Tonight, on a special edition of all in, a nation in the grip of crisis, amid a raging pandemic and a National Reckoning on race and policing. Tonight, for the hour, four mayors of four major cities, tasked with leading their cities through this critical moment in american history. This is all in america, front lines of change. Good evening, from new york, im chris hayes. For lts next hour, we are going to be talking about the issues of policing and race amidst a crippling pandemic. I will be joined by four mayors from cities across the country and asking some of the questions you submitted online. Its never been a more important or more difficult time to be a mayor in a big city in america. Over the last month, americas mayors have faced a series of unprecedented challenges. A once in a century pandemic forced mayors to make decisions, often amongst controversy, decisions that, if they get wrong, could cost thousands of lives. Then, in the wake of the killing of george floyd, we have seen a once in a generation movement. Protests and calls to end police brutality. To undo the decades of systemic racism that result in everything from mass incarceration, to massive racial disparities. All of this is happening in this front moment. They are negotiating these calls for both safety and health and equity and justice that are being made. Its been over a month since george floyd was killed by a Minneapolis Police officer. There are, still, people protesting in the streets across america. Night after night, for a month. The protests are not stopping, and they have created a cascade of policy changes, at the local level. In minneapolis, the city where george floyd was killed, there has been incredible tumult over the city of that Police Department. Last week, the city council advanced a proposal to allow the department to be dismantled. The mayor of that city was shouted down by treprotestors f not doing enough to reform policing. Theres also been a spike in shooting since memorial day with over 100 people shot. Like many other cities, atlanta also saw huge protests following the killing of george floyd and the tension in the city only increased after Atlanta Police officers shot and killed a man named Rayshard Brooks in the back as he was running away. After he failed a sobriety test and grabbed a taser from one officer trying to arrest him. One officers charged with murder and the city police chief resigned. The lapd was the central focus of the last round of major unrest in the wake of police brutality. Police, also, came under fire for using what seems like obviously Excessive Force against protestors. Mayor there recently proposed 150 million in budget cuts to the Police Department that have been met with outrage by local Law Enforcement officials. Los angeles is, also, a city that is seeing spikes in coronavirus cases. In new orleans, a city with a very ugly history in policing. A police force thats currently operating under a federal Consent Decree implemented by the Obama Administration to clean up the years of corruption and brutality. The mayor has called for it to end and talking to other mayors around country about federal oversight. So we thought we would take some time tonight at this incredibly perilous and important moment. To talk to people representing cities around the country. Cities that are diverse and also cities that are currently struggling deeply as well. Stays that are engines of economic mobility, and jobs, and also sites of intense poverty and violence. And now, the fallout from the Public Health measures that have put a strain on every single citizen and resident and every city budget and every government as well. Joining me are mayor keisha lance bottoms, mayor jacob frey, mayor latoya cantrell, and mayor of los angeles. Great to have you all. Ive been looking forward to this. Its obviously an incredibly difficult but important moment. Mayor frey, i thought i would start with you because this moment in the reckoning around race, policing, police brutality, started in minneapolis. And i wanted to ask about that moment that people saw on tape. Where you went out to a protest in a mask, and there were protestors who were making very concrete demands of you. To sign on to an agenda that would fundamentally, essentially, have undone, right, sort of unbuilt the mainneapoli Police Department. And you wouldnt go along with it. You were jeered and booed. And i think theres a sense sometimes in these protests of a which side are you on dynamic, right . Youre a democrat. I think you view yourself as a progressive. Youre not donald trump but youre administering the city. Protestors say what side are you on . What is your answer to them . Mayors around the country, including myself, are on the side of massive structural change. And i think, right now, we need to be heeding the calls of George Floyds family. And they said, clearly, that george floyd is going to change the world. This cant be half measures. This cant just go halfway. This cant just be minor policy changes. This needs to be a full rethinking and reshaping of the way that our Police Department does business that has, for d s decades, harmed black and brown people. And so, in terms of the shift that we want to see, if we are talking about decriminalizing addiction, count me in. If were talking about making sure that mechanisms like more Affordable Housing and healthcare are are prepared and ready so that we dont have crime, count me in. If were talking about being open to other strategies, beyond policing, absolutely. Mental health coresponders, yes. Social workers, absolutely. But if we are talking about just abolishing all Law Enforcement, no. Cities around the country, including minneapolis, need Law Enforcement. We need to abolish the behavior. We dont need to be abolishing the police. Mayor lance bottoms, obviously in atlanta, you have dealt with protests in your city. You have dealt with a very highprofile Police Killing of a resident in atlanta, as well, recently. What was your how was it communicated to you in the time that Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed, what had happened, and what was your message to the Police Department in the midst of that, given it came on the tail end precisely against police violence. Well, thank you for having me. The way it was communicated to me is the same way that i receive information about any number of noteworthy events in in this city. I usually wake up to Text Messages during the night. I get them throughout the day. And this came in as a policeinvolved shooting. And initially, i was not told that mr. Brooks was deceased. And i, later, found out that he was. And so, i immediately, the next morning, went into city hall and gathered our police chief and our command staff. And we began looking at the videos. And so, i sat and i watched 40 minutes of the interaction with mr. Brooks. And the officers. And the most heartbreaking thing, in watching that interaction, was knowing that you knew how the story ended. It was a lighthearted interaction. And there were so many other ways that this could have ended. And mr. Brooks talked about his daughters birthday, and wanting to be at her birthday party. Or or giving his wife some money for her birthday party. And i think, for me, it really looking at the ending of this, really, has called into question how we have these encounters with our Police Officers. And within these encounters, black men particularly, and we know in the case of Breonna Taylor and so many others, it black women arent immune. But that people are not humanized in these encounters. And so, thats the biggest challenge in front of us. Yeah. Why i want to get to the other two mayors here but i want to follow up on that. That lack of humanity, right, that sort of dehumanization that we see. And weve seen so many different videos and testimonials from people, whether from various departments or social media of these petty indignities. Dehumanization by Police Officers. What is your explanation for the root cause of that happening, in your city, under your stewardship . The first black, woman mayor of the city of atlanta. A city thats had incredible legacy, filled with incredible culture and diverse people. Why is that still happening in your Police Department . Well, im actually the second africanamerican woman to serve as mayor. But in this encounter, the encounter was a cordial, polite encounter, until it was not. And so, i think that is the question that we have to all ask ourselves. How are we training our officers . What are our expectations in outcomes when there are encounters like this . So we have already put into place things related to a requirement for deescalation. But it doesnt bring mr. Brooks back. And i think that it goes to this larger conversation that we have to have across this country, that we are having across this country. And what it means for us to see each other as human beings, no matter our race and no matter what our title is. I think thats a challenge. In atlanta, i think if anything is evidence that if it can, and it did happen in atlanta, the cradle of the civil rights movement. Then, certainly, it is something that can and and will happen in cities across this country. Mayor cantrell, your department has a particular history and interesting one. It was entered into a federal dissent decree under the Obama Administration. Theres been lots to indicate the department has improved. Given that other mayors are fighting so hard to bring structural change to cities, given the impediments to that, why would you want to take the federal government out of supervising a department, if it has had a salutory effect on your department . Thank you for having me. The dissent decree has absolutely mandated practices that we have embraced 100 . As it relates to constitutional policing practices. Of course, a culture of accountability. And also, aggressively investing in social and community programs. One is that when you lean on that Consent Decree, it easily becomes politicized and one that you are spending millions of dollars. We spent over 55 million. Over 7 million, annually. And the goalpost just continues to move, as youre making progress. We have turned the curve in of the city of new orleans. We have demonstrated our effectiveness. We have embraced the eight cantwait policies that our protestors have been asking for. And weve gone above and, literally, beyond, that. We created epic, ethical policing is courageous, for deescalation. You know, as well as duty to intervene. We have social workers embedded in our department. So my thing is this. And the residents of the city of new orleans approved voted to change the charter to have to have an independent police monitor, which is the foundation for continuing the success of the reforms that weve made. But wanting to satisfy the Consent Decree so that we can reinvest those dollars back into Public Health, which is also public safety. So i dont believe that cities across the country have to go and involve the doj, in order to turn themselves around. They can make the improvements, lean on one another, looking at best practices. And weve demonstrated these best practices. Teaching police forces, across the country. But we do not need to beholden to doj and the level of dollars that were spending on the Consent Decree. Mind you that, when you have a police monitor, it seems theyre coming in town when you have good events going on. Jazz fest. You know . Mardi gras. That sort of thing. So we need to get away from that. I believe we are. And i i applaud the partnership with the judge and the monitor. But now, its time to let new orleans continue the reforms. But the sustainability of those reforms. Were prepared. Mayor cantrell just talked about some of the reforms to to her Police Department, under the supervision, that Consent Decree and her leadership, mayor garcetti. It seems there are a few categories people are talking about. Training. Changing the way police are trained. What decriminalization. There is also the idea of Police Departments are too big. They do too much. We we put too many resource in the city to them. You have just proposed a budget cut for the lapd that has been met with quite a bit of anger from some Law Enforcement and spokespeople in la. What caused you to take that up . What do you think youre doing, in proposing that budget cut . Well, thank you, chris. And let me join the chorus of thanking you for doing this and it is always an honor to be with my brother and sister mayors and all the viewers who have shown up tonight to take this conversation from a moment to a movement. And make sure we meet this moment, and not miss it. Here, in los angeles, were pretty resilient. Not because were any better than any other city. We just went through this pain that other cities are going through in past years, earlier. Before we had camera phones, we had rodney king. We had watts before that. And a Consent Decree, just as mayor cantrell has gone through. And those things made us better and stronger and fairer, even if we still have a while to climb up the peak, maybe were midway up the mountain. We have thrown too Many Solutions on the shoulders of our Police Departments and our Police Officers. A and, yes, it is about accountable behavior. Its also making sure we dont just hold bad behavior accountable but lift pg up good behavior. But also, what we can do to make sure that police arent always the solution to everything. That we can call 911 and as we are doing here, working together with our county to look at what we can do in a Mental Health crisis, to have trained professionals, who are mobile just like Police Officers. Who can roll out and maybe have better and more lasting outcomes than Police Officers going back and back. And sometimes, tragically, to these dangerous situations if thats not what they are best trained for. Its about gang intervention. Weve cut gang crime in half in los angeles. Remember movies when most of us were growing up where it was los angeles was synonymous with gang culture . We have done that not by just strengthening and Holding Accountable a pliolice departme. But moving resources from policing to gang development. Former members who can be the peacemakers when things flair up more effectively than Police Officers in certain situations. I agree we are always going to need police for certain situations and we need to rethink that model. And kind of create that, cocreate that, with communities of color that baear the brunt o that when it comes. And make sure we broaden this out so this is not just a conversation about public safety. If we care about black lives and the lives of the people that we represent, this has to be about wealth building and health building, too. Because we know, even with the most accountable Police Departments in the country, reimagining some of those models, most black people in america will have shorter lives or find death because of health and economic disparities. So these have to be braided in together, if were going to make sure this moment doesnt come and pass, with just a few reforms, some pats on the back, and everybody says back to business as usual. I want to talk about all the ways in which those are braided together. We have much more to come on this special edition of all in next. How are calls for reform being heard in Law Enforcement . Im going to talk to the head of the memphis Police Department about how he is responding after this. W he is responding after this draw the line with roundup. The sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to target weeds precisely and kill them right down to the root. Roundup brand. Trusted for over 40 years. Subut when we realized she wasn hebattling sensitive skin, we switched to new tide plus downy free. Its gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. New tide pods plus downy free. Safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis. I appreciate what makes each person unique. Thats why i like liberty mutual. They get that no two people are alike and customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Almost done. What do you think . I dont see it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Us into being embarrassed about our profession. But you know what . This isnt stained by someone in minneapolis. Its still got a shine on it, and so do theirs. So do theirs. Stop treating us like animals and thugs. And start treating us with some respect. That is the president of one of the Largest Police unions in the u. S. , which represents officers in new york city. It is often the case that some of the loudest voices in the debate over policing in america are Police Unions, whose rhetoric tends to run very hot. A few weeks ago, amidst nationwide protests against police brutality, the president of another new York Police Union said they would, quote, win this war on new york city. The head of the Minnea