Transcripts For MSNBCW The Cycle 20141125

Off here. Traffic is not being allowed. It has not been allowed to enter this, you know, fourblock radius of west florissant for the past, oh, id say, 14 hours or so now. Its been blocked off. Were told its blocked off because it is still being considered a crime scene. This is, of course, where last night gunshots rang out. There were a number of the stores were looted here. One, two, three four were set on fire as well. In fact, behind me, we just saw in the past ten minutes or so, we just saw some workers arrive to set up some fencing around whats left of that Public Storage facility. We are expecting more protests tonight. In fact, weve already seen a handful of organized protests so far today. There was one over in clayton. Nothing like what we saw last night. Largely peaceful. Much smaller as well. Again, expecting to see more of that over the course of the afternoon and evening. More than 80 people arrested. 15 buildings set on fire. Dozens more than that vandalized and looted. What we still do not know at this point what tonight is going to look like. Is it going to resemble what we saw last night or is it going to be calmer, which is what we heard from mike browns family earlier today, calling for calm. It is also what were likely going to hear from the mayor of ferguson, who set to speak in a few moments. Were also expecting, expecting being the operative word here, were expecting the mayor to speak on Darren Wilsons status. What that means, we dont know but we have been told the mayor of ferguson is going to talk about the 28yearold officer who was cleared yesterday by that grand jury. So, again, thats going to happen any moment now. I can also tell you, maybe a half mile or so from here, we have started to see more officers show up. Again, presumably these are the officers who are going from business to business with some of these Business Owners to try and take them in and salvage whats left. A number of these places, while they were not set on fire, the vandalism, the damage that was done, is certainly going to be into the thousands. Thats whats happening on the ground right now. Again, this is the warmest its been here in ferguson since ive been on the ground. The weather much nicer, but the streets, completely empty right here. Craig melvin, live in ferguson. Thank you so much. Appreciate your reporting. As we await comments from fergusons mayor James Knowles, lets turn to what has been seemingly lost in the chaos of last night, which is the reasoning behind the grand jurys decision not to criminally charge officer wilson, the Prosecutors Office late last night. Publicly released most of the evidence presented to the grand jury. To help us break down their decision, we bring in shawn henry, a former top member of the fbi. Weve also got karen desoto, criminal defense attorney. Thank you for being with us. Thanks. I wanted to talk a little to you first about the preparations for this decision. A lot of thought seemingly went into preparing the situation so we have the best chance of calm and peace following this decision. We know Governor Nixon activated the National Guard. He declared a state of emergency. Do you think those preparations were appropriate in terms of trying to maximize the chance for peace here . I think certainly in ferguson theyre looking for calm. They want to ensure what wed seen previously in august is not repeated. A number of great people in those communities. You want to protect those, et cetera. I think the Police Officers would have been well prepared. It appeared to me from some of the scenes that i saw on in the media yesterday, they were very deliberate in their actions, the way they were placed, strategically placed around the city and the officers seemed to respond in a good way. They prepared for, this as krystal was saying, for weeks, the governor called a state of emergency the week before. There were Ground Troops National Guard troops on the ground. Yet we seem to be debating why they decided to announce the decision after dark, after 8 p. M. At night. I mean, within minutes you saw fire on the streets. Why did they decide to do that . This seemed like a nobrainer to make this decision in the light of day. Who ultimately made that decision . Well, usually its the assignment judge who would make that decision. Obviously, the indictment is going to be handed up to a judge and theyre going to make a decision. Quite frankly, i think they were trying to make it as quickly as thanksgiving, so use thanksgiving as a buffer so if there was violence, people would go home and make their turkeys or have plans with family. It would possibly lessen the blow. I think they were trying to get it aas close to wednesday as they could. I think thats partially. Night is more dangerous. Do it during the morning, during commuter hours and hopefully it would die out by the nighttime but thats not what happened here. Another mistake was made. As were speaking, of course, were awaiting to hear this live press conference, the first time well hear from the mayor today on what has been described as an announcement regarding the status of darren wilson. We can see theyre setting up that poetd yum. Another announcement that will be of interest not only to members of this community but people around the country. Talk to us about what were about to see to some degree in the context of what you know, the risk that faces officers every day. The president spoke about it last night. Police go out when they go to work and they dont know if theyre going to come home that night. Thats a serious risk. Yet, in a situation like this, what you have is a community thats separate from a Legal Process that issued no true bill, no indictments. They said theyre not sure if this particular officer, separate from the law s someone they want working the streets. You had a grand jury that looked at this, looked at all the evidence. They introduced scores of witness, interviewed the evidence and came back with no true bill. The community is concerned but i think whats important for citizens arent the country to recognize is the state that officers face every single day, where they do fear for their life. They absolutely put their lives on the line. Whats going through the mayors mind here as he tries to talk to this community about the status of this officer . Or what should be going through his mind . I think he wants to look at what the impact is going to be across the board to the community and to the officer himself. I think a lot of people would agree that an officer going back into that environment on the heels of this incident and the subsequent incidents, that probably is not the best idea. Theyll probably look to talk about how they can diffuse whats happening with the community and where the officer will ultimately end up. Were waiting, as ari said, the mayor of ferguson, James Knowles, to come out and address the country. A question for you, and then, karen, i want toyour answer on e same question. We have the difficulty of being a Police Officer, never knowing for sure if you are actually going home that day. The vast majority of Police Officers do their job very well, admirably, honorably. In that context, its very, very rare for grand juries not to return an indictment, except when were talking about Police Officers, in which case it is very rare for grand juries to return an indictment for an onduty killing. Why is that . Police officers are out every day protecting the citizens. In the unlikely event they have to discharge their weapon and someone is injured or killed, the grand jury will look at the totality of the circumstances. In those cases, Police Officers are oftentimes defending themselves. We dont have Police Officers going around assassinating people. Theyre defending themselves. Their life is threatened. Ive been in those situations many times, going into a certain situation. You dont know whats around the next corner. Police officers are well trained. They work closely with the community oftentimes. When you dont get a true bill back, i think the grand jury in looking at the totality of the circumstances recognize officers exercising due course of their responsibility make splitsecond decisions and judgments in defense of their lives and the lives of others. Karen, same question to you. Are you comfortable with the fact in american Juris Prudence its xroertdly rare for grand juries to return indictments against Police Officers for these sorts of shootings . Its rare to have a grand jury against a Police Officer to begin with. This is a unique situation. Theres a lot of very specific things going on there. Youre talking to an attorney who is a civil rights attorney, married to a lieutenant. I can certainly see both sides. Ive been a prosecutor and defense attorney on both sides of this aisle. Grand juries do a great job. I will disagree with some of my colleagues who believe that a grand jury needs to be led. We have us attorneys say you can indict a ham sandwich and that isnt meant in a positive light. I dont think grand jurors are people who are stupid. I think they can absorb the information, the statutes and i think they can do a good job. So, the fact that theres a lot of controversy whether this grand jury should have been led or pointed in the right direction, i have a lot of faith in these particular jurors and jurors across the country that are able to make these hard decisions and put aside their lives to do it and to serve. Hang with us. I want to get craig melvin back in here. If you could speak to what has been a bit of an unusual process. And fact that it is, in fact, very rare for a Police Officer to be indicted, what is the communitys reactions been to that set of circumstances . Reporter before i get to that, i want to go back to something you were talking about a few minutes ago with regard to the behavior of the police. We were stationed in front of the Ferguson Police department for much of the night. We saw sort of from beginning to end, i mean, before the announcement was made, you had roughly 25, 30 officers at that point. They had formed a line in front of the police department. There was also a wrought iron fence separating them from the protesters. They werent in their riot gear. And then as word spread of the announcement and people began to hear that there was not, in fact, going to be an indictment, the crowd grew. The crowd became louder. And we heard and saw a number of threats leveled at the police. And 110 days ago, i saw i saw the police and the protesters and the interaction. And i saw occasionally a Quick Response on the part of Law Enforcement. Last night there were no Quick Responses. We saw more than, id say, 15, 20 bottles, pieces of fruit at one point, a mega phone, hurled at these officers. At that point, mind you, they were in full riot gear. They were wearing nir masks, shield and batons as well. And the officer stood there, even when the barricade that had been created after the announceme announcement, even when that barricade had been breached and a few folks came over the fence. They did not engage. The engagement started about an hour later when they asks folks in the street to disperse. Some marchers and demonstrators started marching on south florissant, and thats when you saw Police Cruiser overturned, another Police Vehicle set on fire as well. That is when we saw the flares come out and then the tear gas. It was interesting this morning, one of the one of the local politicians, they were very upset that police had not done more to protected business. So, youve got this very interesting juxtaposition here. On the one hand, you have folks upset police didnt do more and then, fof course, you know, in the wake of Michael Browns shooting, there were a lot of folks who were livid the police did so much. One thing we expect the mayor to talk about here in a few moments when the News Conference starts, we expect him to address another criticism thats been leveled. The National Guard was called up, you know, about a week ago, i believe. You did not see a lot of National Guard troops last night. And governor mixon has called up even more National Guard troops. So, i think were expecting to hear the mayor talk about exactly where those National Guard troops last night and what were they doing. Craig, what did the Community Think about that . We saw more press releases from Governor Nixon about the guard than actual showing of the guard itself. There was a press release put out after well after midnight local time, as he was saying the guard was not to be seen in most parts of town. We were talking to some folks in the wake of everything last night stuff had died down. That was the first question they wanted to know, wheres the guard . We dont know. Maybe well get light shed on precisely what they were supposed to be doing. What we were told the National Guard would be doing is essentially providing additional manpower to the Ferguson Police Department Last night. I saw the Ferguson Police department the Ferguson Police force last night. I did not see a number of National Guardsmen. We saw a number of vehicles but they appeared to be driven and operated by members of the Highway Patrol. Thats something thats that we know the mayors going to talk about here in just a few moments. You know, its going about what weve been talking about here the past week or so. There were expect takings because the guard was called up and the state of emergency had been declared. I think there were expectations that there were expectations there were going to be things in place that might have prevented what we saw last night unfolding. What we heard from ron johnson and two other Law Enforcement heads, what we saw last night was far worse than what we saw in the wake of Michael Browns death. There were fewer protesters. On that point there was a lot of discussion back in august about who exactly the protesters were and whether or not some of the people inciting violence were coming in from outside and what the different breakdowns of these groups were. Do we know anything about who the protesters were last night . Who were the ones who were violent, who were arrested, who were setting fires . Reporter its very interesting. You see a lot of the same people the protests. The ones who come up and talk to you, these are the socalled organizers, doing a lot of legwork with these protests. They will come up and say, we dont know who these folks are. These arent local folks folks they arent local protesters. Theyre not part of the we see mayor knowles coming out right now. Hes going to speak live. Lets go to mayor James Knowles of ferguson. Scoot on down. Thats quite a crowd. Good afternoon. Im James Knowles, mayor for the city of ferguson. Today i am joined by local clergy, ferguson Business Owners, federal government residents and members of the Ferguson City council. 24 hours ago st. Louis prosecutor Bob Mccullough announced the decision of the grand jury. Although we cannot speak concerning the decision of the grand jury, our thoughts and prayers are with the brown family. Words cannot express the grief that a parent is feeling with the loss of their loved one. Many of our residents, Business Owners and citizens are asking for prayers during this time of unrest. We truly understand that the world is watching, both the city of ferguson and the st. Louis region, as well as the state of missouri. I would like to make this statement perfectly clear. We would like to think the many Police Officers, firefighters and missouri Highway Patrol troopers for putting themselves in harms way to protect our citizens and our businesses. Unfortunately, as the unrest grew and further assistance was needed, the National Guard was not deployed in enough time to save all of our businesses. The decision to delay the deployment of the National Guard is deeply concerning. We are asking the governor make available and deploy all necessary resources to prevent the further destruction of property and the preservation of life in the city of ferguson. Many of our residents at this time are cleaning their businesses and wondering, what happens tonight . I want to convey to Business Owners and residents of ferguson that we will continue to work with the National Guard and local authorities, and we work hard to build a more diverse and stronger community. Ive asked to join me for the press Conference Today several clergy members and Business Owners. You will now hear from each of them briefly. Good afternoon. One Church Outreach ministry. Also ministry located in ferguson. I stand here mostly with clergy who is continuing to do what i do all year long. I called all the clergy that have been praying regardless of race, color, creed or religion. We came together over 800 pastors and people of faith believing that the one answer that will turn this situation around and prayer. Were here today to pray for this city, to pray for our nation, to pray for the residents, the Business Owners, whatever the solution is around this issue, none of it will be resolved by violence and what weve seen in our community tonight. Were crying out to all of you all for peace and for healing with us. This is not the answer to continue to destroy us. Im also going to introduce another of my colleagues that also pastors in ferguson, Bishop Calvin scott of believers temple fellowship church. Let me say first and foremost, as i watched the unraveling in our Community Last night, 1 00, 2 00 in the morning, my heart was grieved by the destruction. My heart goes out to the community at large because our young people, as a matter of fact, offering children to the young children. Most are traumatized by the events happening in our community. And i believe its going to take a concerted effort of all of us working together. Our loss is your loss. Our gain is your gain. And i appeal to young folk, individual rioting, theres a way to handle conflict. I appeal to government, Law Enforcement, clernlggy at largee can make a difference. We believe the power of prayer is an intricate part of the process. Getting on the ground, mobilizing our energy, our finances, our thoughts, processes, bringing together a solution. This problem is systematic and its not going to go away without us working as a team. I pray that as we pray today, the power of god will come and pray with us. My name is timothy woods, pastor of First Free Church of st. Louis. Im also a resident. I live in ferguson. I have been on the streets since day one back in august. We have helped to supply needs. We have done as much as we possibly can as far as feeding the community, praying for our community. I want to say as one who was on the streets last night, i know that we have got a distorted image of some of the things that took place. First off, we do not condone the violence that took place. We are not supportive of any violent acts that took place. Those people who were hurt, those businesses and buildings that were burnt down, we want to stand in solidarity and say we condemn those acts. We condemn those things that were done. We love people. The acts we condemn. The people we love. Those people who are out on the streets last night, they were out with a message, those people who were out trying to exercise their Constitutional Rights and godgiven rights to speak their mind, we support them. We to want make sure that it is understood by everybody that we in ferguson are a people who simply want to see the best for our community. Were here because we want our community to experience the greatness and fruition of all those things that have been promised us and have been said before that he that we can be. We believe in the potential and the possibility of all of those young people regardless to how they express themselves. We believe they are capable of rising above any violence and being those productive citizens that we know they can be. We support them in building who they can be. I want to make sure we stand with our government and with these other clergy and let them know that we are all in this together. We are all on the same side. We want to let our Police Officers also know that were on the same side. Were not fighting each other. Were fighting for a cause together. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I first would like to thank my lord and savior and give honor to him for being so blessed at a time of this, to be chosen apparently and i believe that i speak for myself and my fellow Business Owners in the community that we are definitely saddened by what has happened. I drove down the street before i came here, and i was in tears. It really, really looks bad. And im so thankful to the clergy. Im thankful to everyone here and who was out there, who was praying for us as a community and as Business Owners, praying for people, period. Ive always been told at church in the bible, throughout the bible that love conquers all. So, my prayer is that i know god is in control. I pray that are for these next days, weeks, what have you, that we as a people continue to pray. That we leave god in control of this. That everyone is protected. Our rights, our words, the things that we have to say and that we can move positively in love. Good afternoon. My name is Helen Douglas taylor and im a resident of ferguson. I am also an educator in jennings and in ferguson florissant. I really want to appeal to parents that we have to understand the awesome responsibility of raising our children and consequences of actions and that one small act, though it seems small, affects so many. We all have to look in the mirror, each and every one of us and take an examination of everything that we do and that we say and that it is about human life, not black, white, purple or polka dot. It is about gods love. One to another. And i just feel blessed and fortunate, as i was just going about my day, that for some reason god chose me. Even in my sinful nature, to stand here and have this platform to say, lets take an examination of ourselves. Because once we examine ourselves and stop pointing the fingers elsewhere, i believe change can happen with the grace of god. Thank you. My name is stella m. Jones, im a 36year resident of ferguson, missouri. I served on the Human Rights Commission of ferguson. It does not yet appear what ferguson can be when we all work together. We have been holding courageous conversations every week. We have one ferguson that focused on children, commerce and community. We have ferguson together where we hold the courageous conversations. And we invite people to come out and discuss whatever bothers you because we want it to come to the forefront. The only way we can heal is everyone bring their problems to the forefront. Last night was not a good night for me and no one else in ferguson. My heart bleeds for my city. And i know that when we work together, as human beings and resolve our differences, then we can only go forward. Thank you. Now, im going to courageously invite everyone that believes in the power of prayer in this room, in this nation, and across this borld th world to hear our voice. We know what we dont agree on, but theres a lot of us that believe in the power of prayer. So now ill ask you to pray with me. Bow your heads as i summon the power of prayer. Our father and our god, we first praise you for our goodness to our city and our nation. Giving us blessings far beyond what we deserve. Yet we know all is not right with us. We deeply need a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the many challenges we now face. Help us to turn to you in rep repettence and faith. We pray today for our nations leader and city leaders. Give them the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do it. You have said blessed is a nation whose god is the lord. May this be a new era for both ferguson and for america as we humble ourselves and acknowledge weve been listening to residents, Business Owners, clergy members there in ferguson, missouri, in a press conference called by ferguson mayor James Knowles. Hearinging the voices of people who love this community, who are impacted by the events unfolding there, really quite powerful. Craig melvin is still with us in ferguson. Craig, we didnt hear an update on the status of officer darren wilson. The mayor said he felt the National Guard was not deployed soon enough, but i thought the most poe werful message and mos Important Message was the message of love from these community members. Reporter the message from the shorter woman, shes a beauty salon owner. I can see her shop from here, about 75 yards away. 911 hair salon here on west florissant. Her business is off 80 , she said, from where it was before Michael Brown was shot. Thats the case for a lot of these Business Owners that you talk to. Heres the thing about ferguson that im not sure a lot of people really understand. Its a suburb of st. Louis. Were talking maybe 20,000, 21,000 people that live in ferguson proper. This is a small town. Downtown ferguson, its about four blocks. The looting and the damage, the vandalism, its not target. Its not best buy. Its not walmart. These are mom and pop places. I mean, these are its interesting because a lot of the damage thats being done, its really being done to neighbors. Its being done to the next door neighbors because this is where they work. So, days leading up to last night. You heard these small Business Owners pleading, begging people to spare them this time around. And those pleas and those begs, they went unheeded last night. What you saw right there was another attempt, another attempt to get folks to let them be. There continues to be a tremendous chasm between the folks who show up at the press conferences and the folks who show up at night. And i can tell you last night there were some members of clergy. There were some folks who were there, trying to honor the life of Michael Brown. And then had you some folks who, you know, first of all, there were some folks who should not have even been up so late. Were talking 14, 15yearolds who made it clear early on that they were there to raise trouble, to cause trouble. So the disconnect between the organized protest movement and some of the folks that show up at night just to bash windows and steal stuff, i dont know how you bridge that gap. I hear you. Youve been in that community for quite a while. One of the pastors used the word traumatized. Weve heard that word used over and over to describe the mood of that little town. I have to imagine after a night like last night, the towns wounds, the traumatization is open once again, is deepened further still. Is that a word, a sense and feeling youre hearing from the folks there . Yeah, yeah, and betrayed. Because this is something else. We talked about it leading up to last night. A lot of folks said to me, we spent some time at kathys kitchen. Its a diner weve come to enjoy here in town. A lot of the organizers go there, members of the media go there as well. And its a blues and barbecue joint next door. Popular spot in town. She said to me, you know, i think its going to be different this time. Captain ron johnson was with me in the restaurant. They both talked about why it was going to be different. The conversations that had been conducted between protesters and Law Enforcement we talked by kathys kitchen, shes along the strip on south florissant that has a bunch of windows knocked out. Craig melvin, shawn henry, karen, i want to thank you for joining us today. Again, we did just hear from mayor James Knowles of ferguson, missouri. We did not get an update on officer Darren Wilsons status. Well be back with much more after this. This is the equivalent of the sugar in one regular soda. And this is one soda a day over an average adult lifetime. But theres a better choice. Drink more brita water. Clean, refreshing, brita. Having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pickup truck slams into your brand new car. One second it wasnt there and the next second. Boom youve had your first accident. Now you have to make your first claim. So you talk to your Insurance Company and. Boom youre blindsided for a second time. They wont give you enough money to replace your brand new car. Dont those people know youre already shaken up . Liberty mutuals new car replacement will pay for the entire value of your car plus depreciation. 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Switch to at t, buy a new smartphone and get 150 credit per line. Were back with continuing coverage about ferguson, missouri, the small town that was burning last night. 15 buildings on fire. For more on how we got to this point, lets turn to former Missouri State senator jeff smith. Jeff recently released an ebook titled ferguson in black and white. Welcome. Also with us, former federal prosecutor for los angeles, caleb mason. Jeff, you understand this area extraordinarily well. Im sure your heart breaks when you see ferguson explode as it did last night. I wonder when there is a just cause the nonviolent protesters are trying to forward and some people say the violence clouds that message. Do you think when folks see that area explode in violence like that, do you think that truly clouds the message for a lot of americans . Im afraid it does. A lot of people i talked to in st. Louis are much more focused right now on just keeping the city safe and containing the unrest than they are the underlying causes that i think a lot of people are more focused on. So, yeah, im sorry to say it, but i think it does. The need for a better relationship with police, the need for jobs, education. Those are lost when they see people looting liquor stores. The history where we are in st. Louis. St. Louis has st. Louis county has 90 municipalities packed into that county. And 63 of them have their own police forces. It doesnt really make sense. Its a ton of duplication. But what it means is that these towns that have eroding property tax bases, a lot of their malls have closed, they dont have the money to fund a good Public Safety infrastructure. Instead, they have too often turned to generate revenue from traffic stops. Some of these towns get 20 , 30 , 40 , 50 of their revenues just from traffic stops. Because of the changing demographics, that means mostly white police force stopping mostly black people which contributes to People Living under siege. That is the rooted of a lot of antagonism you see between Young Community members and police force. Caleb, jeff is saying part of the message of the protesters is getting lost. Up until last night, the message of many protesters on this individual case was that they had, according to them, an outcome in mind. They thought very clearly there should be an indictment. Walk us through what that kind of activism means, caleb, in a justice system, you as a former prosecutor, that generally isnt supposed to take into account people pressure one way or the other. I think whats unusual about this case, and this is something that certainly does get lost in the sort of reaction we had last night, is that this case got far more attention from from the prosecutor, a far more thorough airing, a far more complete investigation than the vast majority of policerelated incidents in which people are killed or hurt. Say in a given year we had 500 ins incidents like this in which police force results in a serious injury or death. Vast majority of those, if not all of those, will never be referred to a d. A. Or a grand jury. We might have an internal review that would remain entirely secret. Some might result in civil lawsuits and the success rate of those is fairly low. So, i think one message that we can take from this is that sustained public pressure and public activism can lead to a response, which i think in the long term, could be taken as a model. For how a Prosecutors Office can respond to these. Although many people disagree with the outcome, and i think a lot of prosecutors think this was a chargeable case, you know, could have been filed even without a complaint and a preliminary hearing, my view is what the what the District Attorney did really does move us a long ways forward in transparency and accountability. If this model were followed in other Police Shootings, i think the public would gradually come to have a lot more trust in the ability of the Prosecutors Offices to handle these fairly. I havent seen any claims that the grand jury, you know, did not see particular pieces of information or they were misled in any way. One of the criticisms ive heard a lot, and i think is justified, is that the prosecutors were a little bit soft in their crossexamination of the officer. But really, as far as the evidence that was presented, we had 12 citizens of st. Louis county who had the opportunity to return an indictment. That is far more than weve had in just about any other Police Shooting that i can think of. Right. Jeff, we just heard this press conference from the mayor of ferguson, and also the residents, teachers, Business Owners, i found it to be a very moving press conference saying that, you know, really calling for peace and for the violence to end. Saying last night was a difficult night. I think it was hard for everyone to watch from afar, but the hardest thing for me was seeing these mom and pop shops that had boarded up even days before with windows broken, up in flames. I mean, how does a town like this move forward from here . You make a really good point. Something i think gets lost in this because it was easy to look at someone like mayor knowles and say, hey, hes out of touch, he has an nra hat, what have you. But the white folks you see out there, they are the people who stayed while the community went from 75 white to almost 75 blam. Most white people are out west of there in Warren County or st. Charles county. But these folks stayed, and the black folks as well because a lot of black people have continued moving west, too. So, i think its important to try to move forward and build some trust. But the first way you probably build some trust between the community and Law Enforcement is by creating a police force that looks like the people who live there. And as long as that police force is 94 white and the town is 74 black, then youre not going to have that trust. Thats a big part of all this, moving forward in all this. I think one of the core messages we got from from the protesters is that the system cannot be trusted. Thank you very much. Attorney general eric holder is speaking live at 4 00. Msnbc will cover that, of course. There are a number of federal investigations ongoing, so stay tuned with us for that. Well have a criminal defense attorney on the testimony. Josh barrow on the politics of all that. 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New alkaseltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. Oh, what a relief it is. Here we go welcome back. Im meteorologist raphael miranda. Were tracking a major winter storm for the busiest travel day, before thanksgiving. Winter storm warns in effect for new york city, philadelphia and boston. This pinkshaded area, thats how many people are under winter storm warning for the storm moving in tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night. Heres a breakdown of what we can expect. Low pressure moves up the coast tomorrow morning into the afternoon. We are going to see plenty of rain along the immediate coastline. Jersey shore, long island, mainly rain here. New york city were going to see a wintry mix changing over to snow but its this white shaded area here, a far western suburbs that will see mostly snow. Theres going to be a lot of heavy snow. Snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour continuing right through the day. Travel will be difficult across many of the major highways including the mass pike. You can see this pink blob, thats 6 to 12 inches of snow, overa foot in many spots. Especially north out of new york, new york state thursdruwa. Boston, philadelphia, new york city, generally in the 1 to 3, 2 to 4, slushy inches range. Still, travel will be a mess up and down the northeast and midatlantic tomorrow. Looking at your wednesday forecast, nice and dry for the looking ahead to thanksgiving for the parade it will dry out. It will be nice but chilly here in new york city. Thats a bit of good news. Thanks so much as always. President obama talked about peace last night as parts of ferguson was unraveling. Not the only politician calling for peace. With john lewis tweeting thisful. We we have all seen what has transpired in the last 24 hours. We are joined now by correspo correspondent to talk about whats going on. When you saw the president last night he was talking in a very measured way about the need for less violence and right next to him saw burning cars and tear gas. That had to be a terrible moment because he has done everything he can. What else was he supposed to do. If he grabbed people by the shoulders it wasnt going to stop what was going to happen in ferguson. That was calculated as little as possible and for a good reason. Basically, you know, this is such a polarizing president and when he weighs in on an issue it becomes polar ietzed with democrats and republicans. What happened in ferguson has had some degree of bipartisan with a lot of republicans reflecting on the fact the Police Response was excessive concerned about whether we have bad police practices, and the need for Justice Reform and other things, especially because it disprop portion atly impacts the black community. I think the president had good reasons he had to hang back, including last night but i think there are other politicians who are not so hamstrung as the president. One thing we saw the president do last night as he has in the past, is speak not just as the commander in chief of the country but also as a black man who has lived the experience. Lets listen to a bit from last night. The fact is in too many parts of this country a deep mistrust exist between Law Enforcement and communities of color, some of this as a result of racial segregation in this country and this is tragic because no one needs good pleasing more than poor communities with higher crime rates. Talk being the laws in discriminatory fashion. Do you see it breaking through the divide. You see a lot politicians nodding to this idea, not just rand paul, although he has been the loudest voice, but i think pairing that with police practices. What happened with Michael Brown wasnt unique. Its a lot of policeinvolved shootings. I think this is powder cased in st. Louis because theres a regional feeling the police are especially abusive in some of these suburbs and you had a shooting in cleveland of a 12yearold and were not seeing civil disorder in cleveland. In part because if you build trust in the community that the police arent being abusive than you can have one of these instangs stances and it doesnt have broad ramifications because that has to be changed through what the police do. Sk one of the changes called for is use of abuse across the country. It is a bipartisan idea that makes sense. Is it feasible. I think that is likely. We are seeing some departments moving in that direction, an actual technological improvement. A lot of the discussion about Michael Browns killing was about where were they, who was pursuing whom, a body camera would have answered a lot of those questions. Theres been some resistance to body cameras historically but it is hard to argue against why it is bad to have more information about how police interact. Because it will protect them as well. Right. Certain things you need procedures not not recording but these should be sur available. Take a listen to the exchange from last night. Is this really justice or is there something wrong with the laws in the state. You know, its another question that really, i dont have an answer to that question. Whats wrong with the law. There are no laws to protect us. Every law out there is to protect the safety of every individual, regardless of their age and regardless of their race. Prosecutors saying he doesnt have an answer if you dont have an outcome. This is bigger than Michael Browns killing. The problem in ferguson is not just about this one instance but a whole system built on abusing pleasing practices. So the fixes are about more than what constitutes self defense or an acceptable use of a weapon by a Police Officer. I think the changes need to be broader. At some level hes right it is not solely the job of the da to fix that issue. It is much bigger than that. Its not just about this one death, but what do we change in the community. Thanks so much for joining us. At the top of the hour governor jay nixon will speak withholder, we will carry that live at 4 00. Were right back after this. Can you help me up . [ snow intensifies ] [ sleighbells ring in the distance ] aleve. All day pain relief with just 2 pills. Get back to being you. We used to have so many emptymom ls thats why we switched to charmin ultra mega roll. Charmin ultra mega roll is 75 more absorbent so you can use less with every go. Plus it even lasts longer than the leading thousand sheet brand. Charmin ultra mega roll. Toasty or frosty . Exactly the way you want it. 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Pen. Hurry into the signthen drive event and get a fivehundred dollar black friday bonus on select new volkswagen models. Black friday bonus offer ends december 1st. All right that does it for the cycle. Now with alex wagner starts right now. The decision may be in but on the question of justice, the jury is still out. Its tuesday, november 25th and this is now. The process should be indict him. Folks here are gearing up for what could be another ruckus night. What we saw last night was an indictment of american democracy and we saw democracy on fire. The game is rigged. Do you not have probable cause. No one should be killed because they took cigarettes. 99 of grand jury proceedings dont operate this team. We had a Prosecution Team that was really a defense team. I have questions whether or not this prosecutor wanted an indictment. I felt Michael Brown was the suspect. You have broken our hearts but you have not broken our backs. We are awaiting a press conf