Remembering Michael Brown; Interview With Missouri Congressman William Lacy Clay
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Protests take a back seat to the prayer, as a community comes together to remember the life of Michael Brown. I'm Jake Tapper in St. Louis. This is THE LEAD. The national lead, family, supporters, celebrities and even a delegation from the White House all gathering in St. Louis for the funeral of slain 18-year-old Michael Brown. With so many government officials paying their respects, some supporters of officer Wilson are left asking, whatever happened to due process? Our world lead, hypocrisy alert. The Syrian regime themselves accused of vicious crimes against their own people, are now asking for help to fight the -- quote -- "ISIS terrorists." Should the U.S. take the fight against ISIS to Syria and do we really want to make an ally out of Bashar al-Assad? And in other world news, the international manhunt for the masked man behind the brutal murder of journalist James Foley. Could the haunting voice heard on this videotape be enough to help law enforcement track down a killer? We will break down the clues from Foley's horrific final moments. Welcome to THE LEAD, everyone. We're coming to you live from St. Louis, Missouri, with our national lead. Thousands gathered here to say goodbye to Michael Brown, the 18-year-old whose death brought to the surface issues of racism and police brutality and economic disparity and many other issues not just in this area, but across the country, around the world really. What we witnessed today in honor of Michael Brown was in stark contrast to the chaos that has consumed this community over the past two weeks. In keeping with requests by the Brown family to make this a day of silence and reflection, there were no protesters, there were no rallies. This was instead a celebration of Michael Brown's life, an opportunity for his family to grieve, and it was also a call to action to members of the community that Michael's death not be in vain.</s>ERIC DAVIS, COUSIN OF MICHAEL BROWN: Michael was a big guy, but he was a kind, gentle soul. And before he left this earth, the day that he was killed, he was out spreading the word of Jesus Christ.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a cry being made from the ground, not just for Michael Brown, but for the Trayvon Martins, for those children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, for the Columbine massacre, for the black-on-black crime. There is a cry being made from the ground.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have had had enough of the senseless killing. We have had enough of it. And what you guys can do to continue this is show up at the voting polls. Let your voices be heard.</s>TAPPER: The high-profile presence at the service was something akin to what you might see for a dignitary or a public figure with celebrities sitting alongside politicians and civil rights leaders. Even the White House sent three staffers, including the Cabinet secretary, to pay their respects. Although he was referenced several times during the service, there was no direct mention by name of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown 16 days ago. While the investigation into that shooting is ongoing, many of Wilson's supporters wonder what message it might send about his quest for justice that so many public figures were in attendance at Brown's funeral. So with so much divisiveness in the wake of the shooting, how can this community come together and heal? That's a big question here. Earlier today, I spoke with one of the local leaders about what's next for the people of Ferguson. And joining me now is Congressman Lacy Clay, Democrat of Missouri who represents the area of Ferguson and the surrounding area, of course. Congressman Clay, thanks so much for being here. You didn't get a chance to speak. A lot of speakers were canceled from the program because it had run so late. What were you planning on saying? What was your general message going to be?</s>REP. WILLIAM LACY CLAY (D), MISSOURI: Well, my message was going to be to Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., the parents of Michael Brown Jr., that they do not stand alone, that several members of the Congressional Black Caucus came here today, and we intend to stand with this family until they receive justice.</s>TAPPER: What does justice mean? Because there is a grand jury hearing evidence in the case. As you know, it's very difficult to get an indictment against a police officer. And, look, neither of us were there. It's entirely possible that, according to the rules of the police, it was a -- quote, unquote -- "good shooting." What does justice mean?</s>CLAY: Justice to me means that the American judicial system cannot fail the family of Michael Brown.</s>TAPPER: But what does that mean? Does that mean he has to be sentenced?</s>CLAY: Look, there were numerous eyewitness reports of what occurred in the shooting. And I tend to believe the eyewitness report. I don't believe or put too much faith in what's coming afterward. I don't -- I don't believe that, somehow, that videotape from the store was planted accidentally or that it was just found. All of that is part of a larger plot to discredit a young man whose only crime that day was walking in the middle of the street, and you don't deserve -- you shouldn't have to die for jaywalking.</s>TAPPER: That's certainly true, although the account, from what we understand, is, according to officer Wilson, there was more to it than that. But you know what? Neither you or I were there, so we don't know. Let me ask you this. I have been hearing from people who support officer Wilson, who say the presence of you, the presence of other public officials, the presence of a White House delegation, it feels unfair to them because Wilson is presumed innocent until proven guilty.</s>CLAY: Well, I mean, and I guess in cases of police shooting, that's standard operating procedure. But this is not a normal case to this community. This is -- to this community, this is an execution of a young innocent man whose death was unnecessary, should have never happened. And now this community seeks justice and their own version of justice. They want to see someone punished for the wrongful death of an innocent young man.</s>TAPPER: Congressman Lacy Clay, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.</s>CLAY: Thank you for having me.</s>TAPPER: Good to see you, sir.</s>CLAY: Appreciate it.</s>TAPPER: Some of the political figures in attendance here today have been marching alongside the protesters really ever since Brown's death. I'm joined now by one of them, Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle- Nadal. Thanks so much, Senator. You said to me earlier that you thought that there were a lot of lovely moments at the funeral, but in some cases you thought it was a missed opportunity. What do you mean?</s>MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL (D), MISSOURI STATE SENATOR: Absolutely. And what I mean is that, you know, Michael Brown's death means so much to so many people. And what I have stated before, a lot of young people have felt the intimidation. They have felt the pain and the anger associated with harassment by officials, sometimes of which those are police officers. And so the greatest message, I think, the greater opportunity is, is that we could have talked about young people having an opportunity to fight for their rights. In this entire discourse for the last 16 days, the First Amendment right has been taken away from numbers of young people. And there's been excruciating violence.</s>TAPPER: How do you think that their right of free assembly or free speech has been taken away? How so?</s>CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, I was with them when their First Amendment right was taken away from them and myself. And we were sitting peacefully. It seems as though the St. Louis County Police Department blamed peaceful protesters for the looting. And so the following day, the first Monday after the death of Michael Brown, we incurred at least three hours of tear gas. And I have been thinking about that for a while now. And this morning, it just really came to me that it was impossible to get out of that situation and not feel injury personally. And so for the young people that I was with, at least 100, 150 young people who were peacefully demonstrating, it was some kind of violence that they should never, ever endure. And so the message that I would have sent is, thank you so much, Mrs. McSpadden, for having a young person that you just -- you trained and that you gave him so many values. But now it's also our opportunity to not allow for this kind of thing to happen again.</s>TAPPER: I want to ask you, because the protests have been so peaceful and the media is turning away from Ferguson, we haven't been there. CNN has, but not everyone in the media has been at every protest at every moment, as opposed to in weeks past. What's been going on?</s>CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, let me tell you, yesterday, I got a phone call from some protests are who have been at the police department. And they told me that they were removed yesterday early, early morning. I also about 4:00 this morning got another text message from one of my friends who's also protesting and said that there was more harassment on the part of St. Louis County police officers at the location where it said they can peacefully protest.</s>TAPPER: Because we're not there, do you think?</s>CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, I think because the media is not there anymore, the officers feel as though they can continue to intimidate our protesters who are peacefully demonstrating. And it's unfortunate.</s>TAPPER: All right, state Senator Nidal, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Much more coming up on THE LEAD. There are no celebrities or national figures here showing their support for officer Darren Wilson. Can he get a fair trial here, if it comes to that? A prosecutor from the O.J. Simpson case will join me. And in the world lead, British authorities say they are close to unmasking the killer who beheaded American journalist James Foley, but does the video prove there was more than one murderer? A closer look coming up.