CNN "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" - Transcript: Trayvon Martin Verdict

Interview

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CHARLES BARKLEY, FORMER NBA STAR: One of the problems with race, Erin, is we never discuss race until something bad happens, and then what happens is everybody protects their own tribe. You know, everybody says, I'm going to defend my tribe, whether they're White, Black, Jewish, Hispanic. It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong. We have this mentality we all want to protect our tribe. Listen, we've got to start talking about race when everything is calm.

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CROWLEY: That was the outspoken and opinionated former NBA star, Charles Barkley, who says, while he agrees with the verdict, he hopes that it will cause an open dialogue about race in America. We hope so, too.

Joining me now for just that is Congressman Xavier Becerra of California and Congressman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana. Gentlemen, thank you both so much. I want to play something that President Obama said, addressing the issue of poverty and race relations and poverty and violence.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some of the violence that takes place in poor Black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country. And that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history.

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CROWLEY: So, no question that it has been a very difficult history and that that history remains in the mindset and in the memory of so many people. The question is, take away the Zimmerman verdict, these problems have been endemic in the U.S. for some time now. The first African-American president comes to office, and it's been five years, and these problems have not been addressed in minority communities.

Do you think that he has failed to address minority community problems?

RICHMOND: Well, I think it's a lot harder than anyone thing. And I can just go back to maybe eight years ago we established the council on Black men and boys in Louisiana to do just this. It's a systematic problem, and if you look at the fact that 42 percent of all African- American kids go to schools that are underperforming. You look at all of the socioeconomic factors. I think it's a lot harder.

Now, I will say I'm very happy that the president has come out to say and specifically say Black on Black crime, urban youth violence, and all of those things, because I think we have to be very specific in defining the problem before you can ever start to fix it.

CROWLEY: Sure. I guess my question comes from the fact, Congressman Becerra, that so often when you talk to minority congressmen, be they Hispanic or African-American, and say, you know, how do you think the president is doing, there is disappointment in those private conversations? And so, I'm wondering if you think there is more that can be done at a federal level, or are we talking about the kinds of programs you're talking about, just block by block, city by city?

BECERRA: Well, first, let's agree on something. This is bigger than one man. No one man, including the man in the White House, including a Black man in the White House, can solve this by himself or herself. And the president said something very important. We have a history on these issues. I think the more important thing that he said -- and I loved his speech -- was our children know how to deal with this better than we do.

And, that's the hopeful part of this. Every generation, we do it better. So, as you said, it's not going to be just a matter of instituting a particular problem, it's about doing this as a collective, as a people, that we're going to try to move together. We're going to heal and move forward together.

CROWLEY: There was also discussion by the president about profiling and looking at state laws and various things. It always occurs to me when we talk about profiling, George Zimmerman wasn't a law officer. When the president talked about walking through a department store and being trailed or car doors locking when he crossed the street, that's not legislatable, is it?

This is kind of, I think, what some people hope is that demographics and a changing America will do more to change the profiling mindset than any kind of law?

RICHMOND: Well, and the president said that was him 35 years ago. That's me on a daily basis, and especially when I'm home in New Orleans and I'm dressed down. It's something that Black men still go through to this day, which is women clutching their purses, hitting the lock button on store, or just basic attitudes. And even as a U.S. congressman, as a Black man, it is very, very frustrating, and you build up an internal anger about it that you can't act on.

And, so, I sympathize with Trayvon walking home, minding his own business, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, you have someone there and then this incident occurs. And I just want to say I think Ben Jealous said it the best that I've ever heard, that our kids and myself, we have to worry about not only the bad guys but the good guys, too, because we don't know their intentions and we don't know how they view us.

So, it's so frustrating, and I don't think that people outside of African-American males can really sense the frustration and the anger when it happens, especially when you're doing exactly what you should be doing, in this case, Trayvon was just walking home.

CROWLEY: Sure, but Congressman Becerra, I think maybe a little bit can you identify with that? I do think it's right. The president talked about prisms, and your experience certainly informs how you see things, but we hear more and more Hispanics, particularly, in some of the southwestern states with the immigration and who has papers and who doesn't feeling that they're being profiled. But in the end, is that something that you can legislate?

BECERRA: And I don't think you can legislate attitude. And, one of the things that we find is - when I was pulled over once when I was 17, 18 years old, with some friends in the car late in the evening, the cop didn't stop us for any particular reason other than just to stop us. And you sort of factor that into your life. But there's something different going on here.

I've never seen a president of the United States address this, address it personally, and that's a big difference that now you've got a president that says, I remember when that woman clutched her purse. I remember hearing the door locks click. That makes you think a lot more when your own president says that, and hopefully, that's what helps us change attitude. It wasn't just the incident that was important, it's now really about the attitude.

CROWLEY: Now, moving on from this.

RICHMOND: And I think you're right about profiling. That's something that we can stop in the law enforcement sector, but we can't stop either racism or attitudes, and that, I think, will come from a dialogue.

CROWLEY: Thank you so much for being here this morning, Congressman Richmond, Congressman Becerra, safe flights for both of you.

RICHMOND: Thanks for having us.

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