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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Protests Turn Violent Again; Johnson Cook and Kadiatou Diallo Speak Out; President Obama and Prince William Meet in the Oval Office

Aired December 8, 2014 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JOHN BERMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: New protests over the death of Eric Garner and this time they turn violent. Calls for justice tarnished by Molotov cocktails, looting, and tear gas.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CO-ANCHOR: We speak with a mother who knows the agony of losing her son at the hands of police. Kadiatou Diallo lost her son in a hail of bullets. She speaks with us exclusively, ahead @THISHOUR.

BERMAN: And they are young, they are glamorous, and they have those charming accents. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, they are here in the United States. We will tell you the American royalty they might be hanging out with.

Hello, everyone. Great to see you today. I'm John Berman.

PEREIRA: And I'm Michaela Pereira. Welcome to the new week. Those stories and much more, ahead @THISHOUR.

We are waiting right now to hear from the family of a 12-year-old African-American boy shot and killed last month by police in Cleveland, Ohio. He was twelve years old, Tamir Rice. He was carrying a toy gun at the time.

The young boy was shot within seconds of the officer's arrival at the recreation park where he was. The child's family has filed a wrong death lawsuit. @THISHOUR, they're expected to outline their hopes and plans to seek justice for their son.

BERMAN: As that is happening, people across the country are calling for justice for Eric Garner. He of course is the man who did after a New York City police officer put him in a chokehold.

What you're looking at right there is, for the second straight day, some protesters in the bay area of California, they went a little far, reports of Molotov cocktails in Oakland, and in Berkeley a protester who tried to stop looters was attacked with a hammer.

Our Alexandra Field is following this for us. And, Alexandra, you know, across the country, these protests since the decision on Eric Garner, they have been largely peaceful but not so much in the bay area right now.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so many people, so many demonstrators in so many parts of the country have said they want this to be a peaceful protest and certainly the images that we're seeing out of Northern California this weekend show anything but that.

Let's start with what happened in Berkeley over the weekend, a lot of violence there, looting and vandalism. You mentioned one protester actually hit in the head with a hammer when he tried to intercept, stop another protester from looting.

Five people were arrested there overnight. Two officers had some injuries.

In Oakland a similar scene, lots of protesters out there in the middle of the highway, having a standoff with police, that also turning ugly.

Officers say the people in the crowd were hurling objects, that some of them had explosives with them. Police say they needed to use tear gas in an effort to control the crowd out there. Eight people were arrested out there. Five patrol cars were vandalized and, again two officer there also having some minor injuries.

Certainly this is not what we've seen in other parts of the country where, for five days now, we've seen large gatherings but mostly seeing people marching, chanting, or doing these "die-ins," sort of trying to create these powerful and even sometimes silent images of what they're trying to articulate.

PEREIRA: Yeah. We've been seeing different expressions across the country. Some people in New York were chanting sort of Christmas carols with words changed to suit the protest.

I'm curious what you're hearing or maybe you've seen on social media what the buzz is about additional protests nationwide today?

FIELD: Well, look, we've seen these things catch a lot of momentum in the last few days, and no reason to expect that to necessarily stop. Activists have out there, especially on social media, trying to engage people, trying to get them to continue the demonstrations and the protests through at least the next week.

And of course a lot of people are calling for these to continue to be peaceful protests.

What we've seen this morning, a small protest in Washington, D.C., outside of the Capitol, and also this morning here in New York City reports of about 50 protesters who are out on the Verrazano Bridge stopping traffic.

But again, no other instances of violence like what we were seeing in California.

BERMAN: All right, Alexandra Field, thanks so much. Keep your eye on that for us. Appreciate it.

PEREIRA: One woman sadly knows all too well the pain of losing a child at the hands of police is the mother of Amadou Diallo. Her son was standing at the entrance of his own apartment building in the Bronx back in 1999 when four plainclothes police officers drove up and shot at him 41 times, killing him instantly.

Police said Diallo matched the description of a suspected serial rapist they were looking for. They reported the 23-year-old was acting suspiciously. They thought that he had pulled a gun, but he was only reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet.

Those officers, they were acquitted.

BERMAN: This is the first interview that Kadiatou Diallo has given since the Eric Garner announcement. Also joining us Suzan Johnson Cook, a community leader, former NYPD chaplain and former U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom. Thank you both so much for being with us.

Mrs. Diallo, I'm wondering, everyone has different reactions when they see the Eric Garner decision or decisions like that. You come at it from such a unique perspective. I wonder what your reaction was last week.

KADIATOU DIALLO, MOTHER OF AMADOU DIALLO: I was so devastated to see the decision of the grand jury, deciding, after viewing that video, saying that a trial will not happen so that the community, the family, will have a day in court to understand why Eric Garner was killed. However, I wasn't surprised.

As you said, as Amadou Diallo's mom, when my son was gunned down in February of 1999, we plain police officers, plainclothes, guns drawn in the middle of the night, coming towards him -- they are driving unmarked cars, and the trial was moved to Albany, change of venue, then the acquittal.

My son was blamed for his own death. After that, we did everything we can not justice for Amadou but to prevent this from happening again. And years and years later, what is going on is so sad.

PEREIRA: I wanted to ask you about that, because, you know, it's almost even hard to recount this story as you're sitting here. I feel very much the weight of what this has meant for you, the loss of your son.

Sixteen years ago, in some times, especially when you see what's going on in the country with Eric Garner, with the other cases that we've seen, it must feel as though, painfully, you're reliving this a little bit.

Does it feel like we're making progress as a nation?

DIALLO: I feel like we're going backwards. I have met all these victims' families. I have rallied together with them, prayed together and comforted those mothers but, however, what is going on here is like many years ago we're going backwards. It's reliving, like you said, my tragedy.

I hope that Amadou and those who came before him will open the door for dialogue and common sense to have positive changes. They did not succeed to close that door with the Eric Garner case today and Michael Brown and the young man in Ohio.

After the consciousness of America, law enforcement community, and civil rights leaders we can come together not only to protest, not only to march, but to have something in positive so that we may not have that from happening again.

And the reason is because we've been through this so much. My son, the aftermath of Amadou's killing, even (inaudible), over 1,000 people went to jail, even former New York City mayor David Dinkins went to jail to protest his killing.

After that, it's happening again. It seems like we just move and put everything under the rug and pretend that nothing is happening.

BERMAN: Ambassador, Mrs. Diallo said we're moving backwards. You've nodding your head yes.

Do you think situation now in terms of justice in America is worse than it was in 1999?

SUZAN JOHNSON COOK, FORMER NYPD CHAPLAIN: Very much so. It looks like we're not learning from the lessons of the past.

First of all, I want to say Mrs. Diallo is kind of our royalty of the movement because she has handled it with such dignity, so many times reliving the same stories, so I want to thank her for the dignity she takes as a mother and also taking to the other families.

Because on the other side of this, there are families. There's a humanity. Every family has lost a son in all of these situations, and so that's what I want to know most of all. I was police chaplain as I met Mrs. Diallo during this tragedy.

So I came as a pastor first. And the police department did respond after all of this tragedy with sensitivity training, and that's what needs to have happen. We have to have sensitivity training. There's a human being

But we need law enforcement. I served our city 21 years. We need law enforcement, but we need law enforcement that's going to be sensitive and humane. So I do feel like we're going backwards in terms of that.

So I also come as a parent. I'm a parent of two African-American sons. Now we have a fear of the police department rather than faith in the protectors of the police department

And so we have to do something about that. And as she said, we have to begin a dialogue so we don't keep repeating the same lessons of the past.

PEREIRA: Ladies, would you indulge us? Would you stay around? We'd like to take a short break and come back and talk to you a little bit more. I feel like there's more parts of this conversation we should have.

DIALLO: Sure. JOHNSON COOK: Thank you.

PEREIRA: We'll be right back after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: So will there be any changes to police behavior in the aftermath of all of these police incidents from Tamir Rice's cases -- case, rather -- to Michael Brown, Eric Garner.

Joining us once again, Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of Amadou Diallo and Suzan Johnson Cook, a community leader, former NYPD chaplain and former U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom.

Mrs. Diallo, I was thinking back -- in the commercial break -- 1999, 16 years ago is such a long time but really not in a lot of ways. But one thing that wasn't around was this social media that we know is largely fueling the protests that we were showing video of across the country.

Do you worry that because of -- in a way it's spreading the message. But also do you worry if the message is getting confused or lost somehow?

DIALLO: I think that's -- the new technology today, I know the Brown family, Michael Brown's family, is asking for police to carry these video cameras. The community is also using social media, filming incidents like that. I think it's helpful because it makes a lot of difference

Even though with the Eric Garner case, people are thinking it didn't serve anything, but it did serve something. Suppose there was not a video. Eric Garner would have been portrayed as someone in a negative light who is -- was good for nothing and then the story would just be under the rug. But now we have this evidence, the world has seen the video and when my son was killed, at that time we didn't have that, so there was no video to be seen. I think I encourage that for both law enforcement and the community. And also, I want to add about accountability of the youth. If the young people in the neighborhood see something suspicious going on, not only towards law enforcement but in the community, they have to use it because we need accountability, both community and law enforcement.

COOK: You have to use the technology that's available. I mean, we met through Reverend Sharpton and peaceful protest is important. Because Reverend Sharpton led a thousand people, as she said, to be arrested, including the mayor of our city, Mayor Dinkins, at that time. So I think you have to have the technology that advances with our population, but you have to respond and have the accountability for what that technology represents. So, yes, you have to have the protests. It has to be peaceful, otherwise people will ignore what happened. We have now five cases in the last six weeks. Something needs to be done and there has to be a response.

BERMAN: Mrs. Diallo, I'm wondering, as a mother, what it's like to watch the protests? You know, you see these protests, you see the families involved. Is it something that gives you strength when you see them?

DIALLO: Yes, I do think that protest is important because if you talk about history, the civil rights movement, both white and black came together and protested. That's when change happened. This is a new era for police accountability, for our young people to be respected and policed in dignity. We need protests to demand positive changes. And also, to hold our elected officials accountable because those who are implementing the system is corrupt. If they know that the young people are going out there and is in the eye of the media to protest and demand positive changes, I think this is a pressure that is good and necessary.

PEREIRA: Mrs. Diallo, Ambassador Cook, always a pleasure to have you here with you us. It's a delight, and sadly it's not. I mean, it's a delight to have you here, but it's a really heartbreaking reason why you're even in the public light to begin with. We thank you for sharing your story and your wisdom, too.

DIALLO: Thank you for having me.

COOK: She'll be with us at the ProVoice gathering tomorrow at the Harlem State Office Building at 6 P.M. in Harlem to share more of her story. So we invite the public.

DIALLO: And the Amadou Diallo Foundation is hosting a conference on police and community relations at Columbia University February 4, 2015.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for being here.

COOK: Thank you for having us.

BERMAN: Ahead for us @THISHOUR, we're going to shift gears. They don't just look good and sound good with those charming accents.

PEREIRA: Those accents that get you upset.

BERMAN: They're here to the good. We're talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Those are two of their many, many names. They're here on a whirlwind trip across the United States. We'll tell you the royal agenda coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: A prince and a president meeting in the Oval Office. Prince William stopping by the White House this morning for a quick visit with President Obama. He also will meet with Vice President Joe Biden. In fact, let's listen in for a minute to their conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: I read about that. It's actually work out whether it was a boy or a girl, it's likely the event everything else was (INAUDIBLE) It's actually a boy (INAUDIBLE) - so that is good. It's going to be interesting next year.

BARACK OBAMA: Thank you very much, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Right, easy to hear what you're saying.

BERMAN: But you can hear the White House pool ask. I heard like a thousand questions right there. I've never seen reporters so interested in a White House visit before, but obviously the president and the prince having a scintillating conversation, even if we could not hear every word, I can promise you it was substantive. So the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are here on a three-day visit. They arrived here in New York yesterday. This is the first time either have ever been to New York, if you can believe it. They must be excited. People there were excited. What you can't hear in this video is people actually-there it is, shrieking. There's actual shrieking.

PEREIRA: That was you. Is that where you were last night?

BERMAN: I'm embarrassed to say that was just me many times. Everyone, of course, looking at the Duchess right now. She's five months pregnant. She's visiting a child development center in Harlem as we speak right now.

PEREIRA: Victoria Arbiter is with us right now. She, of course, is CNN Royal Commentator. Very exciting. We were both so impressed that it had taken them both this long to come to New York, but we also know this isn't just a photo-op, as much as those flash bulbs are going off-if they even still have flash bulbs--they're on a mission this trip.

VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: This is a really important trip in terms of their profile and establishing relationships here on this side of the pond. William and Kate are acutely aware of their popularity over there. There's no question that Americans have fully embraced them. And so William and Kate are really using the opportunity to raise the profile of the charities and fight for the causes that they're most interested in. It's nice to see William down there having a bit of chitchat with Obama, but the fact that he has an audience with the President is quite something. He's only second in line to the throne, he's there to push for zero tolerance on illegal trafficking of wildlife parts, and so to have the president support you, you don't get a better endorsement than that.

BERMAN: Yeah, I was going to say, what does it say that he's getting an audience with the president? A lot of us remember back in the '80s when Charles and Diana came here, she danced with John Travolta, didn't she? But he was first in line to the throne right now. Is there a protocol thing here?

ARBITER: It's unusual for William, in his position, to be getting a meeting like this, but it works both ways. I think the president is very aware of how popular William and Kate are, as well. It looks good to be receiving them. He met them at Buckingham Palace just after their honeymoon back in 2011, and so he said it's an opportunity to really cement this special relationship that the two countries share and to further this cause, because William is going to push today for a global effort, in terms of shutting down this trade. It's not just wildlife crime. He's going to talk about the fact that it leads to money laundering, corruption, in some countries it's funding terrorism. The only way this can stop is with a global effort.

PEREIRA: Now, they are sort of dividing and conquering, the Duke and Duchess. He's been up in DC -

BERMAN: You got to be careful with the whole conquering thing here in the U.S. soil with the royalty.

PEREIRA: -- history, I know. Commonwealth right here. My bad. The Duchess is heading to Harlem, she's at a child development center. I imagine they're keeping her schedule maybe not quite as full, giving the fact that she is five months along. She looked wonderful. How is her health? How is her morning sickness been going?

ARBITER: She's doing very well. But you're right, they're making sure that she's doing enough, that she's seen out and about, but at the same time is taking care of herself. But she was simply -- without making her sound like a commodity - too valuable to leave at home. William and Kate, the double act, pack a real punch and tomorrow it will be interesting to see who makes it on the front page of the British newspapers, because William is really promoting a very important cause, but everyone wants to see what Kate's wearing, so it will be interesting to see which way it swings.

BERMAN: I'm betting on her. Look, if they meet Beyonce and Jay Z, they'll all be on the cover. Let me ask you this, we keep calling him Prince William, but should we be saying "alleged prince" based on this whole because Richard III DNA testing where they find there may have been some kind of a break in the line somewhere?

PEREIRA: Always wanting to find a controversy.

ARBITER: People love a bit of scandal. Everyone wants to tear down the royal family in one way, shape, or form. I don't think there's too much to the story. I think William is very much in his rightful place, and they're doing a grand job. And you're right, I think tonight the Nets, it's going to be interesting to see what happens, because of course, if they're caught on the kiss cam, that's going to be to picture that goes around the world.

PEREIRA: Oh, my goodness. I didn't even think about the kiss cam.

BERMAN: There will be a king, a prince, and a Duchess there because they're playing the Cavaliers and LeBron James will be there.

ARBITER: That's right. And William has also got a meeting with Hillary Clinton this afternoon. So he's meeting the president, potentially a future president, and then New York royalty. Big day.

PEREIRA: Big day. Victoria, thanks for walking us tough it all. Good to see you again.

ARBITER: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: She's so patient with me, also.

PEREIRA: She really is.

BERMAN: More than you. I'm just saying. See what I mean? Case and point.

PEREIRA: Case and point. Ahead @THISHOUR, President Obama weighing in on the outrage and the protests that are sweeping the nation. His message for young African-Americans and the fight against what the president calls "deeply rooted racism or bias."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)