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Wolf

Protests Continue over Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision; Community, Religious Leaders Work to Relieve Tension; Many Still Live in War-Ravaged Kobani.

Aired December 05, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Since 6:00 eastern time, we -- and I say we -- hundreds of people have been walking from the heart of downtown Manhattan. So right around where city hall, federal courthouse, if you're familiar with the city, this massive group crossed across the Brooklyn Bridge not on the pedestrian walkway, Don. But on the Brooklyn-bound multilane, part of the bridge, police shut it down. We have since walked into the heart of Brooklyn, downtown Brooklyn.

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BALDWIN: That was CNN's Brooke Baldwin reporting from the front lines of the protests over the chokehold of Eric Garner. Our viewers have given us insight on how the protests have unfolded and how the police have responded.

Brooke is joining us from New York. And Athena Jones is with me here in Washington.

Brooke, you did an amazing job last night. I think you walked for miles and miles and miles around New York, over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was watching you all night last night. Give us a little flavor of what it was leak.

BALDWIN: Sure. I think we clocked seven-plus miles and kudos to my photographers for carrying around the equipment. It began in downtown lower Manhattan. It was incredibly organic. All ages. A lot of young people, though. I was really struck by the youth of these crowds. You just don't see this happening in a major, major metropolitan area such as New York. You have this massive police presence and they allowed these people, in the hundreds, to cross across the Brooklyn Bridge and on the side in which cars were driving. We go all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge and into the heart of downtown Brooklyn and then, organically, it was led -- highly organized, I would say, organized and they stopped in the middle of Atlantic Avenue, right by the Barclay Center if you've been in Brooklyn. They were stopped. You can see them carrying these cardboard caskets and they laid down on the ground. This is the first time I've seen pictures of it. I was standing right there. And it was a sight to be behold because these people, who were, are frustrated, as they would say, they call it the indiscriminant killing of young, black youth.

I talked to one of the mothers, Wolf, who was leading one of the protests. She lost her son two and a half years ago.

People say it's less and less about race, per se, and it's more about the force, the abuse of power of police officers. And they have, you know, some specific ideas how they are hoping that it will stop -- Wolf?

BLITZER: You've done an amazing job.

Athena Jones was here in Washington.

Athena, you were working the story here in Washington. What was it like in the nation's capital?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been remarkable the last couple of nights, the incredible diversity of the crowd. We've been talking about black males who have been killed by the police, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, the 12 year old. But not just black males out protesting. I spoke with a young white woman who said she came out because she wanted to support her minority friends who had been racially profiled. I talked to a young black man who recently graduated from college. He told me about stories where he was pulled out of a car, driving his mother's nice SUV, and how scary that was. So you have diversity of people coming out. They may have a different story but they want the same thing. They all want to see the justice system and the police treat everybody fairly.

BLITZER: And you're going to be working the story for us later today.

Brooke will have a lot more at the top of the hour for our North American viewers.

Brooke, we look forward to your show.

Hopefully, you'll be able to join us in "The Situation Room."

Brooke, thank you.

Athena, thanks to you as well.

Demanding accountability for the chokehold death of Eric Garner. Americans across the country, they want answers. How community and religious leaders are working to ease tensions. That's coming up next.

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BLITZER: Distraught, disappointed and failed by the criminal justice system, that's what Eric Garner's mother says she felt a grand jury did not indict the police officer who placed a fatal chokehold on her son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWEN CARR, MOTHER OF ERIC GARNER: I would like to see a just decision in my son's case. The jury didn't give us a just decision from things that I heard, witnesses who went before the grand jury. I heard that they never even looked up at them or they might have been in there five minutes and never even got eye contact with the grand jury. I felt that was very disrespectful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Eric Garner's mother clearly shaken and upset by the grand jury's decision along with so many other people across the United States.

Joining us now, three guests, the Staten Island councilwoman, Debi Rose, of Staten Island; also joining us, Cedric Alexander, president of the National Association of Black Law enforcement Executives here in the United States and he's also the public safety director of DeKalb County in the Atlanta, Georgia, area; and here with me in Washington, the Reverend Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of the very historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the spiritual home of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Pastor, let me start with you.

Sunday, I assume you're preparing a sermon. You might address what is going on in the country, right?

REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK, SENIOR PASTOR, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: Thanks. Its' great to be here with you. The sermon is "The Point I Can't Breathe."

BLITZER: Tell us the main point you're going to tell your congregation.

WARNOCK: It's a reminder that, as Christians, we serve a savior who was born in a barrio called Bethlehem, lived in a ghetto called Nazareth, and who stands in solidarity with people like Eric Garner who was trying to eek out a living in an economy that has been cruel to poor people. Think about it, Eric Garner lost his life in a confrontation that began over a discussion about the sell of cigarettes. He lost his life. Wall Street bankers have gambled away trillions of household -- trillions of dollars of household wealth of ordinary Americans, not one of them went to jail. We need a shift in values in this country and I think that time has come now. Dr. King used to say there comes a time when the cup of human endurance runs over and the human spirit cries. That time is now.

BLITZER: I assume that resonates with you, Debi Rose. You're a councilmember. You hear those words. What goes through your mind?

DEBI ROSE, NEW YORK CITY COUNCILWOMAN: I totally concur with what the pastor said. You know, this whole case is about the lack of humanity that was shown another human being for something that amounted to a misdemeanor, a nonviolent misdemeanor at that, something that clearly was not worthy of loss -- the losing of his life.

BLITZER: Certainly, it's a tragedy all around.

Cedric Alexander, I know you don't want to necessarily second-guess what the NYPD, the New York Police Department, is doing now. You're looking at it from the outside. What do you think?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, PRESIDENT, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES & PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR, DEKALB COUNTY: Well, I think one thing that NYPD is doing right now, clearly, Wolf, is that they have stepped back, they are re-examining themselves under the direction of Commissioner Bratton there and the training that they are reporting, I think it's a step in the right direction but the training has to be ongoing and not just in New York but across the country as well, too, because I think we have talked extensively about the case but here's what's important for me right now in terms of the role that I play as president and being a public safety director here in my own county in DeKalb is that going forward we have to look at our training apparatus. We're going to have to reconnect or maybe connect for the first time with our communities in a way that we have not. Even though we don't have that issue in DeKalb County, but across this nation, there's so many departments that have no connection with the community, and so many departments that will, too, that could benefit from that and could benefit from some new training, particularly around cultural competency and diversity. But in an in-depth way, not just in terms of race, but across the whole spectrum of diversity across this country.

BLITZER: I want all three of you to stand by.

There's many more issues I want to discuss with you.

We're going to hear from Eric Garner's daughter and, in her opinion, what motivated the confrontation between her dad and police. What she has to say may surprise a lot of our viewers. Stay with us.

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BLITZER: In cities all across the United States, protesters are voicing their frustration with the grand jury's decision to not indict a white New York City police officer for the chokehold death of an unarmed black man, the 33-year-old father of six, Eric Garner.

Let's bring back our panel, the council woman from Staten Island, Debi Rose; and also joining us Cedric Alexander; and Reverend Raphael Warnock, the pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Debi, the protests have been pretty diverse. You're in New York right now. What are we going to see in the coming hours?

ROSE: You know, Wolf, since this incident has happened, it has been an indictment on the policing that we see throughout the nation where there have been a number of incidents in many states where young men of color have been the victims of over aggressive policing that have resulted in the loss of their lives. Now to that effect, it has gotten to the point where people are saying, enough is enough. And it's not any longer where anyone can feel safe, that people are feeling that their humanity is being disrespected and that they are at risk of becoming a victim of some type of overly aggressive policing. And so with what we're seeing, we're seeing a response. People are tired. People are demanding transparency and accountability. They want accountability for police officers who are persistent bad actors and are demanding -- and are demanding not only justice for Eric Garner but are demanding that human rights are respected.

BLITZER: Reverend Warnock, how do we fix this problem?

WARNOCK: Well, every good leader ought to make good use of a bad crisis. And so I was encouraged by some of the reforms laid out the other night but we saw with the return of the grand jury decision that body cameras alone won't solve this. We feed real reform in the process. This idea that police can police themselves is fool-hearty. There's a reason why our military is under civilian control. And so when it comes to the situations where you have these police shootings, there ought to be a special prosecutor or a special grand jury. The citizens of this nation deserve to know that there is transparency and accountability in the process.

BLITZER: Cedric, do you agree with the pastor?

ALEXANDER: Well, I do but let me clarify by saying this. There are a number of police departments across this country, Wolf, who does it right and they do it right every day. They've got great community relations. They do good training and work well in communities. But at times you're certainly going to have those challenges in which it creates pause for all of us. But that being said, in regards to the criminal justice system as we know it, we need to step back as the Reverend Warnock is stating. We need to step back, take a look at our criminal justice system because in there, there is some inconsistencies and concerns that an entire nation is speaking out who are saying, something has to be looked at, saying something has to be reviewed, something possibly needs to be changed. And even if it's the grand jury process, what is the process as it is and what are some notable changes that could possibly be made. Because, at the end of the day, whatever process that we have, the American people have to feel comfortable with it as best that we can. But we've got to do something quite different.

BLITZER: All of us have a lot of work to do in this very important area.

Debi Rose, Cedric Alexander, Raphael Warnock, thank you for joining us.

Listen to this. This just coming for its reporting on a sexual assault at the University of Virginia. The story about one woman's struggle on campus after a brutal attack at a frat house gained national attention, as so many viewers know, and called the fraternity system at UVA into question. The school promised a full-scale investigation but now "Rolling Stone" magazine says the woman's account of the alleged incident may not be accurate. CNN here in the United States will continue to have much more on this story coming up on "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin at the top of the hour. You heard the apology to the readers of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Much more on this story coming up.

Up next, we'll have a rare look at civilians under siege from is inside Syria. What it's like to live in the rebel of Kobani, Syria. We have a special report.

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BLITZER: The battle for control of the Syrian city of Kobani has dragged on for months. It's been a brutal battle. The city has been reduced to little more than rubble. With such destruction, you would think it would be a ghost town, but you would be wrong. There are civilians still there, even some children. Many are trapped and so many of them obviously are desperate.

Our Nick Paton Walsh shows us what it's like.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kobani feels haunted by those who are still alive in it. Inhumane enough that the noise of coalition warplanes above is of strange comfort. The destruction so near complete, the fight is more now for victory alone and not for its spoils.

Here they've even given up on hospitals. This, the last one, flattened by a car bomb. The wounded now taken straight to the border.

(on camera): From the ground level inside the city, you can see what months of fighting has done. Absolute devastation. It's almost impossible to imagine this city sustaining life any time in the near future, but still the fighting persists. The shelling almost constant so much of it caused by crude homemade devices like this.

(voice-over): There are civilians here, those who refuse or cannot flee and children besieged, who cannot be protected from indiscriminate constant shelling.

They can list their friends that have left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PATON WALSH: They show us their own option. What they do when the blast start.

Their uncle taught them to hide like this. This couldn't be further from playtime though.

There are the remnants of lives enjoyed but also of lives taken early.

This is a spot where a week earlier his young daughter was killed by a random mortar, the sort that are still falling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) PATON WALSH: "Three to four mortars fell near us," he said. The first one he escaped from. The second one we escaped from but the third fell on us. My daughter was seven years old, and she died. God bless and help us."

He brought his six daughters and the 150 sheep they live off of here after ISIS attacked their nearby village. He could not leave the flock or the family car and flee to safety in Turkey.

"She was 7 years old," he says. "She was so beautiful. Small. People who saw her felt the need to lift her up and down and play."

He went to her grave the day before and sat there for 30 minutes.

It is the graveyard that tells you about the near future and the more distant one. A trench dug for the dead they expect next to those they have already buried. Headstones from rubble. Again, a morbid playground.

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PATON WALSH: Too young to fathom the fight around them, they will decide what kind of life survival here could leave them with.

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BLITZER: Nick is joining us now from Beirut, Lebanon, where he's safe.

Nick, an amazing series of reports you've been doing. Here's what worries me. Winter is coming to Kobani and that entire region. What's the situation there as far as fuel, food are concerned?

PATON WALSH: As far as we can see, food is scarce and it was for us and those we saw. The bakery we're told lacking flour to work at the capacity required. We don't know how many civilians are in there but certainly the food is not enough. Fuel they have available is not going to be enough as temperature drops significantly.

The issue really, Wolf, is the Turkish border, for weeks, it had been a source of comfort. Refugees could leave. We saw much the time food handed across that fence. That fence is now much less assessable. And we're told refugees are rarely allowed to leave. As the months go on, that will become an increasing problem.

Those people still in the city and not leaving for reason perhaps of pride or involvement in the fighting but, as you saw there, too, because their livelihood is in the city, and they worry if they left they may never see it again. There's a whole host of cars at the crossing points that aren't allowed across and people are still milling around to make sure aren't stolen by somebody.

A lot of conflicting facts with key civilians in the line of fire and those conditions getting worse and colder by the week -- Wolf?

BLITZER: It's a source of great, great concern. Nick Paton Walsh, fortunately, you are out of there safe and sound.

We were worried about when you were inside Kobani, but you got out.

Appreciate the excellent reporting. Thanks very much for the courage that you show.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.