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-SPIKE LEE: COVID-19. -Yeah, it kicked my ass.

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That-- Fuck, that hurt.

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I heard, I guess it was December 15th

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about this new outbreak.

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SPIKE: That's when you first heard about it, right?

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That's when I heard about this, on December 15th.

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Very late December, we started getting reports.

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Late December of 2019.

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December of 2019.

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In December of, uh, 2019.

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-Around December. -Late December, early January.

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-It was January of last year. -Maybe February.

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Early February.

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-February... -In late February.

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The end of February.

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Somewhere in March, I remember

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a group of us just talking about it.

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I have, uh, officially declared--

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done a declaration of emergency.

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The virus will not have a chance against us.

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No nation is more prepared or more resilient

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than the United States.

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As of tomorrow, our public schools

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will be closed.

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So we're going to put out an executive order today,

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New York State on PAUSE.

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Spike Lee' s short film, New York New York.

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Let's take a look.

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♪ ("NEW YORK, NEW YORK" BY FRANK SINATRA PLAYING) ♪

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♪ Start spreading the news ♪

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♪ I'm leaving today ♪

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♪ I want to be a part of it ♪

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♪ New York, New York ♪

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♪ These vagabond shoes ♪

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♪ Are longing to stray ♪

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♪ Right through The very heart of it ♪

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♪ New York, New York ♪

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♪ I want to wake up in a city That doesn't sleep ♪

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♪ And find I'm king of the hill ♪

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♪ Top of the heap ♪

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♪ These little town blues ♪

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♪ Are melting away ♪

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♪ I'll make a brand new Start of it ♪

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♪ In old New York ♪

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♪ If I can make it there ♪

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♪ I'll make it anywhere ♪

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♪ It's up to you ♪

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♪ New York, New York ♪

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♪ New York, New York ♪

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♪ I want to wake up ♪

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♪ In a city that never sleeps ♪

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♪ And find that I'm a number one ♪

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♪ Top of the list ♪

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♪ King of the hill ♪

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♪ A number one ♪

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♪ These little town blues ♪

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♪ Are melting away ♪

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♪ I'm gonna make A brand-new start of it ♪

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♪ In old New York ♪

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♪ And ♪

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♪ If I can make it there ♪

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♪ I'm gonna make it anywhere ♪

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♪ It's up to you ♪

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♪ New York ♪

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♪ New York ♪

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♪ New York ♪

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ANDERSON COOPER:  Man, Frank could sing.  (LAUGHING)

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-Spike, that was awesome. -SPIKE:  Oh, boy.

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You know, 7:00 at night, when every day I--

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-Yeah. -....you know, I'm usually working,

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but to hear people, you know,

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in their windows, on their rooftops,

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on the street, honking horns, clapping,

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banging on pots and pans.

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You know, I gotta say, I'm-- I-- I'm-- you know...

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I'm-- maybe I'm just a softy, but it really--

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That is one of those things that's like

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I know it was done all around the world and stuff,

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but to hear that echoing through the canyons of, you know,

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the streets of New York City, it's just-- it's extraordinary.

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You know what?

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I wouldn't want to be any other place in the world

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but here, the epicenter.

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-I totally agree with you. -Right here, the epicenter.

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Hi, I'm David Angst,

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an emergency room nurse at Lincoln Hospital

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in Da Boogie Down Bronx.

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SPIKE:  When the Boston Red Sox come to the Yankee stadium,

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ten blocks from Lincoln Hospital,

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they know they're gonna be busy.

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That is going to be one busy day,

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whether it was the daytime game

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-or nighttime game. -(CROWD CLAMORING)

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We're typically getting a lot of Boston fans.

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SPIKE: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not making light of this.

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I don't want anybody to get hurt.

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-No. -SPIKE: But when you told me

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where Lincoln Hospital is in the South Bronx...

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(LAUGHING)  ...automatically, that came into my mind.

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Knowing the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox,

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yeah, you don't want to work in the emergency room

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that night. (CHUCKLES)

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SPIKE: When did you first hear about this virus,

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this 19, this 'rona?

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The first that I heard about it is when we got the phone call

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from someone downstairs in the administration,

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talking about the man from Westchester,

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the second week in March, that's being taken to Columbia

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because he's been known to have this COVID virus.

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It's only going to be at Columbia, and it's isolated.

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It's from New Rochelle.

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We had nothing to worry about.

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At some point, we are likely to face another pandemic,

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but if we wait for a pandemic to appear,

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it will be too late to prepare.

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(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)

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And one day, many lives could be needlessly lost

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because we failed to act today.

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There may and likely will come a time

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in which we have both an airborne disease...

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that is deadly,

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and in order for us to deal with that effectively,

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we have to put in place an infrastructure,

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not just here at home, but globally,

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that allows us to see it quickly,

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isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly.

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-(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING) -But it's an unforeseen problem.

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What a problem.

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Came out of nowhere.

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My name is Ian Lipkin.

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I am a professor at Columbia University,

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and I was the consultant on  Contagion.

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I got a call from the CDC in China, and they said,

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"We figured out what it is. It's a coronavirus.

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We don't know exactly which coronavirus yet,

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but we resolved it,

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but it's not highly transmissible."

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Well, so much for that, right?

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So I flew there second week of January,

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and I spent about ten days

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consulting with people in the Chinese government,

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trying to figure out how they're going to respond,

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watching them source personal protective equipment.

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Chen Zhu, who's the former minister of health,

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couldn't believe that the United States

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was not trying to collect masks, gloves, sanitizer,

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all the other things that they were sourcing

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all over the world.

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REPORTER:  Forty-five cases have been reported in China,

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including two deaths.

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The victims are thought to have contracted the virus

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in a meat and seafood market.

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Isolated cases have also shown up in Japan and Thailand,

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where health authorities are already screening travelers.

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Dr. Jacquelyn Moline, medical doctor.

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Early in January, that Chinese ophthalmologist

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who risked his career

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to let the world know, and the medical community know,

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that this is something serious and bad

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that is happening in China, and be prepared for it.

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My name is Chuck Scarborough.

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I'm a news anchor at NBC 4 New York,

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and I've been working there since 1976.

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Dr. Li, I believe his name was, he died.

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He was 34 years old, and he died of the very infection

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he was warning the Chinese government about

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and they were suppressing.

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I'm Van Jones.

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I'm an author, a commentator, and an activist.

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And I'm a news nerd, you know.

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So I'm always-- and I look, you know, stuff overseas,

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right wing, everything.

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And I saw that there was a virus in China

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that had caused them to lock down a city.

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And my heart stopped.

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That's something you've never seen before

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in your lifetime.

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I said, "It's coming here. It's coming here."

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REPORTER:  Airport alert. Screening starts today

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at some US airports

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for a deadly mystery virus coming in from China.

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We're returning now to our top story.

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We now have an official name for the novel coronavirus

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from Wuhan, China.

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The director general of the World Health Organization

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spoke moments ago.

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He says the virus has now been named COVID-19,

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short for coronavirus disease and the year 2019.

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The director general also said a vaccine may not be ready

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for another 18 months, at least a year and a half away.

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And when I flew back on the last plane flight

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that left China,

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when I was getting off the plane,

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they pulled us aside and interviewed us

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'cause they thought we were a risk.

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And people were coming in from Italy,

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other portions of Europe,

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where, in fact, the outbreak that was responsible

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for what we had, right, originated.

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So all these people coming in from Europe,

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bringing the virus in.

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And I never got... (CHUCKLES) ...never got sick in China.

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And in March,

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I got sick from the virus that came from Italy.

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There was absolutely no containment early on.

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So we got overwhelmed.

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It spread like wildfire in nursing homes

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because they're communal settings

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and people are at greater risk.

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And then the elderly people would be brought

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to the hospital, putting all the healthcare workers at risk.

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And then the healthcare workers went home

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and put their family members at risk.

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China's deadly, never-seen-before coronavirus

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has now been found in four other countries,

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including the United States.

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Here in New York, uh,

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we had 12 cases that were investigated.

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Eleven of the 12 turned out to be a negative.

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One person, uh, is reported to have the coronavirus

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here in New York City.

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-No it's not-- Still testing. -Still testing.

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-Uh, so the one person is still being tested? -Yes, sir.

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So 11 have been negative. The one is still being tested.

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New York's-- I think its first case

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was in early March. The first reported case.

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Um, I think there were people earlier in February

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who had just what they thought was a horrible flu

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but we had no way of diagnosing them.

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I was hospitalized in February.

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It turns out that I had COVID before we were told

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that we had COVID.

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So I was... difficulty breathing,

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had a fever, short of breath,

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nonproductive cough, achy.

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It felt like the worst, worst flu

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that anybody has ever had.

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And it actually felt like one of those Boston Red Sox

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that got beat up by the Yankees after the game

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because my whole chest hurt like hell.

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That's when I got scared.

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Went into the ER, they looked at my blood pressure,

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and it was 212 over 150.

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-SPIKE: Not good numbers. -Not good numbers.

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No, 120 over 80 is good numbers.

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At that point, there was-- Nobody's--

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We didn't even know about COVID, so nobody's wearing a mask.

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Nobody's even thinking-- They're all thinking

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-that I have pneumonia. -SPIKE: Hmm.

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So I get admitted, and they finally told my husband

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that they kind of had me on "death watch" the first night

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because I kept not breathing while I was sleeping.

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So they had me on a high flow BiPAP machine

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that wasn't intubated.

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My boss asked me about the intubation.

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I said, "If I become unconscious,

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do what you have to do.

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But if I'm up and around, do not put a tube down me."

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Because I've jus-- Even before COVID,

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people who are on long-term intubation,

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their recovery is always prolonged

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because their body gets used to this machine

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breathing for you.

264
00:13:07,709 --> 00:13:11,209
So I didn't want to have to even go through that.

265
00:13:11,276 --> 00:13:14,243
And then, they were just throwing antibiotics

266
00:13:14,309 --> 00:13:15,676
and fluids at me.

267
00:13:15,743 --> 00:13:17,609
And over the course of the six days,

268
00:13:17,676 --> 00:13:19,609
I just progressively got better.

269
00:13:19,676 --> 00:13:21,143
My name is Sylvie De Souza,

270
00:13:21,209 --> 00:13:24,409
Chair of Emergency Medicine at the Brooklyn Hospital Center.

271
00:13:24,476 --> 00:13:29,176
So, March 1st was the first time that I knew it was here.

272
00:13:29,243 --> 00:13:31,109
I found out through the  New York Times

273
00:13:31,176 --> 00:13:32,343
like everyone else.

274
00:13:32,409 --> 00:13:33,509
So March 3rd...

275
00:13:34,509 --> 00:13:37,376
is when we started triaging patients

276
00:13:37,443 --> 00:13:38,776
in the emergency department.

277
00:13:39,043 --> 00:13:42,176
We came up with a protocol. We read what the CDC was saying,

278
00:13:42,243 --> 00:13:44,309
what the World Health Organization was saying.

279
00:13:44,376 --> 00:13:46,709
They didn't have much guidelines from New York City

280
00:13:46,776 --> 00:13:48,476
or New York State DOH yet.

281
00:13:48,543 --> 00:13:51,509
We started a protocol where we were triaging patients,

282
00:13:51,576 --> 00:13:53,476
meaning we had to separate patients

283
00:13:53,543 --> 00:13:55,709
into two groups, for their own safety

284
00:13:55,776 --> 00:13:58,776
and for the safety of others who were not yet infected,

285
00:13:59,043 --> 00:14:00,243
even though we didn't know really

286
00:14:00,309 --> 00:14:01,476
what we were dealing with.

287
00:14:01,543 --> 00:14:04,443
By the 11th, the World Health Organization

288
00:14:04,509 --> 00:14:05,676
declared it a pandemic.

289
00:14:05,743 --> 00:14:10,643
March 13th, it was declared a national emergency.

290
00:14:10,709 --> 00:14:14,343
I am officially declaring a national emergency...

291
00:14:15,443 --> 00:14:17,343
two very big words.

292
00:14:17,409 --> 00:14:19,276
Very, very saddened, all of us...

293
00:14:19,343 --> 00:14:21,309
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)

294
00:14:21,376 --> 00:14:22,743
...to hear of the death--

295
00:14:22,809 --> 00:14:27,443
the first New Yorker to die related to coronavirus.

296
00:14:27,509 --> 00:14:28,709
This is a very painful moment.

297
00:14:28,776 --> 00:14:31,209
This is a moment we all knew would come,

298
00:14:31,276 --> 00:14:33,109
but that doesn't make it any easier.

299
00:14:33,176 --> 00:14:36,243
Dan Nigro, currently commissioner,

300
00:14:36,309 --> 00:14:37,776
New York City Fire Department.

301
00:14:38,043 --> 00:14:40,476
We started meeting, at least the--

302
00:14:40,543 --> 00:14:44,409
myself and other commissioners with the mayor and OEM

303
00:14:44,476 --> 00:14:48,143
in, I guess, late February, talking about it.

304
00:14:48,209 --> 00:14:51,109
Uh, but it really ramped up in a matter of days

305
00:14:51,176 --> 00:14:53,543
right around St. Patrick's Day, where the city

306
00:14:53,609 --> 00:14:56,743
went from being open to restaurants are closing,

307
00:14:56,809 --> 00:14:59,143
there's no parade, and it's here.

308
00:14:59,209 --> 00:15:01,043
We can confirm in New York City

309
00:15:01,109 --> 00:15:06,376
5,151 cases confirmed of coronavirus.

310
00:15:06,443 --> 00:15:11,176
And to give you perspective, that is now about one third

311
00:15:11,243 --> 00:15:15,809
of all the coronavirus cases in the United States of America.

312
00:15:16,076 --> 00:15:19,109
It is about two thirds of the cases

313
00:15:19,176 --> 00:15:20,709
in the state of New York.

314
00:15:20,776 --> 00:15:23,643
I hate to say this, but it's true.

315
00:15:23,709 --> 00:15:25,709
(READS PROMPT)

316
00:15:25,776 --> 00:15:28,609
right here in the nation's largest city."

317
00:15:28,676 --> 00:15:31,709
I'm Oxiris Barbot, I'm a pediatrician,

318
00:15:31,776 --> 00:15:34,776
and I am the former New York City health commissioner.

319
00:15:35,043 --> 00:15:36,709
Even though we were learning every day

320
00:15:36,776 --> 00:15:40,509
about how the virus behaved, we knew enough to know

321
00:15:40,576 --> 00:15:43,643
that the number of cases that were identified

322
00:15:43,709 --> 00:15:45,409
were just the tip of the iceberg,

323
00:15:45,476 --> 00:15:48,776
and that there was going to be a period of time

324
00:15:49,043 --> 00:15:51,809
where we weren't going to see a lot of hospitalizations,

325
00:15:52,076 --> 00:15:54,109
but that it was brewing, right?

326
00:15:54,176 --> 00:15:56,343
And people were then getting sick enough

327
00:15:56,409 --> 00:15:58,043
to end up in the hospital.

328
00:15:58,109 --> 00:15:59,509
PAULA CLARKE: My name is Paula Clarke.

329
00:15:59,576 --> 00:16:03,676
I work at Elmhurst Hospital. I'm the administrator on duty.

330
00:16:03,743 --> 00:16:05,476
GEORGES LECONTE: My name is Georges Leconte.

331
00:16:05,543 --> 00:16:07,476
I also work at Elmhurst Hospital.

332
00:16:07,543 --> 00:16:10,176
I'm the associates executive director

333
00:16:10,243 --> 00:16:12,043
of ancillary services.

334
00:16:12,109 --> 00:16:15,409
The third week of March was almost like

335
00:16:15,476 --> 00:16:17,476
an avalanche that came in.

336
00:16:17,543 --> 00:16:21,743
It was just like, "Okay, uh, this is very serious.

337
00:16:21,809 --> 00:16:24,509
No, this is not just serious, it's dangerous."

338
00:16:24,576 --> 00:16:26,776
We didn't have a textbook on treating this disease.

339
00:16:27,043 --> 00:16:30,209
We didn't know how to treat it. We simply treated the symptoms.

340
00:16:30,276 --> 00:16:32,309
LAURA IAVICOLI: I'm Dr. Laura Iavicoli.

341
00:16:32,376 --> 00:16:35,576
During wave one of the COVID-19 pandemic,

342
00:16:35,643 --> 00:16:37,343
I was the associate director

343
00:16:37,409 --> 00:16:39,276
of the emergency department at Elmhurst Hospital

344
00:16:39,343 --> 00:16:41,576
and the clinical emergency management director

345
00:16:41,643 --> 00:16:42,776
of Elmhurst Hospital.

346
00:16:43,043 --> 00:16:45,676
I am currently the senior assistant vice president

347
00:16:45,743 --> 00:16:47,176
for emergency management

348
00:16:47,243 --> 00:16:49,176
for New York City Health and Hospitals.

349
00:16:49,243 --> 00:16:50,643
STUART KESSLER: I'm Dr. Stuart Kessler.

350
00:16:50,709 --> 00:16:52,543
I'm the director of the emergency department

351
00:16:52,609 --> 00:16:53,709
at Elmhurst Hospital

352
00:16:53,776 --> 00:16:56,276
and one of the clinical leads for emergency medicine

353
00:16:56,343 --> 00:16:57,509
at Health and Hospitals.

354
00:16:57,576 --> 00:16:59,276
PHILLIP FAIRWEATHER: I'm Dr. Phillip Fairweather.

355
00:16:59,343 --> 00:17:01,443
I'm the associate director of the emergency department

356
00:17:01,509 --> 00:17:02,776
at Elmhurst Hospital.

357
00:17:03,043 --> 00:17:05,476
Carnage. I-- I-- you know, that is a term

358
00:17:05,543 --> 00:17:07,209
that sticks with me, frankly.

359
00:17:07,276 --> 00:17:09,443
And it's, you know, because just the circumstance

360
00:17:09,509 --> 00:17:10,643
was just so dire.

361
00:17:10,709 --> 00:17:12,476
Our waiting room was standing room only.

362
00:17:12,543 --> 00:17:14,309
I mean, there were no chairs.

363
00:17:14,376 --> 00:17:16,743
People were standing shoulder to shoulder,

364
00:17:16,809 --> 00:17:19,609
which isn't what you really want to have going on

365
00:17:19,676 --> 00:17:21,076
when people have COVID.

366
00:17:21,143 --> 00:17:25,709
Basically the closest that civilian medical care

367
00:17:25,776 --> 00:17:27,676
has seen to warfare.

368
00:17:27,743 --> 00:17:30,776
I mean, it was literally warfare medicine

369
00:17:31,043 --> 00:17:32,443
in our emergency department.

370
00:17:32,509 --> 00:17:35,209
STUART KESSLER: You would look out the window, and there'd be ambulances

371
00:17:35,276 --> 00:17:37,309
down the block and around the corner,

372
00:17:37,376 --> 00:17:39,609
just all waiting to bring patients in.

373
00:17:39,676 --> 00:17:43,676
And it just became the epicenter.

374
00:17:43,743 --> 00:17:45,276
REPORTER: The pandemic's epicenter

375
00:17:45,343 --> 00:17:47,776
in the US right now may be Elmhurst Hospital.

376
00:17:48,043 --> 00:17:49,643
LAURA:  Elmhurst Hospital serves

377
00:17:49,709 --> 00:17:52,743
the most ethnically diverse patient population

378
00:17:52,809 --> 00:17:54,176
in the United States.

379
00:17:54,243 --> 00:17:58,576
I mean, there are over a hundred different dialects spoken.

380
00:17:58,643 --> 00:18:03,743
We're by two large airports. People fly in, they set up shop.

381
00:18:03,809 --> 00:18:05,676
That's the beauty of the hospital.

382
00:18:05,743 --> 00:18:08,409
You have parents with grandparents

383
00:18:08,476 --> 00:18:10,409
living in a two bedroom, one bedroom.

384
00:18:10,476 --> 00:18:13,509
So if one person is sick, guess what happens?

385
00:18:13,576 --> 00:18:15,443
-Especially with this. -LAURA: Everybody gets sick.

386
00:18:15,509 --> 00:18:18,709
I personally have dealt with a number of families

387
00:18:18,776 --> 00:18:20,809
that lost three to four people at one time.

388
00:18:21,076 --> 00:18:22,309
-(SPIKE WHISTLES) -Yeah.

389
00:18:22,376 --> 00:18:24,576
And then it didn't take very long

390
00:18:24,643 --> 00:18:28,409
for every other hospital in New York City

391
00:18:28,476 --> 00:18:32,309
to be at-- at the brink of just being overwhelmed.

392
00:18:33,609 --> 00:18:35,476
This morning, the death toll in New York State

393
00:18:35,543 --> 00:18:36,809
is nearing 1,000.

394
00:18:37,076 --> 00:18:40,143
REPORTER:  Coronavirus battered the Big Apple once again today,

395
00:18:40,209 --> 00:18:44,409
with more than 270 deaths and nearly 4,000 cases

396
00:18:44,476 --> 00:18:47,409
reported here just in the last 24 hours,

397
00:18:47,476 --> 00:18:50,609
numbers that continue to rise ahead of April 5th.

398
00:18:50,676 --> 00:18:52,543
My name is Lillian Bonsignore,

399
00:18:52,609 --> 00:18:55,176
and I am the chief of EMS operations

400
00:18:55,243 --> 00:18:56,809
for the FDNY in New York City.

401
00:18:57,076 --> 00:18:59,743
We called what we call the National Ambulance Contract,

402
00:18:59,809 --> 00:19:02,476
which is an agreement that we have.

403
00:19:02,543 --> 00:19:05,576
And that brought ambulances from all over the country

404
00:19:05,643 --> 00:19:06,643
to New York City,

405
00:19:06,709 --> 00:19:08,643
and they became part of our system.

406
00:19:08,709 --> 00:19:12,543
We folded in over 200 additional ambulances

407
00:19:12,609 --> 00:19:15,509
from other states in a day or two,

408
00:19:15,576 --> 00:19:17,576
something that had never been done.

409
00:19:17,643 --> 00:19:19,043
DAVID:  I was on the overnights,

410
00:19:19,109 --> 00:19:24,076
working in the ER from March 20th until June 1st.

411
00:19:24,143 --> 00:19:26,709
One night around in the middle of April,

412
00:19:26,776 --> 00:19:30,209
we had 34 people die on the overnight shift.

413
00:19:30,276 --> 00:19:33,343
In one night. And that's just a 12-hour shift.

414
00:19:33,409 --> 00:19:37,309
♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

415
00:19:37,376 --> 00:19:40,276
ANDREW CUOMO:  I am asking healthcare professionals

416
00:19:40,343 --> 00:19:41,443
across the country.

417
00:19:41,509 --> 00:19:44,209
If you don't have a healthcare crisis

418
00:19:44,276 --> 00:19:48,609
in your community, please come help us

419
00:19:48,676 --> 00:19:50,809
in New York, now.

420
00:19:51,543 --> 00:19:52,743
We need relief.

421
00:20:06,809 --> 00:20:08,176
(SNIFFLES)

422
00:20:14,709 --> 00:20:16,043
(SIGHS) Unless you were sick,

423
00:20:16,109 --> 00:20:18,543
you were expected to come to work, and everybody did.

424
00:20:18,609 --> 00:20:22,743
And even if you were exposed to someone who tested positive,

425
00:20:22,809 --> 00:20:24,043
you came to work.

426
00:20:24,109 --> 00:20:28,809
My name is Todd Bilgore. I'm an FDNY EMT.

427
00:20:29,076 --> 00:20:34,176
I'm a 9/11 cancer survivor, I'm also a COVID survivor.

428
00:20:34,243 --> 00:20:35,509
It was inevitable.

429
00:20:35,576 --> 00:20:37,243
-I was expecting it no matter what. -SPIKE: So you knew--

430
00:20:37,309 --> 00:20:40,409
I-- I-- Yeah. There was no way I wasn't gonna get it.

431
00:20:40,476 --> 00:20:41,709
I knew I was gonna get it.

432
00:20:41,776 --> 00:20:45,143
At one point, a quarter of my workforce

433
00:20:45,209 --> 00:20:46,743
was out with COVID.

434
00:20:46,809 --> 00:20:48,643
We've lost, in the fire department,

435
00:20:48,709 --> 00:20:51,109
14 people so far to COVID.

436
00:20:51,609 --> 00:20:53,443
Five of which are EMS.

437
00:20:53,509 --> 00:20:56,576
Out of 17,000, which, you know,

438
00:20:56,643 --> 00:20:59,109
compared to the other agencies in the city, was--

439
00:20:59,176 --> 00:21:00,543
we did very well.

440
00:21:00,609 --> 00:21:02,743
Um, I can't-- I don't know how you can say that

441
00:21:02,809 --> 00:21:03,709
when you lose anyone.

442
00:21:03,776 --> 00:21:06,043
The situation here in the city is dire.

443
00:21:06,109 --> 00:21:09,476
It's so dire, nurses across the hospital system tell me

444
00:21:09,543 --> 00:21:11,443
that they're having to reuse PPE,

445
00:21:11,509 --> 00:21:12,776
personal protective equipment,

446
00:21:13,043 --> 00:21:14,643
that's meant to only be used once.

447
00:21:14,709 --> 00:21:18,676
Leonard Aubrey, president and chief executive officer,

448
00:21:18,743 --> 00:21:23,243
NYU Downtown Hospital during September 11th.

449
00:21:23,309 --> 00:21:28,276
We clearly, we, both New York and the nation,

450
00:21:28,343 --> 00:21:32,143
were not properly supplied with the PPE,

451
00:21:32,209 --> 00:21:37,743
the protective equipment, masks, gowns, visors,

452
00:21:37,809 --> 00:21:41,676
that were needed in order to protect themselves,

453
00:21:41,743 --> 00:21:43,476
as well as to protect

454
00:21:43,543 --> 00:21:46,376
the patients and their families.

455
00:21:46,443 --> 00:21:48,409
My name is Donna Mosley.

456
00:21:49,043 --> 00:21:50,209
I am a clerk

457
00:21:50,276 --> 00:21:53,709
at the Brooklyn Hospital emergency room department.

458
00:21:53,776 --> 00:21:55,676
My job pretty much was to make sure

459
00:21:55,743 --> 00:21:59,709
that the emergency room stayed stocked with supplies

460
00:21:59,776 --> 00:22:01,709
and that the staff had the PPE.

461
00:22:01,776 --> 00:22:04,209
So, you know, a lot of times, other departments

462
00:22:04,276 --> 00:22:05,576
would come and ask for equipment,

463
00:22:05,643 --> 00:22:07,176
but I couldn't give it to them

464
00:22:07,243 --> 00:22:09,676
because I had to make sure that the staff there,

465
00:22:09,743 --> 00:22:12,276
the front line, had what they needed

466
00:22:12,343 --> 00:22:15,076
to get through each and every tour.

467
00:22:15,143 --> 00:22:17,143
The way that this virus came on,

468
00:22:17,209 --> 00:22:19,109
the way it came to the United States,

469
00:22:19,176 --> 00:22:21,143
it hit older white folks first,

470
00:22:21,209 --> 00:22:23,309
because those are the people who have been traveling

471
00:22:23,376 --> 00:22:25,576
and that kind of stuff. And also people in nursing homes.

472
00:22:25,643 --> 00:22:29,776
So we began to say, "Oh, Black people are immune."

473
00:22:30,043 --> 00:22:33,176
Those few words probably killed more African Americans

474
00:22:33,243 --> 00:22:34,409
than the Ku Klux Klan.

475
00:22:37,509 --> 00:22:38,576
RADIO DJ:

476
00:22:38,643 --> 00:22:40,409
Man, I don't think...

477
00:22:41,176 --> 00:22:42,276
They said that--

478
00:22:43,509 --> 00:22:45,443
Hi. My name is LeeAnn Jemmott,

479
00:22:45,509 --> 00:22:48,643
wife of Bronx rapper Fred The Godson.

480
00:22:48,709 --> 00:22:50,776
Fred was kind of a conspiracy theorist,

481
00:22:51,043 --> 00:22:53,043
so I don't think he really believed it.

482
00:22:53,109 --> 00:22:55,476
He thought something else was going on.

483
00:22:55,543 --> 00:22:58,543
He was a sweetheart. He was a great dad.

484
00:22:58,609 --> 00:23:00,043
He loved his family.

485
00:23:00,109 --> 00:23:01,743
And, uh, he just was my best friend.

486
00:23:01,809 --> 00:23:03,676
-He was just a great person. -SPIKE: How many kids you have?

487
00:23:03,743 --> 00:23:06,443
-We have two daughters. -SPIKE: What are your daughters' names?

488
00:23:06,509 --> 00:23:07,709
LEEANN JEMMOTT: Sadie and Sophia.

489
00:23:07,776 --> 00:23:08,809
SPIKE:  How old are they?

490
00:23:09,076 --> 00:23:11,076
LEEANN:  Sadie's ten and Sophia is five.

491
00:23:12,476 --> 00:23:14,709
SPIKE: When Fred told you, "I don't feel good,"

492
00:23:14,776 --> 00:23:15,809
bring us back to that.

493
00:23:16,076 --> 00:23:18,509
(SIGHS) Well, he was coming from the studio.

494
00:23:18,576 --> 00:23:21,476
Um, he came home, he laid on the couch,

495
00:23:21,543 --> 00:23:22,576
and he told me, you know,

496
00:23:22,643 --> 00:23:25,109
he thought his asthma was acting up.

497
00:23:25,176 --> 00:23:28,176
But he continued to do his music downstairs

498
00:23:28,243 --> 00:23:31,143
-on the table, write his rhymes. -SPIKE:  When was this?

499
00:23:31,209 --> 00:23:32,443
Around the 1st of April.

500
00:23:32,509 --> 00:23:35,076
'Cause he went into the hospital April 6th.

501
00:23:35,143 --> 00:23:36,343
SPIKE:  What hospital did he go to?

502
00:23:36,409 --> 00:23:39,076
-LEEANN:  Montefiore in the Bronx. -SPIKE:  Mm-hmm.

503
00:23:39,143 --> 00:23:41,476
And that was the last time I seen him.

504
00:23:41,543 --> 00:23:43,343
SPIKE: And when'd he make his transition?

505
00:23:44,143 --> 00:23:46,609
Um, on April 23rd.

506
00:23:49,376 --> 00:23:51,509
SPIKE: When was the last time you spoke to Fred?

507
00:23:51,576 --> 00:23:55,543
Um, well, yeah, on April 6th, when he went,

508
00:23:55,609 --> 00:23:58,809
I actually stayed on the phone with him the entire time

509
00:23:59,076 --> 00:24:02,343
because they had him on the nose cannula,

510
00:24:02,409 --> 00:24:04,609
just the two that go up in your nostrils,

511
00:24:04,676 --> 00:24:05,743
and he was breathing fine.

512
00:24:05,809 --> 00:24:08,276
His oxygen went up to the nineties.

513
00:24:08,343 --> 00:24:11,543
Um, they told him because COVID was aspiring

514
00:24:11,609 --> 00:24:14,109
from what he had in his nose,

515
00:24:14,176 --> 00:24:15,543
they had to put him on something else,

516
00:24:15,609 --> 00:24:17,409
another kind of breathing machine,

517
00:24:17,476 --> 00:24:19,676
which made it harder for him to breathe.

518
00:24:19,743 --> 00:24:22,076
So we're on FaceTime the whole time.

519
00:24:22,143 --> 00:24:24,076
I'm telling him, "Don't be scared,

520
00:24:24,143 --> 00:24:25,576
just be strong, breathe.

521
00:24:25,643 --> 00:24:27,476
You're going to get through this."

522
00:24:27,543 --> 00:24:29,743
And he was like, "Ma, I can't breathe."

523
00:24:29,809 --> 00:24:33,143
And they said, "You have to get on a ventilator."

524
00:24:33,209 --> 00:24:35,343
And he just looked at me and he was like,

525
00:24:35,409 --> 00:24:37,243
"I gotta get on a ventilator."

526
00:24:38,676 --> 00:24:40,109
And... (SIGHS)

527
00:24:41,809 --> 00:24:43,209
Yeah, so...

528
00:24:44,376 --> 00:24:46,209
I talked to him until...

529
00:24:46,776 --> 00:24:48,643
they put him on a ventilator,

530
00:24:48,709 --> 00:24:52,209
and we just said, you know, we loved each other, and...

531
00:24:53,276 --> 00:24:55,376
he just was like, you know, "I really love you."

532
00:24:55,443 --> 00:24:57,676
That's like the last thing he said to me.

533
00:24:57,743 --> 00:25:00,043
Um, and I told him I loved him.

534
00:25:00,543 --> 00:25:02,476
And that was it.

535
00:25:02,543 --> 00:25:05,176
He was on a ventilator for almost two weeks.

536
00:25:05,243 --> 00:25:07,443
I had a friend... (SNIFFLES) ...that worked

537
00:25:07,509 --> 00:25:09,209
in the emergency room downstairs.

538
00:25:09,276 --> 00:25:11,243
So she would go upstairs to his floor

539
00:25:11,309 --> 00:25:14,043
and put him on FaceTime and I would see him.

540
00:25:14,109 --> 00:25:16,309
Like, the first four or five days,

541
00:25:16,376 --> 00:25:18,343
I would yell his name and he would move.

542
00:25:18,409 --> 00:25:20,343
And even the doctors told me, you know,

543
00:25:20,409 --> 00:25:23,343
he was trying to rip the tube out of his mouth.

544
00:25:23,409 --> 00:25:25,109
Then they heavily sedated him

545
00:25:25,176 --> 00:25:27,709
because they didn't want him to do that.

546
00:25:27,776 --> 00:25:31,143
After they did that, it was just-- it was over for him.

547
00:25:31,209 --> 00:25:35,476
On April 23rd, I got a FaceTime from the doctor

548
00:25:35,543 --> 00:25:37,676
saying that his heart was stopping

549
00:25:37,743 --> 00:25:40,043
and that we had to say goodbye to him.

550
00:25:42,409 --> 00:25:45,643
♪ But real talk, I don't want Y'all to think I'm wilding ♪

551
00:25:45,709 --> 00:25:49,143
♪ My mixtape is really better Than niggas' albums ♪

552
00:25:49,209 --> 00:25:51,276
♪ You know The God flash the gems ♪

553
00:25:51,343 --> 00:25:52,676
♪ I nicknamed your girl Kim ♪

554
00:25:52,743 --> 00:25:55,209
♪ 'Cause every time The car dash, she in ♪

555
00:25:55,276 --> 00:25:56,676
Shit.

556
00:25:56,743 --> 00:26:00,443
♪ Fatboy Fresh the mixtape Got Fatboy Fresh shirts ♪

557
00:26:00,509 --> 00:26:01,809
♪ And Fatboy gon' stay fresh ♪

558
00:26:02,076 --> 00:26:04,043
♪ Till y'all put Fatboy In the dirt ♪

559
00:26:04,109 --> 00:26:05,743
♪ Gordo ♪

560
00:26:05,809 --> 00:26:07,643
SPIKE: How are you holding up?

561
00:26:07,709 --> 00:26:10,743
Barely. But I have kids, and...

562
00:26:11,809 --> 00:26:15,076
Fred was like-- He was my best friend.

563
00:26:15,143 --> 00:26:18,109
Like, the first person I met when I came here.

564
00:26:18,176 --> 00:26:20,176
He gave me my first daughter.

565
00:26:20,243 --> 00:26:24,443
And... you know, it's just not the same for me,

566
00:26:24,509 --> 00:26:26,676
but I have to just keep going on.

567
00:26:26,743 --> 00:26:28,476
SPIKE: Gotta be strong for your daughters.

568
00:26:28,543 --> 00:26:29,576
Yeah.

569
00:26:31,176 --> 00:26:34,343
It's not easy, though. (SNIFFLES)

570
00:26:34,409 --> 00:26:36,209
He's gonna get a street named after him

571
00:26:36,276 --> 00:26:38,643
on February 22nd, on his birthday.

572
00:26:38,709 --> 00:26:40,476
SOPHIA THOMAS: Happy birthday, Daddy.

573
00:26:40,543 --> 00:26:43,509
(CROWD CHEER, APPLAUD)

574
00:26:43,576 --> 00:26:45,443
SADIE THOMAS: Happy birthday, Daddy.

575
00:26:45,509 --> 00:26:46,676
(CHEERING)

576
00:26:46,743 --> 00:26:49,409
FAT JOE: Hip-hop music started right here.

577
00:26:49,476 --> 00:26:51,676
Beat Street  was done right here.

578
00:26:51,743 --> 00:26:53,243
When you grow up in this community,

579
00:26:53,309 --> 00:26:56,576
you look up at the street signs, you'll see Fred's name on it,

580
00:26:56,643 --> 00:26:59,343
and they can be inspired by one of their own.

581
00:26:59,409 --> 00:27:02,309
(CROWD CHEERING)

582
00:27:02,376 --> 00:27:05,076
-♪ (MUSIC BLARING) ♪ -ANNOUNCER: (OVER SPEAKER) Live long, Fred!

583
00:27:05,143 --> 00:27:06,443
Let's do it, baby!

584
00:27:06,509 --> 00:27:08,743
Hakeem Jeffries, member of Congress,

585
00:27:08,809 --> 00:27:12,476
8th congressional district in Brooklyn and Queens.

586
00:27:12,543 --> 00:27:17,343
Within our city, the Black and Latino communities

587
00:27:17,409 --> 00:27:21,609
experienced a disproportionate amount of the pain,

588
00:27:21,676 --> 00:27:23,476
the suffering, and the death.

589
00:27:23,543 --> 00:27:26,576
It's just not right that Black and brown people

590
00:27:26,643 --> 00:27:30,143
have health outcomes that are worse than white people.

591
00:27:30,209 --> 00:27:33,376
It has everything to do with economic policies.

592
00:27:33,443 --> 00:27:36,509
It has everything to do with social policies

593
00:27:36,576 --> 00:27:39,309
that are not designed to help people,

594
00:27:39,376 --> 00:27:41,576
but that are designed to keep people apart.

595
00:27:41,643 --> 00:27:43,276
I'm Reverend Al Sharpton,

596
00:27:43,343 --> 00:27:45,709
founder of the National Action Network.

597
00:27:45,776 --> 00:27:49,409
We've been talking all the way through history

598
00:27:49,476 --> 00:27:52,309
about how we had less health services

599
00:27:52,376 --> 00:27:53,776
than anyone in the country.

600
00:27:54,043 --> 00:27:57,609
And all of a sudden, in the middle of a pandemic,

601
00:27:57,676 --> 00:28:00,209
like manna from heaven, they said,

602
00:28:00,276 --> 00:28:03,509
"Oh! You have preexisting conditions?"

603
00:28:03,576 --> 00:28:07,709
Yes. Being Black in America is a preexisting condition.

604
00:28:07,776 --> 00:28:11,576
My name is Fritz François. I'm a gastroenterologist,

605
00:28:11,643 --> 00:28:14,343
and I serve as the chief medical officer

606
00:28:14,409 --> 00:28:16,609
here at NYU Langone Health.

607
00:28:16,676 --> 00:28:20,509
And I'm from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, representing Haiti.

608
00:28:20,576 --> 00:28:22,776
High blood pressure is one of them, right?

609
00:28:23,043 --> 00:28:26,409
It affects the heart. Cholesterol affects the heart.

610
00:28:26,476 --> 00:28:29,076
You have lung disease. You have asthma.

611
00:28:29,143 --> 00:28:31,343
You have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

612
00:28:31,409 --> 00:28:35,643
You got liver disease, you got kidney disease, obesity.

613
00:28:35,709 --> 00:28:38,443
It means that you're chronically inflamed.

614
00:28:38,509 --> 00:28:41,509
You had a preexisting set of epidemics

615
00:28:41,576 --> 00:28:43,376
that the pandemic could then jump on top of.

616
00:28:43,443 --> 00:28:46,176
When I was born in Kings County Hospital,

617
00:28:46,243 --> 00:28:47,443
Brooklyn, New York,

618
00:28:47,509 --> 00:28:50,676
and they put "Negro" at that time on my birth certificate,

619
00:28:50,743 --> 00:28:55,343
I was one that would inherit preexisting conditions

620
00:28:55,409 --> 00:28:58,143
because of a preexisting social order

621
00:28:58,209 --> 00:29:00,809
that deemed me to be in that category.

622
00:29:01,076 --> 00:29:02,509
You were hearing everyone who had it,

623
00:29:02,576 --> 00:29:04,409
and it was almost like everyone who had it

624
00:29:04,476 --> 00:29:05,576
was dying from it.

625
00:29:05,643 --> 00:29:07,809
It scared the shit out of me. (CHUCKLES)

626
00:29:08,076 --> 00:29:12,609
Even with the pain from cancer, this was-- it was unbelievable.

627
00:29:12,676 --> 00:29:14,109
TROY ROSASCO: Troy Rosasco,

628
00:29:14,176 --> 00:29:17,043
9/11 attorney, Hanson and Rosasco.

629
00:29:17,109 --> 00:29:18,576
PHIL ALVAREZ: Phil Alvarez,

630
00:29:18,643 --> 00:29:22,609
older brother of NYPD detective Luis Alvarez,

631
00:29:22,676 --> 00:29:25,143
director of 9/11 outreach and education

632
00:29:25,209 --> 00:29:26,576
for Hanson and Rosasco.

633
00:29:26,643 --> 00:29:31,443
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the 9/11 community

634
00:29:31,509 --> 00:29:33,709
that are already battling

635
00:29:33,776 --> 00:29:35,776
all these underlying health conditions,

636
00:29:36,043 --> 00:29:38,209
many of which are upper respiratory.

637
00:29:38,276 --> 00:29:42,309
Sinusitis, rhinosinusitis, asthma, COPD.

638
00:29:42,376 --> 00:29:45,043
These are all some of the top conditions

639
00:29:45,109 --> 00:29:49,476
that we see from 9/11 survivors, 9/11 first responders.

640
00:29:49,543 --> 00:29:52,476
Phil Suarez, New York City paramedic.

641
00:29:52,543 --> 00:29:55,143
Like one of the most traumatic things for me on 9/11

642
00:29:55,209 --> 00:29:57,476
was listening to the radio about the people jumping.

643
00:29:57,543 --> 00:30:00,309
The dispatcher screaming, "Can anybody confirm the jumpers?"

644
00:30:00,376 --> 00:30:02,476
We would call "jumper down" somebody that actually jumps.

645
00:30:02,543 --> 00:30:05,076
"Jumper up" is that they're up, "jumper down" is when...

646
00:30:05,143 --> 00:30:06,176
(RADIO STATIC)

647
00:30:20,243 --> 00:30:22,409
And COVID was very similar in the sense that you--

648
00:30:22,476 --> 00:30:23,709
all you kept hearing on the radio,

649
00:30:23,776 --> 00:30:25,576
like, whether you were in an emergency

650
00:30:25,643 --> 00:30:27,676
or you're at the hospital with an emergency,

651
00:30:27,743 --> 00:30:29,176
all you kept hearing is "Cardiac arrest,

652
00:30:29,243 --> 00:30:31,409
cardiac arrest, cardiac arrest. Asking for paramedics.

653
00:30:31,476 --> 00:30:34,443
Is there paramedics available?" And it was just constant.

654
00:30:46,043 --> 00:30:49,309
New York City EMS gets about 3,500 to 4,500

655
00:30:49,376 --> 00:30:51,576
medical emergencies in a 24-hour period

656
00:30:51,643 --> 00:30:53,109
in all five boroughs.

657
00:30:53,176 --> 00:30:55,243
And I remember when we broke the 5,000 years ago,

658
00:30:55,309 --> 00:30:57,376
I think it was a heat wave, and it was like, "Wow,

659
00:30:57,443 --> 00:30:58,576
we broke 5,000."

660
00:30:58,643 --> 00:31:00,543
COVID, we were hitting 7,200.

661
00:31:00,609 --> 00:31:02,476
-SPIKE: What? -Seventy-two hundred a day.

662
00:31:02,543 --> 00:31:03,776
The system just couldn't handle it.

663
00:31:04,043 --> 00:31:05,043
Nobody can handle that.

664
00:31:05,109 --> 00:31:06,476
We're the busiest EMS system in the world.

665
00:31:06,543 --> 00:31:08,043
And not only that, like, every call

666
00:31:08,109 --> 00:31:10,743
was so consuming because the level of sickness

667
00:31:10,809 --> 00:31:13,276
was so high, the acuity was so high.

668
00:31:13,343 --> 00:31:15,343
And then you had to, after every patient,

669
00:31:15,409 --> 00:31:17,776
completely decontaminate your whole ambulance

670
00:31:18,043 --> 00:31:21,809
and yourself. So we had to like literally wipe everything down.

671
00:31:22,076 --> 00:31:24,509
My worst day, I think it was a Thursday

672
00:31:24,576 --> 00:31:26,076
in April, early April.

673
00:31:26,143 --> 00:31:27,809
-(SIREN WAILING) -And we started our day, like, bad,

674
00:31:28,076 --> 00:31:29,409
getting sent to the Bronx.

675
00:31:29,476 --> 00:31:35,076
And that day, I had a 15, a 42-year-old, 56-year-old,

676
00:31:35,143 --> 00:31:38,109
and a 25-year-old, all in cardiac arrest

677
00:31:38,176 --> 00:31:39,243
from COVID, you know?

678
00:31:39,309 --> 00:31:40,609
-And that was like-- -SPIKE: Fifteen-year-old?

679
00:31:40,676 --> 00:31:43,643
Fifteen-year-old. That's how I started my shift in the Bronx.

680
00:31:43,709 --> 00:31:44,809
SPIKE: Start the day like that, huh?

681
00:31:45,076 --> 00:31:47,109
Yeah. Didn't get any easier throughout the day.

682
00:31:47,176 --> 00:31:50,376
And we were able to resuscitate the 25-year-old.

683
00:31:50,443 --> 00:31:54,676
That was it. You know, it's hard.

684
00:31:54,743 --> 00:31:57,609
And so when you think about like those ages,

685
00:31:57,676 --> 00:32:00,176
they're not elderly, they were young people.

686
00:32:00,243 --> 00:32:02,576
AARON RANDLE: My name is Aaron Randle. I am a freelance reporter

687
00:32:02,643 --> 00:32:06,676
working with the  New York Times for the  Those We've Lost  series.

688
00:32:06,743 --> 00:32:09,743
Now working with Spotify as a producer.

689
00:32:09,809 --> 00:32:12,309
PENELOPE GREEN: Penelope Green, a reporter at the  New York Times

690
00:32:12,376 --> 00:32:14,543
contributing to the  Those We've Lost  series.

691
00:32:14,609 --> 00:32:17,443
DAN WAKIN: I'm Dan Wakin, an editor at the  New York Times

692
00:32:17,509 --> 00:32:19,243
in the obituaries department.

693
00:32:19,309 --> 00:32:21,509
And I edit the  Those We've Lost  series

694
00:32:21,576 --> 00:32:23,276
for victims of the pandemic.

695
00:32:23,343 --> 00:32:26,109
One story that I found really compelling

696
00:32:26,176 --> 00:32:29,143
and fascinating was about Margaret Holloway,

697
00:32:29,209 --> 00:32:30,709
who was called the Shakespeare Lady.

698
00:32:30,776 --> 00:32:33,276
-Yeah, that was a hell of a story. -So, she graduated

699
00:32:33,343 --> 00:32:36,443
from the Yale School of Drama, I think in 1980.

700
00:32:36,509 --> 00:32:38,543
And she was this unbelievable talent.

701
00:32:38,609 --> 00:32:40,176
She was just brilliant.

702
00:32:40,243 --> 00:32:41,443
She was a director,

703
00:32:41,509 --> 00:32:45,043
and she was just starting a meteoric career.

704
00:32:45,109 --> 00:32:47,643
And then within three years, mental illness

705
00:32:47,709 --> 00:32:48,809
just broke her down.

706
00:32:49,076 --> 00:32:50,809
KATHERINE BOROWITZ: My name is Katherine Borowitz.

707
00:32:51,076 --> 00:32:54,676
I'm a social worker, and I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

708
00:32:54,743 --> 00:32:56,676
JOHN TURTURRO: My name is John Turturro,

709
00:32:56,743 --> 00:32:58,609
I'm an actor and director

710
00:32:58,676 --> 00:33:01,143
and I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

711
00:33:01,209 --> 00:33:02,609
We met at Yale Drama School.

712
00:33:02,676 --> 00:33:05,609
Kathy was in her last year, her third year, and I was in my first year.

713
00:33:05,676 --> 00:33:07,243
KATHY:  You didn't have to say that now.

714
00:33:07,309 --> 00:33:08,643
-JOHN:  It doesn't matter. -(KATHY MUTTERING)

715
00:33:08,709 --> 00:33:10,043
-JOHN:  Yeah. -KATHY:  I'm older than you.

716
00:33:10,109 --> 00:33:13,176
SPIKE: The both of you know or have any dealings

717
00:33:13,243 --> 00:33:16,043
with the late Margaret Holloway?

718
00:33:16,676 --> 00:33:18,409
Yeah, I did.

719
00:33:18,476 --> 00:33:20,409
I've never met anybody like her.

720
00:33:20,476 --> 00:33:24,376
At that time, I had no frame of reference

721
00:33:24,443 --> 00:33:26,576
for somebody like Margaret.

722
00:33:26,643 --> 00:33:28,243
It seemed to me almost like

723
00:33:28,309 --> 00:33:32,509
she was somebody out of a really great fairytale.

724
00:33:33,276 --> 00:33:35,809
She had a ferocity.

725
00:33:36,076 --> 00:33:37,776
I never felt like she was looking at me.

726
00:33:38,043 --> 00:33:41,443
I always felt like she was looking into me.

727
00:33:41,509 --> 00:33:43,776
-And she directed you. -She directed me twice.

728
00:33:44,043 --> 00:33:46,076
JOHN:  'Cause I heard all these stories about her,

729
00:33:46,143 --> 00:33:48,076
about how talented she was and everything.

730
00:33:48,143 --> 00:33:51,609
Well, she was coming from a very personal place.

731
00:33:51,676 --> 00:33:54,409
And fast forward to the '80s, '90s, and 2000s,

732
00:33:54,476 --> 00:33:57,476
she's becomes this fixture on the streets of New Haven.

733
00:33:57,543 --> 00:33:59,809
Ill dressed, seemed to be homeless,

734
00:34:00,076 --> 00:34:03,743
and she would stand on a corner and recite Shakespeare.

735
00:34:04,043 --> 00:34:06,543
...do chase the ebbing Neptune

736
00:34:06,609 --> 00:34:10,143
and do fly them when they come back.

737
00:34:10,209 --> 00:34:15,209
Ariel, seek through the still-vexed Bermoothes.

738
00:34:15,276 --> 00:34:18,643
I feel like I've been through the Bermuda Triangle.

739
00:34:18,709 --> 00:34:22,809
DAN:  So eloquent, and memorized long sections of  Macbeth.

740
00:34:23,076 --> 00:34:25,076
But she became something of a street person,

741
00:34:25,143 --> 00:34:27,376
and some store owners found her a nuisance.

742
00:34:27,443 --> 00:34:29,376
But other people in New Haven,

743
00:34:29,443 --> 00:34:32,143
particularly in the theater world at Yale,

744
00:34:32,209 --> 00:34:33,309
kind of became her friend

745
00:34:33,376 --> 00:34:36,209
and took her in and found housing for her.

746
00:34:36,276 --> 00:34:38,109
And, you know, in the last years of her life,

747
00:34:38,176 --> 00:34:40,776
she was living a fairly stable, decent life.

748
00:34:41,043 --> 00:34:43,643
But kind of the tragedy of her early life,

749
00:34:43,709 --> 00:34:45,676
and then the ability to find some stability,

750
00:34:45,743 --> 00:34:50,376
and then to have that all end with COVID, really struck me.

751
00:34:50,443 --> 00:34:53,243
It's really hard for me to, um, see these--

752
00:34:53,309 --> 00:34:55,309
the footage of her on the street because...

753
00:34:56,209 --> 00:35:00,709
none of that ferocity is left.

754
00:35:00,776 --> 00:35:04,376
I mean, it really puts, you know, a face

755
00:35:04,443 --> 00:35:08,143
on the brokenness of the healthcare system.

756
00:35:08,209 --> 00:35:10,676
We talked to people who are so fresh with this grief,

757
00:35:10,743 --> 00:35:13,043
and you can't help but to share that, you know,

758
00:35:13,109 --> 00:35:15,276
and to really, you know, just take in

759
00:35:15,343 --> 00:35:17,576
what they're experiencing in a very palpable way.

760
00:35:17,643 --> 00:35:19,543
And that kind of, in a way, helped me

761
00:35:19,609 --> 00:35:22,309
get through the period.

762
00:35:22,376 --> 00:35:24,209
PENELOPE: Yeah, I felt like it was an honor.

763
00:35:24,276 --> 00:35:28,143
And I felt it-- it gave shape to those first few months,

764
00:35:28,209 --> 00:35:32,209
and you were participating in a productive way

765
00:35:32,276 --> 00:35:35,076
in this hideous thing that was happening.

766
00:35:35,143 --> 00:35:36,743
JODI LYNN ROMANO: My name is Jodi Lynn Romano,

767
00:35:36,809 --> 00:35:38,676
and I'm the director of mental health services

768
00:35:38,743 --> 00:35:41,076
at Health and Hospitals, Elmhurst.

769
00:35:41,143 --> 00:35:47,209
(DR. M. PILAR GONZÁLEZ INTRODUCES SELF IN SPANISH)

770
00:35:47,276 --> 00:35:49,376
JODI:  There was a team of us that took iPads

771
00:35:49,443 --> 00:35:50,743
and went to the patients' bedsides.

772
00:35:50,809 --> 00:35:54,743
We put on full PPA and we FaceTimed their family

773
00:35:54,809 --> 00:35:57,209
and their loved ones internationally

774
00:35:57,276 --> 00:36:00,176
from eight o'clock in the morning until midnight,

775
00:36:00,243 --> 00:36:03,243
seven days a week, because we didn't want anybody

776
00:36:03,309 --> 00:36:05,143
to be there alone.

777
00:36:05,209 --> 00:36:06,343
And we didn't want anyone to die

778
00:36:06,409 --> 00:36:08,343
without their loved ones saying goodbye.

779
00:36:08,409 --> 00:36:10,176
Human nature, right?

780
00:36:10,243 --> 00:36:12,076
I just want to see my mother and father,

781
00:36:12,143 --> 00:36:13,143
I don't care what happens.

782
00:36:13,209 --> 00:36:14,443
-SPIKE: For the last time. -Exactly.

783
00:36:14,509 --> 00:36:17,609
-Yeah. -So part of our job was to protect them, also.

784
00:36:17,676 --> 00:36:22,809
(SPEAKING SPANISH)

785
00:36:55,576 --> 00:36:58,609
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

786
00:36:59,776 --> 00:37:01,043
(SOBS)

787
00:37:06,643 --> 00:37:10,709
During 9/11, if someone was in the hospital,

788
00:37:10,776 --> 00:37:14,443
the family eventually could come and see them, touch them.

789
00:37:15,209 --> 00:37:17,709
Not now, not now.

790
00:37:17,776 --> 00:37:18,809
Bodies were stacking up.

791
00:37:19,076 --> 00:37:21,676
They were in refrigerator trucks for goodness sake.

792
00:37:21,743 --> 00:37:24,309
I mean, it's indignities.

793
00:37:24,376 --> 00:37:26,409
And people couldn't have proper burials.

794
00:37:26,476 --> 00:37:31,343
They couldn't have celebrations in the traditional sense.

795
00:37:31,409 --> 00:37:33,343
I mean, a Zoom funeral.

796
00:37:33,409 --> 00:37:35,743
I mean, you couldn't be comforted by others,

797
00:37:35,809 --> 00:37:39,243
couldn't have the physical touch of others, just a hug.

798
00:37:39,309 --> 00:37:41,676
Seen as, you know, it's hard to do that

799
00:37:41,743 --> 00:37:43,143
over a computer screen.

800
00:37:43,209 --> 00:37:47,176
The gospel of Matthew, "Blessed are those who mourn,

801
00:37:47,243 --> 00:37:49,276
for they shall be comforted."

802
00:37:49,343 --> 00:37:52,076
My name is Nelson George. I'm a writer, a filmmaker,

803
00:37:52,143 --> 00:37:54,676
and a native son of Brooklyn, New York.

804
00:37:54,743 --> 00:37:58,076
My father is one of thousands of people

805
00:37:58,143 --> 00:38:01,543
who were in their 70s, 80s, that we lost last year.

806
00:38:01,609 --> 00:38:04,676
You know, lost in-- especially April, that really big--

807
00:38:04,743 --> 00:38:07,243
when we didn't know what the fuck we were doing.

808
00:38:07,309 --> 00:38:10,809
And, um, all of that history

809
00:38:11,076 --> 00:38:15,509
of who we are as-- as a people and as individual families

810
00:38:16,509 --> 00:38:18,743
are gone in a... (SNAPS) ...like that.

811
00:38:18,809 --> 00:38:21,176
The connections to all of these different threads

812
00:38:21,243 --> 00:38:24,209
that we maybe take for granted, you know, our parents

813
00:38:24,276 --> 00:38:26,076
who we might not have seen as much, or, you know,

814
00:38:26,143 --> 00:38:28,243
have been in contact with, we never sat down

815
00:38:28,309 --> 00:38:30,743
and really interviewed and got the stories.

816
00:38:30,809 --> 00:38:32,576
And it happened that quickly.

817
00:38:32,643 --> 00:38:35,476
And that struck me as so profound.

818
00:38:36,343 --> 00:38:38,709
So, you know, we had the funeral.

819
00:38:38,776 --> 00:38:40,609
We had a COVID funeral.

820
00:38:40,676 --> 00:38:43,109
So we had it at this funeral parlor

821
00:38:43,176 --> 00:38:46,043
up in Harlem, Unity.

822
00:38:46,109 --> 00:38:49,176
And my niece, Jay, my youngest niece, had hooked up

823
00:38:49,243 --> 00:38:50,343
a Zoom thing.

824
00:38:50,409 --> 00:38:53,243
So we had 40 people from the family there.

825
00:38:53,309 --> 00:38:55,776
My father, we had been estranged

826
00:38:56,076 --> 00:38:57,809
pretty much most of my adult life, right?

827
00:38:58,076 --> 00:39:00,509
We hadn't really been close. Um...

828
00:39:00,576 --> 00:39:02,576
Sporadic contact, whatever.

829
00:39:02,643 --> 00:39:05,709
And then about a year-- literally a year to now,

830
00:39:05,776 --> 00:39:11,109
April 2019, I came up to see him

831
00:39:11,176 --> 00:39:13,376
and I made a real effort to connect with him.

832
00:39:13,443 --> 00:39:15,776
I must say, it was-- it was a-- it was the best--

833
00:39:16,043 --> 00:39:18,109
one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

834
00:39:18,176 --> 00:39:21,243
Several friends of mine also died in a row.

835
00:39:21,309 --> 00:39:23,443
My father died in April,

836
00:39:23,509 --> 00:39:26,676
Andre Harrell died two weeks later.

837
00:39:26,743 --> 00:39:28,509
We got in Robert Ford, who was my mentor,

838
00:39:28,576 --> 00:39:30,076
basically, when I was a kid, died.

839
00:39:30,143 --> 00:39:35,609
So I had like three people die in like... a month and a half.

840
00:39:35,676 --> 00:39:38,376
Guys who have been crucial to my development.

841
00:39:38,443 --> 00:39:40,376
But that's our little story

842
00:39:40,443 --> 00:39:41,809
within all of these other stories.

843
00:39:42,076 --> 00:39:45,743
So that's all of these people who haven't had funerals.

844
00:39:45,809 --> 00:39:47,209
Haven't had real funerals.

845
00:39:47,276 --> 00:39:51,209
Haven't had real-- a moment to hug everyone in the family.

846
00:39:51,276 --> 00:39:53,143
And so that's what strikes me, you know.

847
00:39:53,209 --> 00:39:56,343
I look at our-- my story, and I think it's--

848
00:39:56,409 --> 00:39:57,776
there's millions of stories.

849
00:39:58,043 --> 00:39:59,676
Literally now, millions of stories like this

850
00:39:59,743 --> 00:40:02,643
all over the world. And it's both sad as hell,

851
00:40:02,709 --> 00:40:05,776
but also, strangely, you feel connected to the humanity,

852
00:40:06,043 --> 00:40:08,609
that all of us are in this kind of boat together.

853
00:40:09,509 --> 00:40:11,176
My name is Gary Terrinoni.

854
00:40:11,243 --> 00:40:13,609
I am the CEO of the Brooklyn Hospital Center

855
00:40:13,676 --> 00:40:16,076
in lovely Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

856
00:40:16,143 --> 00:40:18,509
Within a couple weeks, we couldn't handle

857
00:40:18,576 --> 00:40:20,343
the amount of people

858
00:40:20,409 --> 00:40:22,576
that were expiring in our morgue.

859
00:40:22,643 --> 00:40:25,043
I think we handle maybe 12 at the most.

860
00:40:25,109 --> 00:40:27,309
So we were dealing with multiples of that.

861
00:40:27,376 --> 00:40:29,443
-And so we're-- -SPIKE: You only have-- You only have

862
00:40:29,509 --> 00:40:31,576
-room for 12 bodies in the hospital? -Right, in--

863
00:40:31,643 --> 00:40:33,543
Yeah, no, for our size, that would be normal

864
00:40:33,609 --> 00:40:35,043
because then what happens, too,

865
00:40:35,109 --> 00:40:37,109
the funeral parlors pick the bodies up

866
00:40:37,176 --> 00:40:39,543
and things like that, so there's a turnover.

867
00:40:39,609 --> 00:40:42,243
In this case, it was just too much.

868
00:40:42,309 --> 00:40:44,076
We had two truckloads of bodies--

869
00:40:44,143 --> 00:40:46,143
-SPIKE:  On Ashland Place. -GARY TERRINONI:  On Ashland.

870
00:40:46,209 --> 00:40:48,409
And then the city or state came back and said,

871
00:40:48,476 --> 00:40:51,576
"Listen, you have to build within the trucks, a capability

872
00:40:51,643 --> 00:40:52,709
to handle more."

873
00:40:52,776 --> 00:40:55,309
So we ended up having to actually build structure

874
00:40:55,376 --> 00:40:58,476
within the trucks to be able to stack the bodies.

875
00:40:58,543 --> 00:41:00,309
My name is Mariel Sander.

876
00:41:00,376 --> 00:41:02,543
My major was neuroscience and English

877
00:41:02,609 --> 00:41:06,043
at Columbia University. I graduated in May 2020.

878
00:41:06,109 --> 00:41:07,709
I kept getting these emails from New York

879
00:41:07,776 --> 00:41:09,743
saying, "We need people with medical licenses."

880
00:41:09,809 --> 00:41:12,409
And I started emailing hospitals just saying like, you know,

881
00:41:12,476 --> 00:41:14,543
"I have an EMT license. I do have this training.

882
00:41:14,609 --> 00:41:15,776
I'm willing to help."

883
00:41:16,043 --> 00:41:17,676
And eventually a couple got back to me.

884
00:41:17,743 --> 00:41:19,443
I was just doing temperature screenings,

885
00:41:19,509 --> 00:41:21,043
and that was fine.

886
00:41:21,109 --> 00:41:22,609
And then my supervisor at the time

887
00:41:22,676 --> 00:41:24,409
just emailed me out of the blue, and she was like,

888
00:41:24,476 --> 00:41:26,043
"I know this isn't using your EMT license,

889
00:41:26,109 --> 00:41:29,143
but, um, this hospital in Brooklyn, they really need--

890
00:41:29,209 --> 00:41:30,643
they really need people in the morgue."

891
00:41:30,709 --> 00:41:32,243
And I just remember my first reaction,

892
00:41:32,309 --> 00:41:34,343
just being total, kind of, shock. (CHUCKLES)

893
00:41:34,409 --> 00:41:35,609
And just kind of like...

894
00:41:35,676 --> 00:41:37,643
I don't know, I'd never thought about working in the morgue.

895
00:41:37,709 --> 00:41:41,143
And then my second reaction was, you know, "I can do that."

896
00:41:41,209 --> 00:41:42,476
I'm able-bodied, I'm young.

897
00:41:42,543 --> 00:41:44,143
If I get sick, I'll probably recover.

898
00:41:44,209 --> 00:41:45,643
And if they need people, I want to be

899
00:41:45,709 --> 00:41:46,809
where they need people.

900
00:41:47,076 --> 00:41:49,276
SPIKE: Was this during the height of the pandemic too?

901
00:41:49,343 --> 00:41:52,043
MARIEL SANDER:  I started working there right around the peak in New York.

902
00:41:52,109 --> 00:41:54,109
-So my first day was pretty overwhelming. -SPIKE: That's a--

903
00:41:54,176 --> 00:41:55,709
Certainly broke you in. (LAUGHS)

904
00:41:55,776 --> 00:41:59,109
-(LAUGHING) Yeah. I think-- -SPIKE: They just threw you into the fire, huh?

905
00:41:59,176 --> 00:42:00,776
My supervisor thought I wouldn't come back

906
00:42:01,043 --> 00:42:03,643
after the first day, honestly. She told me that later.

907
00:42:03,709 --> 00:42:07,309
SPIKE: Tell us about that first day in the morgue.

908
00:42:07,376 --> 00:42:08,743
It was very trial by fire.

909
00:42:08,809 --> 00:42:11,076
So I immediately was helping pick up a body.

910
00:42:11,143 --> 00:42:13,409
Immediately brought me to one of the trailers.

911
00:42:13,476 --> 00:42:15,243
That's one of the first things they show us.

912
00:42:15,309 --> 00:42:17,076
The hospital I worked at did their very best

913
00:42:17,143 --> 00:42:20,143
to keep it discreet. I don't know if it was perfect.

914
00:42:20,209 --> 00:42:22,143
I think they got as close as they could.

915
00:42:22,209 --> 00:42:24,609
I know there were some hospitals where it was just kind of

916
00:42:24,676 --> 00:42:26,276
out in the open.

917
00:42:26,343 --> 00:42:29,143
SPIKE: What did you learn working in the morgue?

918
00:42:29,209 --> 00:42:32,276
(SIGHS) A lot. It actually gave me a lot more hope

919
00:42:32,343 --> 00:42:34,809
-than I think I ever would've. -SPIKE: How so?

920
00:42:35,076 --> 00:42:37,176
It made me really believe that...

921
00:42:37,243 --> 00:42:39,276
this is gonna be very cliché, but it made me believe

922
00:42:39,343 --> 00:42:40,743
that people are basically good.

923
00:42:40,809 --> 00:42:42,443
Just the people I was working with,

924
00:42:42,509 --> 00:42:44,609
the people who, like me,

925
00:42:44,676 --> 00:42:46,776
they did not really sign up for this job.

926
00:42:47,043 --> 00:42:48,709
This was not the thing they wanted to do in life.

927
00:42:48,776 --> 00:42:50,176
This is something they were doing

928
00:42:50,243 --> 00:42:52,343
because, you know, they were redeployed

929
00:42:52,409 --> 00:42:53,776
or because they felt like they needed to,

930
00:42:54,043 --> 00:42:55,509
they feel like they needed to help.

931
00:42:55,576 --> 00:42:58,076
You know, treated each body as if it mattered

932
00:42:58,143 --> 00:42:59,509
and not just an object.

933
00:42:59,576 --> 00:43:00,743
I think it would've been so much easier

934
00:43:00,809 --> 00:43:02,109
if people had said like, you know,

935
00:43:02,176 --> 00:43:03,576
"These are just objects you're packing away."

936
00:43:03,643 --> 00:43:05,676
My name is Anthony Frempong-Boadu.

937
00:43:05,743 --> 00:43:07,709
I'm an associate professor of neurosurgery

938
00:43:07,776 --> 00:43:09,443
here at NYU Langone Health,

939
00:43:09,509 --> 00:43:11,343
and I'm director of the spine service.

940
00:43:11,409 --> 00:43:14,276
My father came down with COVID and almost died.

941
00:43:14,343 --> 00:43:15,709
He was actually at a nursing home

942
00:43:15,776 --> 00:43:18,343
when he came down and he was in very, very bad shape.

943
00:43:18,409 --> 00:43:19,476
He never got intubated.

944
00:43:19,543 --> 00:43:22,609
Um, but at a certain point, he became so confused

945
00:43:22,676 --> 00:43:24,409
that he couldn't even speak English anymore.

946
00:43:24,476 --> 00:43:26,376
It's coming out now that there were a lot of,

947
00:43:26,443 --> 00:43:28,209
you know, people who got it at the nursing home,

948
00:43:28,276 --> 00:43:29,776
a lot of deaths at nursing homes.

949
00:43:30,043 --> 00:43:33,443
They're very tight environments, and they're closed environments.

950
00:43:33,509 --> 00:43:35,409
And they're actually a perfect location

951
00:43:35,476 --> 00:43:37,643
where, you know, this virus can spread.

952
00:43:37,709 --> 00:43:41,309
My name is Ricardo Sarmiento, otherwise known as Rick,

953
00:43:41,376 --> 00:43:43,276
and I've been a cameraman in New York

954
00:43:43,343 --> 00:43:44,443
for the past 30 years.

955
00:43:44,509 --> 00:43:45,776
SPIKE: They call you Latin Lover too.

956
00:43:46,043 --> 00:43:47,276
RICARDO SARMIENTO: And Latin Lover.

957
00:43:47,343 --> 00:43:49,543
-(SPIKE LAUGHS) -RICARDO: Only Spike can call me that.

958
00:43:49,609 --> 00:43:52,543
SPIKE: What was the first film that we worked together?

959
00:43:52,609 --> 00:43:54,209
It was  Malcolm X.

960
00:43:54,276 --> 00:43:56,043
-SPIKE: What? You worked on  Malcolm X? -RICARDO:  Check this out.

961
00:43:56,109 --> 00:43:57,376
You had started shooting already.

962
00:43:57,443 --> 00:44:01,076
So I was a day player. I seconded on C camera,

963
00:44:01,143 --> 00:44:03,776
and I was there in Harlem at the armory.

964
00:44:04,043 --> 00:44:07,209
And I saw what seemed like 3,000 background extras

965
00:44:07,276 --> 00:44:09,343
dressed as the Nation of Islam.

966
00:44:09,409 --> 00:44:11,109
And they were being marched to the set.

967
00:44:11,176 --> 00:44:13,443
SPIKE: Tell me about your mother. Where was she born?

968
00:44:13,509 --> 00:44:16,309
She was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in the '30s.

969
00:44:16,376 --> 00:44:19,443
And she saw Colombia during the hardest times.

970
00:44:19,509 --> 00:44:23,709
My dad and my mom left Colombia after I was born.

971
00:44:23,776 --> 00:44:26,276
And they brought the three of us,

972
00:44:26,343 --> 00:44:27,643
my sister and my brother,

973
00:44:27,709 --> 00:44:30,409
to New York, 1968.

974
00:44:30,476 --> 00:44:32,609
We got to the South Bronx.

975
00:44:32,676 --> 00:44:36,209
March 11th, it was the last time I got to see my mom

976
00:44:36,276 --> 00:44:39,776
in her nursing home, where she was there for about a year

977
00:44:40,043 --> 00:44:41,643
'cause she had Alzheimer's with dementia.

978
00:44:41,709 --> 00:44:43,276
SPIKE: Where's the nursing home, in the Bronx?

979
00:44:43,343 --> 00:44:45,576
In the Bronx, the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx.

980
00:44:45,643 --> 00:44:47,243
On March 11th, my mom was healthy.

981
00:44:47,309 --> 00:44:53,309
No nonmedical staff personnel to enter a nursing home.

982
00:44:53,376 --> 00:44:57,476
Uh, this means no visitors in a nursing home.

983
00:44:57,543 --> 00:45:00,143
If you care about someone in a nursing home,

984
00:45:00,209 --> 00:45:04,076
the last thing you want is to endanger that person.

985
00:45:04,143 --> 00:45:07,176
The nursing home called me on March...

986
00:45:07,243 --> 00:45:11,276
I think it was around March 21st.

987
00:45:11,343 --> 00:45:13,243
They said, "Your mom's not feeling well.

988
00:45:13,309 --> 00:45:15,543
She's got a 101-degree fever."

989
00:45:15,609 --> 00:45:18,676
I thought, like, my mom should get a test right away.

990
00:45:18,743 --> 00:45:20,209
The nursing home said,

991
00:45:20,276 --> 00:45:22,043
"New York City Department of Health says

992
00:45:22,109 --> 00:45:25,143
we're not allowed to test anybody

993
00:45:25,209 --> 00:45:28,209
unless they have multiple symptoms

994
00:45:28,276 --> 00:45:29,676
of the coronavirus."

995
00:45:29,743 --> 00:45:31,776
So I insisted, from that moment.

996
00:45:32,043 --> 00:45:34,776
I said, "You need to take my mom to an emergency room.

997
00:45:35,043 --> 00:45:36,743
I want her to be in a hospital."

998
00:45:36,809 --> 00:45:39,176
And everyone at the nursing home,

999
00:45:39,243 --> 00:45:41,376
from the head doctor, the head nurse,

1000
00:45:41,443 --> 00:45:43,376
the social worker, they all said,

1001
00:45:43,443 --> 00:45:47,076
"Sir, if you have us send your mom to a hospital,

1002
00:45:47,143 --> 00:45:50,676
she'll get the coronavirus there and she won't survive."

1003
00:45:50,743 --> 00:45:52,709
So I listened to them. I trusted them.

1004
00:45:52,776 --> 00:45:54,743
This had been the group of people that have been

1005
00:45:54,809 --> 00:45:57,776
caring for her for about a year now.

1006
00:46:00,543 --> 00:46:01,676
They were wrong.

1007
00:46:04,109 --> 00:46:08,209
Because, um, I got a phone call,

1008
00:46:08,276 --> 00:46:11,176
um, a few days after that

1009
00:46:11,243 --> 00:46:15,309
by the manager of all the nurses on that floor,

1010
00:46:15,376 --> 00:46:18,109
and he said, "Your mom is hypoxic."

1011
00:46:19,309 --> 00:46:21,309
And I said, "What is hypoxic?"

1012
00:46:21,376 --> 00:46:23,576
He said, "Your mom's struggling to breathe.

1013
00:46:23,643 --> 00:46:24,743
What do you want us to do?

1014
00:46:24,809 --> 00:46:26,543
Should we send her to an emergency room?"

1015
00:46:26,609 --> 00:46:28,276
I said, "Absolutely, right now."

1016
00:46:28,343 --> 00:46:31,609
They got her to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.

1017
00:46:31,676 --> 00:46:35,309
And my mom survived at the hospital

1018
00:46:35,376 --> 00:46:37,743
about-- I think it was about five or six days.

1019
00:46:37,809 --> 00:46:41,043
And then I got a call from a doctor, and he said,

1020
00:46:41,109 --> 00:46:43,409
"We've done everything we can do.

1021
00:46:43,476 --> 00:46:46,443
Your mom's still alive, but barely.

1022
00:46:46,509 --> 00:46:50,309
We don't know how much longer she might have."

1023
00:46:50,376 --> 00:46:52,076
So I got special permission

1024
00:46:52,143 --> 00:46:54,076
to show up at the hospital and visit,

1025
00:46:54,143 --> 00:46:55,609
even though they weren't allowing visitors

1026
00:46:55,676 --> 00:46:57,243
in hospitals at that time.

1027
00:46:57,309 --> 00:46:58,576
I said, "Look, this is the last time

1028
00:46:58,643 --> 00:47:01,043
I might see my mom. You gotta let me come."

1029
00:47:01,109 --> 00:47:05,109
I wore, like, the N95 masks and a face shield,

1030
00:47:05,176 --> 00:47:07,143
full PPE from head to toe,

1031
00:47:07,209 --> 00:47:11,043
and got to see her in her room for a 15-minute visit.

1032
00:47:11,109 --> 00:47:12,176
(SNIFFLES)

1033
00:47:13,309 --> 00:47:18,109
So I went one more time and I saw my mom in the room

1034
00:47:18,176 --> 00:47:21,643
and I just kneeled by her bed and held her hand

1035
00:47:21,709 --> 00:47:25,043
and-- and-- and told her how much I loved her.

1036
00:47:25,109 --> 00:47:27,809
And then I prayed that if it was her time

1037
00:47:28,076 --> 00:47:31,709
that she should go, if she was ready to go.

1038
00:47:31,776 --> 00:47:33,343
And-- and, um...

1039
00:47:35,409 --> 00:47:37,576
I said my last words to her.

1040
00:47:40,743 --> 00:47:42,443
And the next day, she died.

1041
00:47:44,776 --> 00:47:47,443
That was April 15th.

1042
00:47:47,509 --> 00:47:50,343
Fifteen people died at my mom's nursing home.

1043
00:47:52,443 --> 00:47:54,043
All around the same time.

1044
00:47:54,809 --> 00:47:57,776
Some died in the nursing home.

1045
00:47:58,076 --> 00:48:00,176
They never even made it to a hospital.

1046
00:48:01,076 --> 00:48:03,209
Some made it to a hospital.

1047
00:48:04,309 --> 00:48:05,343
Um...

1048
00:48:08,076 --> 00:48:10,043
They didn't have enough body bags.

1049
00:48:12,343 --> 00:48:13,743
(SNIFFLES)

1050
00:48:13,809 --> 00:48:17,809
And, um, the hospital that my mom was in...

1051
00:48:19,209 --> 00:48:21,509
was at capacity in their morgue.

1052
00:48:21,576 --> 00:48:25,776
So they told me that my mom's corpse

1053
00:48:26,043 --> 00:48:28,743
might have to be put into, like, a truck. (SNIFFLES)

1054
00:48:28,809 --> 00:48:30,609
There were two big refrigerator trucks

1055
00:48:30,676 --> 00:48:33,043
parked in the parking lot of this hospital.

1056
00:48:37,576 --> 00:48:39,376
My name is Ron Kim. I'm a member

1057
00:48:39,443 --> 00:48:41,509
of the State Assembly of New York.

1058
00:48:41,576 --> 00:48:45,243
I represent parts of Queens, specifically Flushing,

1059
00:48:45,309 --> 00:48:47,743
Whitestone, and a little bit of Bayside.

1060
00:48:47,809 --> 00:48:51,443
In my district, I had the most number of nursing homes,

1061
00:48:51,509 --> 00:48:56,276
so we've had hundreds and hundreds of older adults

1062
00:48:56,343 --> 00:49:00,076
who died, um, at the peak of pandemic.

1063
00:49:00,143 --> 00:49:01,276
It was nonstop.

1064
00:49:01,343 --> 00:49:05,209
Just imagine being outside and you're literally seeing

1065
00:49:05,276 --> 00:49:07,509
your loved one dying behind closed doors

1066
00:49:07,576 --> 00:49:11,276
because COVID is transmitting and there is no control.

1067
00:49:11,343 --> 00:49:13,409
And then you go back home and you turn on TV,

1068
00:49:13,476 --> 00:49:18,409
and you see the very person who instituted these policies

1069
00:49:18,476 --> 00:49:21,143
joking around on national TV

1070
00:49:21,209 --> 00:49:24,209
with his brother on CNN.

1071
00:49:24,276 --> 00:49:28,776
Finally, after the New York state attorney general, Tish James,

1072
00:49:29,043 --> 00:49:31,609
comes out with this bombshell report,

1073
00:49:31,676 --> 00:49:35,476
the truth is coming out, 50 percent undercounting.

1074
00:49:35,543 --> 00:49:37,643
So if you are in a nursing home,

1075
00:49:37,709 --> 00:49:40,776
you got sick, and you were transferred to a hospital

1076
00:49:41,043 --> 00:49:43,676
and you die in the hospital, they didn't count that death.

1077
00:49:44,476 --> 00:49:46,709
There was a corporate immunity

1078
00:49:46,776 --> 00:49:49,376
where the governor gave to his top donors

1079
00:49:49,443 --> 00:49:52,676
in the peak of the pandemic, a blanket immunity from--

1080
00:49:52,743 --> 00:49:57,143
that shielded them from criminal and civil liability charges.

1081
00:49:57,209 --> 00:49:59,576
These are nursing homes, some of the for-profits,

1082
00:49:59,643 --> 00:50:01,243
they got a "get out of jail free" card

1083
00:50:01,309 --> 00:50:02,343
by the governor.

1084
00:50:02,409 --> 00:50:04,609
We warned them back then, "Governor, this is bad

1085
00:50:04,676 --> 00:50:07,243
because they are no longer going to invest

1086
00:50:07,309 --> 00:50:10,476
everything they have to hire people, to buy PPE.

1087
00:50:10,543 --> 00:50:13,109
You're giving them an out, and people are going to die."

1088
00:50:13,176 --> 00:50:17,243
So we get their report, and there are lawsuits for-- to-- for data.

1089
00:50:17,309 --> 00:50:19,143
"Give us the data, governor. Give us the data."

1090
00:50:19,209 --> 00:50:23,476
And finally, they meet with us, the six lawmakers

1091
00:50:23,543 --> 00:50:27,109
that oversee the germane committees,

1092
00:50:27,176 --> 00:50:28,776
to oversee nursing homes.

1093
00:50:29,043 --> 00:50:31,243
February 10, we have a private meeting

1094
00:50:31,309 --> 00:50:33,276
with his top aides,

1095
00:50:33,343 --> 00:50:35,376
Secretary Melissa DeRosa,

1096
00:50:35,443 --> 00:50:38,176
the commissioner of Health Department, Howard Zucker,

1097
00:50:38,243 --> 00:50:39,776
and two other top people.

1098
00:50:40,043 --> 00:50:42,609
It's a two-hour meeting, and everyone's grilling her

1099
00:50:42,676 --> 00:50:44,709
and-- and the staff.

1100
00:50:44,776 --> 00:50:45,809
"Not good enough.

1101
00:50:46,076 --> 00:50:47,609
Where was the data for seven months?

1102
00:50:47,676 --> 00:50:49,209
We don't believe you. This is not--

1103
00:50:49,276 --> 00:50:51,576
this is complete-- you know, unacceptable."

1104
00:50:51,643 --> 00:50:55,209
And all of a sudden, Secretary DeRosa...

1105
00:50:55,276 --> 00:50:57,409
In my mind, this is what I was thinking at the time,

1106
00:50:57,476 --> 00:50:59,109
this feels like  A Few Good Men.

1107
00:50:59,176 --> 00:51:01,243
-You want answers? -I think I'm entitled--

1108
00:51:01,309 --> 00:51:03,543
-NATHAN JESSUP: You want answers? -I want the truth!

1109
00:51:03,609 --> 00:51:05,476
You can't handle the truth!

1110
00:51:05,543 --> 00:51:07,243
"You want the truth? This is it."

1111
00:51:07,309 --> 00:51:10,743
(ATHENA JONES READING PROMPT)

1112
00:51:19,043 --> 00:51:23,509
That was an admission of obstruction of justice.

1113
00:51:23,576 --> 00:51:26,343
And then no longer became a private meeting.

1114
00:51:26,409 --> 00:51:30,609
Now I had a public duty to say publicly

1115
00:51:30,676 --> 00:51:33,076
that they committed in a cover-up

1116
00:51:33,143 --> 00:51:35,176
and they need to be held accountable.

1117
00:51:35,243 --> 00:51:37,309
You can't hide information

1118
00:51:37,376 --> 00:51:40,576
because you think you could be politically hurt.

1119
00:51:40,643 --> 00:51:42,676
The suppression of data went back

1120
00:51:42,743 --> 00:51:45,676
to all the way in July of that summer.

1121
00:51:45,743 --> 00:51:50,343
They issued a self-auditing report

1122
00:51:50,409 --> 00:51:53,043
to exonerate themselves of any wrongdoing.

1123
00:51:53,109 --> 00:51:56,409
And four days later-- four days later, after that report,

1124
00:51:56,476 --> 00:52:00,276
Cuomo came out and said, "Oh, by the way,

1125
00:52:00,343 --> 00:52:03,643
I'm going to write a book about my leadership."

1126
00:52:04,743 --> 00:52:07,476
SPIKE:  Whose idea was it for the governor

1127
00:52:07,543 --> 00:52:09,576
to write this book about the great job...

1128
00:52:09,643 --> 00:52:12,076
(LAUGHING) ...he was doing during the pandemic?

1129
00:52:12,143 --> 00:52:14,243
That should've been shot down from the get-go.

1130
00:52:14,309 --> 00:52:16,109
It's not-- It wasn't a good look.

1131
00:52:16,176 --> 00:52:18,743
Yeah. I think that in retrospect,

1132
00:52:18,809 --> 00:52:20,743
the governor probably regrets that decision.

1133
00:52:20,809 --> 00:52:23,409
And I think it was his decision.

1134
00:52:23,476 --> 00:52:24,609
You know, six months later,

1135
00:52:24,676 --> 00:52:27,476
in that six-month period after that book came out,

1136
00:52:27,543 --> 00:52:30,609
more than 15,000 New Yorkers died.

1137
00:52:30,676 --> 00:52:34,476
So, that is a ton of people, right?

1138
00:52:34,543 --> 00:52:38,176
And for the book's premise to be,

1139
00:52:38,243 --> 00:52:39,409
"This is leadership lessons.

1140
00:52:39,476 --> 00:52:43,176
This is how I steered this state through this crisis,"

1141
00:52:43,243 --> 00:52:44,743
and then you look at that number,

1142
00:52:44,809 --> 00:52:46,643
15,000 people,

1143
00:52:46,709 --> 00:52:48,743
that's a very harsh juxtaposition.

1144
00:52:49,609 --> 00:52:51,509
I think one of the hardest things

1145
00:52:51,576 --> 00:52:54,509
of going through that time is that I live in SoHo.

1146
00:52:54,576 --> 00:52:59,243
And I remember hearing ambulances every night,

1147
00:52:59,309 --> 00:53:00,376
all night long.

1148
00:53:00,443 --> 00:53:04,243
Every five minutes, you could hear an ambulance.

1149
00:53:04,309 --> 00:53:05,743
Sirens, nonstop.

1150
00:53:05,809 --> 00:53:09,576
Sirens, you know, going off every night, all day, all night.

1151
00:53:09,643 --> 00:53:14,409
There were sirens constantly, nonstop, day and night.

1152
00:53:14,476 --> 00:53:17,343
Ambulances all night. I mean, all night.

1153
00:53:17,409 --> 00:53:20,376
And the ambulance, like, every-- every 15 minutes,

1154
00:53:20,443 --> 00:53:22,643
every half an hour, just racing down the street.

1155
00:53:22,709 --> 00:53:25,509
Those sirens were nonstop.

1156
00:53:25,576 --> 00:53:28,209
It's a hard place to be in New York

1157
00:53:28,276 --> 00:53:30,176
in April and, uh, March.

1158
00:53:30,243 --> 00:53:31,309
(SNIFFLES)

1159
00:53:35,576 --> 00:53:37,176
(SIGHS)

1160
00:53:37,243 --> 00:53:40,376
A third of all deaths in this nation

1161
00:53:40,443 --> 00:53:41,743
are from nursing homes.

1162
00:53:43,243 --> 00:53:46,676
New York State, we're only about 28 percent-- only--

1163
00:53:46,743 --> 00:53:49,043
but we're below the national average

1164
00:53:49,109 --> 00:53:51,276
in number of deaths in nursing homes.

1165
00:53:52,076 --> 00:53:53,576
But who cares?

1166
00:53:53,643 --> 00:53:55,743
Thirty-three, twenty-eight

1167
00:53:55,809 --> 00:53:58,743
died in a hospital, died in a nursing home.

1168
00:53:59,509 --> 00:54:00,609
They died.

1169
00:54:01,809 --> 00:54:02,809
And...

1170
00:54:04,509 --> 00:54:08,676
I dealt with the loss of my father.

1171
00:54:08,743 --> 00:54:10,643
Mariel, were you ever worried about getting sick,

1172
00:54:10,709 --> 00:54:12,543
-getting COVID? -All the time, all the time.

1173
00:54:12,609 --> 00:54:14,343
SPIKE: Tell us. Talk. Tell us about it.

1174
00:54:14,409 --> 00:54:18,376
(CHUCKLES) I mean, it was-- it was on everyone's mind.

1175
00:54:18,443 --> 00:54:22,743
We had an entire workforce that didn't want to go home

1176
00:54:22,809 --> 00:54:25,276
and bring this disease to their families.

1177
00:54:25,343 --> 00:54:26,443
And what does that mean?

1178
00:54:26,509 --> 00:54:28,476
That means that the place where you find

1179
00:54:28,543 --> 00:54:32,043
the most amount of comfort is no longer an option.

1180
00:54:32,109 --> 00:54:33,743
I isolated myself from my family.

1181
00:54:33,809 --> 00:54:35,309
Some late nights, I stayed in a hotel

1182
00:54:35,376 --> 00:54:37,343
because I didn't think it was a good idea to go home.

1183
00:54:37,409 --> 00:54:39,609
When I got home, I literally got down

1184
00:54:39,676 --> 00:54:42,276
to my, uh, birthday suit outside.

1185
00:54:42,343 --> 00:54:44,176
My wife would meet me with masks

1186
00:54:44,243 --> 00:54:45,776
and put everything in a garbage bag

1187
00:54:46,043 --> 00:54:48,143
and I would run to the shower and just loofa.

1188
00:54:48,209 --> 00:54:49,276
Went straight to the shower.

1189
00:54:49,343 --> 00:54:51,043
-I showered. -Take a shower.

1190
00:54:51,109 --> 00:54:52,243
Go right into the shower

1191
00:54:52,309 --> 00:54:54,643
and hope that you were doing the right thing.

1192
00:54:54,709 --> 00:54:57,209
-I was scared. -I had this constant fear

1193
00:54:57,276 --> 00:54:59,309
that I was gonna bring this virus home to them.

1194
00:54:59,376 --> 00:55:02,343
And I would see my kids briefly.

1195
00:55:02,409 --> 00:55:04,743
And I really didn't want to be home, honestly, that much,

1196
00:55:04,809 --> 00:55:06,143
because I didn't want to expose them.

1197
00:55:06,209 --> 00:55:08,509
And I kept saying, "The second I have any symptoms,

1198
00:55:08,576 --> 00:55:11,343
I'm going to go to a hotel." And I wouldn't let them kiss me,

1199
00:55:11,409 --> 00:55:12,709
and I wouldn't let them hug me,

1200
00:55:12,776 --> 00:55:15,509
and I would just say good night from the door.

1201
00:55:15,576 --> 00:55:18,143
And, yeah, it was a lot of unknown.

1202
00:55:18,209 --> 00:55:19,476
It was just a lot of unknown.

1203
00:55:19,543 --> 00:55:21,609
I was constantly scared that I was gonna get sick,

1204
00:55:21,676 --> 00:55:23,309
I was gonna infect other people,

1205
00:55:23,376 --> 00:55:26,176
I was gonna go home and then bring it back to my family.

1206
00:55:26,243 --> 00:55:29,809
♪ (MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

1207
00:55:34,109 --> 00:55:37,076
I'm Eliza Shapiro, and I'm an education reporter

1208
00:55:37,143 --> 00:55:38,576
at the  New York Times.

1209
00:55:38,643 --> 00:55:41,776
The largest public school system in the country by far

1210
00:55:42,043 --> 00:55:44,076
with well over a million kids,

1211
00:55:44,143 --> 00:55:47,309
just imagining the off switch for that system

1212
00:55:47,376 --> 00:55:49,643
was-- was almost impossible for me.

1213
00:55:49,709 --> 00:55:53,376
But as February ended and we got into March,

1214
00:55:53,443 --> 00:55:55,509
all of a sudden, the question became

1215
00:55:55,576 --> 00:55:58,109
not if these schools are gonna close, but when.

1216
00:55:58,176 --> 00:56:01,076
So I regret to have to announce that as of tomorrow,

1217
00:56:01,143 --> 00:56:03,176
our public schools will be closed.

1218
00:56:03,243 --> 00:56:06,276
Finally, the dam broke and the mayor relented

1219
00:56:06,343 --> 00:56:07,643
basically to pressure.

1220
00:56:07,709 --> 00:56:12,409
I am Zakiyah Ansari, and I am an educational activist.

1221
00:56:12,476 --> 00:56:15,343
So I'm an activist, but I also consider myself an organizer.

1222
00:56:15,409 --> 00:56:18,276
My thing is education, education for liberation.

1223
00:56:18,343 --> 00:56:19,809
-And so if folks-- -SPIKE: Repeat that again?

1224
00:56:20,076 --> 00:56:21,543
-Education for liberation. -SPIKE: I like that.

1225
00:56:21,609 --> 00:56:23,376
Yeah. So if folks are out there in the street

1226
00:56:23,443 --> 00:56:25,409
and they're saying they want more funding for schools,

1227
00:56:25,476 --> 00:56:27,643
we need to have laptops and computers,

1228
00:56:27,709 --> 00:56:30,109
I need to be organizing them to take action.

1229
00:56:30,176 --> 00:56:33,143
Calling their legislator to say, "We need to do something else."

1230
00:56:33,209 --> 00:56:35,609
Going to City Hall or the Department of Education

1231
00:56:35,676 --> 00:56:37,476
to say, "We, as parents and community,

1232
00:56:37,543 --> 00:56:39,109
demand that these things happen."

1233
00:56:39,176 --> 00:56:41,276
Otherwise, it's just an action in the street.

1234
00:56:41,343 --> 00:56:44,076
I walked to Albany with a bunch of other parents.

1235
00:56:44,143 --> 00:56:45,443
From City Hall to Albany.

1236
00:56:45,509 --> 00:56:48,109
-It took us nine days, 150 miles. -(PROTESTERS CHANTING)

1237
00:56:48,176 --> 00:56:51,109
Almost there, and guess what Governor Cuomo's office says.

1238
00:56:51,176 --> 00:56:52,609
It was a "publicity stunt."

1239
00:56:52,676 --> 00:56:54,609
My organization, the Alliance for Quality Education,

1240
00:56:54,676 --> 00:56:56,309
has been bringing people up to Albany

1241
00:56:56,376 --> 00:56:59,776
before coronavirus hit for 20 years.

1242
00:57:00,509 --> 00:57:02,809
The governor repeatedly,

1243
00:57:03,076 --> 00:57:05,276
at almost every big decision point,

1244
00:57:05,343 --> 00:57:06,743
and these are some of the biggest decisions

1245
00:57:06,809 --> 00:57:09,543
that are possible in local government,

1246
00:57:09,609 --> 00:57:14,276
has contradicted the mayor or said the mayor is wrong.

1247
00:57:14,343 --> 00:57:16,776
Understanding the amount of suffering

1248
00:57:17,043 --> 00:57:19,043
and compounding it with all this uncertainty

1249
00:57:19,109 --> 00:57:20,443
because the mayor and the governor

1250
00:57:20,509 --> 00:57:22,109
weren't talking to each other.

1251
00:57:22,176 --> 00:57:25,809
And after very careful consideration,

1252
00:57:26,076 --> 00:57:27,809
I announce today that the New York City

1253
00:57:28,076 --> 00:57:30,443
public schools will remain closed

1254
00:57:30,509 --> 00:57:32,643
for the remainder of this school year.

1255
00:57:32,709 --> 00:57:35,376
REPORTER: Are you saying that it's your legal authority

1256
00:57:35,443 --> 00:57:37,276
to make the decision on New York City schools,

1257
00:57:37,343 --> 00:57:38,376
not Bill de Blasio's?

1258
00:57:38,443 --> 00:57:42,043
It is my legal authority in this situation, yes.

1259
00:57:42,109 --> 00:57:43,476
REPORTER: The mayor of New York City is saying

1260
00:57:43,543 --> 00:57:45,276
schools are going to be closed two hours ago,

1261
00:57:45,343 --> 00:57:47,209
and you're saying, "No, no, no. That's not the case."

1262
00:57:47,276 --> 00:57:50,609
I think for parents, that might be confusing and-- and unsettling.

1263
00:57:50,676 --> 00:57:52,743
Well, then we just clarified it.

1264
00:57:52,809 --> 00:57:54,409
At the end of the day, the governor

1265
00:57:54,476 --> 00:57:56,543
has more power than the mayor of New York City--

1266
00:57:56,609 --> 00:57:58,576
SPIKE: It's always been like that?

1267
00:57:58,643 --> 00:58:00,643
It's always been like that, for years.

1268
00:58:00,709 --> 00:58:03,209
The governor wants to make the decision.

1269
00:58:03,276 --> 00:58:05,176
You know, the governor wants to be the decider

1270
00:58:05,243 --> 00:58:07,309
and he wants to get the credit, too, you know?

1271
00:58:07,376 --> 00:58:10,476
And this is a famous political trick that, you know,

1272
00:58:10,543 --> 00:58:12,809
we've seen again and again and again is, you know,

1273
00:58:13,076 --> 00:58:15,109
you take credit for the good stuff. (LAUGHS)

1274
00:58:15,176 --> 00:58:17,609
And then when bad stuff happens, you're like, "It wasn't me."

1275
00:58:17,676 --> 00:58:19,776
♪ But she caught me On the counter ♪

1276
00:58:20,043 --> 00:58:22,443
-♪ It wasn't me ♪ -♪ Saw me kissing on the sofa ♪

1277
00:58:22,509 --> 00:58:23,509
♪ It wasn't me ♪

1278
00:58:23,576 --> 00:58:27,076
And so, I think with the coronavirus cases,

1279
00:58:27,143 --> 00:58:29,143
you know, there were times when there were

1280
00:58:29,209 --> 00:58:32,309
unpopular decisions that Cuomo was like,

1281
00:58:32,376 --> 00:58:34,209
"You know, I, you know, it's up to the--

1282
00:58:34,276 --> 00:58:36,043
it's up to the mayor to make this decision."

1283
00:58:36,109 --> 00:58:38,243
And then, when there were popular decisions,

1284
00:58:38,309 --> 00:58:39,776
like, you know, reopening stuff,

1285
00:58:40,043 --> 00:58:42,376
you notice that that's always Cuomo making those calls.

1286
00:58:42,443 --> 00:58:47,743
I'm Bill de Blasio, 109th mayor of the City of New York.

1287
00:58:47,809 --> 00:58:51,209
SPIKE: Do you ever think Boston will elect a mayor

1288
00:58:51,276 --> 00:58:53,643
-who's a Yankee fan? (LAUGHS) -No.

1289
00:58:53,709 --> 00:58:55,743
No, no, no, no, no. Not possible.

1290
00:58:55,809 --> 00:58:57,576
SPIKE: So why's it happened in New York, then?

1291
00:58:57,643 --> 00:59:01,043
You see, this is-- we are the open city, Spike.

1292
00:59:01,109 --> 00:59:04,076
-City for everyone. Come on. -SPIKE: We're not open for the Red Sox, though!

1293
00:59:04,143 --> 00:59:05,376
SPIKE:  You and Bloomberg.

1294
00:59:05,443 --> 00:59:08,309
All people are tolerated and respected in New York.

1295
00:59:08,376 --> 00:59:11,209
-SPIKE: Not Red Sox fans. -It happened.

1296
00:59:11,276 --> 00:59:13,143
I was out in the open. They knew.

1297
00:59:13,209 --> 00:59:14,643
SPIKE: You're right. I give you-- you di--

1298
00:59:14,709 --> 00:59:15,743
You didn't try to hide it.

1299
00:59:15,809 --> 00:59:19,376
Nope. Integrity, Spike. Integrity.

1300
00:59:19,443 --> 00:59:22,509
SPIKE: So Boston doesn't have integrity? (LAUGHS)

1301
00:59:22,576 --> 00:59:25,509
You can't give it up, can you? You can't give it up.

1302
00:59:25,576 --> 00:59:28,343
No, I'm saying you gotta be who you are.

1303
00:59:28,409 --> 00:59:30,709
I told the people who I was, and they still accepted me.

1304
00:59:30,776 --> 00:59:31,776
SPIKE: All right.

1305
00:59:32,043 --> 00:59:33,376
Well, I had to get that away because--

1306
00:59:33,443 --> 00:59:34,776
I know, that was on your mind.

1307
00:59:35,043 --> 00:59:37,443
Yes, you and Bloomberg. (LAUGHS)

1308
00:59:37,509 --> 00:59:39,076
They hated Red Sox!

1309
00:59:40,276 --> 00:59:42,543
SPIKE: What's up with your  paisan,  in Albany?

1310
00:59:42,609 --> 00:59:43,709
(BOTH LAUGH)

1311
00:59:43,776 --> 00:59:46,509
SPIKE: You guys couldn't work it out? What's up?

1312
00:59:46,576 --> 00:59:49,043
Paisans,  have a bottle of wine or something.

1313
00:59:49,109 --> 00:59:50,143
What happened?

1314
00:59:52,276 --> 00:59:53,576
You know, uh...

1315
00:59:53,643 --> 00:59:55,343
SPIKE: I mean, you guys go way back though, right?

1316
00:59:55,409 --> 00:59:58,576
We go way back, but things changed a long time ago.

1317
00:59:59,776 --> 01:00:03,643
There's over 100,000 kids who live in temporary housing.

1318
01:00:03,709 --> 01:00:06,309
A lot of them live in shelters, a lot of them are doubled up

1319
01:00:06,376 --> 01:00:07,609
in these cramped apartments.

1320
01:00:07,676 --> 01:00:10,143
What on earth are these families going to do?

1321
01:00:10,209 --> 01:00:12,309
-This wasn't new-- -SPIKE: What's the number again?

1322
01:00:12,376 --> 01:00:15,143
It's 110,000.

1323
01:00:15,209 --> 01:00:16,409
-SPIKE: Kids? -Kids.

1324
01:00:16,476 --> 01:00:18,243
-That go to public school? -Go to public school...

1325
01:00:18,309 --> 01:00:19,609
-SPIKE: In New York City? -...in New York City

1326
01:00:19,676 --> 01:00:22,409
who do not have temporary homes, who are unsheltered,

1327
01:00:22,476 --> 01:00:25,276
or who are sleeping on couches at a friend's house

1328
01:00:25,343 --> 01:00:28,043
or an uncle's house or a grandparent's house.

1329
01:00:28,109 --> 01:00:31,476
This is, at this point, a five-year-old phenomenon.

1330
01:00:31,543 --> 01:00:34,243
And people just couldn't believe it.

1331
01:00:34,309 --> 01:00:36,743
We have homeless shelters, family shelters,

1332
01:00:36,809 --> 01:00:40,743
that have no cell phone service, no Wi-Fi.

1333
01:00:40,809 --> 01:00:43,443
KAYINDE HARRIS: ...in NYCHA buildings because of the concrete

1334
01:00:43,509 --> 01:00:44,743
of the walls are so thick--

1335
01:00:44,809 --> 01:00:46,276
-SPIKE:  The projects, huh? -KAYINDE:  Yes.

1336
01:00:46,343 --> 01:00:48,343
That it's hard for the transmission

1337
01:00:48,409 --> 01:00:50,709
from the Wi-Fi and the broadband to get through.

1338
01:00:50,776 --> 01:00:52,443
My name is Kayinde Harris.

1339
01:00:52,509 --> 01:00:54,643
I'm a New York City public school teacher,

1340
01:00:54,709 --> 01:00:57,109
and I've been teaching for 19 years.

1341
01:00:57,176 --> 01:00:59,443
How do we get all of our students equipped

1342
01:00:59,509 --> 01:01:02,543
to be able to come online and to do the work?

1343
01:01:02,609 --> 01:01:04,443
And then not only that, but they're still trying

1344
01:01:04,509 --> 01:01:06,176
to adjust to what's going on.

1345
01:01:06,243 --> 01:01:10,109
And now they have to learn how to learn remotely.

1346
01:01:10,176 --> 01:01:11,443
So some of them use their phones,

1347
01:01:11,509 --> 01:01:14,609
but for the ones who didn't have any kind of technology,

1348
01:01:14,676 --> 01:01:16,376
the schools provided iPads.

1349
01:01:16,443 --> 01:01:18,643
And so students were able to come up and pick up

1350
01:01:18,709 --> 01:01:20,409
either Chromebooks or iPads.

1351
01:01:20,476 --> 01:01:23,043
-I know for a period of time-- -SPIKE: What if you didn't have Wi-Fi, though?

1352
01:01:23,109 --> 01:01:25,343
Um, so, for a period of time, there was some company

1353
01:01:25,409 --> 01:01:26,776
that was allowing Wi-Fi.

1354
01:01:27,043 --> 01:01:28,709
-You know, they provide Wi-Fi-- -SPIKE: Free Wi-Fi.

1355
01:01:28,776 --> 01:01:31,043
Free Wi-Fi for students.

1356
01:01:31,109 --> 01:01:33,309
End of April, mostly all the kids

1357
01:01:33,376 --> 01:01:35,243
had some form of technology.

1358
01:01:35,309 --> 01:01:37,543
Hi, my name is Janet Dillon-Kowalczyk.

1359
01:01:37,609 --> 01:01:39,776
I worked for the New York City Fire Department.

1360
01:01:40,043 --> 01:01:41,743
I currently work as a schoolteacher

1361
01:01:41,809 --> 01:01:44,776
for the New York City Department of Education,

1362
01:01:45,043 --> 01:01:46,776
and I work for PS 132,

1363
01:01:47,043 --> 01:01:48,476
the Shining Star of Williamsburg.

1364
01:01:48,543 --> 01:01:51,743
We went from being teachers, teaching curriculum,

1365
01:01:51,809 --> 01:01:55,509
to being IT specialists and helping families log on,

1366
01:01:55,576 --> 01:01:58,809
from translating in Spanish, to doing three-way calls,

1367
01:01:59,076 --> 01:02:00,776
to sending emails to tech people

1368
01:02:01,043 --> 01:02:03,043
just to get answers for families.

1369
01:02:03,109 --> 01:02:05,776
What we're doing to children in this moment

1370
01:02:06,043 --> 01:02:08,143
is sending a really powerful message,

1371
01:02:08,209 --> 01:02:11,576
which is they're not worthy of us doing everything

1372
01:02:11,643 --> 01:02:16,176
we need to do to ensure that they are successful.

1373
01:02:18,309 --> 01:02:19,643
And it's not every child.

1374
01:02:21,176 --> 01:02:23,776
It's Black, brown, and poor children once again...

1375
01:02:25,443 --> 01:02:26,743
who we are sending the message to

1376
01:02:26,809 --> 01:02:28,176
that they are not worthy.

1377
01:02:28,243 --> 01:02:30,076
But guess what? Predominantly Black and brown parents

1378
01:02:30,143 --> 01:02:32,143
are the ones who chose to keep their kids out of school

1379
01:02:32,209 --> 01:02:33,409
-and remote-- -SPIKE: And why is that?

1380
01:02:33,476 --> 01:02:34,676
-Why is that? -You know why?

1381
01:02:34,743 --> 01:02:37,043
Because they don't trust the system. Rightfully so.

1382
01:02:37,109 --> 01:02:40,276
A system who has failed their children many, many times.

1383
01:02:40,343 --> 01:02:42,209
Kids dropping out can be the difference

1384
01:02:42,276 --> 01:02:44,109
between everything in their lives,

1385
01:02:44,176 --> 01:02:45,809
between going to an Ivy League school

1386
01:02:46,076 --> 01:02:47,709
or going to jail, going to Rikers Island.

1387
01:02:47,776 --> 01:02:51,043
I mean, the gap is so-- is so wide.

1388
01:02:51,109 --> 01:02:54,809
My name is Monica Klein, and I am a political consultant

1389
01:02:55,076 --> 01:02:57,476
and co-founder of Seneca Strategies.

1390
01:02:57,543 --> 01:03:00,176
How do I even start with the governor?

1391
01:03:00,243 --> 01:03:03,043
So, the governor is holding these press conferences,

1392
01:03:03,109 --> 01:03:05,743
and he understands that people just want someone who's strong,

1393
01:03:05,809 --> 01:03:09,376
who's resolute, who is going to say, "This is a real virus,"

1394
01:03:09,443 --> 01:03:12,076
who's not gonna deny it. And people fall in love.

1395
01:03:12,143 --> 01:03:14,543
Now, the local media press corps, I would actually say,

1396
01:03:14,609 --> 01:03:16,576
has been covering him this whole time,

1397
01:03:16,643 --> 01:03:18,409
saying, "Okay, but you know,

1398
01:03:18,476 --> 01:03:20,176
funding is going down for health care."

1399
01:03:20,243 --> 01:03:21,509
He is cutting Medicaid funding,

1400
01:03:21,576 --> 01:03:24,709
he's cutting beds from hospitals in the middle of a pandemic.

1401
01:03:24,776 --> 01:03:26,743
But the national media is watching this man

1402
01:03:26,809 --> 01:03:28,576
and they're just saying, "This is great TV."

1403
01:03:28,643 --> 01:03:30,176
He's like hanging out with his brother,

1404
01:03:30,243 --> 01:03:33,276
they're like doing their shtick. And so he becomes beloved.

1405
01:03:33,343 --> 01:03:35,243
REPORTER: So what's going on? Does the city still have

1406
01:03:35,309 --> 01:03:36,609
the ability to close its schools?

1407
01:03:36,676 --> 01:03:38,543
Are you now taking control and saying

1408
01:03:38,609 --> 01:03:40,443
that you have the power to make this decision?

1409
01:03:40,509 --> 01:03:42,443
And for the millions of parents who want to know,

1410
01:03:42,509 --> 01:03:45,176
are the schools going to open tomorrow in New York City?

1411
01:03:45,243 --> 01:03:49,309
All right. First of all, let's try not to be obnoxious

1412
01:03:49,376 --> 01:03:52,376
and offensive in your tone...

1413
01:03:54,043 --> 01:03:56,509
because you're 100 percent wrong.

1414
01:03:56,576 --> 01:04:00,109
I get a call, um, from my cell phone.

1415
01:04:00,176 --> 01:04:02,776
Eight years in office, the man has never called me.

1416
01:04:03,043 --> 01:04:04,509
-Never. -SPIKE: Never, huh?

1417
01:04:04,576 --> 01:04:05,643
-Never. -SPIKE: Ever, ever?

1418
01:04:05,709 --> 01:04:08,043
Never, never. So, he calls me...

1419
01:04:08,743 --> 01:04:11,509
Um... It's silence.

1420
01:04:11,576 --> 01:04:14,643
Like, I'm saying, "Governor? Governor?"

1421
01:04:14,709 --> 01:04:16,643
I think I must've asked twice.

1422
01:04:16,709 --> 01:04:19,109
And then all of a sudden, he was like, "Mr. Kim,

1423
01:04:19,776 --> 01:04:21,743
are you an honorable man?"

1424
01:04:21,809 --> 01:04:24,209
That's how he opens up. It was a bizarre question.

1425
01:04:24,276 --> 01:04:26,043
How do you-- What do you say to that?

1426
01:04:26,109 --> 01:04:29,076
So I remember kind of, with a question mark,

1427
01:04:29,143 --> 01:04:32,309
"Yes?" Like, "I am?" Right?

1428
01:04:32,376 --> 01:04:36,609
Um, and then, you know, he spent the next ten minutes

1429
01:04:36,676 --> 01:04:39,709
berating, yelling, and laying out

1430
01:04:39,776 --> 01:04:42,743
what he would do to me, and threatening me,

1431
01:04:42,809 --> 01:04:44,743
my career, my political career, my life.

1432
01:04:44,809 --> 01:04:48,709
It will be all over, ruined and destroyed.

1433
01:04:48,776 --> 01:04:52,076
And ultimately, what he was trying to do--

1434
01:04:52,143 --> 01:04:54,276
um, after asking me specifically,

1435
01:04:54,343 --> 01:04:56,109
"Are you a lawyer?"

1436
01:04:56,176 --> 01:04:57,276
I was like, "No, I'm not,"

1437
01:04:57,343 --> 01:04:58,676
"Then you must have heard this wrong.

1438
01:04:58,743 --> 01:05:01,309
Let me explain to you what happened."

1439
01:05:01,376 --> 01:05:04,376
Explaining in his own words, what Melissa

1440
01:05:04,443 --> 01:05:07,376
was supposed to say, which she did not.

1441
01:05:07,443 --> 01:05:09,376
And telling me, ordering me,

1442
01:05:09,443 --> 01:05:12,376
"You need to issue a statement that reflects

1443
01:05:12,443 --> 01:05:14,143
what she-- what I just told you."

1444
01:05:14,209 --> 01:05:17,509
They need to address the federal government first,

1445
01:05:17,576 --> 01:05:21,243
and then we'll get to the state. That's what Melissa said.

1446
01:05:21,309 --> 01:05:24,276
"Do it tonight. Not tomorrow. Tonight."

1447
01:05:24,343 --> 01:05:26,309
And he repeated that twice at the end.

1448
01:05:26,376 --> 01:05:29,409
The moment he transitioned into using the threat

1449
01:05:29,476 --> 01:05:32,776
to order me to cover up for his administration,

1450
01:05:33,043 --> 01:05:35,309
that's when I realized

1451
01:05:35,376 --> 01:05:37,776
he's trying to implicate me into this.

1452
01:05:38,043 --> 01:05:40,776
And I think many politicians and many people

1453
01:05:41,043 --> 01:05:42,443
had similar phone calls.

1454
01:05:42,509 --> 01:05:43,776
A lot of people in New York State

1455
01:05:44,043 --> 01:05:46,043
have received those phone calls.

1456
01:05:46,109 --> 01:05:49,143
Uh, you know, the bullying is nothing new.

1457
01:05:49,209 --> 01:05:50,276
And if it was just me,

1458
01:05:50,343 --> 01:05:51,809
I think I would have acted much differently,

1459
01:05:52,076 --> 01:05:54,576
but seeing my kids and my wife.

1460
01:05:54,643 --> 01:05:56,343
So it was her strength,

1461
01:05:56,409 --> 01:05:59,543
ultimately, that led me to push back.

1462
01:05:59,609 --> 01:06:01,276
"You don't have a choice now, Ron,

1463
01:06:01,343 --> 01:06:03,243
because I married..."

1464
01:06:03,776 --> 01:06:05,109
(CHUCKLES)

1465
01:06:09,109 --> 01:06:10,343
(CHUCKLES) Sorry.

1466
01:06:13,476 --> 01:06:15,343
Yeah. 'Cause, you know, 'cause she--

1467
01:06:15,409 --> 01:06:17,809
you know, she was sure, you know,

1468
01:06:18,076 --> 01:06:21,543
"When I married you, you know, I married a man of integrity."

1469
01:06:21,609 --> 01:06:24,343
(SOBS)

1470
01:06:32,776 --> 01:06:34,143
(CHUCKLES)

1471
01:06:36,776 --> 01:06:38,309
SPIKE: Made you guys stronger, though, right?

1472
01:06:38,376 --> 01:06:41,176
-Going through this? -Yeah. (SNIFFLES)

1473
01:06:42,543 --> 01:06:44,509
Yeah. I mean, that's what-- (SNIFFLES)

1474
01:06:44,576 --> 01:06:48,043
I mean, it was really her, you know, that--

1475
01:06:48,109 --> 01:06:51,309
that gave-- led me to regain my strength

1476
01:06:51,376 --> 01:06:53,643
and really push forward

1477
01:06:53,709 --> 01:06:57,043
and say, "I can't-- I'm not gonna stand for this."

1478
01:06:57,109 --> 01:07:00,043
It's no longer just about him bullying,

1479
01:07:00,109 --> 01:07:03,276
but it's about him escaping accountability.

1480
01:07:06,376 --> 01:07:08,276
He did something wrong. (SNIFFLES)

1481
01:07:11,543 --> 01:07:14,476
My uncle, my-- thousands of people died, right?

1482
01:07:14,543 --> 01:07:17,743
And he cannot escape accountability. (SNIFFLES)

1483
01:07:17,809 --> 01:07:22,043
And I was not going to compromise my values,

1484
01:07:22,109 --> 01:07:26,643
my integrity... (SNIFFLES) ...for this man.

1485
01:07:28,276 --> 01:07:30,809
His policies are failing us on the ground.

1486
01:07:31,076 --> 01:07:34,743
And for many months, lot of people, lot of the--

1487
01:07:34,809 --> 01:07:37,276
even the corporate media circles,

1488
01:07:37,343 --> 01:07:38,409
they didn't want to hear it.

1489
01:07:38,476 --> 01:07:42,409
They were just so concerned about taking down Trump,

1490
01:07:42,476 --> 01:07:44,076
they're willing to prop up

1491
01:07:44,143 --> 01:07:47,743
even an abusive governor to get there.

1492
01:07:47,809 --> 01:07:49,776
So I think there's a lot of lessons learned.

1493
01:07:50,043 --> 01:07:51,543
I think there's a lot of similarities

1494
01:07:51,609 --> 01:07:53,376
between Cuomo and Trump.

1495
01:07:53,443 --> 01:07:55,309
Well, new trouble for Governor Andrew Cuomo.

1496
01:07:55,376 --> 01:07:56,576
Another woman has stepped forward,

1497
01:07:56,643 --> 01:07:58,743
accusing him of kissing her without consent.

1498
01:07:58,809 --> 01:08:00,509
This is a man who governs

1499
01:08:00,576 --> 01:08:02,176
through fear, through intimidation,

1500
01:08:02,243 --> 01:08:04,109
now we've learned through sexual harassment.

1501
01:08:04,176 --> 01:08:05,543
This is how he keeps people quiet

1502
01:08:05,609 --> 01:08:07,276
and, like, fights for his agenda.

1503
01:08:07,343 --> 01:08:10,343
An agenda that really supports his corporate donors,

1504
01:08:10,409 --> 01:08:12,176
his billionaires, people like the folks

1505
01:08:12,243 --> 01:08:14,376
that want to have nursing homes have immunity.

1506
01:08:14,443 --> 01:08:16,043
This is not someone that has been fighting

1507
01:08:16,109 --> 01:08:18,209
for working people, communities of color

1508
01:08:18,276 --> 01:08:20,043
in New York for the past ten years.

1509
01:08:20,109 --> 01:08:21,476
WOLF BLITZER: We put up on the screen

1510
01:08:21,543 --> 01:08:23,309
the New York congressional Democrats

1511
01:08:23,376 --> 01:08:25,309
who are now calling for his resignation.

1512
01:08:25,376 --> 01:08:27,376
That's from the House of Representatives.

1513
01:08:27,443 --> 01:08:30,109
Now we have both New York state senators,

1514
01:08:30,176 --> 01:08:33,443
Schumer and Gillibrand, also calling for his resignation.

1515
01:08:33,509 --> 01:08:36,543
The mayor of New York City calling for his resignation.

1516
01:08:36,609 --> 01:08:40,543
Is there anyone in a serious leadership position, Errol,

1517
01:08:40,609 --> 01:08:42,743
who's standing by the governor right now?

1518
01:08:42,809 --> 01:08:44,709
ERROL LOUIS: Um, not that we have seen.

1519
01:08:44,776 --> 01:08:46,609
When you're in politics that long, you know,

1520
01:08:46,676 --> 01:08:50,476
they say that friends flee and enemies accumulate.

1521
01:08:50,543 --> 01:08:52,743
And right now, he's got a lot of enemies.

1522
01:08:52,809 --> 01:08:54,209
He's burned a lot of bridges.

1523
01:08:54,276 --> 01:08:56,409
He's pissed off a lot of people over the years.

1524
01:08:56,476 --> 01:08:58,443
He's made a lot of people very angry,

1525
01:08:58,509 --> 01:09:01,209
and he doesn't have a lot of friends rushing to his side

1526
01:09:01,276 --> 01:09:03,743
saying, "Hey, oh, you know what, he's a good guy,

1527
01:09:03,809 --> 01:09:05,609
you know, he could never have done this."

1528
01:09:05,676 --> 01:09:07,076
No one's saying that.

1529
01:09:07,143 --> 01:09:09,743
In some ways, unfortunately, representing the worst

1530
01:09:09,809 --> 01:09:11,676
of New York City, in my view.

1531
01:09:11,743 --> 01:09:13,176
This place is a beautiful place,

1532
01:09:13,243 --> 01:09:15,543
I love this place, but there's an undercurrent.

1533
01:09:16,543 --> 01:09:19,643
A undercurrent, a kind of negative...

1534
01:09:21,109 --> 01:09:25,576
nasty, aggressive, disrespectful undercurrent.

1535
01:09:25,643 --> 01:09:27,809
You see it in Giuliani, you've seen it for years.

1536
01:09:28,076 --> 01:09:29,176
You see it in Trump.

1537
01:09:29,243 --> 01:09:31,409
But that same current runs through Cuomo, too.

1538
01:09:32,309 --> 01:09:34,343
So in trying to confront that,

1539
01:09:35,476 --> 01:09:37,509
of course I sought common ground,

1540
01:09:37,576 --> 01:09:40,343
but this-- this was the break point for me.

1541
01:09:40,409 --> 01:09:43,509
A few weeks into it, it became clear to me.

1542
01:09:43,576 --> 01:09:46,076
I talked to doctors, I talked to scientists.

1543
01:09:46,143 --> 01:09:48,676
But if you're under 50 and you're healthy,

1544
01:09:48,743 --> 01:09:52,409
which is most New Yorkers, there's very little threat here.

1545
01:09:52,476 --> 01:09:54,376
This disease, even if you were to get it,

1546
01:09:54,443 --> 01:09:57,309
basically acts like a common cold or flu.

1547
01:09:57,376 --> 01:09:58,809
It became clear to me,

1548
01:09:59,076 --> 01:10:00,709
we needed to do shelter-in-place.

1549
01:10:01,543 --> 01:10:03,376
We had to do something radical.

1550
01:10:03,443 --> 01:10:06,609
I think New Yorkers should be prepared right now

1551
01:10:06,676 --> 01:10:11,476
for the possibility of a shelter-in-place order.

1552
01:10:11,543 --> 01:10:14,509
Uh, I don't think shelter-in-place really works

1553
01:10:14,576 --> 01:10:16,043
for one locality.

1554
01:10:16,109 --> 01:10:17,643
As a matter of fact, I'm going so far

1555
01:10:17,709 --> 01:10:20,409
that I don't even think you can do a statewide policy.

1556
01:10:20,476 --> 01:10:22,809
When you call it out, then they have to deal with it.

1557
01:10:23,076 --> 01:10:25,709
First few days, Cuomo resisted. Like four, five days,

1558
01:10:25,776 --> 01:10:28,376
six days later, he had to do it. And he did.

1559
01:10:28,443 --> 01:10:31,443
In retrospect, we were way too late to close the city.

1560
01:10:31,509 --> 01:10:33,176
And by the time things shut down,

1561
01:10:33,243 --> 01:10:35,343
so many people were already sick.

1562
01:10:35,409 --> 01:10:37,409
We know it's dozens

1563
01:10:37,476 --> 01:10:40,743
of members of the Teachers Union

1564
01:10:40,809 --> 01:10:42,509
died in the spring.

1565
01:10:42,576 --> 01:10:45,776
The first public school teacher to die from COVID

1566
01:10:46,043 --> 01:10:49,109
was this beloved third grade teacher

1567
01:10:49,176 --> 01:10:51,743
at Public School 9 in Brooklyn.

1568
01:10:51,809 --> 01:10:54,243
Her name was Sandra Vizcaino.

1569
01:10:54,309 --> 01:10:57,376
And just looking at the universe around that one teacher

1570
01:10:57,443 --> 01:10:59,343
and thinking about how many other universes

1571
01:10:59,409 --> 01:11:01,776
were just destroyed and depleted.

1572
01:11:02,043 --> 01:11:03,509
This was the kind of teacher who,

1573
01:11:03,576 --> 01:11:05,143
when someone asks you 30 years later,

1574
01:11:05,209 --> 01:11:06,509
"Who's the best teacher you ever had?

1575
01:11:06,576 --> 01:11:09,343
It was Sandra, it was this teacher.

1576
01:11:09,409 --> 01:11:11,443
VIVIANA SANTOS-VIZCAINO: My name is Viviana Vizcaino.

1577
01:11:11,509 --> 01:11:13,609
I am the daughter of Sandra Santos-Vizcaino.

1578
01:11:13,676 --> 01:11:15,643
VICTOR SANTOS-VIZCAINO: And my name is Victor Vizcaino,

1579
01:11:15,709 --> 01:11:18,176
and I'm the son of Sandra Santos-Vizcaino.

1580
01:11:18,243 --> 01:11:22,409
SPIKE: Are you related to a Major League baseball player,

1581
01:11:22,476 --> 01:11:24,276
used to play for the Yankees?

1582
01:11:24,343 --> 01:11:26,109
VICTOR:  That's the cousin. That's the cousin.

1583
01:11:26,176 --> 01:11:29,143
There's a few rings in the family as well.

1584
01:11:29,209 --> 01:11:31,409
SPIKE: You ever check him out at Yankee Stadium?

1585
01:11:31,476 --> 01:11:33,143
-Uh, no, actually. -SPIKE: No?

1586
01:11:33,209 --> 01:11:36,376
So, growing up, my dad had us as Red Sox fans.

1587
01:11:36,443 --> 01:11:37,609
SPIKE: Oh! All right.

1588
01:11:37,676 --> 01:11:39,609
-(LAUGHING) -SPIKE: Cut, cut!

1589
01:11:39,676 --> 01:11:40,776
Cut the cameras!

1590
01:11:41,543 --> 01:11:42,609
SOUND ENGINEER: Sound's good.

1591
01:11:42,676 --> 01:11:44,276
CAMERA ASSISTANT: Vizcaino, take two.

1592
01:11:44,343 --> 01:11:46,043
-SPIKE: Action! -We're actually Yankee fans.

1593
01:11:46,109 --> 01:11:47,409
-We're actually Yankee fans. -SPIKE: All right.

1594
01:11:47,476 --> 01:11:49,343
There's gonna be some trouble up here in a second.

1595
01:11:49,409 --> 01:11:51,043
-(SPIKE LAUGHING) -(LAUGHS)

1596
01:11:51,109 --> 01:11:53,176
-Oh, man. -SPIKE: Look, I'm so happy

1597
01:11:53,243 --> 01:11:54,576
that you took time out today.

1598
01:11:54,643 --> 01:11:58,043
-Tell us about your mother. -VIVIANA:  My mother...

1599
01:11:59,209 --> 01:12:01,176
had a deep, deep heart.

1600
01:12:03,376 --> 01:12:05,543
Just almost endless capacity

1601
01:12:05,609 --> 01:12:08,076
for love and understanding and forgiveness.

1602
01:12:08,143 --> 01:12:11,443
When she had a class, she took those kids seriously.

1603
01:12:11,509 --> 01:12:13,243
Like, there was love for them.

1604
01:12:13,309 --> 01:12:16,543
And I have so many memories of her talking to kids

1605
01:12:16,609 --> 01:12:17,676
and talking to their parents

1606
01:12:17,743 --> 01:12:19,509
at like nine, ten o'clock at night.

1607
01:12:19,576 --> 01:12:21,343
Last year was my last year of medical school.

1608
01:12:21,409 --> 01:12:23,209
This year was the first one where, like, you find out

1609
01:12:23,276 --> 01:12:25,143
-where you're gonna work. -SPIKE: You're at med school?

1610
01:12:25,209 --> 01:12:26,643
-VICTOR:  I just finished. -SPIKE:  Where?

1611
01:12:26,709 --> 01:12:29,243
Um, in St. George's And I found out yesterday

1612
01:12:29,309 --> 01:12:31,109
I'll be working at Mount Sinai.

1613
01:12:31,176 --> 01:12:32,643
-And-- -SPIKE: What kind of doctor?

1614
01:12:32,709 --> 01:12:34,376
-Anesthesiologist. -SPIKE: Yeah?

1615
01:12:34,443 --> 01:12:35,676
Yup, yup.

1616
01:12:35,743 --> 01:12:38,076
I know Mom-- I know she's proud for you.

1617
01:12:38,143 --> 01:12:39,443
-But I'm done, I just have to-- -Yeah, yeah.

1618
01:12:39,509 --> 01:12:42,476
SPIKE: Now, she's looking down, and she said, "That's my baby!

1619
01:12:42,543 --> 01:12:44,609
-That's my son." -VICTOR:  Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

1620
01:12:44,676 --> 01:12:46,443
VIVIANA:  She went to the hospital March 25th

1621
01:12:46,509 --> 01:12:49,609
and, you know, we weren't expecting

1622
01:12:49,676 --> 01:12:52,609
she wasn't gonna come home. We were expecting,

1623
01:12:52,676 --> 01:12:54,443
"You should've told us you weren't feeling well.

1624
01:12:54,509 --> 01:12:55,743
Now you're a couple of days behind.

1625
01:12:55,809 --> 01:12:57,676
You're gonna have to take some medication

1626
01:12:57,743 --> 01:12:59,443
and work it out," right?

1627
01:12:59,509 --> 01:13:01,576
Honestly, I did not take the time that I needed

1628
01:13:01,643 --> 01:13:04,609
to slow down and stop and just like be a human.

1629
01:13:04,676 --> 01:13:08,109
-SPIKE: And grieve? -Yes. (CHUCKLES) Um...

1630
01:13:08,176 --> 01:13:10,376
But you understand that, one, you're young,

1631
01:13:10,443 --> 01:13:12,143
and two, like, life just happened.

1632
01:13:12,209 --> 01:13:16,076
Like you need-- You can't just push past it

1633
01:13:16,143 --> 01:13:18,176
and like put these kinds of things on the back burner.

1634
01:13:18,243 --> 01:13:20,109
Like, you have a family.

1635
01:13:20,176 --> 01:13:22,343
It's really nice knowing that if I want to go

1636
01:13:22,409 --> 01:13:24,109
into his room and give him a hug,

1637
01:13:24,176 --> 01:13:26,743
-I can have a hug. -VICTOR:  Even if I'm playing 2K

1638
01:13:26,809 --> 01:13:29,309
and I'm losing, I'll accept a hug.

1639
01:13:29,376 --> 01:13:31,509
-And-- -SPIKE: Hold on, hold up.

1640
01:13:33,143 --> 01:13:35,176
And you have to answer-- Think very carefully

1641
01:13:35,243 --> 01:13:37,176
-before you answer this question. -(BOTH LAUGHING)

1642
01:13:38,176 --> 01:13:40,276
Knicks or Nets?

1643
01:13:40,343 --> 01:13:42,476
-Spike, Spike, Spike! -SPIKE: Carefully! Carefully!

1644
01:13:42,543 --> 01:13:44,043
Why is this such a hard question?

1645
01:13:44,109 --> 01:13:45,176
SPIKE: Carefully.

1646
01:13:45,243 --> 01:13:46,443
Coach Thibodeau on the Knicks.

1647
01:13:46,509 --> 01:13:49,709
All right, thank you. (LAUGHS)

1648
01:13:49,776 --> 01:13:52,376
I was also applying to graduate school this year,

1649
01:13:52,443 --> 01:13:54,609
-and I got in everywhere. -SPIKE: Where'd you apply to?

1650
01:13:54,676 --> 01:13:56,343
Before you give us where you got in,

1651
01:13:56,409 --> 01:13:57,443
where'd you apply to?

1652
01:13:57,509 --> 01:14:01,276
I applied to NYU, UPenn, University of Chicago,

1653
01:14:01,343 --> 01:14:03,809
University of Michigan, and UCLA.

1654
01:14:04,076 --> 01:14:06,643
-SPIKE: Grad school for what? -Um, urban planning.

1655
01:14:06,709 --> 01:14:08,676
SPIKE: Now, I want you to think very carefully.

1656
01:14:08,743 --> 01:14:11,076
(ALL LAUGH)

1657
01:14:11,143 --> 01:14:14,543
SPIKE: Because we have four people right here

1658
01:14:14,609 --> 01:14:17,543
-from one of the schools-- -You're gonna like my answer. You're gonna like my answer.

1659
01:14:17,609 --> 01:14:19,376
-SPIKE: One of the schools you mentioned. -Okay.

1660
01:14:19,443 --> 01:14:21,176
SPIKE: So who'd you accept from?

1661
01:14:21,243 --> 01:14:23,409
-Um, I'm going to NYU. -SPIKE: Oh! (CLAPS)

1662
01:14:23,476 --> 01:14:27,109
-Because-- It gets better. -SPIKE: Operators, give it up.

1663
01:14:27,176 --> 01:14:28,209
Hands off the camera.

1664
01:14:28,276 --> 01:14:30,076
-(SCATTERED APPLAUSE) -(BOTH LAUGHING)

1665
01:14:30,143 --> 01:14:32,776
-Thank you. -SPIKE: NYU Violets, all right.

1666
01:14:33,043 --> 01:14:36,709
I'll be part of the inaugural cohort

1667
01:14:36,776 --> 01:14:38,409
of the Bloomberg Fellowship there.

1668
01:14:38,476 --> 01:14:41,109
I'm expecting even bigger things from you than your brother.

1669
01:14:41,176 --> 01:14:42,509
-Exactly, exactly. -SPIKE: Later for him.

1670
01:14:42,576 --> 01:14:44,476
-Later for him. (LAUGHING) -Definitely.

1671
01:14:44,543 --> 01:14:46,243
SPIKE: Well, he's gonna be a doctor. He--

1672
01:14:46,309 --> 01:14:47,476
-So what? -Exactly.

1673
01:14:47,543 --> 01:14:49,209
Well, he wants special treatment.

1674
01:14:49,276 --> 01:14:51,309
He'll say he's my brother, not the other way around.

1675
01:14:51,376 --> 01:14:52,443
SPIKE: All right, there you go.

1676
01:14:52,509 --> 01:14:55,709
Well, congratulations to the both of you.

1677
01:14:57,109 --> 01:14:58,809
You made the right choice with the Knicks,

1678
01:14:59,076 --> 01:15:01,443
and you definitely made the right choice going to NYU.

1679
01:15:01,509 --> 01:15:03,509
(SPIKE LAUGHING)

1680
01:15:05,209 --> 01:15:08,376
SPIKE: With this whole thing happening with the governor,

1681
01:15:08,443 --> 01:15:12,109
I come to the song by the great James Brown,

1682
01:15:12,176 --> 01:15:16,509
and title's called "The Big Payback." (LAUGHS)

1683
01:15:16,576 --> 01:15:20,443
-You are so mischievous. -SPIKE: And when I read you talk about the guy up there...

1684
01:15:20,509 --> 01:15:22,709
-BILL DE BLASIO: You're mischievous. -SPIKE:  ...I'm thinking about

1685
01:15:22,776 --> 01:15:26,109
the James Brown song, "The Big Payback."

1686
01:15:28,209 --> 01:15:29,343
Truth.

1687
01:15:29,409 --> 01:15:32,109
There's something-- It's a kind of corruption

1688
01:15:33,109 --> 01:15:34,276
that is...

1689
01:15:36,343 --> 01:15:38,343
so normalized

1690
01:15:38,409 --> 01:15:40,543
to the point of thousands of people died

1691
01:15:40,609 --> 01:15:41,676
and we don't know why,

1692
01:15:41,743 --> 01:15:43,176
to the point of...

1693
01:15:44,476 --> 01:15:47,443
families who can't get answers, can't get the truth,

1694
01:15:47,509 --> 01:15:52,409
or the facts being covered up to sell a book.

1695
01:15:52,476 --> 01:15:55,243
I mean, we've never seen anything like this.

1696
01:15:55,309 --> 01:15:58,209
So the underlying reality, why our leaders

1697
01:15:58,276 --> 01:16:01,643
get so much ability to run wild...

1698
01:16:03,543 --> 01:16:05,809
that's a bigger thing we got to confront.

1699
01:16:06,076 --> 01:16:08,243
My name is Michael Lomonaco.

1700
01:16:08,309 --> 01:16:12,176
I was the chef-director of Windows on the World,

1701
01:16:12,243 --> 01:16:15,076
the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center,

1702
01:16:15,409 --> 01:16:16,643
Tower One.

1703
01:16:16,709 --> 01:16:20,643
The restaurant business during the pandemic

1704
01:16:21,643 --> 01:16:24,143
has taken a hit.

1705
01:16:24,209 --> 01:16:27,209
The hundreds of thousands of people who are out of work

1706
01:16:27,276 --> 01:16:31,376
are the people who are suffering the most.

1707
01:16:31,443 --> 01:16:34,109
The porters, the cooks, the line cooks,

1708
01:16:34,176 --> 01:16:36,643
the prep cooks, the wait staff, the bussers.

1709
01:16:36,709 --> 01:16:38,343
You know, these are people who really work

1710
01:16:38,409 --> 01:16:40,343
from week to week, you know, from check to check.

1711
01:16:40,409 --> 01:16:41,509
It's been tragic.

1712
01:16:41,576 --> 01:16:44,376
What's up, party people? My name is Rosie Perez,

1713
01:16:44,443 --> 01:16:46,709
representing Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

1714
01:16:46,776 --> 01:16:50,809
Actress, activist, and Puerto Rican icon.

1715
01:16:51,076 --> 01:16:53,276
The origins of Brooklyn For Life,

1716
01:16:53,343 --> 01:16:55,143
nobody knows the real story.

1717
01:16:55,209 --> 01:16:57,176
And that's because Jeffrey Wright's involved.

1718
01:16:57,243 --> 01:17:00,043
Jeffrey Wright, here in Fort Greene.

1719
01:17:03,509 --> 01:17:04,809
SPIKE: You're an actor, activist.

1720
01:17:05,076 --> 01:17:06,609
Man. Come on, man. Entrepreneur?

1721
01:17:06,676 --> 01:17:08,243
Oh, I don't know. I'm just, you know,

1722
01:17:08,309 --> 01:17:11,043
-I'm just a citizen, Spike. -SPIKE: All right, here we go.

1723
01:17:11,109 --> 01:17:12,609
You know, talking to Mike, I said, "Hey."

1724
01:17:12,676 --> 01:17:14,776
Over at Brooklyn Moon, I said, "Listen, uh,

1725
01:17:15,043 --> 01:17:17,509
I'll help promote the word that you're going delivery,

1726
01:17:17,576 --> 01:17:19,209
you know, 'cause the lockdown's coming,

1727
01:17:19,276 --> 01:17:21,176
and, you know, um, see what we can do," you know?

1728
01:17:21,243 --> 01:17:22,376
So he said, "bet," you know?

1729
01:17:22,443 --> 01:17:24,243
So he, you know, he went on lockdown,

1730
01:17:24,309 --> 01:17:25,743
and, you know, I said, you know,

1731
01:17:25,809 --> 01:17:28,476
on Instagram and Twitter, "Hey, Brooklyn Moon," you know.

1732
01:17:28,543 --> 01:17:30,343
(LAUGHING)  "Delivery's on."

1733
01:17:30,409 --> 01:17:32,209
I said, "Mike, how'd you do at the end of day?"

1734
01:17:32,276 --> 01:17:33,809
He said, "Bro, I got five orders, man."

1735
01:17:34,076 --> 01:17:35,243
I was like, "Oh, okay.

1736
01:17:35,309 --> 01:17:37,409
-That's not going to work." -(SPIKE LAUGHS)

1737
01:17:37,476 --> 01:17:39,809
Then somebody hit me on Twitter,

1738
01:17:40,076 --> 01:17:41,776
and he's friends with Vito Randazzo

1739
01:17:42,043 --> 01:17:44,343
over at Graziella's, and he said, "Hey,

1740
01:17:44,409 --> 01:17:46,409
Vito's got this Operation Pizza thing.

1741
01:17:46,476 --> 01:17:48,343
He's got customers paying for pizzas

1742
01:17:48,409 --> 01:17:50,209
to take 'em to Brooklyn Hospital."

1743
01:17:50,276 --> 01:17:53,409
Um, uh, "You want to help us?" I said, "Oh, wow. Okay.

1744
01:17:53,476 --> 01:17:55,643
Yeah, definitely. That's the move."

1745
01:17:55,709 --> 01:17:58,509
So two of them working together,

1746
01:17:58,576 --> 01:18:00,443
you know, a hundred meals each, 200 meals each,

1747
01:18:00,509 --> 01:18:02,809
and then of course it's like, "Well, hey," you know,

1748
01:18:03,076 --> 01:18:04,243
"Let's try to expand it."

1749
01:18:04,309 --> 01:18:06,176
You know, Vito said, "Hey, I got some friends,

1750
01:18:06,243 --> 01:18:08,343
you know, restaurant owners, they could use some help.

1751
01:18:08,409 --> 01:18:09,776
You know, let's try to pull them in."

1752
01:18:10,043 --> 01:18:12,343
And I said, "Okay, cool. Let's see what we can do."

1753
01:18:12,409 --> 01:18:13,643
Then Brooklyn Borough president,

1754
01:18:13,709 --> 01:18:15,476
his office reached out to me, Eric Adams,

1755
01:18:15,543 --> 01:18:17,643
who helped us shoulder this thing, you know,

1756
01:18:17,709 --> 01:18:20,309
from the gate.

1757
01:18:20,376 --> 01:18:23,176
And he said, "Can you take it Brooklyn-wide?"

1758
01:18:23,243 --> 01:18:25,743
And I said, "Oh." (LAUGHING) I said--

1759
01:18:25,809 --> 01:18:28,509
SPIKE: Lead the force! Take it to the rest of the borough, right?

1760
01:18:28,576 --> 01:18:31,609
-Exactly, exactly. -And he calls me up,

1761
01:18:31,676 --> 01:18:33,609
"You know Vito? You know Brooklyn Moon?"

1762
01:18:33,676 --> 01:18:36,043
I said, "Yeah." He goes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1763
01:18:36,109 --> 01:18:37,743
Brooklyn For Life.

1764
01:18:37,809 --> 01:18:39,543
How's that sound?" I said, "I don't know

1765
01:18:39,609 --> 01:18:41,143
what the fuck you're talking about."

1766
01:18:41,209 --> 01:18:43,709
(SPIKE LAUGHING)

1767
01:18:43,776 --> 01:18:45,743
(LAUGHING) Like what?

1768
01:18:47,043 --> 01:18:49,143
Finally explains it to me.

1769
01:18:49,209 --> 01:18:53,276
"Why don't we help the community help each other

1770
01:18:53,343 --> 01:18:56,509
and give a handout to these healthcare workers?

1771
01:18:56,576 --> 01:18:58,776
And let's not take our time with this.

1772
01:18:59,043 --> 01:19:00,509
This is emergency."

1773
01:19:00,576 --> 01:19:02,809
He says, "So whatever money you got, you give."

1774
01:19:03,076 --> 01:19:05,543
I said, "Okay." And he says, "I'll call you back.

1775
01:19:05,609 --> 01:19:08,243
I'ma hit up Daniel Craig." (LAUGHS)

1776
01:19:08,309 --> 01:19:11,043
He calls me back and he said, "Daniel Craig is in."

1777
01:19:11,109 --> 01:19:13,076
I said, "What the hell does Daniel Craig

1778
01:19:13,143 --> 01:19:14,376
have anything to do with Brooklyn?"

1779
01:19:14,443 --> 01:19:16,309
-He goes, "He lives in Brooklyn." -Brooklyn for life.

1780
01:19:16,376 --> 01:19:20,376
I was like, "Wow, 007 lives in Brooklyn. Holla."

1781
01:19:20,443 --> 01:19:22,543
So I start hitting it up on Twitter,

1782
01:19:22,609 --> 01:19:24,743
you know, social media, and everything.

1783
01:19:24,809 --> 01:19:26,643
And it just kept getting bigger and bigger.

1784
01:19:26,709 --> 01:19:29,276
And he's like, "Call people." I started calling people.

1785
01:19:29,343 --> 01:19:31,209
-I called you. -Brooklyn for life.

1786
01:19:31,276 --> 01:19:33,709
-Bobby Cannavale. -You know they're ready to step up.

1787
01:19:33,776 --> 01:19:35,543
-Rose Byrne. -Spread love.

1788
01:19:35,609 --> 01:19:37,209
Called Michael K. Williams.

1789
01:19:37,276 --> 01:19:39,176
Like them, I'm Brooklyn for life.

1790
01:19:39,243 --> 01:19:41,576
Everybody was in. Everyone said yes.

1791
01:19:41,643 --> 01:19:45,309
You know, Rosie, as you said, uh, you know, stepped up.

1792
01:19:45,376 --> 01:19:47,143
Everybody came together.

1793
01:19:47,209 --> 01:19:48,676
And Jeffrey goes, "Will you--

1794
01:19:48,743 --> 01:19:50,409
Do you think Spike will direct us?"

1795
01:19:50,476 --> 01:19:51,743
I said, "Hell, yeah.

1796
01:19:51,809 --> 01:19:53,509
Even though he dipped out on Brooklyn,

1797
01:19:53,576 --> 01:19:55,143
at least he still works in Brooklyn."

1798
01:19:55,209 --> 01:19:58,709
SPIKE: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! (LAUGHS)

1799
01:19:58,776 --> 01:20:00,176
I had to make a choice, Rosie.

1800
01:20:00,243 --> 01:20:01,776
I know, the whole neighborhood knows the story.

1801
01:20:02,043 --> 01:20:03,043
(SPIKE LAUGHING)

1802
01:20:03,109 --> 01:20:05,343
The entire neighborhood know the story.

1803
01:20:05,409 --> 01:20:06,743
That they were dragging you,

1804
01:20:06,809 --> 01:20:09,809
you with your nails in the Brooklyn cobblestones

1805
01:20:10,076 --> 01:20:12,576
like... (SCREAMING)

1806
01:20:12,643 --> 01:20:13,776
SPIKE: But here's the thing, though.

1807
01:20:14,043 --> 01:20:16,076
Everybody in Brooklyn knew where we lived.

1808
01:20:16,143 --> 01:20:17,376
-Everybody. -SPIKE: Everybody.

1809
01:20:17,443 --> 01:20:19,476
And they were ringing the bell 4:00 a.m. in the morning.

1810
01:20:19,543 --> 01:20:22,576
-It's understandable. -As far as infrastructure,

1811
01:20:22,643 --> 01:20:25,509
it was just Mike's daughter, Camille Thompson,

1812
01:20:25,576 --> 01:20:28,409
who was like locked up in her apartment ultimately,

1813
01:20:28,476 --> 01:20:30,743
coordinating the delivery of 2,500 meals a day

1814
01:20:30,809 --> 01:20:32,476
from her apartment, never left.

1815
01:20:32,543 --> 01:20:36,776
Hitting, you know, the circle of 50 restaurants,

1816
01:20:37,043 --> 01:20:39,276
ten hospitals across the borough,

1817
01:20:39,343 --> 01:20:41,243
all ten EMS stations,

1818
01:20:41,309 --> 01:20:43,076
even some police stations here and there.

1819
01:20:43,143 --> 01:20:44,443
And she was just killing it.

1820
01:20:44,509 --> 01:20:46,276
SPIKE:  Do you know how much money you were able to raise?

1821
01:20:46,343 --> 01:20:49,643
First, the goal was to 5,000, and we surpassed 5,000.

1822
01:20:49,709 --> 01:20:54,809
And then the goal was, I think, 15, then 25, then 250,

1823
01:20:55,076 --> 01:20:58,376
and then 500, and then a million.

1824
01:20:58,443 --> 01:20:59,509
And it just kept going.

1825
01:20:59,576 --> 01:21:01,243
We ended up raising

1826
01:21:01,309 --> 01:21:03,343
-a million and a half dollars. -SPIKE: God bless.

1827
01:21:03,409 --> 01:21:07,109
And we delivered 170,000 meals.

1828
01:21:07,176 --> 01:21:08,243
(SPIKE WHISTLES)

1829
01:21:08,309 --> 01:21:11,209
On average, about 2,500 meals per day.

1830
01:21:11,276 --> 01:21:13,209
We got up to like 5,000 meals per day.

1831
01:21:13,276 --> 01:21:15,376
It was like, "Hey, everybody chill." (LAUGHS)

1832
01:21:15,443 --> 01:21:18,409
Not only did it really help the healthcare workers.

1833
01:21:18,476 --> 01:21:20,509
The reason why Jeffrey goes, "We need other restaurants,"

1834
01:21:20,576 --> 01:21:22,409
'cause they were like, "Listen,

1835
01:21:22,476 --> 01:21:25,309
we can only eat so much pizza every day."

1836
01:21:25,376 --> 01:21:26,376
(BOTH LAUGHING)

1837
01:21:26,443 --> 01:21:28,409
"You got something else on the menu?"

1838
01:21:28,476 --> 01:21:31,576
So it helped, specifically,

1839
01:21:31,643 --> 01:21:34,076
Clinton Hill and Fort Greene stay afloat.

1840
01:21:34,143 --> 01:21:36,243
-SPIKE:  Mm-hmm. -It really, really did,

1841
01:21:36,309 --> 01:21:40,409
because the message was, don't only help the hospitals,

1842
01:21:40,476 --> 01:21:43,043
help the businesses that are struggling.

1843
01:21:43,109 --> 01:21:45,243
-Please frequent your businesses. -SPIKE:  Right.

1844
01:21:45,309 --> 01:21:47,509
-ROSIE PEREZ: So people started doing it. -SPIKE:  Mm-hmm.

1845
01:21:47,576 --> 01:21:50,743
ROSIE:  And it really, really helped out the neighborhood.

1846
01:21:50,809 --> 01:21:52,676
I give Jeffrey Wright so much credit

1847
01:21:52,743 --> 01:21:55,176
'cause a lot of people were just either depressed

1848
01:21:55,243 --> 01:21:57,709
or in a panic. And he was proactive.

1849
01:21:57,776 --> 01:21:59,709
The CDC's advising the use

1850
01:21:59,776 --> 01:22:03,309
of nonmedical cloth face covering

1851
01:22:03,376 --> 01:22:06,543
as an additional voluntary public health measure.

1852
01:22:06,609 --> 01:22:08,576
So it's voluntary. You don't have to do it.

1853
01:22:08,643 --> 01:22:11,343
They suggest it for a period of time.

1854
01:22:12,109 --> 01:22:15,209
But, uh, this is voluntary.

1855
01:22:15,276 --> 01:22:16,776
I don't think I'm gonna be doing it.

1856
01:22:17,043 --> 01:22:19,209
From the beginning, his primary interest

1857
01:22:19,276 --> 01:22:22,509
was in ignoring and dismissing it,

1858
01:22:22,576 --> 01:22:25,776
as opposed to confronting it with the fierce urgency of now,

1859
01:22:26,043 --> 01:22:28,176
which is why we find ourselves in a situation

1860
01:22:28,243 --> 01:22:31,176
where hundreds of thousands of Americans have died.

1861
01:22:31,243 --> 01:22:33,443
Many of them unnecessarily

1862
01:22:33,509 --> 01:22:35,443
because of the lack of leadership

1863
01:22:35,509 --> 01:22:37,776
coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

1864
01:22:38,043 --> 01:22:41,076
We're working very closely with China and other countries.

1865
01:22:41,143 --> 01:22:44,576
And we think it's going to have a very good ending for us.

1866
01:22:44,643 --> 01:22:46,476
In April when it gets warm,

1867
01:22:46,543 --> 01:22:49,709
uh, historically that has been able to kill the virus.

1868
01:22:49,776 --> 01:22:55,509
The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus.

1869
01:22:55,576 --> 01:22:57,209
This is their new hoax.

1870
01:22:57,276 --> 01:22:59,076
It's an unforeseen problem.

1871
01:22:59,143 --> 01:23:00,809
-What a problem. -(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)

1872
01:23:01,076 --> 01:23:02,109
Came out of nowhere.

1873
01:23:02,176 --> 01:23:04,076
Our country wasn't built to be shut down.

1874
01:23:04,143 --> 01:23:06,209
You have suicides over things like this

1875
01:23:06,276 --> 01:23:08,176
when you have terrible economies.

1876
01:23:08,243 --> 01:23:10,076
And then I said, "Supposing you brought the light

1877
01:23:10,143 --> 01:23:11,709
inside the body," which you can do

1878
01:23:11,776 --> 01:23:15,209
either through the skin or in some other way.

1879
01:23:15,276 --> 01:23:19,276
And then I see the disinfectant by injection

1880
01:23:19,343 --> 01:23:22,743
inside or... or almost a cleaning.

1881
01:23:22,809 --> 01:23:24,476
'Cause you see, it gets on the lungs.

1882
01:23:24,543 --> 01:23:27,643
This is gonna go away without a vaccine. It's gonna go away, and...

1883
01:23:27,709 --> 01:23:29,176
Everybody was saying, "Don't wear a mask."

1884
01:23:29,243 --> 01:23:30,643
All of a sudden, everybody's gotta wear a mask.

1885
01:23:30,709 --> 01:23:32,309
REPORTER: A thousand Americans are dying a day.

1886
01:23:32,376 --> 01:23:35,643
They are dying. That's true. And you have-- It is what it is.

1887
01:23:35,709 --> 01:23:38,276
-(CROWD CHEERING) -It affects virtually nobody.

1888
01:23:38,343 --> 01:23:40,576
Our doctors get more money if somebody dies from COVID.

1889
01:23:40,643 --> 01:23:42,109
-(CROWD AGREEING) -You know that, right?

1890
01:23:42,176 --> 01:23:43,476
They've used the pandemic

1891
01:23:43,543 --> 01:23:45,443
as a way of defrauding the people.

1892
01:23:45,509 --> 01:23:48,276
He's got more blood on his hands than you know.

1893
01:23:48,343 --> 01:23:51,476
I'm Athena Jones. I'm a CNN national correspondent.

1894
01:23:51,543 --> 01:23:54,743
It's very concerning because it is baked in.

1895
01:23:54,809 --> 01:23:57,343
This idea that some people just don't believe

1896
01:23:57,409 --> 01:24:00,076
that this virus is a real thing. They think it's a hoax.

1897
01:24:00,143 --> 01:24:02,809
They think it's just like a flu or a bad cold.

1898
01:24:03,076 --> 01:24:04,776
-SPIKE: How do they think that? -They think that because

1899
01:24:05,043 --> 01:24:06,209
they're listening to the wrong people.

1900
01:24:06,276 --> 01:24:09,176
There are people who think that the world is flat.

1901
01:24:16,409 --> 01:24:19,176
My name is Jo-Ann Yoo, and I'm the executive director

1902
01:24:19,243 --> 01:24:21,109
of the Asian American Federation.

1903
01:24:21,176 --> 01:24:24,076
SPIKE: Can you give me a estimate of the total population

1904
01:24:24,143 --> 01:24:26,309
of the Asian community here in New York City?

1905
01:24:26,376 --> 01:24:27,809
-The five boroughs? -Absolutely.

1906
01:24:28,076 --> 01:24:30,376
We are 1.3 million strong.

1907
01:24:30,443 --> 01:24:33,276
It's almost 16 percent of our city's population.

1908
01:24:33,343 --> 01:24:34,509
Hi, my name is Chris Kwok.

1909
01:24:34,576 --> 01:24:37,143
I'm a mediator and arbitrator in New York City.

1910
01:24:37,209 --> 01:24:39,243
I grew up in Queens and Flushing,

1911
01:24:39,309 --> 01:24:42,509
and I'm here to represent the Asian American community.

1912
01:24:42,576 --> 01:24:44,676
SPIKE: (LAUGHING) My man, I got to fess up.

1913
01:24:44,743 --> 01:24:46,543
-Before the pandemic... -Yeah.

1914
01:24:46,609 --> 01:24:48,643
SPIKE: ...when I would see Asians wearing masks,

1915
01:24:48,709 --> 01:24:50,709
I'd be like, "What they wearing a mask for?"

1916
01:24:50,776 --> 01:24:53,276
-(CHRIS KWOK CHUCKLING) -SPIKE:  So I gotta fess up.

1917
01:24:53,343 --> 01:24:56,309
I was wrong, I was stupid,

1918
01:24:56,376 --> 01:24:59,043
and the Asian community was hip to that

1919
01:24:59,109 --> 01:25:00,809
before everybody else about wearing a mask.

1920
01:25:01,076 --> 01:25:03,543
I mean, for sure. I mean, like, if you went to Japan,

1921
01:25:03,609 --> 01:25:06,243
'cause that's where they kind of first wore the masks,

1922
01:25:06,309 --> 01:25:07,576
like every flu season.

1923
01:25:07,643 --> 01:25:09,476
And then it went to like Korea and Hong Kong.

1924
01:25:09,543 --> 01:25:12,209
You saw that a little bit. And people just did it

1925
01:25:12,276 --> 01:25:14,276
'cause it was like a way to protect others.

1926
01:25:14,343 --> 01:25:16,409
My parents made me wear a mask to school

1927
01:25:16,476 --> 01:25:18,743
because it wasn't to protect me, but it was courtesy.

1928
01:25:18,809 --> 01:25:20,276
Because when I had a sore throat, my dad--

1929
01:25:20,343 --> 01:25:22,576
you know, my parents would say, "Are you getting sick?"

1930
01:25:22,643 --> 01:25:25,609
So you need to wear a mask to protect your classmates.

1931
01:25:25,676 --> 01:25:28,409
But you put a mask on here before COVID-19,

1932
01:25:28,476 --> 01:25:29,643
people looked at you funny.

1933
01:25:29,709 --> 01:25:31,609
I'm Christian Cooper.

1934
01:25:31,676 --> 01:25:33,309
I'm a freelance writer

1935
01:25:33,376 --> 01:25:37,109
and a board member with New York City Audubon,

1936
01:25:37,176 --> 01:25:39,143
and a long-time birder.

1937
01:25:39,209 --> 01:25:41,176
We are in the middle of the Ramble.

1938
01:25:41,243 --> 01:25:43,576
It's a protected area of Central Park

1939
01:25:43,643 --> 01:25:45,443
because there's a lot of wildlife here,

1940
01:25:45,509 --> 01:25:47,643
there's a lot of delicate plantings,

1941
01:25:47,709 --> 01:25:50,076
and habitat for birds,

1942
01:25:50,143 --> 01:25:52,443
especially migrating birds who are exhausted,

1943
01:25:52,509 --> 01:25:54,443
have traveled hundreds of miles.

1944
01:25:54,509 --> 01:25:56,576
And this is where, when they hit New York City,

1945
01:25:56,643 --> 01:25:59,509
they see Central Park, this big swath of green

1946
01:25:59,576 --> 01:26:02,176
with plantings and with waterways

1947
01:26:02,243 --> 01:26:03,343
and in particular, the Ramble,

1948
01:26:03,409 --> 01:26:04,709
where there's a lot of undergrowth,

1949
01:26:04,776 --> 01:26:06,709
and they just all-- they pile in here.

1950
01:26:06,776 --> 01:26:10,243
SPIKE: I have never, ever heard of the Ramble.

1951
01:26:10,309 --> 01:26:14,776
The Ramble is famous for some of the, um,

1952
01:26:15,043 --> 01:26:19,176
oldest things in the book. I'm a gay man myself,

1953
01:26:19,243 --> 01:26:21,243
and back in the day, the Ramble--

1954
01:26:21,309 --> 01:26:24,509
-SPIKE: Back in the back-back, right? -Back, back in the way back,

1955
01:26:24,576 --> 01:26:27,509
the Ramble was famous for gay men hooking up

1956
01:26:27,576 --> 01:26:29,276
because back then, there wasn't a lot of ways

1957
01:26:29,343 --> 01:26:31,776
for gay men to meet. They were all on the down low.

1958
01:26:32,043 --> 01:26:33,743
They couldn't have publicly known,

1959
01:26:33,809 --> 01:26:35,109
so a lot of them would come

1960
01:26:35,176 --> 01:26:37,176
to this part of the park in particular,

1961
01:26:37,243 --> 01:26:38,676
where they would cruise each other and meet

1962
01:26:38,743 --> 01:26:41,176
and sometimes just get it on in the bushes.

1963
01:26:41,243 --> 01:26:44,343
-Um, that was of course before-- -SPIKE: Them bushes over there?

1964
01:26:44,409 --> 01:26:45,576
Prob-- yeah, sure.

1965
01:26:45,643 --> 01:26:47,776
-(SPIKE LAUGHS) -Actually, there's a name

1966
01:26:48,043 --> 01:26:51,476
going all the way back to early 1920s

1967
01:26:51,543 --> 01:26:53,109
for this area right here.

1968
01:26:53,176 --> 01:26:56,476
It was called the Fruited Plain, because this is where

1969
01:26:56,543 --> 01:26:58,809
a lot of the gay people would come to meet each other.

1970
01:26:59,076 --> 01:27:01,109
SPIKE: When we met here for the first time,

1971
01:27:01,176 --> 01:27:03,109
I said, "You are one of a kind.

1972
01:27:03,176 --> 01:27:06,343
A Black gay male, Harvard edumacated,

1973
01:27:06,409 --> 01:27:08,576
-that's a birder." -Hear the blue jays?

1974
01:27:08,643 --> 01:27:09,776
(BLUE JAYS SQUAWKING)

1975
01:27:10,043 --> 01:27:11,776
-SPIKE: The what? -CHRISTIAN COOPER: The blue jays?

1976
01:27:12,043 --> 01:27:13,809
-SPIKE:  The Toronto Blue Jays? -CHRISTIAN:  No--  (LAUGHS)

1977
01:27:14,076 --> 01:27:17,209
-(SPIKE LAUGHING) -No. The blue jay, blue jays.

1978
01:27:17,276 --> 01:27:19,243
When they yell like that,

1979
01:27:19,309 --> 01:27:22,076
um, often it means that they found a predator

1980
01:27:22,143 --> 01:27:23,409
like a hawk or an owl.

1981
01:27:23,476 --> 01:27:25,743
They're putting the word out to the rest of the neighbors.

1982
01:27:25,809 --> 01:27:27,209
"We got a predator in the neighborhood,

1983
01:27:27,276 --> 01:27:28,543
and we gotta gang up and chase them

1984
01:27:28,609 --> 01:27:30,676
out of the neighborhood." So that's what that was.

1985
01:27:30,743 --> 01:27:33,143
SPIKE: So let's go back to Memorial Day.

1986
01:27:33,209 --> 01:27:35,476
I had pretty much wrapped up my birding,

1987
01:27:35,543 --> 01:27:37,609
planning to work my way out of the park

1988
01:27:37,676 --> 01:27:41,076
the way I normally do, and I hear...

1989
01:27:42,376 --> 01:27:44,043
this woman yelling for her dog,

1990
01:27:44,109 --> 01:27:46,776
which is a sure sign that the dog is off leash

1991
01:27:47,043 --> 01:27:48,076
here in the Ramble.

1992
01:27:48,143 --> 01:27:50,809
So I waited until she was right next to the sign.

1993
01:27:51,076 --> 01:27:52,676
And I said to her, "Excuse me, ma'am,

1994
01:27:52,743 --> 01:27:54,243
but dogs in the Ramble

1995
01:27:54,309 --> 01:27:56,676
have to be on the leash at all times.

1996
01:27:56,743 --> 01:27:57,809
The sign's right there,

1997
01:27:58,076 --> 01:27:59,276
you're standing right next to it.

1998
01:27:59,343 --> 01:28:01,643
But all you have to do is take your dog

1999
01:28:01,709 --> 01:28:04,176
a couple of yards that way,

2000
01:28:04,243 --> 01:28:07,109
cross the drive, and you're out of the Ramble,

2001
01:28:07,176 --> 01:28:08,809
and you're in a different part of the park

2002
01:28:09,076 --> 01:28:11,109
where you can have your dog off the leash

2003
01:28:11,176 --> 01:28:14,676
to your heart's content until 9:00 a.m."

2004
01:28:14,743 --> 01:28:17,543
And she says, "Oh, but that's too dangerous."

2005
01:28:19,409 --> 01:28:21,776
It was quite clear that the point here was that,

2006
01:28:22,043 --> 01:28:23,743
"I'm gonna do what I wanna do, and that's that."

2007
01:28:23,809 --> 01:28:26,076
I said, "Look, if you're gonna do what you want,

2008
01:28:26,143 --> 01:28:29,109
I'm gonna do what I want, but you're not gonna like it."

2009
01:28:30,676 --> 01:28:32,376
And she's like, "What's that?"

2010
01:28:32,443 --> 01:28:36,243
And I start to call her dog to get it out of the shrubs.

2011
01:28:36,309 --> 01:28:40,176
And at this point, it's tearing across the lawn.

2012
01:28:40,243 --> 01:28:43,343
And she says, "Oh, my dog won't come to you."

2013
01:28:43,409 --> 01:28:47,143
Well, what she didn't know is I carry dog treats.

2014
01:28:48,309 --> 01:28:51,543
(SPIKE LAUGHING)

2015
01:28:51,609 --> 01:28:54,043
'Cause I've been birding the park for 35 years,

2016
01:28:54,109 --> 01:28:57,176
dealing with this for 35 years.

2017
01:28:57,243 --> 01:28:58,376
So I pull out the dog treats.

2018
01:28:58,443 --> 01:29:00,443
I didn't even get to toss them. I never got that far.

2019
01:29:00,509 --> 01:29:02,776
'Cause as soon as she saw the dog treats come out...

2020
01:29:03,809 --> 01:29:06,409
she spiraled out of control.

2021
01:29:06,476 --> 01:29:08,376
But whatever was going on with her,

2022
01:29:08,443 --> 01:29:09,809
she was not behaving rationally.

2023
01:29:10,076 --> 01:29:12,209
She ran over to the dog,

2024
01:29:12,276 --> 01:29:14,476
and instead of putting the dog on the leash,

2025
01:29:14,543 --> 01:29:16,243
she picks it up by the collar

2026
01:29:16,309 --> 01:29:18,443
and is dragging the dog around by the collar.

2027
01:29:18,509 --> 01:29:22,143
And I'm like, "Well, that's not the desired response."

2028
01:29:22,209 --> 01:29:26,076
So I switch up tactics, and I'm like, "All right, that didn't work."

2029
01:29:26,143 --> 01:29:29,076
So I pull out my cell phone. That set her off.

2030
01:29:29,143 --> 01:29:30,476
AMY COOPER:

2031
01:29:32,343 --> 01:29:33,709
CHRISTIAN:

2032
01:29:33,776 --> 01:29:35,276
AMY:

2033
01:29:35,343 --> 01:29:36,443
CHRISTIAN:

2034
01:29:36,509 --> 01:29:38,409
-AMY: -CHRISTIAN:

2035
01:29:38,476 --> 01:29:39,609
AMY:

2036
01:29:39,676 --> 01:29:43,276
CHRISTIAN:

2037
01:29:43,343 --> 01:29:45,676
AMY:

2038
01:29:45,743 --> 01:29:49,643
At that point, I'm like, "Oh, she's going there with this."

2039
01:29:50,576 --> 01:29:52,209
Because up until then,

2040
01:29:52,276 --> 01:29:55,276
it's been a conflict between a birder and a dog walker.

2041
01:29:55,343 --> 01:29:57,076
You know, happens all the time.

2042
01:29:57,143 --> 01:29:59,276
But now she's taken it to a racial place.

2043
01:30:06,543 --> 01:30:10,176
And it was clearly an attempt to racially intimidate.

2044
01:30:10,243 --> 01:30:12,343
You know, she was gonna play the race card

2045
01:30:12,409 --> 01:30:16,243
to try to get me to conform to what she wanted me to do,

2046
01:30:16,309 --> 01:30:17,643
which was stop recording her.

2047
01:30:17,709 --> 01:30:22,209
And I made the conscious decision at that point

2048
01:30:22,276 --> 01:30:24,676
that I was not going to participate

2049
01:30:24,743 --> 01:30:26,409
in my own dehumanization.

2050
01:30:27,309 --> 01:30:28,776
(DOG PANTING)

2051
01:30:32,176 --> 01:30:34,143
CHRISTIAN:  And then she gets increasingly performative

2052
01:30:34,209 --> 01:30:37,309
as she's not getting the urgency of response

2053
01:30:37,376 --> 01:30:39,543
she feels she should be getting from the other end

2054
01:30:39,609 --> 01:30:43,409
of the line on 911. And then finally,

2055
01:30:43,476 --> 01:30:44,743
she puts the dog on the leash,

2056
01:30:45,343 --> 01:30:46,376
and I say...

2057
01:30:46,443 --> 01:30:47,443
AMY:

2058
01:30:48,176 --> 01:30:49,076
CHRISTIAN:

2059
01:30:49,143 --> 01:30:51,609
I turned off the video and she says,

2060
01:30:51,676 --> 01:30:54,343
"Oh, now that I called the police,

2061
01:30:54,409 --> 01:30:57,509
you stop recording." And I said, "No.

2062
01:30:57,576 --> 01:30:59,476
Now that you put your dog on the leash,

2063
01:30:59,543 --> 01:31:00,576
I stopped recording."

2064
01:31:00,643 --> 01:31:04,309
And I start to walk away 'cause I'm done with her.

2065
01:31:04,376 --> 01:31:06,309
-SPIKE: Done, right? -No, well, I mean, you know,

2066
01:31:06,376 --> 01:31:08,443
I did not get up at 5:30 in the morning

2067
01:31:08,509 --> 01:31:12,076
to deal with the likes of her. I got up to look for birds,

2068
01:31:12,143 --> 01:31:14,243
and that's what I'm gonna go back to doing.

2069
01:31:14,309 --> 01:31:16,809
It is over. The second her dog was on the leash,

2070
01:31:17,076 --> 01:31:19,043
it was done for me.

2071
01:31:19,109 --> 01:31:22,243
What she did was unmistakably a racist act.

2072
01:31:22,309 --> 01:31:25,376
And it was a crappy thing to do to anybody.

2073
01:31:26,309 --> 01:31:28,309
But all of that said,

2074
01:31:28,376 --> 01:31:29,643
maybe because I was there,

2075
01:31:29,709 --> 01:31:33,276
I can't help but see her as a human being.

2076
01:31:33,343 --> 01:31:34,743
SPIKE: So you had some empathy for her, right?

2077
01:31:34,809 --> 01:31:38,443
Yeah. I mean, she's a deeply flawed human being. Um...

2078
01:31:38,509 --> 01:31:41,176
Uh, but I can't help but see her as a human being,

2079
01:31:41,243 --> 01:31:43,109
and I think a lot of people who were not there,

2080
01:31:43,176 --> 01:31:44,576
'cause nobody was there but me and her,

2081
01:31:44,643 --> 01:31:48,109
you know, it's easy to objectify her into a villain,

2082
01:31:48,176 --> 01:31:50,676
a cardboard villain. It's on her.

2083
01:31:50,743 --> 01:31:52,443
She did it to herself.

2084
01:31:52,509 --> 01:31:55,343
She pulled the pin on the grenade of race

2085
01:31:55,409 --> 01:31:56,509
and tried to lob it at me.

2086
01:31:56,576 --> 01:31:58,743
And instead, it blew up in her face and in her hand.

2087
01:31:58,809 --> 01:32:02,343
The same day as what went down here in Central Park,

2088
01:32:02,409 --> 01:32:05,043
later on that afternoon in Minnesota,

2089
01:32:05,109 --> 01:32:08,176
ironically, the same state where Philando Castile happened.

2090
01:32:08,243 --> 01:32:09,609
OFFICER JERONIMO YANEZ: Pull it out.

2091
01:32:09,676 --> 01:32:11,509
-(GUNSHOTS) -(SCREAMING)

2092
01:32:11,576 --> 01:32:13,243
DIAMOND REYNOLDS: You just killed my boyfriend!

2093
01:32:13,309 --> 01:32:15,543
PHILANDO CASTILE: (CRYING) I wasn't reaching...

2094
01:32:15,609 --> 01:32:17,643
It was when that white police officer

2095
01:32:17,709 --> 01:32:20,343
put his knee on George Floyd's neck.

2096
01:32:20,409 --> 01:32:23,443
-GEORGE FLOYD:  Mama. Mama. -OFFICER:  Get up and get in the car.

2097
01:32:23,509 --> 01:32:24,743
GEORGE:  I can't.

2098
01:32:24,809 --> 01:32:27,109
(GEORGE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

2099
01:32:27,176 --> 01:32:28,343
(GEORGE SOBBING)

2100
01:32:29,809 --> 01:32:33,576
I get this call in the middle of the pandemic

2101
01:32:33,643 --> 01:32:35,776
from Attorney Ben Crump.

2102
01:32:36,043 --> 01:32:37,409
And Ben Crump said,

2103
01:32:37,476 --> 01:32:39,276
"You heard about what happened in Minneapolis?

2104
01:32:39,343 --> 01:32:41,409
This man, George Floyd?" I said, "Yeah."

2105
01:32:41,476 --> 01:32:44,409
He said, "The family wants you to get involved.

2106
01:32:44,476 --> 01:32:47,176
Would you go to Minneapolis

2107
01:32:47,243 --> 01:32:50,043
and lead a vigil or something and focus on this?

2108
01:32:50,109 --> 01:32:52,576
'Cause they don't want it to be violent."

2109
01:32:52,643 --> 01:32:55,476
I said, "Okay, tell the family I'll try to work it out."

2110
01:32:55,543 --> 01:32:57,143
I called Eric Garner's mother.

2111
01:32:57,209 --> 01:32:58,743
Why'd I call Eric Garner's mother?

2112
01:32:58,809 --> 01:33:02,209
'Cause the tape showed where George Floyd said,

2113
01:33:02,276 --> 01:33:03,376
"I can't breathe."

2114
01:33:03,443 --> 01:33:06,143
That's the same thing Eric Garner had said

2115
01:33:06,209 --> 01:33:09,776
while he was being choked to death by a police officer

2116
01:33:10,043 --> 01:33:13,376
in New York that plant him in a chokehold.

2117
01:33:13,443 --> 01:33:16,243
And I wanted to show this was systemic.

2118
01:33:16,309 --> 01:33:17,743
This wasn't isolated.

2119
01:33:17,809 --> 01:33:20,176
Six years ago, it was Eric Garner

2120
01:33:20,243 --> 01:33:21,409
saying, "I can't breathe."

2121
01:33:21,476 --> 01:33:24,443
Six years later in the gutters of Minneapolis,

2122
01:33:24,509 --> 01:33:27,443
same thing, George Floyd, "I can't breathe."

2123
01:33:27,509 --> 01:33:29,076
When are y'all gonna stop this?

2124
01:33:29,143 --> 01:33:31,643
GWEN CARR: I think about that day that I was told

2125
01:33:31,709 --> 01:33:33,709
that Eric was murdered.

2126
01:33:33,776 --> 01:33:36,676
It's like an echo from the grave.

2127
01:33:36,743 --> 01:33:40,543
And even when the young man cried out, "Mama,"

2128
01:33:40,609 --> 01:33:42,409
it's like my son is saying,

2129
01:33:42,476 --> 01:33:46,076
"Mama, do something about this because it keeps on happening."

2130
01:33:46,143 --> 01:33:48,143
That knee on his neck,

2131
01:33:48,209 --> 01:33:51,309
we have all felt in our lives.

2132
01:33:51,376 --> 01:33:55,443
We could have been much bigger, better, stronger

2133
01:33:55,509 --> 01:33:57,543
in our own personal careers

2134
01:33:57,609 --> 01:33:59,676
if you'd have took your knee off our neck.

2135
01:33:59,743 --> 01:34:01,643
If there's any sign of hope,

2136
01:34:01,709 --> 01:34:05,076
it was the reaction globally and in the US,

2137
01:34:05,143 --> 01:34:08,743
and including white folks, to seeing a lynching.

2138
01:34:08,809 --> 01:34:12,343
When you have a Black man being strangled to death

2139
01:34:12,409 --> 01:34:14,209
in full view,

2140
01:34:14,276 --> 01:34:18,043
people watching, terrified, horrified, screaming, yelling,

2141
01:34:18,109 --> 01:34:20,043
trying to get the police to stop,

2142
01:34:20,109 --> 01:34:22,409
and this man's life just being taken,

2143
01:34:22,476 --> 01:34:23,809
that is a lynching.

2144
01:34:24,076 --> 01:34:26,576
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

2145
01:34:47,343 --> 01:34:49,576
In some ways, it's kind of disappointing

2146
01:34:49,643 --> 01:34:54,109
that people needed to see that to finally understand.

2147
01:34:54,176 --> 01:34:56,743
But the fact is, fine, people needed that.

2148
01:34:56,809 --> 01:34:58,609
People who aren't Black, aren't minorities,

2149
01:34:58,676 --> 01:35:00,476
haven't had their own experiences

2150
01:35:00,543 --> 01:35:03,509
dealing with police officers in an unfair way.

2151
01:35:03,576 --> 01:35:05,309
Maybe they should have known already,

2152
01:35:05,376 --> 01:35:06,409
but now they do know.

2153
01:35:06,476 --> 01:35:09,476
So people were watching the news more than ever,

2154
01:35:09,543 --> 01:35:10,676
and there's no distractions.

2155
01:35:10,743 --> 01:35:12,743
You can't watch basketball, can't watch baseball,

2156
01:35:12,809 --> 01:35:15,076
can't watch-- All that's canceled.

2157
01:35:15,143 --> 01:35:18,209
And this is the first time all of the country

2158
01:35:18,276 --> 01:35:20,543
had to see over and over and over again,

2159
01:35:20,609 --> 01:35:21,643
this knee on the neck.

2160
01:35:21,709 --> 01:35:23,443
We didn't have that with other abuses.

2161
01:35:23,509 --> 01:35:25,476
You couldn't ignore it with George Floyd.

2162
01:35:25,543 --> 01:35:27,276
And I think it brought this country

2163
01:35:27,343 --> 01:35:30,309
to the crisis point of dealing with this issue.

2164
01:35:30,376 --> 01:35:32,476
♪ (MUSIC SWELLS) ♪

2165
01:35:32,543 --> 01:35:34,309
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

2166
01:35:35,743 --> 01:35:38,443
(CROWD CHANTING)

2167
01:35:40,709 --> 01:35:43,376
CROWD: NYPD!

2168
01:35:43,443 --> 01:35:45,309
PROTESTOR 1: (CHANTING) How do you spell racist?

2169
01:35:45,376 --> 01:35:49,643
-(DRUMS BEATING) -(INDISTINCT CHANTING)

2170
01:35:49,709 --> 01:35:52,376
-CROWD: Breonna Taylor! -PROTESTOR 2: Say her name!

2171
01:35:52,443 --> 01:35:53,609
CROWD:

2172
01:35:53,676 --> 01:35:56,509
-PROTESTOR 2: Say her name! -CROWD:

2173
01:35:56,576 --> 01:35:58,743
-(CAR HORNS HONKING) -PROTESTOR 3:

2174
01:36:04,276 --> 01:36:05,709
This is the first time,

2175
01:36:05,776 --> 01:36:07,576
and I've been out here for decades,

2176
01:36:07,643 --> 01:36:09,409
that I saw some rallies

2177
01:36:09,476 --> 01:36:12,043
that there were more whites than Blacks.

2178
01:36:12,109 --> 01:36:15,709
I went, when I was in Minneapolis, to the scene

2179
01:36:15,776 --> 01:36:17,609
of where one of the marches were,

2180
01:36:17,676 --> 01:36:22,043
and a little girl, about 11 or 12, she appeared to be,

2181
01:36:22,109 --> 01:36:23,143
a white girl,

2182
01:36:23,209 --> 01:36:26,276
tugged my jacket sleeve and I just braced myself

2183
01:36:26,343 --> 01:36:28,343
and said, "Here it comes. Go home, Reverend Al.

2184
01:36:28,409 --> 01:36:29,543
What are you doing here?"

2185
01:36:29,609 --> 01:36:31,643
And I looked at this little girl getting ready

2186
01:36:31,709 --> 01:36:33,276
to, you know, heckle me.

2187
01:36:33,343 --> 01:36:35,409
And she put her little fist up and said,

2188
01:36:35,476 --> 01:36:37,143
"No justice, no peace."

2189
01:36:37,209 --> 01:36:39,076
That's when I knew this was different. (CHUCKLES)

2190
01:36:39,143 --> 01:36:40,709
This was going to be different.

2191
01:36:40,776 --> 01:36:42,743
My name is David Ushery. I'm an anchor

2192
01:36:42,809 --> 01:36:46,243
at 4:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. at NBC 4 in New York.

2193
01:36:46,309 --> 01:36:49,609
We saw a moment, forged maybe because of this COVID crisis

2194
01:36:49,676 --> 01:36:53,543
where we were forced to stop, slow down, and really look.

2195
01:36:53,609 --> 01:36:57,109
Couldn't avert our gaze from George Floyd

2196
01:36:57,176 --> 01:36:58,209
and the knee on the neck.

2197
01:36:58,276 --> 01:37:00,709
Couldn't avert our gaze from Ahmaud Arbery

2198
01:37:00,776 --> 01:37:02,309
and everything was happening.

2199
01:37:02,376 --> 01:37:04,709
And forced to confront it, and forced to have the conversation.

2200
01:37:04,776 --> 01:37:06,109
(GUNSHOT)

2201
01:37:08,776 --> 01:37:10,076
(GUNSHOT)

2202
01:37:22,076 --> 01:37:26,576
You had the pollster say 20 to 30 million white Americans

2203
01:37:26,643 --> 01:37:28,743
who have before said that anti-Black racism

2204
01:37:28,809 --> 01:37:31,609
was not a big deal, within weeks,

2205
01:37:31,676 --> 01:37:35,109
said it was at the top of their list of problems in America.

2206
01:37:35,176 --> 01:37:37,509
Martin Luther King never had a summer

2207
01:37:37,576 --> 01:37:39,776
where 30 million white folks changed their mind.

2208
01:37:40,043 --> 01:37:41,743
So that gives you something about the power

2209
01:37:41,809 --> 01:37:44,609
of this new youth movement, Black Lives Matter,

2210
01:37:44,676 --> 01:37:46,643
technology, social media.

2211
01:37:46,709 --> 01:37:49,309
So there is a constituency for change

2212
01:37:49,376 --> 01:37:52,443
that includes Blacks and whites and browns and everybody else

2213
01:37:52,509 --> 01:37:54,109
that was visible, willing to march

2214
01:37:54,176 --> 01:37:57,376
in the middle of a pandemic. That's a sign of real health.

2215
01:37:57,443 --> 01:38:00,609
You know, the antibodies against racism as a pandemic

2216
01:38:00,676 --> 01:38:02,543
kicking in all around the world.

2217
01:38:02,609 --> 01:38:04,076
All over the world!

2218
01:38:04,143 --> 01:38:06,609
♪ ("SOMEDAY WE'LL ALL BE FREE" BY DONNY HATHAWAY PLAYING) ♪

2219
01:38:28,343 --> 01:38:34,209
♪ (SINGING) ♪

2220
01:40:02,543 --> 01:40:07,309
♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

2221
01:40:39,309 --> 01:40:44,276
♪ (SINGING) ♪

2222
01:42:11,709 --> 01:42:14,309
My name is Scott Heins. I'm a photojournalist,

2223
01:42:14,376 --> 01:42:16,276
and I live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

2224
01:42:16,343 --> 01:42:19,209
We had a year's worth of protests happening

2225
01:42:19,276 --> 01:42:20,476
every single day.

2226
01:42:20,543 --> 01:42:23,609
What changed in 2020 last year was that

2227
01:42:23,676 --> 01:42:26,343
all of that happened on a spontaneous level.

2228
01:42:26,409 --> 01:42:29,676
Any given day, four, five, six different marches,

2229
01:42:29,743 --> 01:42:32,709
each one with maybe thousands of people in it,

2230
01:42:32,776 --> 01:42:36,109
moving around any of the boroughs of New York City.

2231
01:42:36,176 --> 01:42:37,776
CINDY KAMTCHOUM: Hello, my name is Cindy Kamtchoum,

2232
01:42:38,043 --> 01:42:39,709
and I'm a member of Warriors in the Garden.

2233
01:42:39,776 --> 01:42:41,476
DERRICK INGRAM: Hi, my name is Derrick Ingram,

2234
01:42:41,543 --> 01:42:44,376
and I'm executive director of Warriors in the Garden.

2235
01:42:44,443 --> 01:42:46,109
JOSEPH COCHRAN: Hi, my name is Joseph Cochran.

2236
01:42:46,176 --> 01:42:47,543
I'm the president of Warriors in the Garden.

2237
01:42:47,609 --> 01:42:50,143
CHI OSSÉ: My name is Chi Ossé. I'm one of the founding members

2238
01:42:50,209 --> 01:42:52,143
of Warriors in the Garden, and I'm a candidate

2239
01:42:52,209 --> 01:42:54,509
for New York City Council, District 36.

2240
01:42:54,576 --> 01:42:57,643
All of us came together because we were leaders,

2241
01:42:57,709 --> 01:43:01,109
we were in the front lines, and we were all like-minded,

2242
01:43:01,176 --> 01:43:03,743
and we call ourselves warriors because we enjoy that.

2243
01:43:03,809 --> 01:43:06,109
And we believe that there's a consistent fight

2244
01:43:06,176 --> 01:43:07,543
against police brutality

2245
01:43:07,609 --> 01:43:10,076
and specifically white supremacy.

2246
01:43:10,143 --> 01:43:11,509
And we want to lead that fight.

2247
01:43:11,576 --> 01:43:14,209
CINDY:  We try to make our marches as welcoming as possible,

2248
01:43:14,276 --> 01:43:18,209
so if you have someone who is actively being agitating

2249
01:43:18,276 --> 01:43:20,309
towards the police, and we're trying to be like,

2250
01:43:20,376 --> 01:43:22,176
"Hey, listen, no justice, no peace,

2251
01:43:22,243 --> 01:43:24,076
-but some peace." -Can we talk about that?

2252
01:43:24,143 --> 01:43:26,343
-I caught one of them on camera. -That's what I was gonna say.

2253
01:43:26,409 --> 01:43:29,076
-Yeah. -One of the first non-violent protests

2254
01:43:29,143 --> 01:43:31,276
that I went to, I'm literally taking a video,

2255
01:43:31,343 --> 01:43:32,709
and this white man comes over to me

2256
01:43:32,776 --> 01:43:35,443
while I'm recording and goes, "Can you flip it over?"

2257
01:43:35,509 --> 01:43:38,143
MAN: Can you flip this over? Can you flip it over?

2258
01:43:38,209 --> 01:43:39,276
CHI: What?

2259
01:43:39,343 --> 01:43:41,109
-Are you kidding me? -PROTESTOR: Are you kidding?

2260
01:43:41,176 --> 01:43:43,343
CHI: You're asking us to flip over the truck?

2261
01:43:43,409 --> 01:43:45,543
-MAN: Okay. No, no, no. -CHI: Are you fucking kidding me?

2262
01:43:45,609 --> 01:43:47,809
PROTESTOR: We do not instigate because it comes back on the Black...

2263
01:43:48,076 --> 01:43:50,176
CHI: You just asked us to flip over the fucking truck?

2264
01:43:50,243 --> 01:43:52,476
-MAN: No, no, no. -PROTESTOR: We do not instigate!

2265
01:43:52,543 --> 01:43:55,543
CHI: This man just asked us to flip over the truck

2266
01:43:55,609 --> 01:43:57,643
-with his camera out. -MAN: No, no, no, no, no.

2267
01:43:57,709 --> 01:43:59,209
CHI:  Calling up a couple of our members

2268
01:43:59,276 --> 01:44:01,176
to like shine more attention on this guy.

2269
01:44:01,243 --> 01:44:02,409
-Yeah. -Post that video.

2270
01:44:02,476 --> 01:44:05,076
Someone on Twitter sends me his live stream.

2271
01:44:05,143 --> 01:44:06,776
-He's this alt-right live streamer... -Yeah.

2272
01:44:07,043 --> 01:44:09,076
...that instigates, takes videos of, say,

2273
01:44:09,143 --> 01:44:11,376
"Let's kill like a bunch of niggers in Harlem."

2274
01:44:11,443 --> 01:44:14,276
-SPIKE: Wow. -Like, these people are out there, you know,

2275
01:44:14,343 --> 01:44:16,576
and are taking advantage of these situations.

2276
01:44:16,643 --> 01:44:20,043
-And they're masking themselves. -And sometimes, they'll be successful.

2277
01:44:20,109 --> 01:44:21,609
-If you see... -CROWD: If you see...

2278
01:44:21,676 --> 01:44:23,443
-...a person... -CROWD: ...a person...

2279
01:44:23,509 --> 01:44:25,043
-...in the crowd... -CROWD: ...in the crowd...

2280
01:44:25,109 --> 01:44:27,443
-...inciting violence... -CROWD: ...inciting violence...

2281
01:44:27,509 --> 01:44:30,443
-...call them out. -CROWD: ...call them out.

2282
01:44:30,509 --> 01:44:32,209
Our protests are therapeutic.

2283
01:44:32,276 --> 01:44:33,443
-At least the Warriors-- -Ours are, yeah.

2284
01:44:33,509 --> 01:44:37,376
Ours are. We lead with joy, and hope, and optimism--

2285
01:44:37,443 --> 01:44:39,376
-SPIKE: And love. -And love that-- love wins

2286
01:44:39,443 --> 01:44:40,809
-every time-- -SPIKE: Gotta lead with love.

2287
01:44:41,076 --> 01:44:42,643
And we-- that's what we believe.

2288
01:44:42,709 --> 01:44:44,543
We believe that love and kindness

2289
01:44:44,609 --> 01:44:47,409
and being strategic in that way is going to change the world.

2290
01:44:47,476 --> 01:44:49,309
(INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER)

2291
01:44:49,376 --> 01:44:51,743
PROTESTER 1: Excessive use of force!

2292
01:44:51,809 --> 01:44:53,576
What are you doing?

2293
01:44:53,643 --> 01:44:55,743
REPORTER 1: NYPD faces growing outrage.

2294
01:44:55,809 --> 01:44:58,309
Accused of using overly aggressive tactics,

2295
01:44:58,376 --> 01:45:00,809
-like shoving a protester. -(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

2296
01:45:01,076 --> 01:45:02,243
PROTESTER 2: Get his badge number!

2297
01:45:02,309 --> 01:45:04,676
OFFICER 1: You're gonna get the fuck back! Get back!

2298
01:45:04,743 --> 01:45:07,076
REPORTER 2:  Another video shows an officer pull down

2299
01:45:07,143 --> 01:45:09,743
the face mask of a protestor and pepper spray him.

2300
01:45:09,809 --> 01:45:11,243
PROTESTER 3: All right, all right,

2301
01:45:11,309 --> 01:45:13,443
-you got him, you got him! -PROTESTER 4: Hey! Hey!

2302
01:45:13,509 --> 01:45:15,309
REPORTER 3: It may have been a peaceful protest,

2303
01:45:15,376 --> 01:45:16,743
but the ending was not.

2304
01:45:16,809 --> 01:45:19,776
NYPD officers in riot gear arresting protestors

2305
01:45:20,043 --> 01:45:22,443
for violating the city's 8:00 p.m. curfew.

2306
01:45:22,509 --> 01:45:25,043
-PROTESTER 5: Hands up! Hands up! -Back up!

2307
01:45:25,109 --> 01:45:26,709
-Who's that guy? -(ALL CLAMORING)

2308
01:45:26,776 --> 01:45:31,309
-Who's that guy? -OFFICER 2: Back up! Back up! Back up! Back up! Back up!

2309
01:45:31,376 --> 01:45:34,776
The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored

2310
01:45:35,043 --> 01:45:38,743
by rioters, looters, and anarchists.

2311
01:45:38,809 --> 01:45:44,309
The violence and vandalism is being led by antifa

2312
01:45:44,376 --> 01:45:47,143
and other radical left wing groups

2313
01:45:47,209 --> 01:45:52,109
who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs,

2314
01:45:52,176 --> 01:45:55,409
hurting businesses, and burning down buildings.

2315
01:45:55,476 --> 01:45:57,643
PROTEST LEADER:

2316
01:46:12,343 --> 01:46:14,709
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

2317
01:46:16,776 --> 01:46:20,709
-(OFFICERS SHOUTING) -(PROTESTORS SCREAMING)

2318
01:46:27,276 --> 01:46:29,576
-(CLATTERING) -(CROWD CLAMORING)

2319
01:46:36,709 --> 01:46:41,209
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)

2320
01:46:41,276 --> 01:46:44,409
You can't talk about keeping track of the protest last year

2321
01:46:44,476 --> 01:46:48,776
without talking about the JusticeForGeorgeFloydNYC Instagram account.

2322
01:46:49,043 --> 01:46:53,309
It was kind of a central hub of announcements.

2323
01:46:53,376 --> 01:46:55,509
I think for a lot of people really quickly,

2324
01:46:55,576 --> 01:46:58,176
that Instagram page became one of the main ways

2325
01:46:58,243 --> 01:47:01,643
that they kept track of the day's protest.

2326
01:47:01,709 --> 01:47:04,409
May 29th, it was made clear on social media

2327
01:47:04,476 --> 01:47:07,276
that there was going to be a large rally gathering

2328
01:47:07,343 --> 01:47:08,409
at the Barclays Center

2329
01:47:08,476 --> 01:47:10,376
right on Atlantic Avenue by Flatbush.

2330
01:47:10,443 --> 01:47:12,409
-SPIKE:  Atlantic and Flatbush? -Exactly, exactly.

2331
01:47:12,476 --> 01:47:14,576
SPIKE: Where this other team plays basketball?

2332
01:47:14,643 --> 01:47:16,643
(CHUCKLES) Sure, sure. We won't talk about that.

2333
01:47:16,709 --> 01:47:19,176
Come on, Spike. You know what's up.

2334
01:47:19,243 --> 01:47:20,309
You know--

2335
01:47:20,376 --> 01:47:22,143
-You know what's up, Spike. -(SPIKE LAUGHING)

2336
01:47:22,209 --> 01:47:23,376
You know we got you for three.

2337
01:47:23,443 --> 01:47:25,409
You got a broom around here for Spike?

2338
01:47:25,476 --> 01:47:27,543
You sweep up in here 'cause I know they swept up

2339
01:47:27,609 --> 01:47:28,709
over the Barclays. (CHUCKLES)

2340
01:47:28,776 --> 01:47:31,776
Knicks-- I saw the Knicks walking past my house,

2341
01:47:32,043 --> 01:47:34,243
walking over to Williamsburg after the game.

2342
01:47:34,309 --> 01:47:36,576
They were hopping the L train to go home.

2343
01:47:36,643 --> 01:47:40,276
They took the L. (LAUGHS)

2344
01:47:40,343 --> 01:47:42,609
SCOTT HEINS: It's a perfect place to have that kind of rally.

2345
01:47:42,676 --> 01:47:46,476
It's a big, open space, easy to get to, easy trains.

2346
01:47:46,543 --> 01:47:48,743
But for whatever mixture of those reasons,

2347
01:47:48,809 --> 01:47:50,743
the Barclays Center was, I think,

2348
01:47:50,809 --> 01:47:54,443
for Brooklyn protests, a clear central point.

2349
01:47:54,509 --> 01:47:57,309
It was the hub of the summer.

2350
01:47:57,376 --> 01:48:00,676
There was a very large NYPD presence

2351
01:48:00,743 --> 01:48:03,109
with barricades in front of the Barclays Center.

2352
01:48:03,176 --> 01:48:05,309
And the situation escalated really quickly

2353
01:48:05,376 --> 01:48:07,276
into very violent arrests.

2354
01:48:07,343 --> 01:48:09,609
People being chased away from the Barclays Center

2355
01:48:09,676 --> 01:48:12,409
-deeper into Fort Greene. -(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

2356
01:48:12,476 --> 01:48:14,643
There was a group headed to Fort Greene Park

2357
01:48:14,709 --> 01:48:18,176
and that there were police there and things were getting intense.

2358
01:48:18,243 --> 01:48:19,509
I went over and grabbed my bike,

2359
01:48:19,576 --> 01:48:21,443
and biked right down to Fort Greene Park.

2360
01:48:21,509 --> 01:48:25,543
My name is Emily Anadu. I'm a marketer, an activist,

2361
01:48:25,609 --> 01:48:28,643
and a resident of Fort Greene, the Fort.

2362
01:48:28,709 --> 01:48:30,376
And I think maybe one of my friends called me,

2363
01:48:30,443 --> 01:48:32,243
he was like, "You know, they're marching down DeKalb."

2364
01:48:32,309 --> 01:48:34,343
-So I came out-- -SPIKE: Point to DeKalb Avenue.

2365
01:48:34,409 --> 01:48:36,276
DeKalb, right here behind us.

2366
01:48:36,343 --> 01:48:38,676
So cops on the Fort Greene Park side,

2367
01:48:38,743 --> 01:48:42,209
protesters mostly on the opposite side of the street.

2368
01:48:42,276 --> 01:48:44,676
And you could just feel that nothing good

2369
01:48:44,743 --> 01:48:46,076
was about to happen.

2370
01:48:46,143 --> 01:48:47,509
At this point, the cops basically were like,

2371
01:48:47,576 --> 01:48:48,676
"This is a no-win situation,"

2372
01:48:48,743 --> 01:48:50,476
so they all started getting in their cars.

2373
01:48:50,543 --> 01:48:52,609
There was probably a caravan of about five or six cop cars--

2374
01:48:52,676 --> 01:48:55,209
-SPIKE:  There were cars and vans? -EMILY ANADU:  Cars and vans.

2375
01:48:55,276 --> 01:48:57,276
-SPIKE:  Right. -EMILY:  And so the last van,

2376
01:48:57,343 --> 01:49:00,509
people surrounded it. So it couldn't leave.

2377
01:49:00,576 --> 01:49:03,209
And at this point, I remember that I was just yelling,

2378
01:49:03,276 --> 01:49:04,543
like, "Let them go."

2379
01:49:04,609 --> 01:49:06,243
Because for me, there was just nothing good

2380
01:49:06,309 --> 01:49:09,143
was going to happen. And then all of a sudden,

2381
01:49:09,209 --> 01:49:14,376
-cobblestones started going through the windows. -(PROTESTORS CHEERING)

2382
01:49:16,176 --> 01:49:19,409
(INDISTINCT CLAMORING)

2383
01:49:19,476 --> 01:49:22,776
So the NYPD was in retreat, and there was a real moment

2384
01:49:23,043 --> 01:49:24,809
of joy, of celebration at that time...

2385
01:49:25,076 --> 01:49:26,676
-(CHANTING) Whose streets? -CROWD: Our streets!

2386
01:49:26,743 --> 01:49:28,776
SCOTT:  ...because the protesters had succeeded in

2387
01:49:29,043 --> 01:49:30,309
casting out the NYPD.

2388
01:49:30,376 --> 01:49:32,709
It was very obvious as well that they had left behind

2389
01:49:32,776 --> 01:49:34,443
an NYPD cruiser van.

2390
01:49:34,509 --> 01:49:37,409
And you heard people saying, "Light it up, light it up."

2391
01:49:37,476 --> 01:49:40,243
And next thing you know, someone throws

2392
01:49:40,309 --> 01:49:42,143
a Molotov cocktail into the van.

2393
01:49:42,209 --> 01:49:45,543
(CROWD SCREAMING, CHEERING)

2394
01:49:48,343 --> 01:49:51,409
-(POLICE RADIO STATIC) -DISPATCH:

2395
01:49:51,476 --> 01:49:52,743
-(EXPLOSION) -(SCREAMING)

2396
01:49:52,809 --> 01:49:54,676
I am Lenny Singletary.

2397
01:49:54,743 --> 01:49:57,176
I serve as the senior vice president

2398
01:49:57,243 --> 01:50:00,243
for external affairs, marketing and strategy

2399
01:50:00,309 --> 01:50:04,043
at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

2400
01:50:04,109 --> 01:50:05,676
Captain Malcolm, who's the commanding officer

2401
01:50:05,743 --> 01:50:07,376
-at 88th Precinct... -SPIKE:  88, right?

2402
01:50:07,443 --> 01:50:09,276
LENNY SINGLETARY: ...called me-- 88, right on Classon and DeKalb.

2403
01:50:09,343 --> 01:50:11,609
-SPIKE:  Mm-hmm. -LENNY:  He said, "Lenny, there's nothing you can do,

2404
01:50:11,676 --> 01:50:13,176
you probably should stay home,

2405
01:50:13,243 --> 01:50:15,543
but I need to get my officers in for treatment."

2406
01:50:15,609 --> 01:50:17,543
Absolutely. So we got the officers in,

2407
01:50:17,609 --> 01:50:18,809
it's being taken care of.

2408
01:50:19,076 --> 01:50:21,543
Thankfully, none of the officers were injured.

2409
01:50:21,609 --> 01:50:23,043
(CLAMORING, CHEERING)

2410
01:50:23,109 --> 01:50:25,143
LENNY:  But the fact that someone threw a Molotov cocktail

2411
01:50:25,209 --> 01:50:27,476
in a police van raised a profile for,

2412
01:50:27,543 --> 01:50:28,809
"Wow, this is serious,"

2413
01:50:29,076 --> 01:50:31,676
because I've not witnessed that in our community

2414
01:50:31,743 --> 01:50:33,476
-for the longest time. -SPIKE:  Right.

2415
01:50:33,543 --> 01:50:36,476
And so that's when it was a trigger for me, "Okay, this is real.

2416
01:50:36,543 --> 01:50:38,609
And we're not taking this anymore."

2417
01:50:38,676 --> 01:50:40,809
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

2418
01:50:43,776 --> 01:50:45,176
OFFICER 1: Where's de Blasio?

2419
01:50:45,243 --> 01:50:46,709
Where's de Blasio when you need him?

2420
01:50:46,776 --> 01:50:51,209
OFFICER 2: (OVER RADIO) South side of Myrtle Place, 300 Ashland Place.

2421
01:50:51,276 --> 01:50:52,709
What can I say about Jeffrey Wright?

2422
01:50:52,776 --> 01:50:54,809
Jeffrey was coming back from Brooklyn Moon

2423
01:50:55,076 --> 01:50:56,243
on his skateboard

2424
01:50:56,309 --> 01:50:59,576
and saw what was going on and jumped off his skateboard

2425
01:50:59,643 --> 01:51:01,443
and was in the middle by himself telling people,

2426
01:51:01,509 --> 01:51:04,809
"Wait, whoa, hold on. You can't destroy the park.

2427
01:51:05,076 --> 01:51:06,343
We can't destroy our communities

2428
01:51:06,409 --> 01:51:08,243
if we wanna fight for another day."

2429
01:51:09,576 --> 01:51:12,443
You got photographs. (LAUGHS) There's always evidence.

2430
01:51:12,509 --> 01:51:17,643
So you could see that there were some instigators...

2431
01:51:17,709 --> 01:51:19,376
-SPIKE: Mm-hmm. -...who wanted to come just--

2432
01:51:19,443 --> 01:51:21,143
you know, just fuck with shit.

2433
01:51:21,209 --> 01:51:23,809
And, you know-- And not from here.

2434
01:51:24,076 --> 01:51:25,643
You come to a protest for George Floyd,

2435
01:51:25,709 --> 01:51:28,109
you've got flares in your pockets, you know?

2436
01:51:28,176 --> 01:51:32,076
If it's not led right, particularly from the cop side,

2437
01:51:32,143 --> 01:51:36,076
then, um, it's gonna end up like it ended up that night.

2438
01:51:36,143 --> 01:51:38,043
My position, both as a journalist

2439
01:51:38,109 --> 01:51:41,209
with this press pass hanging around my neck

2440
01:51:41,276 --> 01:51:43,243
and as a white man being there,

2441
01:51:43,309 --> 01:51:46,309
I have a huge amount of privilege and protection

2442
01:51:46,376 --> 01:51:48,776
and safety from the entire situation.

2443
01:51:49,043 --> 01:51:52,076
And especially from the NYPD that other people there,

2444
01:51:52,143 --> 01:51:55,276
Black people, people of color who were demanding their rights,

2445
01:51:56,076 --> 01:51:57,143
do not enjoy.

2446
01:51:57,209 --> 01:51:59,143
I know African American journalists who have--

2447
01:51:59,209 --> 01:52:00,509
were arrested last summer,

2448
01:52:00,576 --> 01:52:04,409
who were visited after protests at their home

2449
01:52:04,476 --> 01:52:06,309
and harassed by the NYPD.

2450
01:52:06,376 --> 01:52:09,743
I see it just as, if this is a privilege that I have,

2451
01:52:09,809 --> 01:52:13,109
then it's also my responsibility to use it as best I can

2452
01:52:13,176 --> 01:52:14,476
to document what's going on.

2453
01:52:14,543 --> 01:52:16,143
I remember waking up the next morning,

2454
01:52:16,209 --> 01:52:17,343
and I was out here with a friend,

2455
01:52:17,409 --> 01:52:19,643
probably like 5:30 in the morning to clean up,

2456
01:52:19,709 --> 01:52:22,643
walking out here and just being like, "Wow,

2457
01:52:22,709 --> 01:52:24,209
it is like nothing happened."

2458
01:52:24,276 --> 01:52:26,476
The only thing that was left, even at 5:30 in the morning,

2459
01:52:26,543 --> 01:52:29,409
is someone had swept up the ashes of the van

2460
01:52:29,476 --> 01:52:32,776
because the police van was gone, um, all the big remnants,

2461
01:52:33,043 --> 01:52:35,543
but there were ashes, and the ashes had been swept

2462
01:52:35,609 --> 01:52:38,043
into the letters "Black Lives Matter."

2463
01:52:38,109 --> 01:52:39,609
SPIKE:  And these were the ashes that were from

2464
01:52:39,676 --> 01:52:43,609
-the burnt NYPD van, right? -EMILY:  From the burnt NYPD van.

2465
01:52:43,676 --> 01:52:46,309
-I'm glad she converted it into that. -SPIKE: Hmm.

2466
01:52:46,376 --> 01:52:49,043
(CLEARS THROAT) I'm not sure if the dudes who lit it

2467
01:52:49,109 --> 01:52:51,143
were really-- that's what it was on their heads.

2468
01:52:51,209 --> 01:52:53,443
I don't see them around here, I don't see them over here,

2469
01:52:53,509 --> 01:52:56,443
uh, you know, on the other side of the park.

2470
01:52:56,509 --> 01:52:57,576
I don't see them over there.

2471
01:52:57,643 --> 01:52:59,076
You know, I don't see them at Mike's.

2472
01:52:59,143 --> 01:53:01,776
And now to some new information on a Molotov cocktail attack

2473
01:53:02,043 --> 01:53:03,243
on a police van in Brooklyn.

2474
01:53:03,309 --> 01:53:06,643
A 21-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged.

2475
01:53:06,709 --> 01:53:09,576
Police say Matthew Piscitello and two other people

2476
01:53:09,643 --> 01:53:12,143
threw that explosive device at a van

2477
01:53:12,209 --> 01:53:14,609
on South Portland Avenue and DeKalb Avenue

2478
01:53:14,676 --> 01:53:15,676
in Fort Greene.

2479
01:53:15,743 --> 01:53:18,409
Piscitello was now facing multiple arson

2480
01:53:18,476 --> 01:53:20,343
and criminal mischief charges.

2481
01:53:20,409 --> 01:53:24,076
Hi, I'm Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, DC,

2482
01:53:24,143 --> 01:53:28,809
our nation's capital and soon-to-be 51st state.

2483
01:53:29,076 --> 01:53:32,343
SPIKE: So what happened on that day...

2484
01:53:33,543 --> 01:53:34,643
that led to...

2485
01:53:35,776 --> 01:53:37,809
Black Lives Matter Plaza?

2486
01:53:38,076 --> 01:53:40,776
MURIEL BOWSER: Well, I think the world saw what happened.

2487
01:53:41,043 --> 01:53:42,743
-Uh, Donald Trump happened. -SPIKE: Mm.

2488
01:53:42,809 --> 01:53:47,609
MURIEL: He wanted to take a photo op in front of a church

2489
01:53:47,676 --> 01:53:49,376
on this street.

2490
01:53:49,443 --> 01:53:55,309
And what we saw here was the president call police,

2491
01:53:55,376 --> 01:53:59,709
the United States Army, the United States National Guard

2492
01:53:59,776 --> 01:54:03,576
to move a peaceful crowd from in front of the White House

2493
01:54:03,643 --> 01:54:05,243
so he could take a picture.

2494
01:54:05,309 --> 01:54:08,109
(POLICE SIRENS BLARING)

2495
01:54:08,176 --> 01:54:11,143
-But because we're the capital city... -SPIKE: Mm-hmm.

2496
01:54:11,209 --> 01:54:15,376
MURIEL:  ...I think that there was an intentional display

2497
01:54:15,443 --> 01:54:17,576
of enormous force

2498
01:54:17,643 --> 01:54:19,776
to tell everybody else in the country,

2499
01:54:20,043 --> 01:54:21,409
"Look what I will do to you."

2500
01:54:21,476 --> 01:54:24,143
-(INDISTINCT CLAMORING) -PROTESTER 1: And here come the Nazi Police.

2501
01:54:24,209 --> 01:54:26,076
-(PROTESTER 2 SCREAMING) -(CROWD CLAMORING)

2502
01:54:26,143 --> 01:54:28,443
(GUNSHOTS)

2503
01:54:28,509 --> 01:54:29,576
(EXPLOSION BOOMS)

2504
01:54:29,643 --> 01:54:32,109
PROTESTOR 1: Those are rubber bullets, Wolf.

2505
01:54:32,176 --> 01:54:34,809
MURIEL: What we saw in the days that followed that

2506
01:54:35,076 --> 01:54:36,609
were more and more

2507
01:54:36,676 --> 01:54:40,043
of these unidentifiable law enforcement

2508
01:54:40,109 --> 01:54:42,209
on the streets of Washington, DC.

2509
01:54:42,276 --> 01:54:43,676
-SPIKE: Whose streets? -MURIEL: Our streets.

2510
01:54:43,743 --> 01:54:45,276
-SPIKE: Whose streets? -MURIEL: Our streets.

2511
01:54:45,343 --> 01:54:48,576
-(SPIKE LAUGHING) -MURIEL: And we needed a place

2512
01:54:48,643 --> 01:54:51,076
where people could peacefully protest...

2513
01:54:51,143 --> 01:54:53,743
-SPIKE:  Mm-hmm. -...and know that they could be safe.

2514
01:54:53,809 --> 01:54:57,109
♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

2515
01:54:57,176 --> 01:54:59,543
You talk about the revolution not be televised, you know.

2516
01:54:59,609 --> 01:55:02,209
And that, well, you know, everybody's, "Well, it will be televised.

2517
01:55:02,276 --> 01:55:03,543
Everybody has a camera now."

2518
01:55:03,609 --> 01:55:05,309
-That's not what Gil Scott-Heron was talking about. -SPIKE: Hmm.

2519
01:55:05,376 --> 01:55:07,243
He was talking about the revolution in your mind.

2520
01:55:07,309 --> 01:55:08,543
SPIKE: Uh-oh, say it again.

2521
01:55:08,609 --> 01:55:09,743
He was talking about...

2522
01:55:12,309 --> 01:55:14,543
-And, as of yet, you know... -(SPIKE LAUGHING)

2523
01:55:14,609 --> 01:55:16,576
...they don't have cameras in there yet.

2524
01:55:16,643 --> 01:55:18,609
(DRUMS BEATING)

2525
01:55:20,643 --> 01:55:22,609
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

2526
01:56:30,776 --> 01:56:32,676
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪