding resources for the Russian soldiers in the field, the message is very different.

But they are now disappointed because they are not getting what they were promised. The original promise was taking over in three days, because the first columns of Russian armor rolling into Ukraine in late February were carrying parade uniforms with them, because they were expecting to hold a victory parade in downtown Kyiv on February 26 or 27.

But this is clearly not happening. So the pro war extremists are now extremely disappointed with Vladimir Putin.

[05:25:00]

KOVALEV: And they are calling him out directly. The question is why they are not being silenced. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Our thanks to Alexey Kovalev for his insights there.

Ahead, time is running out for the public to view Queen Elizabeth's coffin, as the late monarch lies in state ahead of Monday's funeral. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.

In London, tens of thousands of people continue to wait in long lines outside of Westminster Hall, hoping to view Queen Elizabeth's coffin before Monday's funeral at Westminster Abbey. This is the final full day of public viewing and it's been an extraordinary turnout with an estimated 2 million people expected to pay their respects.

We're watching closely as dignitaries sign the condolence book at London's Lancaster House. All this coming as King Charles mourns the loss of his mother and adjusts to his new role as monarch.

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BRUNHUBER: Now I want to bring in Peter Kellner in London, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe.

Thanks so much for being here with us. King Charles facing many headwinds, you know, that are facing the monarchy. I guess he can't count on the personal love people had for the queen, for instance.

Let's start with where the country is. So a new king and a new prime minister.

Is this an inflection point, particularly in the context of all the major political issues facing the world right now?

[05:30:00]

PETER KELLNER, CARNEGIE EUROPE: It could be because the new prime minister is extremely ideological -- free markets, right winger -- and she's filled her cabinet with people who support her very particular view of right-wing politics.

At the same time, as you say, we've got a new monarch, who is bound to be different from the queen. Remember, when Queen Elizabeth became queen, she was only 25 years old. Nobody had any idea what her views were on anything.

And she managed throughout her 70-year reign to be -- to fulfill the role of a constitutional monarch and not get involved in any controversies. King Charles has spent 70 years as Prince Charles.

And over that time he's presented his views on a great many subjects; not the normal things in elections like should taxes go up or down, things like that, but certainly on the environment, on architecture, on medicine.

And he can't, as it were, unthink those things nor will we be able to ignore that he has this track record.

BRUNHUBER: But also, I mean, you say he is a very different person than the queen. But Britain is in a very different place now than it was when Elizabeth was queen. He takes the throne when the U.K. has a much more reduced role in the world stage, compared to what his mother inherited, for instance.

Does that mean his role will be smaller as well?

KELLNER: It's got to be to some extent. Even during Her Majesty's reign, a number of commonwealth countries -- remember, when she became queen the British empire had only two or three years earlier converted from empire to Commonwealth.

And when she became queen of Britain she became queen of dozens of countries around the world. Well, they have been steadily declining.

Even just an hour ago the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on the BBC, said she thought in her lifetime New Zealand would become a republic and give up having a British monarch as the monarch of New Zealand.

That may well happen to other countries, certainly the remaining Caribbean countries who are not republics I think will become republics. So in that sense alone the king's scope, the king's span around the world will diminish.

BRUNHUBER: I want to ask about that, though.

Does he have a role in that?

Does the Commonwealth hinge on the performance of the king?

Or are these forces sort of operating independently of the individual royals, an inexorable force he can't sway one way or another, depending on how he performs?

KELLNER: It's both things. Her Majesty the queen had -- she was deeply devoted to the Commonwealth and many people throughout the Commonwealth were deeply devoted to her as a person.

But nevertheless the trend over the last 20 or 30 years has been for more Commonwealth countries to become republics. They remain parts of the Commonwealth but not to have the queen as their monarch. That is bound to continue.

Whether it will be accelerated, this will be interesting because King Charles, though he went to many Commonwealth countries and is quite highly regarded, he simply doesn't have that lifelong bond that Queen Elizabeth has.

BRUNHUBER: And, again, there's the further complexity of a more multicultural Britain and certainly, over the last few years, the monarchy has taken some blows from the racial reckoning in the country.

Is it likely at all that the king can, you know, if not help heal those rifts then at least be seen as an important ally?

KELLNER: Yes, and here I think the king has an advantage, because -- it's interesting that, over 30 or 40 years, before either causes became really widespread, he was himself a multicultural -- believed in a multifaith country.

And he believed strongly in the environment and preventing climate change. His record, like his father's, Prince Philip, on the environment, goes back way before anybody was really thinking of this politically.

And it seems to me, if we believe as I do, that we've got 10, 15 years to turn the world around from potential catastrophe, this will be decided on the king's watch in his -- during his reign.

And while he will be very careful not to say anything which contradicts British government policy, I think he will -- I think he has quite a big role to play, both in public and behind the scenes, in moving Britain and hopefully other countries toward greater action to avert climate change.

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KELLNER: This could be, in my view, this could be the big thing he is remembered for positively in decades to come.

BRUNHUBER: A very tough act to follow, as everybody has pointed out, but certainly fascinating to see which way his reign goes. Peter Kellner, thanks so much for your insights. Appreciate it.

KELLNER: Pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, they're boarding up and stocking up in Puerto Rico as tropical storm Fiona approaches. Our Derek Van Dam is tracking it all. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The Alaskan west coast is reeling from one of the strongest storms to hit the state in decades. Coastal flood warnings continue through Sunday, where extreme high water levels are expected to slowly recede. Storm remnants of typhoon Merbok battered the coast for 12 hours

Saturday, bringing hurricane force winds and massive waves. Those winds are expected to weaken throughout Sunday as the storm pushes further north.

A powerful typhoon lashing southwestern Japan, where officials are warning of unprecedented rainfall, violent winds, high waves and a storm surge. About 2 million people have been ordered to evacuate the island of Kyushu because of possible landslides.

Millions more are in the storm's path as it moves over the rest of Japan. They say it could cause a large-scale disaster that happens only one every few decades.

And in Puerto Rico, more than 60,000 homes and businesses are without power as tropical storm Fiona gets closer. A hurricane warning has been issued as forecasters expect the storm to strengthen by the time it passes over or near the island, saying life-threatening flooding and mudslides are possible over the next several days.

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BRUNHUBER: And Puerto Rico residents are hoping for the best. Listen to this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We hope we won't suffer. The rain and floods are worrying us. We have solar panels on the roof but I'm not afraid the power will be gone. At my girlfriend's house, the power is down and the storm has not even arrived. We have to wait and see what's going to happen.

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BRUNHUBER: Residents of Jackson, Mississippi, are enjoying their first weekend with access to safe drinking water in more than six weeks. On Thursday, state officials lifted a boil water advisory that had been in place for more than 40 days, forcing people to boil water before cooking, washing dishes or brushing their teeth even.

The advisory was in place before torrential rains flooded the Pearl River last month and overwhelmed the city's water treatment facility. Jackson residents were forced to rely on bottled water and some had to wait in long lines to get it. They say they're grateful the system is working again.

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BRUNHUBER: Water problems in Mississippi's capital city have been going on for years. Pipes across the system are old and leaky and the state has not dedicated sufficient money to repairs. Let's welcome Sharrelle Barber, a social epidemiologist. She joins us now from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thanks so much for being here with us. So you were in Jackson doing

some research on this problem.

Even as someone who studies these types of issues, were you surprised that a major city, a state capital, could suffer from these types of issues in 2022?

DR. SHARRELLE BARBER, SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I was actually not really surprised.

[05:45:00]

BARBER: When we think about Jackson, Mississippi, in particular but just cities in general, you know, the kinds of infrastructure issues that are -- we're seeing in Jackson, you know, are happening in other parts of the country as well.

And it's due to these, you know, long-term, long-standing issues; systematic disinvestment, structural racism that has literally neglected cities, neglected infrastructure, neglected all of these systems that are necessary for people to just live.

And so, you know, going down to Jackson, I've been doing work in Jackson for over a decade now. And we've seen trends in terms of segregation and disinvestment for many, many years.

We were mostly thinking about it in terms of cardiovascular disease and infrastructure; for example, access to healthy foods, et cetera. This water crisis and the issues with infrastructure came to our attention from residents there. And, again, residents there and our data show that this is long-standing; this is not new.

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BRUNHUBER: Let me just jump in. Let me just jump in because we talk about racial disparities. We know that, since 1980, the city changed from majority white to majority Black.

And it's worth noting that, just a few miles away, in the majority white suburb of Madison, the water never stopped flowing.

So what role do you think race played in what led to the water crisis and the response from the state and federal governments?

BARBER: Absolutely. So yes, so that is exactly right. I was, again, just there just in parts of Jackson but also North Jackson. And you're absolutely right.

But I don't think it's just race; I think it's racism. right, a systemic and structural racism. It's neglect. And in Jackson in particular, what we have is the literal disinvestment from the state government to a city that is majority Black, that has seen both the decline in population, decline in tax base, which limits resources.

And so -- and a significant decline in the investments -- the types of investment and the amount of investment necessary to really deal with these issues, so that is not just a race issue; that's a racism issue.

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BRUNHUBER: And what's happening in Jackson, I mean, it was extreme but it's far from alone, right?

How extensive is this problem across the country?

BARBER: Right. I think -- you know, I think, again, it's -- you have to look at this from a perspective of, you know, urban areas across the country. I live in Philadelphia, for example.

And, again, disinvestment in Black and Brown communities is a pretty standard hallmark of our urban areas. And this comes from eroding tax bases; it comes from resources being siphoned out of cities into suburban areas, right, and resources, et cetera.

So we're seeing, you know this, kind of disinvestment. Disinvestment has happened for decades. What's happening in Jackson is one example. But there's so many examples of this.

Again, like I alluded to before, it's not just the water. You can look at things like the infrastructure in terms of roads, sidewalks, access to healthy foods, you know, you name it.

These, you know, Black and Brown communities in particular have been impacted by a lack of resources being invested in those areas. And this has huge implications then, you know, in what I study in terms of health and health inequities, even what we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, right?

So I have to have a very critical analysis of what's going on. The players and the actors, who are literally neglecting communities, you know, what is so heartbreaking for me is when I hear directly from residents about the hardships, you know, that this is putting on their families.

I just, you know, heard the story of a woman, who had six children, dealing with, you know, a boil water crisis. I was there for a couple days and it was annoying to have to always drink bottled water.

To think that your daily life, taking care of six children, talking about people with disabilities, right, who have to rely on neighbors or family to get, you know, cases of water so they have healthy drinking water.

BRUNHUBER: Yes.

BARBERG: Access to clean water is a bedrock public health issue and we are dealing with that in 2022. And it's only going to be exacerbated with the climate crisis, that is not looming but is already here.

(CROSSTALK)

BRUNHUBER: Yes. That's exactly -- exactly what I was going to say. BARBER: -- and this is -- you know and how are we going to think

about the most -- those communities who have been most neglected need to be at the front of the -- you know, front of the line --

[05:50:00]

BARBER: -- in terms of receiving the resources necessary to fix these very large, very expensive issues in our communities.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely right. The Biden administration has put $1 trillion into infrastructure with this infrastructure bill. We can hope that it goes to all of those most vulnerable communities as well to solve some of those problems. We will have to leave it there. Really appreciate your expertise, Sharrelle Barber, thank you so much.

BARBER: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And we will be right back. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: You're looking at live pictures from London there, where tens of thousands of people continue to wait in a long line leading to Westminster Hall, hoping to view Queen Elizabeth's coffin before Monday's funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Now this is the final full day of public viewing and it's been an extraordinary turnout, with an estimated 2 million people expected to pay their respects.

As the wife of the new king, queen consort Camilla is taking a prominent role in affairs.

[05:55:00]

BRUNHUBER: Tonight Camilla will offer her own tribute to her late mother-in-law who took the throne as a young woman in a far different world. The BBC provide this had excerpt. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMILLA, QUEEN CONSORT OF THE U.K.: She has been part of our lives forever. I'm 75 now and I can't remember anybody except the queen being there. It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman. There weren't women prime ministers or women presidents. She was the only one. So I think she carved her own road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Coverage of the queen's funeral begins Monday here on CNN. It starts at 5:00 am in New York, that's 10:00 in the morning in London.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our viewers in North America, "NEW DAY" with Amara Walker and Boris Sanchez is up after the break. For our international viewers, "LIVING GOLF" is next.