Transcripts For BBCNEWS Outside Source 20200611 : vimarsana.

But new figures show thousands of people couldnt be contacted. And as the coronavirus outbreak accelerates in africa so too does misinformation. Welcome. Americas top military official has said he was wrong to join President Trump for a photo opportunity outside a church in washington. A peaceful protest over the death of george floyd, a black man who died in police custody, had been forcibly broken up to make it happen. This is the walk they took to the Church General mark milley, the chair of thejoint chiefs of staff is on the right side of the screen dressed in camouflage fatigues he said he should not have been there. This is what he said in a video address to a military graduation ceremony. As many of you saw the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week. That sparked a National Debate about the role of the military in civil society. I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of military involvement of domestic politics. This is not the first time general milley has distanced himself, and the us military, from the politics of donald trump. In the early days of the protests against the killing of george floyd, who died after a Police Officer knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes, donald trump tweeted. That last phrase was coined in the us in the 1960s, to justify aggressive policing in black neighbourhoods, and was later used by politicians in favour of segregation during the time of civil rights protests. Twitter marked it as a violation of twitter rules for glorifying violence. President trump then acused twitter of silencing conservative voices and threatened them with regulation. Days later general milley, wrote a letter to the Us Joint Forces command saying. The us military swears an oath to the constitution, this document is founded on the principle that all men and women are born free and equal, and should be treated with respect and dignity. In his own handwriting he added we all committed our lives to the idea that is america we will stay true to that oath and the american people. Heres katty kay on the significance of that. Look, you have to remember the president is also the commander in chief. Doing that he is effectively criticising the commander in chief as well. Its why american generals, by and large are very reluctant whether they are sitting or retired, very reluctant to criticise the president. Because there are criticising the head of the military. Now he is just one of several former joint chiefs of staff and secretaries of defence that of, and saying that President Trump has gone too far recalled for the military to come out onto the streets against american protesters. Its worth remembering that when his photograph was taken, when we saw him on that video walking through the square American Forces had just fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Peaceful Protesters in order to clear the square so that the president could go and have that photo opportunity outside the church. It caused a huge amount of consternation here. In speaking to a top retired American Military official who said the apology is good and true, we dont have the kind of apology that so clear so often, somebody saying i was wrong, but this former military official was saying it is too late. This was a week ago last monday when we are now ten days later. Why is it taken him so long to come out and say what i did was wrong. The black lives matter protests in the United States and around the world have led to demands that authorities remove monuments connected to slavery and colonialism. This is a statue of Christopher Columbus being torn down by protesters in minnesota. Hes popularly known as one of the 15th centurys great explorers, credited with europes discovery of the americas. But hes accused of being responsible for native american but on twitter, the republican senator ted cruz described the protesters as the american taliban. Another, more recent historical legacy being examined is that of the american civil war. Multiple us military bases are named after confederate commanders, who fought to preserve slavery. There are ten of them theyre spread across six southern states, some of which were once part of the confederacy that fought against the union in the north. Earlier this week the army suggested they might be open to changing the bases names sparking an angry response from the president , who has refused to rename any of them. Statues of those leaders have also been targetted by anti racism protesters. The opposition Democrat Party has thrown its weight behind a campaign to remove some from the us capitol, where congress sits. Nancy pelosi, the countrys top elected democrat, wrote this letter to a Congressional Committee in charge of managing the statues saying they must be removed. And this is what one of her colleagues said. The individuals who have been honoured by those statues, in effect, fought to keep people enslaved. I dont think thats something we ought to honour in america. Outside of washington, the same issues are playing out. This is the statue of the former president of the confederacy, jefferson davis, after it was defaced and knocked down in richmond, virginia. It was taken away by police. This is a statue, of confederate general robert e lee being cleaned after it was spray painted by protesters. Swear words had to be blurred out for broadcast. The governor of virginia has said there are now plans to take down this statue down as soon as possible. Journalist james gannon is a descendent of general robert lee. Two years ago he made a documentary about his controversial family legacy and the divisions on confederate monuments in america. I asked him how he feels about taking down the statues. Welcome of the important thing to remember about these statues and those that say they have to do with history is that that history was never really straightforward to begin with. These statues, whether they were put up in the years following the civil war, or decades or even a century later like many of them were, if you look at the speeches given at their unveiling and commentary at the time, its clear that although there may have been some it is sent intend to honour history, there was a very specific intention to use these as symbols of oppression and symbols to empower White Supremacy across the south. So as i look at them now really they are symbols that just have to go. In this current moment we cannot accept that statues two people who fought to uphold the enslavement of human beings can still stand today. In the United States a io week stock market boom which seemed to defy gravity given the desperate Economic Situation has seemingly come to an end today. The exchange in new york has closed in the last few minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell nearly 7 . That is its biggest daily fall since the early days of covid i9 back in march. Moving away from the us. And here in the uk the government says its new track and trace system is working well in england however new figures show tracers failed to get in touch with a third of them. Heres our health editor, hugh pym. If you test positive, nhs test and trace will contact you to trace people you might have infected. Testing and tracing is vital to prevent future coronavirus outbreaks developing. A new system for england was launched two weeks ago. Now we have some details of how its working. In the first week, two thirds of those testing positive handed over details of people they had recently been in contact with. Save lives. Are you a bit concerned that with one third of people who tested positive, for whatever reason, you couldnt get details of recent contacts . I think that the system has worked well, and to get two thirds in the first week of operation, it beat my expectations and then to have the vast majority, 85 of the contacts that were given, self isolating, that beat my expectations too, and this system gets better and better. Here is how Contact Tracing should work. If i test positive for the virus, id be contacted by officials by phone or e mail and asked who i had met up with in recent days. And that means meetings at less than two metres face to face, not someone i might have bumped into in a shop. That might include, for example, friends id spent time with, and work colleagues i might have been in meetings with, or a wider circle of recent contacts. All that would then be assessed by a Clinical Team and those people might be contacted and told to self isolate for 14 days. Testing is carried out at drive through centres at locations visited by mobile teams and in hospitals and care homes. Home test kits are sent out, then information on those testing positive is sent to Health Officials who find out more a bout the contacts. I one of them isjosie. Everybody that ive spoke to has been more than happy to share. ,