Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160716

Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios at Lincoln Center in new york, alison stewart. Stewart good evening and thanks for joining us. Im alison stewart. Tonight as we absorb the horror of the attack in france, here in the United States we are still suffering after a period of incredible violence the killing of two African American men by Police Officers in minnesota and louisiana, and the shooting of Police Officers in dallas. Americans are pained, frightened, and dismayed over the longstanding racial issues that threaten all our safety. We are here tonight to dig deeper. Were going to hear from African American parents about the talk they have with their children about Law Enforcement, from Police Recruits who fear they might make a deadly mistake, from protesters and those who think protestors have gone too far. We know you are having this conversation in your living rooms, your churches, on the street and in schools. Join our conversation by using the hashtag americablackandbluepbs. Despite real pain and anger, it is not all about the shouting. We are here tonight to report and to explore how people across the country can find Common Ground. Tension between police and African Americans is not new. We decided to go to newark, new jersey, where 49 years ago this week, the city was engulfed in race riots touched off when a black taxi driver was pulled over and then beaten by white Police Officers. In the months that followed, protests and riots swept the country. Today, newark is still struggling and people are still protesting. This week we heard anger and fear expressed at a march. There were also signs of hope and progress. We asked michael hill, a correspondent for new jersey public television, to put the story in perspective. What do we want . Justice. Reporter a protest in newark against Police Brutality is nothing new. 49 years ago this week, new jerseys most populated city burned in rebellion. Martial law was imposed and indelibly stained this city, and those who lived through it as i did in newarks north ward as an eightyearold boy. I remember my mother repeatedly warning us not to look out the window for fear of being shot. But i managed to sneak a peek or two and when i looked out, i could see military vehicles and troops with big guns rolling down 4th street. Barbara king remembers the fear she had during the riots. She says little has changed. Were still dying. But thank god people are still struggling. Rich casale. Were here to assist. Reporter a few days after officers were killed in dallas, the Sheriffs Department put sharpshooters on rooftops along this protest route protecting lieutenant Richard Casale and other officers protecting the protesters. Police ensuring the free speech rights of demonstrators while their uniforms make them targets on the streets. I dont know if its fear, but its a heightened sense of your surroundings. Reporter lieutenant casale has no illusions about what police are up against. I can be very honest, people do have a distrust. Reporter police shot and killed 36yearold jerame reid in this graphic dash cam video of a 2014 traffic stop still under federal review. The killing has so hardened reids mother, this is what she says about the cops murdered in dallas. I have no feelings for those officers that got took out last week. Reporter the roots of the anger, the distrust and the exasperation in newark surfaced in july 2014 when the justice departments threeyear investigation found many newark Police Officers overreacted and routinely used excessive force. The department of justice concluded that 75 of the stops on the street had no constitutional basis. In the frontline documentary, policing the police, filmmakers rode along with newark officers and captured the nowdisbanded gang unit appearing to trample on ones man rights. You are not under arrest. What were your thoughts . Despicable. Thats what i could tell you. I could tell you that the majority of the men and women of the Newark Police department dont engage in that type of activity like that. I think that sometimes the mistakes or the wrongdoing becomes the norm. The way you all approached me, all i was doing was walking home. If you had just asked me, i would have said i was walking home. Do not stereotype, cause thats what you all did to me. It is not an anomaly. What we see are Police Officers who work under the pressure of quotas, who are inadequately trained on how to engage in a lawful stop, and who have a warrior mentality. Reporter in january, newarks mayor brought back the citys former Police Director and chief, anthony ambrose. Ambrose wants his 992 officers and new recruits trained to be friendlier and more engaging. But he says it will take time to put his reforms into action. Are the reforms taking place, the kind of reforms to make real change . The jurys still out on where we are when it comes to reforming the Newark Police department. Reporter in the 1960s, the a. C. L. U. Of new jersey called for the creation of a civilian Complaint Review board in newark. Now, for the first time in its 350 years, the city has one. Advocates consider it the strongest in the nation at least on paper with the authority to investigate misconduct complaints, subpoena officers and make sure discipline sticks. And its a review board that is led by a majority of people nominated by community and civil rights organizations. So, that is an incredibly positive step forward. I think we have nothing to hide. I think transparency is very good. Reporter but officers and their unions worry they could be secondguessed by civilians who have no understanding of the dangers and challenges of policing in a place like newark. We make decisions instantaneously. If you monday quarterback and you have an hour to digest it, what we did in half a second, may look unreasonably. Im not totally antipolice because if somebody break in my home, im a call the police. Reporter reverend bryant ali is one of seven Community Members sworn in to the civilian Complaint Review board. Its not a cureall, but its a start and its better than what we had before. Reporter Newark School teacher Brian Hohmann was one of several white marchers we met in the recent and mostly black protest. Hohmann believes in black lives matter because he says those lives are among the most vulnerable. He fears reforms can only go so far; fundamental change is needed. I dont think that Police Officers, inside their uniforms, inside their bodies, are racists themselves seeking to kill black people. But i do think theyre something about the role of Police Officers and the institution of policing that leads to racist killings. I want my kids to be aware of whats going on. Reporter we also met ashley parker. She came with her sixyearold son nysir and eightyearold daughter nevaeh. She says she lost three teenage friends to deadly encounters with Newark Police a decade ago, but she sees last weeks tragedies as a teachable moment for police and protesters. Do you think this will change any time soon, in your lifetime, in your sons lifetime . In my sons lifetime, yes. I feel like, in my sons lifetime, yes, i do. Stewart finding solutions is never easy. We asked newshour special correspondent chris bury to look for a place where change is happening. He reports now from minneapolis, just a few miles from where Philando Castile was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Reporter whatever the exact circumstances that led police to pull over Philando Castile a broken taillight or the officers suspicion he resembled a suspect in a robbery the anger here is fueled by a feeling that castile died a violent death during a routine police stop primarily because he was a black man. This makeshift memorial marks the spot where Philando Castile died at the hands of police. For castile, getting pulled over here in a suburb of st. Paul was not at all unusual. Court Records Show Police had stopped him more than 50 times since 2002 for misdemeanors including not having a drivers license and not wearing a seatbelt. Most of those petty offenses were eventually dismissed. Without that low level offense, Philando Castile would have never have been stopped. Reporter ron harris is working to reform local laws regulating low level offenses that he says are far more likely to be enforced against blacks than whites. A practice that harris says draws more African Americans deeper into the criminal justice system. Disproportionately, black and brown men are targeted for those offenses, and they are very rarely charged with the low level offense. They are actually charged with a higher offense. But the only way the police ever got to the higher offense was through the entry point of the low level offense. Reporter last june, mnneapolis repealed two misdemeanor laws enacted during the 19th century, that banned spitting and lurking, or hiding for the purpose of committing a crime. Nekima levypounds, who heads the Minneapolis Office of the n. A. A. C. P. , pushed for the change. We found that in most jurisdictions, lurking was unconstitutional and as a matter of fact, people couldnt even explain what lurking actually was. Someone standing at a bus stop could be considered lurking. Reporter the president of the minneapolis city council, barb johnson, worried about high crime in her district, cast the only vote against repealing the laws banning spitting and lurking. I am concerned that if we do away with penalties for this low level kind of crime, that people will feel unsafe and then leave my community. And i dont want to see that happen. Reporter but minneapolis city records show a clear Racial Disparity in police enforcement. For example, of the 392 people arrested for lurking between 2009 and 2014, 59 were African American. In minneapolis, blacks make up about 19 of the population. The a. C. L. U. , in a study of all low level crimes in the city, found African Americans were nearly nine times more likely to be arrested for such offenses than whites. The report highlighted all of the ways in which people of color in minneapolis are facing huge disparities when it comes to low level arrests. I think everybody knew there were racial disparities, but not the depth of the problem. Reporter the racial tension surrounding the enforcement of low level crimes like the police stop that led to the death of Philando Castile is part of a Larger National debate over policing. One philosophy, known as broken windows, calls for aggressive policing of small crimes to prevent larger disorder in the community. Lieutenant bob kroll, who heads the Minneapolis Police union, likens it to fishing. Little arrests lead to big arrests, and if you have cause to stop someone for the lurking crime and doing an investigatory stop, you may find out that they have warrants for their arrest, or you may find out that, upon closer look, they are wanted in a crime which has been occurring in an area you are policing and they match a description, and may warrant further questioning from investigators. Reporter but activists in minneapolis are pushing for a more tolerant approach. They say the repeal of ordinances against lurking and spitting is just the beginning. That the enforcement of other misdemeanors, such as public urination and aggressive panhandling, should also be scrapped. It does not actually benefit Public Safety to have such petty, low level offenses on the books and its a huge waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Reporter the lingering unease in the twin cities is palpable. All week long, protestors gathered at the minnesota governors mansion. At the memorial along the road where Philando Castile died, two young women embraced in silence, paying their respects to a man who has now become another reminder of the racial divide that many believe is made wider by a disparity in the way police handle petty crime. I think of these officers now as other people that are forced to make a decision in protecting us. Im not taking anything away from the individuals who were shot because i dont know what was happening. But i have sympathy and empathy for the officers that were required to make a decision whether rightfully or wrong. If youve never been there, its kind of hard to say they were wrong. Stewart next you are going to hear two very different perspectives on police work and how two leaders in Law Enforcement feel about their work. First, Police Lieutenant Thomas Glover. He is a 35year veteran of the force and president of the black Police Association of greater dallas. Glover shared his story just two days after five of his fellow officers were shot and killed by a gunman, ending a peaceful protest against Police Brutality. Newshour weekend anchor Hari Sreenivasan spoke with him in texas. Sreenivasan how long do you think until this Community Heals itself from this . Id like to say were on our way to healing now, but all it takes is the next bad actor to upset that. Sreenivasan we went to see lieutenant Thomas Glover in dallas two days after the police shootings. Hes the president of the areas black Police Association and has the perspective on what its like to be a Police Officer and an African American. I started by asking him if its possible to want criminal Justice Reform while at the same time valuing the life of every Police Officer. I think it is, as an individual im that way, as an African American man, in america with over 35 years on the Police Department, i am that way. The majority of the Police Officers that i know, we all want to see behavior that is improperly exhibited by a Police Officer criminalized. You have to do your job as a Police Officer, and then on the other hand, when you remove your uniform and badge, and you go home, many of us spend our times in the black community. The social organizations we tend to become members of are black, the fraternities, sororities, alumni associations. So, we go from being Police Officers who work in a process where its our duty to do what we were sworn to do, and thats uphold the laws. But then you have some very heinous things that happen. I will not compromise my convictions as an African American male for the convenience of being a Police Officer. Just cant do it. I have reported misconduct. I have reported what i believe was to be excessive force. And i have vigorously tried to call out people who openly practice what i would say were discriminatory acts or racist acts of treatment of people of color. And so, that crossroads is very evident as an African American Police Officer because first of all you are a part of the community. Theres nothing i will ever be able to do that will dissolve my black skin. Nothing. Sreenivasan your unwillingness to compromise both of those identities, has that cost you in your career . Thats the dilemma we are faced with because we are expected to do whatever is necessary to be that officer of the law, 24 7. We are also expected to be the African American brother, father, uncle, cousin, pastor, deacon, 24 7, too. And that makes it a grueling task. I do think that people who are deliberately bringing forth misconduct, who, so to speak, break what you call code of silence, i dont think they have the opportunity to move up in Police Departments the way others do. When you complain about misconduct in many instances, you are labeled as a troublemaker, a militant, youre radical. Sreenivasan the dallas Police Department knows exactly where you stand . Yes, they know. They know where i stand. Sreenivasan there are so many people right now in the country who feel like, if im in trouble the cops are not who i call. How do you change that . Its sad that weve gotten to this point, but it is a fixable problem. Its fixable by people listening. Its fixable by people who commit the heinous acts being prosecuted. And its fixable by always giving people a forum to go in and make a complaint, and listening to it and not discouraging them. Sreenivasan are the concerns of African American communities in the United States right now against Police Departments and how the police or treating them, are they legitimate . I definitely believe that the concerns are totally legitimate. 110 . The concerns of my community ought to be the concerns of mine. It doesnt say that i have to agree with everything thats said. Doesnt mean that everything that is said is true. But you owe it to the community to investigate, to make vigorous attempts at identifying the problem. If i am a member of the Community Whether it be black, hispanic, asian or white and i complain about a police behavioral act that i saw, then we have to deal with it. We cant sidestep it. Stewart and now to the leader of the Largest Police force in the United States, a man who has to deal with issues in his own ranks after a series of high profile cases of Police Brutality in new york city and ongoing protest this summer. In an interview with charlie rose on his pbs program earlier this week, new York City Police commissioner bill bratton addressed the black lives Matter Movement and also had strong words about bad cops. Fix the problem you have to admit you have the problem. I think weve been very up front in american policing in recognizing that we have many problems. Among our ranks, are racists brutal people are criminals. And i think much less of that than there was when i was first in the progression, i can guarantee. Still that percentage that one or two percent certainly, as Police Commissioner here in new york to address so much of the black lives Matter Movement, for example. They have ten areas of purpose that they are demanding change. As i look at those ten points, the majority were already doing in are new york. With black lives matter you have no concerns with black lives matter the name of the organization or the focus of concerns. But the concern i have in the organization that seeks to stereotype us, define us, the germ that allows racism is grow is the stereotype the painting of a wide brush of a race or color or religion. Protesters claiming police are racists, all police are racists that cops are cold blooded killers up the same construct. Exactly. And to continue that quote from my press yesterday, i talked about that would be like us with the 40 million blacks in this country, unfortunate reality theres so much crime in that community, but they are the victims of that crime. Do we define all 40 million blacks as criminals because they have criminals in their flanks no, we seek to focus on those who are committing those acts. So, the problem i have with black lives matter, i dont have a problem with their goal, if you will. Or with even the term black lives matter that they are black so they are but trouble with with some of the rhetoric which is painting with that broad brush 24 idea, of its very origin to go after the police. As the law enforce. Officials weve just stewart as the Law Enforcement officials weve just heard from know solutions to Racial Injustice require not just a desire to change, but the actual tools to make change. The Obama Administration launched my brothers keeper, a public and private initiative in 2014 to create opportunities for young men of color and to address their needs. So, weve asked broderick johnson, assistant to the president , cabinet secretary, and the chair of the my brothers Keeper Task Force to join us from washington d. C. To tell us what progress theyve made. Mr. Johnson, what street this Program Providing that was missing . Thank you very much for having me on. My brothers keeper is providing an opportunity to make transformational change across the country and to do it based on looking at, in a very rigorous way, those points in the life of all kids, but especially the lives of boys and young men of color to see when we can intervene to have an impact. That work has been going very well, what were proud of is the fact that there are over 250 communities across the United States, in all 50 states that have adopted president s vision and framework for our brothers keeper. I notice quite a bit of mentoring in the program. Yes. That stems from the view the president has that every young person needs a caring adult in his or her life. Of course in many, many African American communities and hispanic communities, those boys and young men especially need to have a male figure in their lives. So, weve been working with the nba and working with the ad council and many other groups, to try to provide as many mentors as we possibly can. And weve seen thousands of new mentors take up that responsibility. Is there one program you see that you think is really a truly a Success Story . Yes, detroit. Detroit is one of the premiere my brothers Keeper Community in that they started to work very aggressively from the beginning, involved the community, had very specific goals. One that im especially happy to hear about is that they have a summer jobs program, as do many other communities, of course. They are providing 8,000 summer jobs this summer and 2,000 of those jobs will associate young people in detroit with the Police Department in detroit. Certainly look at issues around Community Policing and trust and young people. Thats an especially important thing to take note of. You bring me to my next question. What impact does my brothers keeper have on the relationship between young black men, young men of color and Police Departments . Well, you know, fundamentally, these issues as weve been talking about in terms of the police and the communities they serve, especially young people of color come down to trust. In many of my brothers keeper communities, in fact, we are seeing they come forth with their own local ideas and plans and familiar sis, we see number of communities focus on Getting Police officials to work with young people, to develop trust, talk about careers and Law Enforcement. But to break down the barriers of trust and fear that we often see, of course that lead to many of the tragedies that we have seen lately. Id like to say, but its important to get beyond aspirations talk about real things. Were very proud that this weekend, largest African American police organization, nobles go to be announcing a partnership with my brothers keep tore directly focus on these issues around trust and relationships between Police Officers and the communities they serve. Especially boys and young men of color. What do you say to folks who are saying, you know what, this is not happening fast enough. Were not getting results fast enough. Well, i guess i would say that we in fact are seeing results. Were seeing tremendous results across the country. Ive been traveling to what we call nbk communities on a regular basis, people are so excited about the work, what theyre excited about is first of all, that this is in accord with a vision of the president of the United States. Second, that is being built to be sustainable so that this work will go on and its making transformational change. And third, though, theres a recognition that we didnt get into these issues overnight. That this is stemming from more than just decades of challenges in this country around race and equity, but centuries. So, will take us awhile certainly to be able to combat a lot of the issues, but that if we chip away, we make progress, we look at results, we focus on what works. In fact we are making a difference. Broderick johnson, thank you so much for taking the time today. Thank you very much. I just dont understand why the world could be, you know, so hateful, especially towards, you know, young men that look like me over something that we have no control over. Its like my skin color is a crime, literally. Its a crime to be black. Ive gotten to the point almost where it feels i never thought about it like this, but being black almost feels like a job. Stewart weve heard the voices of protesters, and police, and government officials. But the conversation Many Americans are having occupies a space that barely existed a decade ago. Social media has not only changed the way we learn about tragedies, its also changed the way we react to them. We get information in real time, sometimes we dont even know the messenger, and the messenger doesnt know us. Newshours Hari Sreenivasan explores the often unfiltered, sometimes angry, and sometimes wonderfully kind world of shared information. Sreenivasan alton sterling struggling beneath police, shot dead. The entire scene captured on nearby cell phones. Diamond reynolds, sitting in the passenger seat of a car broadcasting live on facebook, just after police shot her boyfriend Philando Castile. She calmly narrates as the officer still had his gun drawn just outside the car window. I told him not to reach for it. i told him to get his hand open you told him to get his i. D. , sir, his drivers license. Please dont tell me my boyfriend just went like that. Sreenivasan the next day, reports of the shootings at the protest in dallas quickly spread across social media. A post on twitter read, police have stopped the protest. Shots have been fired. And cell phone videos found their way onto tv. Theres something about video that transforms an event. That transforms our understanding of an event. Sreenivasan David Folkenflik is the media correspondent for National Public radio. He says these videos quickly take on national significance. You get a lot of conversation, people trying to figure out what is going on. And you also see a lot of anger, of hurt, of pain, of anguish, of fairly unvarnished emotions coursing through your streams on twitter, on facebook, on other social media platforms. Sreenivasan the hashtag black lives matter began trending online as it has after so many such videos, but this time it began mobilizing people on the streets in the real world. Black lives matter sreenivasan the protests were recorded and in turn appeared back online. But you might have missed them unless you or your friends were already following the conversation or paying attention to excessive uses of force. Hands up, dont shoot. Hands up, dont shoot. Much of that same kind of polarization is happening online. So we still have that echo chamber we get our news in the place that we like to get our news to tell us we what we want to hear. Sreenivasan Charlton Mcilwain, a professor of media, culture and communication at new york university, says the tenor of the conversation shifted after the shootings of Police Officers in dallas. And i think when dallas happened, what you start to see is that conversation completely turn to cops as the primary victims and then folks on the other side as the villains, really. Sreenivasan angry tweets denouncing the black lives Matter Movement spread quickly online. With messages like, clearly the rhetoric of black lives matters encouraged the sniper that shot dallas Police Officers, and you did this obama, you did this liberals, you did this black lives matter. At the same time, anticop messages like, dont feel bad for those pigs, and im glad 11 cops were shot. They need to learn how we feel. There is a din and a cacophony that emerges. Its loud, its clanging, it is often very much in conflict, people agreeing with each other, kind of pumping one another up. And then you just end up in a polarized conversation where no ones going to listen to each other and everyone is just going to get more angry. Sreenivasan while parts of social media highlighted the differences between people, these same platforms became the space for an outpouring of support to a grieving nation. I appreciate you. Sreenivasan images of people hugging dallas Law Enforcement, were viewed more than 36 million times. The video of a dallas Police Officer the day after the attack got more than seven million views. I love you. I love you, too. Sreenivasan he also had this message. Always remember, i refuse to see hate live while love dies. I refuse to see hate live while love dies. Sreenivasan Charlton Mcilwain says these moments that connect people have an important place in the national conversation. I think they help kind of re humanize the situation. They help sort of become a kind of counternarrative that says look we dont have to see protesters and cops as polar ends of a conversation or antagonistic parties with antagonistic interests. Stewart follow our continuing coverage of issues of race and policing in the United States. Visit us online at pbs. Org newshour. And join the conversation on twitter. Tweet us at newshour and use the hashtag americablackandbluepbs. Discussions about violence are not new at pbs. After ferguson, after charleston, and in the wake of the Elementary School shooting in newtown, connecticut, pbs broadcast and streamed town halls and special reports to help start conversations. Heres newshour anchor gwen ifill from a pbs town hall discussion in st. Louis, missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. Ifill i want to start by talking to reverend Tracy Blackman is the pastor of christ the King United Church of christ. Why dont you join me and talk to me a little bit about the interesting questions people have about you who are in the middle of it all. Is how much it changed you. I dont think that any of us will ever be the same because of ferguson. I pass for a church tin floriston to see what was happening there it doesnt just resonate with me as a pastor but as a mother. I have two black sons who are in their 20s. So i know what it feels like to be targeted, i know what it feels like not to be heard. As a professional in this city, i also travel between both sides, just like there are two fergusons, there are two st. Louises and two americas i travel between both of them. So, to see the great chasm that exists just between a few traffic lights that change the perception of everything that happens to you. Before mike brown. For all of my life, for all of my life, for all of my childrens lives. For all of my parents lives before me. Ifill thank you. Stewart that was almost two years ago after ferguson. But for many African American parents, their fears have not changed. Having to talk to your child about race is something all parents of color know they must do. An upcoming pbs documentary will examine how parents prepare their children to interact with the police by sitting down for the talk. In this excerpt, youll meet two women dealing with the reality of raising African American boys in america. That we cant let our sons out of our front doors. Without giving them instructions on how to come back alive. We have done 16 of these talks around the st. Louis region. The panel has traveled here from memphis to broaden the community and make you a parted of healing, what is going so wrong in america right now. I moved with my son into an allwhite community. I did not expect him to ever be trouble. But they dont have to be. They dont have to do anything, which is the problem. And so when a Police Officer pulled him over i just happened to be with him. I heard something in my sons voice i did not realize existed. He knew he had not done anything wrong. I heard an anger. He wasnt disrespectful. My son kept asking him, what did i do. And i have absolutely no doubt in my mind that had i not been there that situation would have escalated. That is christie created creating conversations, getting participated in memphis shes a minister and a mother who will soon have the talk with her two sons. I hope i never forget the time when i was pregnant with our first son. My husband and i were so excited, we were walking into the doctors office, but i stopped in my tracks, i see a young African American about 12 or 13 years old. His hands were in handcuffs and his feet were shackled. And that just broke my heart wide open, to have a black boy growing inside of my body, that was sort of a first awakening for me about what it might mean to raise a black boy in the United States of america. For so many white people, because of having the privilege of white skin, which affords them the opportunity to be given the benefit of the doubt not the automatically assumed to be suspicious or guilty or up to no good. They are unaware of the ways in which black people and people of color are at first glance perceived in that way. Its not about being color blind, but rather our sons demand to be treated as full human beings who are worthy of dignity and respect. So, as my children are getting older, gradually were going to have these talks with them, because you are an African American, people might not be willing to see you as just a child, or to see you as just a teenager. But might first believe that you are up to something no good and not willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. My husband and are i are in that space now of trying to figure out when we start having those conversations. Stewart parents say they have to prepare their children for the possibility that an encounter with the police could go wrong. But it could also go wrong for the officers who have to prepare for danger and face their own fears. In this excerpt from the documentary, we get a revealing look at how Police Recruits at south carolinas Training Academy learn that a split second miscalculation, an honest mistake, or a brief flash of bias can escalate a routine call into a deadly confrontation. Unit one. Initiating a traffic stop on a black fourdoor sedan license plate, were on main traffic stops are really dangerous. We dont know what were getting into. We have seconds, maybe a minute to evaluate a situation based on the view through a back window to gather information on the person that were stopping. How are you feeling today, are you all right . Doing good. Doing good. Yeah, i get real nervous. No such thing as routine traffic stop. Everyone is different, your adrenaline goes, what is going on, whats happening . The 80yearold lady who just doesnt know that she ran a stop sign. An Armed Robbery suspect. You dont know. And sometimes it takes a turn for the worse. The video is a video that we use in training here during our traffic stop training in week nine. He was a trooper that was killed in the line of duty here in south carolina. Good to go. Thank you, sir. We use that video because it shows a lot of tactical errors. When the suspect gets out of the vehicle. We need to get them to the rear of the vehicle and control his movement while hes outside the vehicle. And thats one of the things mark didnt do. It was tactical errors that we see that ended up costing mark his life. Its a dangerous job, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Aspects of this job that will put Police Officers in harms way. I dont know, man. Gun gun dont move. Almost everybody is carrying a gun now. And they know that each time they encounter somebody. When he came into this business in 1979 i was working narcotics, i was working undercover doing streetlevel buys, nobody i ever bought hardly had a gun back then. I didnt even count on people with guns. Today, everybody has got a gun. Am i the only no. Whenever you hler gun it came out and you guys were straight line, all right. It took you a second to realize it because its like tunnel vision. And it comes back up and youre like, owe thats my partner. Come on, step back over here. I dont want to do my search right here. Im doing it right there on camera. Always on camera. Always, always, always on camera. That video camera is to cover your ass. I can see where anybody that is pulled over with be in peril. That is a scary situation for anybody. Ive been pulled over, it is very scary to be driving down the road and have blue lights and sirens light up in your mirror. I bury my head in the sand think we dont have racism in law enforce; it does exist. It exists all over the United States. But that doesnt mean that we cant make efforts to eliminate racism. Is just that, cultural diversity, we talk about everybody. Peoples prejudices, their beliefs, their thought process. We want to, if anything else get them to think outside of the b box. Stem up outside your comfort zone oftentimes everyone has a bias. But a lot of times, its nothing that theyre trying to be ugly about. Its just thats how i was raised i dont know any different. Ive heard students say, i didnt grow up around anyone white or black. Its decision making. What you have is scenarios, ill show you one here so you can see what it looks like. You got to treat it like the real world. Put yourself in that scarecrow. Okay n here we go. Where is he . Where is he at . Get out drop the gun drop the gun i need to you drop the knife spend all his money on beer, not our kids i understand just drop the knife so we can talk about it. Thank you. I understand. You recognize this, what does she want to do . She wants you recognize that right away away. What the drop the knife have her drop the knife then we can talk. Thats what we got to d. Shes got to drop the knife before we can talk. Excellent. Im not going to change it. I understand. Just drop the knife so we can talk about it. Thank you. Bam, shot, right there. What if he had done that. That wouldnt have been good. In order for officer to utilize deadly force, the weapon, they have to be justified. They have to have all the elements present, the opportunity in jeopardy. You saw a flash coming out from behind her back. I did. Did you all see him . He relaxed. Oh, man, came back out with that bottle right there that would be that quarter second you had to make a decision, holy crap is that a bottle or a gun . Theres no aiming for the hand like in the movies. Or trying to shoot someone in the leg like you see in the movies. That doesnt happen. Only the skill, highly trained Law Enforcement officers do that type of thing. The regular officer on the street with just handgun, they are going to shoot for center mass of the target that they have available and they are shooting to eliminate the threat. We ont want to do anything like that. None much us do. Oftentimes we got to be more reactive than proactive certainly in this type of situation. I got to see what that is, see what is going on with that thing. Get the whole story. Dont assume that something is what it appeared to be. Very seldom is. We look trying to reestablish peace and were trying to actually build the relationship between police and community, but yet here we are out here shooting the police. We cant do. That we have to be able to deal with the process so it was a step back. Stewart while pundits and cable news graphics claim we are a nation divided, the reality is we are a nation of diverse opinions and experiences, but were not necessarily always at odds. Weve invited three people, with three different perspectives, to share their thoughts and discuss how we might find Common Ground on policing, protest and race. Joining me here in the studio are Monifa Bandele Senior Campaign director of momsrising. Org, journalist ian tuttle, a writer and a fellow at the national review, and marquez claxton, director of the black Law Enforcement alliance and a retired new york police detective. Thanks to all of you for being here. Well use first names for this conversation. Monifa, you helped start cop watch in 1999, trained teams all around about how to monitor the police. I want to know from you, what was the hardest thing to get your head around after the events that happened in texas, minneapolis and in louisiana. It was almost surreal when we first started doing cop watch and videotaping police, cell phones didnt exist, viral video was not around. There wasnt even facebook in 1999. So, this idea that people could take video and it could go viral and then it could be Rapid Response to incidence in the way it took a long time before. One is just like really powerful that this way of activism has really developed and exploded in many ways as weve seen in these cities. The other piece i thought about was this new talk now that we have with our children as parents. Which is about watching videos over and over. I found myself each morning when those videos came out was the killing of the man in louisiana and in minnesota, wanted to hurry up get to my children say theres a video out, it will be on snapchat, in your news feed but you need to prepare yourself in a way that we didnt experience when we were younger, because its almost retraumatizing. As a retired Police Officer, what was hard to reconcile for you after the events of the past two weeks . I tell you, it wasnt not difficult to reconcile. They are i expect them at this point given the tragic history of events, given the tragic history of poor Police Community relations given the fact that i realize that we live in a world we have crazy folk out there. And sometimes those crazy people will engage in all types of violent acts. And even sometimes against authority or government, for example. So, there is nothing shocking. It is, however, quite traumatic as monifa end dieted watch, observe these videos over and over again and traumatic to have to live through, explain, rationalize many of the events that the videos depict. Ian, youre a young guy, you write for self identified conservative publication, what about the events 69 past two weeks struck a chord with you . None of these events seem particularly unexpected. Given what weve seen over the past two years. Unfortunately. Unfortunately also i think weve been unwilling to sort of disaggregate what are to a certain extent different events, the need to be sort of properly contextualized, in the deaths we have a certain type of violence and as mow fee fa points out we have instant access to that to the flip side of accountability is snap judgment. Which as we saw in the case of Michael Brown or ready grey, some of these other cases, many of knows snap judgments turn out to be wrong, turn out to be unjustifiable. Where as in dallas we had very obvious case of what was effectively domestic terror. So, its simply important in the context of several different tragedies to also be differentiating the circumstances surrounding these events and by doing that, i think we can figure out more constructive ways to address all of them. We ought to keep in context, keep in Historical Context oftentimes, as was indicated the reaction, the response, some times visceral response, is not of rush to judgment, per se. But it is a reaction to what people see and observe and recognize to be a system that is in need of reform. And that there are individuals out there who act, under the color of law, perpetrate certain offenses against civilian population, at least to their guess. Then the argument becomes, instead of what caused this, how did this happen, was it avoidable. It now becomes a situation where people say, was it justified or not justified. Youre talking about people who react immediately. Think about people who really arent that interested, obviously people are interested about the loss of life and feel pain and sadness about that, but, you know what, really are than deeply involved as activists are. Doesnt affect their daily lives, doesnt come to their front door, arent really interested in police reform. What would you say to those people, this is just a headline they read in the news then move on with the rest of their lives. Its important that we step in other peoples shoes. Thats the only way that were going to come up with a collective solution. Thats the only way were going to be able to actual lies the affirmation that black lives matter. Everyone has to step outside of their own experience and take a look at this. Because there are people right next to them that cant step out of the situation. You talk about people who are removed from this situation. What youre really talking about is white people. Black people cant afford to be totally removed from the situation. Weve heard countless stories no matter the socioeconomic status, no matter where you live, who you are, this is your reality you have to deal with this, address it at some point. Just to be clear, black folk cant afford to be read moved from the situation at any level. Ian, youve written about black lives matter and complimentary about some parts of the movement and criticisms. Tell me one thing you think of the movement is really accomplishing thats positive and something about the movement that troubles you. I think monifa laid out what seems like philosophical Common Ground, the black lives matter in my reading is predicated on this sort of imaginative act of compassion which is step out of yourself, people who dont understand the pain and the fear that does exist in the black community. Step out of your lives and into that position and try to understand it. I think thats a way thats can be very powerful way to dissolve barriers. What im critical of is that a lot of black lives matter activist dont seem to be willing to do that for Law Enforcement. Uplook at a situation like we had shortly after dallas. Where you talked to Police Officers, i have Police Officers in my family who talked about this as well. Police officers across the country were frightened, they were very scared, perhaps more afraid than they have been in years. And the act of a lot of black lives matter demonstrators was to ratchet up tensions. And in places like baton rouge and st. Paul and chicago, to become violent. That to me says that a lot of activists are demanding something of people who dont understand the fear in the black community and theyre not willing to do that for Law Enforcement and for others. Final question for all of you. What could each of you do with people who are in your community, who are likeminded folks whether they be activists or Police Officers or conservative or writers and journalists what is one thing that your community could do to help find Common Ground with other people . What do you any one thing . Promote it is idea that we have to begin honest conversation and dialogue, lets not be in denial about the role that race place in Law Enforcement. Dont be naive about the race place, do not dismiss the experiences of my community, for example. Its not collective hallucination, its reality, substantiate that. Honest education at least action is the key. What is something that activist can do to help find Common Ground with other folk . Activists right now really feel its premature to jump top a kumbaya moment, because so many families are waiting for judgment. The moment has to happen before coming together has to deal with the ongoing denial of justice is happening. We have to actually deal with that and deal with those incidents before we can come together and have some type of resolve. The pain has to stop first before you can come together. Ian, to you . Well, spoke earlier about that, that active imagination, the act of compassion which i think is important for writers who are offering opinions and frequently spend their time needling and the rest, thats sort of the nature, but also a lot of us are on the front lines of policy discussions and i think looking for active ways in which through municipal governments or state governments particularly we can find reforms that Law Enforcement and activists can get behind to push this effort forward. Ian tuttle, Monifa Bandele and marquez claxton, thank you so much. Thanks for having us. Stewart before we go, a reminder that you can watch this program any time, add your comments, and learn more about these issues and our discussions tonight online at pbs. Org newshour. Use the hashtag americablackandbluepbs. This has been a pbs newshour weekend special report america in black and blue. Thank you for watching. Im alison stewart. Good night. Captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org pbs newshour weekend is made possible by bernard and irene schwartz. Judy and josh weston. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. The john and Helen Glessner family trust. Supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. Sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathson an coup in turkey. Late reports today tha m aga th civilian government. In that nato country. 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