9:35 a.m. Eastern
ALI VELSHI: He had his knee on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, during which George Floyd said multiple times, audible to the video, "I can't breathe." And there are a lot of people here who are saying "If that isn't enough" -- and that's what a lot of the protesters, including those who are looting and engaging in violence -- they were saying to me, "Why am I following these rules because no one else seems to be following the rules when it comes to the lives of black people. If that's not enough -- if all of this video is not enough -- there are three police officers that are not charged."
(…)
MARC MORIAL, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: As a nation, we've got to reform the police culture across the land, or this situation will happen again. Look, I don't -- I abhor violence, but you can't just mouth that you abhor violence without trying to get a sense for what's driving -- particularly our young people -- to this notion that they've got to do something dramatic in order to catch the attention of the people in power in this country. And while I abhor it, I understand we have to understand that this has been building for years. It's compounded by the policies of the Trump administration -- compounded by the fact that we have Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor happening in such a close time frame.
VELSHI: Yeah, I don't want to justify any of the violence or any of what's going on, but the message that I was hearing very clearly from some of the protesters is that "the concept of accountability does not exist for those who bring harm or death of African-Americans, so why am I following those rules?" I'm not arguing that that's the right way to think about it, but it is a way that some people are thinking about it.
