Thank you so much. And i just want to say our governor is a rock star, and he makes me proud to be from new york. Oh, thank you very much. You guys are the rock stars. Im just a fan. Thank you so much. Rosie, thank you so much. Chris, thank you. Yes, thank you. You know, i watch you every single day, and you you bring me calm. You bring me joy. Didnt aretha baker sing that, is bring me joy every single day. Because i dont know whats going on. I thought i lived in the united states. I thought i lived in a country, and now i realize we have 50 countries essentially. Right now were in the country of new york. I want to say, i got the test today. I just got tested to come out here. I got a 65, so pass. Just passed. Im actually, we havent been able to perform or do any shows. Im looking at this microphone. Wow. Youre good. Can i say, hi, microphone. I really missed you. I know its been hard, but were going to get back together at some point, and its going to be even better than the last time, microphone. I will never take you for granted. We need, people need to get tested. And people need to make it a festive occasion. They need to posse up and get tested. Like all of the crew is getting tested and the family should get tested and, you know, if you love your grandmother, if you love your elderly mother, your elderly anybody, you should get tested. And its not just, you know, its wherever there are poor people really, wherever people are congested. So, yes, its east new york, yes, its in brownsville. But its also in garrison beach, its also in marine park. So everybody that can get tested,ing should get tested as soon as possible. And im just so, you know, governor called me up and im here to do whatever is required. You know, i hope to god that when this is over, youre still a part of the government. I hope this isnt the last oh, its over. No, i hope this keeps going on. I hope so too. Yeah. That wouldnt be bad. Excuse me, governor, i would also like to say [ speaking spanish ] wear a mask. Polic please, the numbers in our community are staggering. This is not a joke. This is not a hoax. This is real deal, holyfield. Please, love each other, love yourselves. Get tested. Wear a mask. Its like when a doctor prescribes antibiotics. He says take the whole prescription. And if you stop and youve been watching chris rock and rosie perez with Governor Andrew Cuomo as theyre trying to emphasize the importance of wearing a mask of social distancing. First, we have to get to a second light of protest in minneapolis. Our big story today, protests over the death of george floyd turned violent on the second night with one person dyeing, as people are demanding the arrest of the Police Officer who kept his knee on floyds back for at least eight minutes, until he apparently lost consciousness. Demonstrators setting fire to local businesses near a Police Precinct as protesters demand answers as to why 46yearold george floyd died in police custody. Officers in riot gear trying to maintain order. The National Anger spreading, in fact, to los angeles and chicago. This new cell phone video appears to show the moment that floyd steps out of his vehicle and two officers restrain him, they handcuff him. Security footage from a nearby business shows officers walking floyd across the street in handcuffs, no sign of any res t resistance, despite the initial Police Report saying he resisted arrest. More cell phone video showing floyd being pinned down by a Police Officer. And we warn you again, this is difficult to watch. I cant breathe. Please, i cant breathe. Get up, get in the car, man. I will get up, get in the car. Four Police Officers involved in the incident have been fired. His family is calling for arrests. I dont know because i was not there, but hearing the stories of what happened, he gave you all no reason to do what you all did to him. He gave you all no reason. They murdered my brother, and theyre going to pay. Through the courts. Nbcs Shaq Brewster is in minneapolis covering all of this overnight, and for the last two days, in fact. Shaq, lets talk about the protests and the response. Why has there been no response regarding an arrest . Thats exactly the question that you hear from protesters. Thats the question you hear from the family of mr. George floyd, and that is also the same question you hear from the mayor of minneapolis. This their eyes, the video that you see, that original tenminutelong video, that is all you need to have an arrest. As the mayor said, if this were noir person who were not a Police Officer, that person would be arrested. Thats what youre hearing from protesters who yes, came out. It was a day largely much peaceful protesting yesterday and tuesday. But as it went to the evening hours, thats when you saw some of the clashes begin between the protesters and Minneapolis Police department, right down the street behind me. As nightfall came and police were handling their own Police Precinct, thats when you saw them take advantage and loot some businesses and businesses were being burnt down. And new information we have, theres new body camera images or footage we have not from a Minneapolis Police department but Police Park Police district. Its a small police district, about 30 officers. And what you see, it shows us another light. Gives us another angle of what we saw happen and the escalation from that initial Surveillance Video of mr. Floyd getting out of the car and going up to the wall, and then when you see the officer with the knee on his neck. Theres a gap that is there but were getting more clues about what happened in between. Andrea . Shaq, as you were just saying, we do have that video now. Its been heavily redacted by Law Enforcement officials so we dont know what is missing. But lets look at what it does show. Hey, whats your name . And as you can see with the black squares, it is redacted, shaq, as were watching it. I dont know if you have the return video. Its also clear there was some audio on it and then we did not hear audio so we dont know whether or not there was some audio taken out as well. As weve seen, theres very little we hadnt seen previously between the time he was walked across the street to the time that there was an officer with his his knee on the back of his neck, and as weve seen throughout that, from walking across to when he was down on the ground with his face down, he was cuffed the whole time. Shaq . Thats right, andrea. And something we actually learned yesterday from this footage, we just got it in so were still going through it, but officers showed an officer with his knee in mr. Floyds neck. We learned more information about him. Hes a 19year veteran of the police force. Hes been awarded for valor but hes also had about a dozen Police Misconduct complaints against him. Those complaints, its important to note, never led to any disciplinary actions. But we are starting to learn more and more. What you hear and continue to hear on the ground from not only protesters but also officials is the call for transparency. They want that body camera footage from the actual officers involved, they want that to be released. You hear also from the police union and from the governor and attorney general, theyre also saying they trust the investigation. The investigation we know is in the hands of the fbi and state investigators. They trust that investigation to happen. They are asking for time to allow that to happen. But if you hear and listen to state authorities, they say they want to move quickly. They want to be transparent with this and they want to have answers quickly. Theyre not saying that necessarily means charges but they do want to have an answer or a decision quickly so that you dont have repeat instances of what we had last night. Andrea . Shaq, thanks so much. Thank you for all of your reporting from there. Its so valuable to us. Meanwhile, former nba player Stephen Jackson on the today show said he was a lifelong friend of george floyd. He called him his twin. Jackson told craig melvin, who found this on instagram, how difficult its been to watch the videos of his friend. It hurt, man. It hurt because i knew that was a cry for help. Im a black man. And im a strong black man. And i know floyd. Thats a cry for help. We dont scream our mothers name like that unless we know something is wrong and our life is in jeopardy and we cant control it. That was a cry for help. He even cried out for his kids. Its tough to see. Joining me now is jeh johnson, former Homeland Security security secretary in the obama administration. I want to ask you your reaction to what Stephen Jackson just said about his having seen the video and then realized it was his very close friend. Must have been remarkably painful, andrea. My reaction is this, my own reaction. As a former prosecutor, former Law Enforcement officer, i want all of the facts. I dont want to rush to judgment. I want to see the medical examiners report about how mr. Floyd died. But having said that, that much of the encounter, which we can see on video, is horrible. I can think of no legitimate Law Enforcement reason why a Police Officer would put his knee and much of his body weight on a persons neck to the point where the person is screaming i cant breathe. It reminds me, with a lot of these incidents that are documented on film, that happened to be documented on film, how many instances of Excessive Force are there that dont happen to be on camera . And then on a broader point, this is another remind every of why its so important that our Law Enforcement officers on the street be trained in tactics of deescalation. When youre in an encounter like this and the civilian is becoming very agitated, we dont know whether thats in this case, but the civilian, his family, people around him are becoming very agitated, trained officers in the tactics of deescalation, where they have the ability to calm everybody down and walk away and ask themselves, hey is this really worth it over a 20 counterfeit bill or running through a stop sign or counterfeit cigarettes or something of that nature, if it threatens to blow up an entire community. And theres also a position of a police force reflecting the color and demographics of a community, which i suspect is very much an issue in minneapolis now. And jeh johnson, the other question, you referred to the possibility this was possibly suspected nonviolent issue, possibly, according to the store owner, a counterfeit 20 bill he may or may not have even known was counterfeit according to the store owner involved. Its a nonviolent issue. Hes not armed. Theres no allegation he was armed. They claimed the initial Police Report falsely he was resisting arrest. From everything we know, pass elizabe passersby, theres no resistance. And theres another camera, looking on despite of passersby, let him up, let your knee up, he cant plea, and his own pleas, which raises the question of police practice. This was not a permitted practice according to the minneapolis mayor. Andrea, just before i got on this call, i was talking to a very good friend of mine who is a retired decorated Police Officer. Spent his entire career in the police force. We were arguing about this. He was saying to me, we dont know all of the facts. We dont know all of the facts. We dont know all of the facts. I said to him, look, you and i both know if you had been on the scene and you observed even two or three seconds of what was happening, you would have said to that officer step back, get off this mans neck. Its common sense. The one analogy i can draw from my own experience, when i was secretary of Homeland Security, i used to tell our i. C. E. Force, our enforcement and removal Law Enforcement officials, dont let one incident turn into an entire scandal that undermines your ability to work effectively in communities where you have to exist. Lets apply some common sense as to how we approach situations and not be part of the reason why the situation escalated and spiraled out of control like this one has, obviously. Finally, jeh, i know that you are the father of a son, africanamerican son, obviously. What advice do you give to your son growing up . This is something that all black men have to live with wherever they are in our society, in our majority white society. Right, right. He and i have talked many times about this. My conversations with my son will stay conversations with my son. The one thing ill tell you is i once told him about an encounter i had where another Law Enforcement officer and i were in a vehicle, we got pulled over on the new jersey turnpike. Law enforcement officer had a gun on her on her waist, and she said, put your hands on the dashboard. I said why . Because when this Police Officer approaches the vehicle and he sees the gun, hes going to panic, so we have to have our hands in plain sight. Theres a role for civilians here. But, again, it comes back to the Law Enforcement officer. The Law Enforcement officer is in the position of superior authority. So very often its up to the Law Enforcement officer to deescalate the situation and apply common sense. And not allow tensions to rise and not be part of the problem, be part of the solution. Jeh johnson, thank you very, very much. Of course, general counsel at the pentagon and former Homeland Security secretary. Thank you for being with us today. 3450e7b whimeanwhile the whs claiming political bias for social Media Companies as a white house executive order designed to limit the sites like twitter and facebook to police their platforms from false statements as President Trump denounced twitter for Fact Checking his tweets on mailin balloting. Twitter Ceo Jack Dorsey did that under considerable media pressure while Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg refused to note false claims on his platform. Joining me now is White House Correspondent and weekend today cohost kristen welker. The president ironically is talking about being censored on twitter when it was his false claims against joe scarborough, his attacks against nancy pelosi, whos coming up next, and also a lot of other democratic officeholders, Stacey Abrams and others, all of his false k4r5iclaims that are fina being factchecked on twitter, belatedly 134 woul belatedly some would say. Thats right. And we see this deranged reaction from President Trump when twitter started Fact Checking some of his tweets. He accused twitter of bias against conservatives. This is a longstanding criticism of the president and his allies had against not only twitter but facebook as well, despite the fact there is no evidence of specific bias against conservatives. What we are watching for today, andrea, we expect President Trump to sign an executive order that would effectively roll back the legal immunity that is given to immediate yMedia Companies lk and twitter for their content, which protects them from being held liable from the content that is on their site. The fact check to that, andrea, and this comes from our pete williams, is really only congress can remove this protection, this 1996 protection that was put in place. The question becomes how and what if any teeth will this executive order actually have . Is this not more of a political statement by President Trump, something that will be aimed at energizing his base . The president tweeting about this earlier today, andrea, saying, quote, this will be a big day for social media and for fairness. Its also worth mentioning, of course, the First Amendment limits the governments ability to regulate free speech. So i would expect even if President Trump, if and when he does sign this executive order, it could be subject to a lot of legal scrutiny, andrea. Just a quick point here is that, of course, america passed that grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from covid19, and about 1 00 eastern time yesterday, he had 25 tweets today before he personally tweeted at 9 37 this morning about that covid19 horrible milestone. Jacob, i know youre out on the west coast in san francisco. How is this playing with social media power players like jack dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, who were on opposite sides of this argument initially . I think, andrea, you will see theres very little daylight in between their positions but all social Media Companies are reacting as they hear this news of this possible executive order, which would really shoot at the heart of their Business Model. This is what Mark Zuckerberg had to say on cnbc in an interview aired today i dont think that facebook or internet platforms in general should be arbiters of truth. I think thats kind of a dangerous line to get down to. Of course, we have lines. So just because we dont want to be determining what is true and false doesnt mean that politicians or anyone else can just say whatever they want. Heres jack dorsey then tweeting, well continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally and we will admit to owning any mistakes we make. This does not make us an arbiter of truth. All of these companies watching closely to see what this executive order will see because the protections kristen mentioned are so important to that Business Model, andrea. Thank you so much, jacob. Joining us now from capitol hill, House Speaker nancy pelosi. Madam speaker, thank you for joining us on this very busy day. First, your reaction on this proposed platform from the white house against social Media Companies. I think its just typical President Trump. A distraction. 100,000 people more than 100,000 people have died from the coronavirus, this administration has been a failure in terms of what were doing when testing and tracing and treating and isolating people. The president has been a terrible example of not wearing a mask, belittling those who do. So anything he does is a distraction from the problem at hand. People are dyeing, and someone is burning and all people want to talk about is what he said next about this. That is a success for him. So i just will not go there. Its about testing, testing, testing, to open up our schools so our children can go back safely. Its about opening up our economy, so we can flourish. Its about saving lives. And all of this is a distraction from the problem at hand. We have people dyeing and hes talking about one thing and another and then monopolizes the whole conversation. I simply wont go there. Let me just ask you, because the initial reason that jack dorsey used for Fact Checking him was on mailin voting. He is potentially influencing the accuracy, the possibility of the election. He does if we take it up. Let me just say as far as the platforms are concerned one thing, im just yes. As far as the platforms are concerned, they want two things from the federal government, no regulation and no taxes. So they cater to the Trump Administration all the time. I think Mark Zuckerbergs statement was a disgrace. And twitter, theyre not taking off any accusations the president is making about joe scarborough. They know thats not true. They do a token thing and think its okay. Again, i dont know if theres honor among thieves but thats the they only have a Business Model to make money, not to convey facts. Thats what theyre about. Again, i see it as a distraction from what is the challenge at hand, which is to save lives. And every day the president comes up with another stunt, and every day airwaves are full of that stunt without holding him fully accountable for the lives that are lost because we dont have under his leadership an appropriate testing. We do in the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act. H. E. R. O. E. S. Act has a robust, Rapid Testing where were reaching out to underserved communities. Areas of color which are seriously affected disproportionately. Were saying that were going to test, were going to trace, were going to treat, were going to save lives as we engage in isolation and the rest. Other countries have not had the death toll some of the other countries havent. They dont have a vaccine. They dont have any cures. But they do have good practices. And the president is a bad example. We have to keep our eye on the ball of saving lives to open the economy so that we can come back Even Stronger working together. Theres so much to ask you about, including the tragedies that took place in minneapolis. But in following up on the covid19 for a moment, i also want to ask you about alameda county, about whats happening, hot spots including in your home area. Are we reopening too soon . Possibly in response to the white house pressure and the lack of modeling from the president that you have been talking about. Or do you think that the governors can handle this . Theyve been having huge setbacks. You have to, in other words, you see examples of people piled together in a pool here or there and youre thinking that isnt smart. Its in fact very dangerous. And any encouragement to do that is very dangerous and the president does encourage that. I like to ignore him because what he says and does has no relationship to the challenges that we face but the fact is, in terms of what we need to do, what this country needs, we have it in our legislation. Weve had it from march 4th legislation testing, testing, testing. They just wont do it. But they dont want to face the reality of what is happening out there. So when we talk about opening up, its foolish to open up in any way other than that, which has guidelines about distancing and masks and the rest. And to do so in a way that preserves health and not endangers people. Because when you go out there, youre not only endangering yourself, youre bringing something home to your children or your parents if theyre older in that category with the predisposition. So this is about acting unselfishly. You dont wear a mask, youre being very selfish. Its not about how strong you think you are, its how unconcerned you are about what you might spread to someone else. Of course, we all want to be out. Thats natural. I like the idea of fresh air, as a matter of fact, for my children and grandchildren. However, you have to do so in a very, very safe way. And thats what leadership the administration should be taking instead of saying magically its a hoax. Magically, this, that and the other thing. Face the facts, face the reality of what it is, and only then well be able as we understand the challenge, address the needs, do it in a robust and fast way so that we diminish the death toll. And i did want to turn to the terrible death of george floyd, which is inflaming protests not only obviously in minnesota but chicago and l. A. Stephen jackson, a close friend of floyd, former member of the bay areas legendary 2007 we believe golden state warriors. He spoke about the loss today. Let me play a little bit about that to you. Whats killing me the most about this whole thing is being a professional athlete, so many people abuse your friendship and your kindness, and hes was one of those guys that genuinely supported me. He didnt call if he needed you. He didnt have any motives. Floyd was that guy. Madam speaker, what is it going to take for our country to address the issue of Police Violence against people of color across this country repeatedly year after year . Its really quite a challenge. Lets just personally address though the floyd case. Its so very, very sad because the American People saw an execution, a murder right before our very eyes. It wasnt selfdefense. There has to be justice in that case. And to hear mr. Jackson and then bridget, mir. Floyds sister, talk about him, he was a gentle perp. He wouldnt hurt a fly. So lovely, so missed, our prayers are with them. But whether or not he hurts a fly doesnt matter if he should be executed on tv or any place we saw it so you cant deny it or qualify it, so justice has to be done. It must be prosecuted. In any case, the, my congressional caucus, i just got off the phone with chair chairman bass, theyve been talking about this issue for a very long time because its been with us for a very long time. Initiatives on the social status of black men and boys that they are putting forth and the Judicial Committee is writing about this to the Justice Department just about recent cases. Say in the past number of years theres been a thousand cases of deaths from police brutality. Overwhelmingly the overwhelming numbers are blacks. So the data is there. The challenge is there. And we cannot it cannoting ignored, nor has it been by our leadership in terms of our black caucus and others. But we just have to take this moment. I probably shouldnt say this because every single okay is a terrible tragedy, but at this time, when were so sad about the loss of so much life, in some cases so unnecessarily, and the fragility of life, to see a life taken, it hits in a very, very sad and special way. Mr. Arbery as well. Thank you very much. Everyone appreciates your comments on this case. Thank you for taking the time. Always wonderful to be with you. Were going to have a moment of silence on the floor for the over 100,000 that have passed away. A moment of silence is worthless if we dont take action to carry more deaths of those who died in our hearts. Thank you very much. Very good to be with you. Understood. Thank you very much, madam speaker. And the minneapolis mayor, mayor frey, is going to be speaking in briefing soon. Well have that live. Our homes. Overnight, they became our offices, schools and playgrounds. All those places out there are now in here. 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Zeke emanuel, Vice President of globe n nivtives at the university of pennsylvania said bringing summer camps back and author of the book which country has the worlds best health care . Zeke, thank you very much for joining us. Tell me, why do you think its safe for kids to go to summer camp and i assume youre talking about sleepaway camp, not just day camp . We have to primarily focus on day camp. There are longer sleepaway camps which probably can be done very well. But first of all in the summer, a lot of activities are outdoors. That helps. Kids are at relatively low risk of serious complications. You can educate them about wearing masks, handwashing, social distancing. You can put them into pods. And then theres all of the advantages of camp, socialization, negotiation with other kids, learning, socializing. And the alternatives, as you mentioned, are pretty stark this summer. And if we also want to get their parents to work, we have to figure out what to do with children. Is it risk free . As we acknowledge in the atlantic article, its not risk free. Some kids will definitely get covid. Some kids unfortunately might take it home and infect their families. But we have to balance the odds. Nothing in this whole situation is risk free. What we do know about spread of covid is that its high contact in close quarters over an extended period of time. So if we organize summer camps so we just dont have high contact in close quarters indoors over an extended period of time, it can be safe. Theres a lot of logistical challenges, a lot of financial challenges but i do think that for kids, its probably in general a good idea. There are obviously specific kids with medical problems or obesity or other issues where this probably is too high risk. The president was tweeting the other day about we should reopen schools. What about schools and indoor activities . Thats a whole different issue, isnt it . Exactly, thats a whole different issue. Fortunately on the school issue we dont have to make a decision until august, september. We can look to other countries. Denmark is a good example. They decreased the number of kids in a classroom, built classrooms outside in tents where you can open up the windows and increase the ventilation. They did handwashing every hour. You wear face masks. Again, you try to keep kids in pods so theyre not intersecting with 20, 30, 40 kids but with 5 or 10 kids on a daily regular basis. Sometimes we might have to have half the kids one day and half the kids the other day. Again, we have to be creative about this. The advantage among children, even with this multi system inflammatory syndrome with children and with some of the other complications is in general, very, very low risk. There are unknown longterm complications. But we have to remember the base lyon which again were comparing it. Childrens lives are not risk free. Being isolated, trying to learn from a screen, not socializing, being at home, these are not in general good for children either. I think this is a complicated tradeoff situation. And we suggest for the vast majority of children the tradeoff is probably beneficial for summer camp out doors. Indoors, as you point out, andrea, does present more complications. It does require more rigor in terms of cleaning surfaces, ventilation and maintaining six feet separation and wearing face masks. All such useful information, dr. Zeke emanuel. As always, thank you for being with us. Be sure to catch zeke on his podcast making the call. And now to an nbc news exclusive, scientists have discovered blood markers that could identify the Mysterious Illness striking children that is linked to covid19. Nbcs villain marks has the latest. Reporter this 4yearold can be a key to the fight in the mysterious disease linked with covid19. Just ten days ago she was in the hospital fighting for her life. Her mother shannon already recovered from covid19 when tea started to get sick. What was hurting the most . Belly. Reporter your belly. Did it really hurt . But first doctors insisted it was nothing serious. But days later her temperature continued spiking. I think thats when they got worried and they phoned. Reporter coronavirus does not impact most children but tea had a rare and deadly infection that affected hundreds of kids w0r8d wide, including new york state, where three have died. Joining us now from london is nbcs ville up marks. Its very exciting they found this marker. Excuse me, im so sorry, but the minneapolis mayor has just come out, so lets go to jacob frey first. What weve seen in the last two days in the emotionally ridden conflict over the last night is the result of so much builtup anger and sadness. Anger and sadness that has been engrained in our black community, not just because of five minutes of horror, but 400 years. If youre feeling that sadness and that anger, its not only understandable, its right. Its a reflection of the truth that our black community has lived. While not from lived experience, that sadness must also be understood by our nonblack communities. To ignore it, to toss it out, would be to ignore the values we all claim to have that are all the more important during a time of crisis. I believe in minneapolis i love minneapolis. And in believing in our city, we must believe that we can be better than we have been. We must confront our shortcomings with both humility as well as hope. We must restore the peace so that we can do this hard Work Together. I want to know what georges girlfriend courtney said about george. He was all about love and all about peace. He did not receive that love and that peace from our officers on the night of may 25th. But we can still honor him by practicing those values during a time of great strife. That is the task ahead of us. And at this time when one crisis is sandwiched against another, this could be the marker. This could be a point in time when several years from now we can look back to know that we rose to right the wrongs of the past. Not just with records but with action. We will be working with community. We need to be working with community to sort through those set of action steps. Time where we picked up the rubble, a time where we picked up the rubble, the glass, and found peace in our hearts. Not an ignorant peace, but an awakened one, where we can truly make change possible. So in the coming days we will have an allout effort to report peace and security in our city. I have authorized a unified command structure that allows our chief arradondo to utilize resources personnel from other jurisdictions. Weve requested assistance from the state, and were thankful to the governor for the support as well as from the state patrol. This work is about protecting the community. This work is about protecting infrastructure needed to get through this pandemic together. Our communities need these assets. Especially during a pandemic, our communities need Grocery Stores for food, we need banks for cash. We need pharmacies for needed medication. Lets hold these communities dear by doing right by them and by safeguarding them. And these Community Assets we know they need, especially during a pandemic. We need to offer radical love and compassion that we all have in us. I believe in this city, and i know that you do too. Next i would like to invite up council Vice President andrea jenkins, whos been a tremendous leader. Amazing grace how sweet is the sound that saved a wretch like me i grew up in a religious family, in a religious home. I grew up in a church with reverend jeremiah wright, and he talked about these injustices every sunday. I want to offer some Amazing Grace to bridget floyd, philonise floyd, tara floyd, rodney floyd, to the entire floyd family, my deepest condolences and sympathies are with you in this traumatic, tragic moment of grief. I also stand here to grieve with my community today. With all of the black people all throughout this country, all throughout america, and right here in minneapolis, we feel as if there was a knee on all of our collective necks. The need that says black life does not matter to the institutions that dictate what happens in this culture and society. I am a part of this system to help to take that knee off of our necks. And that is the work that i will be doing. As we stand here grieving yet another loss of black life, a senseless, tragic loss of black life, i really dont have many words but i know that somethings got to change. And so i am asking my colleagues, the mayor, and anyone else who is concerned about the state of affairs in our community to declare a state of emergency declaring racism as a Public Health issue. Until we name this virus, this disease that infected america for the past 400 years, we will never, ever resolve this issue. To those who say bringing up racism is racist in and of itself, i say to you, if you dont call cancer what it is, you can never cure that disease. And so in an effort to try and cure this disease, i am stating exactly what everyone else has witnessed, and that is racism. Today is a sad day for minneapolis. Its a sad day for america. Its a sad day for the world. I want to remind all of the people that are in the streets protesting, you have every absolute right to be angry, to be upset, to be mad, to express your anger. However, you have no right to perpetrate violence and harm on the very communities that you say that you are standing up for. We need peace and calm in our streets, and i am begging you for that calm. We will be working with black Community Leaders to develop and create a healing space at the site of the 3rd precinct so that people can grieve, express their concerns, their anger in a safe and humane way. This is a tragic moment. Like mayor frey, i love the city of minneapolis. I have spent the last 41 years as a resident of this city, and this is my home. And we cannot allow outsiders or our own residents to destroy our city. So we want to Work Together to ensure that people have their voices heard in a safe and in a safe manner. And thats my commitment. In the words of leroy williams, who was a firsthand eyewitness to mr. George floyds terrible demi demise, weve got to make a change, bro. Thank you. Thank you, mayor frey. Thank you countVice President jenkins. I want to first say im absolutely sorry for the pain, the devastation and the trauma that mr. Floyds death has left on his family, his loved ones, our community here in minneapolis and certainly across the country and the world. And i know that our community is in trauma and that they are trying to find ways to heal. From the very beginning, i wanted to make sure and ensure, and we will continue to do that, that those who are wanting to express their First Amendment rights and go through this healiheal ing process, that theyll absolutely have that from me. And thats a guarantee as your chief. But that being said, even prior to mr. Floyds death, we have had a community thats been in trauma for quite some time. And what i cannot allow as chief is for others to compound that trauma. And so if individuals, as occurred last night, are committing behavior and acts which are criminal, which are looting our businesses, as council Vice President jenkins mentioned are so vital to the health and vitality of our community, if they are looting those stores, if they are robbing people of essential needs and services for themselves, their families and certainly in this pandemic their loved ones, if they are setting buildings and structures on fire, which are harming the safety of our elderly and our youth, i cannot allow that as chief. And so i know that there is currently a deficit of hope in our city. And as i wear this uniform before you, i know that this department has contributed to that deficit of hope. But i will not allow to continue to increase that deficit by retraumatizing those folks in our community. So i am committed to making sure that we restore peace and security in our community. As mayor frey said, were going to have a unified command system. Were going to have resources to make sure, again, that all parts of our city from the phillips neighborhood to north minneapolis to downtown, that all of our sections of our city have that. We want to continue to make sure that our community can come and gather in spaces to, again, to heal, to grieve in honor, certainly, of mr. Floyd. But i cannot allow criminal acts to occur and threaten the safety and also again compound the trauma that already exists. I have been in constant communication with Community Leaders, members from our faith community, community healers, and as both mayor frey and council Vice President jenkins mentioned, they want to make sure they have that space and a safe space for those folks to do that. And so we will continue to do that. But again, i want to just acknowledge my condolences to mr. Floyd, his family and friends. Thank you. Well stand for a few questions. I need to leave in a few minutes, though. How did things get so out of hand last night . Were you guys prepared for what happened . What we experienced, which was a different dynamic shift from the first evening of the demonstrations were there was a different tenor last night. There was a Different Group of individuals. And i want to preface this. The vast majority of people that have come to gather have been doing so peacefully. But there was a core group of people that had been focused on causing some destruction. Certainly we saw that with some of the looting and setting fires. We were certainly prepared in terms of that immediate area to provide for the safety, but if you followed, of course, the events last night, the crowds got larger and became more mobile. And so, you know, our number one priority is the preservation of life. We wanted to make sure we were looking at that from those who were gathering peacefully in the area who were also being threatened and at risk, our neighboring residents and those businesses. And so there was a shift that certainly occurred last night. Allegations that two of the people who started some of the breakins, looting of businesses were folks outside agitators. Weve been hearing people all over social media. Any leads on that . We continue to follow that information, that intel and keeping the mayor briefed on that. It was clear to me and also hearing from our local Community Leaders that many of the people that were involved in the criminal conduct last night were not known minneapolitans to them. There were certainly people involved in the activities last night that were certainly not recognized as being here from the city. Any Police Officers hurt from yesterday and the National Guard coming in or any updates on that . So we did have some reports of injuries to some of our Police Officers. Im happy to report no significant injuries. There were some Community Members out there demonstrating who also suffered some minor injuries. Fortunately, no significant injuries that im aware of. Mayor frey, in terms of a National Guard request, mayor frey is the only person that can make that formal declaration. He has had conversations with governor wallace. Do you feel you have control over the city . And what about peoples safety tonight . Well, one of the things that im very proud of also being a born and raised here in the city, over the course of the last several days ive been talking to many friends, family in our Broader Community who have said they want to make sure that even though were experiencing trauma and pain and grief in our city, they dont want to exacerbate that. So they are going to be out there. Youll start seeing more of our, again, community healers. Faith leaders. Our elders and even our youth. And so youll see a shift in that today. So im always hopeful because its the same community thats supported me throughout my career. [ inaudible ]. Yes, i have made that phone call to the governor and it has been requested. Was there a response back from him . The governor and the state have been very helpful. But i would further direct that i believe they will be in contact shortly. What do you say to the businesses and targets that were looted. Its tragic all the way around, this whole thing. What do you have you had contact with any businesses