Welcome to thursday. It is mooet the pres daily. Im continuing the coverage on what has been a somber day. It has been an eventful and emotional day for a country in crisis. You are looking at live demonstrations being held in new york and philadelphia after the death of george floyd. This afternoon a Memorial Service was held honoring his life. Just around the same time, the three officers were being arraigned at a county courthouse just north of the city. Today there is new evidence that the events of the last ten days have caused a major shift in Public Attitudes connected to some of the social and political issues and connected to these events, a number of high profile and widely respected voices in the military community are now breaking their silence and speaking out against the president s handling of this crisis, which well have more on in a moment. As i mentioned, the pictures from today around the nation have so far been marked by images of mourning and calls for justice. In minneapolis, members of floyds family spoke about his life and the legacy he will leave behind. In new york, George Floyds brother led a Memorial Prayer Service and march in brooklyn. In houston, Community Members are holding a vigil tonight. This morning this was the scene in minneapolis as floyds coffin was wheeled into the convenient chew. Above the crowd was this memorial of floyd with the words i can breathe now written at the bottom. It was an event that looked back on floyds life, while looking ahead to the challenges facing the black community in this country. Family members shared their memories and the reverend al sharpton delivered a eulogy demanding change and justice. George floyds story has been the story of black folks, because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck. What happened to floyd happens every day in this country and education and Health Service and in every area of american life. Its time for us to stand up in georges name and say get your knee off our necks. The ceremony ended with an emotional 8 minute and 46 seconds of attendees standing in silence, some in tears. That is the amount of time that officer chauvin held his knee on floyds neck. And so the question, not just for floyds family but for the country, and what will the legacy of this moment be . No one knows for sure. Right now it is clear that floyds death has sparked a dramatic shift in attitudes and some racial issues. For instance, according to some new national polling, there is widespread agreement among americans that police are more likely to use excessive or deadly force against a black person. And dont forget this moment of simultaneous mourning and momentum for change is playing out amid an active pandemic with Great Depression levels of unemployment. Also in an election year. It is a moment this country has never seen before, certainly not like this. Joining me now on the ground in minnesota is Shaquille Brewster with a prayer service, followed by a march that is still ongoing as ali velshi. We start in minneapolis. Just help us live through this day that you experienced through your eyes today. Reporter well, you know, chuck, the ceremony was of course private. It was for family and friends and invited guests only and inside you heard from the brother of george floyd, from the nephew. You heard stories of what it was like to grow up with him, nicknames referring to him. And then you heard from reverend al sharpton in the call for change. He announced that there will be another march on washington where hell call for policing reform in august. On the outside you had people from all over the community, all over the region come in and pay their respects, bringing their family and daughters to listen. People said that one of the moments that stuck with them the most is what you just referenced, the 8 minutes and 46 seconds of pure silence where you were just standing there appreciating the time. I had a young graentleman who td me i didnt realize how long that time was, how long of a period 8 minutes and 46 seconds is. And just before the ceremony we also saw the officers who were charged yesterday, the three officers, not officer chauvin, but the three other officers who were involved in the death of george floyd. They were arraigned and they had a hearing. The judge set their bail at 1 million or 750,000 with certain conditions. But when the subject set the bail, he said that he couldnt think of any other comparison to the situation inspect setting that amount. So it just shows you the unusual situation, both the investigative side with the officers in jail in their orange jumpsuits and then the city of minneapolis doing what they can to say buy and fare well to george floyd. Do you sense that were going to see a vigil or protest of some sort tonight in minneapolis as well as weve been seeing in previous nights. Reporter protests have not stopped in minneapolis, especially at the scene where george floyd died. Theres a cure few in minneapolis and even the curfew, that intersection where you see all those vigils, where you see the murals and people bringing flowers and signs, thats an area that the curfew has not been enforced in that one area. People have stayed overnight, having that sense of community. And i can imagine well expect to continue to see that at that site. While i was at the site yesterday, someone came up and me and said this should be a police where we honor all victims of police violence. It should be a permanent memorial. They couldnt see it going back to anything else. I think we will definitely continue to see the demonstrations and definitely continue to see people who want to honor the life and legacy of george floyd. And remember its not only here in minneapolis, but this weekend in North Carolina there will be services and then hell be laid to rest in houston on tuesday. Shaquille brewster on the ground. Thank you. Let me move over to new york. Ali velshi. This has been just a sea from a far, the shots of the crowds, the march across the bridge. Tell us about it. Youve been living it all day. Reporter yeah, i have. You and i talked earlier about it. You can still see protesters let me be clear, these were many people who were at the memorial for george floyd. They may be protesters or people who were memorializing his life. The mass of the crowd has come into manhattan. There were 5,000 or more people there today. It was peaceful. It was a memorial. There was prayer. There was singing. There was chanting. There was all that sort of stuff, including an appearance by the mayor of new york, de blasio. De blasio having all right now from the police and public. He was booed but he did deliver a speech here. But it was like most of the things that are happening in new york. During the day they are incredibly peaceful and most of the people are involved in a peaceful march and peacefully came across under the escort of nypd across the bridge. The bridge is still full of people. This has been a couple of hours that weve been seeing people continue to come across. So thats what the situation is now. They are protesting in the city. There are crowds of protesters in manhattan tonight and there has been pockets of tension every night for the last week or so. Well have to see what happens tonight. But the protesters have been very peaceful today. Ali, i dont want to leave out the pandemic here. Governor cuomo made a request of some of these demonstrators. Tell us about it. Reporter yeah, look, hes talking about social distancing. I will tell you everybody there had masks on. But this is a bit of an issue because of the number of people who were out there. Take a look at this, by the way. New round of these people coming off the bridge and getting applause by the people there. The thing it feels like, chuck, is a marathon. You come into the finish line and people are cheering you on. Thats kind of the feeling people have got. About half of the people have masks. Theres a number of people here from Nypd Community Affairs in the bright blue shirts. Theyre actually handing out masks to people coming across the bridge who dont have masks on so they can try and at least protect themselves and each other. Ali velshi, tremendous coverage today. Thank you. And of course thank you to Shaquille Brewster. Joining me now the andrew young, longtime civil rights activists, an ambassador to the united nations, former mayor of atlanta and also keith mays, a professor of africanamerican studies at the university of minnesota. Welcome to you both. Ambassador young, ive been looking forward to talking with you. We havent spoken in a while. I just want to get your thoughts about today and about what this means to a movement youve been involved with for more than 50 years. Well, i think the fact that ive been involved for 50 years gives me another perspective, and that is that this is a tremendous recognition of a serious problem, and i think the rallying of the entire world, theres never been anything like this before. But it happened so quick and it almost happened so easy. I go back to birmingham in 1963. It took us four months to really mobilize the city and then when Martin Luther king went to jail and wrote the letter to the birmingham jail, there were only 55 people who showed up to go with him. So this is phenomenal. But what happened in that time that we were organizing is that we were also defining the goals. We were spelling out what victory could we achieve, what realistic answer could we take to the nation. And we went through the march on washington and the Kennedy Administration took all of that energy and defined it in really a very good civil rights bill which took another year to get passed. Now, everybody has seemingly right now got ideas of, you know, what are we going to do to make it tougher for the police to be brutal. And that is a serious problem, but thats not a problem that well, that problem has been addressed here in atlanta when the police and the students, young people, black and white, ended up kneeling together for eight minutes in prayer. And those are the kinds of gestures that are helping people to get to know each other. But its a tremendous strain on the city. I was the mayor for eight years and who is going to pay the bills for all of this . The economies of every city that we see marching are in shambles because of the coronavirus. And how do we restore the American Economy and make sure that well, that we can live together as brothers and sisters and not perish together as fools. So the spirit right now and i think were seeing that and i think we will see that building up through the funeral in houston. But both the blessing and the curse of this huge Global Movement is right now no leaders have emerged that are giving definition to what is going on. And how do we resolve it . I have faith that our communities are strong enough, but i would really hope that well, first time i got arrested in atlanta i reached out my hand and shook hands with the policeman and said, officer, before you lock us up, i just want you to know were all the same size and we want the same things. We were trying to get raises for the sanitation workers. I said if the sanitation workers get raises, youre going to get raises, too, and you and your children need help. And so reuniting the nation. And i think that thats why we need a national and local leadership that reunites us and reminds us that we are one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ambassador, let me get professor mays to attempt to answer your challenge there. Professor mays, answer ambassador young here. What should be the goals that get set . He brings up a good point. You take the momentum, were in an important, potentially an inflection moment. How do you not lose the momentum . Professor mays . Well, you have to set the agenda and you have to demand that black people once and for all have a stake in society. What are the four critical areas that we need addressed, chuck . Its employment. Its education. Its health care. Its incarceration. People have been working on these issues for decades, chuck. But its hard for people to recognize something called systemic and institutional racism. We dont have access to good schools, we dont have access to health care. The income gap is too wide between blacks and whites. And we go to jail at a much greater rate. And then on top of that, chuck, the police are killing us. So all of those things are on the table. And i think its high time for us to recognize that we have to put pressure on the two party system and maybe even create a third party. We have to be responsible for our own lives, and that means using the pressure thats been galvanized across the country to go to the polls in november and send President Trump a message to say that we are here, not only to remove you from office, but we are here to close these historical gaps. Its the same issue that ambassador young worked on in the 50s and 60s and 70s, still with us today. Ambassador young, if joe biden is the next president , hes going to have to deliver. What do you want to see him deliver on first . Well, i have not really thought about that, but right now i think that joe biden is having the kind of unifying personality that will help us to come together. I think were coming together on our own and i think well elect people to the congress and to the senate and to the county commissions and state legislators that will come out of these people who are marching, and whatever theyre saying, wherever they are, they have got to be very specific. But the only caution i have is that i hate to see we dont have a hate crimes law here in georgia and now everybody wants a hate crimes law. Well, im afraid that that hate crimes law, if we get it and i had supported it, but if we get it, once the police, its applied to the police, the police are going to have good Union Lawyers defending them that are very skilled. But when its applied to the citizens, they wont have the money, they wont have the experience, they wont have the same place. So i dont want to see stronger laws. I want to see more of a spiritual unity and the police and the citizens realizing that theyre on the same side. As a mayor, i had to go to more in atlanta, i had to go to more policemans funerals than i did citizens. Only one was killed by a policeman in the eight years i was mayor. But we had a police force that was roughly half and half black and white and it was onethird female. And i think that it took us many years to develop that kind of racial and community balance. We had people gay and straight. We made sure that ever sector of society was represented in the police force. And i think those are the details from that weve got to come to think together about coming out of this. There was a term we used to use that would be dangerous, that is when you get this kind of big momentum, you tend to get freedom high and you get fairly unrealistic in your aspirations and weve got to have Real Solutions to real problems. And that will only come as we elect sensitive people. Its one thing that i would caution against, that we got disillusions after dr. Kings assassination and we lost the election in 1968 by less than one vote per precinct. And we had people talking about third parties and fourth parties and all of this kind of stuff and everybody was disillusioned. We had been in this so long, i dont trust politics anymore. You cant give up the responsibility of creating a government that represents your interests. And you cant lose faith in politics, whatever your party. And youve got to vote and youve got to express yourself in your communities and youve got to realize that were all on the same side. And right now the biggest thing that worries me im almost, i mean i felt after dr. Kings death, he was in heaven and george floyd is in heaven right now. I loved the mural with him with wings. But he left us in hell and weve got to take this hellish life with viruses and Hurricane Season thats starting now and so were going to have floods up and down the mississippi river, and weve still got a real world that weve got to govern and make safe for all of gods children. Strong words there, ambassador. Professor mays, i sense a gentle tension and i think this is and it may be due to different experiences, but i do think were going to see a tension after the election if, say, joe biden wins between those that want to bring the country together and i think what you were speaking to, which is you cant lose focus on these goals. Well, i think whats going to happen again, i said this earlier, i dont want to be in the prediction business. Im a historian and i study the past to understand the present. But this protest, this momentum will continue throughout the summer all the way up to the fall to election day. Black voters will turn out in obamalike 2008 numbers. We will put joe biden in office. And by the next day the Republican Party i think for all intents and purposes will be defunk. It will go the way of the wig party. The question becomes for us on november 4th, the day after election day, what is it that we are prepared to do . What is the Democratic Party going to do . Will it deliver on its promise to all of those black voters that help put into power . And the question and, is i agree with ambassador young, we have to continue to put pressure on the parties. We cannot become disillusioned, we cannot hold our politicians at arms length and say that our work is done on november 3rd. We have to continue to set the agenda for the party. But the question becomes, chuck, how is the white countermovement, how will they respond . I dont think they have enough Voter Suppression tactics to keep us from putting joe biden in office. I think well get the victory there. The question becomes what do we do the next day after and the next four years . Will the Democratic Party do its part, which is to live up to the promises that it made to the black electorate . And thats an open question right now, to be honest. Were going to do our part. Were going to put him in office, but its an open question of what the Democratic Party will do between january 2021 and 2025. Ambassador andrew young, professor keith mays from the university of minnesota, i appreciate you both putting this in context for us and giving the different perspectives that youve both co