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Race Relations in America; Black Families Opt for Remote Learning; Georgia Bill to Restrict Voting Access. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 09, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

HEATHER MCGHEE, AUTHOR, "THE SUM OF US": British crown who -- which was instrumental in the transatlantic slave trade, which wealth was really built on colonialism in Africa and other countries, where the state of racism is always just there beyond the veil and yet they had an opportunity to have a daughter, a descendant of the -- of enslaved peoples be the new part of the royal family, to be an ambassador to a commonwealth that is majority countries in the Africa and the Caribbean, this was really a possibility for it -- for the crown to actually engage with that shameful past and do it in a way in the, you know, family of a very charismatic, obviously, radiant young duchess. And they couldn't do it. They couldn't let that --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Why not? I mean, what -- why not?

MCGHEE: I mean when you sat there listening to the anguish in both Harry and Meghan's voices as they described a system that was built to protect a certain type of royal, and that was simply unwilling to protect this new kind of royal, unwilling to even countenance the idea that a quarter African-American young royal would be given an honorary title or that the grandson of Diana, whom the British press hounded to her death, would be given a security detail, particularly once the racist inflections in the tabloids made this not just your normal kind of press scrutiny, but the kind that invites the worst elements of society to target this family, it really was a cost of racism.

CAMEROTA: At the same time, that interview is sending shockwaves, the Derek Chauvin, former police officer in Minneapolis, trial is beginning.

MCGHEE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And since the time that George Floyd was killed and it gripped the country and people were so horrified witnessing those eight-plus minutes of him underneath the knee of Officer Chauvin at the time, but public opinions seem to have changed since then.

And so here's the latest "USA Today" poll. Back in June of 2020, 60 percent of all Americans believe that the death of George Floyd was murder. Today that number is 36 percent. Among black Americans, in June of 2020, that 83 percent saw murder in what happened there. Now it's down to 64 percent.

What do you think that's about?

MCGHEE: I think that's about a few things. I think that's about the shock wearing off. I think that's, frankly, about politics running its course, right? We saw an enormous outpouring of support, not just in the United States but across the globe. And not just in the black community, but importantly in not -- over 90 percent of the Black Lives Matter protests were in majority white communities. This was something that galvanized people, black, white and brown across the ideological spectrum to say, enough is enough. And systemic racism, particularly in policing, does exist.

And then, to be honest, the right wing did its work, starting to really focus on the few instances of clashes between demonstrators and police, even though that we know that over 90 percent of the Black Lives Matter protests were completely peaceful, no property damages, no conflict with the police at all.

And then, by the end of the summer, I looked at this in my book, "The Sum of Us," you saw that voters were roughly split between whether the protests were largely violent or largely peaceful. Even though over 90 percent had not so much as property damage. And then you began to see that creep into the very ideas about the facts of the case.

And that's the problem with a very polarized, partisanship and media system where we can't simply agree on the humanity of our people and on the fact that George Floyd should still be alive.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about the findings of your book. I know that you traveled across the country. You investigated the ways in which racism, you say, hurts more than just people of color. So what did you find out?

MCGHEE: So I came at this book as an economic policy person. I want to see one of the greatest countries on the planet with the largest economy on the planet provide for the basics in life, universal child care, health care, reliable modern infrastructure -- tell that to my family in Texas -- a public health system that can actually handle pandemics. And as it turns out, the greatest threat to our progress in the United States, the thing that's holding us back from all of those things is a zero-sum world view. The idea that is held mainly by white people that progress for people of color has to come at white folks' expense. It's simply not true. Economically speaking, if we close the racial economic divides, our economy would be $16 trillion larger over the past 20 years. That's from a Citi Group report. And yet that idea that we need to fear progress of people of color, that a dollar more in my pocket means a dollar less in yours, that's what's holding us back.

[08:35:11]

And so I found that through all of those issues, stories talking to white people who lost their homes in the financial crisis, white workers in Mississippi who failed to get a union that would have given them higher wages and stronger benefits, they said to me, this zero sum isn't working. It's not us versus them. As long as we're divided, we're conquered. CAMEROTA: The book again is "The Sum of Us: Why Racism Costs Everyone

and How We Can Prosper Together."

Heather McGhee, great to talk to you. Thanks so much for the conversation.

MCGHEE: Thank you. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: As more students return to the classroom, many minority parents remain skeptical that schools truly are safe. So we'll talk to them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New data this morning shows that black parents are far more likely than white parents to keep their children in remote learning. But the pandemic's disproportionate impact and fears that they cannot trust the system, many families of color say staying home is the only option that feels safe.

[08:40:08]

CNN's Ryan Young is live in Atlanta.

You know, this is something we're hearing around the country, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, John.

When you think about it, the school behind me is quite beautiful. You know, they've done a lot of improvements to the school behind me. But across the country, minority parents have been complaining for years about the institutions, about whether or not they've been cleaned properly or whether or not they're getting the maintenance that's necessary. Now all these schools are saying they're ready for kids to come back. But parents are saying, not so fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Good job.

YOUNG (voice over): COVID-19 has already taken so much from Jasmine Gregory. A mom of three boys, she's not ready to send her kids back to the classroom.

JASMINE GREGORY, MOM OF THREE BOYS: I'm a mom and I don't feel safe. And I know what the CDC says, but in my heart, my children's safety is a priority.

YOUNG: Black families who continue to be hit harder by COVID-19 now also grappling with the idea of sending their kids back to school for in-person learning.

GREGORY: I honestly don't think that it's worth it right now. Risking children's lives would be world it. Even though, you know, they need to be in that setting to learn. YOUNG: The CDC says returning to the classroom is safe and opening

schools has become a priority nationwide. But many minority parents aren't ready to trust systems that haven't always heard their voices.

The CDC, in a recent study, found that 62 percent of white parents strongly or somewhat agreed schools should reopen that fall, compared with 46 percent of black parents.

PAM GADDY, BALTIMORE TEACHER AND PARENT: All people were saying is just throw them back into the building, throw them back into the building. Well, I would love each child to come back. I just don't want to die coming home to do it.

YOUNG: Pam Gaddy, a mom and longtime teacher in Baltimore, is still puzzled by all the mixed messages teachers and parents are given about returning to the classroom. She wants the district to be up front about their strategy before she makes her own decision.

GADDY: We should have already had these plans. And you went (ph) to the governor to threaten his teachers and educators. So let me see the plan as the teacher. Let me see the plan as the parent.

YOUNG: For years, educators and black parents say they've had to deal with severe underinvestment in school buildings and classrooms in underserved districts, leaving them in bad shape and COVID further highlighted this inequity.

GADDY: We're being, as the educators, how we're being so devalued. But then, as a parent, I feel that you are underestimating me. I do want my child back in school. My children are literally suffering emotionally and socially.

YOUNG (on camera): Are you scared that some of these kids are going to slip beneath the cracks?

LISA HERRING, PHD, ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT: Yes. And I think that that's a question that any educational leader, particularly if they are serving and leading in an urban school system, that is exactly what we worry and think about.

YOUNG (voice over): Atlanta Public Schools new superintendent, Lisa Herring, is leading one of the largest school districts in the state of Georgia and knows there is an uphill challenge to get minority kids back into class.

HERRING: Data lists (ph) that the vast majority of our families who have chosen face to face are our families that are white, Caucasian.

Trust or lack thereof surfaces to the top. Let's just be candid and honest about that because that's the truth.

YOUNG: In a year full of uncertainty, many minority parents remain skeptical that schools are truly safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE) YOUNG: When you think about schools in general, you can say, look, we talk a lot about first responders, but our teachers are so important. They deserve an award for what's been going on. I mean these buildings behind me provide so much from food to mental care to activities to keep kids out of trouble. When you think about this, the impact that it's had on the community, it's amazing.

And when you think back, Alisyn, to your life, there's always one or two teachers that stick out in your head. I can think about Ms. Johnson or Mr. Diaz in my life. You want those kids to still have the impact, especially when they're dealing with difficult times at home losing family members to COVID-19.

CAMEROTA: I know that J. Smith, my middle schoolteacher, is watching right now, as he does every morning. And I totally agree, our lives would be different.

Ryan, thank you very much.

YOUNG: Absolutely. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Here's what else to watch today.

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:00 a.m. ET, jury selection in Derek Chauvin trial.

11:45 a.m. ET, President Biden visits a small business.

1:30 p.m. ET, White House press briefing.

[08:45:08]

CAMEROTA: So there are dozens of new rules to restrict voting that are being passed in several states. What is being done to fight back? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So Georgia's state senate passed an election bill that would repeal no-excuse absentee voting, among other sweeping changes in that state.

Joining me now is LaTosha Brown, she's the co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Let me just put up specifically what this senate bill does. There are two bills in Georgia that restrict things in different ways, but this one that they just passed would repeal no-excuse absentee balloting, which has been in place since 2005 in Georgia, tightens criteria for absentee qualification, creates ID requirements for absentee ballots, requires a court order to extend polling hours, gives the legislature authority to temporary block emergency rule changes.

What do you see going on here?

[08:50:01]

LATOSHA BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VOTES MATTER: You know, we see what -- it is so clear. This is an attempt by the Republicans to restrict access to the ballot. It is, quite frankly, an attack on voting rights in this country. It's a vote -- an attack on voting rights when you look at this last election in Georgia, one-third of voters across the state actually used absentee ballot voting. And there was no fraud that was discovered in that process. You know, even when they counted the votes three times and came up with the same exact result.

You know, the bottom line is, this is all predicated on the big lie that Trump told and now those Republicans are actually trying to take advantage of this opportunity really to take advantage and really restrict voting rights. If something is working, where people are participating, where it's making free and fair access to the ballot, why would you attack those rights? It's, quite simply, just what it looks like on the face, it is an attack on voting rights.

BERMAN: One thing that's interesting is to think about the timing. This was -- no excuse absentee balloting was something that Republicans, when they controlled things in Georgia, which they still do, they passed. They wanted it. It was something that Republicans liked. So what changed? What's the intervening moment that caused them to not like no excuse absentee voting?

BROWN: You know, the intervening moment is that they actually lost. That when people -- when you expanded access to the ballot, more people in Georgia actually did not align with their agenda. And so they saw this record, historic turnout of black voters in the state of Georgia, which ultimately led to a different outcome than what they wanted.

It is ironic that they were the ones that came up with this as a strategy and that actually they use this and they put this legislation in place. And so now they're attacking it because it is, quite frankly, voter suppression because black voters and other voters across the state overwhelmingly use this as a vehicle in this last election cycle. Now, once again, us the time to change the rules.

BERMAN: When the other party starts using it, then you want to pull it back. When it's something you think benefits you, you like it.

Now, I'm going to put up what Iowa is doing and it also has a Georgia component here. Iowa just passed a law which reduces the number of early voting days from 29 to 20. It closes polling places an hour earlier.

And I bring this up because the other law or bill being discussed in Georgia right now does away or reduces the number of early voting days, including Sunday, taking away Sunday there, which African- Americans vote disproportionately in Georgia there.

Now, Republicans around the country are doing all these things in the name of voter security. That's the catch phrase that they use.

How does limiting early voting or cutting back on days do anything to address voter security?

BROWN: You know, you can dress up a duck and put lipstick on it and it will still be a duck. The bottom line is, this is voter suppression just clear. This is voter suppression. That, at the end of the day, the Republicans in Georgia are seeking to do everything they can to restrict ballot access. This is an attack on the voting rights of those in the state that have actually used this.

And so how does it actually benefit the system to actually restrict access to the ballot? Actually it strengthens democracy when there is expanded access to the ballot. And so what we're seeing all across this country, in 30 states, we're seeing this uprising of bills being led by Republicans because, quite frankly, they don't believe that they can win unless they cheat.

BERMAN: So the question now is, what are you going to do about this?

BROWN: Well, we --

BERMAN: Because they have the power to pass this in the legislatures. They do have the power to change these rules. So what do you do?

BROWN: You know, we have power as well. That's part of the reason why we're organizing.

I'll just say, you know, into the organizers on yesterday, that while this was one bill, there were many bills. Forty-five bills were actually killed yesterday by organizers, by -- killed in the house with pressure being put on. Pressure does work.

I think one of the things that we have to do is we have to literally put pressure on the entire ecosystem, which is why we've launched a campaign to actually call into question our corporate partners in the state. You know, you have major, multinational corporations like Delta and Coca-Cola and Aflac and AT&T that are right here in the state of Georgia. And with this theme that Georgia, that Atlanta is a city that's too busy to hate, but it's not too busy to suppress the vote. And so we've got to call into question those corporate citizens, we've got to call into question the business sector and say we're going to be relentless.

BERMAN: I get it and I get that. And that's up until the point where it becomes law. But you do know that there are places around the country where it is already becoming law. Once it becomes law then how do you operate within this new system in order to get the votes that you need?

BROWN: You know, I think the history has shown there's a couple of things. One, that's why we're pushing that there's an immediate passage, you know, of HB-1. That what we need is we need strong legislation on the federal level. That we need the Senate to end the filibuster so we can actually get some real voter rights legislation passed that we need and we need layers. That in addition, that most of the work when you're looking at voting rights in the south, in a state like Georgia, they've always been egregious, which is what the purpose of the Voting Rights Act in the first place was. [08:55:04]

And so I think that there's a number of things, one, we've got to put pressure on the states and we've got to actually put pressure on the ecosystem. Secondly we actually need Congress and we need the Senate to have sweeping changes that would actually protect the right to vote. We operate as if black people voting in this country, that in some way they're doing us a favor. We are citizens. We pay taxes. We organize. And so we're going to be relentless in making sure that our rights are restored. And if that means we have to work every single day to actually roll back this every single day that we -- that's what we're going to do. Can't stop. Won't stop.

BERMAN: LaTosha Brown, this is an issue that isn't going away. We look forward to keeping in touch with you and talking to you again over the coming months. Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, a lot of news going on today. We're watching as the COVID relief bill works its way through the Congress. Final passage expected tonight or tomorrow.

Our coverage continues, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:07]