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First of All with Victor Blackwell

The Trust Deficit Is Deepening; A Closer Look At What Videos Of Deadly ICE Shooting Show; Former Top Civil Rights Official At DOJ Reacts To Shooting. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 10, 2026 - 8:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:48]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, good for first of all to be back after a short break. This is our first show of 2026.

The trust deficit is deepening. Protesters in Minneapolis and the communities where anti ICE protests are planned this weekend do not trust the investigation into ICE agents killing of Renee Nicole Good. Contributing to that distrust is what they're hearing from the administration. I want you to listen to the Homeland Security Secretary. This is day one, hours after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It was an act of domestic terrorism. What happened was our ICE officers were out in enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, maybe Kristi Noem got bad information early on, but in the angles of the shooting that we've seen since, we just do not see what she describes agents being attacked as they're pulling themselves out of the snow. This particular video shared with CNN shows the roughly two minutes before Renee Good was killed.

Now, the scrutiny of the Department of Homeland Security's narrative is fair, given its recent history. I first interviewed an official from President Trump's DHS back in May of 2025. This was when the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, had just been arrested outside an ICE facility. This was their claim about that then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN, DHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: These members of Congress, including the mayor as well, and a mob of protesters as there was a bus full of detainees going through the gate. They stormed the gate and actually entered the first security checkpoint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But there was video and this is what one of those videos showed. The mayor being let in to the facility. Charges against the mayor were dropped. The judge called the decision embarrassing.

Here's another example. The case of Marimar Martinez in Chicago. She was shot by a Border Patrol agent last year and accused of ramming the agent vehicle. In its initial press release about this case, DHS also called Martinez a domestic terrorist. Martinez was charged with forcibly assaulting, impeding and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer.

The judge raised concerns about the handling of the investigation. The truth of the DHS case. In that case, too, federal prosecutors ultimately moved to have the case dismissed. Judge agreed.

Examples like those are relevant in a moment where people in Minnesota and across the country are demanding a full investigation into this week's shooting in Minneapolis.

The lack of trust that there will be justice has now sparked protests reminiscent of those that we saw in the very early days of the George Floyd movement that broke out in the same city. And more protests are planned across the country this weekend with the growing push to kick ICE out. But in Minnesota specifically, something highly unusual is also happening. The federal government says that they won't include state officials in their investigation of the ICE involved shooting there. And that's adding to the distrust. The president defends his decision this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that the FBI should be sharing evidence with state officials in Minnesota?

DONALD TRUMP, USA PRESIDENT: Well, normally I would put their crooked officials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Partisan comments like that. And repeatedly making claims that ultimately don't stand up to scrutiny puts the credibility of the feds up for further debate. And they lead to sentiments like the one from the mayor of Portland after a separate incident in his city this week, which. Well, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KEITH WILSON, (D) PORTLAND: We know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time is long past now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to see if their spokeswoman would come on to take my questions. They declined. In a moment, we're going to get a unique perspective on this distrust, I should say, from a former top official in the Department of Justice's civil rights office. And I'll speak with a mom who is also an ICE observer and says what happened to Renee Good could have happened to her. But first I want you to watch this report from my colleague, CNN's Kyung La. She lays out what we're learning from the videos of the incident we have so far.

[08:05:17]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): For the first time, we are seeing the fatal Minneapolis shooting from the ICE officer's point of view footage taken on his own cell phone. It's a critical angle of many cameras on the street that captured Renee Good's fatal encounter with ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

Using surveillance footage, bystander video and Ross's own phone, CNN synced multiple perspectives of the shooting and mapped this incident in 3D space. Taken together, they show the fullest picture yet of what happened that day. A home surveillance camera captures the moment Renee Good pulls up in a maroon-colored Honda SUV four minutes before the shooting. Twenty seconds after she arrives, her passenger and wife Becca, wearing a white beanie, gets out of Good's car. Good then parks the SUV perpendicular in the road.

Here's how Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described what Good did.

NOEM: ICE officers and agents approached the vehicle of the individual in question who was blocking the officers in with her vehicle and she had been stalking and impeding their work all throughout the day.

LAH (voiceover): Available video doesn't show any possible contact Good may have had with ICE before this confrontation. What this video does show is that for a few minutes while she is perpendicular to the roadway, several vehicles drive by. Even large SUVs are able to drive around her as she moves back and forth on the street. And that includes this light colored SUV. It slowly drives around Good's car from the rear and stops.

Agent Jonathan Ross is recording video from his cell phone as he crosses in front of Good's car recording as he sees her up close. She looks calm and you can see both of her hands as she talks to the officer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's fine, dude.

LAH (voiceover): Renee Good's wife Becca, who had been the passenger in the car, approaches. Cell phone cameras on the street start recording as Ross walks around Good's car with Good's wife following.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. But go ahead. LAH (voiceover): Renee Good backs her car up as the agent walks around

the front of the vehicle. At the same time on the other side, two more agents' approach. One tries to open the door. As Good backs up. Good's vehicle starts moving from Ross's cell phone video, you see Becca, the woman in the white beanie, trying to get into the car again. You also see Renee Good turning the steering wheel to the right.

She then accelerates, slowing this down again and matching the exact time of these two angles. This angle appears to show the vehicle moving close to the agent, but in this angle, he does not appear to be in the path of the vehicle when he fired.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God. What the --

LAH (voiceover): Seconds later, Becca Good runs to her wife, followed by the agent who fired his weapon. He briefly looks into the driver's side of the car and then walks away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame, shame. Shame.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: What we cannot see in Ross's cell phone video is if the SUV made contact with the agent because the camera angle jerks up to the sky. But DHS says it still supports the agency's position releasing this statement. Quote, "The footage corroborates what DHS has stated all along, that this individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement. The officer was in fear of his own life, the lives of his fellow officers, and acted in self-defense. The American people can watch this video with their own eyes and ears and judge for themselves."

The shooting itself is not visible. You do, though. Here are three gunshots. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles. BLACKWELL: Kristen Clarke is with us now. She most recently served

under the Biden administration assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Department of Justice Division there.

Kristen, thank you for being with me. I first want your reaction to this decision from the FBI not to include the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehensions in their investigation and not to even share the evidence or the case information with the state.

KRISTEN CLARKE, FORMER ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, DEPT. OF JUSTICE: Yes. Well, first let me just acknowledge the tragedy here. There has been a loss of life and it is understandable that Ms. Good's family and community are expecting, demanding and wanting justice and accountability. And that only comes through a full and fair investigation.

During my time leading the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, I presided over hundreds, scores of these investigations and prosecutions. And I will tell you, it takes time.

[08:10:10]

These investigations are done best when there is cooperation on the ground from day one with local and state, local law enforcement. They are often the first responders on the scene. They bring local expertise and you combine that with federal resources and you're able to more quickly get to the truth. But a full and fair investigation is what is demanded here.

BLACKWELL: Do you think there can be a full and fair investigation if the FBI excludes the state participation?

CLARKE: These investigations are done best when local, state and Fed's work locks the step to uncover the truth. I'll tell you that investigating a tragedy like this, it's not just about the video evidence and the body cam footage. I would want to uncover policies. What training did the subject officer go to? I'd want to compile statements from all of the witnesses, civilian witnesses, and law enforcement witnesses who were present that day.

We also understand that the subject officer was involved in a prior accident where he was allegedly dragged. I'd want to understand, was there an investigation into that incident? Should that officer have been deployed that day after the dragging incident? I'd want to know about history, potential prior bad acts. But these investigations take time. You want to leave no stone unturned and the rush to judgment here does a service to no one.

BLACKWELL: There seems to be a bit of space between the question I'm asking and what you say is best. I understand that you say that it's best if there is cooperation on the federal and state level. But do you believe one more time that there can be a full, fair investigation without the state cooperation?

CLARKE: I hope so. For Ms. Good's family and for a community that is grieving and appropriately outraged, I sure hope so. But I will tell you that there have been instances where local and states have pursued investigations into federal officers without the federal government. They are separate sovereigns with their own state laws.

There was a new development yesterday where the county attorney and state Attorney General's office announced an effort to begin collecting evidence and preserving evidence from the public. I think that's a step in the right direction. But what I know from working in Minneapolis in the moments after the tragic death of George Floyd is that people of Minneapolis are not going to let this go. They will continue to call for justice and accountability here.

And we need to continue to push and press our officials at every level, the local, state and federal level, to uncover the full truth here and, if appropriate, pursue charges.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about that effort to pursue charges. This is Vice President Vance on the ICE agents' protections this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, USA VICE PRESIDENT: The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Is he protected by absolute immunity?

CLARKE: There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal law enforcement officers. I can think of cases out of Virginia, Oregon, and Idaho in recent memory that involved local charges brought against federal law enforcement officers in cases where there was loss of life or violent injury to a civilian.

Those cases, however, do encounter legal challenges. Federal agents can have the right to have those local charges removed and heard in a federal court. There's also the supremacy Clause of the Constitution that in certain circumstances allows federal agents to allege that they were carrying out their acts in the scope of their official federal responsibilities. So the pathway is not always clear. But what is paramount and absolutely clear is that there is no blanket immunity for federal law enforcement.

[08:15:06]

Our democracy is served best when law enforcement at every level respects people's civil and constitutional rights. And throughout our history, our justice system has proven a place to hold those officers accountable when they break the law and defy people's constitutional rights. BLACKWELL: Kristen Clarke, thank you so much for being part of the

conversation this morning.

The local activists who track ICE to help warn their immigrant neighbors that agents are nearby. They're vowing to keep up their work. I'll speak to one of them, a Minneapolis mother who says that what happened to Renee Good could have happened to her.

Plus, the flu is breaking records and the CDC says the season probably has not even peaked yet. I can guarantee everybody watching now knows at least one person who recently fought it. I will explain.

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[08:20:10]

BLACKWELL: So I owe my colleagues Polo Sandoval and Manu Raju a big thank you. Gentlemen, thank you.

If you watched last Sunday morning, 6:00 to 8:00 a.m., I typically also anchor that show. But on Sunday, you saw them holding it down for me. That's because I was down bad. I mean, I was at home in bed shivering and sweating because of the flu.

I'm fine now. I'm upright. As my great grandmother used to say, kicking but not high. At one point, I ran a 103-degree fever. The worst I felt in my life. I was a mess. And I'm not alone.

I was dealing with something. You're either dealing with yourself right now or you have dealt with recently or you know someone who is. Because right now, across the country, flu cases are surging. The U.S. has not seen this level of flu in 25 years.

What's concerning doctors is not just the number of cases, though. It's also what the Trump administration is or is not doing about it. Just this week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services scaled back the number of vaccines broadly recommended for children. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Was asked about that. In the context of the flu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We're not taking vaccines away from anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it is more difficult now for parents to get their children immunized for the flu, right? They can't just go to a pharmacy.

KENNEDY JR.: Yes. You need to do a shared decision making with your physician, which is how it would be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So fewer people will get the flu vaccine.

KENNEDY JR.: Well, that may be. And maybe that's a better thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Dr. Chris T. Pernell is with us. She's a public health physician and director of the NAACP center for Health Equity. Good morning to you. What do we need to know?

Let's start broadly about the flu and racial disparities because, you know, there is that old adage, when America catches a cold, black people especially get the flu. What do we need to know about the numbers and severity?

DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, DIRECTOR, NAACP CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY: Well, good morning, Victor, and I'm glad you are feeling better. We want to make sure you are healthy and thriving and kicking higher. But unfortunately, as you just mentioned, because of the inequities that we see across American health care and more broadly across American society, historically marginalized populations like black and African American communities because of systemic racism, which has fueled broken trust between those communities in the health care system, less healthcare access. They may not have health insurance where they can go to a physician or certain medications are covered. And there may be other socioeconomic barriers less availability of time to see a physician or to report to get evaluation when experiencing symptoms.

And bottom line, what we see in black and African American communities' lower vaccination rates as compared to white Americans. If roughly half of white Americans are vaccinated against the flu, that number could be about 42 percent in black and African Americans and even lower in the Hispanic and Latino population. So indeed, unfortunately, when others get a cold, black people do get the flu. BLACKWELL: I was able to start Tamiflu and it works best when it

started within the first 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. And I was able to start in that window. But that required first taking the test, getting a positive test, and then getting in day one, an appointment with a doctor. So that requires the insurance, the doctor, maybe a concierge service, an app, which requires money.

How much does the disparity of resources independent of race, but the disparity of resources impact the disparity of the hospitalizations and the severities?

PERNELL: Yes, and let me say it to you this way, because I just said this when talking about black maternal mortality. It is not that race is a risk factor. It is that racism is the risk factor because it is a systemic structural determinant of how resources are organized in communities. Whether or not you have access to a job that pays a living wage, whether or not your job has employer provided insurance, whether or not you can take time off to go to the doctor, if you have a federal insurance program.

Whether or not you have other responsibilities that allow you to take the time out to take care of yourself. And we know that just racism in and of itself is a toxicity. It is a toxic stressor on those communities that live under the threat of discrimination night and day.

One other fact that I think it's important for the public to know, Black and African American populations and other historically, groups not only have disparities around vaccination and experiencing the flu, but they tend to experience the flu at younger ages and to have more severe cases because of the reasons we just discussed.

[08:25:12]

BLACKWELL: The high dose vaccine is recommended for most seniors because they're more vulnerable. NIH published a study in 2023 that followed 11.7 Medicare recipients. So these are people 65 and over. They have medical coverage. Even when black seniors with coverage went to get the shot, they were less likely to receive it compared to white beneficiaries in almost every state.

So this is not just about access. It's about once you get to your medical professional, how you are treated.

PERNELL: Definitely. We talk about this a lot in health care. I call it socially and culturally fluent care. Does your provider, whether that is a physician's assistant, or even a nurse practitioner, do they give you the most effective counseling? Because whether or not they believe that you are likely to follow it, are your symptoms validated?

We see this whether it is people presenting to the emergency department who have pain, whether or not they are appropriately prescribed pain medications. Just recently in textbooks it was still saying the falsehood that black people had thicker skin so that they did not sense pain the same as white people. That that's when I'm talking about systemic racism where discrimination and bias unfortunately have been cooked into the system.

BLACKWELL: Dr. Chris T. Pernell, thank you for helping us understand some of the work still that needs to be done.

There's a feeling among activists in Minneapolis that what happened to Renee Nicole Good could have happened to someone like them. And I'll speak with a Minneapolis mom who has also been helping track and observe ICE. And I'll ask why she does it and what these efforts will look like after the deadly shooting this week.

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[08:31:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This moment carries particularly a meaning for our community because Renee stood with her neighbors. She was known for looking out for those around her, including Somali neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Had you seen that? This is from a vigil held by members of the Somali community on Friday honoring Renee Good. She was killed by that ICE agent in Minneapolis.

Somalis and other immigrant communities in the city have been living in fear of being targeted by ICE. Minneapolis Public schools are now offering remote learning for families who feel they need it all the way through February 12th. So a month from now.

The fear among students and their families is what led my next guest to get involved in becoming an ICE observer. She is also a mother and now helping alert neighbors when ICE agents are nearby.

Flannery Clark is with us. She also does work with the group Minneapolis Families for Public Schools. Thank you for being with me. I first want to know, did you know Renee Good? Had you heard of her as a regular observer?

FLANNERY CLARK, MEMBER OF ICE WATCH GROUP IN SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS: I didn't know her personally, but there's so many of us. You know, I don't know everybody personally.

BLACKWELL: You told one of my producers that you think that what happened to her could have happened to you. Tell me why.

CLARK: I mean, Renee was murdered a mile and a half from my house doing the same ICE observing that thousands of us are doing. It could have been any of us. And I think we're all very aware of that. I also think it carries particular resonance because I have an 8-year-old and she had a 60-year-old. So it's just incredibly heartbreaking.

BLACKWELL: Tell me what it is specifically that you do and why.

CLARK: Yes, I really got involved. My child goes to a school that has a large immigrant population, and I started to hear how terrified his classmates and their families. There are families who haven't gone outside since early December. And just the idea that, you know, our kids couldn't get to school because they were so scared was really galvanizing for me and I think for a lot of people and like thousands of people in the Twin Cities, I've taken training on being an observer and have been out on the streets watching out for neighbors.

BLACKWELL: And so I've read that you have been out. Sometimes you're out for hours at a time or what is it that you do once you locate ICE?

CLARK: Yes, so if we spot ICE, we took lessons from our colleagues in Chicago. Everyone carries whistles. They're totally ubiquitous in Minneapolis and St. Paul and the suburbs right now. And if you're in a car, you can honk, but most people whistle.

And the whistles tell vulnerable people that ICE is in the area, but also draw a big crowd of observers and people who can film and document what's happening.

BLACKWELL: I want you to listen to Vice President J.D. Vance as he talks about not only Renee Good, but presumably observers like you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: That woman has is part of a broader left wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What's your reaction to that? This broadcast, left wing network.

CLARK: It's just not the truth. The reality is that this is neighbors standing up for our neighbors, standing up for our community. This is an incredible grassroots effort, but there's not. It's not part of a vast conspiracy. This is just neighbors getting together and saying, these are our neighbors. This is our home. We're not going to stand for this.

BLACKWELL: Is it your or do you ever attempt to block ICE to stop them from driving through or prevent them from doing their job?

[08:35:09]

CLARK: No, no, it's too dangerous. We document and make sure that the families of people who are kidnapped can find them. But no, it wouldn't do that.

BLACKWELL: One more here I want you to listen to. This is Minneapolis City Councilman Jason Chavez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CHAVEZ, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: As a proud son of Mexican immigrants, I asked Minneapolis and Minnesota to rise up to do everything in their power to defend our immigrant neighbors, to continue to observe the illegal actions by ICE, to blow your whistle when you see immigration enforcement in your neighborhood, to get trained on rapid response so you can educate your neighbors on what is happening on your block, to provide rides to your immigrant neighbors who need to go to work, who need to get groceries, who need to see their children come back home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Has the killing of Renee Goode this week made you reconsider patrolling, observing?

CLARK: No. No. We have to do what we can to protect our immigrant neighbors. And you know, families at my school are organizing to bring groceries every single week to our neighbors, organizing door to door rides. We'll keep doing that work. I need to know that I did everything I could for my son's friends and their families.

BLACKWELL: Flannery Clark joining us from Minneapolis. Thank you for your time.

Black women dying in childbirth. It is a real crisis and the death of a woman who dedicated her life to finding solutions is a tragic reminder of that. We'll share the story of Dr. Janell Green Smith and speak with a member of her family, next.

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[08:41:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CIP)

DR. JANELL GREEN SMITH, CERTIFIED NURSE MIDWIFE: Hey everyone. My name is Janell Green and I am a certified nurse midwife. In honor of Black Maternal Health Week, I'd like to share a little bit of my why and what brought me to midwifery care.

Black women are three times more likely to die in pregnancy and in childbirth than any other race. And hearing these alarming statistics, I wanted to do something about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Dr. Janell Green Smith's life was dedicated to finding solutions to the crisis of black women dying in childbirth. Well, that life's work has been cut short. On the first of the year, she died days after giving birth to a daughter.

According to the National Black Midwives Alliance, Dr. Green Smith died from childbirth related complications. The American College of Nurse Midwives put out a statement noting the devastating coincidence. Here they write that a black midwife and maternal health care expert died after giving birth in the United States is both heartbreaking and unacceptable. Her death underscores the persistent and well documented reality that black women, regardless of education, income or professional expertise, face disproportionate risks during pregnancy and childbirth due to systemic racism and failures in care.

The National Black Nurses association added this line that stuck with me. Dr. Green Smith's knowledge did not shield her. Her credentials did not protect her. That reality demands more than reflection. It demands accountability.

Dr. Nichole Wardlaw, is a member of Smith's family. She is Daquon's aunt, close with Dr. Green, and is a certified midwife herself, Daquon being Dr. Green Smith's husband. Thank you for being with me.

I want to start with Dr. Green Smith because we're going to talk about disparities and societal issues, but I don't want to get this the wrong way around. You lost someone close to you. And so how are you remembering Janell?

DR. NICHOLE WARDLAW, MEMBER OF SMITH FAMILY AND CERTIFIED NURSE MIDWIFE: Honestly, I can remember when he brought her home, and it makes me tearful because he was bringing home a midwife and he was bringing home this phenomenal person who I had heard about before. He even brought her to the family.

And so when we met, it was just immediate. I just loved, loved her. She had a big personality, beautiful smile, beautiful girl, and she was my comrade. So it just made it even better because, you know, like, she got what was going on.

She understood. We understood something that many other people will never understand. So it was just a very seamless, like, relationship and welcoming in.

BLACKWELL: Tell me about -- because I read that she was nervous at one point. What were her complications and what do you know about when they developed?

WARDLAW: So as far as I understand, she developed gestational hypertension and preeclampsia fairly early in the pregnancy. And when she was admitted because she had severe preeclampsia. Yes.

BLACKWELL: And so you also, as a midwife, the stat that Dr. Green Smith shared at the top, black women have a maternal mortality rate three times that of white women in the United States. And the work that you're doing, and that's according to NIH, is that disparity broadening?

[08:45:05]

Because this is not something we're discussing for the first time. But is there effort to narrow this and is it any of it successful?

WARDLAW: So I'm going to say that's a base status, right? So that's your average black woman. But a educated black woman has a five times as likely to die statistic. So when you understand those numbers, you're like, so how is it, is it the social determinants of health that people keep saying? Well, it's social determinants of health. Well, if someone is educated and doesn't live in a food desert and has good insurance and a great job, why is it that they're five times as likely to die?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Something -- I found here. Not only is preeclampsia rate 60 percent higher in black women than in white women, Johns Hopkins published a study a few years ago that found U.S. born black women at a higher risk of preeclampsia than black women in the country who migrated from other countries.

I mean, some of this is a bit mystifying for someone who's not in the field. How do you hear that disparity?

WARDLAW: We've been -- so as a black midwife, I'm going to say that me and the other midwives have -- we have come together to say, OK, what are we going to do? Because the system has failed us. The system does not care, and we cannot continue to have our community affected by this.

So we have banded together. Whether you are a nurse midwife, a certified midwife, a traditional midwife, a certified professional midwife, the credential does not matter. We are all on this battlefield together fighting this fight because we know it's a problem. And we have made the decision that we have to be the help that we ask for.

BLACKWELL: Dr. Wardlaw, let me ask you about your nephew and about their newborn, Eden. How are they?

WARDLAW: He's devastated. He is overwhelmed, and just -- he's sad. He's sad. He can't imagine. This is not the life that he expected. They got married a little more than a year ago, so they've gone through their first year of marriage and a pregnancy, and now he's coming home with a baby that's still in the NICU.

Eden has given great joy. She has a big personality like her mom. You know, every day it's something new. Every day we get to see her on the nanny cam. I get pictures and even, you know, I just -- when I don't get my picture, I'm calling, I'm like, OK, so where's my baby today?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WARDLAW: So she is doing well. I am grateful that she is doing well and thriving and fighting the fight in there. She's the feisty little thing.

BLACKWELL: Well, Dr. Nichole Wardlaw, I thank you for helping us understand more about Janell, but also about the work that still needs to be done. Again, this is not a new conversation, but for a woman who has committed her life and work to this to then die after the complications of childbirth, I wanted to talk to you to hear the many elements of it. Dr. Nichole Wardlaw, again, thank you for your time. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:21]

BLACKWELL: We are 10 days into this year and it's already been a lot. You know what makes me feel better? Art. Art makes me feel better. And art on our feet, too. I saw that today is Sneaker Con in Fort Lauderdale. So sneaker heads are going to be all together and I bet one name a lot of them know is Salehe Bembury.

For Art is Life this week, I spoke to him about his designs, his career, new book, and yes, he did bring his own CNN branded microphone to the interview. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Salehe Bembury, SHOE DESIGNER: Hello, I'm Salehe Bembury. I'm from New York City and I am a creative. I remember being a child and buying my first pair of Jordans or first pair of whatever and walking out of the house and feeling bigger and feeling more confident.

And so I think those were the early stages of slowly understanding what it was to create product for an audience and to leave them with a similar feeling.

Back then, there was really aggressive self-expression of self. Wu Tang, Nas, Mos Def, Talib Kweli. That was a period of time where things were just organically more colorful.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, Martin. I was just a kid that wanted to, you know, design sneakers and design basketball shoes. And that was fueled by my nostalgia of 90s NBA and hip hop and sitcoms. The name of the book is "I Make Shoes."

[08:55:06]

Both my career, the person that's speaking to you right now. And the book is extremely representative of a dreamer. I'm a high manifester and what you see behind me, all of the, you know, the shoes that I've designed are a result of plotting and planning and really maybe not knowing what the long game was, but really plotting out what my next move was.

I have a lot of kids that reach out to me and they want the answers to how I achieved, what I achieved or what the road was. One thing that I think is extremely important is to constantly be doing, constantly be sharpening your sword. Your portfolio is something that's never finished.

Research and learn and try to understand what occurred before you so that you can properly impact what's happening after you or at least after me. I think it's really about honoring your craft, being hyper obsessed because if you're not passionate about it, then, you know, I'm not sure what else is going to fuel it. We now live in such a social media driven society where people want it instantly.

But I think if anything, my career and more specifically my book illustrates the journey and the learning and taking those learnings and bringing it to your next destination to grow as both a person and as a designer.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Salehe also just launched a footwear brand called Spunge, S-P-U-N-G-E. Thank you for joining me today. Smerconish is up next after a quick break.

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