Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240712

That these numbers and just the tremendous trauma that the black community in particular is facing in this moment. And perhaps that will make them take Racial Health disparities more seriously. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Fidelity investments. Consumer cellular. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Johnson johnson. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff there are new criminal charges tonight in the killing of george floyd. The death of the minneapolis man at the hands of police has roiled the nation, and large scale protests are continuing. Lisa desjardins begins our coverage. Desjardins in minnesota, the family of george floyd, gathered on the eve of his memorial service, again faced learned news in his case. Today, the charge against derek chauvin, the officer who pressed his knee on floyds neck, was raised to Second Degree murder. The three other officers who watched and stood near as floyd died have been charged with aiding and abetting murder. Floyd family attorney benjamin crump. The family has always wanted firstdegree murder. To the full extent of the law. Whatever george floyd would have been charged with, if the roles were reversed, thats what the families have asked for. Desjardins crump says there is still the possibility of increased charges. Attorney general Keith Ellison announced the decision today. It came after a night of some of the largest, and largely peaceful, nationwide protests yet. chanting i cant breathe desjardins in new york, protesters defied a new, earlier curfew, with thousands flooding the streets well into the night, with only scattered looting. I dont preach violence, i preach equality. I want all of us to be equal, and thats why i stand. Desjardins ultimately, Police Officers began pushing people off the streets. Keep going keep going desjardins . Igniting a few clashes. They grabbed innocent people for no reason, and just stted, like, cuffing them, pushing them into the ground. This dude was a journalist in the press, he has a press pass, and they pushed him to the ground. Desjardins in washington, d. C. , the scene outside the white house was also starkly different from one night earlier. A new, tall fence rred protesters from Lafayette Park next to the white house. The crowd remained large and broke curfew to gather, but police did not use force to remove them, and things remained peaceful. Protesters pointedly worked to block anyone attempting violence. There hasnt been any violence, aside from a street sign that was torn down, and the crowd booed him because thats not what were here for. Desjardins White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany today raised concern about Police Officers who have been injured, including david dorn, a retired officer, who was killed while trying to protect a friends store in st. Louis. President trump had demanded that governors and mayors get tougher and use the National Guard. Today, in a fox news radio interview, he claimed credit for things appearing to get calmer. If you look at what happened in minnesota, they were getting decimated. And after three days of watching it, i demanded that the National Guard be utilized, and in one day, it was over. Desjardins the president also talked this week of invoking the insurrection act to use the activeduty military in a bid to restore order. But today, secretary of defense mark esper told congress he opposes taking that step now. The option to use activeduty forces in a Law Enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the st urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the insurrection act. Desjardins secretary esper also defended his monday night walk with trump to a nearby church for a president ial photoop, after Police Forcibly cleared away Peaceful Protesters. What i was not aware of was exactly where we were going when we arrived at the chch, and what the plans were when we got there. It was also my aim, and general milleys, to meet and thank members of the National Guard who were on duty that evening in the park. Desjardins but Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer again criticized what happened outside the white house that night. This administration ordered federal officers to gas Peaceful Protesters and charge on horseback and defend our monuments like battlefield positions. What is President Trump doing to this grand democracy . Desjardins the white house and pentagon today denied that tear gas was used on the protesters monday night. The white house today said that attorney general barr gave the order to push back the crowds, and it was part of a previously made decision. Meantime, the world is watching the unrest across the United States. In iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the u. S. Is hypocritical. translated they kill people, committing crimes openly, and they dont apologize. But they shamelessly keep talking about human rights. Apparently, the African American man who was killed there was not a human being. Desjardins in china, the communist Party Newspaper global times said the u. S. Show of force proved beijing was right to crack down on pro democracy crowds in tiananmen square, 31 years ago tomorrow. The tragedy of George Floyds death has sparked global protests in solidarity against racism from london, to paris, to cape town, south africa. Back in thu. S. , new protests flared up across cities this evening, for a ninth straight night of unrest. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff this evening, former president jimmy carter released a statement, calling for justice and acknowledging the pain of racism. He wrote, we all must shine a spotlight on the immorality of racial discrimination. But violence, whether spontaneous or consciously incited, is not a solution. I spoke a short time ago with the mayor of one city that has seen protests and curfews in the past few days. Stephen benjamin is columbia, south carolinas first African American mayor, and has held the position since 2010. Mayor benjamin, thank you very much for talking with us. As a black man whos been in public life going back to the 1990s, what has this past week been like for you . Im used to activism, thats why i got where i got my start. But this year and, honestly, the last several years have been unlike anything ive seen before. Obviously, the global pandemic, unlike anything weve seen in the last 100 years, trying to deal with is intersectionality of so many issues that led to despairty impact on communities of colors and affect on those and with so many other major issues going on, people forget were still very much in the pandemic. The collective pain that america has felt over the last week over the floyd case and as a culmination of the pain regarding systemic racism, violence, Police Violence and all these other issues, it has been overwhelming, and it requires, you know, real leadership willing to step up and address these issues. But its going to take a lot of work, a lot of work. Reporter you had, of course, protests on several nights, protests over the weekend that turned violent. What would you sa say is the ste of unrest right now in columbia . Just as you see across the country, indeed across the globe, there are several of our citizens and people who live here who may not be citizens who want to have their voices heard, who have felt for quite some time that they have been unheard. So we aggressively encourage people to participate in the right to petition your government for redress of grievous. South carolina case, u. S. Supreme court case, it started in columbia back in the early 60s, still case law taught in law schools, does secure peoples right to petition, to assembly and free speech and its something that we feel is at the center of who we are as a city and state. The challenge, of course, on saturday is what happens when those nonviolent protests become violent, and i fear that the great discussion that was emerging we started hearing voices last week that never talked about social justice, equity, systemic issues in policing last week actually Start Talking about them and speaking in words that flect love, grace and mercy, and i believe that the events over the weekend, in several cities, including ours, kind of took us off track. And my goal has been to pull us back on track tmake sure we continue having those important discussions. Reporter i read that you met with the protestors on a couple of occasions. They are talking to you about wanting more transparency in the work that police do in your community. The kinds of things theyre asking for are not on the books right now, so theyre asking you to change laws, change regulations . Yeah, its actually a mixed bag. So the list of concerns and demands, its actually a mixed bag of things that require local action, some require state action, some federal and some address cultural issues that have been part of our dna since before the founding of the republic, go back to 1619, but still require leaders today to address them. Our conversations have lent themselves to looking at these demands. Literaliterally we spent two hos yesterday going through all of them, and me sharing. It starts with dialogue. The challenge we have right now, judy, as you know, is a lot of wellmeaning people are yelling at each other or silent, and theres not much dialogue, so i promised to them we will work through this, have real dialogue. The things we agree on, well move on, the things we disagree on, well share reasons why, and if we have a fundamental agreement with some of the is shiewsh down the road, well let democracy do its work. Woodruff quickly, i want to bring this back to what you mentioned at the outseand that is the pandemic and covid 19. South carolina, i autosaw over the weekend, hat its highest daily new count of covid cases. How concerned are you, mayor benjamin, that these protests could lead to another outbreak of the virus of covid i . Incredibly concerned, especially after what we saw on some of our beaches on memorial day weekend. Most of the protesters are socially conscious enough to be wearing p. P. E. , to be wearing masks. However, we do know that the greatest way to slow or stop the spread of the virus is to do physical distancing, and thats not happening. We have been talking with organizes about offering covid 19 testing at some of the next rallies and do some of the things to try and curb the spread of the virus because it is showing no sign of abating or decelerating. It gives me grave concerns. Reporter mayor Stephen Benjamin of columbia, south carolina, thanks so much for talking with us. Its an honor, judy. Thank you. Woodruff the u. S. Topped 1. 8 million cases of the coronavirus and passed 107,000 deaths. The state of florida reported 1,300 new infections, one of its largest oneday surges. But, Governor Ron Desantis said it is because Testing Capacity is improving. Now, the virus isnt gone. I think that were testing a lot identifying cases, particularly in prisons, amongst agriculture workers, areas where you have a lot of congregation, close quarters for a long period of time, and so were going to continue to keep an eye on that. Woodruff overseas, the British Government said that it will mandate a twoweek self quarantine on anyone arriving from abroad. In the u. S. President ial campaign, former Vice President joe biden is now within a few dozen delegates of clinching the democratic president ial nomination. He swept tuesdays primaries in seven states and the district of columbia. We will look at that, and the other headlines from the primaries, later in the program. Republican Party Leaders made it official today parts of the g. O. P. Convention will take place this august in charlotte, North Carolina as planned. But, in an unusual move, President Trump will give his acceptance speech in a city yet to be determined. North carolinas democratic governor roy cooper has said that pandemic concerns make a fullscale convention very unlikely. Former Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein conceded today that there were mistakes in the probe of the 2016 Trump Campaign and its alleged ties to russia. He said he would not have approved surveillance of Campaign Aide carter page if he had known of problems with the warrant. But at a. S. Senate hearing, rosenstein defended tapping Robert Mueller to lead the investigation, and insisted the probe was not corrupt. I was concerned that the public would not have confidence in the investigation. I decided that appointing the special counsel was the best way to complete the investigation appropriately and promote Public Confidence in its conclusions. Woodruff the Mueller Probe found the russians did try to interfere with the 2016 election. It did not allege a criminal conspiracy with the Trump Campaign. President trumps doctor reports that he remains healthy, based on his latest physical exams. Todays statement also says the president had no ill effects from taking hydroxychloroquine for two weeks to help ward off covid19. However, a major new study today in the new england journal of medicine said the drug has no effect on the coronavirus. The Trump Administration will ban four Chinese Airlines from flying to the u. S. That announcement comes after beijing refused to let united and Delta Air Lines resume flights to china, as the pandemic has subsided there. Before the pandemic, there were about 325 flights a week between the two nations. And on wall street, stocks pushed higher again, on growing optimism that the economy can recover quickly. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 527 points to close near 26,270. The nasdaq rose 74 points, and the s p 500 added 42. It is now near its alltime high, set earlier this year. Still to come on the newshour we examine Police Practices that often target people of color, and possible reforms. A sociological perspective on the deep racial fissures of the United States. Plus, the critical takeaways from another primary election day in america. Woodruff the protests have become about more than just policing. But, the big disparities in how Law Enforcement treat African Americans and other people of color and how that has led to too many deaths is at the heart of how this all began. We are going to spend some time examining that again tonight with amna nawaz, and a range of voices. Nawaz judy, as weve seen, theres been quite a difference in how Police Officers have responded to some of these demonstrations and unrest, especially when they have become more chaotic or violent. Houstons police chief, art acevedo, has become known for condemning floyds death and walking with protesters early on. He also was critical of the president , arguing he should keep your mouth shut if he had nothing constructive to say. But in the past day,ome protesters have also demanded the release of body camera footage tied to a half dozen Houston Police shootings this spring. Art acevedo joins me now. Chief art acevedo, thank you for being with us and welcome to the newshour. I want to ask you about the response thats gotten so much rt of your response to get out and walk with the protestors. Why did you do that first of all, im an immigrant, english is my second language and, quite frankly, i live and work and serve a city that is the most diverse in the country, and i wanted to feel the pain, especially with my africanamerican community, and for those who dont think this communitys pain is real, i would ask you to march with them and look in their eyes and look at the teaf being shed and hear the stories and you will be empathetic. If youre not empathetic seeing what the world has seen in terms of how george floyd died, then i think youre probably part of the problem in this country as it relates to Police Relations and basically racism in our country. Reporter youve talked about changing that Police Culture and the language, youve also talked about the need for more deescalation training, and i want to ask you in response to what weve seen across the country from some Police Departments to set aside the pockets of looting and violence, the vast majority of the demonstrations have been lrgelyi peaceful, even as theyve grown, and yet weve seen again and again in image after image that peaceful demonstrators with signs and bull horns are met with a police force infull riot gear that looks ready for battle. How does that contribute to deescalation . Well, heres the problem during the day, in most cities, protestors come out, people that want to focus on the death of george floyd and on Police Misconduct and making change in this country come out. But as the day grows late into the afteoon and early evening into the night, then what happens is too many people come out who are more involved in anarchy, who want to not protest, but they want to hijack, they want to hijack a legitimate movement, which is counterproductive, and, sadly, for Police Officers, people arent throwing bottles and rocks and molotov cocktails until theyre actually throwing them. On friday when things start flying, we had about nine officers hurt. So i understand the perception. Its a fine balance, but, at the end of the day, we have to keep our officers safe and their number one priority should be to keep the Community Safe reporter i want to get back to the videos we referenced in our introduction because as weve seen videos of you marching with the protestors and in the last day weve seen videos of protestors an which with you, calling you a lawyer and making reference to you to release Police Body Camera videos. On the same day george floyd was killed it was the sixth Fatal Police Shooting in as many weeks. Even the Editorial Board at the Houston Chronicle says its time to release the videos. So why havent you . First of all, i think its important for the community to know that the one thing thats missing from that narrative is almost every single one of those officerinvolved shootings involved armed suspects that were confronting our officers. One happened right after an 80yearold woman was stabbed to death in a walgreens park lot who proceeded to attack her officer with a knife, and i could go down the line. There are almost always consequences to our actions. This is the most diverse city in the country and in the event one of the officerinvolved shootings leads to indictment, if we release everything, and theres so much pretrial publicity, we run the risk of moving the trial to another county that is not as diverse or progressive, that is not as reflective of our jury pool, and the worst thing that could happen is we have a case moved to east texas, west texas, a place that isnt reflective of this community thats the most diverse in the country and we have an acquittal. That in itself is a problem. The other piece is that weve had two families now that one family had demanded release of the video and, as soon as they saw it, we spent three hours with them, showed them all the videos, they dont want the videos released reporter after that process is completed, you will release those videos . Absolutely, with the exception that i want to make the argument that, for the families where theres no criminal charges that dont want them released, i think that has to be part of the conversation. , after all reporter before i let you go, chief, very briefly, we mentioned you have been critical of president trus calling for ramped up use of force to dominate the streets. Youve seen the protests grow bigger in the days since. I wonder what your concern is the effect will be if the president continues with that kind of rhetoric well, first, i urged the immediate i urge the media to quote me properly and have the proper context. I actually said please, which no one seems to be putting into the conversation. I think i was pretty direct when i said shut up and i really wanted to say be quiet. But i know for a fac that men and womens lives are on the line. This is a time for leadership and reconciliation and this is a time for a call for peace and, most importantly, its a time to use words that deescalate the situation and moves the conversation forward, and no ones better positioned to either do it the right way or the wrong way and to have the most impact on the president of the United States and were calling on him to be an agent of positive change in Community Relations reporter chief thank you so much thank you. Nawaz lets focus in further these questions. A few numbers that underscore the disparities here more than half of all People Killed by police are black, according to recent numbers. And one of every ten black men in his 30s is in a jail or prison in the u. S. On a given day, according to the sentencing project. Now, two of our guests are engaged in this closely. Tracey meares is the founding director of the Justice Collaboratory at yale law school. She was a member of president obamas task force on policing. And, Samuel Sinyangwe is an activist and a policy analyst who studies this. Hes also a cofounder of the Group Campaign zero. Welcome to you both and thank you for being here. Sam, we hear those numbers, we report them again and again. You study te data, so help us put them into context. Had they been Getting Better or worse over time . So, we built Police Violence which is a most comprehensive data base built in 2015. We have been tracking every incident in the country. We found the number of Police Killed by police each year has not gone down since the protest began in 2016. About 11 is hundred people are killed by police each year, constant going back before the protests from 2013 and going up to 2019. However some changes are notable. Police killings in large cities have declined about 30 since 2013. Meanwhile, Police Killings have increased in suburban and rural areas Reporter Police officer lets talk about the policy reforms because a lot of people have been hearing about them after videos documenting the devastating numbers we talked about. When you look at the policy reforms, everything from body cameras to banning choke holds and strangle holds, there are some places they dont work in new york, even in new york, where those kinds of choke holds were banned and they stillo on and in some cases with impunity. Talk about the policy reform on this. What is still needed to be done . I think whats needed to be done is to have a National Baseline standard around use of force. I think sams observation that big cities whiff a lot more resources to engage in policy change and to actually train officers on strategies like deescalation, banning choke holds, teaching and training officers on how to better engage with citizens to deal with the least least forceful response, using citations rather than arrests, or just talking to people rather than citations, those are the kinds of strategies that big cities are engaged in. Smaller cities dont always necessarily have those resources or access to the Technical Assistance to do that work, and, in the last four years, the Current Administration has not devoted resources to doing that work in the way that the cops office and the oba administration did. Finally, i think, with what youre seeing in some of the major cities, is a change in orientation of how to do policing as general matter. That is, instead of focusing on ferreting out wrong doers and focusing on deterrencebased strategies of getting people to obey the through through fear, instead people are focusing on strategies that promote trust and legitimacy. A real change in the job of the police officer, as we know it, but more needs to be done reporter sam, the big question here is accountable as well, right, that wen bad actors, as they at a, act badly, something happens, it sends a message. When you look at the the accountable factor, what stands in the way of that accountability and how can that part of this be fixed . So nationwide, only 7 of all reported Excessive Force results in an officer being held accountable according to the bureau of justice statistics. Which means in 93 of the cases where citizens report misconduct involving force officers arent disciplined. To understand why that is occurring, we need to talk about the systems and structures of accountability and the way in which Police Unions in particular play an outsized role in informing what those structures looked like. Weooked at 100 largest cities in the country and examined the police union contracts, the contracts between the police union and the city which are usually in effect every four years and get renegotiated. We found in contracts like in cities like chicago, Police Misconduct records are destroyed every five years, and between every one and two years. Those places with contracts are less likely to hold officers accountable, more likely to have misconduct and more likely to shoot people. We need to talk about shaping the way in which communities can possibly hold police accountable, even if you have the best police chief and mayor, in many cases they are limited in what they can do because the accountability system has already been negotiated away and the unions have veto power over changes to the strucre reporter i apologize for a g question with a few seconds left, but you talked about the need not only for palsy change but culture change, where does that begin . That begins with making an effort to achieve some of the things that we just talked about today. It requires the fac that we nee to have a serious deliberative democratic conversation about the shape of policing and the context of the state whose job it is to support its citizens and in ensuring the vitality of their communities, and that the not just a conversation about what police do, its a conversation about the shape of public education, healthcare, housing, all of these things are related. So when people are focusing on policing right now, they need towns that is the tip of the iceberg in terms to have way in terms of the way in which people react with the state reporter professor Tracey Meares of yale law schools and Samuel Sinyangwe of campaign zero. Thanks for being with us thank you. Woodruff while the covid19 pandemic continues to occupy center stage, what some are calling a different virus Structural Racism is now front and center. We turn to special correspondent charlayne huntergault for the latest in our race matters series, looking at solutions to racism. Reporter more than 100,000 americans have died from the covid19 pandemic, the vast majority of them African Americans. But, studies also show that this group especially black men and boys face the highest risk of being killed by police, three times higher than whites. As cities nationwide boil over in protest at these twin epidemics, one expert says Solutions Lie not only with systemic reform, but with individual families. She is margaret hagerman, an assistant professor of sociology at Mississippi State university, and the author of white kids growing up with privilege in a racially divided america. She spent two years embedded with white families in a midwestern town, looking into the relationship between White Privilege and racism, even in families that view themselves as progressive. Maggie hagerman, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Reporter it was after grad school that you embedded yourself in an allwhite community somewhere in the midwest that remains anonymous, understandably. How did you esent yourself . I mean, did you say, im here to study why youre a racist . No. I d not approach participants like that. And so, i went where i thought i would find them. And when i would approach families, i would present this project as one that is exploring how parents prepare their children to participate in a diverse democracy. That was the language that i used. It was interesting because many of the white families that i invited to participate would often refer me to their friends of color. So, like, their black friend, their black neighbor, you know, their latino coworker. And i thought that was interesting, that they believed, even before i started collecting data, thatheir children would not have anything to say about race, but that the black and brown children in their community would. Reporter what was some of the most surprising things that, maybe some of the most important things that you learned during those. Three years, right . Reporter so one of the great things about embedding myself in this community is i was able to really document all of the different ways that children in my research learned portant is what their parentse did. So the choices that their parents madebout where to live or what school to send their children to or which Extracurricular Activities to enroll their kids in, where to travel, what kinds of, you know, media they consumed, all of these choices had really all of these choices have really significant impacts on how children were interpreting their social environment. And so, certainly for the kids that were living in that suburban community, they, i mean, they never came into contact with a person of color, ever. Even their knowledge about racial difference or about race in america came from things like tv shows and movies, which was interesting. And so i absolutely think that parents are shaping this process. Reporter now, you spoke about some of the more integrated communities, but in those predominantly white communities, in the schools, were they teaching African American history . They were not receiving as critical of an education on the history of racism in america, or African American history, certainly. And this was apparent based on the things that they said. One of the quotes in the very beginning of the book is from a child who tells me that, since Martin Luther king and eleanor roosevelt, and how she went on the bus and she was African American and sat on the white part, after the 1920s and all that, things changed. And so i thought that was a really compelling quote, because it demonstrates, you know, just her lack of knowledge. And then her mother was sitting there when she said it and she was like, yes, tell it, tell her, you know, tell her what you know. Reporter you know, this covid19andemic has unleashed a lot of information that pele may not have been aware of, and that is that, at the moment, the majority of people who are getting infected by the virus and who are dying are people of color, primarily black people. Do you think that the attention thats been paid to that is going to makpeople look at African Americans and people of color differently . You know, on the one hand, perhaps people will see that these these numbers, and just the tremendous trauma that the black community in particular is facing in this moment, and perhaps that will make them take, take Racial Health disparities more seriously. On the other hand, you know, i think that theres evidence that, you know, people have known about racial and Racial Health disparities for a very long time. Linda villarosa had an article in the New York Times magazine, and in that, she reminds us that w. E. B. Du bois talked about, you know, the social conditions that lead to Racial Health inequality, in 1899. And so this isnsomething new. Reporter so, based on your research, though, and your interaction with people who obviously became very comfortable with you, in your presence do you have any solutions that you can offer for people to deal with racism in a more positive way . Well, i think that one of the patterns that i see, is that a lot of white parents believe that simply talking to their kids about racism will somehow ensure that their child will not reproduce racial inequality in their own life. And, i always see these articles that come out. Ive seen a lot recently that have come out in light of the Police Shooting of george floyd, for example, where, you know, parents are being called to talk to their kids. And what my Research Shows is that talk is only part of the. Part of the answer. And, in fact, i think that parents, especially those like the ones in my study, who are white and affluent and have a number of different kinds of privileges, when those parents use those privileges to give their own child advantages, that ultimately reproduces forms of inequality that are, you know, part of the problem, too. Reporter but how do you change that . Because you cant tell people, stop making money or stop being, you know, welloff. So how do you do that . Every parent that ive spoken to has told me that they want their kid to be happy. And i think that trying to get your child an upper hand and an advantage at every turn and using the symbolic capital of whiteness as well as your economic privilege to do that, is ultimately not going to lead to the kind of future that is good for all children or all people that live in this society. And i think that the most important thing that white parents can do is embrace the idea that all children are worthy of their consideration and that we should care about our community. We should think about the collective good. We should focus on how we can help everyone, rather than just focusing on our own child. Reporter finally, how important is it for people who are in leadership positions to say the right things about race . And does that really matter . Yes, i absolutely think it. Think that it matters. Its important that people who are in leadership positions and in positions of authority take the realities of racism, the legacy of racism, the the data and the facts that we have about racism, seriously, and include those in not only what they say, but also what they do, in terms of their policies and how they move forward as as a leader. Reporter well, maggie hagerman, thank you so much for joining us. I know that this is going to be very instructive to a lot of people. Thank you so much for having me. Woodruff and please join us friday night for race matters america in crisis, a pbs newshour prime time special. At the end of this difficult week, we explore this critical moment and how we move ahead. Woodruff it was a remarkable contrast yesterday, in the middle of an ongoing pandemic. Even as protesters took to the streets in dozens of cities, voters in several states were making their voices heard at the polls,oth inperson and by mail. In ferguson, missouri, where protests first erupted in 2014 after the shooting death of Michael Brown by a white police officer, the city elected its first African American and first woman mayor. Ella jones reflected on her historic win last night. So being the first African American woman, what does that mean . That means ive got work to do. Because when youre an African American woman, they require more of you than they require of my counterpart. And i know that the people in ferguson are ready to stabilize their community, and were going to Work Together to get it done. Woodruff to look at some of yesterdays Election Results and what it means ahead of november, im joined now by someone familiar to newshour viewers its amy walter of the cook political report, and host of public radios politics with amy walter. Lets start with those results in ferguson. Its almost like book ends. You had the big protests of six years ago with the death of Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer. Six years later, protests in ferguson missouri over what happened in minneapolis. Its a city still struggling like the restf the country with this issue. How is it thought that the election of this woman, ella jones, could change things . Yeah, judy, it is quite remarkable, again, to have a first africanamerican elected in this week in a city like ferguson that has so much symbolism. But whats also remarkable, judy, is how much the amecan public has moved on this issue, this issue of Excessive Force used by police, especially against black folks, and what we saw in 2014 was only a third of americans thought that the police used executive force with africanamericans versus whites. In 2016, it was still about a third. Today a new poll came out, Monmouth University poll shows that almost 60 of americans now believe that Excessive Force is being used against africanamericans more so than its being used against whites. And i think thats an Incredible Movement in such a short amount of time. I think a lot of that is driven, of course, by the horrific video that most americans, if they havent seen it themselves, have hed about. And i also thinkits reflective of the fact that a lot has happened since 2014, even in ferguson. In ferguson, even before this election of the mayor, a number of africanamericans were elected to the city council, so it went from almost all white to being majority africanamerican over the course of these last few years. Woodruff so, amy, so much to talk about there, but i also want to ask you about iowa. Very interesting result there. Republican conservative congressman steve king known for making controversial statements over the years, especially with regard to white supremacy. So last night he goes down to defeat in that primary in iowa. What does this say about what could happen in november . Judy, seems like almost too much of a hollywood script, right to have the first africanamerican elected in ferguson and then to have somebody associated with antiimmigrant and racist statements lose in a primary in iowa. Its not as simple as that, of course. Nothing ever is in life or in politics. The challenge that steve king had also came within his own party, and he was defeated in a republican primary, in large part because the Republican Leadership abandoned him after he made some of these comments in 2019, but they were also abandoning him because of how weak a showing he had in 2018. He almost lost in his very conservative, very republican district. They got behind a state senator whos also very conservative, whos also very closely tied to donald trump. He tied himself very closely to the president in his own ads. The campaign that the republican opponent to steve king ran wasnt taking on steve kings past antiimmigrant or racist statements. He didnt mention that reallyt at all. It was focused on the fact that steve king had lost his prestigious Committee Assignment that republicans had stripped him of that. So that was a bigger factor in this race than the statements that he had made previously. Woodruff and now that seat is going to be one tougher for the democrats to pick up. Thats right. Woodruff quickly, amy, just a few seconds. This dispute over the Republican Convention in the state of North Carolina, where is that headed . It looks likits headed to a differt state. The president wants the president wants a big convention, d he wants a crowd, and North Carolinas not going to give it to him, so hes going to figure it out, and he wants to show america that hes getting things back on track and the convention is his way to do that. Woodruff amy walter, so much to talk about. Thank you very much. Great to see you on this wednesday. Well see you next week. And we will be back shortly with former president obamas response to the current crisis, and a news update. But first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. Its a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. Before we go. Former u. S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is condemning the president , who named him to that position, for dividing the country. Writing in the atlantic, mattis said that President Trumps response to these protests has been an abuse of executive authority and that mr. Trump is a threat to the constitution. Former president barack obama also spoke out about the death of george floyd. Mr. Obamas remarks came during a virtual town hall, during which he spoke directly to young people of color affected by Racial Injustice and violence. You can watch the full video on our website, pbs. Org newshour. But first, here is an excerpt. I want you to know that you matter. I want you to know that your lives matter, that your dreams matter. Matter and, when i go home and i look at the faces of my daughters, sasha and malia, and i look at my nephews and nieces, i see limitless potential that deserves to flourish and thrive, and you s you should be able to learn and make mistakes and live a life of joy without having to worry about whats going to happen when you walk to the store, or go for a jog, or driving down the street, or looking at some birds in a park. Woodruff thats president obama, former president obama speaking today. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. ll see you soon. Stay safe and major funding for the pbs newshour has been providedy Consumer Cellular offers nocontract wireless plans that are designed to help you dmore of the things you enjoy. Whether youre a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u. S. Based Customer Service team is here to find a plan that fits you. To learn more, go to consumercellular. 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With surprising beginnings. craft thuds, thunder rumbles Larry Nittler this was quite a surprise and immediately told us that some of the older ideas of how mercury formed could not be correct. thunder claps lynnae quick venus may have once had global oceans, but as the sun bame warmer and warmer, the surface temperatures on venus heated up. thunder rumbling Anjali Tripathi the orbits of the planets d their current locations have changed over the history of the solar system