Race Relations & the LAPD
BALDWIN: 40 million people in the path of this incoming storm. These are live pictures of Boston. Just about an inch or so accumulating right now. I know the pictures it looks like a little bit more than that. That will change in a matter of hours. Chad Myers talking moment ago that this could be record-breaking that there is even a possibility that in parts of New England they could see 40 inches of snow. So we're talking snow, we're talking wind, maybe coastal flooding here, in just a moment. But we've got to get -- we have to get back to the story out of southern California. They're looking for this basically accused cop killer, and as authorities are trying to hunt down this former police officer, accused of targeting police officers. There is a different conversation across urban radio today about racism and about police. And Don Lemon, you were on the air, what, this morning.</s>DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stumbled upon it on the air, just by doing -- do radio hits.</s>BALDWIN: Just your weekly ...</s>LEMON: We're (inaudible) on the air...</s>BALDWIN: Weekly radio hits.</s>LEMON: Yes, you do -- you do the same thing.</s>BALDWIN: Sure. Yes. And so on this show ...</s>LEMON: take some calls. Yeah. Yeah.</s>BALDWIN: What are people saying?</s>LEMON: It's not -- and let me preface this by saying it is not just on the radio. It is online. All you need to do is go to cnn.com, and I'll tell all the viewers, go to cnn.com ...</s>BALDWIN: Read the comments.</s>LEMON: ... look at the viewer comments. Go to the "L.A. Times," look at the viewer comments. And so, that one of the comments that I saw, there are Facebook pages, we are all Chris Dorner, it's a Facebook page. One of the common treads, "I read the manifesto. And this is not a crazy man. He is quite sane. People need to read and think. Don't be reactionary like a sheep. Read what he wrote. Look at the details. Process some of it. Be discerning instead of just reacting. I have a lot of questions about the LAPD!." So let's get back to the radio.</s>BALDWIN: Take us back. Take us back to what he wrote.</s>LEMON: Right. He says when -- what started him -- the process of losing his job is when he said - when he agreed that he did see his partner or a member of the L.A. Police Department kicking ...</s>BALDWIN: Kicking.</s>LEMON: ... a suspect. And so he said he, I guess, betrayed the blue wall of silence by doing that. And that started the process of him losing his job.</s>BALDWIN: Yes.</s>LEMON: And that he -- so this all happened, he, as part of the reason to clear his name and get back -- which is an odd reason. But let me just also preface this by saying, this conversation that we're having is about what happened before the violence. Anything that happened after the violence and the murders, the violence -- nothing -- there is no condoning that.</s>BALDWIN: Zero justification.</s>LEMON: No justification for that. But there are people, especially minorities, on urban radio, especially African-Americans and Hispanics, this story shows that now, just like the O.J. Simpson's story, just like the Rodney King story, that people -- there is a distinct difference in this country, the way people view race, the way people view news stories, the way we filter things, because there are people who support him. There are people who say I had a problem with my job. I had a problem with police officers, especially with stories that concern police officers, there are people with a general distrust of police officers, especially African-Americans and Hispanics and they see that -- they believe that he had a beef, a legitimate beef, but now he's gone off the deep end and he's doing it the wrong way now.</s>BALDWIN: So prior to him going off the deep end, a lot of these callers, and this isn't just talking about LAPD, this is, you know, different municipalities across the country.</s>LEMON: Across the country.</s>BALDWIN: They're saying he's not so crazy.</s>LEMON: Right. That the LAPD historically has a problem with racism. Had a worse problem with racism years ago, especially 20 years ago when the Rodney King story happened, and probably worse before that, and then it was cleaned up. No police department in the country is perfect. The LAPD is not perfect now. And people are still saying the LAPD has a problem with racism now. And police departments across the country have a problem with racism now, and the way they treat people of color. So Chris Dorner, they believe, is now sort of -- a person who they believe in this story can help bring that out, and that we should be talking about that as well as the victims in this story and the hunt for Chris Dorner.</s>BALDWIN: We should say the L.A. police chief, Chief Beck, was asked yesterday sort of about some of the allegations Dorner makes in the manifesto, and this is what he said about him yesterday.</s>CHARLIE BECK, LAPD COMMISSIONER: You're talking about a homicide suspect who has committed atrocious crimes, and if you want to give any attribution to his ramblings on the Internet, go right ahead, but I do not. If you read his manifesto, this is a very -- LAPD is a specific target, but all law enforcement is targeted. This is a vendetta against all of Southern California law enforcement. And it should be seen as such.</s>BALDWIN: Calls him cowardly.</s>LEMON: Yeah, he does. Calls him cowardly. But yet, and still, again, this conversation is no way justifying what he has done.</s>BALDWIN: What he's done, absolutely.</s>LEMON: But it is also something that we need to talk about, and also something that is not -- that is being talked about online, being talked about on the radio, but is not being talked about in media coverage. And I have to say, even other journalists, because I made a similar point yesterday, that it appears from his manifesto that he is, you know, he wasn't crazy when he wrote his manifesto. And someone, another journalist from a major news organization, wrote me and said, confidentially, "your coverage of the LA fugitive story makes me proud to be a black journalist. Yes, what he's doing is wrong, but your points are right, Don. Praying for him and the victims. Obviously, this is confidential, a confidential message because of where I work. Peace and love."</s>BALDWIN: Once they catch him, it is a conversation we need to have.</s>LEMON: Absolutely.</s>BALDWIN: Thank you, Don Lemon, appreciate it. And back to the blizzard here. Blizzard 2013. It is on its way. Live pictures here from Boston. The snow is starting to fall. Folks are being warned. We're covering it from every angle. Coming up next, the craziest video we have seen so far.