Do on our spaces. Is this backfiring . If one little thing i wrote is causing millions of people in the country to adjust their lifestyle, thats about all i can do, don, in this space. So if people have to react, they have to modify their behavior, this is something i learned very early on when i was doing commentaries at npr. Its like, you just wrote a letter to me. I dont know who you are. Look, don, compared to what other people are doing, whether its about racial injustice, whether its about covid19, people literally putting flesh in the game, this is a small thing but the reaction has been huge. Again, ive got to complement warner media. I dont know that what i wrote caused them to do it. They did it so swiftly i have to believe they were prepared to do this. Let me ask you this. You dont think that it would backfire in a way, top of amazons list, best seller best sales chart for tv and movies. More people are going to end up seeing it without the context. More people are going to be seeing it because they know the context is wrong. Look, john, we could put you pick a film that is more depthful about that era before it or after it. You know there are individuals that dont have the capacity to absorb that, whether its about slavery, whether its about any of the horrors of history. To ignore that, to not force people to try to reconcile what they believe with reality, again, i know youre playing devils advocate, but whats the objective to do nothing . Yeah. The other side of it is to do nothing. So, yeah, people are grabbing it, buying it. The people that have bought it since it was, i dont know, first available on home video and the wizard of oz. Those are the two most popular movies. This is the top of the hour and i need to absolutely. Listen, one of my actually, she was turned down. This role was supposed to be for her and she got into this argument, this whole thing with warner, im talking about bette davis. I love bette davis. Gesabelle gesabelle, she is brilliant. This actor is brilliant. This actor is brilliant. The same is Hattie Mcdaniel. The first black woman to do so, she won an oscar. If that goes away, im not suggesting that youre saying that, you dont get to see her brilliant performance and that legacy. Does it diminish that legacy . My wife said to me, don, hollywood and the world have better ways to argue Hattie Mcdaniel than just this. When they realize she could barely she couldnt sit in the same room. Yeah. When the majority of her roles after that, if she was a great actress and i agree with you, why wasnt she offered better roles, more depthful rolls. What was the name of her character in gone with the wind. The name of the character was mammie. She didnt even have a name. People of color have names. People of color exist. Well, you open up a conversation that i think is fascinating. Thats what im here for. I want you to come back. I want you to continue to talk about this. There are people who are now art exhibits, people very quickly, don, nobodys saying take this away. Put it in context f. It cant stand up to the context, it can never exist. You can pull the any of my work against any of it, ryan kuk lers work. I appreciate you standing up. Same thing i said to jaylen. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please come back. I want to continue the conversation. Absolutely. Thank you, don. Be safe. Be safe. So it is the top of the hour. Just past 11 p. M. Im don lemon this is cnn tonight. After thousands of americans took to the streets again for the 16th straight day to protest the death of george floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis Police officers, calls are growing to stop the police. They want Law Enforcement to be a solution and not the problem as i spoke with nypd commissioner about. Fired Police Officer thomas lane who is charged with aiding and abetting in George Floyds death has been released from jail on bond. As america tries to come to grips with their racist past, a major announcement from nascar banning confederate flags at all races and events. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling tonight for the removal of 11 confederate statues from the capitol but President Trump saying he opposes removing the names of confederate commanders from nearly a dozen military bases. Lets discuss now. Cnns white house correspondent, mr. John harwood and our National Reporter for the new york times, ested herndon, i appreciate it. Were seeing 16 days of mass protests, john. Americans are making it clear that systemic racism must be addressed. Even nascar taking action. The white house wont even acknowledge there is a problem. What is up . Reporter whats up is the shape of the modern republican party. Weve seen one Administration Official after the other, the attorney general, Homeland Security secretary, the National Economic advisor larry kudlow today saying they dont believe that systemic racism exists. This is a party that depends overwhelmingly, almost exclusively, on white votes. The energy in the party is with the most racially conservative whites who dont believe that wyatt spread discrimination is a present day problem. Weve talked about the poll numbers. 87 of White Americans believe america has done enough to extend equal rights or too much. In that context you have a set of people who look at changes in the country demographically. The increasing diversity as a threat to the america that they have grown up with, that they believe is what smerk and that affects their attitudes towards immigration. It affects their attitudes towards voting rights. The problems in georgia yesterday. It also affects their attitudes between Law Enforcement and the africanamerican community. Wow. We had all of those guys today saying they dont believe it, all white men. Saying there is no systemic racism. I call it white man splaining. This is what we heard today. I am delighted, mr. President , that you have made it a priority to solve this problem. I think hes a natural leader. We appreciate everything youve done, mr. President. Thank you. So the president never mentioned police, protestors or george floyd. Does he think he can ignore what is happening in this country as long as he shows pictures of some black people at a table praising him . This has been what the president has done throughout his administration. In moments of crisis i think back to the round twabl parkland or after parkland where moments of gun control and gun violence were coming up. There always seems to be a moment of acknowledging the problem in a rhetorical or light way. Its rarely followed up with a type of policy and continued advocacy that folks are looking for. Now we have heard from this white house as you said from Administration Officials that they do not believe that a systemic racism problem exists in this country. He has rejected symbolic changes like removing statues. If he is not willing to take those basic steps, then he is not going to make the in roads that even the white house thought it could do among some black voters. You can find enough black voters to come around the table and support the president. We know overwhelmingly this president has not only been rejected by black voters and by white voters as well. He has not been able to do the basic unity message that even some of his republican colleagues have. Its always with Something Like this, its always for the photo op, right . Get me some people who i can show thats on my side. Get the cameras in there. Get them praising me and then move on and do nothing. Thank you both. Appreciate it. Thousands of americans took to the streets today for a 16th day of protests over the death of george floyd. The protests have been largely peaceful for over a week. Whats it like if youre watching fox news. Here cnns chief media correspondent brian stelter. Were going to begin tonight in minneapolis. Thats where the black lives matter began two weeks ago. In this new new normal. In television this is sometimes called wallpaper. Producers jazz up the screen with wallpapering it by footage. Its a smart technique but can be grossly misleading when the footage is out of date. Thats what has hatched with fox shows and President Trumps twitter feed indulging in so called riot porn. We stand with all the peaceful protestors. Watch how this works at fox news. Jesse waters visited the white house and interviewed Vice President pence about the unrest. Whats been so troubling is to see the way that look. Here comes the wallpaper. The anarchists, criminals, even anfifah have had protests. A little label says may 30th. This happened a week before the interview aired. To riot, to loot. Ugly pictures from new york and l. A. It broke out in late may in many major cities. Looting and destruction continued until june 2nd in some neighborhoods but fox has been wallpapering the screen with the videos more than a week later. Democrats allowed their neighborhoods to burn down. Watch enough fox and you might think the fires are still being lit and looters are wreaking havoc. It points back to last week. Even when the speakers say last week, the videos imply that its happening now. A small label is not sufficient. Cynics far from minneapolis have seized on late mays violence for their own 3ur7ss. Here they post a video saying it looks like the city is a war zone. President trump shared the post another three days later. That is riot porn to serve a political agenda. Rioting and looting all over the city. Members of the media are right to examine what went wrong in late may but they shouldnt scare the people into thinking the past is present. That was cnn our chief media correspondent, mr. Brian stelter. Thank you, brian. The president said he wont even consider removing confederate commanders names even though people say they are for it. A descendent of robert e. Lee is with us next. Drafting the plans. Taking the pictures. Was it your family members . Who flew. Who fixed. Who fought. Who rose to the occasion. When the world needed them most. Find and honor your ancestors who servered in world war ii. Their stories live on at ancestry. So the president says his administration will not even consider renaming nearly a dozen military bases bearing the names of confederate leaders. The army said it was open to holding a bipartisan discussion of changing the names. Retired Lieutenant GeneralMark Hertling and the descendent of robert e. Lee. Eager to have this conversation. General, there are ten military bases named after confederate leaders. General esper and the Army Secretary were open to renaming them. How does it look that the president is nicksing the idea . What do you think . Part of the driving force behind this was the fact that both the navy and marine corps banned confederate flags from their bases which was a good idea. This topic of changing the names of the bases, this isnt the first time it came up. I remember it coming up ten years ago when i was on active duty. At the same time it was like, oh, yeah, thats a small problem. What weve seen in the last two weeks was a deeper conversation and having been on all of these bases, frankly, i never thought about the hit try of them and what it was. Reverend lee, the veneration of these confederate leaders comes from the ideology of the lost cause. Explain what that is. Don, i was steeped in the lost cause growing up. Its the idea even in the most progressive homes of the south that general lee, the standard bearer of southern heritage, was agen tile man, he was quote, unquote, kind to his slaves, whatever that means, and deeper than that, it is an idea that the confederacy fought against the United States for states rights. What the lost cause fails to complete in that sentence is the states rights to enslave people. We never learned that little last bit in school, and even deeper than that, in school were taught its the war of northern aggression not the civil war as it is properly called. Listen, as a son of the south, im surprised about how many people have a how many people are ignorant, really, of the meaning and when those statues and monuments were erected and even the confederate flag. They just have no idea about the real history of it. Reverend, one more question for you. Tonight almost the same time as the president tweeted in support of these confederate names nascar said it will no longer permit the display of confederate flags at their events. What does that say about nascar that nascar is recognizing whats happening here but the president isnt . Well, don, i grew up in statesville, north carolina, just north of charlotte where the Charlotte Motor Speedway is. Im not the biggest fan of nascar but it kind of permeates our culture in everything we do down here. Im a pastor first and it seems to me it would be beneficial for this administration to act in a pastoral manner. We dont need this coming from our highest office. We need people to unite, care, mend the wounds that are seeping. This is painful for all of us. We have hope. Theres not a loss because people like nascar, agencies, institutions are waking up. They should have woken up but in all actuality theyre seeing the possibility that change brings. General, general Charles Brown becoming the first black service chief in history after his confirmation this week. He spoke out about what he was thinking after George Floyds killing. Listen to this. Im thinking about some of the incidents and comments made without awareness by others. Im thinking about being a captain at the o club being told that i wasnt black enough since i was spending more time with my squadron than with them. Im thinking about my mentors and how i rarely had a mentor that looked like me. General, black americans make up a bill part of the military. Is that part of why the military would be willing to just consider this . Don, if you look at the history of the military, they have always been out front in many elements of social change. I think in this particular instance on this one, weve somewhat been behind. Weve done all the right programs, weve had all the right processes but we havent often looked deep into our hearts and souls. Thats what some of the conversations have been about this week, really opening up this conversation. General browns quotes are reflective of any military leader. I had one particular ba tallian commander work for me, dana betard. He enlightened me. Some of the comments that i never heard that he did. The kinds of things that a White American is not understand iing and thats why whats happening is good. I have to go, general, real quick for me, please, please, please. What other country has statues and bases with them . None, other than germany for 12 years. I never saw a statue of hitler or anybody else because theyve erased that part of history because it was so evil. Thank you both. I need to correct something we had on screen. We had a banner that said the president would remove conferred der rate flags. It should have been names. Sorry. Were covering a story about nascar no longer allowing flags at their events. Coming up, u. S. Coronavirus cases near 2 million now. 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More on the pandemic tonight from cnns erica hill. Reporter sobering new data about coronavirusrelated hospitalizations. Up in at least a dozen states since memorial day weekend. It was our highest day yet of hospitalizations. I continue to be concerned. Reporter in arizona, 79 of the states icu beds are currently in use. The director of Health Services asking hospitals to activate their emergency plans and reduce or suspend elective surgeries. The overall trends Alarming Health care officials. What concerns me is do we have the systems in place to ensure that a case in a community doesnt lead to a cluster, doesnt lead to an outbreak, doesnt lead to a Health Care System once again getting overwhelmed. Reporter across the country 19 states reporting a rise in new cases over the past week including florida, georgia, and South Carolina among the first to reopen. Much of the northeast seeing a decline. It has to be done right an