Confederate Flags Laid at Historic Black Church.
PEREIRA: This morning authorities in Atlanta are trying to identify two white mean captured on surveillance video leaving Confederate flags on the grounds of Ebenezer Baptist Church and at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. It comes a month after that horrifying church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina that killed nine and prompted the removal of the Confederate flag from around the state capital in Charleston. Joining us now is Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Reverend Raphael Warnock. Pastor, really good to talk to you about this. I have to guess that your reaction yesterday -- I'm going to let you tell us about your reaction when you first were told or saw these flags around these significant sites.</s>REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK, SENIOR PASTOR, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: Good morning, Michaela. Good to be here with you. We discovered Confederate flags on our church campus yesterday morning. The staff had just arrived. And I was on my way to the office. And they called to tell me what had happened. And as you're seeing on the video right now, those flags were strategically placed on the church campus. One was placed in front of our bell tower where there was a sign that says "black lives matter." And beneath the sign that says "black lives matter," you have a Confederate flag. So, clearly those who left it there intended to send a message and that message clearly is not about heritage. It is a message about hate.</s>PEREIRA: Well, and that's been such a discussion of late, hasn't it been? And it has been for many years about whether that flag represents heritage or hate. I know you gave a very impassioned press conference yesterday, in it you called this a terrorist act.</s>WARNOCK: Yeah, it is a terroristic [SIC] threat. Let me be clear. I'm a child of the South, I was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, serve at a church here in Atlanta and I know that, for many, this flag represents heritage. And not everyone who loves the Confederate flag hates black people. But the problem is this flag has been claimed by far too many hate groups. They now own the flag and I think we ought to let them have it. Since we are one people, we ought to live under one flag: the American flag.</s>PEREIRA: Pastor, so what now? It's meant -- this kind of act is meant to intimidate. Many will wonder if it's meant to strike fear, given what happened in Charleston recently. I imagine you're getting calls to your office from the people in your church. And I know you're going to preach on Sunday. What will be your message to your church come Sunday?</s>WARNOCK: Well, our message will be the same as it's been at Ebenezer Church since 1886. We're America's freedom church. We're committed to what Dr. King called "the beloved community." So I will say to my congregation and I say to others that we will not give into fear, we will not give into hate. Fear paralyzes you. Hate consumes you and prevents you from being able to see the humanity of others. And so this kind of crisis ought to cause all of us to rise up and not simply stand against the flag - after all, it is a symbol - but to resist the substance, that which the flag represents. We're in a fight right now on voting rights and we ought to be focused on that issue and so many other issues.</s>PEREIRA: Absolutely. It's distracting from those key issues that are affecting the lives of thousands. So let me be a member of your flock for a second. And I come to you and I say, Pastor, how am I supposed to see the humanity in someone who is trying to strike fear in my heart, who is trying to intimidate me? How do I see their humanity? what would you say?</s>WARNOCK: Well, that's the message of the gospel. And Michaela, I believe in that message. I see the humanity in all of God's people. Listen, these are tough times. I don't know what was in the mind of the persons who left those flags. But a lot of people are struggling, trying to make a way and many are frustrated. Sometimes that frustration is misguided. And I'd like to get a chance to talk to these individual. But meanwhile, we have to focus on building the beloved community on fighting for a country that works for everybody.</s>PEREIRA: Right.</s>WARNOCK: And so we'll move from this crisis. We'll stay focused on the work that we do week after week. And we'll transform our pain into power and all of us will be better because of it.</s>PEREIRA: I appreciate you saying that. As my mother always said, sometimes the ones that need the love the most are the ones that are hardest to love. I appreciate that. I understand the timing of this is somewhat ironic. You have a leadership conference going on right now at your church?</s>WARNOCK: That's right. We were gathering yesterday morning, a group of clergy all across the country. We convened them at Ebenezer, the house of Martin Luther King, Jr., to talk about mass incarceration. The president and others have been talking about this. America is 5 percent of the world's population. We warehouse 25 percent of the world's prisoners. We've got to make sure that our young people are not caught up in this pipeline that leads from the cradle to the prison system. The outcomes are terrible. And the good thing is that there is agreement on both sides of the aisle. Republicans and Democrats agree that this is unsustainable and so we have to fix it.</s>PEREIRA: Well, it's good to know that we have some consensus right there, finally, from them on both sides of the aisle. Pastor, thanks so much. We wish you well. Thank you for joining us today on</s>NEW DAY. WARNOCK: Thank you so much.</s>PEREIRA: We've got "The Good Stuff" coming your way. Stay with us.