>> you bet it hurts. >> his son, rob reiner, tweeted this. >> when asked how he wanted to be remembered, carl reiner once replayed, he made a difference, a little, and he made me laugh. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" is up next. tonight on a special edition of "all in" -- a nation in the grip of crisis amid a raging pandemic and a national reckoning on race and policing. tonight for the hour, four mayors of four major cities tasked with leading their cities through this critical moment in american history. this is all in america, frontlines of change. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. for the next hour, we're going to be talking about the issues of policing and race amidst a crippling pandemic. i'll be joined by mayors from four major cities across the country and asking some of the

questions you submitted online. it's never been a more important or difficult time to be a mayor of a big city. over the last month, mayors have faced unprecedented channels, a once in a century pandemic that's forced mayors to make timely and difficult decisions under tremendous pressure. decisions that if they get wrong, could cost thousands of lives. then, in the wake of the police killing of george floyd, we have seen a once in a generation movement. huge street protests and calls to end police brutality, but more deeply to fundamentally reorder the priorities governing the agendas of cities, to undo systemic racism. all of that is happening in that fraught moment. because big city mayors are navigate thing, they are negotiating the calls for safety and health, equity and justice being made. it's been over a month since

george floyd was killed by a minneapolis police officer. there are still people protesting in the streets across america, night after night for a month. the protests are not stopping and they have created a cascade of policy changes at the local level. in minneapolis, the city where george floyd was killed, there's been incredible tumulti over the police department. the mayor of the city who ran as a reformer was shouted down by protesters for not doing enough to reform police. there's also been a spike in shootings since memorial day, with over 100 people shot. like many other cities, atlanta also saw huge protests following the killing of george floyd and the tension in the city only increased after atlanta police officers shot and killed a man named rayshard brooks in the back as he was running away after he failed a sobriety test and grabbed a taser from an officer trying to arrest him. one officer charged with felony murder and the city's police chief resigned. in los angeles, where 30 years ago the lapd was the central

focus of the last round of major unrest in the wake of police brutality. police also came under fire for using what seems like using excessive force against protesters. the mayor proposed $150 million in budget cuts to the police department that had been met with outrage by local law enforcement officials. los angeles is also a city that is seeing spikes in coronavirus cases. in new orleans, a city with a very ugly history in policing, a police force that's currently operating under a federal consent decree, implemented by the obama administration to clean up the force after years of corruption and brutality. that consent decree is now in its eighth year, and the mayor has been talking to other mayors about federal oversight. so we thought told take some time tonight in this perilous and important moment to talk to some of the people at the center of this, representing cities around the country, cities that are diverse and thriving. and also places that are currently struggling deeply. cities that are engines and

mobility of economic growth and cultures and sites of intense segregation, intense deprivation, poverty and violence and battling against this pandemic and the fallout from public health measures that put a strain on every single citizen and resident and every city budget and every government, as well. joining me now are the mayors of atlanta, minneapolis, new orleans, and the mayor of los angeles. sit great to have you all. i've been looking forward to this conversation. and it's obviously an incredibly difficult but incredibly important moment. mayor frye, i thought i would start with you. in this moment around the reckoning of police started in minneapolis. and i wanted to ask about that moment that people saw on tape where you went out to a protest in a mask, and there were protesters who were making very concrete demands of you to sign onto an agenda that would fundamentally essentially undone

and sort of unbuilt the minneapolis police department and you wouldn't go along with it. you were jeered and booed. i think there's a sense sometimes in these protests of a which side are you on dynamic, to you, the other mayors here. you're a democrat, you're not donald trump, but you're administering a city and boss of the police department and the protesters say which side are you on. what is your answer to them? >> mayors around the country, including myself, are on the side of massive structural change. and i think right now we need to be heeding the calls of george floyd's family, and they said clearly that george floyd is going to change the world. this can't be half measures, this can't just go halfway, this can't be minor policy changes. this needs to be a full rethinking and reshaping of the way that our police department does business that has, for decades, harmed black and brown people. and so in terms of the shift

that we want to see, if we're talking about decriminalizing addiction, count me in. if we're talking about making sure that mechanisms like more affordable housing and health care are prepared and ready so that we don't have crime, count me in. if we're talking about being open to other strategies beyond policing, absolutely. mental health co-responders, yes. but if we're talking about abolishing all law enforcement, no. cities around the country, including minneapolis, need law enforcement. we need to abolish the behavior. we don't need to be abolishing the police. >> mayor lance-bottoms, you have dealt with protests and a high profile police killing of a resident of atlanta, as well recently. what was your -- how was it communicated to you in the time that rayshard brooks was shot and killed, what had happened, and what was your message to the police department in the midst

of that, given that it came on the tail end where after weeks of these protests, precisely against police violence against residents? >> well, first of all, thank you for having me. the way it was communicated to me is the same way that i receive information about any number of noteworthy events in the city. i usually wake up to text messages during the night. i get them throughout the day. and this came in as a police involved shooting. and initially, i was not told that mr. brooks was deceased, and i later found out that he was. and so i immediately, the next morning, went into city hall and gathered our police chief and our command staff and we began looking at the videos. and so i sat and i watched 40 minutes of the interaction with mr. brooks, and the officers. the most heartbreaking thing in watching that interaction was

knowing that you knew how the story ended. it was a light hearted interaction, and there was so many other ways that this could have ended. and mr. brooks talked about his daughter's birthday and wanting to be at her birthday party or giving his wife some money for her birthday party. and i think for me, it really -- looking at the ending of this really has called into question how we have these ebb councount with our police officers. and within these encounters, black men particularly, and we know in the case of breonna taylor and so many others, black women aren't immune, but that people are not humanized in these encounters. >> let me just follow up on that -- >> that's the biggest challenge in front of us. >> why -- i want to get to that, that lack of humanity, the sort

of dehumanization we see, we have seen so many videos of various departments or from social media of these petty indignities, dehumanization by police officers. what is your explanation for the root cause of that happening in your city, under your stewardship, the first black woman mayor of the city of atlanta, a city that's had an incredible legacy, filled with culture and diverse people, why is that still happening in your police department? >> well, i'm actually the second african-american woman to serve as mayor. >> i'm sorry. >> but in this encounter, the encounter was a cordial, polite encounter until it was not. so i think that is the question that we have to all ask ourselves, how are we training our officers, what are our expectations in outcomes when there are encounters like this? so we have already put into place things related to a requirement for deescalation. but it doesn't bring mr. brooks

back. i think it goes to this larger conversation that we have to have across this country that we are having across this country and what it means for us to see each other as human beings, no matter the race or the title is. and i think that's a challenge, not just in atlanta, and i think if anything, it's evidence that if it can and it did happen in atlanta, the cradle of the civil rights movement, then certainly it is something that can and will happen in cities across this country. >> mayor cantrell, your department has a particular history and interesting one. it was entered into a federal consent decree in 2010 under the obama administration. there's been lots of reporting to indicate the department has improved along a variety of metrics. given that other mayors are fighting so hard to bring this structural change to cities, why would you want to take the federal government out of supervising a department if it has had a salutory effect on

your department? >> the consent decree has absolutely mandated practices we have embraced 100%. as it relates to constitutional policing practices, of course a culture of accountability. and also aggressively investing in social and community programs. one is that when you lean on that consent decree, it easily becomes politicized and one that you're spending millions of dollars, we spent over $55 million over $7 million annually. the goal post just continues to move as you're making progress. we have turned the curve in the city of new orleans. we have demonstrated our effectiveness. we have embraced the eight can't wait policies that our protesters have been asking for, and we've gone above and

literally beyond that. we created ethical policing is courageous, for deescalation, as well as duty to intervene. we have social workers embedded in our department. so my thing is this -- and the residents of the city of new orleans approved, voted to change the charter to have an independent police monitor, which is the foundation for continuing the success of the reforms that we have made, but wanting to satisfy the consent decree so that we can reinvest those dollars back into public health, which is also public safety. so i don't believe that cities across the country have to go and involve the doj in order to turn themselves around. they can make the improvements, leaning on one another, looking at best practices. and they have then str demonstre

best practices. but we do not need to be holden to doj and the level of dollars that we're spending on the concept decree. mind you, when you have a police monitor it seems that they're coming in town, when you have good events going on, jazz fests, mardi gras, that sort of thing. we need to get away from that, i believe we are, and i applaud the partnership with the judge and the monitor. but now it's time to let new orleans continue the reforms. but the sustainability of those reforms. we're prepared. >> mayor cantrell just talked about some of the reforms to her police department under the supervision that consent decree and her leadership, mayor garcetti. there are a few categories here, training, changing the way police are trained, what decriminalization -- there's also the idea of police departments are too big, they do too much. we put too many resources of the

city into them. you have just proposed a budget cut for the lapd that's been met with a lot of anger from law enforcement officials and spokes people in l.a. what caused you to take that up -- what do you think you're doing in proposing that budget cut? >> well, thank you, chris. let me join the chorus of thank you for doing this. it is an honor to be here, to take this conversation from a moment to a movement. and to make sure we meet this moment and not miss it. here in los angeles, we're pretty resilient. not because we're better than any other city. we just went through this pain that other cities are going through in past years earlier. before we had camera phones, we had rodney king. we had watts before that. we had a rampart scandal and consent decree, just as mayor cantrell has gone through. those things made us better, stronger, and fairer, even if we still have a while to climb up

the peak, maybe we're midway up the mountain. for me, this isn't about punishment and just what we take things away from. we have thrown too many solutions on the shoulders of our police officers. yes, it is about accountable behavior and lifting up good behavior. it's also about what we can make sure that police aren't the solution to everything. that we can call 911. as we're doing here, working together with our county, to look at what we can do to have trained health professionals like police officers who can roll out and maybe have better and more lasting outcomes than police officers going back and back, and sometimes tragically to these dangerous situations if that's not what they're best trained for. it's about gang intervention. we have cut gang crime in half in los angeles. remember movies growing up when los angeles was synonymous with gang culture?

we have done that not just holding accountable the police department but moving resources to gang reduction and youth development. former gang members, people with lived experience, who can be the peacemakers when things flare up more effectively than police officers in certain situations. i agree, we're always going to need police for certain situations and need to rethink that model and need to create -- co-create that with communities of colors that bear the brunt of that disrespect when it comes. we have to look for solutions in side communities and broaden this out so this is not just a conversation about public safety. if we care about black lives and the lives of the people that we represent, this has to be about wealth building and health building, too. even with the most accountable police departments in the country, reimagining some of those models, most black people in america will have shorter lives because of health and economic disparities. these have to be braided together, if we're going to make sure this moment doesn't come

with just some pats on the back and everybody says back to business as usual. >> i want to talk about what those are together. we'll get to some of that. much more to come on this special edition of "all in." next, how are calls being heard within law enforcement? i'll talk to the head of the memphis police department how he's responding, after this. re, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take,

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our profession. well, you know what? this isn't stained by someone in minneapolis. it's still got a shine on it. and so do theirs. so do theirs! stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect. >> that is the president of one of the largest police unions in the u.s. that represents officers in new york city. it's often the case that some of the loudest voices in the debate over policing in america is police unions, whose rhetoric runs very hot. a few weeks ago amidst nationwide protests, the president of another new york police union said they would win this war on new york city. the med of the minneapolis police union called protests in that city in the wake of george floyd's killing a terrorist movement. the president of a cleveland police union referred to the citizens of his own city as the dregs of society. unions across the country talk like this all the time. as a reporter who covers them as if they're fighting a war

against the very citizens their members are sworn to protect. unions are often not representative of their police officers. that is very different makeup of this union leaders and members. of the 50 largest police unions in the nation, only one has an african-american at the helm of the police union that. is michael williams. he's a 20-year army veteran who spent ten years as a patrol officer and is president of the memphis police association. last weekend, his union held a cops against injustice rally, where officers showed their support for the fight for racial equality. and michael williams joins me now. it's wonderful to have you, sir. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me, chris. i appreciate it. >> you know, i want to talk a little bit about your reaction we're in, particularly the killing of george floyd, but i want to talk on this question of police unions and the way they

communicate publicly. what goes through your mind when you hear police union representatives talk about war and dregs of society and this very, very kind of aggressive language? do you understand why that is alienating to a lot of people? >> i just think that a lot of individuals are very frustrated in this age and in this era. advent of what happened to mr. george floyd was heinous, it was something that nobody wanted to see, when you see someone that's on somebody's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, i don't care if you're a police officer, i don't care if you're a citizen of any city around the united states, that is heinous. and it should be treated as such, period. i think that, you know, we have to get out of trying to defend wrongs that have been created or perpetrated by individuals, even

if they are a part of the police structure. we held that rally, officers for injustice, because we had a lot of officers who wanted to protest, a lot of officers, good officers in the city of memphis, because we definitely try to stay in touch with the community. many of us are of the community. 56 to 60% of the police department in the city of memphis is african-american. the makeup of the city is approximately 65% african-american. a lot of us were born and raised here, educated here. we still live in the city. and we care, because a lot of the individuals are our relatives in this city, so we definitely tried to maintain community police relations. a lot of the things that have happened all across the country, i can tell you have not happened here in the city of memphis. so we kind of approach it a little bit differently. i know that on all sides, you have police that are being

injured since the incident with mr. floyd. you have had hundreds of officers that have been injured across the country. and sometimes people just don't understand, if you haven't been in combat, if you haven't been suppressed in life, or if you haven't had incidents with the police, i tell the story whereas, you know, i became the police because i didn't like the police. sometimes you have to change it from tin side as opposed to the outside. and that's a lot of the things -- and i encourage a will the -- encourage a lot of the young people, if you don't like it b a part of it. change frit the inside. treat people the way you want to be treated opposed to allowing other individuals the ability to police you. that's exactly what i did. >> you just spoke about this feeling and frustration, and i think a lot of police officers i have spoken to in the last week or two who feel under threat,

they feel shamed, they feel misunderstood. there does seem to be -- and obviously police officers have come under verbal abuse and things thrown at them and several shootings that have happened directed at law enforcement officials. do you -- what is your thinking about the psychology of your officers in these moments that they don't essentially end up replicating the same kinds of indignities and violence and overreaction that has produced this moment? what are you saying -- what is a conversation like among police officers about that? is there a conversation on that? >> there's definitely a behind the scenes conversation that's going on. as a matter of fact, i was on the phone with a particular officer for probably about an hour prior to me starting interviews, and they're very frustrated. we have had 12 incident where is officers have been shot at in

the city of memphis. this time last year we had about 659 shootings -- or shots fired calls here in the city of memphis. it has risen to over 1500 for the same time this year. juvenile crime sup, violent crime is up. a lot of the individuals are operating under the auspices of what has happened to mr. floyd unfortunately, and mr. tamir rice and all of the other individuals around the country that have succumbed to their injuries or the incidents with police officers. and we're having individuals that are being stopped and they say oh, you can't stop me or you can't operate under the -- aren't you guys not supposed to be doing these certain things? so you have officers that are very frustrated. you're getting calls to armed party calls. it's 14, 15, 16-year-old individuals because memphis is like the third most violent city in the nation per capita, per the fbi. so we have a lot of crime that's going on in the city.

and officers are kind of confused, because if they engage these 14, 15, 16-year-old individuals and they happen to kill them because we're pulling sks, ak-47s, automatic weapons out of a lot of cars and here. it's just a matter of time before something happens. nobody wants to happen what happened to mr. floyd or anybody else, but at the same time, we can't let the pendulum swing too far to the left and overreact and put officer safety at risk or try to say that they don't have the same constitutional rights that normal citizens have, because at the end of the day, they are normal citizens. >> right. but police officers are more than normal citizens. police officers have an authority that normal citizens don't. police officers have the elevated standing of essentially being the tool by which the state enforces its monopoly on

violence. they can shoot people, they can arrest them, they can do all kinds of things. i can't walk down the street and tell someone i don't like what you're doing, i'm going to write you a ticket and put you in handcuffs. sometime there is's a mismatch between the perception of victimhood by police officers who understandably go through tremendous psychic distress in the job they do, and often face tremendous pressure, stresses, and dangers, and the authority they wield. and is there a way to think about policing that doesn't end up leaning heavily on that authority in a way that ends up taking people's dignity away? >> well, without order, there is chaos, chris. and you have to -- you know, we all grew up afraid of somebody. i was afraid of my mother, okay? so if we want to get to the point where you're not afraid of anybody, that means you can do what you want to do. now, in saying that, i don't think any officer should overstep his bounds. i don't think he should use his authority in the wrong way or

manner. if in fact, they do that they should held accountable. i am one of those individuals that say we don't want bad police officers. if you're not going to operate within the scope of your duties, you don't need to be a police officer. within our community, we've probably gotten more officers to resign that don't want to be the police officers, but you're also going to find in this environment a lot of the millennials or young people that are coming up now that have bachelors and masters and ph.d.s, they don't want to be the police, they choose to do something else. there's a shortage of police officers across the nation. and if we continue in this manner, it's going to get even shorter. so we have to make sure that we have a balance. i have said, there's nothing wrong with reform. any time you don't want to change, something's wrong, because times change. so therefore, you have to implement changes. but at the same time, you can't throw the baby out with the bath water. i had a conversation about 40 minutes about choking that using

chokeholds here in the city of memphis. i asked when is the last time an officer choked somebody in memphis and somebody died? never. we have uniquenesses throughout the country. everybody can't use this cookie cutter method to address the issues in their particular cities. we have a crime problem. we haven't had those type of situations. i don't know what's happening in new york, i don't know what's happening in minnesota, i don't know what happened in other places except for what's been shown on tv. police answered over 10 million calls last year. out of those 10 million calls, the fbi said you had about 1,000 and something individuals shot. ut of that 1,000 individuals, you had 400 that were inarm una. i believe you had 19 caucasians that were shot and killed by the police last year. you only had nine african-americans that were

killed by the police last year. don't get me wrong, anybody that's killed needlessly, that's wrong and needs to be addressed. but at the same time, i think that we're definitely putting a lot of emphasis on the police when we have, in this city, 222 individuals were murdered in this city last year. >> memphis police association president michael williams in the city of memphis, thank you so much, i appreciate it. >> thank you. stick around. we'll take a look at the idea behind a growing call on the national call of defunding the police, after this. national call of defunding the police, after this a lot goes through your mind. how long will this last? am i prepared for this? are we prepared for this? with fidelity wealth management, your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations, with access to tax-smart investment strategies designed to help you keep more of what you've earned so you'll know you're doing what you can for your family and your future.

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we are back here with the mayors of atlanta, minneapolis, new orleans, and los angeles. i just wanted to get your reaction to some of the things that michael williams, the police union head from memphis said. mayor bottoms of atlanta, you know, i think this idea that is

articulated that is core to most of the police officers i talked to that without order, there is chaos. that essentially the police are the thin blue line that divides ordered civilization from complete mayhem. i wonder what you think of that idea, because it's so central to police identity and many of the big city politics around crime and policing for decades. >> i agree with so much of what he said, and like memphis, atlanta is full of good police officers, many of whom grew up in our community. many of whom i went to el men try school with. so by and large, atlanta is representative of what you have across the country, police officers that get up each and every day, looking to do an honest job, and have pure and honest interactions with our communities. but the problem is this -- that when you have officers who don't

have those same intentions, and this is happening repeatedly, and we are now seeing that, then there is a problem that's before us that has resulted in what we are seeing across america. and i met a couple of weeks ago with some of the student activists, and i love what one of the young men said. he said this is -- we've got to stop having a conversation about us versus them. this has to be a we conversation. and so in the same way our police officers are concerned about the morale of officers, i think our officers have to also be concerned about the morale of the country. we're not making up what these things are that we are concerned about. when my nephew was murdered, we called the police to solve his murder. so i know the value of our police officers. but to the extent that we are somehow getting it wrong, and it is resulting in this excessive

use of force that's killing people before our eyes, then we have to have this we conversation and do this we work to get it right. >> mayor frye, you're nodding in agreement. >> i am. this is a we conversation, and what we need to be focused on collectively right now is a culture shift. i'm a believer that culture eats policy for breakfast. and to a certain extent, culture is about people. it's about personnel. it's having the ability to bring in and retain good officers, and having the ability to get the wrong officers with the wrong mentality out. and right now, you have mayors and chiefs around the country that are hamstrung by several elephants in the room. whether it's a police union or a collective bargaining agreement

or an arbitration provision that we have in minnesota that by the way, returns more than 45% of the cases back to the police department. so in other words, the chief or i can discipline or terminate an officer and then 45% of the time or more, that decision is then overturned. that prevents the necessary culture shift that we need to see. so, sure, we should be focusing on the policy. there's a whole lot of work that we could be done unilaterally, but if we're not focusing on that culture shift and not precise in our terminology, we're going to lose this opportunity to see that transformational change. nobody wants that. >> mayor garcetti, let me talk to you. los angeles went through this trajectory. so it's pretty clear, i think, that the lapd is a different creature than it was in the early 1990s under darrell gates and recoodney king.

you can still talk to people of color in los angeles that can rattle off police officers who have robbed them of their dignity, who assaulted them. the question, is when you think about the direction things are moving, is the direction connect and we need to go further or is there some core problem that's not being gotten at, of the people in policing for the wrong reason, which of those do you think it is? >> i absolutely think it's both, chris. you can see changes we made in policy and procedures the last five years. we've seen fatal officer involved shootings cut in half. those policies actually work when people have to warn somebody they're going to be shooting, when somebody is accountable for their use of force. when you daylight discipline, those things work. but there's a culture independent from that, too. i don't think you have to compromise between accountability and being deeply respectful of people who devote their lives to law enforcement.

i've been with law enforcement families when they've lost their son to a shooting ining of a p officer. but it almost means accountability should broad ten this conversation out. it's american culture, racism doesn't just exist in traffic spots, it exists in banks, in housing, it exists wherever we are. so instead of just talking about what we defund, i want to talk about what we refund. are we going to refund affo affordable housing that's been cut in this country, public schools that have been cut. looking at a mental health system, both for officers and communities of color that have gone through trauma, these are the things that can look at the culture and policies together. that's the way we have looked at it in los angeles. you can't do one, you have to do both. >> mayor cantrell, one of the points that mr. williams made is a point i've heard often, which theorizes a spectrum between

going too mez aeasy and overrea, and somewhere in the middle is where you need to be. and the idea behind it, if you go too far, if you give people too many rights, if you're too constrained, you will see disorder and crime and violence and mayhem. your city has had deep changes to the police department and also seen over a long period of time a decline in crime. how do you think about those two sort of interests? >> i think that absolutely balance is important. we are a destination city, hosting, you know, 18 million visitors a year. of course, protecting and serving the residents of the city. we do not want to be confrontational, kind of allow you to be who you are. and respecting that, you know. and also building those relationships with community as well as with the police.

much like memphis, the city of new orleans is majority african-americans, 60%. and over 50% of our force is african-american, as well. so you do have to -- we have to deal with the nuances are different in terms of how we sbef a interact with our people. accountability, bottom line, that's it. you have to act swift. you have to act with haste, and get the bad apples out of there. that's one of the policies for us. although it's voluntary in terms of releasing our footage from our body cams. also cameras in the vehicles. while we don't have to do it by law, we do it. and we release it within ten case. we believe that transparency is very important. and it goes hand in hand with accountability. that builds trust in your community, and it has built trust within the city of new orleans. you know, when you have imperfect people, you're going

to have imperfections. again, accountability. you have to stand up. >> mayor frye, there's been, i think, mr. williams talked about an uptick in shootings in memphis. in the wake of the protests in ferguson, there was a variety of critics who looked at uniformed crime reporting data and fbi data who coined the term ferguson effect to say this is what happens. you demand that police treat everybody with kid gloves and all of a sudden crime spikes. and this was a very popular thesis. rahm emanuel, the mayor of chicago essentially signed onto it. what is your understanding of that, do you think that's what is happening and people say look what you have done, you have abandoned the streets to the protesters and now people are shooting each other. >> let me be clear that our officers are out there every day doing what they can to keep our communities safe. and the violence that we're

seeing now only compounds the grief, and sit a distraction from actually getting the necessary culture shift and reforms that we all know are needed. and let's also be clear that this is about more than just those eight minutes and 45 seconds worth of horror. this goes back generations, and even centuries. this all started with slavery, to jim crow, to reconstruction, to intentional segregation and restrictive covenance. there is a lot that compounded to reach this moment. what needs to happen right now is the violence needs to stop, first of all. and we need to harness that scl collective energy and sadness and grief and channel it into something producttive and specific. that's the only way change is going to come about.

>> we've got lots more to talk about and more of your questions at home. do not go anywhere. we'll be back with some of them right after this. k with some of right after this

we're back with the mayors of new orleans, los angeles, atlanta and minneapolis. we want to get to some of the questions from people who also live in those cities. mayor kentrell of new orleans, we'll start with a question for you. >> hi. my name is mark raymond and i live in new orleans. i serve as the president of the legacy committee and we restarted the movement to rename all landmarks that memorialize the confederacy and white supremacy. it is time for new orleans to send a signal to the rest of the world that we are stepping away from our confederate shadow. mayor can terrell, what are your thoughts about this movement and how can we do this work expeditiously? thank you for your leadership in this challenging time, and thank you for all you do for new orleans. >> thank you, mark, for your

leadership and even serving on the regional transit authority board, representing our residents who are living with disabilities. so, appreciate you. also, when you're leading this effort, you know that i just made an appointment to our city council's commission formed for street renaming. and so that work is getting under way. i fully support it, 100%, but, you know, i'm grassroots all the way. i came to this work as a community organizer. so i believe in bottom up. so any process that is driven by the community and really a reflection of the community, you will have my full support. as i've demonstrated. so, expeditiously, the process is under way and we're going to get it done, but according to the residents of the city of new orleans. >> all right. mayor frey of minneapolis, next question is for you. >> hi. my name is marcel.

i'm originally from south carolina, and my question is for mayor frey. many jewish people receive and still receive reparations as a result of the holocaust. will you join some of your fellow mayors in petitioning congress to approve reparations for black americans whose ancestors endured the horrors of slavery and subsequent racial terror? why or why not? >> marcel, thank you so much for the question. and as a jew who lost extended family during the holocaust, i -- i have been told stories about the impact that this has had on our family and our lives, and, yes, reparations need to take place. and we have seen over throughout history and many generations

systemic racism that has been put in place, whether it's around financing or housing or intentional segregation, and we've seen black people systematically been deprived of both money and property. and if you look over time from generation to generation, that ultimately leads to significant wealth gaps, to gaps in housing, to gaps in ownership, to gaps in businesses. and so, yes, absolutely we need to be making those changes. i would be happy to sign on to any petition that would go towards congress to be doing that at a national level. again, thank you for your advocacy and i'm proud to stand with you. >> all right. the next question is for mayor bottoms of atlanta. >> hello. my name is diana danellia. i'm from atlanta and also a college student here. i was wondering if there are any concrete measures being taken to

combat voter suppression across counties, and also if there are any measures in place to make atlanta a more environmentally friendly city? thank you. >> thank you for your question. so as it relates to voter suppression, the reality is that we have a secretary of state who refuses to accept that voter suppression is real and that it comes in different forms. and so what i would encourage you and all of our students and everyone across this country is to show up and vote in numbers so there is no margin for error. because voter suppression comes in forms like purging people from the voter rolls, and also making people stand in line for six to eight hours, as we saw during the last election. and as it relates to what we are doing for the environment in atlanta, we are continuing to place equity at the top of every single thing that we do. and part of that conversation is making sure that all of our communities, including those with the highest asthma rates in

the country, have the same access to resources to, one, inform our communities, to empower our communities, to make sure that our communities are a safe place for everyone to live and that everyone has access to clean water and to clean communities. >> all right. next question, a topic that i wanted to get to tonight, and i think we can close out some of the rest of the time we have here on, that this question is for you, mayor garcetti, and i'll follow up afterwards. >> hi, my name is julia ursic, i live in los angeles, california, and immune compromised due to lupus. we have more cases here in l.a. than we did when you issued the stay-at-home order, so why aren't we under a stay-at-home order now? >> mayor, why -- >> do you want to follow up on that? >> i know that you've made some pauses. >> okay. >> but that question is to you. >> no, absolutely.

a hard pause, and for anybody immune compromised or who is over 65, we're saying do stay at home. we're seeing across not just our city where we actually have a smaller percentage of the smaller cases than the county cases that are aggressive testing. we're the first city in the country to allow testing for people with and without symptoms. the way that we kind of pioneered mask-wearing in the country as the first city to mandate that. there is no question we need to tighten this up. mayors, a lot of people don't understand, don't have health departments. so those are coming from the county and the state, but i've spoken to both our county leaders and our governor to support the closing of bars, to look at any other measures we need. these next two weeks we got to show what we showed at the beginning, that we saved thousands of lives. we need to to that again. i'm so glad you asked. if you have pre-existing condition medical conditions, if you are over 65, these are two good weeks to stay at home and everyone else should stay at

home whenever they can. no backyard parties, no more cheating. it's like folks who are eating admit night every night and not losing weight on their diet. this is time for us to really get serious and take the gains we won in the last 2 1/2 months and push them forward as well. >> mayor bottoms, i want to go to you on this because you're in a state that does have rising cases. it's in the sunbelt. it's not as bad as we've seen in arizona, texas, california, but are you concerned with where this is rising right now? >> i'm extremely concerned. i was looking at our numbers today. we are up almost 20% from seven days ago. and so it is, as you know, we were one of the first states to open up. and so i think that opening up so aggressively, we're now paying for it on the back end. and when you look at the rates of asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, especially in black and brown communities, it puts atlanta at even higher risk. >> mayor can terrell, quickly. your city is renowned for its

night life and its bars, and there's a lot of evidence to suggest that is a key course of spread as cities opened up. you're seeing them retrench is the first thing. how do you think about bars and night life in the context of an epidemic? >> well, the city of new orleans, as you know, was a hot spot for covid-19. we flattened that right at 94%. i have been more restrictive than the state of louisiana for a reason because we've been disproportionately impacted. we have allowed for bars to open at 25%. i'm telling my folks, you know, we need to stay on track, and if we continue to do that, we'll be just fine, but if there is any regression, you know, in terms of noncompliance, we will close them down, and i've been very much up front about that. but i'm proud, though, of the progress that we have made and we continue to make. but my issue is new orleans is an island right now. in the state of louisiana, and even in the south. >> i do not envy any of you

navigating this period right now. it is extremely difficult job for all of you and i want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules. mayor keisha lance bottoms of atlanta, mayor jacob frey, mayor can terrell and mayor eric garcetti. thank you so much. that was really fantastic. that is "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thank you, my friend. much appreciated. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. happy to have you with us this hour. the biggest population center in the great state of new york is of course omaha. lovely omaha. it has a population of 500,000 people. that's douglas county, omaha. more people lynch in that county than anywhere else in that state by a large measure. down at the other end of the population spectrum is dakota county nebraska, where the population is only 20,000 for the whole