Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. Order simply disrespecting the flag, but about social injustice, a dispute about the Justice System and police brutality. Whats notable here is that though President Trump argues that his players have a difficult time defining exactly what theyre protesting, he revealed earlier this year that he clearly understands their motives. I want you to listen to this sound bite from President Trump in june. We have a great country you. Should stand for our National Anthem. You shouldnt go in a locker room when our National Anthem playing. Im going ask all of those people to recommend to me, because thats what theyre proegt, people that they think were unfairly treated by the Justice System. And i understand that. And im going ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated, friends of theirs or people that they know about, and im going to take a look at those applications. And if i find and my question finds that theyre unfairly
they have not responded. And that is important, because previously, after the riots in charlottesville, the president came out and laid that statement that was so criticized about there being fine people on both sides, the white house then having to clarify the president s position after that. This is something they know is coming, but yet it appears that they would rather wait and see how it plays out than distancing themselves immediately from these racists. Boris sanchez, i appreciate it. I want to dig deeper with respect to charlottesville. The president s choice again to go after nfl players. Joining me van jones, host of telephone Van Jones Hoe and the reverend michael faulkner. Van, i wonder what you mean of the president , what he means when he says the players are unable to define what theyre protesting . Well, its hard not to see that in the worst possible light, that hes not just saying he disagrees with them, he thinks theyre too dumb to express themselves. I think theyve been expressing themselves quite elegantly. On the field and off the field. Dont also forget, a lot of these Young Players now are not just doing the protest on the field, theyre getting involved in their community. Theyre speak out. Theyre registering voters. There is a lot of stuff going on. I think its sad the president hasnt acknowledged that. This is really unfortunate because you just saw the president say i want to engage. Im willing to take on the issue. In fact, he is making some positive steps substantively on Criminal Justice at the policy level, but the politics for him always come back to insulting black people. So you have a tale of two president sis where he is actually taking seriously some of these issues. Hes met with governors about Criminal Justice, and then the same day he goes back to the old nonsense of insulting black people and riling up his base. Reverend falkner, is this just about getting the base, riling up the base. You mean with the president . I dont know, i dont know. Ive got no idea why he wants to take this issue on. I dont think its wise for him to do that. But let me tell you what i would do if i was a player, which i
was. I salute my flag. Whenever i get an opportunity, i do salute my flag. Not because america is perfect, because of the ideals of america. And i will always salute that. That said, i do support these players and their right to protest. I think it is unwise, and i think there are a lot of other good things they can be doing. Van just mentioned some of the things that they were doing. Im doing a lot of good things in our community, and i just moved to philadelphia. Were doing a lot of good things at the urban hope, you know, the urban hope center there but my point is there is a lot of positive things that can be done that need to be done, that need to be recognized rather than taking the National Stage and protesting the United States of america. You said you didnt think it was wise for the president to bring this up. I dont know if its just a coincidence that he is bringing up on the eve of the anniversary in charlottesville. I dont know why he would link the two at all. But just as an observer, obviously you cant get in his
head as to why he is saying this, he certainly has said to other people that this works for his base. And that clearly seems to be why he continues to do it. Because hes already brought up up this issue. Its not as if this is there is no ground here. Here is the thing about the president , who i voted for, by the way. Lets put that out there. Full disclosure. He is a politician entertainer. We take him way too seriously. The office of the presidency of the United States is much more important than some of the antics that our president engages in. Its embarrassing. Sometimes its embarrassing. Sometimes im enhanced. But i do know i am an american. I have to live my life regardless of what the president does. And i know im on a National Media platform right now and were talking about the president , but i think we get way too much in the weeds on what the president does or doesnt do. I just think because we have a congress, our constitution is
set up so that the president cant shipwreck the country. Well, so far. But i think i understand what youre saying. And i think sometimes people do get too upset about stuff. But at the end of the day, leadership matters. And when you dont have a forthright condemnation of a nazi march outside of the white house, that sends a signal. Thats just not people setting hair on fire for no reason. That sends a signal that there is a bunch of people that 99 of americans dont want to have anywhere around them, its okay. Im very concerned about this weekend. Im concerned that were going to go into a weekend where there is pain, where there is steer and we will not have president ial leadership. And silence may seem like consent. Silence may seem like affirmation. I agree with you. There is other stuff to be worrying about. But a growth of a Nazi Movement unopposed in our country by the president is bad. We cant visit. Its its i dont want to say nonsensical, but its outrageous that that would not
be decried. And as a republican who supported the president , i would say mr. President , please decry these nazi racist crazy people walking across the street from the white house. I mean, weve got to denounce this stuff. Now, that said, my friends, my brothers, the fraternity of the nfl, these guys have a great platform. They can make a huge difference. These are gamechangers in their community. And by the way, the show that we were on that we did last year, i mean, it was some great things that were said about the positive things the nfl, the league, the owners have done some things positive. I think there is a lot of positive things that we have. I dont understand why its Still Necessary for these guys to take a knee or raise a fist. I dont understand. Because the conditions have not changed. You got to remember, were old guys now. Youre talking about some of these guys are two, three years
out of the hood. When they go home for thanksgiving dinner, their cousins, their uncles, their aunts are still dealing with a police force that are sometimes more hostile than three neighborhoods over, the conditions havent changed and a they want to keep protesting. Listen, i think it has been an overall netnet constructive intervention. Ive never seen athletes in my lifetime have this kind of impact for better or for worse. Jim brown. Kareem abduljabbar, but in my lifetime, this has been one of the most effective interventions by athletes and i think we should be proud of them for caring enough. They could just be worrying about their sneaker deals and that would be worse. Anderson, it would be interesting to follow up, find out what theyre doing. How many are really engaged in the community. I mean, they have foundations. And we need to find out who they are, and we need to report that that needs to be whats reported rather than just simply say hey, theyre protesting. Okay. But lebron james obviously did more. He support the protests for colin kaepernick. And then while President Trump is putting babies in prison cells, lebron is putting children in classrooms, and he gets called dumb. At what point can these young people win . At this point, they can make a difference. They can stand up for their communities. They can show up and be counted. There is so much thats going on in the communities. I just moved in to inner city philadelphia from harlem, and im telling you, its amazing the opportunity that we have to make a difference in peoples lives if we love them and care for them and show up every day. Its interesting, though you. Talk about the office of the president as being more important than the president himself. And i hear what youre saying in that. It is, though, in past administrations people talked about the bully pulpit the president has. Right. Under this president , it is actually a bully pulpit in many
cases because there is actually bullying going on, despite the good efforts of the first lady. But the whole idea of the office of the president does carry a weight to it, and it does you talk about leadership. That is the ultimate in somebody at the top saying to somebody in any community i see you, i hear you, i care about you. You know what drives me crazy . This is a tale of two president sis. Literally, you have the president of the United States this week met with republican governors to talk about how to do criminal Justice Reform, how to do prison reform. And then he turns literally around in the same news cycle, destroys all that coverage, and picks a dumb fight. So you got the policy moving in this direction. Hes not dumb. He clearly sees it that there is a political advantage among the people you mean, For The Quote Unquote Racist base . Im not saying its a racist base. Im saying for his base, and im not calling them racist. But, you know, there are plenty of people who dont like the protests and theyre not racists. They just dont think its the right venue. And im one of those. Okay. But his message certainly appeals to his base. Yeah, i mean, i guess. But when we define a base like that, most americans love america. Hey, they i called them patriots before. Ive never decried their patriotism. Im just saying i would choose to do it another way, okay. But with their patriotism and with the patriotism that we have for most americans, we need to come together. There needs to be positive reinforcement for those things that these nfl guys are doing. It would be great to have a show on that. And then, then we can say to the president , mr. President , see what these guys are doing. Lets say he should have a conference at the white house, a white house conference on social Justice Reform and have some of these guys show up. Because they are very, very intelligent. Have some of them show up and
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gunning the engine to do maximum damage on the crowd. He smashed into the crowd. Bodies went flying. Reporter photographer ryan kelly took these photos at the scene. Drove over the sidewalk and came barreling down at full speed into the crowd, immediately put it into reverse and reversed at speed back up the hill and took off down the side street. Reporter when it was over, 32yearold Heather Heyer was dead. Dozens of others were injured. I saw a woman tumbling down on my windshield and just laying there. And i kind of like closed my eyes because i didnt know what i was seeing was real. I remember Heather Heyer being on the ground near the back of my sisters car. There were emts all around her, but i remember particularly the emt that was giving her cpr at the time. He was using all of his might, all of his force to try and revive her. Reporter the driver of the car that plowed into the crowd
was arrested and charged. Hes pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. That same day, two State Troopers were killed when their helicopter crashed while patrolling the area. In response to it all, President Donald Trump didnt denounce the hate groups involved. Instead, he said this. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides. On many sides. Go away, racist, sexist, antigay reporter the backlash was swift, yet three days later, the president doubled down on his remarks. You look at both sides, i think there is blame on both sides. The neonazis started this thing in charlottesville. They started in excuse me, excuse me. They didnt put themselves down. And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both
sides. Reporter the images seem to tell a different story. Randi kaye, cnn, new york. Well, those images go without saying, will never leave the woman youre about to meet, Heather Heyers mom who had the sad duty and the privilege of carrying out her daughters legacy. She runs the Heather Heyer foundation, a program for people with social passion for justice. I know this is a tough weekend. First of all, how you holding up . How has this year been for you . Im so busy doing interviews this weekend, i dont have much time to think. But check came in the mail today for the estate of Heather Heyer. And i those words always tear at my heart. I bawled like a baby for about ten minutes, and then i pulled it together and said okay, back to work. And so thats how im getting through the weekend is im staying busy. And then im going to collapse
sunday night and collapse monday and then tuesday im back at work again. Because thats what you do. You survive. You dont give up. The past year has been surreal. People like spike lee, bernie sanders, they know my name. They have my phone number, you know. Thats kind of crazy. And, yeah, just im just really trying to push hard now, though. Lets take the Focus Off Heather as health worry want us to do. Its been a year now. And Lets Focus On Why she was there. Lets focus on what she died for. Lets focus On The Issues that we have yet to resolve. With the Heather Heyer foundation, im trying to find her replacements. Im trying to pass that baton off, but i also want people to focus on the fact that we need to address the racial issues in
our country. Im wondering if you feel like your eyes were opened not by what happened to your daughter, but by the public displays that We Saw In Charlottesville last year, people, you know, men marching through the streets with torches, chanting