Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20140827 : vimarsan

CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 August 27, 2014

Gunshots that ended Michael Browns life. Cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity of the tape and has asked the fbi for a confirmation of their interview with the man who made the recordings. And i want to bring in now ben crump. I want to get his reaction. He is an attorney for the family. Ben, thank you for joining us this evening. What do you think, if this is indeed the video, what do you make of this video . How does this change or help or hurt your case . Well, don, i think its consistent with what the witness have reported to have happen in the tragedy that claimed the life of Michael Brown that afternoon. They talked about it being multiple gunshots, and they talked about he stopped and then put his hands up. But then the officer kept shooting. So i think this is very consistent with all the witness testimony that we have to date. We are still waiting to get the statement from the Police Officer. They still havent given us anything officially, you know. They went and they released still photographs in the video from what happened. Allegedly in this convenience store. But they still have not given the family any information about what the Police Officer version is, why he executed their son in broad daylight. Okay, ben. I want to play this video again, or the audio and then explain to our viewers what is going on here. Lets listen. You are pretty. [ gunshots ] youre so fine. Just going over some of your videos [ gunshots ] how can i forget. So a man says he captured the audio while talking to a friend on a chat. And he you can hear in that a series of gunshots. Then there is a pause. Then there is more gunfire. Experts are saying the pause is critical. Do you believe that . I think certainly the pause shows contemplation. You know, when you have a threesecond, foursecond delay, that gives you an opportunity to reflect on what youre going do. And so based on the witness accounts, he stopped, he turned around a, put his hands up. And then the officer just kept shooting. So, you know, we are going to be able to put all of this information together to come to the truth of what happened on that tragic saturday afternoon of august 9th that Michael Brown ended up dead on the sidewalk. You know the other side is going to say this also corroborates their story that michael charged the officer. Don, don, let me ask you this. You say the other side. Have you seen some evidence . Have you heard got some document that we dont have . Because were waiting. The family is patiently waiting to have the Police Department release the report. Weve been waiting very patiently now there is all this rumor and innuendo. The only evidence we have thus far is those witness statements that all say that Michael Brown put his hands up to surrender, and the Police Officers kept shooting. So right now we are speculating. Why dont you and everybody else in the media demand like the family is the Police Report . Well, ben, when i say the other side, when i say the other side, im talking about remember the initial days when the chief of the ferguson Police Department said there was a scuffle and that the officer and Michael Brown were in a scuffle. Thats what im talking about. There were initial reports from the Police Department, but then beyond that since the investigation was taken over by st. Louis county, no one has given any statements except for the third Party Witness which i understand that youre not very happy with, the third Party Witness or not witness, or friend from the radio program. A witness its not a witness. It was friend. A person, a friend of his acquaintance who offered testimony where they say happened. What do you think a friend or an a acquaintance of the shooter would say . You know, we have to look at who is offering this and how were going to put it forward as a reliable source. It would be reliable when the police give us a report. The thing you have to respect about the witnesses who have come forth so far, they have come forth and put their face and their statements up to the world to say this is me. This is what i saw. And i think thats appropriate because you get them. You get to say are they credible and this kind of thing. Until we have any witness that comes forward to support the Police Officers version, then we have to wait for the Police Officer to give us the report which they have not. And transparency still is the whole issue here, don. This is what this is all about. Because the citizens of ferguson and many people around the country dont trust that the Police Officer are going to be fair and give the information out fairly. We see the way theyve been disseminating the information thus far. They have been extremely painful for Michael Browns family. Do you believe there could be other recordings out there . Weve heard from people theyre afraid to come forward a because theyre afraid of police or that they just dont want to be a part of the media spectacle. I think there are other witnesses out there, don. And i think as many of the witnesses have said, they fear the retribution of the local Law Enforcement authorities once all the camera ares go and all the crowds go that they have to live there. And they remember, this is a history that is going on, don. This isnt the first young person of color in those communities that have been killed by the police. And every time theyve seen it swept under the rug and the Police Actions are found to be justified. So therefore theyre waiting to see i believe if its really going to be different this time. And i think thats why the citizens of ferguson are crying out and standing up and protesting because they say is it going to be different this time, because we saw this happen in broad daylight with our own eyes. And thats what is different about Michael Brown. A lot of times it was in the dark of night. But this, there were so many people who witnessed this execution of this young man. And thats why i asked you if you thought there would be more out there. Because so far we have this one recording, so far, so far, and its an alleged reporting. Thank you, benjamin crump. We thank you for joining us on cnn. To a lot of people its absolutely clear that the shooting of Michael Brown is about race, and many others would vehemently disagree. I want to know what my next guests think about all. This joining me is Charles Ogletree professor of law at harvard university. Right now its just charles. Well get the other professor to come in. Thank you for coming. I want to talk to you about this. Do you have a reaction to this newly released recording . I do. I think it tells a little bit more about what is going on. And a i think all of us have to wait and see if its really verifiable. Im not sure that it is. It sounds a little fictitious to me. But i think that the evidence that we have seen thats been produced already about the number of shots fired, the bullets that hit Michael Brown, and what the lawyers who represent him, ben crump and darryl parks have found out so far. I think this is going to go a long way to having a civil case against the Police Officer. There should be a criminal case against the Police Officer. And i think that people will be able to look at when this gun was fired, how often it was fired. And he will at some point tell us what happened. We havent heard it yet. We havent heard anything yet. And i think that, don, we all have to wait for the evidence to come forward. It hasnt come forward yet. Im sorry for completely butchering your title. Its ban long two weeks here. Thats fine. Im fine with the title. At harvard university. My apologies when i screw up. I admit it. My apologies. Not a problem. Not a problem at all. This is a very serious case, you have compared the Michael Brown shooting and its aftermath to the assassination of dr. Martin luther king jr. And also to the murder of emmett till. Such momentous events. Explain that. Well, all these have something to do with race. Theyre black men who are assassinated or killed by white men. And i think that has a been in our history for a long time. And i think people arent ignoring that. The people in ferguson, missouri are look agent this very closely and trying to find out what is happening. And a i think their understanding that there has been two standards. The black community is the majority in ferguson. And yet you see Police Police brutality. You see police arrest. You see Police People who are talking being victims of the Police Department. You see people who came out with these militaristic weapons as if they were fighting in afghanistan or somewhere else. I want to get you to talk more about this. What did you make of the militarystyle police in the streets facing off . It was shocking. Don, let me tell you, those are things that we thought we were going to have to use after 9 11, when we saw thousands of citizens, black, white, brown, male, female die in new york because of the use of these airplanes. In killing people. And then the whole idea is that this will never happen again. These weapons, these militaristic devices were designed for wars. And were not in a war. This is a community that is trying to but devils advocate here, the police will say we have to be able to protect ourselves. You have no idea what were up against. What if a boston happens or another boston or a situation like that . What do we do . I think thats very understandable. But Police Across the country have been using weapons that have been very useful in taking down people who are involved in crimes. But the whole idea that you need these tanks, you need these guns, you need these vests, you need to look like youre fighting a war, we dont call that anything thats american. Its just contrary to what everything we believe in. And i think we have to stop it. We have to make sure that communities, whether the police are black or white or brown, women, or men, they dont need those kind of weapons to order control the crime in the city. And i think thats the problem that everybody is seeing wow, here in ferguson, this community that is overwhelm leg black, has few black Police Officers. And people are treated differently. And thing militaristic effort by the police is what theyre given. Im not blaming the police. Im blaming the fact that theyre getting this power, and its a scary power that you cant even walk down your neighborhood, you can become a victim just because youre in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong color, and you happen to be involved with the police. In a police state. Were getting a little far afield here as well, because i really want to talk to you about the notion of White Privilege you. Write about and talk about White Privilege. What do you mean by that . Well, you know, its very interesting. The whole idea that our country was designed with White Privilege. And the whole idea that we were considered 3 5 of a person in the original declaration deciding deciding how are you are going to treat people. We were not considered people. We were not considered whole people. And you saw the jim crow laws. We couldnt go to restaurants, hotels, we had to go to colored only drinking faucets. People say i wasnt born then. If you were white, you ra benefitting from the fact you are white. Thats not good, thats not bad. Hold on. When we come back, were going to talk more than. Were going to ask if there is medical evidence of White Privilege as well. That were going get into next. 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There are still a lot of hungry people in the world. But we have a lot of scientists. This is the Human Element at work. Dow. Welcome back. I want to take a further look at the concept of White Privilege in america and how it may even show up in health care. Cnns jean casarez has that. Reporter when it comes to medical care in this country, are white People Better off than blacks . Its a complicated issue, but there is evidence that may be true. African americans have a greater burden of high blood pressure, strokes, diabetes, and kidney disease. Reporter this doctor of new york universitys Langone Medical Center says there is no genetic reason for these higher rates of disease. So he believes the answer lies elsewhere. The differences are apparent from birth. Cdc statistics show black infants die more than twice as often as white infants. According to the cdc, the average White American lives four years longer than the average black american. If you look at physicians who take care of black patients compared to those who take care of white patients, there is huge difference in how the same provideler provide care for the black patients done for the white patients. And a lot of this has been physician bias. The problem is that its unconscious. I dont think physicians are conscious of what theyre doing. The issue is we need to study why this is so. Reporter the American Medical Association has numerous programs aiming to address Racial Disparities in medical care. And according to their website, zero tolerance towards racial or cultural disparities in care. A recent article quoted a researcher from john hopkins who said everyday racism like being snub order treated with suspicion can do real harm to the immune system. Hypertension, which is your specialty. Where do you see the roots of that issue so that its more predominant in African Americans . If you look at the data, the higher socioeconomic status, the lower the rate of blood pressure. People will live in zip codes that are deemed as poor areas tend to have high areas of hypertension regardless of race. But it turns out there are higher proportions of African Americans in those neighborhoods. Reporter but the key question for researchers, does it come down to race or like so much else in this country, does it come down to money . What about an affluent African American . My explanation, and my theory for that is that if you are affluent, you have access to care. If you are affluent. Reporter whether its money or causation or correlation, we cant say for sure. But with Peoples Health in the balance, it is worth exploring. Jean casarez, cnn, new york. All right. Lets talk about this. Joined by tim wise, author of colorblind and professor Charles Ogletree is back with me now. Chris, lets cut right to the chase. Socalled White Privilege so pervasive that it even come downs to your basic health . I have to reject that, mr. Lemon. The whole idea of Everything Health related being due to White Privilege. I can look at my own family. I come from a military family background. And my familys got excellent care. My father is a cancer survivor. He wouldnt be here today if it werent for very diligent medical technicians. And i doubt very seriously they were going to give him lesser care because of the color of his skin. If anything, its an economic factor. I was listening to the broadcast before. I put economics before race in this issue. Like economics comes before race in almost every issue. Tim, you believe a lot of people, particularly white people, are unaware of the day to day ways that they are fortunate to be white. Give us some examples and why do you believe that . Well, i can give you literally books worth and have written books on it. Some of the most basic. I think we can think of this with regard to what has happened in ferguson and just generally. To be white generally, and i think of this as a white person is to know that regardless of whether im involved in illegal activity, whether im shoplifting, whether i have drugs on me, not that i do, by the way. But if i did, knowing that im not going to be suspected of being up to no good, of being involved in illegal activity. Places like new york where stop and frisk was happening overwhelmingly, black men being stopped, latino men being stopped even though the vast majority of the stops were for things like suspicion of drug possession, very few peopl

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