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First of All with Victor Blackwell

What A Time For A Birthday Parade; Today: Polarizing Military Parade In DC As Protests Loom; Trump: Parade Protesters Will Be "Met With Very Big Force"; 21-Year-Old Caring For Siblings After Parents Detained, Deported; Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Raids On Farms, Hotels And Eateries; No Kings Protests Expected Across U.S. Amid Trump Parade. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired June 14, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:01:06]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, listen, we don't get to pick our birthdays, but what a time for the U.S. Army to be celebrating its 250th year. The Army's motto is this will defend. You'll probably see that at the big military parade today in D.C., if you watch. At the same time outside of Washington, there will be rallies around a different slogan, no kings.

7 million of military machinery and weaponry roll down Pennsylvania Avenue. Millions of people are expected to march through streets across the country. They're protesting not only President Trump's immigration crackdown, but how he's reshaped government in the span of just five months. And that includes the military where who can be celebrated and how is now restricted under the banner of taking on wokeness.

Now, in a moment, I'll speak with a Marine veteran who says that due to the growing influence of politics in the military, he does not think that the sacrifice of military service is worth it for people of color. But let me start this morning with the parade and the preparations happening now. Christina Henderson is an independent serving in D.C. Government. She also happens to be the daughter of an army veteran. Thank you for being with me.

So the no Kings Day protests, they're happening in all 50 states, none planned for Washington, D.C. But there are other protest plans. What can you tell us about the protests that are planned and the preparations for them?

CHRISTINA HENDERSON, (I) COUNCILMEMBER AT LARGE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Well, thank you so much for having me, Victor. So, as you know, the District of Columbia is no stranger to First Amendment activity. The national our Metropolitan Police Department is probably better equipped than most police forces in the country to deal with First Amendment activity. And so we anticipate that folks will be able to gather, speak their minds and do so safely. BLACKWELL: So the president has a warning, though, for protesters who

might want to demonstrate alongside or near the parade. Here is what he said from the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, USA PRESIDENT: And if there's any protester wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. By the way, for those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force. And I haven't even heard about a protest. But, you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now, he didn't create any distinction for violent protesters or any destructive protests. He said very heavy force to protesters. What do you say to what you heard from the President there?

HENDERSON: Well, that's incredibly concerning and it's counter to what we do here in the District. Like I said, we're no stranger to First Amendment activity and we are able to handle those. So I think it is concerning that the President would suggest that no one should be allowed to gather. That's antithetical to how we do things. Also to the Constitution, which says you have a right to free speech as well as to assembly.

BLACKWELL: The President has wanted this military parade for a long time, since he was invited to Bastille Day by French President Emmanuel Macron and ultimately canceled it in the first term, relenting to the concerns over cost. But the D.C. Mayor, Muriel Bowser, was far more vocal in her opposition in the first term. She tweeted this.

"Yep, I'm Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington D.C. The local politician who finally got through to the reality star in the White house with the realities 21.6 million of parades, events and demonstrations in Trump America. Sad." What explains the relatively muted reaction and response this time around from D.C. Officials to this parade?

HENDERSON: Well, I don't want to suggest that we didn't point out that there probably were more cost efficient ways in order to celebrate this milestone for the Army. $45 million for a parade that is going to stretch about seven-ish blocks, less than a mile is a lot of money. There are probably more impactful ways that we can celebrate this milestone. But the fact of the matter is, you know, we're moving forward with this on today.

[08:05:14]

Plans have been made and I think one of the concerns that we have is what happens after the fact if there are damages to the roads. We want to make sure that the city is reimbursed so that visitors to the city who are coming down Constitution Avenue have the ability to do so safely. BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes. And that's there's a concern from the mayor that

she says that the city will have to likely pay for the repairs and then wait for federal reimbursement. And that has her concerned. How concerned are you about the federal government keeping its promise and timely to get that money back?

HENDERSON: Well, if past is a prologue in history, particularly with this administration, we might be waiting a while. In addition to the cost for the roads, the entire Metropolitan Police Department is active. So this is an overtime spending cost, especially at a time where the House of Representatives has yet to take action on a bill that would allow for the District of Columbia to continue to spend our local dollars for this fiscal year. So I don't know exactly how we're going to pay for all of these additional costs that are being incurred by the federal government. But I would encourage Speaker Johnson to take a vote on our bill.

BLACKWELL: Christina Henderson, independent there in the D.C. Council, thank you so much for being with me.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Pay attention to the participants in today's military parade. You'll hopefully see a wide range of Americans represented because that's who makes up our armed forces.

But I was struck by my next guest view on the question of whether people of color still have a place in the military today. Philip E. Thompson is a veteran. He's a former judge advocate in the Marine Corps. His grandfather, his father also served World War II, respectively. Both did so at times when ranks were segregated. Philip E. Thompson is with us now.

Sir, thank you for your time and your service. I want to just start here with a line from your op ed that was in the Washington Post, and I'm going to read the end of it as the beginning of our conversation. "Military service is a profound sacrifice. And when the sacrifice is met with hostility, erasure or contempt from political leaders at its highest levels, we must pause and reassess. Is it still worth it? Right now, as I watch what is happening, my answer is sadly, no."

I mean, that was just striking to me to hear a veteran who's proud of his military service. Say that now is not the time. Say more. Explain.

PHILIP E. THOMPSON, FORMER STAFF JUDGE ADVOCATE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: You know, it's real -- it was real emotional kind of writing that article because I've talked to a lot of friends of mine who are all, you know, military veterans. My wife is retired Air Force, and, you know, we've all kind of had our success in life defined by our initial military service, which has helped us move on. And, you know, to now have to say, because of what I see from the Trump administration, you know, I can't see an avenue. Why young African Americans should go in and serve in the military is a tough statement for me to make. I wear the Marine Corps. I've got my pen on my father's unit, the Montford Point Marines. I wear. I mean, I have decals on my car. I celebrate my time in the Corps. My

wife celebrates her time in the Air Force. I get together with my friends very often and talk about our time in the military. And it was tough then. You know, I spoke out about problems in the Marine Corps and the military in 1991 kind of cost me a little bit on my career. But, you know, we knew it was some -- there were issues there, but it wasn't the abject, you know, defeatism as we see right now from the Trump administration.

BLACKWELL: And what do you say to those servicemembers who say that the oath is to the Constitution? I mean, servicemembers obey the president. They obey the orders of the officers above them, but they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. It's about more than just one man.

THOMPSON: Therein lies the issue. You know, we take an oath to the Constitution, but we will also take an oath to follow the lawful, follow the orders of our superiors. And as you see, in L.A., the Marines were told, guard the courthouse, and a guy comes walking by, black veteran, and they jump on him and restrain him and, you know, take him into custody. That's just it.

Marines will follow orders. You know, I know people say, well, you can't follow unlawful orders, but we're not trained to make that total assessment on what's lawful and what isn't. As a judge advocate, you know, that was part of my job to determine, you know, what was legal and what wasn't. But the average soldier, average Marine in the street, they're not. They've got orders to do X, Y and Z, and that's how they execute their orders. And they execute them with a lot of aggression. And that's not what we want to see out here on these streets.

BLACKWELL: You know, the not so well kept secret is even in this environment of anti-DEI is that recruiters often prioritize brown and black enlistees. There's a report from the New York Times. Since the last administration, they analyzed J.R.O.T.C programs at more than 200 public schools and they found that dozens of schools have made the program mandatory, steered more than 75 percent of students in a single grade into the classes. A vast majority of the schools with those high enrollment numbers were attended by a large proportion of non-white students and those from low-income households.

[08:10:38]

Do you believe that if we take your premise about erasure and contempt is that they don't want black and brown service members or they don't want to celebrate black and brown service members.

THOMPSON: You know, recruiters are out there doing their job, so they're going to recruit who they can get. You know, I came in the Marine Corps as part of a program where the marine corps saw that they didn't have enough black officers and they aggressively tasked their officer selection officers to identify and select black officers. I also helped bring in a number of individuals, good friends of mine, into the Marine Corps because they were searching for black qualified black officers. Once we got in, we did everything were supposed to do to qualify and go through the officer candidate program and move on as marine officers.

So you know, that part of it, you know, people are going to do. The problem that you have is that there's contempt. There seems to be contempt for you in that our history is being erased. I mean, you start moving information on Tuskegee Airmen, the black Harlem Hellfighters, Mackdad's (ph) unit, the Montford Point Marines from the books. What does that tell a young kid that your contribution is not really that important.

In making a decision, a lot of people that make decision to come in the military, it's a tough decision to get you over the top to join. And then, you know, you start seeing these types of things happen. You know, today they're talking about removing Medgar Evers names from a navy ship. What does that tell a young African American? You know, we are expected as military people to go out and sacrifice our lives for the country.

But if the country isn't going to return the favor as far as, you know, appreciating our service, then the question becomes why should you serve?

BLACKWELL: Yes, your line here, that also stood out to me. The message is clear. If you're black, brown or anything other than the old guard, a white male, your presence in the military is conditional and increasingly unwelcome. As part of your op ed in the Washington Post. Philip E. Thompson, again, thank you for your service and thank you for your time this morning.

THOMPSON: Thank you and Happy Father's Day.

BLACKWELL: Another focus of protest is the escalating crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Next, I want you to hear about one family caught up in it. You'll meet a 21-year-old left to figure out how to parent her three younger siblings once their father and mother are deported.

Plus, a 23-year-old slave takes over Confederate ship, gets into the Union army, takes his freedom, becomes the most famous black person in the world. This is an amazing story, a real-life story, and one you probably have never heard. There's a new effort to change that in a medium you would not expect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:16]

BLACKWELL: So you've seen the protest over President Trump's immigration crackdown and heard from the lawmakers speaking against ICE in the administration. I don't think we hear enough from the families that are directly impacted.

Beverly Juarez's family in Apopka, Florida, is one of them. Her father, Espen Juarez, was recently detained by ICE, deported to Guatemala. Her mother, Rosemary Miranda, has also been detained, and Beverly expects her to be deported as soon as this morning. As a result, she's now responsible for raising her three younger siblings. She's 21 years old, and a day before her mom was detained, Beverly

taped a message addressed to President Trump and posted it on TikTok. Here's some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEVERLY JUAREZ, 21-YEAR-OLD WITH UNDOCUMENTED PARENTS: President Trump, please listen to us as a father, a grandfather, and as a leader of a free world. You showed an interest in helping people, and now we need your intervention to remain as a family in our country. This is the first Father's Day when our father is not here. Please, you can bring him back to us and you can prevent my mother from being deported. Please help us.

The deportation of our parents is in violation of your mandate to go after the worst of the worst.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: So on Thursday, Beverly went with her mother to her ICE office appointment. She had to wait for hours for news. I spoke with Beverly afterwards from outside the office.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Beverly, you've asked an immigration judge not to detain your mother, not to deport her. You just came out of this appointment.

JUAREZ: What happened in this appointment that we just came out of, we were under the impression that my mother had to show up to receive instructions for her flight, which is on Saturday the 14th. And because it's a whole process to be deported.

[08:15:13]

And so, you knowing this information, we didn't think she was going to be detained. And so she didn't bring the stay of removal paperwork out application with her inside the ICE office. It's not a courtroom, it's a. It's an ICE office.

And so she went inside and I waited outside for well over four hours. And it got to a point where there was people going in and out for their own appointments. And eventually some people would come up to me and say, hey, are you Beverly? And I said, yes.

And they were like, I think your mom, she told me to tell you that she's going to be detained. And so I went up to the front door and I asked the guards and I was like, is there anything I can know about my mom? I heard she's being detained. Is there anything you could tell me? And they said, no, we can't tell you anything. We're not allowed to say anything like things like that, of that nature.

And so I realized that at that moment, you know, I had to file the stay, which we brought in the car just in case, because you can never be too prepared. And so I went to get the stay, and then I went back to the front door and I said, hey, I need to file this day for my mother.

And they said, we can't. You have an appointment. And I said, no, but my mom does. And they go, you can't go in this building with the state. You can't bring in any paperwork in here. And so we had to wait until we could get a lawyer in the Orlando area that would help us out.

BLACKWELL: Your father was detained, I believe that was at the end of May, is that right?

JUAREZ: Yes, he was detained on the 30th of May.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And so now that your mother has also been detained and you have three minor siblings, what. We'll get to the logistics and all that later. But what are you feeling in this moment?

JUAREZ: Well, most of all, I'm feeling defeated. I'm feeling -- I'm feeling defeated and I'm feeling very sad, you know, because it's a -- as a child, you know, I grew up also with the fear that, you know one day this would happen. And up until now, things were tracking in the right direction.

My parents were following every appointment. They were coming in. They were complying. They were doing things the lawful way. And you know, up until now, this kind of just came out of nowhere for us. And so I'm feeling a little -- it's a lot. It's a lot. I can't even --

BLACKWELL: Let's go back because I want people to understand the chronology here. Your parents came into the country from Guatemala illegally more than 20 years ago and there was a missed hearing. Is that right? And then a deportation order. That too was more than 20 years ago.

JUAREZ: Yes. So they came in over 20 years ago and they were out of fear, they didn't show up to their hearing because they thought they would be detained and deported back. And you know, all of that, those details I'm not very quite sure of as that's my parent's previous life, I guess.

But in 2010, they were able to finally open the case back up and start fighting to do things the right way and hopefully get a pardon so they could keep going because they had already started to build a life here with their kids.

BLACKWELL: And so without your parents. Now at this moment, you are 21 years old, American, born here in the U.S. You have three younger siblings, all American born here in the U.S. And so it seems that it's up to you now to take care of them.

JUAREZ: Yes, it is. I'm 21 now, so I guess that's a positive thing to look at. I do have to take care of the kids. They're still in school. My brother does dual enrollment. My other brother does soccer. My sister is bilingual. She does bilingual classes because she can't speak Spanish.

[08:25:05] And so there's just a lot of things that we have here that aren't readily available in Guatemala, like their education is very -- it's not up to date like it is here. And for me to let them go back with my parents is. I would be doing them a great injustice doing that too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: So we reached out to ICE in the Department of Homeland Security. They sent us a statement, let's quote for it here. "Esvin Juarez is a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala. While in the U.S., he's been convicted of driving under the influence and possessing counterfeit documents. He was issued a final order of removal in 2003, more than two decades ago. He has exhausted all due process and has no legal remedies left to pursue. Additionally, an immigration judge has also ordered his wife to be removed from the United States. Pending visa applications do not hinder removal from the U.S.

Now, Beverly and her family have been taking steps to prepare for her to transition from being a student to a caretaker. I asked her what that has been like. And that's the rest of our interview. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:48]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Before the break, were listening to the story of Beverly Juarez. Her father deported. Her mother also expected to be deported back to Guatemala as soon as today. Beverly says she now has to take care of her family's business and the house and the three younger siblings.

We spoke more about that seismic life change at 21-years-old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What goes through your mind now when you think about this responsibility of likely having to care for your three siblings without your parents?

BEVERLY JUAREZ, 21-YEAR-OLD WITH UNDOCUMENTED PARENT: Well, most of all, I feel extremely overwhelmed. It's -- how do I say this? I feel very overwhelmed because, you know, I have to put a pause on a lot of things that are personal, and I have to, you know, all of a sudden, I have the responsibility of three younger lives in my hands, and I have to stop. I have to start thinking like a parent and do things with them at the top of my head.

And I'm very sad because there's many times where I'm making decisions for myself, where I think what would my dad do? Or what would my mom do? I can't think like that anymore. I have to be that responsible over three kids. And, you know, I love them. I do love them. It's just a lot.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

JUAREZ: Because my parents, you know, they fill a position in a role that I can't really come close to. I mean, I can try. I can try my best, but I'm not a parent.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I read that your parents over the last 20 years, they started a business, they bought a home. Obviously, they have the four of you. When the president ran on and then was elected on this plan of mass deportation of everyone in the country illegally, did they ever think -- did you ever think that they would be included in that number?

JUAREZ: As we got closer to June 4th, I think we -- I went on my own to the store, and I bought a plane ticket for my mother. And by then, we had uploaded the video. So the video on TikTok. And so it was the day before June 4th, it was Tuesday, it was June 3rd. And I remember I went in and the cashier recognized me and that's it. It felt incredibly unreal because, you know, the reality of what was happening, it's heavy and it just doesn't feel -- it doesn't really hit you until later, if that makes sense. So, yes, that was how it felt.

BLACKWELL: Are you going to be able to continue your studies now that you're caring for your three younger siblings?

JUAREZ: So that's something I'm going to have to kind of work around and try to figure out in the next few months. I know I'm not currently studying this summer because my class was full that I wanted to take, but I do have to run the business now or at least run half of it and basically become a parent. So I really do want to try to take part time classes, maybe online classes, but I'm not very sure u until now.

[08:35:04]

I think the best way for me to leverage my schooling is taking online classes and probably changing according to the circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, thanks to Beverly for sharing her story with us. And stories like Beverly's speak to the real fear in immigrant communities that ICE could come for their loved ones next. And there are reportedly big changes being made to the locations that ICE can target. A former director of ICE is here to react to all that. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:16]

BLACKWELL: Good longtime workers are being caught up in President Trump's immigration crackdown and there need to be changes. I'm not saying that. That's not a statement for me. It's President Trump now saying it. And new this morning, the New York Times reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been ordered to scale back raids and arrests targeting farms and eateries and hotels, industries reliant on immigrant labor.

Sarah Saldana is with us now. She was the director of ICE during the Obama administration. Thank you for being with me this morning. Let me read first here the New York Times reporting on this guidance from a senior ICE official to regional leaders effective today. Please hold on all worksite enforcement investigations, operations on agriculture, including aquaculture and meatpacking plants, restaurants and operating hotels.

Let me also play this is the president this week at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great. And we're going to have to do something about that. We can't take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don't have maybe what they're supposed to have, maybe not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So from mass deportation, everybody has to leave to some industry carve outs. What's your reaction to what you're hearing from the administration?

SARAH SALDANA, FORMER DIRECTOR, U.S. I.C.E. DURING OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Good morning. Well, it makes you believe that there may be some political motivation here. There are a lot of industries are going to be affected by any kind of mass deportation effort, the construction industry, for one. And of course, there are a number of other places where businesses large and small that rely on immigrant labor.

So it's not clear to me if we're going to be continue to be making carve outs for certain areas when there are a lot of industries that will be affected. So you're left to wonder why just these, the home health care industry is another that's very important to so many Americans to make sure that their parents and loved ones get care. That'll be another area that'll be affected.

So I'm a little concerned by the motivation behind making certain carve outs and not others.

BLACKWELL: You told one of our producers that this breakdown and we've been watching the protest in Los Angeles and other places to the ICE raids, that this breakdown was avoidable. How so?

SALDANA: Well, you know, one of the tenets of law enforcement is for all levels of law enforcement to work together. It is much more effective to have a working relationship with local and state government law enforcement. And in many communities, many of this happens.

The problem is that if you're not communicating with the community, and I'm not talking about just immigrants, but with law enforcement, with leaders in the community who can actually make things a little easier in terms of explaining to the community why certain things are happening.

There are legitimate reasons to be moving forward with enforcement of immigration violations. Absolutely. But the community will not understand unless someone's speaking to them. And that's an important part of what we did under the Obama administration.

We actually set up a pipeline between community leaders and law enforcement to make sure that they knew what we're doing, that there is no curtain to hide behind. And we believe transparency would help to engender trust in those communities.

And again, I'm not talking about just the immigrant community, but also Americans, citizens who want to know what's happening, and that's where the breakdown has occurred here in Los Angeles and other places. I wish we could have better communication between local law enforcement and, of course, the ICE officials.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And we should also point out that the Obama administration was criticized heavily for the number of deportations during the president's terms. But of course, we're looking at different numbers of people who are coming across the southern border compared to what we saw during the eight years of the Obama administration.

Sarah Saldana, former ICE director, thank you for your time this morning.

SALDANA: Of course.

[08:45:00]

BLACKWELL: The south wanted independence. He declared his instead. That's the epic tagline for a graphic novel about a man whose story is worthy of comic book hero status. Well, you've probably never heard of it before. I'm going to change that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: You know what I say, art is life. And some life stories are straight up cinematic. The story of Robert Smalls is incredible and yet a lot of people don't know it. Writer Rob Edwards wants to change that with the upcoming Juneteenth holiday in mind.

[08:50:02]

I spoke to him about his new graphic novel, "Defiant," and the real life story that inspired it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB EDWARDS, WRITER, "DEFIANT: THE STORY OF ROBERT SMALLS": Hi, my name is Rob Edwards, writer of "Captain Brave New World" and "Princess and the Frog," and I'm in Beverly Hills right now talking about "Defiant."

Defiant is the history of a slave named Robert Smalls. When he was 23 years old. What he's known for is that he commandeered the ship that he was conscripted to work on. It was a Confederate ship that ferried munition from one place to another. And one night, when the white crew took off from the night to let them

guard the munitions, he commandeered the boat, got past five military checkpoints just as the captain surrendered the ship to the Union Army and quickly became one of the most famous black people in the world.

When we started thinking about it was like, you're hearing the story and you say, like, wow, this guy's a superhero. Rather than writing a book that I thought was going to be a little dusty and, you know, maybe people wouldn't read it. You know, he lived many extraordinary lives.

And so from that, you know, tell the story of a live action superhero in a superhero way. We came out with a comic book series and now the graphic novel, it's coming out on Juneteenth. Who do you most want to be inspired by this story? And I think it's like -- it's a teenage kid, you know, it's a lot of them are counting themselves out. They don't know how they can contribute to the world.

It's tough out there, you know, and what better story to hear about than a story of a slave, the lowest of the low who goes on and becomes a congressman. He ran for five times against Jim Crow.

So if that guy can go from where he started to where he ended up, then there's hope for any of us. Even if you got like a C minus in science, you know, you can plow through it.

Huge political figures, governors, presidents are telling us that we don't need to study these things, that we don't need to know them. And I think more important than anything right now, as we're about talking about the 14th Amendment is coming back around and stuff. We need to learn our history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: "DEFIANT, The Story of Robert Smalls" is available now. And Rob tells us there could be announcements for a movie in the works soon.

You know, the history of the clothes, you wear. It's part of the fabric of black history. And so a family farm and an apparel business are now reclaiming the history of cotton, all while reshoring production and boosting black business. That stories ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:16]

BLACKWELL: Let's get you caught up on several stories we're following. Cities across the country are preparing for thousands of protests today. Organizers of the so called "No Kings" protest say it's a direct response to ICE raids and President Trump's military parade. That military parade is happening today in D.C. 7 million pounds of military equipment will roll down the streets of the nation's capital. It's officially the Army's 250th birthday, which happens to coincide with the president's birthday. Dozens of people have been killed in the Middle East as Israel and

Iran trade missile and drone attacks. Search and rescue efforts continue this morning at the site of a residential building hit by an Iranian missile. It's unclear if nuclear talks scheduled for tomorrow between Iran and the U.S. will happen.

Now, as we've been reminded during President Trump's trade war, very few things in the country are exclusively American made. But one black owned sports brand is showing what's possible. Actively Black is a sports apparel company founded by former NBA player Lanny Smith. He just partnered with a black owned and operated cotton farm, Bridgeforth Farms, for a new collection.

It honors the fact that the industry was built through the blood, sweat and tears of black workers. But only a handful of black owned cotton farms remain. So I spoke to Lanny and Troy Bridgeforth about building a black owned supply chain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANNY SMITH, FOUNDER, ACTIVELY BLACK: I think there's so much power in that story beyond just being made in America, beyond the tariff story, there's also this story of reclamation for what that means, you know, of a black owned supply chain from the seed to the stitch, from the dirt to the shirt. As I like to say.

TROY BRIDGEFORTH, FARMER: We were approached with the opportunity to make this special Juneteenth collaboration. It just -- it meant a lot to us and we certainly jumped at the opportunity. And it's exactly like we said, this opportunity for us to expand the Bridgeforth brand to more consumers. But it certainly is an inspirational story where were able to show that we can control the supply chain all the way from the seed to the shirt.

SMITH: And this extends beyond Juneteenth. This is just the first of a line that we hope to carry moving forward where we're able to show, you know, black ownership throughout the supply chain. Now everybody is welcome to wear the product. We don't discriminate on who wears the product. But ownership has been something that's very important to me, to the brand Actively Black and to our audience. So that's what we're trying to show is this unity amongst ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:00:00]

BLACKWELL: The team behind Actively Black also says proceeds are put towards educational programs that support HBCU athletics and diversity advocacy. Lanny Smith and Bridgeforth, Family I see you.

And if you see something or someone I should see, tell me. I'm on Instagram TikTok, X, Bluesky. You missed a conversation or story, check out our website and you can listen to our show as a podcast.

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