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CNN NEWSROOM

Quiet in Baltimore For Now. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 29, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:02]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Officials do know that school is about to let out, that police captain alluding to the fact that they're indeed monitoring that process, because they remember all too well that the melee began Monday afternoon with these young people from high school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. ERIC KOWALCZYK, BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT: So, we have resources staged throughout the city. Obviously, we're monitoring social media. We have extensive resources that are on the ground that we have deployed into areas where we know obviously that students either congregate or are being dismissed from school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right. I have got CNN Sports anchor Rachel Nichols with me. We will talk about what's happening in just a moment.

But, Ryan Young, let me go to you. Tell me where exactly here in Baltimore you are and who you have with you.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're right across from the CVS. And Wale, who is a well-known rapper throughout the industry, decided to come out to the community.

First of all, you said you wanted to come here because of the pain that you saw on people's faces.

WALE, MUSICIAN: Absolutely.

At this point right now, what I can offer right now, I'm not a politician, I'm not a superhero, but if I can offer a little bit of a boost to the morale of people in Baltimore, who are our brothers and sisters and our neighbors, then that's what I'm going to do. I went to go speak at a couple schools. And I wanted to hear straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak, of what we can do to improve the morale. And they just want to be heard.

At the end of the day, there's a whole bunch of kids that come from lower-income environments, some from lower middle class, some from regular middle class. They just feel like black people as a whole have been the doormat of society, doormat of America for so long.

And that's unfortunate. You know, you look on the news and all you see is this. And all you see is them breaking into a CVS. But that's only one small portion of Baltimore. And I think it's unfortunate that's all that's being depicted.

YOUNG: Your music has opened doors for yourself, but you obviously want a betterment for the youngsters here. So many people walked up. The largest crowd has been when you have been here. What would you want for these young people going forward, six months later, from this?

WALE: The consistency within the community. And everybody -- there seems to be an understanding with some of the officials, the government officials, the people that run it in the streets, that there's a lot of unity going on right now.

I would hate to see it all be for nil six months later. You know what I'm saying? That's within us. But at the same time, there's things that they can do for us at this point. To hear us and let us know that we're being heard, that will increase the morale. And I think that the precedent that was set amongst the people alone is showing that there's unity amongst people.

And I think that alone, the unity that they are showing is showing people that we do matter and that we do care about each other a little bit more than they assume.

YOUNG: My last quick question. You said people want to be respected and they want jobs. Talk about that real quick.

WALE: Absolutely. I mean, we can always use jobs. We can always use jobs. I think that, like I said, I'm not a politician, but I do think that the spending is a little frivolous at times. And I think that it could be spread out a little bit more equally amongst the people, especially coming from D.C., where the line between poverty and wealth is very, very small.

The rich guys can see the poor from their backyard. And like I said, I'm not a politician, but I do think these guys make a lot of money and they have a lot of time on their hands to put together things that work for the people. And at the end of the day, all I can do is just hope that the morale of the people improves and that their voices are being heard, especially the youth, because those kids know exactly what they want over there at Douglas and Digital Harbor.

YOUNG: Perfect. Well, I appreciate your time. Appreciate you stopping.

Look, obviously, he came over to talk. He's been talking to a lot of the students, a young voice talking to youngsters, trying to change what's going on out here in the streets -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, Ryan Young. Thank you so much. A lot of young people I know out there. We're going to talk to a teacher who made sure yesterday when the classes were out, he had them out helping clean up and help capture some of these scenes in Baltimore.

Back to Rachel Nichols, because, again, I'm almost speechless, I guess. I'm such a baseball fan. To know that I'm standing in front of Camden Yards, to know that this is a first in terms of ever...

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Historic moment.

BALDWIN: But the historic moment. But I'm wondering, what are the players thinking?

NICHOLS: Yes. I was talking to a couple of the guys on the field during B.P. They just said...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: B.P., batting practice.

NICHOLS: Batting practice. They said this is absolutely surreal. Buck Showalter, the Orioles skipper, said that he was hoping to just give the city a sense of normalcy, something they can hang on to, whereas maybe you walk by and you hear someone on a car radio playing the Orioles game and they hope by playing today, they could kind of give people that.

Adam Jones, the All-Star here in Baltimore, gave a really poignant press conference before the game. He talked about, look, no matter what race you are here right now, you are hurting. He wanted the youth in this city, which he's worked with extensively, Brooke, he said, I hear you, he said, I want you to know you're being heard. Someone is standing with you. He said, and it's OK that you are frustrated, but he made the point that aggressive, violent action is not acceptable, so trying to deliver a bunch of different messages there, and oh, also, by the way, trying to play baseball.

[15:05:03]

BALDWIN: By the way, yes, playing well today.

And let's also just again, perspective. I feel the need, even though we're overwhelmed by the bizarre nature of this game, listen, the city said they needed police, they needed the law enforcement in another part of town. Rachel Nichols, thank you very much.

Let's move along. Baltimore is most definitely much calmer today. The city is far though from quiet, as outrage over Freddie Gray's death in police custody continues with more protests today, though police monitoring those and saying thus far they're peaceful despite that, and definitely improvements overnight. You have city and state leaders, they're not pulling back on manpower.

Talking about police presence, not here, to be in a different part of the city, you have 3,000 officers and National Guard troops still here in Baltimore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: Things are way better than they were. And we have turned the corner dramatically. It was a completely different story from Monday night. We had the National Guard, we had State Police, we had police officers

from around the state and the country helping us. We were working with community leaders. It was a great night. But it's not over yet. There's still a lot of frustrations. There's still a lot of hostility. There's still anger in the community. And there's still people out there that want to make trouble and there's still some folks that are out there that want to get things out of control, that don't want to go on a peaceful way, like the majority of the people do.

So we're going to stay until the city is safe and until we feel that it's safe for us to leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I have got a former Baltimore city councilman, former Maryland congressman and former president of the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume, here with me.

Congressman, thank you so much.

KWEISI MFUME (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN AND FORMER NAACP PRESIDENT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Forgive us, we were mid-sentence, because I was asking. Let me ask you again live on TV. As we're standing in front of Camden Yards and as a season ticket holder, you say brush it off the shoulder, because you understand perspective. They need those officers elsewhere.

MFUME: They do. Peter Angelos was correct in this.

John Angelos, who said essentially on social media that...

BALDWIN: It's phenomenal, what he said.

(CROSSTALK)

MFUME: He said it pales in comparison, a baseball game, compared to the hurt and the pain that people are feeling the need to express themselves. This is the right thing to do. It's a little surreal, but it's happening.

BALDWIN: Off the baseball and back to what we really need to be talking about. I was talking to a 24-year-old. We were walking down North Avenue earlier today in West Baltimore.

And he was sort of explaining his own personal story to me and why so many young people run away from police and the issues they have with how they feel like their encounters with police have gone. I think the youth is so much part of this story. How should the city be reaching out to the youth? What would your message be to these young people in the city?

MFUME: The city has to have a conversation with communities. That's got to occur. People want to express themselves. And we have got to be able to say we understand it. They're not just

making this up. I grew up here in West Baltimore in that same neighborhood. I was arrested 13 times by the age of 19 for just standing out on the corner or not moving fast enough when the police came.

BALDWIN: Thirteen times?

MFUME: Thirteen times. So that's an arrest record.

Can you imagine what a conviction record would do you if you're trying to get a job or something? We feel this. This has been going on for a long, long time. It's been 47 years since the city erupted like this. But it's really because of poverty, pain, despair.

BALDWIN: No, I'm listening to you. You're saying all that, and I was making a point earlier in talking to the attorney for Rodney King and saying to him -- I was talking to a young woman who said, Brooke, when you're driving through some of these neighborhoods, it's takeout, takeout, liquor store, liquor store, church, liquor store.

That's a problem, just even in terms of the optics and what these communities have at their disposal. It's not at all the same.

MFUME: Right, which is why people...

BALDWIN: But it hasn't changed.

MFUME: People are still paining about the burning of the CVS and the looting that took place. And they recognize that this is a very small group of people.

No, it hasn't changed, but the conditions that created it have not changed either. You cannot expect people to live here and be here in absolute abject poverty in a society that doesn't provide the best social program, which is a job, and in a city where the police department structurally has very serious problems in terms of the way they treat people in the black community.

And this is not just about black people. This is about poor Latinos and poor whites in the city that experience the same sort of harassment oftentimes. And so the good police officers get painted with a broad brush. And the bad ones hide behind the shield.

BALDWIN: But beyond conversations -- and I feel your energy over this. Beyond the conversations within these communities, what could happen? I was talking to Congressman Elijah Cummings yesterday and he was saying, Brooke, we're trying to pass mandatory body cams through Congress for the nation. But what about today?

MFUME: Today, the federal government has got to have a dialogue about putting in place an urban Marshall Plan. There is no urban policy here.

BALDWIN: Urban Marshall Plan, what does that even mean?

MFUME: A plan to deal with the problems in urban communities that are in every city around this country.

And so it's crazy to have an energy plan, a military plan, this, that, and the other, and no plan to deal with communities like this until they explode and everybody says, oh, what a shame, what a shame, and then a week later they're gone.

[15:10:03]

BALDWIN: What about the riots in 1968? I don't want to give away your age, but...

MFUME: I don't mind. I'm glad I'm still here, thank God.

BALDWIN: So you remember.

MFUME: I was 19 years old.

BALDWIN: Nineteen years old.

MFUME: I remember how this city burned. There were 1,000 businesses destroyed in four days, 6,000 people huddled off the streets and arrested, including myself.

You just needed to be outside to be grabbed by the police in those days, 700 people injured and then scores of people killed. It was very, very ugly.

BALDWIN: The home opener of the Orioles postponed. So it's odd. It was April, it was 1968, it was in the wake of Dr. King's assassination. That was in Memphis. We're here in Baltimore. So what has -- can we glean anything from that period in your lifetime?

MFUME: I think what we can take away from it is that unless you deal with a simmering pot on a stove, eventually it will boil over. You have got to find a way to continually turn the temperature down by providing things in this community and other communities like this across the nation that go to the heart of the poverty and the despair.

There has been depravation, degradation. There's denial by this country for people who have experienced disprivilege just because of their skin color. This is really an American issue. It really is. I would implore the members of the Congress to do what some of us have been asking them to do for years. Start talking about urban America and a plan and a policy that's absent of a whole lot of phony programs that last for three years and are gone, real meaningful things that can be measured and to have a conversation with the people in these communities.

BALDWIN: Congressman, thank you so much.

MFUME: Thank you. I appreciate it.

BALDWIN: Wow. Thank you very much.

Next is a teacher. We mentioned we're talking about the youth. A teacher here in Baltimore will join me live. He took his students out yesterday to document these protests and the cleanup and the peaceful protests specifically. We will talk about their reactions and how he as a teacher is answering some of their tough questions.

Also, we have a bird's-eye view of the Orioles stadium behind me that is empty. Hear out legendary Oriole Cal Ripken is reacting to that. Keep it on CNN. You're watching special live coverage. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:35]

BALDWIN: We're back here live in Baltimore. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

I can tell you right now students are back in school today, although dismissal should be happening right around now. And with the ongoing protests in the city over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody, some of them are not just witnessing history. They're also documenting it with the help of one of their very special teachers.

And we have some of their images we want to play for you.

Chip Dizard is the high school media teacher. Come on in, sir. Chip Dizard is the high school media teacher who took his students to the streets to help capture what is going on here in your city.

Chip, nice to meet you.

CHIP DIZARD, TEACHER, DIGITAL HARBOR HIGH SCHOOL: Thank you, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Love teachers. My mom was a teacher. Love having you on.

So no school yesterday.

DIZARD: Yes.

BALDWIN: You said I know you can't make them do this, but how did you cajole them into taking their day off to go with you to document this?

DIZARD: Yes.

Well, it's our community. And I think that students that really care about their community, they want to do right by it. And they not only want to clean up. They want to document it, because we're in that social media age, where Snapchat...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We are in the social media age? Get out of here.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Ay yi yi. I hear you loud and clear on that. No, but what ages are they roughly? And what part of town are they

from?

DIZARD: All over the city, children all over the city ages 17 to 18, mostly 11 and 12th graders. And they're media students. They have a project where they document things and document history. This is history.

So, what we saw unfolding on Monday, I said, you know what? I will need some volunteers to meet me at a certain spot. And we're going to get on social media and meet up and we're going to do some good and film it and take pictures.

BALDWIN: Do some good. Do some good in this city.

DIZARD: Yes.

BALDWIN: Tell me -- I don't know how many of these kids were out with you, but did they, A, understand this history they're a part of? I mean, they're a little too young for the Dr. King era, although I imagine they're very aware of him. And what was the most poignant moments or thoughts that they shared with you at the end of the day?

DIZARD: At the end of the day, one of -- well, first of all, they are too young to remember that Dr. King era. But one of the most poignant moments was from an old student that actually said, you know what, Mr. Dizard, my mom worked at one of those businesses. And now she doesn't have a job.

And that broke my heart, because was a former student and her mom -- his mom didn't have a job because it was burned down. So, I think that they see it. They see this firsthand. They see it on the news. And then to witness it, they have never seen anything like this. Think about this, 16-year-olds that have seen this rioting, seen just mass destruction in their own neighborhood.

And they just want to make it better. That's all they say, say, hey, we just want to make it better.

BALDWIN: Good on them for saying that. Is it more of a sense of not understanding or do they understand all too well why this is happening? Is it anger, frustration, sadness, all of the above?

DIZARD: I think it's all of the above. I think it's a lot of anger. It's a lot of people that just want things to change in this city. And I think that this is a catalyst. I think young people are going to take control of this city and do this.

BALDWIN: Is this something you have heard about from some of your younger students who live in these parts of the city? Is this a frustration they have vocalized to you in the past?

DIZARD: Yes, they do.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: This is not news?

DIZARD: Not news, but it's the recreation centers, the other things, the budget cuts that happen within schools, within parks and rec in the city. They need things, summer jobs. And they're marching. They're protesting a lot and they're with the adults.

BALDWIN: I was going to ask you, so some of your kids are some of the peaceful protesters?

[15:20:00]

DIZARD: Oh, yes. They are. They are. Many of them. Many of them. And not even my kids, just kids I don't know.

BALDWIN: Yes.

DIZARD: And you know they're there without their parents, some of them. Some of them are there just because. They don't want to be sitting at home watching this. They want to be right on the front lines with us. I have an opportunity as a media teacher to influence them and to do that and to capture it.

BALDWIN: Chip Dizard, we need more teachers like you, my friend.

DIZARD: Thank you, Brooke, so much.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

Coming up next, I don't know if you can hear the cheering over my shoulder. Are you hearing this, Chip?

DIZARD: Oh, yes.

BALDWIN: Baltimore Orioles.

DIZARD: Go, O's.

BALDWIN: Go, O's -- playing a game behind me, currently winning, by the way, for those of you keeping score. This is a stadium completely empty, though, no fans here. We're going to get Cal Ripken Jr.'s reaction to what's happening here. This is baseball history, maybe not in the way Baltimore would like to see it.

Plus, my conversation with a young man who grew up in Baltimore and went from being a drug dealer to really helping change his community for the better. These are the stories we need to be telling this week. You will hear from this young 24-year-old and what he's doing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:17]

BALDWIN: All right. So I am standing here. And, yes, I have a baby in my arms. This is Jolene (ph), as in Jolene Dolly Parton (ph). And I have got Matt Fouse, who is with me. He's a season ticket holder with the Baltimore Orioles. And we're going to talk to you in just a second here about why you came out. And Matt is part of this crowd of about two dozen people still here, despite the fact that you couldn't bring -- you can't have fans in Camden Yards behind me.

We will get into that.

But, first, Joe Johns, you ready, Jocelyn -- Jolene?

MATT FOUSE, ORIOLES FAN: Jolene.

BALDWIN: Jolene. Forgive me.

You ready, Joe Johns? Let's talk to me about where you are.

FOUSE: Jolene.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right. OK.

So, I'm above you in the building next to you. And we're looking out at Camden Yards. And this is what it looks like when Baltimore played the game where nobody came, quite frankly. It's a blowout, too, apparently. From up here, something like 8-2, the Orioles are leading the White Sox.

This is a very strange situation, of course, in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, with nobody in the stadium. But around this city in other places, you can see people are working hard to try to bring the city back as quickly as possible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): The Baltimore Symphony has a message. Charm City is open and should not be defined by violence.

MICHAEL LISICKY, BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: It's a message to say that we're bouncing back. We want to bounce back. We want to talk. We want to get people to talk.

JOHNS: The symphony performed a concert on the street this afternoon just a half-mile from the scene of some of the worst violence this week.

LISICKY: We're musicians. We can just play music. This is not a performance, per se. This is a gathering, getting people together and just taking a step back.

JOHNS: Despite their efforts, though, it's clear Baltimore still has a long way to go. Take today's Orioles game with no fans attending. Cal Ripken, former star of the team, says he's never seen anything like it.

(on camera): You ever played a game with no crowd?

CAL RIPKEN JR., FORMER BALTIMORE ORIOLE: Never, never. This ought to be interesting.

JOHNS (voice-over): And these businesses across the street from the stadium rely heavily on the fans attending games and spending money. But today's game with no fans allowed has made that much harder.

COREY FORD, BEVERAGE SALES REPRESENTATIVE: I'm hoping when it all comes back together, it will be like a re-opening day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Hard to say how much all of this is going to cost the city of Baltimore after the unrest, the lost revenue from baseball games and all the rest of it.

But many people predict it's going to be a significant number -- back to you now, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Joe. Thank you so much for that.

Again, I'm back out here with Jolene and Matt Fouse.

And so what is happening behind us is, you have this game that is being played. I don't even know what inning we're in. But I know they're up quite a bit. And you have been part of this crowd that we have been watching over our shoulder. How many fans would you say still showed up?

FOUSE: Originally, it looked like around maybe 150. And the numbers seem to be dwindling currently.

BALDWIN: OK, 8-2 Orioles, I'm just getting this in, the sixth inning, I believe, is what Tim said.

So, why come down here? Season ticket holder, why come down? And do you approve of the call that was made, or not, to not have fans inside?

FOUSE: I came down today basically because it's a beautiful day in Baltimore.

BALDWIN: It is.

FOUSE: What better day to watch a baseball game, even if it's outside of a fence?

And, basically, I just feel saddened and disheartened about the events that have happened. It's just -- the scales tipped. I think that's what happened.

BALDWIN: You live two blocks away, you were telling me, from where?

FOUSE: I live in a neighborhood called Charles Village. And about two blocks away, some stores were looted. It wasn't near as bad as some of the areas involved in Baltimore.

BALDWIN: And you were -- we were seeing in Joe's piece the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra right around noon today.

FOUSE: Yes. Before the game, we went to the BSO at the Meyerhoff and they gave a free concert outdoors. And it was one of the most beautiful, touching moments as a citizen of Baltimore that I have ever experienced.

They played the national anthem. Everybody was singing. And in my head, when it started to play, I said to myself, OK, this is kind of a solemn moment right now that's happening. Everybody's singing. Based on the events, I have to hold myself back from screaming "O" during the oh part. And as a proud resident of Baltimore, everybody did it.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. No, we heard it, we heard it.

FOUSE: It was one of the most touching moments.

BALDWIN: Maybe you will get a little John Denver in the seventh inning stretch. We're going to wait and listen for that, right?

FOUSE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Matt, thank you so much.

And, Jolene, thanks for hanging out with me on my hip. Maybe I will give her back to you. I appreciate your time. I really, really do.

FOUSE: All right.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

And what's coming up next, guys?