Soledad im solid at obrien. Across the country officials are to do with statues, street names, and sc that honor robert e. Lee, Stonewall Jackson middle, and other heroes of the at mates there were 1500 grounds and 31 states and the district of some pills at the ee civil war, many early 1900s, and from as early as 2014. The debate over removing confederate references was ignited response to the killing of nine members of a historically black church in in. The gunmen, dylann roof, a white supremacist, posed with the the Confederate Flag with removed carolinas shooting. E a month a and officials from new orleans montgomery, all took up the issue. In biloxi, mississippi, members of the missgicaucus boycotted af legislator5 states because the mississippi stflag e emblem. Symbols speak to ar removal say past of racial segregation, slavery, and white sopponents ss rewriting historobliterate symbn pride that pay all much to the confederacys garrett epps grewe confederate capital city of richmond, virginia. Writer, lawyerresearched the ime a recent conversation, he told me the veneration of the and said, its time to take down the so, richmond, virginia second , capitol of the confederacy. Whatn terms of those statues . Garrett you have to understand that forch lived a block and a half from the equestrian statue of lee that is the center of monument avenue. Everywhere we wente going past confederate generals gen. Steward, gen. Lee, gen. Jackson. The school i went to divided into two teams. You were either one of the lees or you were one of the jacksons. Our School Colors were red and gray, the two colors of the confederate army. So the con room with us. Soledad when i, as a north easterner, would ask people about confederate statues or would say this is our familys legacy and our familys histor garrett i think thats e statues are the product of a parr time in southern history. Not of the postwar era but of a ge system we came to call segregation was being put in place. Soledad is there not about honoring honoring civil war heroes, what are they statues garrett statues to an imagined south that was all white. An imagined south in which the war was not fought for slavery, it was fought for some notion of freedom that was never quite quite explained to soledad so like a White Supremacy statue. Exactly. Soledad that reinvention was due to what . Garrett a desire to be able to one, the war was not about slavery. Second, people who believe in the e south were very noble. If you accept that we were taught tha the also jefferson and washington, medicine. If you cannot believe that a jeffer davis was a great man and also believe that people aro beliefs cannot live together in one mind. Soledad was there a time when things shifted for you . When you realized that these things you had been fed your essentially . Garrett i turned 18 just a few days after dr. Martin luther king was assassinated. My school that i attended, and soneighborhood, refused to put e flag at half staff even though president johnson d that be done. They said they werent going to king, they affect they had onrves t leader and who werete being told by the people in power, your grief doesnt count, we wont take the slightest and to realize how hurtful that that probably turned my mind t o imagery and e live by symbols. Soledad mr. Epps, nice to see you. Thank yo us. Next on matter of fact a National Historic landmark to confederate heroes five miles long. The story is an incomplete story. Equal parts myth and dece. How the capital of the confederac and later, nasa issues a traffic warning to earth. How the Solar Eclipse could put a crimp lets talk about haribo goldbears. The red one is more gooder to me cos it tastes like berries. Theyre really squishy. And then im gonna fly it in to my mouth. Kids and grown ups love it o the happy world of Haribo Soledad in richmond, virginia, the issue of how to handle the citys confed statues is a big deal. Citysprising, given the history. In 1861,e voted to secede from the united states, the appenzell there, because of its central location. Fastforward, ri 223,000. 50 black, 45 white, 5 other minority. In its midst, monument avenue, statues of civil war heroes robert. Lee, jefferson davis, and Stonewall Jackson stand the mayor of richmond thinks the statues in virginia down. Instead, he says they need additionl context. The story is at best an equal parts myth and deception. Its our responsibility to set the recordt today. Soledad two two weeks ago, the city added snt it erected a 10foot bronze statue of maggie walker, an African American woman and da spanned the journey from laundress to newspaper publis founder, civil rights leader, and mother. The statue stands at the center of town, about a mile from its the first monument on a city street in richmond dedicated to a woman. Mayor stoney was at the de. He has appointed a commission of historians, authors and Community Leaders to figure out how to set the historical record of the confederacy straight either by adding statues or Diane Roberts reports. Diane monument avenue is the land work for residents. Historian,tural author, and member ommis we dor t happen. But we need to interpret it for and leave the statues of, without interpretive signage directed, is mayor stoney said, somehow endorsing them. Diane many who have grown up richmond is full of history great its another pa history. We cant turn it around, at least go back and change it. Riane the other say monument avenue is a deterrent to progress, e past. When i just look at the statue, i feeland trad. Grayscouncilwoman kim district includes monuavenue. A lifelong resident with a gray supports adding context to save money and create teachable moments. It would cost more than 1 million for the scale of these statues, and if we were to relocateand we have schools than exwe have needs that are not beg met within the community that i think that. I do think that this is a compromise and its an opportunity to discuss the lega cy of slavery and what it has done to our community, and how we can heal from it. Diane for matter of fact, im Diane Roberts. Soleda next, the mayor of charlottesville, virginia on the ch face in e confederacy. Ate of symbo still ahead on matter of fact enter at your own risk. Why the naacp says travelers to the shown me show me state should proceed with caution. Soms in 1979, sun lovers today. Will you be ready to capture your me sun . Soledad charlottesville, virginia, is a college town, just about an hour from richmond. We are told protesters will weekend supporting the symbols of the confederacy. In early july, charlottesville founf kkk, met by counter protests. 50 members of the loyal white knig assembled at the park under the statue of robert e. Lee. Two hundred times that number, more than 1,000 people, turned out in opposition to the klan. Arrested when they refused Police Orders to disperse. Charlottesville mayor, michael signer, talk to me about the leadership challenges presented nice to talk with you. I was surprised to read that your reaction is that you want to keep the statues. Often o protest over statues, the city mayor will say lets take the why was this your position sir . Mayor signer there was a protest that kicked this off statues one to robert e. Lee. My instinct at the very was that we needed to cast the problem more broadly and talk about race in our public spaces. We created a blue ribbon wi changing the narrative by telling the full story of race in charlottesville through our incredibly difficult thing to do. Weve got dozens of l that touch on race in one way or another including things we needed to do that that we ha there were 17 public hearings held by this 9 Member Commission which at the outset was majority on the statue issue they surprised a lot of people by recommending that no matter what we keep the statues within the city limits of charlottesville. One of the parts of the reports said that numerous African Americans who came and testified to the committee and testified to the Committee Said they didnt want the past kind of that we could learn from it. So youd rebut and overcome what was in o spaces. The challenge i guess for many people is a monument isnt hey this history exists, essentially White Supremacy and people who were trying to overthrow the Us Government at a time as heroes full of valor a people to mourn their loss. Mayor signer it is not a problem where there is a simple yes or no, toggle up or down, single. We ended up adopting a set of kind of takes on the problem. For instance, we renamed the parks recently, which was a big the lee park now is named justice emancipation park. The park with the Stonewall Jackson statue is now named so the difficult things today with the robert lee statue we could have a statue that will celebrate currenct active for and then around the statue Stonewall Jackson statue we limitation of slavery, that was where the Freedmens Bureau was. K was, a very small plaque that is in the sidewalk. Wee memorial vision of that horrible expe history. So you would have celebration of slavery, and together they would s decision in the 1920s to put the statues there, while history, which isr history the approach that i favor, but has been a topic of very the difficult things today are where leadership counts, where a thoughtful, fair approach that tries to come to an answer on these incredibly difficult s is necessary. So in a way it has been a gift to the city to have this dile us. Soledad mr. Mayor, thank you so much for your appreciate it. Next on matter of fact has missouri taken down its welcome sign . Why the naacp says some am reception there. , for the Great Americanonly. Eclipse. Have you made your r isaac hou has mastered gravity defying moves to amaze his audience. Great show. Here you go. Now hes added a new routine. Making depositing a check seem so effortless. Easy to use chase technology, for whatever youre trying to master. Isaac, are you ready . Yeah. Chase. So you can. Soledad now to our weekly feature that we paying attention even if youre too busy. Go at your own r thats the message the naacp people of color traveling through missouri. The Organization Says this is a first for them. It has never travel advisory at the state or national level. The Advisory Warns that individuals traveling in the states are advised to quote, exercise extreme caution when traveling throughout the state. And notes the state has a history of questionable, racebased incidents. Why did the naacp issue the warning . They say the Missouri Legislature passed senate bill 43, which makes it more di p they are members of a protected class based on race or gender. The Organization Says the senate bill creates a form of legal discrimination. Missouri governor eric greitens, says it simply sets a threshold for claiming discrimination that is more in line with other traditionally, travel advisories department, warning people a countries with ongoing violence, frequent terrorist attacks or increased health risks. The American Civil Liberties union has issued travel advisories similar to the naacps. One for arizona in 2010, and one in texas earlier this year. Both were circulated after state laws passed allowing Law Enforcement officers to question a persons immigration status. When we return, geek goes chic. What to wear for the Great American. Who are these people . The Energy Conscious people among us say small actions can add up to something. Humongous. A little thing here. A little thing there. Starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. Who are all these caretakers, advocates too . Turns out, its californians its me and its you. Dont stop now, its easy to add to the routine. Join Energy Upgrade california and do your thing. Soledad if you havent already done it, heres a reminder to apps. And make your plans fo Great American total Solar Eclipse. On august 21st, the sun will disappear behind the moon, turning daylight into twilight. Creating a wild temperature drop. With proper protection on your eyes, those along the path of the eclipse will see massive streaks of light around the silhouette of the moon. The event will darken the skies along a path about 70 miles wide stretching from oregon to south carolina. The path stretches from idaho, through wyoming, nebraska, kansas, missouri, illinois, kentucky, tennessee, georgia, and north and south carolina. At most, the moon will comple sun for 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Thats about how long it wille visible to observers at the center of the path. People near the very edge will glimpse just a few seconds. A word of warning from nasa that you might not expect. The Solar Eclipse is likely to create one of the worst traffic jams in national history. About 12 Million People live within the narrow band of totality. Another 25 million within a days drive, with interest high, nasa says the population inside the path might double on the day of the eclipse. Most hotel rooms inside the path of totality have been booked for months or years, so those of you who are spontaneous beware. Spontaneous, not happening. Or you can plan ahead. The next time a total Solar Eclipse will be visible here in the u. S. Is 2024. Never too early to make a im soledad obrien. See you next week for matter of fact. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, robert handa hello, and welcome to Asian Pacific america. Im robert handa, your host for our show here on nbc bay area and cozi tv. Today, we address an issue that is an issue for all communities, finding homes for animals through pet adoption as nbc bay area and our sister station, telemundo 48 clear the shelters. Asian Pacific America is proud to be a part of this communitydriven, nationwide pet Adoption Campaign that just keeps growing. In 2015, more than 25,000 pets were adopted nationally. In 2016, more than 50,000 pets were taken home nationally. And on august 19, nbc and telemundo stations across the country will join with hundreds of animal shelters to help families find and adopt a pet. Participating shelters will waive or reduce