Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim

CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim Sciutto June 15, 2020

Im poppy harlow in new york. Happening right now, demonstrators in downtown atlanta marching to georgias State Capitol following a weekend of heated protests across country after the Fatal Police Shooting of Rayshard Brooks. New Police Body Camera video shows brooks struggling with the two officers before he was shot twice in the back. Just moments ago the District Attorney told me his office is still pulling together all of the video that they need here to possibly bring charges by wednesday. One of the things that we must attempt to finalize before we make a decision is to confirm the ballistics. We try to make sure that the projectiles in the body of mr. Brooks, that we can expertly trace them to a firearm. Lets begin this hour with Diane Gallagher who joins us in atlanta. Where else are we on the investigation . We heard the d. A. There. There may be these charges coming. We dont know what they would be, involuntary manslaughter, murder, et cetera, but there are demands now from his widow. Reporter yeah, and Rayshard Brooks wife wants to see justice. She has an idea of what justice looks like to her. In part it is after shes not watched this video, but were starting to see more videos. Initially there was some from the bystanders with the Security Camera and now we have body camera video and dashcam video that paints a picture of those last moments of mr. Brooks. You see everything from the moment that the Police Officer knocks on the window and tries to wake him up and that car gets him to move it. Theres about half an hour period where theres what could be described as almost friendly interactions. Mr. Brooks talks about going to visit his mothers grave site with the officers and his daughters birthday. He does a breathalyzer test and tests over the league limit, and at that point when the officer tries to put handcuffs on him, thats when you start to see the scuffle between mr. Brooks and officers. Takes one of the tasers and tries to get out of there. He runs away. You see him turn around. Maybe hes trying to fire that taser there, and thats when you hear the three shots being fired there. He was shot twice in the back. He died from blood loss and organ damage, according to the medical examiner. This is what his widow says she wants to see. This is what justice means for her. It was murder. It was not justified. Reporter why was he murderered . Because he was shot and he wasnt armed. He wasnt dangerous. I never imagined it being at my front door. I never imagined it being me having to do this and go through this it. I felt the pain and now i really feel the pain. Again, the officer who fired the shots that killed Rayshard Brooks was fired from his job. The others were placed on administrative duty. Poppy, the police chief has also resigned. Diane gallagher, thank you for all of that reporting. Now lets talk with the march thats happening right now at the georgia State Capitol. Our Boris Sanchez joins us again this hour with more. Its such a diverse crowd there, not only in terms of race but in terms of age. Yeah, absolutely, poppy, and we just heard from about a dozen speakers, the Atlanta Hawks head coach, the head of the georgia naacp, the rapper jeezy. They just wrapped up, and were going to start marching towards the georgia State Capitol, roughly half a mile from where we are. A number of issues at the forefront, not just the relationship between africanamericans and police, but also georgias stand your ground law and the citizen arrest warrant that people would like changed. One thing to note about the movement, the diversity and age. A lot of young people at these events. We have an entire family with us here now. This is yasmine. You told us you brought your family out here because you wanted them to see it in person. I think its important for them to see and feel the power behind being a part of a peaceful protest, to bring an end to systemic racism, inequality and demand that everybody live peacefully in a city that we love, in a country that we love. Theres no Justice Without making sure that everyone has equal access to opportunities, and marching to the legislature to make those demands heard is an important first step in that. Participating in protests and really having my daughters see this is so important for me so that they can know that they are a part of this solution, that the world is waiting for these young minds to really come forward with some solutions to systemic problems that have been plaguing this country since i was a child marching in new york. Its time for change. The world is demanding change. Atlanta is demanding change. Georgia is demanding change, and it needs to happen. Who doesnt want to live in a Peaceful World . Everyone wants to live in peace, but thats only going to happen once there is justice. When we saw that killing this past weekend, i saw myself and this man getting killed at the wendys drivein. I saw my daughters and my husband and my father and my family and my heart was broken. My sorrow was enormous for all of these killings for all the lives that are lost. It has to end. Your minds are critical. You need to think and you need to have conversations to think about ways that we can make change a reality and to live in that reality and their children and people to come will have a world where we can live and really feel as though you are a part of this country that weve helped build and create. Thank you so much for your perspective. Well let you get on that way. Poppy, i dont think i can say anything that follows that response. Boris, incredible to hear from her and her bringing her children. Lets go to cedric alexander, the former president of the National Council of black executives. Thank you so much for being here. You have a unique standpoint in terms of all of your past experience and what you have represented. Lets begin with the killing of Rayshard Brooks. Youve seen the video. Youve seen all that transpired over that 22 minutes. Instead of being shot and killed, shot twice in the back and killed, what are officers trained to do . What should have been done . Well, let me tell you what they had an opportunity to do at the onset of them being called there by wendys. They had an opportunity to assess mr. Brooks which they did. Once they woke him up they also asked him to pull him pull into a parking slot in which he did, and upon further investigation it appears that they were having a relatively cordial conversation. I think at that point officers had an opportunity to really to use discretion and either give him a ride home, have someone called to come pick him up or do something. Everything does not have to end in that arrest. And particularly in a case like this, in particularly in the climate that were in. You would think right now, and we know officers have a very difficult job, but you would think in light of whats going on at this moment there would be some sense of consideration and nothing tragic here was going on. He had taken himself off the street so i think even before it got to the point where it turned into a wrestling match and even when it got to the point where it turned into a deadly encount, and to be perfectly honest, this never should have gotten to that point. You said they could have called him an uber. They could have taken him home. They could have taken him home if he lived nearby or could have had his wife or someone come pick him up. Oftentimes discretion is the better half of what we can do, and it always doesnt need to be about taking someone to jail or taking someone to jail over an alleged counterfeit 20 and see the murder that has created protests around the world. These minute and minor cases are not supposed to turn into what we have seen here most recently, and the lady that was just being interviewed in the streets of atlanta, we feel her pain. Millions of people across america are scared. They are frightened of their of their Public Safety officials, and it saddens me for someone who spent 40 years in this profession. I talk to other chiefs and sheriffs but it is a reality and its got to change. Chief alexander. Im sorry to keep this short. We do have breaking news to get to out of the Supreme Court. Well have you back soon. I appreciate it very much. Lets get to our Jessica Schneider with more. Good morning, jess. Reporter good morning, poppy. A landmark ruling out of the Supreme Court this morning. We have been awaiting this decision, and the decision now is clear from the Supreme Court. They have issued a ruling that now bans discrimination by employers against transgender individuals and gay individuals. This is a big ruling that was hotly contested at the Supreme Court when arguments happened at the end of last year here. This is quite an interesting opinion as well because this is a key, a landmark ruling for gay and transgender individuals. It was actually authored by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed obviously to the court by President Trump. This was written by him. This was a 63 decision. He was joined by the chief justice, john roberts as well as the liberal justices here. This is a 63 decision, is and i want to just read to you briefly what this decision entails. It is a massive victory for transgender and gay individuals. Justice gorsuch writing in this opinion saying, lets see, congress outlawed discrimination in the workplace on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Today we decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender and the answer is clear. An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits that would would not have been questioned by members of a different sex. This court saying for First Time Ever that employers who discrimination against individuals simply for their Sexual Orientation or for their transgender status are in fact violating the law. This was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title 7. These justices now saying employers, you can not discriminate. Poppy, this is a huge win for more than 7 million transgender and gay individuals throughout this country. Again, this decision coming from conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch writing this decision in a 63 opinion. It is huge, jess. As you say, this impacts more than a million transgender workers in this country, more than 7. 1 lesbian, gay and bisexual workers if you look at the data out of slay. Jeffrey toobin, how monumental this is, and fact that Justice Gorsuch wrote this decision and was joined by the chief justice. People were looking at gorsuch and oral arguments about what he said, and the question was where was he going to fall . Now its very clear you know, this is a fascinating and enormously important decision, and it all turned on the meaning of one word, one word in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which is sex because it was quite clear that the Civil Rights Act barred discrimination on the basis of gender like you cant fire someone just because they are a woman, but does the word sex also mean Sexual Orientation. Yeah. And transgender status. What the Supreme Court decided today by a vote of 63 is that it does. It the means you cant fire someone simply because they are gay. Thats a violation of federal law. Its an important point to realize is that most courts that had that had addressed this issue previously, not all of them, but most courts had gone the other way. Had said that it was that the word sex did not include Sexual Orientation, but the Supreme Court has spoken very clearly in this decision, 63. That is now unlawful under federal law to fire someone simply because they are lbgt or transgender, and its a big difference from how the law was half an hour ago the way it is today. And, poppy. Yes, jessica. And i think its important for people to also know about who brought this case and the story behind amy stevens, right, the first time that the court has heard arguments on civil rights from a transgender individual. That is also historic. It, and i actually spoke with amy stevens back in the fall when this case was being heard here at the Supreme Court. Amy stevens had gone to her employer, the owner of a funeral home in michigan and told that employer that she was transitioning to becoming a female. Pretty immediate lit owner of that funeral home fired her, and that is what began her court fight up here to the Supreme Court, and i spoke with her. Unfortunately, shes passed away. She passed away just a month ago before this decision came down. She said that this wasnt just about her. She said that this was about all of the millions of other transgender and gay workers out there, and she did say that even despite this ruling, even if it did come down in their favor, that their fight would continue. They would continue potentially to be discriminated against, though now its unlawful for employers to discriminate, but it was quite moving to talk with her right before she was listening into arguments here at the court. Unfortunately, she will not be able to really bask in the glow of this victory for transgender individuals as well as gay individuals. Poppy, what ill note, too is that Justice Gorsuch, the conservative appointed by donald trump, he authored this opinion, and during arguments we saw that maybe there was a chance that he would in fact side with transgender and gay individuals because he said he wanted to look at the text of the statute and the fact that the text says no discrimination based on sex. He believed it was very clear that sex incorporated being gay or transgender. One thing that gorsuch worried about at oral arguments was whether or not a decision in favor of the transgender and gay individuals might create what he called massive social upheaval. They worry about how this would resonate throughout the country. But obviously Justice Gorsuch in authoring this opinion has really put that aside and look to the strict meaning of title 7 of the Civil Rights Act and said that these people, all 1 million plus of them throughout the country, must in fact be affected. Youre so right, and following the story of amy stevens, the fact that shes not here and the legacy that she left behind is enormous. Jeffrey toobin, again, i want to focus on the point that everyone was looking at gorsuch here, Justice Gorsuch, and inside did he side with the liberal justices, he wrote the majority opinion here and was joined by the chief justice. How big is that. Well, its just Supreme Court decisions are often you know talk about abstractions and trends in the law. This has a very Practical Impact on peoples lives. You know, it it is true that in some states that it was it was unlawful under state law to fire someone because they are gay or transgender, and not all the states, and in many states it was legal to fire people because of their Sexual Orientation and now thats changed for the whole country. You cant fire someone simply because they are gay or transgender anymore. That is a big change in american law and American Life and culture, and its just an example of how our country is changing. You know, neil gorsuch didnt turn into a liberal overnight. You know, this was what a a decision simply about what the statute meant and really what one word in the statute meant. Sure. Sex, and i wouldnt extrapolate more from his views about the constitution generally, but this decision is this decision and its a big one. And Justice Sotomayor asked the then solicitor general during arguments, at what court does the court invidious incorporation . Thanks for laying it all out for us. 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