Obama Urges Calm in Ferguson
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>LEMON: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon, here in Clayton, Missouri near Ferguson Missouri. We're waiting for an announcement from the prosecutor. The grand jury has reached a decision and they will make an announcement this evening. We're expecting that announcement will be whether or not to indict the officer in this case, Darren Wilson. I'm joined here by my colleagues. One of my colleagues on the scene is CNN's justice reporter, Evan Perez. Evan, we have been here following this case. You got the information regarding the announcement. As we have been saying, we're expecting the announcement will be an indictment or a no true bill non- indictment.</s>PEREZ: Right. Exactly. We know officials are getting ready. We know some officials who were out of town are coming back in, making sure that now they can put in place the plan that they were preparing for when this decision was made. You know, they know there will be a public reaction to this. Don, you and I were talking about that, despite the pictures that people saw back in August of some of the unrest, some of the protests, really, it's not representative of the vast majority of what we see here. I mean we're talking about a relatively small area. Even downtown Ferguson itself, which is just like half a mile away from the Canfield Apartments, even that feels like a world away. Here in Clayton, Missouri, which is down the road from Ferguson, you can see, you know, some businesses have boarded up. You can tell people are getting ready for the same thing because they are very concerned.</s>LEMON: Some of the businesses as we're standing here aren't open today because they don't know what will happen and they don't want to take the chance. It's unfortunate. As we're getting close to the holidays this is when people make a lot of their money, shop keepers, business owners make a lot of their revenue.</s>PEREZ: I'm told, from some of the conversations that we've had, that some of the merchants in town met with state officials and voiced that concern. A lot of them, Don, already have their inventory for, you know, Black Friday, for the day after Thanksgiving, which is one of the biggest weekends of shopping weekends in America. So they were, you know, very concerned that there's looting and, obviously, also if they have big protests that affect how people can get about and maybe do their shopping.</s>LEMON: The reason I'm looking here is because what we're seeing is reflected on the front of the local newspaper here today, and it says that everyone -- basically the sentiment is that everyone here is apprehensive, living among apprehension. As you can see, the stores are boarded up in the areas. Then you'll see, again, it says, "An undercurrent of unease spread as life goes on." That's at that really good way of putting it rather than the streets of Ferguson are on fire, everyone is on edge, on pins and needles. It's not quite that but there is a feeling of, "We don't know what's going to happen."</s>PEREZ: They don't know what's going to happen.</s>LEMON: Yet, as a resident, the person that lives here, told Sara Sidner, we want to get this over with. We want it to be better and we want to move on with our lives. This has gone on for a long time.</s>PEREZ: Right. We know that the economy of the region is already getting affected. You know that there are big meetings being cancelled. People who are afraid to come to town because they don't know what to expect. And that's unfortunate because, you know, in some ways -- you know, I met with Michael Brown Sr., earlier in the week, when he was shooting a public service announcement, trying to urge public calm, and one of the things he was very concerned about is the idea that this has ceased being about his son, and it stopped being about Michael Brown.</s>LEMON: It's becoming about agendas, people's personal agendas.</s>PEREZ: It's people coming into town with their own agenda and are trying to get --</s>LEMON: Also, I saw some breaking news that we haven't reported here on CNN that I got from one of the sources close to Officer Darren Wilson, is that Darren Wilson and his fiancee married a week ago Friday. They got married. And she is an officer who also works for the Ferguson Police Department. So, Officer Darren Wilson has not been seen in public, has not been heard from. We heard from a couple of friends and associates but haven't heard from the officer. Again, now we're learning they filed for the marriage license back on October 24th, and then, a week ago Friday -- I believe it was the 14th -- that they did get married. And she's an officer with the department as well. I want to go now, Evan, to our colleague, Donna Brazile, in Washington. Donna, we heard the president, as well urge, calm, saying listen everyone has a right to protest, that is your right, but he wants to urge calm. What do you think the president should be doing as we wait for this announcement?</s>DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there's no question that the president has designated Attorney General Eric Holder to be the one that's in touch with, not only state and local officials, the police department and others, they have been providing assistance, they have been providing training, they have been providing resources. Of course, Eric Holder has been a steady hand in making sure all the parties are communicating so that people and the public know that the Justice Department is also monitoring this situation. So the president has designated not just Eric Holder, Valerie Jarrett, and I'm sure they are in touch with Governor Nixon. The president talked to him a few weeks ago. We'll learn more once this announcement is made.</s>LEMON: Donna, I probably wasn't as articulate as I could have been when I spoke with my panel regarding the racial makeup of the grand jury. Race has been the overriding factor in this case at least in the mind of the public. And seven are men, five are women, as you see, three black, nine white. And they need nine really to come to a consensus about indictment. My question is, as we know in this country, many times, African-Americans and whites see race differently in this country, and I find I want interesting that the racial make up of this grand jury may, in some way, be a deciding factor.</s>BRAZILE: Well, I hope it's not. I hope what's a deciding factor is the fairness that they've looked at all of the evidence and come to the right conclusion based on the evidence. I've learned that much from listening to Jeffrey Toobin. With that said, African-Americans and whites share many of the same values and the same beliefs in terms of what it means to liver in a society like ours where we want to do the right thing. We want the best for our children. African-Americans have a unique experience, however, with say the police department, the Justice Department, and in many ways, we've expressed that and throughout the long months since Michael Brown was murdered. We talked about, you know, what it takes in this society to have accountability, transparency, but also sensitivity training of these police departments. So I'm hoping that this episode will soon bring us to a different level of conversation, not only about race relations but really how we work with the police department. You know, all policemen are not bad. All police women are not bad.