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Twitter Erupts After Trump's Tweet About Chicago Shooting; Mass Funerals As Rescuers Search For Life; The 49ers Quarterback Refuses To Stand For National Anthem; Southwest Flight Diverted After Engine Failure; Abdul-Jabbar To Trump: "Come And Speak To African-Americans". Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 27, 2016 - 19:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:42] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It's 7:00 in the evening here in Washington. It is 4:00 out west. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Jim Sciutto in today for Poppy Harlow.

Donald Trump is facing a social media backlash over his controversial tweet about the fatal shooting of the cousin of NBA star, Dwayne Wade. Nykea Aldridge was pushing her baby stroller down a Chicago street when several men started shooting at each other. Aldridge was caught in the crossfire. To be clear, police say she was not the intended target.

Early this morning, Trump tweeted quote, "Dwayne Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I've been saying, African-Americans will vote Trump, exclamation point."

He later deleted that tweet, reposted it with the correct spelling of Wade's first name, though, not noting that he had misspelled it. Twitter erupted about five hours later.

Trump tweeted a softer follow up saying, quote, "My condolences to Dwayne Wade and his family on the loss of Nykia Aldridge. They are in my thoughts and prayers."

Our Sunlen Serfaty was there when Trump spoke about the shooting just today.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONENT: Well, Jim, we saw Donald Trump today here try to course correct a little bit from his earlier tweet earlier this morning where he received a lot of criticism over the tone of that tweet, a lot of people saying he was inserting himself into this tragedy.

Politicizing the moment for his own benefit, but today Donald Trump in reaching out to African-American voters in a section of his speech today that he tried to appeal to African-American voters, although I should note this crowd was largely predominantly a white crowd, he did specifically mentioned this tragedy, the killing of Dwayne Wade's cousin. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: More than 6,000 African- Americans are the victims of murder, of murder, every single year. Just yesterday, the cousin of NBA star, Dwayne Wade, a great guy, Dwayne Wade, was the victim of a tragic shooting in Chicago.

She was the mother of four and was killed while pushing her infant child in a stroller just walking down the street. Shot. It breaks all of our hearts to see it. It's horrible. It's horrible and it's only getting worse. This shouldn't happen in our country. This shouldn't happen in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And adding to the voices of criticism today was Hillary Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine. As he was out campaigning, he was asked about Donald Trump's tweet and picking up on this tragedy. Tim Kaine said it is just not appropriate. He said the only thing that is appropriate right now is to express some sympathy to their family -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Sunlen Serfaty, thanks very much. The tragic news out of Chicago today and Donald Trump's reaction are getting a lot of attention from the gun reform activists and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

My next guest certainly knows the unbearable pain of losing someone she loved one to gun violence. Cleopatra Cowley Pendleton is the mother of Hadiya Pendleton who was shot and killed in 2013 at a park in Chicago, right after she had finished her final exams.

Cleopatra is also one of the mothers of the movement who spoke against gun violence at this year's Democratic National Convention. You see a picture of her there on the stage. She joins me now on the telephone.

First of all, Cleopatra, I'm a father myself and I just want to say I'm so sorry for the loss of your daughter and thank you for taking the time today to talk about this difficult issue.

CLEOPATRA COWLEY PENDLETON, MOTHER OF SLAIN CHICAGO TEEN, HADIYA PENDLETON (via telephone): Thank you, Jim. Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So Dwayne Wade, as it happens, was at a town hall on gun violence in Chicago just last week, before losing his cousin here. Your husband was also there. To hear his tragedy today, what message does that send? Does that sort of show that no family is immune to gun violence?

PENDLETON: Well, first let me say, I offer my deepest, deepest condolences to the Wade and Aldridge families. I was deeply wounded when I heard his family had been touched by tragedy yet again. But I'm also familiar because just yesterday I buried my 28-year-old cousin, he was murdered on the 17th of August.

It's just the reality that gun violence in the city of Chicago alone is very serious. And many, many activists around the city of Chicago often verbalize that something needs to be done. [19:05:09]We have our Father Slater. We have Jesse Jackson. We have (inaudible), Purpose Over Pain, you know, many organizations in the city of Chicago that stand up and scream about the seriousness of the issue and the value of our youth.

That something has to be done and it's not just a political stunt that needs to be done. Something that can be touched needs to occur so that things change in our city.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you what you believe needs to be done. First, quickly, I want to ask you your reaction to Donald Trump's tweet today, in the hours after Dwayne Wade's cousin was shot. He made this pitch to black voters and he said African-Americans will vote Trump. What's your reaction to that?

PENDLETON: You know, my reaction is that we know that is so very insensitive. Right now the family doesn't need that, they don't need anything politicized about what happened. At the end of the day, they have lost a loved one, a mother. You know, these children are now without their mother. I think on my personal opinion, it was just very insensitive.

SCIUTTO: Let's get to the bigger issue. There are a lot of charges being exchanged in this presidential election, as you've heard, about who is to blame for this violence. Donald Trump was there in Iowa today saying he will fix it.

Maybe not who do you blame, but what do you became and what changes would you like to see to protect people going forward from this kind of violence?

PENDLETON: I believe that each of us has a responsibility to make sure our children are safe here in America. There are people who have taken jobs who vowed to make sure that policies, legislation would be implemented to make sure we're safe. I believe those people need to take those jobs more seriously.

SCIUTTO: How so? What would show you that they're taking their jobs more seriously?

PENDLETON: In my opinion, it's not about Republican or Democrat. It's about the issue and it's about seriously looking at the issue and saying that, you know, something needs to change, and it doesn't matter about, you know, getting funding from NRA per se in order to pursue roles.

It's about really caring for the American people and doing what needs to be done for our safety and our future. Our children are dying hand over fist, because everyone's, you know, thinking about what needs to be done and saying what needs to be done. But those who have in power to actually do it aren't executing.

SCIUTTO: Do you trust one party over the other to do a better job of addressing gun violence?

PENDLETON: No, that's not what I said at all. I said we need to drop party lines and really look at the issue as a whole and see that it is not just affecting the poor. You know, that's a problem of the poor or that's a problem of the African-American community.

As we know, many communities have been affected by gun violence. It's not limited to black or brown. It's out here, it's prevalent. Guns are abundant. We need to do something about it.

Be it opening our mouths and talking when we know something as a community person, holding young people accountable for making decisions that are poor.

You know, funding organizations that are making attempts to bring about a moral awareness to young people so that they make different changes.

Perhaps adding more money to the educational system so they can offer programs to young people to make them aware just think about problem solving and, you know, using options other than guns to resolve issues.

SCIUTTO: No question. And it is -- gun violence knows no color, right, in terms of its victims.

PENDLETON: It does not. It does not.

SCIUTTO: Cleopatra, I really do appreciate you taking the time and giving us your thoughts on this, few people would know better.

PENDLETON: Thank you so very much for having me. I do appreciate your call.

SCIUTTO: All right, well, just ahead in NEWSROOM, new reaction from the Clinton campaign about Donald Trump's controversial tweet regarding gun violence, and is his appeal to African-American voters working? We'll discuss.

Plus in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, we're seeing remarkable stories of survival. We'll take you to a hospital in Central Italy.

Then later, San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Copernick tracing criticism after refusing to stand during the national anthem. Why he says he did it and how the NFL is reacting. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:12:31]

SCIUTTO: Tim Kaine assumed the role of Hillary Clinton's attack dog today when he slammed Donald Trump's controversial tweet on the shooting death of NBA star Dwayne Wade's cousin.

This morning, Trump said, quote, "Dwayne Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying, African-Americans will vote Trump, exclamation point." Now he later deleted that initial tweet, reposted it with a correct spelling of Wade's first name. The Democratic vice presidential candidate suggests that Trump's tweet is inappropriate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We ought to just be thinking -- we just ought to be extending our sympathy to the family. That's the only reaction that's appropriate right now. And maybe a sadness about this gun violence issue, which we know it's complicated.

But that is -- you see something like this and we should redouble our efforts to really adopt and promote smart strategies on that. But the sympathy issue is the one that ought to be our strong first reaction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Let's bring in our panel, Donald Trump supporter, Scottie Nell Hughes, political editor for right alerts.com, and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona. She is a Hillary Clinton supporter and a 2016 Democratic super delegate.

So Scottie Nell Hughes having just heard from vice presidential candidate there, Tim Kaine, what's your reaction? Do you defend that first reaction to the death of Dwayne Wade's cousin?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that I'm for sure that everybody has extreme sympathy for what's going on and r& happened to the Wade family, it's horrible, it's tragic.

And I think what we saw with Mr. Trump's tweet as we know who he is, he sees a problem. He had just said it a few days before and he wanted to offer a solution and he's frustrated, like so many Americans are right now.

That innocent mothers are being shot in the street while walking their babies down the street, and being shot by guns that are illegal in a city like Chicago which has some of the strongest gun control laws.

There's not a solution being put forth yet by the Democrats, by Hillary Clinton or Tim Kaine about how to stop these very innocent people from being shot in their own neighborhoods.

SCIUTTO: Maria Cardona, I see you're shaking your head.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Donald Trump's tweet was nothing except reprehensible. But it's Donald Trump, so I think most Americans expected nothing less. Frankly, he didn't care about the family. He cared about taking advantage of a tragedy for his own political benefit.

[19:15:05]He almost sounded gleeful that it had happened. It is disgusting and I think it's going to continue to have his numbers drop, if that's possible among African-Americans, and other minorities. It also focuses on the fact that he has zero solutions on this. Look, Scottie's right. We need to talk about solutions. But the way that you talk about solutions is not with a tweet, and it's not with taking advantage of a personal tragedy.

It is by bringing people together. It is by actually offering proposals and solutions and Scottie also mentioned illegal guns and that's correct too.

Chicago police have gathered and taken off the streets more illegal guns in Chicago than Los Angeles and New York combined. So what does that mean? That sure, Illinois's gun safety laws might be strong, but the neighboring states, frankly most of them run by Republicans, are weak.

And so people are bringing guns from other states, which means that we actually need to talk about what are the real gun safety laws that need to be implemented across the country. And that is when we will get to real solution.

SCIUTTO: I want to give you a chance to reply on policy, but on the issue of the tweet, if Donald Trump or his campaign didn't have a sense that that first tweet was a mistake, why then this condolences tweet five hours later?

HUGHES: Well, I think they obviously felt that way, but I think what Mr. Trump was expressing is he's frustrated that once again, and he's taking the side of the innocent victim. Why did she have to die? Why can she not be safe in her own neighborhood?

And the Democrats for eight have had a chance to solve this problem. In the city of Chicago that is run by mainly Democrats, I'm sorry, I'm not going to let you blame this on Republicans, you have seen the murder rate go up 70 percent, and these are innocent people that are dying in the streets.

And the other ones are those that are involved in gangs, no matter what, they're going to find ways to create crimes, create evil, and do their evil. These folks could care less about the laws that you pass.

If they're sitting there randomly shooting women randomly walking down the street with a baby carriage, they don't care about the laws anybody pass, they're going to find a way to do their evil.

And the Democrats have allowed this to escalate and all Mr. Trump is wanting to do is restore law and order to the streets so that we can be safe again, Americans, within our own neighborhoods. The Democrats don't offer any solutions to that.

SCIUTTO: But let me try something here for both of you. I'll challenge both of you, you, Maria, for the Democrats, and you, Scottie, for the Republicans. Name one thing that your party has done that's had a significant effect on reducing gun violence. Maria, I'll give you the first go and then Scottie.

CARDONA: Well, frankly, you have seen in places where there are strict gun safety laws, where the surrounding states have real gun safety laws, then yes, gun violence does go down.

And I actually want to talk about a statistic, because Donald Trump and his supporters love to talk about the spike in gun violence in some of the top inner cities or some of the big inner cities in the country.

While that's true, there has also been a decrease in other huge inner cities in this country. For example, New York has gone down by 25 percent. So do Democrats get credit for that? Overall, gun violence is at a record low from the highs of the 1990s. So we cannot lose sight of that --

SCIUTTO: Violent crime rates, definitely, I'm a New Yorker and it's a fraction of where it was in the '80s.

CARDONA: That's exactly right, but we need to focus on solutions and blaming is not going to get us to solutions. We need to work together on this.

SCIUTTO: You offered one, strict gun laws, when multiple states have it. Scottie, give me an example of an initiative that's helped reduce gun violence from the Republican Party.

HUGHES: Once again, it's really easy for Democrats and Maria to say strict gun laws. Like what? What specifically? You can't give specifics, they give the generic emotional answer where on the other hand Republicans --

CARDONA: I'll give a specific.

HUGHES: Well, give us a specific one. That's what his question was. You didn't answer.

CARDONA: No, I talked about stricter gun laws.

HUGHES: Like what?

CARDONA: Let me tell you. If we are able to focus on and pass background checks, frankly, so that all of those illegal guns are harder to get from those criminals that you say will ignore the laws, then we can make sure that people who should not get guns, do not get guns.

Right now you can go on the internet, Scottie, and anybody can get a gun. That is not to me a situation where we are putting people's safety first. Republicans should work with us, but instead, they are in the pocket of the NRA who wants to do absolutely nothing except put more guns in people's hands.

SCIUTTO: Scottie, give me your alternative, just an alternative approach.

HUGHES: Absolutely. First of all, Maria, I can almost guarantee that a background check would not have saved, unfortunately, the life today.

CARDONA: We don't know that, now do we?

[19:20:11]HUGHES: Those criminals right there could care less about background checks. Before they went and did this crime did they think, I need to get a background check to get these guns? They could care less about our laws. They don't respect our people, but don't respect our laws.

What we do need is what Republicans and the NRA does is say let's actually make sure that we take people like down in Texas where they allow gun carry zones, and you actually sit there and strengthen the good people, those f>1ks that are law abiding citizens that go and respect the power of a gun and protecting themselves.

CARDONA: So more guns.

HUGHES: By the way, it's a second amendment right.

SCIUTTO: We are going to it leave it there, Maria and Scottie. I appreciate it. I know we took a small issue and went big there for a moment. Thanks to both of you for taking part.

CARDONA: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Still to come today, a national day of mourning in Italy. Amid remarkable stories, at least some of them have survival. We'll take you to a hospital where survivors are now fighting for their lives. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: It's been a national day of mourning in Italy, just days after a deadly earthquake hit a popular vacation area in the central part of the country. A mass funeral was held today for dozens of victims. The death toll is now up to 290, with many more still unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, some 6,000 rescuers still at work. Look at those scenes of devastation there, searching for any signs of life in what is left of the town of Amatrice. CNN's Atika Shubert reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A little girl plucked from the rubble alive. Rescued 17 hours after the earthquake.

[19:25:06]Many of the victims here were children, enjoying their summer holidays with their families. The 4-year-old Georgia Rinaldi survived because her older sister, Julia, shielded her from the rubble, sacrificing her own life for her baby sister.

(on camera): This is (inaudible) hospital and this is where that little girl pulled out of the rubble was brought for treatment. Ninety nine of those injured in the earthquake were brought here. This is where family members wait for word of their loved ones, still living the trauma of their ordeal. (voice-over): Here Georgia's father is coming to terms with the loss of one daughter and the survival of the other. He told doctors he was not yet ready to speak to media.

But others talked to try and make sense of the destruction. This man was lying in bed with his wife when the earthquake struck. Now he is waiting for her to come out of a lengthy surgery.

For us, it's the end, he told us. It's a house with so many memories, so much life, but it's finished. We're scared. We won't be coming back. We saw death. We felt it.

My wife -- and then he breaks down in tears. He says we prayed. The Madonna wanted to save us. This 19-year-old was sleeping on the top floor of his family's summer house, his mother in the room next door when the house collapsed.

MATTA RENDINA, SURVIVOR: My first thought was my mother. My mother is here but I can't help her.

SHUBERT: Rendina (ph) was buried in rubble. It took his uncle an hour for his uncle to find him and dig him out with his bare hands.

RENDINA: I said to him that he was my life, but my thoughts are still on my mother because she passed away to God.

SHUBERT: He survived with hairline fractures to several vertebrae. His greatest pain is the loss of his mother.

RENDINA: I'm like this because my mother teach me to be a person like this.

SHUBERT (on camera): To be strong?

RENDINA: To be strong, yes.

SHUBERT (voice-over): Given new life, the survivors of Italy's devastating earthquake are healing, slowly. Atika Shubert, CNN, Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Let's hope for more survivors.

Still to come today, an NFL quarterback takes a stand by sitting down during the national anthem. We'll tell you why and what the league said about it.

Plus you don't to miss Ben Ferguson and Marc Lamont Hill's discussion about it. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: So far the most notable moment of the NFL preseason may be something that happened off the field. It came right before last night's game between Green Bay and San Francisco. The 49ers quarterback, Collin Kaepernick, refused to stand during the national anthem. A decision that led to both harsh criticism and some praise from fellow players.

Kaepernick said this, quote, "I'm not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Let's talk about it now with CNN political commentator and host of the "Ben Ferguson Show," Ben Ferguson. We also have CNN political commentator and Morehouse professor, Marc Lamont Hill.

So I want to ask both of you, Marc, I'll start with you, was this in your view a justified protest?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. It's absolutely a justified protest. Remember, we have freedom of speech in this country. If someone does it for religious grounds, political grounds or simply because they don't want to stand up, it's entirely justified.

But if we are making an ethical or moral or even political argument, I would say it's absolutely justified. I go to games all the time. I never stand for the flag bearing, for the pledge of allegiance.

SCIUTTO: You don't stand?

HILL: No.

SCIUTTO: Why not?

HILL: It's an act of political resistance. It's an act of political critique.

SCIUTTO: For the same reason that Kaepernick cited?

HILL: Absolutely. Even more broadly, it's not just about state violence at the level of people being shot in the street. It's also resistance to American empire, to imperial wars overseas. It's a way of saying that I'm a citizen of this country and I'm willing to express respectful dissent of its practices.

And until we are in a country that actually is the land of the free and the home of the brave, I'm not going to work that's my resistance and I salute him for it.

SCIUTTO: So Ben, first on Colin Kaepernick and perhaps more broadly on the idea of not standing for the national anthem as a form of protest.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's an incredibly shallow and a pathetic move from a quarterback who has not ever sat on the protested brutality in the NFL by many of the players against their wives and girlfriends or the NFL that reinstates players that beat people.

He didn't sit on the bench and protest the NFL not disciplining Ray Rice, for example, so this is a hypocrisy in its highest level from a guy that has had multiple opportunities to stand up to his peers, who have been involved in the brutality that he's describing on the streets of America.

He didn't do it then. The reason why is because it would have been too hard for him to do that at the NFL level and keep his incredible $100 plus million contract.

The second thing about this is this. If this country sucks so bad, look at his own story, this is someone who was adopted by two white parents, he's biracial, he's now making hundreds of millions of dollars in the NFL in a country where he is free to say and do stupid things like he did.

That is a story of an incredible nation. Other countries around the world would not allow him to do this. From the very beginning his story is a success story, but instead he's being an incredibly arrogant and entitled individual.

Here is what I would say to him. Right now, you're riding the bench. Maybe it's time for you to play in the Canadian football league if you hate this country so much so that you won't even stand for the national anthem.

SCIUTTO: Marc, there are two points there. The first one is the NFL has its own problems, he's got no problem taking a very big check from the NFL, in fact, a very big check --

FERGUSON: A huge check.

SCIUTTO: He's leaving peacefully in this country that arguably gives him many protections and helped lay the path for him going to the NFL. How do you respond to that?

HILL: Well, first of all, he's not taking a check. He's earning a check. You're not taking a check from CNN.

FERGUSON: He's taking a check right now, the fans of San Francisco would agree with me.

[19:35:00]HILL: Right. We can make jokes about it, but he works hard every day. He trains every day and he took them to the Super Bowl. He's earned his money. So let's not say he's taking a check.

The second piece of this is, you are saying that he's never stood up for anything before. By that logic, are you saying that then you can't stand up for anything the rest of your life?

SCIUTTO: His point is does he stand up to, for instance, the NFL's (inaudible) the different problems that you're talking about here.

FERGUSON: There is no consistency in (inaudible) my point. HILL: Well, I disagree with that. I don't know if you know Colin Kaepernick. I don't know if you've spoken to him, but every time I've spoken to him and I've done many, many times. He's talked about these things publicly and privately.

When a black person gets shot in the street by police, people say why aren't you protesting black on black violence? The point is that there are different ways to resist -- let me finish, I let you finish.

The way to resist the state is different than how you resist your own people. They both need critique, but you critique them differently, similarly.

If he sits on the bench, that doesn't critique Ray Rice in the same way that he can critique American imperialism or violence in the streets. So I'm putting it to the choice that he's making.

To suggest that because he has resistance to America, he should leave, to me is the most anti-American sentiment you can offer --

FERGUSON: Let me respond to that because you made a lot of points. Let me jump in here. I don't care about that right now, I care about Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick -- I don't care about talking about Tea Party or politics, that's not involved here.

SCIUTTO: Give him a second because our viewers can't hear if you're both speaking at the same time. So let's give Ben a second here.

HILL: I just wanted to respond to each of his three points.

SCIUTTO: Let's do it one at a time. We don't have much time, sadly. I want to give Ben a chance to respond to your main point before we go to break.

FERGUSON: This is about Colin Kaepernick. I think this is the reason why you see people that look at this individual and say, what world are you living in? You have the opportunity to make an insane amount of money, to be in the top one of the top 1 percent, while saying you're somehow being oppressed so therefore you don't honor the country that allows these things.

No one is saying that America is perfect. But the idea to sit there on the bench and not have respect for those men and women who many of them are African-American that died for the freedom for him to be able to safe while playing a football game, being paid $100 plus million, tells me -- and to never have come out before against brutality of his own teammates and his own people in the league that have beaten women and been reinstated, who have not even lost their paychecks over this.

Tells me that you don't really care the issue as much as you think, so instead you sit on the bench, which you're doing a lot anyway, and you're sitting there to make a point which you've never made before, that is hypocrisy. That's why I say, if this country is so bad then go and play in the CFL, I'm sure they would love to have you.

SCIUTTO: We'll have to leave it there. Marc, just one quick thought before we go to break.

HILL: Yes, only black people are taught when you critique America, you have to leave. When the Tea Party critiques America, we're moving in the wrong direction, when the religious right says we're going in the wrong direction and we protest America, no one says leave. Do I get the last word or not?

SCIUTTO: You do. I'm sorry, we're out of time. It's a great conversation. I want to thank you both for going at it here and respectfully so.

Straight ahead, new just in to CNN, I want you to take a look at this photo. This is the engine of a Southwest airlines plane bound for Orlando. What forced this aircraft to make an emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida? We are going to have all the details coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:57]

SCIUTTO: Now this just in to CNN, an Orlando-bound plane was diverted to Pensacola this morning after one of its engines suffered a serious mechanical issue. These passenger photos show how serious that issue was, significant damage to one of the engines.

The engine failures caused depressurization in the cabin. That's why those masks came down, but the flight did manage to land safely. No injuries were reported, despite that damage you're seeing there. Ninety nine passengers on board.

CNN aviation analyst, Les Abend joins me now on the phone. So Les, you look at those pictures there, first thing I'm curious if I'm a passenger on that plane, how difficult is it to land a plane with that much damage?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST (via telephone): Yes, Jim, I mean, these are all preliminary stuff. I'm looking at the same photos that you are. You know, what we call this in the business is a catastrophic engine failure. There's pieces of this airplane that obviously came apart according to these photos.

Why is speculations at this point? The front part of the engine came apart. We are trained for this scenario. These airplanes, 737s that Southwest has been flying since day one of their existence, is a very, very safe airplane. It's designed to fly on this one engine. Obviously it landed safely, despite the damage that you're seeing via these photos.

SCIUTTO: Now, when you look at that, and I know I'm not showing you much here, you've got a couple of pictures there, what are the possibilities for what could have caused this kind of engine damage?

ABEND: It's hard to say. It's seems like something either internally blew apart and sent its way right through the whole engine. What disturbs me is why there was a depressurization issue. Was it internal to the engine or were there parts that were thrown against the side of the fuselage which is in one picture, which breached part of the fuselage, potentially.

It doesn't look like a major leak. When you have a depressurization, it could have been a slow leak and a precaution for the crew to deploy the masks, or they were deployed automatically, it's hard to say at this point in time but --

SCIUTTO: Then you worry about the danger to passengers as well if pieces of the plane were flying around like shrapnel there. Les Abend, thanks very much. You've flown these planes before so it's always great to have your expertise.

Basketball legend, Kareem Abdul Jabar, has written a new book which looks at race relations in our society, and as Donald Trump has begun making appeals to African-Americans, Abdul Jabar offers him some advice. That's ahead. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:10]

SCIUTTO: In this week's "American Opportunity," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a basketball legend, and now author. With a number of books under his belt, Abdul-Jabbar is out with a new book reflective of the times in which we live in today, and this presidential race.

It's called "Writings On The Wall, Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White." Racial politics now a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail. Poppy Harlow sat down with Kareem in New York to talk about the book, the election, and race relations in America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: In recent weeks we have seen Donald Trump speak about African-Americans.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?

HARLOW: What was your reaction to that?

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, AUTHOR, "WRITINGS ON THE WALL": My reaction to that was, if he wanted to address African-Americans, he should come and speak to them. A number of different African-American groups that are politically connected have invited him to speak to them.

HARLOW: The NAACP.

ABDUL-JABBAR: The NAACP and other groups, and he hasn't done that.

HARLOW: His supporters push back and they say his speeches, even though they've been in front of largely white audiences, are on national television so he is speaking to African-Americans. What do you make of that? ABDUL-JABBAR: I think that he should come and speak to African- Americans specifically and give them some specific ideas as to how he plans to change things because he only speaks in generalities. He's very vague. He says he's going to make it better but he never says how.

HARLOW: Is there anything he can do or say that you think would increase the support he has among African-Americans?

ABDUL-JABBAR: I don't know, but he hasn't tried to do anything. He's just talked about it and you know, talk is cheap.

[19:50:06]The only Republican politician that I have seen that actually said something along those lines and I believed it was Rand Paul. He went to talk in the black community about conservative solutions for chronic unemployment and the failure of the educational system, but I think Mr. Trump's posturing has been very insincere.

HARLOW: To be clear, you're a big supporter of Hillary Clinton in this election.

ABDUL-JABBAR: Yes, I am.

HARLOW: A recent "New York Times" poll on race relations, show that Americans think that race relations in this country right now are as bad as they were in 1992 after the Rodney King beating and the ensuing L.A. riots. You write in your new book that America essentially patted itself on the back for electing the first black president, but then, quote, "The systemic racism in the country proceed to get worse." Why?

ABDUL-JABBAR: I think the systemic racism in the country could be more pronounce because it became more obvious. It's always been there, but now it became a lot more obvious, and I think that's really --

HARLOW: Why did it become more obvious because we have a black president?

ABDUL-JABBAR: That's a good question. I don't have the answer for that, but I think just people started to realize, geez, something's not right here.

HARLOW: You have said being a black role model is a double edged sword for inspiration and frustration. Was there a particular experience that taught you that? What made you feel that?

ABDUL-JABBAR: People would say that, well, look, certain black Americans are now among the wealthiest Americans. That means if they make it, all the other black Americans should be able to achieve that. People without the educational background to advance their lives don't make it, and it doesn't matter what color they are so we have to deal with the facts here. It's not about color. It's more about class than anything else.

HARLOW: The tools for upward mobility. ABDUL-JABBAR: The tools for upward mobility have to be available and people have to take advantage of them and it's the most difficult on the people who need the most.

HARLOW: Injustice, well, it's interesting because you write about that. You write about gender equality or inequality, and you write that gender equality may be the most important issue facing our society because it cuts across all races, religions, and economic strata. I guess, I didn't expect to hear that.

ABDUL-JABBAR: Well, it's true I think. Women have traditionally been seen as people who are supposed to know their place and stay at home and mind baby and --

HARLOW: Now we just do it all.

ABDUL-JABBAR: Take a secondary position. That's not going to work. Men are going to have to realize that they made a very cushy situation for themselves and that can't continue like that. And it's going to be uncomfortable for them to give up some of that power and comfort.

HARLOW: Do you believe that America, this country, can achieve a future in the near term that is truly color blind and is that what we want?

ABDUL-JABBAR: I don't know if we can be truly color blind, but we can deal with people's natural tendency toward bias and we can make sure that that doesn't trip everybody up and become a stumbling block for too many people to overcome.

HARLOW: So what's the best way we can do that? What's the number one thing the average person sitting at home watching can do?

ABDUL-JABBAR: Speak to the truth. Just address things in a truthful, honest way. That's the only way that we make it through these things, by speaking honestly and listening. You have to be able to listen. That's what the founding fathers did.

They brought a lot of their own biases to the continental Congress. They had their opinions and a lot of them at first didn't want to listen to the other guys, but they got to a point where they had to listen. They did and we ended up with this great document called the constitution. We need to use it.

HARLOW: Would you ever run for office?

ABDUL-JABBAR: No. I think I'm too long in the tooth to run for office.

HARLOW: If two people could read your book, sit down, and then have a conversation about it, who would those two people be in your mind?

ABDUL-JABBAR: Those two people would be a Republican congressman and a Democratic congressman. I hope that they could read my book and say, geez, Kareem has brought up some good ideas here. Let's talk.

[19:55:09]HARLOW: You got some names?

ABDUL-JABBAR: No. I'm not going to indulge in wishful thinking, but we have enough congressmen out here. Hopefully one or two of them will read the book.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Finally tonight's number, 1 billion. That's how much the drug maker, Mylan made in drug sales last year. A big part of that came from the EpiPen, which drastically treats allergic reactions and a lifesaving medication for people who have dangerous allergies.

Mylan has raised the price for the EpiPen, which when bought nine years ago from less than $100 in 2009 to $600 today. That has helped the company nearly triple its profits for the past five years.

But of course, it led to major criticism this week. Mylan is now offering a discount card for the EpiPen that will help some users. The controversy, however, seems to be far from over.

Coming up tonight on CNN, it is a night to return to the eighties. Raised on television returns at 9:00. Next, CNN takes you inside the KKK on "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA." Tomorrow, morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," don't miss Republican vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence. My colleague Jake Tapper will be interviewing him.

I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. It's been great to have you with us this Saturday. I'll be back again tomorrow. Have a good night.

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