Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20150503 : vimarsan

Huckabee will make his official announcement. Meanwhile, in baltimore, a curfew was put in place for the fifth night in a row. Todays headline in the Washington Post after the arrests, to termination of baltimore. Is this a turning point for the city and what lessons are there for the rest of the nation . That is our focus this first hour of cspans washington journal. We have divided our phone lines a little bit different. If you are a resident of baltimore, dial in at 20274 88000. If youre a member of the Law Enforcement at 2027488001. And for all others, 202748 8002. As always, you can join in on social media. Send us a tweet or on facebook. Good sunday morning. Thank you very much for being with us. This mornings front page of the Washington Post. A largely peaceful demonstration that took place yesterday in baltimore. The curfew was extended. Then there is this from the the baltimore sun. Celebration and anger at a victory rally after charges were put in place announced friday in the case involving the death of freddie gray. Jerry jackson writes as follows the day after Six Police Officers were charged in the killing of freddie gray 1000 people converged on city Hall Saturday for a largely celebratory victory rally. They danced in unison, sang along on a loudspeaker and registered to vote. It marked a stark contrast to what we saw last weekend when scattered looting and vandalism broke out downtown one day after the demonstration as officials feared of another tense weekend some suggested it was time to list the city lift the cittys curfew. There is this from ben fisher who says there will be no turning point until police stop being emotionally prejudiced. Susan quinn theyve been arrested. They have not been indicted. They have been, they just have not been convicted. The case going to a jury. Joel shipp says watching the looting and burning has not settled well with much of the country. Randal stevens says i hope so but i doubt. Subconscious racism is ingrained in both the culture and judicial system in the u. S. It will take a lot to make a truly meaningful change. Alonzo is joining us this sunday morning from baltimore. Good morning. Is this a turning point for your city . Bruce smart caller absolutely not. The media is attempted to change the narrative. Trying to pay to picture a blight on property as being the issue when in fact the issue is black men on arms being killed by Police Officers and Police Officers not been prosecuted. So, i think the police are living in a an above the law type of situation. Additionally, it is almost as if they are the judge. They are now the juries and most cases when its a black person, they are the executioner. So poverty is a part of every c city and every state in america, and so is racism. Host how do you change that dynamic . Caller by making certain that every Police Officer has ethnicity training. So that if im a Police Officer and a man of color, i can appreciate the culture of mexican americans hispanic americans, polishamericans, Jewish Americans and white americans. The same thing holds if i am a different color. This is an issue of people not b eing sensitive to how different cultures act and react in different situations. Also and lastly, i think that a lot of the stereotypes that are propagated by television, radio, media, and black people themselves has caused people to look at a stupidly. They stereotype us and that automatically there is apprehension when we approach them. Im a person of color. So and im not im monolithic not monolithic. We are not all the same. I am a person of color. Host where in baltimore do you live . Caller in baltimore city. In the city. Host they give for the call. We appreciate it. 2027488000 if you live in baltimore. And 2027488001 for those of you in Law Enforcement and we welcome our listeners on cspan radio. Heard coasttocoast on xm 120. Bill king has this point Baltimore Police arrested turning point . No but it is a starting point, a starting point of Police Oversight nationwide. Alonzo made a reference to property which is one of the root causes in many inner cities around the country. An interstate story this morning front page and inside the Washington Post, why could 130 million transform sandown . The piece says sand town, winchester is crumbling. Again, that in the west Baltimore Neighborhood often referred to as a sand town. Here is one of htthe photographs of inside the Washington Post to give you the sense of the property. The row homes that are boarded up, home after home and that west Baltimore Neighborhood. Just three mouse from the inner harbor. Phil is joining me from maine. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. I come from a family of police. Some High Ranking Police actually. Had an uncle that was a retired Police Commissioner from new york that in the 1960s. And im ashamed of the present this country. Im really ashamed because you guys are playing the fiddle while rome burns. You allow all of this nonsense to go on. For instance in ferguson hands up, dont shoot. That was a lie. A complete lie. Now, where does that officer go to get his reputation back when the socalled child, this 63 300 pound man, wanted to kill him . Nobody brings that up. Now you are in a situation in baltimore where you have a black male, a black a black mayor a black prosecutor, a black chief of police and a balanced police force and all of a sudden it is all races again. This is totally ridiculous. People like sharpton run around this country running the mouth. Sharpton should be in jail. If you guys remember to Wanda Brawley in new york. What he did there. It was a crime. He lied about everything. The girl was not raped. There was a policeman who committed suicide because he was so ashamed of what was coming down on his family by sharpton and maddox. But they get away with it. Jesse jackson gets away with it. Since Lyndon Johnson put in his war on poverty, i do not know how many times of dollars has been spent on the black community. And they have not gone anywhere. It has gotten worse and worse and worse. Host what do you think is the longterm solution . Caller a balanced situation where the black family has to be brought back. Fathers have to be put back into the situation. You have black on black crime which, of course, you tell us in the media and im not picking you up. Host i understand. Caller dont bring up that there are murders and washington d. C. , in chicago, in baltimore, in every city in this country. Black on black crime. Host which creates that cycle of poverty. Caller the cycle of poverty is created by ease of getting from the government what you need. Theres welfare and everything else. So there is no necessity to work, to do the righ tthing. Host my point is if you grow up in a singlefamily without a father, often that leads to more poverty for those families. Caller yes, it does. Host the father figure is out of picture even longer. Caller the family has been broken up by the government. Host thank you for the call. Later in the program we turn our attention to the crime bill that was signed into law in 1994 by president bill clinton. More than 20 years later, was at the right solution . Hillary clinton gave a speech at Columbia University saying it is time for changes. It might be interesting for you to hear what she said in our cspan interview we conducted in 1994 coming up later in the program. One of our viewers saying the first caller has it exactly right. You have to Reform Police education and training and reform the judiciary how selected . One of the photographs inside the Washington Post. A peaceful demonstration outside of city hall. As about 1000 people marching in west baltimore and throughout much of the city. The curfew remained in place overnight. Some calling for the curfew to end. Next is mark joining us from michigan. Caller the man has spoken. The guy was absolutely correct of what he was saying about all of this police shootings. You know, that is what happens when you swallow a bunch of heroin. That is what happens to you. The negligence by the police, they should have taken him to the hospital when they knew he swallowed all that heroin. Instead, they drove from around all he was bouncing around in the van. That was the negligent, but it was the heroin dealer they were chasing, so he would not get busted. He swwaallowed it. The leaders pulled away the violence off of them and placed it on Law Enforcement by using the mainstream news media. Host mark from michigan. Where do the most racist people live . One survey looking at the northeast has an area where most of them live according to a study that was done by available at Washington Post. Com. The most racist places in america, introducing you to a novel that makes tons of sense. For racist attitudes. He used it before to measure the effect of racist attitudes on Barack Obamas Electoral Prospects in 2008. Next is johnny, member of Law Enforcement joining me from georgia. Caller im retired military personnel. For the last two and a half days, i have been hearing cspan having all these people come on and say all these things about mothers who happen to raise the kids alone. Schools that are not graduating kids. And obviously, to lead to police fertility. It does not. None of it has anything to do with mr. Grays death. If those six police had not come to work on that particular day mr. Gray would be alive right now. It had nothing to do with single mothers. It does not have anything to do with poverty. It has to do with the way police in america are being chosen for their profession. They are not getting good interviews, and the Police Department does not have good leadership. And that is the problem. Host thank you for your call. This morning front page of the New York Times. A hard but hopeful home to a lot of freddies. San town sandtown is the focus of national attention, the setting for the latest on a list of Police Violence cases front page of the New York Times. Bobbie rush congressmen of chicago, had this to say on the house floor on friday after the announcement about the indictment of the six baltimore Police Officers. Here is constant rush, democrat of illinois. Cognizant rus congressman rush by her decision today just a few moments ago, she has done this nation an invaluable service. Especially for young people. Especially for the africanamerican and other minority youth. These young people have for decades now felt and yearned for justice as it relates to police misconduct, police fertility and yes police murder. This news standing for justice. Is a standard that now transcends baltimore. Transcends even the entire state of maryland. And transcends and reaches two other points all across this nation. Ferguson, new york city, chicago, cleveland, other places all throughout this country. Host from the house floor friday after the indictments were announced in baltimore. And responding to an earlier caller, there is this tweet from carol who said if freddie gray had not been on the streets and running and wasnt a drug user and seller, he may still be alive. Comments from congressman rush and others. This headline from the l. A. Times. A prosecutors top task in baltimore, adding that jurors often do not one believe Police Officers are the bad guys. Good morning from chicago. Welcome to the program. Caller good morning. I just have a comment to make to white people, caucasians or black people africanamericans. That not all white people are bad and not all black people are bad. And being a person who is retired, i have observed one thing in this country that is aggravating to all people. And that is to be treated badly. And i have a solution to the racial problem. Host ok. Caller my solution is for white people to realize not all black people are not americanize. Some live in White Communities like myself. We grew up living with white people. We have american values. We dress nice. We work extreme heart. Im retired now. When i walk down the street, i dont appreciate being referred to as a thief or a person who is not good looking or whatever. I look better than most people i walk by. So they do not need to make me feel that. For black people. Learn the language, learn other peoples customs. Try to get along with people and try to fit in more, because so many black people say, i do not want to be like them. But if you live in america, you have to become an americanized person. Host can i follow up on your earlier, about walking down the street . How have you felt racism on a personal level . Caller i live in chicago illinois, grew up in the socalled gold coast area. Every black person i was the only black person everywhere i went. Everywhere in the 1960s, 1970s. And i never had a racial problem because i worked extremely hard. I went to school. Speak standard english. I go to get a job i got five job offers in one week. People would walk out and say, are you louise. When can you start . Im looking nice, speaking well and trying to do a good job. In fact i did a job better than most people. So my solution is when i walked down the street and i have nice clothes on. Im not fat. Size four. I look nice. My hair looks nice. I speak well, mind my own business, i dont appreciate being referred to as somebody that is a thief and someone undesirable. If white people would stop mocking the Good American blacks you would see a change in the bad one. Because of the bad one see that the good ones are treated like crap they figure, why should i do better . It woluuld change everything. Host appreciate the call. We are asking the indictments in baltimore is it a turning point . We weclolcome your calls. Many of the parents both black and white say they wanted to teach their children the power of their voices. Others say they wanted to use the experience to educate their kids about their rights and give them a chance to be part of history. The whole story is Available Online at baltimore sun. Com. This is a turning point or a teaching moment . Sociologists and psychologists are taking part in the protests. Providing that the experience remains peaceful, it could be an effective tool to shape childrens future civil engagement. Next is sissy joining us from baltimore. Caller good morning. I enjoy your Program Every weekend. And, faithful listener. That last caller was a good example of someone who has missed the problem completely. I happen to be a retired special educator in baltimore city. And i can recall years ago a very iconic pictuyrere of a five Year Old Girl trying to go to a school in the south. She was flanked by federal officials on both sides. I can recall young people being spit on. And federal marshals had to be sent to the south just so they could go to school. The history of the police period in this country has wreaked havoc on black people way, way, way back. Host thank you. Another viewer saying, what was this person talking about referring to our previous caller from chicago . America is a multicultural company. Americanized . The New York Times reporting about a new york Police Officer shot. Mayor rudy to basile calling this an unconscionable act of violence. This is the scene. The story also Available Online on the new york daily news. Brian moore 25 years old, shot in the face. The suspect is an excon, and the cousin of corey blackwell. The planes close city cop was shot when the individual opened fire into his unmarked patrol car. The officers pulling behind a suspicious black man identified as blackwell, the younger cousin of the former giants cornerback, without warning blackwell squeezed off to round into officer moores car. Next is lester joining us from gulfport, mississippi. Good morning. Caller im on . I want to say the guy that called in. They keep talking about the black man, the man is not in the home and this and that about the black man. What do that have to do with cop s killing people for nothing . What do that have to do with it . It dont have nothing to do with that. A broken home or poverty. That dont have nothing to do with cops killing people. I cant see what they are trying to say when they say that. Cops are killing people. They come from a broken home. What that got to do with the cops killing them . The cops do not know they came from a broken home. They just know they are black. Ferguson. When they said that guy was a thug a robber. Hes coming. Now, i aint never known somebody shooting at somebody and they turn around and run toward the gun. I have never seen that. But they said this man turned around and was rushing him. He get s shot. Host from gulfport mississippi. This is the this from george who says some reform like body cameras will be enacted but the underlying social and Economic Issues will be addressed fully because they are larger than baltimore. Joanne says there is no turning point until all judgments of race and gender are over. Daniel joyce. Actually charles next in mount vernon, new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am a former new york city Police Officer and on a black man. I think we missed the point. Im a the amount vet a viet nam vet and a Police Officer. The biggest problem out there other than racism with the Police Officers. I saw it when i was on the job. Im 68 years old. I was there a long time ago but i have been a Police Officer and i have been a soldier. We do not have Police Officers out there anymore. We have soldiers. When i saw the video from South Carolina north charleston, that is how a soldier acts. Not a Police Officer. That is police 101. You do not shoot a suspect fleeing from you that cant harm you or any other person. Basically, in new york city now, we have the same thing we have ferguson with the tickets and the courts etc. The most dangerous item the most dangerous thing in new york city is your parked vehicle. Tickets, tickets. I understand it is 500 million of the annual budget. So we have the same thing going in new york they have in ferguson. I just wanted to bring that to attention. Host can i ask you a question . Charles . Can i ask you a question . How many years were you in the new york city Police Department . Caller i spent nine years. From 1967 through 1968. I walked in one day and just resign because of what is going on now. I came in right behind frank cervical. Frank serpico. Host many years ago . During the height of the civil rights movement, correct . Caller yes, yes. Host in that time, late 1960s to the mid to late 1970s, is that correct . Did you sense an underlying sense of racism among the officers you worked with back then . Caller absolutely. I had friends of mine that worked undercover. I had people, white officers actually shot black officers that they knew undercover. It was dangerous being a Police Officer. When you are in uniform, fine. When you got of uniform, you felt it as a black Police Officer. Host writing in the New York Times. Baltimore taught me about hope. You can read the story at nytimes. Com. Joyce is joining us from texas. Caller good morning. I am a black 82 year old Senior Citizen grandmother, and what i see going on hurts me to the core. We have got to stop blaming somebody else for where we are. You look at [indiscernible] poverty ridden. Democrats running these places. And you name me one major city that has prospered socially, academically, and economically that is run by liberals. That is our problem in the black community. We have allowed the Democrat Party to divorce us from our rich heritage. Back when i was a girl, you would never heard of this stuff going on. We have got to look at where we are. We are our worst enemy. It is not the policeman getting up in the morning going out saying how many black men they can kill. And what i saw yesterday where is the marchers for all the blacks that have been killed by blacks . We kill more than of each other than any other group. We have to stop blaming the policeman. And i am not for police brutality. But all of these things that have happened today, these young men dictated their own demise. When the police. Stop you, obey the policeman. He would he says. Then if he is wrong, put it to the higher authority. But do not it is just unreal where we are. And we are being used as black people for our vote and we are getting the were skinned of the deal. We are our worst enemy. Stop killing each other. Go to school. Get an education. Stop having babies out of wedlock. We dont have any dads in our home to rule these boys. We cannot im a woman, a mother. I cant raise no boy to be a man. We need men as the head of the household. Stop having these babies. Stop it. Host joist joyce, why is this getting joyce, why is this getting worst in your mind . Guest we are caller we are turned away from god. The prisons are full of them now. We have got to go back to getting married before you have children. These boys need men. I cant raise no boy to be a man. Thats our problem. It is not the policemen. I wake up in the morning and see how many blacks they can kill. Who is marching for all the blacks that have been killed in our community . Host joyce from houston, texas thank you for your call. One of our viewers saying good education, hard work will not get the respect of races no matter what louise said. I quick trying years ago and could care less. Well, the magnitude of the situation in nepal continues to grow. The story this morning inside the New York Times. Hints of normalcy returns to the capital city but the recovery looms. And illnesses spreading around the country. 7,000 people now confirmed dead according to cnn this morning. And that death toll is expected to grow even higher. Kenny is joining us in alexandria virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning, steve, and folks. Joyce expressed her thoughts very well from houston that just spoke. I worked several job im retired from the postal receives and was a Clerk Service and was a clerk for 30 years and stewarding and a mailing facility. And it was never any foul language. I grew up in several towns in north carolina. And the use of language, as far as the backdrop of whats happening now, you know, when maya angelou was asked back at the book festival about language rap music, and she said it was vulgar. She didnt like the vulgar language. And she was always in favor of nonprofane language. So when were dealing with some ferguson, the young man who had triple the amount of p. H. C. In his blood and the reaction of the Police Officer dealing with the facts of the issue. And instead of just saying it wasnt and racism i dont think it really exists. It really 99 times of the people you look at the character and everybody gets along pretty much. And the big issue here in the Washington Area is has been a lot of crime attacks of metro employees at the metro stops. And so it was even brought up one time that postal carriers and the killing of postal carrier last year. And it was even brought up several years ago about letter carriers carrying weapons. And im more concerned about the environment and the military aspects, about the social focus of our country rather than zeroing in on the reaction of the Police Officers doing their job, you know, firemen, policemen and letter carriers is always like an invisible protection. And that we would reach this point, you know, when that little boy, marty kolb outside of Fredericks Burg was murdered while he was 8 years old and he was protecting his sister from the 14yearold kid and the kid said oh, well, it was a white man that did it and then he changed his story and then he admitted it. I never thought it would come to that. Its always been the difference between people as far as race was concern. It wasnt. It was all about have and havenots that was in that vision. Host kenny, im going to stop you there, im going to move on with other callers but thank you for weighing in. Don richie has this. The police got out of hand when they stopped being required to live where they police. We should start being policed by our neighbors, he writes. Well, former Maryland Governor bob ehrlich is getting only attention. He is spending a lot of time in new hampshire, a candidacy below the radar, writes fred barnes. And following the announcement of in new jersey governor christie is that republican candidate for president. But the story points out that on friday governor christie, and family members including his wife, calling the donors to assure them that things are on track for his own president ial bid. On tuesday, the official announcement in hope, arkansas at 11 00 eastern time with former arkansas governor mike huckabee. Next saturday, we will be live in greenville, South Carolina, for the citizens righted summit. Many candidates will be in attendance. And in lynchburg, virginia the commencement address by former Florida Governor jeb bush. Were covering all of it. And you can check out our Schedule Information online any time at cspan. Org. Ray, good morning. Caller im a retired Police Officer after almost 30 years. And i like to incite one incident where i definitely know the officer was like a backup on a situation. We were backing up another Police Agency that had stopped us. They were all black. And the white cop that i was standing in the back, he just came out of nowhere. Were standing there and he said i sure would like to shoot one of thosivers was the word he used. Those fers and thats what the word he used. And i reported him and you could probably guess where this went. Nowhere. Host when was this, ray . Caller this would have been in the late 1980s and early 1990s when this happened. Host and you reported it to your superior . Caller right. It went nowhere. But thats the way it went. But i can finish . Host absolutely. Sure. Caller yeah. So that went nowhere. But i want to say this may not be kind of hard to connect the dots but im a vietnam veteran and i kind of learned, kind of quick when i got to vietnam that you better realize who the enemy is because if you dont, you know its going to up your chances of not surviving. Thats kind of how i see my country a little bit. I recognize who the enemy is. And im going to get it for what im about to say next. Im probably going to get it from white folks and white folks. I black folks. I treat white people just like i treat anybody else. I behave good and all of that. Because i know even with doing bad, i can still be wiped out by them. Host but why do you say theyre the enemy . Caller well, because i got to recognize who im speaking with. As ugly as that seems and as ugly as that sounds, ive got to recognize it. If i dont recognize i thats going to up my chances if im stopped by a policeman, i see a person that really would rather me be nonexistent. So im baving as well as i can to survive that situation because i dont see him as just a person that is just making a stop and just doing his job. Im thinking he would rather me not exist on the face of the earth and i dont need for that to happen to me, for me to get it. One of the last thing im going to say about this. A guy told me this. He just held up a bullet when i was in vietnam. He said man you, see this thing . I dont have to be shot down by white Police Officers or treated bad by them for me to know who they are and how they are. Host ray from midway florida. Thank you very much for the call. The end of california. About the water condition there. A 25 reduction mandatory for all california residents. On our topic about baltimore is this a turning point . Another viewer said it is not race, it is class warfare. Police steer people who are somebody. And the Tony Morrison telling charlie rose say we are living in troubling and cowardly times and she uses the word cowardly, she is talking about the continued series of cops who have killed unarmed black men. What astonishes Tony Morrison in the vein that have been brought to life is not the volume but rather the obvious cowardness of the police. That interview which is available on the pbs website with charlie rose and also on cbs news. Michael from outside of baltimore in owings mills, good morning. Michael, are you with us . We will move on. Caller i would like to joyce in texas brought up some points that are very, very accurate. And i would like to make a couple of exemption as a former Law Enforcement officer working in the department of corrections. I was exposed to both Law Enforcement on the streets as well as Law Enforcement at work. And in the house inmates and that sort of thing. And i had to go and take training when i was involved with training with all types of Law Enforcement and what i saw was everybody is a potential suspect. Everybodys a threat. And the new generation of Law Enforcement talks down to people, talks with disrespect to people when they come up to carts like get out. They talk like everybodys a dog. You got a young cop here talking to a man old enough to be a father like a dog. That creates a potential problem right on the spot. And then youve got a class thing. You see Law Enforcement cracking down on areas where people are poor and out of work because there aint any work because the sheriffs have all the jobs. You never see a Law Enforcement set up a road check or a roadblock at golf courses or at the horse tracks or anything like that. Its always at a bar where itll be poor people leaving or the fairgrounds or Something Like that. And its the Law Enforcement for profit the krause in the town up here where im at, you can watch it. Its all of the country. Weve got courthouses that are set up for profit and to collect money. And basically, poor and working class people that cant afford the justice and they get hung up and the change shook out of their pockets and give it a stiffer penalty. And the Younger Generation of Law Enforcement officers are completely different. They never ever treat people with the same respect that they want. They walk up. Theyve automatically got theyre in gear for conflict. And theyre trained that way. You know, everyones a potential suspect. Everybodys a drug dealer. Everybodys someone that might pull out a pistol and shoot them. I know its a very dangerous job. I would not want to be a state patrols man and walk up to the car every day. Its a whole lot different than step out of the car, sir. Its rampant. Host jim has this point saying white folks are the enemy quoting a previous caller. Therein lies the race problem in america. Boehner says the president needs to step up the vote to get trade bills. This is a 12nation trade deal that the nation and the republicans are pushing for. The problem is will he get democrats in the house of representatives . The house remains a big question mark. The full story Available Online at washingtonpost. Com. Alice joining us from new haven