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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Welcome To The Global Trade War; Economist Reacts To Biz-World Panic Over Global Tariffs; Small Business Owner Explains Tariff Impact On American Dream. Naval Academy Removes Nearly 400 Books from Library; Anti-Muslim Viral Video Recorded In Alpharetta Prompts Public Apology; Upstate New York Officer Won't Face Criminal Charges After Fatally Shooting A 13-Year-Old; NC Bill Would Name Official State Hip- Hop Song. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 05, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:01:11]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, first of all, President Trump won't be able to blame DEI if his trade plan doesn't work out. You know, imposing sweeping tariffs on countries around the world is his vision. And as of this morning, everything coming across our border now gets a 10 percent tariff. We can call that the inclusion.

The diversity, though, kicks in next week when select countries will get additional tariffs added on. But there's not a whole lot of equity here. Who do you think got the steepest reciprocal, as they're called, tariffs? Maybe China with its $295 billion trade deficit with the U.S. Nah.

Lesotho. Lesotho, a country of 2.2 million people surrounded by South Africa. They got hit with the world's highest reciprocal, although it is not rate of 50 percent.

Now, between holes of golf, the president is reportedly speaking with world leaders about negotiating their rates. But markets, they don't like this strategy one bit. If you haven't checked your 401(k), don't. But if you are keeping track, for the past two days, you've seen a lot of red, a lot of down arrows, and some of the worst stock losses since the pandemic five years ago. Those are the markets. But how could this impact your livelihood right now?

In a moment, we'll get reaction from a small business owner who's worried about the impact to his line of work. But first, let's start with Valerie Wilson. She's the director of the Economic Policy Institute's program on race, ethnicity, and the economy.

Valerie, good to have you on the show. There is a finding from the St. Louis Fed that it always sticks close to me. They found that for every dollar of wealth that an unmarried white man has, an unmarried black woman has 8 cents. An unmarried Latino, she has 14 cents. And we know that the legacy of the wage gap and wealth gap. What's the expectation of how these higher costs, these tariffs will impact these communities?

VALERIE WILSON, DIR. ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE PROGRAM ON RACE, ETHNICITY, AND THE ECONOMY: Well, Victor, first of all, thank you for having me on this morning. I think the biggest risk to women of color in particular, given those wage disparities and the huge racial and gender wealth gap that you described, the biggest risk to women of color is the risk of a recession, which would be totally self- inflicted by the Trump administration given that they inherited the strongest economy of any president since George W. Bush. And what happens during recessions is that people of color more broadly tend to have higher unemployment rates for longer periods of time. But those with less wealth that provides some stability and something to fall back on if they experience a job loss are most at risk.

BLACKWELL: I mentioned 401(k)'s. Everybody's 401(k) took a hit regardless of demographic, race, religion, age. You saw those down arrows. But people of color tend to have smaller balances even when you account for adjust for income and for tenure. And so, what does that look like as people of color look ahead to retirement versus their white counterparts? How the market could impact that?

WILSON: Yeah, so I think the problem is the biggest burden is going to be on people who want to retire soon because they are going to experience those losses. I think most analysts will tell folks, if you have money in the market, just sit back, let it sit. If you don't need it right now, just ride it out. But for those who are retiring soon, that will be a major hit to their retirement savings. And for people of color, women of color who have less of a balance to start with, that could essentially wipe it out and mean that they have to work longer or risk going into retirement at the risk of poverty.

[08:05:12]

BLACKWELL: We have the unemployment numbers out for March. And, of course, the president just announced these additional tariffs this week. So those are not factored into those numbers. They were good. They were stronger than expected. But what do these tariffs mean for unemployment?

WILSON: Yeah, again, the tariffs are really a threat to the U.S. Economy. And I think the predictions increasingly are increasing in terms of the likelihood of triggering a recession. The problem with these tariffs is that they are too broad, too large to be effective economic policy. Narrowly tailored, very strategic tariffs can be effective. But when you impose a tariff on essentially every import good, that's just too broad to have any benefit for American consumers or businesses.

BLACKWELL: And the tailored, and I'm glad you made that point because those tailored tariffs, that's what we saw in Trump 45 in the first term, focusing on Chinese aluminum and steel. And the Biden administration kept those. But as you say that these are for everybody. Your suggestion is that they are not effective.

The point that the president is trying to make is that if you levy these tariffs, companies will bring their manufacturing to the U.S. but this is the question I've had. There are the discussions with Cambodia and Vietnam and potential negotiations. If a company is going to make those investments of 8, 9, 10, maybe 11 figures to move manufacturing here, a hint of a negotiation, that would be an impediment that would suggest maybe we don't move. Right.

Don't they need to know that the tariff climate is going to stay the same for the next six months, a year before they invest?

WILSON: Yeah, you hit the nail right on the head. The biggest problem beyond the fact that the tariffs are too broad, too large, too high, is the fact that there's so much uncertainty and chaos around what the strategy even is. The fact is that the tariffs imposed on -- the goods that the tariffs are being imposed upon are not things that we can produce quickly enough domestically to meet demand. So that is going to result in higher prices for U.S. Consumers as well as U.S. businesses who purchase inputs for the final products that they do produce here in the U.S.

BLACKWELL: All right, Valerie Wilson, thank you so much for setting the table. Enjoy the rest of the Saturday.

My next guest is worried about what these tariffs mean for his American dream; Felipe Arroyave (ph). He came to this country from Colombia. He learned English. He started a business. He started a specialty contact lens company based in Atlanta. And back during the pandemic, he and just one other person. They ran the show together.

Well, now he has more than a dozen employees, offices around the world. Spectrum International, that's the name of the company. It was just recognized by the Small Business Administration as the 2024 Small Business Exporter of the Year.

Now, that's all to say that these tariffs could disrupt all that progress. And to explain, Felipe is here with me. Felipe, good to see you. You import, as I learned as I've learned --

FELIPE ARROYAVE, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, SPECTRUM INTERNATIONAL: Good to see you.

BLACKWELL: -- some of your raw materials from China and on Thursday --

ARROYAVE: Correct.

BLACKWELL: 54 percent tariff on those. How does that impact the sustainability, the health of your business?

ARROYAVE: Well, Victor, so the problem that we have is that even if we make the products inside of the United States, just like Valerie was saying, we cannot switch to a local source overnight. So, we import raw materials to manufacture our contact lenses from China, from Mexico, from Canada, and other parts of the world.

So, what are we going to do? Are we going to pass this cost to the consumer? Are we going to eat it up? If we eat it up, we will have to reduce our profits. And if we reduce our profits, we will start firing people or stop hiring people. So, this is really affecting our business.

It's just affecting the supply chain. Just like Valerie was saying, we cannot switch overnight to a local source and manufacture.

BLACKWELL: What percentage of your customers are overseas?

ARROYAVE: 100 percent.

BLACKWELL: All of your customers are outside the U.S.

ARROYAVE: Yes. We won Exporter of the Year because we are currently exporting to 70 countries around the world, and every single one of our products is made in the United States.

BLACKWELL: So, one, that's phenomenal. Second, are you seeing any reluctance or resistance from some of those customers, all of them outside the United States from buying from you? Are any of them backing away now even before potential reciprocal tariffs?

[08:10:19]

ARROYAVE: Of course. People abroad are starting to boycott American U.S.-Made products. That is happening right now, Victoria, and it is one of our biggest concerns. Why? Because we're going to get retaliation tariffs from other countries. Prices are going up because the supply chains has changed, and we are going to continue to see inflation on U.S.-made products. That is just the reality.

BLACKWELL: Are you comfortable saying where you're seeing some of these boycotts?

ARROYAVE: Yes. A lot of people in the Middle East, a lot of Asian countries are boycotting U.S.-made products. People in Canada are switching to local manufacturers. And I'm afraid that we're going to be less competitive, Victor.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned that the impact of absorbing some of these costs, are you able to absorb any of them?

ARROYAVE: We can't. Like for example, I was talking to other importers and exporters this week, and just in the cost of packaging, Victor, it has gone up three times. So, either we raise prices or we pass it on to the end user abroad. And that is going to make our product less competitive. And you know who's trying to export more and more products around the world? China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and majority of the countries that they don't have one of the most expensive laborers in the world, such as the United States. So, we have one of the highest operational costs in the world. And now, if we add this tariff, it's just the perfect recipe for failure.

BLACKWELL: You told my producer that you don't even like to watch the news anymore.

ARROYAVE: Every single time I turn CNN I don't even know what the White House is going to do or what countries are going to be involved next. I mean, a couple of weeks ago it was just Canada, China and Mexico. And now, I mean you saw the press release a few days back, and it's just as exporters and importers, we have no idea what is going to happen next.

And Victor, what concerns me the most is that American-made products used to stand behind values, technology, and people used to trust their products. And now I'm just afraid that this is changing and we're were going to be less competitive in the next couple months or a couple years.

BLACKWELL: Had you hoped that President Trump would be different? I mean, most people who said that the economy was their most important issue, 4 out of 5 voted for Donald Trump. How does this match your expectation of what the Trump Administration would be, especially in the first 100 days?

ARROYAVE: Well, Victor, we live in the greatest country on earth. I mean, every single person that has a dream, every single company that want to sell to other countries comes to the United States. But we need to be able to sell those dreams and those products to other countries. We cannot become an isolated island.

The United States needs to work with partners. Countries cannot see us as a bully. Countries cannot see us are as their biggest enemy. We need to work together. That's how trade works.

So to your question, I thought the economy was going to do great, and I hope the economy does great. I mean, everybody wants to make America great again. I mean, every single company in the United States was our country to try.

But if we keep bullying countries, if we keep just pressuring countries like this, that's just not how the world organization works. And I'm extremely concerned of retaliations.

BLACKWELL: Felipe Arroyave, thank you for being with me this morning. And our best to you as you try to navigate this new landscape.

ARROYAVE: Thank you so much, Victor, for the opportunity.

BLACKWELL: Certainly. All right. There's now a deadline for the U.S. to bring a man the government admits was mistakenly deported to El Salvador back to Maryland. How the Salvadoran community in that state is reacting to the crackdown.

Plus, books on black athletes, diversity in the workplace, even a book by Maya Angelou. A Defense Department list reveals nearly 400 books now off the library shelves at the Naval Academy. The Pentagon's first chief DEI officer is here to react.

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[08:19:24]

BLACKWELL: The Trump administration is pushing back on a judge's order to bring back a man the government admits was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. A judge in Maryland called it illegal and says that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia must be brought back to the U.S. no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling.

The Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, called the judge a Marxist who, quote, "thinks she's president of El Salvador." Again, the U.S. admits they sent the father of three to El Salvador because of an administrative error. There are an estimated 2.5 million people of Salvadoran origin living in the U.S.

According to Pew Research Center, they are the third largest Hispanic population in the country, and Maryland is home to a significant part of that community. CNN's Polo Sandoval traveled there and found this high-profile case is not the only one raising alarm.

[08:20:32]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): This is Salvadoran Elsie Noemi Barrios behind the wheel, detained by federal agents in Maryland earlier this week. Her daughter shot the video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't grab her like that.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): DHS said in a statement, "this individual has been identified as an associate of the vicious

MS-13 Gang. Americans can rest assured that she's off our streets and locked up." Barrio's family was shocked by the allegations, saying their mother has no ties to MS-13 or any gang, adding that she held a valid work authorization while her immigration proceedings were pending. Her daughter saying simply, it's not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): The images are sending shockwaves through Maryland's Salvadoran community, which is still reeling from the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a husband and father who was sent to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration admitted it was an administrative error. The government claims that he was associated with the violent Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. DHS said in a statement. He should be locked up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ICE out of Maryland now.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Abrego Garcia's wife disputes the administration's claim and read a statement before a judge ordered her husband be returned to the U.S. no later than Monday.

JENNIFER STEFANIA VASQUEZ SURA, WIFE OF KILMAR ARMANDO ABREGO GARCIA: If I had all the money in the world, I'll spend it all just to buy one thing. A phone call to hear Kilmar's voice again.

JORGE BENITEZ PEREZ, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER: My biggest question is why? Why was he a target? Were you guys trying to make an example? Were you targeting the Salvadorian community? SANDOVAL (voiceover): Local activist Jorge Benitez Perez fears that

speaking out comes with a risk.

PEREZ: Even during this interview. I thought about it before I came here because I am someone that is not a full citizen. I am someone on a permanent status. But what is permanent now?

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Beyond his personal concerns, Benitez is deeply worried that members of the Salvadoran community will be mislabeled as gang members, detained, or even deported by mistake again.

PEREZ: Now things can just turn like that, where a narrative of gang members Mara Salvatrucha is being sent. And I'm doing this because I want people to know that's not the reality. That's not who we are, and that's definitely not who my people are.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Like Benitez, elementary school teacher Yaqui Palma has noticed heightened fears in the eyes of her students.

YAKIE PALMA, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER: Children are scared as well and it's really impacting their performance in school.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): As a first generation Salvadoran American, Alma says she's formed bonds with migrant parents of her students, many from El Salvador. She recalls a recent conversation with a seven-year- old student.

PALMA: She told me that she was very terrified that she would get deported. Her parents have told me that she is a U.S. Citizen. She was born here. But still, it's that widespread fear that if you're Hispanic or if you're Salvadoran, you're going to get deported. Right. Because of that racial profiling happening and that affiliation with MS-13.

PEREZ: All throughout like --

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Like back in his old neighborhood, Benitez remains hopeful but also fiercely protective of his community.

PEREZ: This is not the first time our communities have been under attack. We survived four years in the past, and we can do it again.

SANDOVAL (voiceover): Polo Sandoval, CNN, Prince George's County, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now, scenes like that are playing out across the country. But in Chicago, one story has a different ending. A man from Venezuela trying to help his brother who needs a kidney is being allowed to stay in the country.

Jose Gregorio Gonzalez, his brother is battling kidney failure. And this was the moment of the reunion on Friday, after being detained for more than a month this week he learned that he was set to be deported. But that kicked off pleas for mercy from his family and community, those paid off on Friday. Gonzalez will be allowed to remain in the U.S. for one year on humanitarian grounds. Here was his brother speaking through an interpreter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRANSLATION OF JOSE ALFREDO PACHECO, NEEDS KIDNEY TRANSPLANT: The question was what the first thing he's going to do with his brother is. He said the first thing is call his mom so that she can see them both and just be able to share in life together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Gonzalez will have to check in periodically with ICE. His attorney says he'll also be eligible to apply for a work permit. But most importantly, Gonzalez says that he'll now be able to drive his brother to dialysis and become a kidney donor if confirmed to be a match.

All right. We now have a list of nearly 400 books pulled from the Naval Academy library. You can probably already guess what a lot of them have in common.

Next, I'm going to get reaction from someone who knows the Navy well, both as a Navy vet and the Pentagon's first DEI officer.

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[08:29:34]

BLACKWELL: The Trump administration's quest to end diversity policies has now reached the library of the Naval Academy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the academy to identify books related to diversity, equity, and inclusion themes and remove them from the Nimitz Library. Late Friday, they released a list of almost 400 books that were pulled this week. Books include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou My Vanishing Country, a memoir by CNN's own Bakari Sellers, Long Time Coming Reckoning with Race in America by Friend of the Show historian Michael Eric Dyson, a book on Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion and a book that might have come in handy here, "Managing Diversity in the Military: The Value of Inclusion in a Culture of uniformity."

My next guest comes at this from multiple perspectives. He's a Navy veteran. He served as the Undersecretary of Defense for personnel readiness in the Biden administration where he was responsible force readiness, education and training. He was the Pentagon's first chief diversity and inclusion officer.

Joining us now is Congressman Gil Cisneros of California. He currently sits on the House Armed Services Committee and Small Business. And we'll talk about that in a moment. But Congressman, first, thank you for being here.

And to those people who say, you know, if these midshipmen want to read about memorializing the Holocaust or a book about, you know, female comedians, "Pretty Funny" was also a book pulled from the shelves. They can do that on their own dime, on their own time. It shouldn't be in the library. What do you say to them?

REP. GIL CISNEROS (D) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Look, we are training leaders over there at the service academies, whether it's the Naval Academy, whether it's West Point, the Air Force Academy. These are higher institutions of higher learning. We want them to be well rounded. We want them to be well read. We want them to go out and read different books, get different sides of opinions.

We're not creating storm troopers over there. We're not creating robots. We want them to be able to think. And one of the ways that they're able to increase their capacity for learning, increase their capacity for thinking is by reading.

And to remove 400 books that like some of the topics that you described there, right in subjects, is just -- it's unbelievable what this administration is doing and how they are going after everything that is good. Right. Diversity is a strength.

And I don't care what Pete Hegseth says, it is a strength. And you know, the Marine Corps did studies that showed diverse teams perform better than teams that aren't diverse. And so we have the proof out there. And it's not only at the service academies and the military, but corporate America as well, has shown that diverse teams perform better. And why we would want to take steps away from that and make our teams weaker is just unbelievable.

BLACKWELL: You know, initially the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, Military Academy at West Point, those were not included in the purge order because they're colleges. The focus was on the K through 12 schools because they received federal funding.

Do you think there should be some distinction, I mean, this was under your purview, that there should be some separation on the treatment of the literature available to K through 12 versus those midshipmen and the students in higher learning?

CISNEROS: Well, I think it's horrible that -- I think it's horrible that we're taking books out of all our schools, whether it be K through 12 or these institutions of higher learning. You know, we should give our students the options to go out and read books that they want to read to increase their learning for capacity.

We want them to be diverse in the sense of reading from different angles, different perspectives. If we only give you one option one subject, as to like, this is what you're supposed to do, how does that increase your capacity for learning? How does that increase your capacity for thought?

Again, we're not building robots here. We want thinkers, we want leaders and to go into -- to just minimize and say, well, now you can only read these books. You know, this isn't Nazi Germany. This isn't the Soviet Union.

We are not meant to be an authoritarian government that says, you can only do this or you can only read that. And that's the scary part of what's going on here, is I think they want to take us down that path. BLACKWELL: I had Secretary Kendall, former secretary of the Air Force,

on a couple of weeks ago, and he said something that stays with me. And he said that the conversations about racism and sexism will continue in the military. They just won't include white men, and they won't include those white male officers specifically.

And as we look at, you know, often this is put in the context of disrupting cohesion, the absence of those conversations. Does that also disrupt cohesion?

CISNEROS: Well, it does, absolutely. And, you know, Frank Kendall's a great thinker, was a great secretary of the Air Force. Glad to be able to work with individuals like that in the Biden administration there at the Department of Defense.

[08:35:07]

And really, you know, one of the other things, right, that is scary about this is that both the Navy and the Marine Corps took steps to put their sexual assault, sexual harassment training on pause, using DEI as the reason for doing that.

I think it's, you know, Frank was 100 percent right. These conversations will continue, but they're not going to be inclusive of those individuals. Like you said, the white men who need to be part of the conversation. These conversations need to include everybody.

And we cannot just minimize this like, you know, put it to a back room where people are talking about these things in secret, afraid to bring them up because they're afraid they might get in trouble or be disciplined for raising issues about things that are occurring all the time.

BLACKWELL: I also mentioned you're on House Small Business Committee and of course, with the tariffs and all that we've seen over the last couple of days, I want to ask you about those. I want you and everybody watching to carefully listen here to the Republican chair of House Small Business. This is Roger Williams of Texas.

And he says that we don't have to wait months or years for this to be good for small business, that these tariffs are good for small businesses now. And here's the explanation of how.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP).

REP. ROGER WILLIAMS (R) SMALL BUSINESS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Think Main Street over the, over the short haul is going to benefit from it. There could be a shock in cost of goods sold, but we as retailers take care of that by removing the higher price unit and selling the fresh one that we get. That's what it's all about, controlling inventories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: How, how does that work? Just removing the inventory and selling the freshman. Can you explain that? CISNEROS: No, I can't. Look, the chairman Williams is a car dealer.

The prices of his vehicles are going to go up. I mean, that's just, you know, the auto dealers are saying that the big three are saying that prices are going to go up with these tariffs, parts are going to become more expensive, it's going to be more expensive to assemble these cars and they're going to have to charge higher prices to do that.

A lot of our small businesses rely on supplies that come from either, you know, some of our biggest trading allies, Mexico, Canada, China or other countries around the world. They rely on those retailers that, you know, sell goods, small businesses, you know, small retail outlets, whether they're selling clothing or different supplies, are getting those goods that are coming in from other countries and those prices are going to go up.

We see what this market right now is doing right, what has happened here. And the American people or the working people are getting hit with a double whammy here. Not only are they going to have to pay higher prices because of the tariffs, but their pensions, their 401k plans are involved in the stock market. Right? That's where they're invested in $6 trillion we lost in two days. And there's no sign of when this is going to end or if they're even buckling yet to kind of realize that they've made a mistake.

BLACKWELL: Congressman Gil Cisneros, thank you for the conversation. Enjoy the Saturday.

CISNEROS: All right. You, too. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Cybertruck driver caught on video making Islamophobic comments to a group of young Muslim women revealed to be the ex- husband of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Hear the apology he's now making publicly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:30]

BLACKWELL: All right, now to the stories that hit my algorithm this week that maybe you didn't see on television. We now know the identity of a cybertruck driver seen making Islamophobic comments to three young Muslim women on Sunday at a mall near Atlanta.

First, I want you to see some of the confrontation went on for about three minutes. Recording was obtained by CNN. You can hear the man making offensive comments about their religion and ethnicity, repeatedly telling them to go back to their country. Not that it's any of his business, but all three women were born and raised in Georgia. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY GREENE, RECORDED MAKING ISLAMAPHOBIC COMMENTS: Where are you from? What county?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter where we're from. It does not, though. Why does it matter to you, though?

GREENE: That's because you are worshipping a false god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

GREENE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you Christian? Have the same God, bro.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Turns out the man in the video is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's ex-husband. Perry Greene. A lawyer for the women demanded he issue a public apology and yesterday he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREENE: I just wanted them to know that I humbly apologize to them because nobody should be treated that way. And that's not the right way for us to treat anybody with any differences. And just that's, you know, what we came to do. And hopefully they'll find it in their hearts to forgive me and that, you know, that's we shouldn't allow that in our society. So thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The women's lawyer says that they would rather Greene donate to a nonprofit to combat Islamophobia than pursue any type of civil action against him.

[08:45:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI JAMAL AWAD, LAWYER: I want to commend these three young women standing beside me who have shown tremendous maturity and restraint in this whole ordeal. We admire their commitment to their religion. In spirit and letter, they represent the best of our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Police in Alpharetta, where this happened, called the comments in the video disgusting, but said that the incident falls under protected free speech.

Following up on a story we told you about last summer a police officer in upstate New York will not face charges in the shooting death of a teenage boy. Officer Patrick Husnay and another officer were questioning 13-year-old Nyah Mway and another boy.

Mway ran and then pulled out and pointed what turned out to be a BB gun. Husnay tackled the boy, fired one shot into the boy's chest. New York's Attorney General said prosecutors would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Husnay's actions were unjustified. Nyah Mway and his family are refugees from Myanmar.

And less than a month after this happened, I spoke to a member of that community about the effect this case was having on them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAY KLO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MIDTOWN UTICA COMMUNITY CENTER: This retraumatization has revealed that safety is not guaranteed and it has increased distrust between police and the refugee community. We demand accountability so that this never happens again to another kid in our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: In a statement, the family says in part that Nyah deserved to grow up. We deserve to live in a community where children like him are protected, not pursed -- pursued, I should say.

All right. Petey Pablo is a part of North Carolina culture. He could soon be a part of North Carolina history with a new state song.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:20]

BLACKWELL: So which song lyrics fit better with North Carolina? "Hurrah! Hurrah! The Old North State forever! Hurrah! Hurrah! The good Old North State!" that's from the official state song or "North Carolina. Come on and raise up take your shirt off, twist around your head spin it like a helicopter." That bop from Petey Pablo could soon be the state's official hip hop song.

I spoke to Petey and the state senator pitching the idea about what it would mean to the state for our latest edition of Art is Life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE MURDOCK, NORTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: My name is Natalie Murdock. I'm in Durham, North Carolina, and I'm a North Carolina state senator.

PETEY PABLO, HIP HOP ARTIST: This is your man, Petey Pablo. I'm from Greenville, North Carolina, but I represent the whole of North Carolina and South Carolina, and I'm a musical genius.

As a rapper, I've always wanted to make something that you always want to make something that your hometown is proud of you for. New York's known for fashion. Florida's known for the hot, beautiful weather. And LA is known for the movies and the glitz and the glamour. I wanted to give us recognition.

MURDOCK: We hear it all the time. So full disclosure, I am a Tar Heel. I'm a UNC Chapel Hill grad. It's at basketball games. We play it at football games. When they were doing the roll call vote to nominate Vice President Harris as its president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Carolina, how do you cast your vote?

MURDOCK: That was the song that the North Carolina delegation played. Everybody knows the song.

In the general assembly someone has a proposal for an official mineral or an official fruit or an official this and that. And I said, why don't we have an official hip hop song?

PABLO: Wait a minute. As popular as the state bird is the state tree. And I'm like, man, it's amazing.

MURDOCK: The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Throughout April and May, we will be working to make this happen, to make it a reality here in North Carolina.

Tennessee, they hope to have "Tennessee" the song, as their, I believe, official state song.

We still could be in contention as the first and only state to have an official hip hop song.

PABLO: Truthfully speaking, it already is. But for it to be documented on record is one of the most powerful things, you know, that could ever happen to a human being in life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now Petey says he'll keep us posted on what he plans to do if and when this becomes official. But of course it will be a big party.

Coming up, a shout out to a community in Chicago that showed up for a black owned bowling alley in financial trouble.

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[08:58:50]

BLACKWELL: One of the first black owned bowling alleys in the country is in Chicago. Skyway Bowl has been facing financial trouble and the bowling alley got new attention after owner Brunetta Hill-Corley announced that she might have to close up shop. Our affiliate in Chicago caught up with her when she made the case for the role the lanes play in the community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNETTA HILL-CORLEY, SKYWAY BOWL OWNER: We do our annual toy drive, we do a coat drive, we try to do a food drive and a back to school event. This is how the community thrives, having a safe place to come. We're here. We're alive. We want you to come join in the fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now that was a month ago and since then the community has stepped up by hosting events and booking lanes and donating to a fundraiser called Operation Save Our Lanes. Local Outlet Book Club Chicago now says that Skyway plans to stay open thanks to all the new business and attention. Skyway Bowl owner Brunetta Hill-Corley and the community in Geoffrey Manor, Chicago. I see you. And if you see something or someone I should see, tell me. I'm on Instagram, X, TikTok, Bluesky. If you miss a conversation or story, check out our show's website and you can listen to our show as a podcast.

[09:00:07]

Tonight, remember to tune in for an all new episode of "Have I Got For You." Guests this week will be Congressman Ro Khanna and comedian Karen Chee. That's at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Thank you for joining me today. I'll see you back here next Saturday at 8am Eastern. Smerconishis up next.