Transcription
Good evening from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm Chris Hayes, and I am here tonight on Nicolette Avenue. That's the site of the brutal killing of a United States citizen by his own government. And we're here on Nicolette Avenue, just a few hundred feet from a group of mourners who were just singing hymns.
We're here outside in the brutal cold, and it's brutal because history is being made here in Minnesota. It's being made by the people who live here and who refuse, day by day, to give in or to give up. In the aftermath of that shooting that just happened over my shoulder, it's become clear in the last few days that something, something is shifting, not just here in Minnesota, but across the country. And when the record of this era is written down, what has happened here is likely to play some decisive role in what kind of country we have on the other side of all this.
What happened here in Minneapolis over the last few weeks, as is so often the case in history, is tragic. A masked man took the life of a 37-year-old mother of three and poet, Renee Goode. She was shot to death at point-blank range by an agent of her own government. And then this weekend, took the life of Alex Preti, also 37, an ICU nurse who was shot repeatedly by agents of his own government in the back as he was prone on the ground.
Good and Pretty knew there was risk in what they were doing. They knew it. I mean, certainly Alex Pretty did, two weeks after Renee Goode was shot, but they did it anyway, and they died protecting their neighbors. I think their names are going to be in the ledger of this country's most elemental struggles decades from now. People will know their names. They will be known and celebrated. There will be memorials to them, and they will rightly be remembered as martyred to our union.
But what's remarkable is that they are just two out of hundreds, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of ordinary people who have mobilized in this moment, clear-eyed about the risks, which could not be clearer, to stand shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors and protect them against the predations of their own government, which is supposed to protect them. It is clear, just in the day that I've been here, these are not just protests. This is a standoff. And here's the thing: improbably, it seems to be working.
The Trump administration is desperately backpedaling as the backlash against what we have seen on these streets grows far beyond this city and cable news channels. The Border Patrol commander in charge, Greg Bovino, is now out. He's headed home to California, along with many of his agents. A new border czar has arrived, Tom Homan, who's here now, apparently the grown-up sent in by Trump, who said the words tonight, "We're going to de-escalate a little. Babino is very good, but he is a pretty out-there kind of a guy, and in some cases, that's good. Maybe it wasn't good here, and that's all working out. We have Tom Homan in there now. We put him in there. He's great. And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else. And we're going to de-escalate a little bit. We're going to de-escalate a little bit."
Does it mean anything? Is it a start? We hope it's a start. There's more to go. Democrats and even Republicans now on Capitol Hill are calling for investigations into DHS and into ICE and to the shooting of Alex Freddie. As Democrats consider a partial government shutdown to block ICE funding, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC today that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem needs to be fired or be impeached. House Democrats have called for her to be fired immediately. And in the event that she is not terminated, we are prepared to initiate impeachment proceedings against her in the House of Representatives. Now, that's Hakeem Jeffries. But here's Republican Senator Tom Tillis tonight: "Quote, Should be disqualified. She should be out of a job. She needs to go."
Again, all of this is happening because ordinary people have chosen to do something extraordinary. And ordinary people doing the extraordinary is the alchemy of democracy. It all comes down to that, right? The fate of the nation depends on it. And they're still standing up. There has been no break. We rode around today with some folks who were out looking for ICE. We're going to bring you that later. All of them absolutely crystal clear about the continuing danger.
This afternoon, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock of Georgia, senator also senior pastor at the Atlanta church once led by Martin Luther King Jr., joined local faith leaders for a vigil right here at this site where Alex Preddy was killed. He spoke exclusively about this historic moment with MSNBC's Alex Tappan. You've mentioned that this is a moral moment. Obviously, to many people, we're at a key juncture right now. Is the country in a moral crisis?
"Oh, oh, absolutely. You look at that tape of Mr. Predic being assaulted along with others and then murdered in broad daylight. We did not only witness the killing of a man, we are witnessing the spiraling spiritual a nation, and it's the people who have to stand up and redeem the soul of our country."
As a senior pastor of the Ebenezer Church, can you talk to me about what role faith leaders have in the civil rights movement, not just historically, but right? What is the case of the movement and in Minneapolis this moment, as you see these faith leaders of various faith traditions, those who claim no faith tradition at all, but are people of conscience standing up?
"It is literally soul force meeting brute force. I think of John Lewis, who I was honored to serve as pastor, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge with brute force under the color of law on the other side of that bridge. But he kept marching, and not only did he cross a bridge, he built the bridge into a new America. And every generation, I think, has a moment like that, and this is our moment."
As both a faith leader and an elected, just why is it so important for you? As both a faith leader and an elected, just why is it so important for you to be right here today?
"In a real sense, this is holy ground, uh, consecrated by blood spilled here. Um, it, it, the cost is high. And so, um, I had to be here to stand in the very place where this tragedy unfurled, not only for Alex Preddy, but for Renee Good, for George Floyd. Um, I think we are at a defining moment for our country. As we look at those tragedies, and as we look at George Floyd on the one hand, Alex Preddy, Renee Good on the other, we need a multi-racial coalition of conscience that's larger than politics. I think the partisan language of politics is too puny a vocabulary for what's facing us in this moment. Uh, there is a political exercise that we engage in. I'm going later today to vote, um, but this, this is a moral moment. The country's in a spiritual crisis. But I haven't lost hope. Part of what I refuse to do is to give in to those who are trying to flood the zone and weaponize despair. I said to the faith leaders gathered earlier today that the scripture reminds us that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness overcometh it not. There is no question it's dark in America right now. Donald Trump has unleashed evil on our streets, but the light penetrates the darkness, and it falls on all of us to be that."