The Daily - A Weekend of Pain and Protest

Episode Date: June 1, 2020

This episode contains strong language.Demonstrations have erupted in at least 140 cities across the United States in the days since George Floyd, a black man, died in police custody in Minneapolis. We were on the ground in some of them, chronicling 72 hours of pain and protest. Guests: Nikole Hannah-Jones, who writes for The New York Times Magazine; John Eligon, a national correspondent who covers race for The Times; and Mike Baker, a Pacific Northwest correspondent. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: The video discussed by Nikole Hannah-Jones in the episode is featured here.The Times has reporters on the ground in dozens of cities across the country. Here’s a look at what they’re seeing.George Floyd died one week ago today. Here’s a timeline of what has happened since.

. Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions? No, sure. My name's Hans, I'm from the New York Times. Hi. So can you tell me where we are right now? We're on Lake Street at the Arby's that burnt down. A bunch of us are just cleaning up all the steel and not grabbing glass getting

anything we can cleaning up yeah yeah there's um can you describe the building for me um demolished pretty much um it's pretty much just soot and bricks and melted glass melted steel um there's you couldn't really tell that there was ever a building here. Your hands are black. Yeah. Even through the gloves. Yeah, went right through the gloves. Thank you very much. Tell me your name. Amanda. Amanda Bolin. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Yeah, thank're the leader. Hi. So talk to me about what we're looking at. Well, mass destruction. This is, again, the language of hurt, pain, oppression, fear.

I mean, this is all, everything bundled up, you know. This is a symptom, this is an outcome, this is a result, and, I mean, it's nothing anybody wants, but I can't say I couldn't see it coming. From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today.

Over the weekend, protests erupted in at least 140 cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd in police custody. My colleagues were on the ground chronicling the past 72 hours. It's Monday, June 1st. Good afternoon. I'm Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. I'm here to announce that former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin is in custody. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin has been charged by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office with murder and with manslaughter. Questions?

Yes, what charge of murder? He has been charged with third-degree murder. We are in the process of continuing to review the evidence. There may be subsequent charges later. On Friday afternoon, after three nights of protest in Minneapolis and the night after the third precinct was burned down, Mike Freeman stepped out to a podium and announced charges against Officer Derek Chauvin. It was one of the fastest charges that the county had ever brought in the case of an officer-involved killing. in the case of an officer-involved killing. And politicians and police in Minnesota had not expected the protests to grow for a fourth night after Chauvin was charged

and after a curfew went into effect for 8 p.m. They were wrong. What you're witnessing in Minnesota is something that's been a long time coming. I can't tell you how many governors I've sat down with, how many mayors we've sat down with. And we've warned them that if you keep murdering black people, the city will burn. We have stopped the city from burning numerous times. And we are not responsible for it burning now.

Justice! Now! Justice! The anger is just as great. The crowd here has been growing for some time now. Given that these charges came so late and only after a night of wanton destruction, no one is putting much belief in what authorities here say right now. The protests in Minneapolis ballooned, and their tactics escalated. And police struggled to cover the city.

For another night, the skyline is on fire. This time, though, both in Minneapolis and St. Paul. More buildings around the 3rd Precinct are on fire at this hour. It's a continuation of what we saw out there today, which included cars burning and officers rushing into the middle of everything with gas masks on. Gunshots rang out. Flames streamed from businesses over several city blocks. A gas station, a post office, a bank, a restaurant. As residents asked where the police and the firefighters had gone.

At one point, the National Guard retreated from protesters. That same night, protesters poured into the streets of Atlanta, New York, Dallas, and Washington, where they clashed with police. Other cities tonight also on high alert. Protests have been building all day. Fuck the police! Fuck the police! Live pictures out of Washington, D.C. Protesters there marching to the White House. Protesters also blocking a major highway in San Jose, California. All of this, of course, in the time of coronavirus.

Many of those masked and social distanced. Not all of them. These two stories meeting tonight. Get his badge number! Get his badge number! At the White House, the Secret Service was so worried about the crowds gathered outside that they rushed President Trump into an underground bunker that's usually used during a terrorist attack. On Saturday morning, there was a dramatic change in tone.

change in tone. And last night is a mockery of pretending this is about George Floyd's death, our inequities, our historical traumas to our communities of color. Top officials in Minnesota, who had expressed sympathy and understanding for the protesters, now expressed outrage at their behavior. Because our communities of color and our indigenous communities were out front fighting hand in hand to save businesses that took generations to build. So let's be very clear. The situation in Minneapolis

is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear, and disrupting our great cities. At a news conference, Governor Tim Walz vowed that more National Guard troops would be deployed, said that the authorities would not let the destruction continue, and did not rule out the possibility of bringing in the U.S. military.

He also said that the majority of those protesters had not been from Minnesota. There was suddenly a lot of talk about who exactly these protesters were. Some were blaming the far right. Others said it was just the opposite. In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far-left extremist groups, using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the violence. Attorney General Bill Barr claimed that the protests had been hijacked by radical left-wing groups like Antifa, a claim that was echoed by the president's conservative allies.

They specialize in masking themselves behind genuine protesters and exploiting these opportunities to agitate and destroy. These are professional antagonizers. And while it was hard to know at the time, what was clear was that the protests were growing in size and tactics. Let's hear him say it out his mouth. Let's hear him say it out his mouth. Let's hear him say it. Let's go.

In Baltimore, demonstrators marched to the police headquarters, where a reporter for the Baltimore Sun captured them persuading a police lieutenant to join them in reciting the names of victims of police brutality. Trayvon Martin. Next name. Freddie Gray. Next name. Eric Garner. Next name. Kevin Hicks. Next name. Keith Scott. Next name.

Terrell Thomas. Next name. Randy Evans. Next name. In Denver, thousands of people lay face down in front of the Colorado State Capitol building with their hands behind their backs, chanting some of George Floyd's final words. In cities across the country, a tension played out in these protests between symbolism and force. This is Nicole Hannah-Jones. So Saturday evening, I was at home in Brooklyn watching the news and social media obsessively, as I'm sure most Americans were doing.

We're following the breaking news across the country right now. And it was clear that we were going to be in for another long night of unrest all across the country. Very violent confrontations between protesters and police over the death of George Floyd. As always in these situations, there were calls for protesters to remain nonviolent, which, when it comes to civil unrest, tends to mean not to destroy and take property. The worry here, of course, is that unless protesters remain nonviolent, they're going to hurt their calls for justice. And I've been thinking about how there's always this tension about the right and best and just approach for these protests to take, often even amongst the protesters themselves.

And so as I'm sitting in my living room, this video comes across my screen. And it's a video shot out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Someone had taken the video on their cell phone. And there's a crowd of mostly Black people gathered around. Many of them are filming on their cell phones. And in the center of the crowd are two men. And they're standing nose to nose, and they're yelling.

I understand. They get chilled on the day. Come here, talk to me. I understand. And one man says... I'm tired of this. How old are you? I'm 45 years old. I'm 45, and I'm tired of putting up with this. I'm 45, and I'm 31. And I'm tired of putting up with this. He wants to fight.

And the other man is 31, and he says fighting is not the way. We got to start our own fucking life. I understand. So the question that these two men who are circling each other in the parking lot are really arguing about ultimately is, how do you get enough white Americans to care? What strikes me to the core in this video is that both of these men

are right and both of them are wrong. The truth is that we know Americans pay attention to violence. Had there been no fires, had there been no looting, no physical confrontations with the police, these stories of police protests right now would have garnered maybe, you know, a few minutes on the local news cycle, but we wouldn't see the wall-to-wall coverage that we're seeing every day. But let me tell you something right here. This 16, these 16. The other truth is that the truth that the 31-year-old is grappling with. It's that that quote-unquote violence is going to be used as an excuse not to sympathize with Black struggle,

that the communities who are already suffering in the end are going to suffer more when this is all over with. We 16! What we gonna do? At that moment, a tall, rail-thin teenager comes into view, and the 31-year-old grabs him with both of his hands around his waist,

and he's forcing him to make eye contact with him. What are we going to do? You tell me. What are we going to do? This ain't the way, because they're ready to let loose. If the United States president say, if you loot, we shoot, we shoot. And he tells that boy that the president of the United States said that looting will lead to shooting, and if he goes out there and does that, he's going to find himself in harm's way.

It's time to stand up. At this point, I'm ready to die. But what's going on? That's the problem that we got. What you see right now is going to happen 10 years from now. And at 26, you're going to be doing the same things I'm doing. You understand that? And the boy stands there with his hands clasped behind his back, and he's listening so intently, nodding vigorously as the man talks to him, really completely honed in on the 31-year-old. 10 years. You're going to be right here, too.

But he also got to stand up. So what I need you guys to do right now at 16 is come up with a better way. Cuz how we doing it, it ain't working. He angry at 46, I'm angry at 31, you angry at 16. You understand me? Putting yourself in harm's way is not the way. You and the other, your counterparts, the same Asian that has that same power. Y'all coming with a better way.

Because we ain't doing it. And I have a five-year-old son. And it ain't happening. I watched four years ago people in my shot did the same shit y'all doing the same exact thing night after night after night it don't matter come up with a better way. You understand me? And many people saw this as an inspirational moment, but I didn't.

I watched it and I actually felt an utter hopelessness. Because as that older man tells that teenager that he can come up with a better way, his voice cracks as he says it. You see these hot tears start to well up in his eyes and his face grows flush and he stares into the boy's eyes. And I just know at that moment he doesn't believe the boy's eyes. And I just know at that moment, he doesn't believe what he's saying. Black people have protested peacefully,

and black people have burned it down. And in the end, the cycle of police violence, it all remains largely unchanged. So that man knows the futility of what he's arguing, but he also knows that in spite of that futility, in that moment, he has to offer that child hope. Because if he doesn't offer that hope, why on earth would that 16-year-old standing there with all that pain

etched in his face and heaving from his chest, not just go out there and try to burn it all down. You and your counterparts, the same age and age, have that same power. Y'all coming with a better way? Because we ain't doing it. Oh, my God. And I have a five-year-old son, and it ain't happening. And I have a five-year-old son.

And it ain't happening. We'll be right back. We're past five o'clock here in Seattle. The city has issued an emergency alert on everyone's cell phone telling them there's a curfew established now. There's plenty of people, hundreds, probably thousands, still remaining out here.

Walking down 6th Avenue, there's... Most of the storefronts have their windows smashed out. Police are trying to force people down the street to get them away from the main retail area of town. There's a half dozen police officers walking down the street. People are throwing stuff at them right now. Someone's walking by me, has a Starbucks sign in their hand pulled off of one of the buildings.

People are throwing everything at the officers, cones, cans, water bottles. So, yeah, sorry, do you mind introducing yourself? What's your name, how old you are, and where you're from? My name is Jordan Davis Miller. I'm from Seattle, Washington, and, do you mind introducing yourself? What's your name, how old you are, and where you're from? My name is Jordan Davis Miller. I'm from Seattle, Washington, and I'm 20 years old. And what do you do? I'm a performing artist in Los Angeles, California.

So for you, what was the thing that brought you out here today? I just want to stand up for myself and for other people that are being murdered and killed. And I want to make a change. And I just, I don't want to die. Now, so when you showed up today, how'd you feel about seeing the crowds out? Yeah, I didn't have a lot of words. To be honest, I felt very very very just emotional I just I've

just been feeling very emotional about a lot of things and you know people trying to show up and do the right thing but you know two different types of people are coming to these things and some people are here to actually protest and Do the right thing and other people are here to just cause destruction and loot and Continues to give us a bad name as we look at white people in the store You know people just just doing what they want, you know, and that's not that's not what we're here about You know, it's yeah, I make sense. It makes sense to be angry

It makes sense to be angry. It makes sense to want to destroy things and take things. Because that's all that's ever been happening with any people of color, you know. Our land, our homes, our livelihoods have been taken from us. And, you know, it makes complete sense that we want to take all that back but you know looting Nordstrom's and small stores do anything

for us it's it's not it's just it's gonna it's gonna cause more flame to the fire and it's gonna give black people and people of color bad names you know and it's just it's not what we're here for what are they don't even know whether they're taking over there i can't even tell what it is it looks like it's like cologne makeup purses you know so what is your what is your sort of how do you balance what you want to see out of police what do you want to see from from the community here what what do you want to see going forward yeah you know it's that's a hard thing because you know police got to do their job and they got to keep their livelihoods, especially from stuff like this. But when you see cops pushing people and trampling people and shooting tear gas at people and trying to make people scared,

what message are they really giving? Are they really here to protect what message are they really giving? Are they really here to protect us? Or are they just right here to shut us up? Hey, man, I got to go. I'm sorry. Yeah, hey, thanks a lot. I don't need no job. So as the night progressed, things continued to escalate in pockets throughout the city.

Authorities brought out their armored tactical vehicles. There were clouds of smoke and tear gas billowing between the buildings downtown. Looters were continuing to target various stores. And so by about 10 p.m., we're five hours past curfew at that point, video captured by one of the local journalists here shows a group of people going into a damaged T-Mobile store. And then as the group crowds inside,

10 officers on bicycles roll up, and so people start running. Officers knock some of them to the ground, including this guy in an orange sweatshirt who was brought down right in the middle of the street. So these two officers begin arresting the guy, and one of them puts his knee right on the back of his neck, and almost immediately, the observers in the crowd start shouting.

Get your fucking knee off his neck! Get your fucking knee off his neck! Get your knee off his neck. And then the other officer arresting the man looks around, reaches over, and grabs his partner's leg and actually just pulls it away from the guy's neck. So I saw two really stark reactions emerge from the video. On the one hand, how was it possible

that just a few days after the death of George Floyd, that a police officer would promptly resort to shoving a knee on the neck of a man lying face down in the middle of the road? And then there was this other reaction. You know, here was a sign of progress. And unlike with the George Floyd case, where the officers at the scene allowed the knee-on-neck technique to continue, here in Seattle was the second officer in the middle of handcuffing a suspect,

willing to take a second to assess the situation and to force his colleague to make some sort of adjustment. Tens of thousands taking to the streets overnight in more than 75 cities across the country. Many cities imposing curfews governors declaring states of emergency as police cars were torched and businesses looted from coast to coast it was a very different atmosphere here tonight mainly because of two things you had a curfew that went into effect at 9 p.m and you had a much heavier and much stronger police presence 5 5,000 National Guard troops have been activated across the country in more than a dozen states. As you can see, they're affected.

Thousands more on standby. The city of Los Angeles seeing not just skirmishes with the police and protests across the city, but also fires at businesses. Now we turn to Washington. Protesters gathered just blocks from the White House, some setting fires in dumpsters that they dragged onto the streets. At least three people were reported shot and one dead

amid protests in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday night. Now here in Atlanta, police arrested 51 people during Saturday night protests. Portland and Denver are among those restricting movement. But fires, property damage, clashes with police and arrests are happening in many more cities across the country. More than 1,600 people have been arrested. Demonstrations spiraling out of control overnight. We're not going to allow y'all to go up there

and start causing chaos and confusion. It's just not going to allow y'all to go up there and start causing chaos and confusion. It's just not going to happen. Look at this! One of the most unforgettable videos showing a man holding a bow and arrow as well as a machete and pointing those weapons at protesters. Oh, my God! That's right, but they won't matter until we're... Don't you dare!

Business is hard. Business is hard. Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here now! Press! Press! I am pressed. Okay, I'm down. I'm down.

I am pressed. Okay, I'm down. I'm down. I am press. Please. These are cops right here. Destroying everything. You're going to take the materials and that's how the peace police out there? Good morning everyone, good morning Minnesota. The past week was one of the most difficult and trying weeks in the history of our state.

Back in Minnesota on Sunday morning, Governor Walz held yet another news conference where he took questions from reporters. We've heard multiple times from officials. It's outside agitators from outside Minnesota, outside the area driving the violence. Do you guys still believe that's the case and the arrests he made last night? Are those folks from within the state, within the metro area or beyond it? Including a follow-up on his claim from the previous day that outsiders were largely responsible for the violence in the state. I just think candidly, I certainly think I want to believe it's outside more, and that might go to the problem that we have of saying can't be Minnesotans. And Walz basically said it may have been wishful thinking.

In saying that I think, and I know there are outside folks in there, whether predominance, whether leading or not, I've been very clear, and I'll say it again this morning, the catalyst that started all of this was the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, and that was our problem. This is John Eligaw, national correspondent at the New York Times. It's Sunday night, and I am in downtown Minneapolis. I am sitting across the street from a gas station right next to an interstate. And I'm surrounded by a bunch of police officers. There's police cars with the lights flashing. There's officers with their protective gear on. And they set up kind of a roadblock to block off this part of the

road and every now and then a car rolls up to the roadblock and they fired off a couple non-lethal rounds at the cars to make them turn around. And this evening, I followed some protesters who were marching down the street, down Washington, in downtown Minneapolis, past the stadium. They were out there after 8 o'clock, which was the curfew time, and they went on the highway initially. But as they got down to the highway, there was already a line of cops waiting there, both in the front and the back of them, with their clubs out, their masks on and their shields and all that. And they were they were waiting for them, you know, so there was there was a line already formed there.

And then eventually came the tear gas. Everyone's running because they're tear gassing us and throwing stuff in the air. running because they're tear gassing us and throwing stuff in the air. The cops moved in. The protesters kind of ran to this parking lot next to a gas station. The cops surrounded them on all sides and basically told them all, you're all under arrest. You have to get down.

And I actually saw some protesters who were like, can I leave? Can I go home? Can I go home? And they said, no, you're out after eight o'clock. You've already violated the curfew. You're all under arrest. And so they made about 200 arrests. And it was interesting when they were arrested, they had to line them all up and wait to process them to get them all on buses to take them into the jail. And they were just having these, it was these quiet moments between the police officers and the protesters, these pleasant and quiet moments that you don't expect. Some of them were laughing, they were sharing stories. And then I talked to a young woman, Maya Haynes,

who was out here and she knew there was a risk of getting arrested, but it was important enough for... Excuse me. Do you mind sharing a bit of your experience tonight? I'm with the New York Times. What was it like for you tonight? It was scary. It's sad. You're scared, but you

understand that there's something right, so you keep going. Why was it important for you to come out? You knew what they were going to do. My younger brothers, they've been profiled since they were eight years old. A white woman got her bike stolen and they took my brothers

while they were riding their bikes on the way to get a haircut and put them in the back of a police car and taunted my baby brothers. They pulled this white woman up to let her be the judge if they were guilty or not that's why i'm out here that was in minneapolis that was in st paul yes when did that happen that happened what 2009 2008 like this is not a new problem and what i know is

these people are here at restaurants they're not our enemies either these people are here trying to keep us calm right now. But everybody's doing their job on both ends. And it is what it is. And they're on this side and I'm on that side. And they're not backing down and I'm not backing down. That doesn't mean I want them hurt. That doesn't mean I hate them.

But I'm going to stand up for what I believe in. You said they're not the problem. What's the problem? The problem is the system. The power. We're fighting the power. So until everybody is out here and we outnumber

everybody on the other side, things will never change. Things haven't changed in hundreds of years. Like, I'm a black American. And did you figure this would be the outcome for you tonight, coming out here? I honestly, no.

I didn't. But now that it is, it is what it is. Have you ever been arrested? No. No? Have you ever been arrested? No. Okay.

And the only difference between me and you is you got the white people behind you and that camera. That's the only difference. I don't have a mask. I don't have a mask. I don't have a mask. My gas mask. Oh, okay. Same thing. And your little phone recorder.

Whatever. I hope the New York Times, Gene, you're right, brother. Do you think this is necessary to keep the peace, to keep the order in the city? You're a black man. Look at me in my eyes, dog. Does this look necessary? Yeah. I feel your frustration.

Does this look necessary? I understand your frustration. It could have been you. It could have been Does this look necessary? It could have been you. It could have been at Cuff Foods. It could have been me. And instead you're holding a phone. I'm getting arrested. And one thing that struck me as I talked to two of the protesters who were being arrested is they said that I was black just like them,

but the only thing that was different was that I had a press badge on. And, you know, I really didn't know what to say to that in some ways, because in a way, that's true, right? The difference between us is that I did have a press badge, which confers a certain amount of privilege. But the way I contextualized it with them is that for me, I'm a storyteller, so I really have to take their words and tell them, you know, and tell them in an honest way, in as honest a way as I can. And that's really, you know, where my role fits in. So while, yeah, it may not end up with me being in Flex Cuffs,

it still is part of this larger picture of what's going on right now, is who tells the story and how they tell it. And you need credible messengers. And that's what I was hoping to be to them. Whether they saw it that way or not, I'm not sure. We'll be right back. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.