because thelma pannell was outside of that courtroom in a hallway, sobbing, just terrible, deep sobs. natacha: my mother was really hysterical and she broke down and she was saying, why, why? why, lord? bernie: i remember phil s mom s face and the hurt that she was dealing with in that moment and the cheers that the police officers let out. to this day, it s tough because you re celebrating the release of your fellow police officer. but the reason for the verdict is my child s death, and you cheering that. so, there was just no empathy there. walter: hearing the anguish of phillip s mother, put into proper context the reality of black life in america. that you can kill a black person. a jury can hear the evidence and let the person walk. and the family has to deal with it. and so what? batron: the system didn t work. the system s broke. you know the system s not for a black man.
thelma: my son, he got shot in that backyard over there with his hands in the air. we endured this pain for 30 years. now we re back here again. christine: i was in eighth grade when phillip pannell was murdered, and a lot of my friends knew phillip pannell. so i try every year to teach the students about phillip pannell, because too often they come to school and they don t know his story. so i m always trying to make sure that his name is remembered and we never forget what happened. protestor: (shouting) 30 years. not again. natacha: i ve been fighting for 31 years because even now, today, teaneck is trying to sweep it under the rug. jim: hall meeting, all right. that is the black lives matter mural, council member rice. gervonn: i know that we did discuss it at our last council meeting and just wanted to make sure that it was brought up again.
mike: i was surprised by the anger that was directed at my news organization and, in particular, me. this comes from a guy who hasn t even bothered to read what i wrote. he s told me that. spath: i hope and pray that none of you ever have to be faced with a situation where you re forced to fire your weapon and take a life. none of us asked for it. none of us want that. but the every day possibility is there. it ll never go away. my shooting will never go away. it s with me every day of my life. natacha: okay, listen. i feel like he didn t have to do what he did, and i ll always feel that way. i can never wrap my mind around the fact that someone fears for their lives, chasing after someone and shooting at someone that has never shot at them, has never threatened them physically, you know. i try to understand why it happened, but
caused people to finally realize that it didn t matter where you went in america. it was in the suburbs. it was in the place that america had deemed to be safe spaces. so, for me, it s part and parcel why this story is so important, because it was teaneck in 1990. it could be your community tomorrow. (music) natacha: some people in teaneck, i believe, are on the right side of history. when the teaneck board of education said, we re going to have a mural, i was like, okay, finally, after all these years, teaneck, new jersey is going to honor phillip pannell. (music) his name is not going to be in a parking lot on a mural.
philando castile, george floyd and ahmaud arbery. reporter: tonight, cries of black lives matter and hands up, don t shoot, echoing from coast to coast. the largest day of demonstrations for george floyd yet. protestors: (chanting) black lives matter! black lives matter! black lives matter! al: i think that the phillip pannell case was a ground zero for what later became the black lives matter movement because many of them, including some that started the slogans, said they watched growing up cases of police abuse and movements and teaneck was a classic part of that. natacha: 30 years ago, 1990, teaneck, new jersey. i marched down cedar lane and here it is, 2020, 30 years later, and i m finding myself march the same roads for the same exact thing.