Latest / The Breakfast Club / Voting Rights Groups March on Washington to "Defend the Vote," D4vd Makes a Surprising Legal Move, and BeyGOOD Sends $200K to Gary, Indiana

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Voting Rights Groups March on Washington to "Defend the Vote," D4vd Makes a Surprising Legal Move, and BeyGOOD Sends $200K to Gary, Indiana · The Breakfast Club

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Voting rights groups march on Washington, warning black voting power
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: is being erased.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: And what we must do today with all the thousands
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: that is here, go back and we've gone on a
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: tour together to organize. We must turn this country upside down.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And David drops his high profile legal team for public
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: defenders as he fights his murder trial.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: You can proceed.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: The district attorney's office is ready to proceed to prove
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: all three charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And Beyonce's Bay Good is sending $ 200, 000 to northwest Indiana
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: after the devastating storm. It's Tuesday, September 1st. From the
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Black Effect Podcast Network, I'm Mimi Brown, and here are
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the day's biggest stories. Stay with me. Hundreds of people
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for a new march on Washington,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: this time focused on protecting voting rights. The Defend the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Vote march was led by Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Luther King III at the same place where Dr. Martin
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: more than 60 years ago. But organizers say this march
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: comes at a critical moment just months before the midterm elections.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: At the center of their concern is a recent Supreme
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Court decision that could make it easier for states to
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: redraw congressional maps in ways that reduce the voting power
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: of Black communities. Basically, in plain terms, where those district
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: lines are drawn can determine how much political power a
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: community has and who it can elect to Congress. Sharpton
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: says that makes this one of the most important marches
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: they've ever held.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: The Kaler decision by the Supreme Court shot a bullet
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in the heart of voting rights. But they don't understand
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: we're not going back. We will not let them turn
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: back the hand of time. They can turn back the clock,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: but they can't turn back time. And if we go
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: and organize and go home like they did August 28, 1963,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: and organize, we can put a handicap on the most biased,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: bigoted presidency that we've seen in a long time.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: And we're already seeing the impact in Louisiana, a congressional
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: district created to give black voters a better chance at
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: electing a candidate of their choice. Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: who represents that district, has decided not to run for
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: another term in Congress. Senator Bernie Sanders also spoke at
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the march, calling this a very dangerous moment in American history.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: And Martin Luther King III says some of the voting
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: protections his father's generation fought for are now being eroded.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: And the fight isn't only about congressional maps. Voting rights
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: groups are challenging the president's effort to change the rules
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: surrounding mail-in voting. And the timing matters because the first
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: mail ballots for the midterms begin going out next week.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: And there's a surprising legal move in the murder case
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: against David. The platinum-selling artist has dropped his high-powered private
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: attorneys and is now being represented by a Los Angeles
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: County public defender. David, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: pled not guilty again during his latest court appearance. His
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: former attorneys, Blair Burke and Marilyn Benarski, have represented high-profile clients,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: but both have now withdrawn from the case. Bonarski told
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: reporters there was no conflict and said David made the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: decision himself. But she did not explain why a successful
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: recording artist now qualifies for a taxpayer-funded attorney. Here is
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles district attorney.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Today we had the arraignment. The arraignment was not guilty
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: on the three charges that David Anthony Burke has been
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: held to answer. He brought in new counsel. He substituted
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: out an old counsel now for new counsel. That new
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: council has a next date of October 19th for pretrial.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: We might go forward with that trial within 90 days
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: or that council might ask for additional time and whenever.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: That counsel announces that they are ready to proceed. The
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: district attorney's office is ready to proceed to prove all
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: three charges beyond a reasonable doubt, leading eventually to a
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or if
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: we so choose, the death penalty.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: David is accused of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, sexually
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: abusing her and later dismembering her body. Prosecutors say Celeste
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: threatened to expose their relationship and that David killed her
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: in April of last year. Her remains were eventually discovered
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: inside his Tesla. Prosecutors have also presented text messages they
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: say show David discussing pregnancy, birth control, and abortion with
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Celeste when she was 13 and he was 18. David
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: has pled not guilty to all three charges. His new
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: public defender asked for more time to get caught up
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: on the case, but the judge denied that request. His
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: next hearing is scheduled for October 19th. And finally today,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Beyonce is stepping up to help families in northwest Indiana
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: still recovering from that devastating August storm. Her Bay Good
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Foundation is committing $ 200, 000 in emergency relief to communities hit
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: by the August 11th storm. The powerful storm brought damaging winds, tornadoes, flooding,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and as much as nine inches of rain to parts
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: of Indiana. And Gary was one of the communities hit
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: especially hard. Thousands of people lost power, and for some families,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the lights stayed off for nearly two weeks. More than
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: 1,000 people were displaced from their homes following the flooding. Now,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Baygood says its $ 200, 000 will go toward emergency disaster relief
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: for affected communities. And Beyonce's foundation isn't the only help
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: coming in. The federal government has approved a major federal
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: disaster declaration, opening the door for FEMA assistance in several
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: northwest Indiana counties. The state has also granted a disaster
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: relief that could help provide eligible residents with grants of
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: up to $ 5, 000. And this isn't the first time Baygood
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: has stepped up after a disaster. The foundation has provided
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: millions of dollars in assistance to families following another disaster,
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  Speaker 1: including last year's Eden fire in Los Angeles. Now $ 200, 000
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  Speaker 1: is headed to Northwest Indiana to help families still trying
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  Speaker 1: to recover. That's your front page. I'm Mimi Brown. This
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  Speaker 1: podcast was brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network.