Transcripts For ALJAZAM News 20141204

Force. Another night of protests in new york and other cities one day after a grand jury decided not to charge a white Police Officer in the choke hold death of an unarmed man in july. Have a look at this live picture now in lowerman hatton. Matthew breen joins us where the protests are underway. Patricia what is happening where you are now . [ inaudible ] perhaps 5 to 800 people and steadily growing. If you look behind me, what you see helped inside is the police barricade. The crowd is very, very densely packed. Were seeing people outside here on the sidewalk adjacent to it, and gathering. Right now the protest is rather peaceful. I have seen people bringing children inside the police barricades, a woman even with an infant inside the barricades. This is also a very multiracial crowd here as well. So this protests comes hours after the city announced that thousands of Police Officers will be retrained. What more can you tell us about that . Reporter well, that retraining, tony was announced today both by the mayor and the police commissioner. We dont have a lot of details, but we have more brood brush strokes and really its aimed at resetting relations between the police and the community. About 22,000 nypd will undergo three days of retraining. Some of that will involve deescalation and how to useless force. The relationship between police and community has to change. The way we go about policing has to change, has to change in this city and this country. I am fundamentally convinced it will change. Reporter and tony as i said right now the crowd is gathering pace. Were seeing a lot of people out here, but it is very, very peaceful. Of course ahead of this protest and may mayors announcement, t praised the grand jurys decision, and they lash out at the mayor for not being supportive of the nypd in the media wake of the grand jury decision. All right. Patricia sabga for us. There has been a strong reaction where eric died. John henry spent the day talking to people who knew him. Reporter she says eric garner is missed. He was very nice. He was a very gentle guy. Reporter William Galway says his friend was a gentle giebt. He was big, but he wasnt a bully or anything like that. They saw him making his little bit of dollars, and he basically, you know, ran things. He made sure that people didnt fight. Reporter safe to say there was a lot of love for eric garner here where he ultimately lost his life. The family is now filing a civil suit against the city of new york and the new York City Police department. But that cant heal their wounds. Who give a bamming about money. Reporter erics stepdad says he hopes the federal civil rights inquiry will give him the justice he. Wants, the justice he says the family didnt get from the grand jury. Its prejudice. Thats what it is. Its a bunch of damn klans men. Reporter others share the family anger and confusion. We are in a nation that convicted michael vick for killing dogs, and im an animal righ rights believer. And we cant get a conviction for a black man being killed. It appeared Excessive Force was used. Reporter erics memorial sits as a bittersweet reminder to those he left behind. I feel happy when i see my maams face up here. I feel happy but sad at the same time. Statton island a home to large number of Police Officers, and it is the most propolice area in new york city. Roxana saberi joins us from statton island. Among the people who you have been able to have a conversation with, what have they been saying to you . Tony let me give you an idea first of this community before i tell you what they said. Were about two miles southwest of where eric garner died and there are a lot of white and working class folks in this area. We spent the day talking to a number of them in the restaurants and bars behind me. Its a place where a lot of Police Officers and firefighters come. And friends of Police Officers and firefighters. None of them really wanted to talk to us on camera. They were very hesitant. Some told us off camera that they could see both sides of the story. While others said they knew the officer, one was his neighbor, and she was glad he wasnt indicted. Explain how statton island really is different from the rest of new york city. Reporter about 80 of the population here on statton island is white. Thats a lot higher than the percentage of white people in new york city across the five boroughs, which is about half of that, about 44 . The population of black and immigrant communities has been growing. This is also known to be the most politically conservative borough, and its also home to mr. Police officers. There are many people here who are sympathetic to daniel the officer. Yes. And that is the community from which the grand jury is drawn. All right. Roxana. Roxana saberi for us in statton island. Thank you. And since the news broke last night, people have been sharing their stories of Police Encounters on social media. Yeah, tony two hashtags illustrate the contrast in the stories. Lets start with the most recent one called alive while black. Africanamericans describing their encounters with Law Enforcement. Like this one and also, christina writing now a live well black started in response to a hashtag called criming while white. Thats white americans sharing their stories with Law Enforcement ill share more of these hashtags later on in the show. Thank you. Joining me now is mary francis berry, a professor of history, and former chair woman of the u. S. Commission on civil rights. I need to have a conversation with you, and as we have this conversation, i want to roll in the picturesover the demonstrations going on in new york. It is on the move. I want to tell you one thing first, tony. Yes, please. When i was chair of the commission, we did several hearings and studies about the new york police department. A big one after [ inaudible ] was shot and killed in new york. And this very thorough study, which got wide publicity, its still on you can get it on the internet, Police Practices and civil rights, show that statton island is the place where the largest number of stop and frisk stops without a charge were made and they were mostly of black people, and that that was the place where most of this happened. Also we made a lot of recommendations for what the police should do, and we were told that the police would make all of these changes. There have been studies even since then, and everyone finds the same thing, and that is the training that is promised doesnt happen. Im hoping the new mayor is able to make it happen this time. And one other crucial thing as Police Officers told us under oath in these hearings that they were always afraid, and when they saw black suspects or any suspect, they had a tendency to be trigger happy if they werent careful. They admitted to that . Yeah, it was under subpoena. It was under oath. And that a lot of it had to do with training. They kept saying that they hadnt been adequately trained. So its very sad what happened. The other thing is that we recommended citizen review boards for police. For a long time in this country, there was a move to have these boards, and some of them happened in new york and other places, but then the police were opposed to them, said well, it undermines confidence in the police, and we can investigate ousts. I think the protesters should keep protesting until somebody does something to about citizen review of police, somebody does something about the prosecutors, and then finally, tony i know im saying a lot no, go go go. That the cameras the cameras, the whole idea of cameras that will solve this problem, may be something that will give the Camera Companies a lot of money for selling cameras. Because here we have a video in this case, and it doesnt seem to make any difference. I think at the margins its nice to have things. I also dont like the idea of a task force, because there have been so many studies of police, with so many reports and recommendations which are all the same about what they should do, and having another task force is like kicking the can down the road. So you disagree with the president. Yeah, i know why hes doing it because task forces are things you do as a safety valve to try to buy time and show you are doing things. Thats why president s do it. Thats really honest, thing you. But we have already looked at the police a lot, and we need to act on these things. I may have the year wrong here, but wasnt there a report on a lot of the recommendations you are talking about now in like 2009 . Right. We made 2009 Police Practices and civil rights after a whole week of hearings in new york with subpoenas from everybody from the mayor on down to cops on the street. In cases of policeinvolved shootings, you need a special prosecutor. You needed a special prosecutor in this case. And in ferguson. Where do you come down on that . Well, you definitely need to have more transparency, and the public needs to understand without controversy, that prosecutors can in fact get a ham sandwich indicted if they want to. If a prosecutor cant get an indictment in a case like this particular one in new york, or even the one in ferguson, its politics. Its prosecutors are comfortable with the people that they represent, who are the people in the area where they are. Its all a very political process in a case like this. So some kind of special prosecutor or Citizen Input or something needs to happen so justice can be done. And the main thing is i think the protesters ought to peep protesting. Let me ask you Something Else here that maybe gets at the root of this. Something im hearing from folks is that the current criminal Justice System as it stands now, as it has stood for years and years and years is rooted in an a legacy of inequality in this country, rooted in a slavery legacy, a constitutional legacy that once saw slaves as, what, threefifths of a person, and a legacy of jim crow laws in this country. Will you speak to that . Im also a historian as well as a lawyer, and i tell you that it is clear that slavery there was a system of social control of blacks used by anybody could anybody white could control black people, and since slavery they started putting in different kinds of laws, making stealing a watermelon a felony, for example, or laws in order to control blacks. Walking away from work was a crime. Yeah. If someone said you are supposed to work for them. Or not paying a debt after they had entrapped you in debt was a crime, which meant you could be virtually sold to somebody to work for them. All of these were measures of social control, which have been well documented for years by historians, and the disparities that we see in the way criminal justice is enforced in this country, that is what do we penalize, how do we penalize it, how do police react to people is based on that legacy. Somebody said black people think everything is about race. No, we dont. But some things are about race, and in fact, the legacy and the social control, and the disparities, and the presumptions of looking at someone and being scared, whether its a 12yearold boy, or whether its a guy i remember when i was chancellor of the university of colorado, one of my chancellors used to say when a black man came to visit me, oh, he was a really big guy. And i would look at the guy, and he would be like 58 or something, and 160 pounds soaking wet. So there are all of these presumptions and attitudes. I need to get you back here when i have a little more time. I want to talk about what conversation you want to have and who is going to have it. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for your time. Okay. Tony. Attorney general eric holder today announced results of a federal investigation into clevelands police department. They said the officers are poorly trained and too quick to use force. Mike viqueira is live at the white house for us. And why was the Justice Department investigating the Cleveland Police department in the first place . There were a series of use of force incidents that were alleged Police Brutality and excessive use of force where citizens were killed by a barrage of bullets by police. After an extending car chase two africanamericans were cornered by police, 137 bullets were fired at their vehicle. Thats when after a series of events like that one, the department of justice decided to step in. This is not necessarily an unusual step for the department of justice. They have done this over the course of the last 25 years with other major cities. Matter of fact cleveland had the Justice Department investigate them in 2004. So the upshot is what is called a consent degree. The Cleveland Police department has agreed to allow the department of justice to come in, and revamp, reorder, and retrain the police department, which has been found lacking, not only in the incident i described, some 600 incidents were investigated over the course of the last four years, including the shooting of a 12yearold. Attorney general eric holder took the step of going to cleveland and announcing this consent degree with law enforce authorities there. Here is what he had to say. The tragic losses of these and far too many other americans, including just last month the shooting death of the 12yearold here in cleveland have raised Urgent National questions and sparked an important conversation about the sense of trust that must exist between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve and protect. Reporter now, tony, another investigation of this sort has begun by the department of justice in ferguson. Remember there are two parallel investigations there. One a civil rights investigation into former officer Darren Wilson in the killing of michael brown, but like cleveland, ferguson is now under the microscope to see if there is a pattern and practice of police misuse, police use of executive force. All right. Mike. Thank you. In the wake of the eric garner case the department of justice has announced it will start a separate investigation into the officer. David shuster joining us now. How difficult of case is this going to make here . It could be difficult, because the focus is instead of being on the criminality or brutality of the choke hold, which is what the grand jury looked at, in a civil rights case investigators will have to find evidence that the choke hold was motivated by a racial component in other words the investigators would have to determine that the officer put him in a choke hold primarily because garner was African American. Or that race was a factor of the police trying to arrest him in the first place for selling loose cigarettes. If the officers testified to the grand jury and said they were motivated by say, garners size or demeanor and not race, that would be enough. What about if there is a pattern here of arrest in this area . Could that be a factor . Yeah, thats the other avenue they could pursue. If you can show that garner was emblem attic, that police overarrested African American in the community compared to whites, you are start to show that there is a disproportionate target of African Americans. There is a good case about 20 years ago where in the bronx an offduty officer got in a scuffle with a African American at a football game. The federal civil rights investigators looked at this, and found he was motivated by, to a certain degree, the victims race and they were able to bring a civil rights charge and make it stick. All right. David shuster for us. David appreciate it, thank you. A second night of protests Getting Started in new york city. I think these may be the live pictures, and well get some of the political reaction coming up. Office chuck hagel reveals a new report of Sexual Assault in the military, the numbers, and what he says needs to change. Significantly more u. S. Troops have been speaking up about Sexual Assault in the military, according to a report released by secretary of state make that secretary of defense, chuck hagel. The pentagon announces new ways to deal with the problem. Reporter depending on who you listen to, the pentagon report either shows substantial progress has been made, or it shows not enough as changed in the past year. Outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel hailed the report he sent to the president as showing improvement in the way the military handles Sexual Assaults in the ranks, but not enough. It threatens the lives of men and women who serve our military. Reporter it was a survey of 145,000 service members. The numbers suggest a decrease in the number of service men and women who say they have been assaulted during the last two years. The report also says among those who say they were assaulted, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of victims actually willing to come forward, up from 10 to 25 . Hagels directive orders a multiyear study of risk factors. New training for Junior Officers and bosses, and strict rules to detect and prevent retaliation. But the senator from new york says that does nothing to stop authorities from overturning the ruling. Victims still dont feel justice is possible. The bias within the chain of command is still prevalent. A retired prosecutor saw a rapist he convicted reinstated by his superior officer. The rapists boss should not be the one to determine the fate of the case. Reporter jill brand is hoping the information will help her colleagues vote for the legislation this time around. And coming up, the people tasked with whether to indict. A live report of the protests in new york, you are looking at live pictures on the left. Were back in a moment. And returning to our top story, protesters have gathered in new york and other cities to call for justice or eric garner one day after the grand jury decided not to charge the Police Officer who put him in a choke hold. Patricia well come to you in a second, but were looking at live pictures from another demonstration. I thought for a moment that maybe there was a Splinter Group from your protest site that had moved oh, this is chicago now . Wow, we have chick happening now. Washington, d. C. , and patricia, we have got your location at foleys square. Describe what is going on at your location. Reporter the crowd here is steadily growing. I would estimate it at least a couple thousand people. Initially they were going inside the police barricade, they are so densely packed inside the barricade, that they have spilled out on to the pavement as you can see. This is still a peaceful protest. People are chanting. They have come with their placards. They are here to demand justice and express their frustration with the grand jurys decision. Now we have a situation over here as well. I see some police over here. They seem to be protecting, if you will, or keeping the crowd away from anything that would disrupt the Brooklyn Bridge right now. I also had a chance to speak to some of the protesters to find out what brought them out here today. One young man i spoke with was a lawyer, he said he came out because he was so shocked with the grand jurys decision. I spoke with a young student, and she expressed some disappointment and concern. She said the coming out and chanting is simply not going to be enough. Her concern is that protests like these will lose momentum before real change is affected. We did have some announcements today. The mayor talking about the retraining that nypd will go through, retraining, and teaching them how to deescalate situations before they get out of control. And retraining aimed at resetting relations between the nypd and the community. But as you can see by the growing crowd behind me, that that relationship has some ways to go before it can be mended. Are we talking young people . Older people . Mixed race . Black, white, and brown . Reporter it is all sorts. This is a very, very ethnically diverse crowd. I have seen older people, and people bringing their infants inside that barrier. This is a very, very brood representation of new york city, if you will. What are they doing . Are they making speeches . What are they doing or saying . Are they just standing . What is going on . Reporter were seeing chanting. We have had more chanting on the interior of the crowd. Im not inside that barrier right now, so i cant tell you exactly what is going on. We have seen protesters to the side of me that want to move out, if you will, towards the Brooklyn Bridge, but the nypd is initiating crowd control here, but again, it is a peaceful protest right now, and it is also a very, very diverse protest, all ages, and all ethnicities. Okay. Thank you. Before we get to this next piece can i see the pictures again. Just throw up as many pictures as you have from as many locations as we have available to us. Thats chicago. And thats washington, d. C. Can we go back to the chicago pictures for just a moment. We saw this in ferguson. We saw this in the reaction to the ferguson decision. This is what is interesting about a protest and demonstration like this. That we know that the young kids are on their devices, and we know they can pull together groups almost instantaneously. Something has happened there. But what happened in the old days, robert who is here can attest to this, is that you used to have to apply for permits to protest. You remember when that was the case. But now these kids can pull together these instant protests and demonstrations, which i would have to think catch the police completely in some cases off guard, so they are having to respond to multiple locations, and different demonstrations, seemingly as they pop up. That could be the case in chicago. That might have been organized, i dont know. But we certainly saw here in new york a week ago that there were demonstrations popping up everywhere, and police were having to respond individually. Well keep an eye on the chicago and new york protests as well. The decision not to indict has sparked a National Debate about Law Enforcement. Part of that is focused on changing a practice that may be years out of date, Randall Pinkston has more. Reporter were talking about grand juries that have been part of the legal system for more than 700 years. But some jurisdictions have begun to move to a different process that is public, where everyone can see whether there is cause to put a Police Officer or anyone else on trial. Like most of americas legal system, grand juries came from england. A group of citizens tasked with the job of investigating allegations of crime to stop prosecutors from putting next people on trial. But some legal experts say times have changed. The grand jury is really much i dont want to demean their service, but closer to a rubber stamp. The Prosecutor Says this is the evidence. This is what we want you to do. And for the most part they dont have a reason to distrust that. Reporter the chief judge argued the power of prosecutors made grand juries unnecessary. One judge said today law professor powell says that still holds true. And the prosecutor is a Legal Advisor to the grand jury. He or she explains how the facts make out the evidence. Reporter how does it impacted the grand jurys decision. Basically the prosecutor controls the grand jury. Reporter usually they predent just much evidence to get an indictment. But eric gardner and michael brown, powell says prosecutors have a different objective. They might use the grand jury, oh, i tried to get an indictment but they voted a no true bill. Im doing my job and protecting society, but the grand jury has spoken. Reporter and the entire proceeding takes place in secret. New york is one of 22 states that still require grand juries. The rest of the states make grand juries optional. We do have a strong message in our society, that, you know, when somebody wearing blue uses deadly force, thats justified. And the law should not be above the law. If we had preliminary hearings where a judge heard an adversarial process, we might end up with findings of probable cause in these police cases. Reporter and professor howell says a preliminary hearing might engender more trust in the legal system. Randall thing you. Joining me now is criminal defense attorney, what are you thinking . Im thinking exactly the things i argued for ten years ago, having a special prosecutor, more relevant now than every before. What are the chance of getting to that place . What kind of political will would have to be mustered to make that happen . How would that work through a city or state system . It has to happen on the state system. You need a state prosecutor who handles these things statewide. Thats the only thing he does. There is a lot of influence from the special Interest Groups that dont want these things to happen. But a special prosecutor who does this thing, couldnt be aligned with anyone, wouldnt have allegiances to any Police Officers, wouldnt be beholden to any special interests, and would be able to present things like a prosecutor should. What about change of venue . Special prosecutor with the ability to request and maybe get a change of venue we have a situation on Staten Island, where if you are drawing from that community yeah, those of us who know Staten Island knew this was an uphill battle to begin with. But if you have a statewide prosecutor, he should be able to pull from a statewide pool of grand jurors. 2009 Justice Department study on Community Policing concluded Police Officers must try to solve problems without using arrest or force as a first resort. And as i think back on that video, there were other options available to the Police Officers there. Many other options, but the fact of the matter is police oftentimes not always, but oftentimes let that go to their heads. They immediately go to force and go from 0 to 60 from force to deadly force. We dont have enough Police Officers who are vested in the community the hello. To be able to say this is part of me, and im not going to act like this can i support you . If it were my brother, sister or someone else. From the same is study. Officers must also engage Community Members as active participants in the policing of the neighborhoods. Too many times police come in black neighborhoods as occupiers in an occupied land. They come in with that mentality as well. When they are vested in the community they treat the community different. And new requirements for Police Officers. What are your thoughts on this . Requiring College Degree and several years of Work Experience . I think its important to have education. I dont know about a College Degree, but i think its important to have education in other areas. I have seen educated and uneducated racists. The criminal Justice System is rooted in a slavery narrative, a constitutional legacy that at one time saw slaves as threefifths of a person. A legacy of jim crow laws in this country that has not been washed out of the system. It is a plantation mentality. That blacks are to be overseen and are not to step out of line. And that is rooted clearly in our historical slavery system. It didnt matter because African Americans has no rights. And it almost seems we are back in that particular time. We have got to get out of that mentality. And unfortunately we may not be there, but all of the indicia is the African American community feel that we are there, and perception becomes reality. As long as people hear your comments and roll their eyes, what do you say to them . I say you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the history of america. And until you open your eyes to the history of america, the fact of the matter when i was a boy segregation existed, and we havent come much further than that now. Until you understand history, you cant understand what is going on right now. Robert good to see you. Appreciate your time. Tracy kazee joins me now. She is a 25 Year Police Veteran and cofounder of the center for policing equity. Pronounce your last name for me, please. Its kazee. I was close enough. Good to talk to you. What is at the underlying issue here . Tell me why police and minority communities dont trust each other. You touched on it a little bit when you talk about the historical relationships we have in communities of color, specifically black communities. We often have conversation about the role the police played during the jim crow era. But one thing we have always struggled to maintain is that trusting relationship. How do you provide service to the communities that you are supposed to serve and care for, and what does it look like . And a lot of times well hear if there was a gated affluent community, you wouldnt be treated this way. A lot of the underlying pieces and again, i absolutely agree a lot of times officers dont know the historical relationship that we had. But it comes down to how do you provide a service, how do you police . And thats really what were talking about. 2009 Justice Department study. I want your take on it. Police officers must try to solve problems without using arrest or force as a first resort. Right. And i think most Police Officers recognize that there are going to be those times where force is going to be necessary a even deadly force is going to be necessary. But one of the debates now, even with the 2009 report, what do Community Police partnerships look like . In 2009, right, this was supposed to be the way forward, that we would have these partnerships and be able to solve the issues together. Somehow we have gotten off of the rail on this one, so we have to go back and say what does the Community Expect . And what kind of Police Officering does the Community Want to have . Police forces finish your thought, sorry. I think a lot of times thats a difficult conversation, when you have an organization that certainly means well, but oftentimes believe they know what is best. Police forces should reflect the communities they serve demograph demographically. What are your thoughts . Well, yeah, they should. And i spoke to some folks earlier, inherently there are some wonderful things about reflecting the communities, but one of the pieces that i know the black communities get away from is hiring people that look like you wont always take care of the issues. And often folks that look like you often are the most aggressive. So there has to be deep conversations about what does that mean when you want to have your organization reflect the community . I think you have that reflection and diversity in regards to not just visually but in thought and perspective, but you dont want to just go ahead and hire a bunch of folks of color to say we have them and everything should be okay. Tracy, i figure that my my thinking on ferguson was that i dont think the grand jury was going to indict here. I absolutely thought the grand jury was going to indict in the eric garner case. Were you surprised . This i think that there was a lot of folks that were surprised. I think there were some in Law Enforcement in i dont think i was that shocked. You know, and being in Law Enforcement i certainly understand the use of force and how it is supplied and you spoke about deescalation techniques, and what you have still is officers that are really confused in regards to what the community is upset. Even now . Even now . Yeah even looking at the video looking at that video absolutely. Honestly. Absolutely. Im not saying all officers. You have the majority of officers and the majority of Police Departments that get it, and they were probably shocked. But you have officers who say the officers were trying to effect an arrest, and this is what happens when people dont comply. And this to me is indicative of the broader conversations we have to have about what our roles are as Police Officers, and how do we then serve a community, and can we honestly look at ourselves and say we provide the same level of service that we do to all communities throughout the United States . And i dont think we can say that we do. Tracy, thank you. What a pleasure. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. It has been more than two months since a Police Officer shot dead 14yearold Cameron Tillman in southern louisiana. Tillman was rumored to have been shoot by a white Police Officer. The community was enraged. But when it learned the officer wassal. Was African American, the debate changed. Reporter cam cam ran tillman, a high school freshman, age 14, with a 3. 7 grade point average, a talented athlete with no reputation for trouble, and no record, shot dead on a tuesday afternoon. And the kids come all the time and set up this . Yes. Reporter and keep it going . Every day. Reporter this is camerons mom. One of the neighbors she came banging on my door, like tica, open the door. It was a knock that shook me to my knees, the the cry that she did hurry, she said, cameron has been shot. And i said, girl, not my cameron, thats thats not cameron girl. She said lets go see. I seen the neighborhood kids outside, and it was like, cameron had been shot. And i just fell to the ground in disbelief. I fell immediately. Reporter so that tuesday afternoon in september, just after 5 00, its daylight. Someone on this street makes a 911 call, and says she has seen armed men with guns. Shortly after two sheriffs deputies pull up, they get out of the car with their weapons drawn like this. They walk along the sidewalk and into that car port. Almost everything that happens after that is in dispute. The sheriff insists his officers identified themselves when they knocked on the door. We was on our phones and stuff. We know we heard a knock. Reporter also in the house, andre, camerons older brother. Like the three other teens there, andre says the police knocked, didnt identify themselves, and when cameron opened the door, opened fire on him. There are many questions, tony about what happened. The teens in the house insist cameron was unarmed. All they do agree there was a bb gun lying on the table. And there are questions about the actions of the sheriffs deputies, including when and many they called an ambulance for cameron. The family is angry about what hand, and they want justice. Louisiana state police are investigating, and camerons mother said it doesnt matter to her that the Police Officer that shot her son was African American. Sheila thank you. You can watch the rest of sheila macvicars piece on america tonight at 9 00 pm eastern, and 6 00 pm pacific. Okay, as we go to break here. I want to show you these pictures developing here that were just getting into the al jazeera news room. Washington, d. C. Now. I mentioned a moment ago, that police seemingly are having to respond to large crowd here, large crowd there, this street blocked, protesters on this corner. This corner blocked. And police as you can see here are just having to try to manage traffic as best they can. This is the scene in chicago. The same kind of thing is. Happening. Well update the story and have more for you in a moment. Lets try to work in some other stories here. Russian president Vladimir Putin is talking tough. While admitting his country has experienced a very difficult year, in his state of the nation speech, putin vowed he would not allow the west to break up russia like it did with yugoslavia. Reporter for the president arriving at the grand palace for his traditional entrance, this was always going to be a difficult speech. But the president was in combative mood, accusing the west of wanting to see russia broken up, dismantled, he said. Translator despite the fact we have been treating our enemies of yesterday as Close Friends and almost allies, the support of russia from abroad was absolutely obvious. And there is no doubt that they would have loved to see the yugoslavia scenario of collapse and dismemberment for us. This has not happened. We did not allow it. Reporter and he said the military supremacy of Russias Armed forces must be guaranteed. National pride and sovereignty are a necessary condition. He said the west was using crimea and ukraine as an excuse to cripple russia. Translator speaking about the sanctions this is not just a nervous reaction from the United States and their ally, not even in regard to the socalled crimean spring. Im certain if all of this didnt take place, they would just come up with another reason to contain russias growing capabilities, to influence it, or use it for its own goals. Reporter as the ruble continued to fall, putin said the Central Banks decision did not mean it was given up influence over the rate. He insisted that russia would never go down a path of self isolation. Translator russia will be open to the world. To cooperation, to attracting foreign investments, and to the implementation of joint projects. Reporter as closures and layoffs become more common on the streets of moscow, he announced special measures to protect the Small Businesses that he believes will help lead the economy out of recession. What about the annexation of crimea and support of the rebels in ukraine . The defended the kremlins Foreign Policy saying its actions were necessary for the countrys survival. Alqaedas branch in yemen has released a hostage video showing a kidnapped american journalist. They say that will kill him in 30 days if their demands arent met. Now last week, u. S. Special forces attempted a rescue mission, but the kidnappers had moved him before the team got to the hideout. This is chicago they are just lying in the intersection. They are flat on their backs in the intersection. I dont know the street not that it really matters, its probably downtown or somewhere close. In chicago, and you can hear a little bit just from the sound thats available from the choppers microphone. Let me shut up a second and you can hear. [ beeping ] but look at that scene as the camera moves in closer. Can you imagine . Well take a break and come back with more of this. Our top story now, reaction to the eric garner case. Protests happening in chicago and boston, the picture up now. Forget the rest of the script. Ines, lets talk about this. I know you are following what is happening on social media. Walk us through what is happening. We told you earlier about the hashtags, African American sharing their experiences. And compare that with what some white people are tweeting out. Cop let me walk to my friends appoint. Criming while white. And tony, we were talking a little bit about these protests, some of them involve what are called dieins. And its basically people not a sitin they are demonstrating in silence, they are lying down there. And we also were watching some of these images live that you were just showing. Yeah. On the floor, those are called dieins, and people are organizing through social media. There are a ton of Facebook Pages, also you have a faye major page, which shows you all of the protests plans throughout the country. And thats the way people communicating with one another. You go to a Facebook Page or twitter feed and learn where the demonstrations or protests are happening in your area, and just go. And the police are left to scramble again. Thats all of the time we have. Real money with ali velshi is next. You are k look at protests of the grand jury not to indict a white Police Officer in the choke hold death of an unarmed black man. Our coverage begins now