United States of America eSeries: 'I'm honestly afraid to get out'

'I'm honestly afraid to get out'

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April 13, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'I'm honestly afraid to get out'

It just keeps happening.

America's crisis over race and policing has erupted again, amid tensions already heightened by the trial in Minnesota over the killing of George Floyd. The trial is a watershed moment in the national debate over how police treat Black Americans, a point being emphasized by new violent incidents.

Footage has emerged of police drawing guns on and pepper-spraying US Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario in Virginia in December. Nazario, who is Black and Hispanic, told officers he didn't pull over immediately during a traffic stop because he feared for his safety and chose instead to stop at a floodlit gas station nearby. His comment encapsulates the calculations African Americans make every day in encounters with police. And the hostile attitude of the police stopping Nazario does little to calm concerns over escalatory policing tactics.

In another incident just 10 miles from the court hearing the Floyd trial, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot dead by police on Sunday, also during a traffic stop. The local police chief said he believed the officer meant to fire her Taser instead of her handgun -- which hardly mitigates fear of negligent and aggressive policing. Wright's death has been ruled a homicide and the name of yet another young Black man the world never knew is becoming a symbol of an American scourge.

Civilian access to guns in the US makes the job of policing the streets perilous; on Monday alone, multiple officers were shot by a suspect during a chase in Georgia. But Black Americans are shot by police at more than twice the rate of White people, according to a Washington Post database.

In what seems like odd timing, the White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden has abandoned his promise to launch a commission to study police reform. A top adviser, Susan Rice, said civil rights activists prefer the President to push for new laws to change police tactics and training. But such efforts could founder in the deadlocked 50-50 US Senate, raising fresh questions over whether broken US politics are up to fixing the country's problems.

'I'm honestly afraid to get out'

The encounter between Nazario and the police was captured by several cameras, including both officers' body cameras and his phone. The footage was obtained by CNN through Nazario's attorney. "I'm honestly afraid to get out," he is heard telling the officers after they've approached the vehicle with weapons drawn and ordered him to exit the vehicle. "Yeah, you should be," responds one officer.

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The world and America

Millions of Hindu pilgrims are gathering in northern India.

Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro officials lifted lockdown despite Brazil's Covid-19 crisis.

France plans to ban domestic flights where trains are available.

And Brexit isn't working.

Meanwhile in America, a "stickier" coronavirus variant is putting more young people in the hospital.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will help pay for Covid-19 funerals.

And Biden is expected to nominate the first female secretary of the Army.

Protests erupted in a Minneapolis suburb after Wright's shooting on Sunday. Police responded to volleys of rocks and garbage with rubber bullets and chemical agents. (Video: Jonathan Stegenga)

Prepare for takeoff

Glance up at the skies over the US East Coast and you are likely to see a once-familiar sight — vapor trails.

The domestic airline industry is roaring back to life after spending most of the past year in cold storage. More than 10 million passengers have streamed through air security checkpoints in the last week, compared with 695,000 in the equivalent week last year, in the early days of the pandemic. Current numbers are still roughly a million down from the same period in 2019, but with nearly half of American adults at least partially vaccinated against Covid-19, renewed air traffic is a harbinger of a national reopening.

In another sign of growing passenger numbers, Delta Air Lines last week announced it would again start selling the dreaded middle seat — which had been kept empty to promote social distancing — on its aircraft from May 1. Airlines say that their planes are safe, pointing out that fresh air is constantly circulated. In its latest guidance, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fully vaccinated travelers no longer need to self-quarantine or get tested before or after travel. But the standard advice of mask wearing and frequent handwashing and avoiding crowds wherever possible still applies. And health officials are fretting about surging Covid-19 numbers among younger people who have not yet had their shots.

Airlines anticipating heavy summer travel are quickly activating plans to bring idled jets and aircrews back into service, a complex task given the safety and training requirements that govern commercial aviation. Difficult decisions lie ahead as the White House considers whether any nations will soon be sufficiently advanced in vaccination rates to permit unrestricted travel to the US. But it's beginning to look like we might soon be complaining about security check-in lines, lost luggage and ropey airline food once again. The static crackle of your captain speaking has never sounded sweeter.

'Reckless criminal nuclear terrorism'

The mysterious incident that damaged an Iranian nuclear facility over the weekend now looms over talks to revive the JCPOA nuclear deal, which would see Iran limit nuclear development in return for US sanctions relief. In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote Monday that "the deliberate targeting of a highly sensitive safeguarded nuclear facility — with the high risk of potential release of radioactive material — constitutes reckless criminal nuclear terrorism," and concluded: "If the United States wants to avert the drastic consequences of foolish gambles by its terrorist stooges" it should rethink any "terrorist" measures intended as "negotiating leverage" and lift all sanctions imposed since the JCPOA.

Thanks for reading.

On Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will meet the foreign minister of Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Brussels to discuss Russia, Afghanistan and Iran. And Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to Tehran at Zarif's invitation.