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My name is Cornell William Brooks.
I've been a civil rights lawyer, activist,
advocate for over 30 years.
Going into 2020, we have an ongoing racial reckoning.
There is a widening chasm between the haves and the have-nots.
We have a great many people who are tremendously interested
in what is happening politically and what is happening socially,
but we also have these outside actors
heightening the problems and wondering,
"How much change is coming?"
[ Fireworks booming ]
REPORTER: Outbreak of a mystery virus.
Four people have died.
REPORTER: Has confirmed a number of people who have died.
REPORTER: The concern, of course, how to stop it from spreading.
REPORTER: Coronavirus has made it here in the U.S.
A virus attacked in a way that pulled on the political tensions
that already existed in the country.
You could not look away from economic disparities.
REPORTER: The richest 1% controls more wealth now
than at any time in more than a half century.
We were seeing a lot of misinformation
and disinformation and lies and conspiracies.
REPORTER: Growth of disinformation
over the last few years seems to be increasing as new
conspiracy theories continue to saturate the Internet.
FARID: We've got to get a handle on this.
It is a historic pandemic,
the likes of which we have not seen in over a hundred years.
REPORTER: The virus is airborne.
DR. FAUCI: We've got to continue to adapt.
The year of multiple colliding crises,
reckonings with racism and racial violence.
- Floyd! - Floyd!
I can't breathe!
But 2020 showed the possibilities of the power of people acting together.
All of these things come to a literal boiling point in the 2020 election.
PROTESTORS: Stop the steal! Stop the steal!
The fact that facts aren't facts anymore,
just massive mistrust in this country.
On one side is democracy.
On the other side is autocracy.
BROOKS: We literally walked to the edge of a democratic precipice.
We stared into the abyss.
2020 was unique in so many ways.
I mean, just for all of our lives. Let's face it.
Pre-COVID, I was worried about where things were going.
I just didn't think everything would accelerate
quite as fast as it did.
For me, in particular, in the work we do,
I would say that there were things that were quite distinct.
So, one was not just the physical manifestation of COVID,
but the digital manifestation of it.
Right out of the gate, we saw lies.
We saw misinformation. We saw disinformation.
So we should separate those two, by the way.
The disinformation is the concerted effort to deceive people.
The misinformation is people believing it and then amplifying it,
not knowing necessarily that it's a lie.
And right out of the gate, we saw problems.
So rewind with me, if you will, to, say, around 2000.
[ Modem screeching ]
We saw the power of digital, being able to record,
store, transmit, and it was very exciting.
And in the early days, I don't think most people saw the downside of that,
but I think now 20 years on, our sense of reality
has gotten very distorted because of that sort of inherently malleable nature
of digital media.
For the last decade, I've been studying the Internet,
how groups of people use primarily social media
or networking technologies to change the world,
and I started looking at how bad actors were using the Internet,
not much differently from how activists were using it.
So in the beginning of 2020,
immediately what I started to look at were trends online.
Anytime there's an event that is the first of its kind,
people seek information.
FARID: So, what do they do?
They're getting on the Internet to get information,
and they're getting on to Facebook and on to Twitter
or on to YouTube and on to TikTok,
which is not where you should be going for information.
This is not what it was designed for, and it's a mess out there.
There were over 160,000 URLs with coronavirus or COVID registered.
Some of these websites were places in which people
were putting up conspiracy theories,
and there were scammers, hoaxers, grifters,
really just out to make money.
So, people knew that this keyword was going to be important
and that there was going to be a battle over information.
[ Thunder rumbling ]
REPORTER: The surge is coming.
REPORTER: New hot zones now popping up across the country.
REPORTER: New York, the epicenter.
REPORTER: With the numbers rising.
REPORTER: The Dow, the largest point drop ever.
REPORTER: The U.S. economy in free fall.
REPORTER: Every shopping trip, "Is there toilet paper?"
- REPORTER: School closures. - REPORTER: Remote learning.
REPORTER: This is chaos.
REPORTER: Slow the spread.
REPORTER: By banning large gatherings.
REPORTER: Crushing small businesses.
REPORTER: Unemployment skyrocketing.
REPORTER: Elected officials...
REPORTER: issuing a stay-at-home order,
the poorest neighborhoods hit hardest.
REPORTER: The World Health Organization declares a global pandemic.
REPORTER: Unprecedented measures, closing all bars and restaurants.
REPORTER: St. Patrick's Day Parade.
- REPORTER: The NBA. - REPORTER: Disney World.
REPORTER: Broadway gone dark.
[ Siren wailing ]
For years, we've had public health officials talk about
the "once-in-a-hundred-year pandemic."
I remember all these stories that I heard as a young man
about the Spanish Flu.
And I'm thinking, what will this pandemic mean for people
in this country in terms of class and in terms of race?
Many economists have already warned us,
inequality is not only a threat to our economic wellbeing,
but it is a threat to the social fabric of this country.
[ Indistinct ] Uncle, how are you? Hare Krishna.
I grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens,
which is an underserved, underinsured community.
And during the peak of COVID,
the hardest hit community was Queens.
REPORTER: People living in parts of Queens
have found themselves in the epicenter of the virus.
REPORTER: Impacting minority communities the hardest,
more positive cases, more deaths.
- CREW: Speeding. - KAMINI: My name is Kamini Doobay.
I'm an emergency medicine physician in New York City.
Medicine is truly the best field for me
where you can blend service and advocacy,
and those are my favorite things to do in life.
Listen and then advocate.
Many communities, specifically communities of color,
are often treated as wastelands waiting to be saved
instead of communities full of individuals
invested in making the community better.
All right, Mom, Dad. Love you guys.
-Bye.
So, I personally believe that those closest to the problem
are closest to the solution.
Auntie.
I had family members suffering from COVID,
including my uncle, Uncle Peter.
Sometimes, you know, in Hindu homes,
you put a picture to honor outside of the house.
He was at Jamaica Hospital in Queens
where community members and family members received care.
This was a man who helped raise me.
He was like a second father to me.
I remember speaking to the ICU doctor, and I said,
"You know what, I really think my uncle needs this medication."
The ICU doctor said, "Yes, we agree,
but unfortunately, we don't have enough ICU-level trained nurses.
I'm really, really sorry that he's in a hallway bed."
I was in tears on the phone, and I said,
"Please, please, please do everything you can."
I was working in the ICU in Manhattan at the time.
It was horrifying for me to know
that certain patients in Manhattan
were blatantly receiving better care
than my own family members.
The next call I would get is that my uncle had died.
He never made it to getting the type of care,
the level of care that he needed.
He is one person that fell victim
to the inequities of our health system.
It was egregious, right?
And I blamed the hospital, but that hospital is serving
the most marginalized people in our community
and doing their best, so I realized I should not
be blaming the hospital.
I should be grateful, but I should blame the health system
that is extremely racist,
and we've allowed this to happen,
and I should do everything that I can do
to make it better for so many other people.
REPORTER: The coronavirus news is grim.
REPORTER: Unfathomable numbers.
REPORTER: New York, New Jersey...
REPORTER: Massachusetts,
the entire northeast taking a beating.
REPORTER: The worst is yet to come for the city of Boston.
REPORTER: An expected surge in patients.
GEN. McCONVILLE: We are in a war against an invisible enemy.
We remain Massachusetts Strong and Boston Strong.
My name is Ravin Davidoff.
I'm a cardiologist at Boston Medical Center
and the Chief Medical Officer.
Medical school in South Africa
made me realize the ravages of apartheid
on individuals and health, and it is why when I came here,
a place like Boston Medical Center
really resonated with me because of the intent
to treat everybody who came through the door,
regardless of their color or their ability to pay.
DNP, GADEN: As a safety net hospital, we really take care
of the most vulnerable patients in our community.
Many patients below the poverty line,
many patients who do not speak English as their first language,
and in COVID, we saw a disproportionate impact
on our patient population.
REPORTER: ER rooms preparing for patient overflow.
REPORTER: Healthcare workers are at great risk.
In early April, we had this incredible surge.
It was the steepest curve that I could imagine.
Even though we knew it was coming, because you would see
from these other cities, but then it just really hit fast.
Our normal population is about 58% or 60% of people of color.
It was about 20 points higher than that during the first surge.
We re-geared the Intensive Care Unit.
Every floor, everywhere you could put beds that had oxygen.
All you knew was behind those doors,
these patients were just fighting for their lives.
Truly, it was impossible
not knowing, "What is this disease?
How do we manage it?"
And then in early April...
I had meetings with all the clinical departments
explaining to them
that we were approaching the inflection point
where we don't have enough to care for everybody
and we have to decide who can we position to live
and who will we not be able to help survive,
to try to incorporate the ethics
and the values of Boston Medical Center
and our commitment to our patients,
and that was tough.
DNP, GADEN: Patients were dying without a visitor.
We used to say to each other,
"Don't start crying, because we might not stop."
It was awful, you know?
If you look at 2020, coronavirus laid bare
structural inequalities that have been characteristic
of the United States since, really since its inception.
That means that people who are poorer,
people who are Black and Brown,
people who are engaged in low-waged work,
are more likely to be subject
to things that threaten their life and health.
This was an analysis that people have been making
for years and years and years.
But this was a moment in which,
"Oh, look, we can actually just see it."
Month after month, we see the jobless numbers mounting.
Millions and millions of American families out of work.
Low-wage jobs were the first to turn off.
At the same time, so many low-wage jobs
were deemed "Essential Workers"
and people had to make very hard decisions,
really impossible choices to go to work
and put their families at risk
in order to put food on the table.
This really brought home some very ugly truths about America.
You had one group of people that was able to isolate
and you could argue didn't see much impact on their lives,
and then you had another group of people
that, loosely speaking, had to put Diet Cokes
and diabetes medication into an Igloo cooler
and head out and put themselves in harm's way.
Essential workers disproportionately
are foreign born, Black,
indigenous, peoples of color.
They often live in impoverished areas
and food deserts,
uninsured or underinsured, so all of these factors
led to infection and then to mortality.
When you look at the statistics and look at the rate
of hospitalization and the rate of deaths and compare,
there clearly is a disparity there.
GALLOWAY: The burden has not been distributed equally.
There has been two pandemics,
one for the wealthy and one for everybody else.
When we first heard about COVID,
of course we were very worried.
My husband works for the commuter rail.
He's considered an essential worker.
My family came from Honduras, and we moved to Boston.
We live in a two-family house.
My aunt and my uncle live upstairs,
and my husband, my brother,
and Mateo, my son, live downstairs.
My husband would come home and get undressed at the door,
put everything in a plastic bag and get in the shower.
So, we were being really careful,
especially because I was pregnant.
I remember on Sunday,
I started to feel a little bit tired.
I was having a hard time breathing,
and then I haven't felt my son the whole day move, my baby.
And as soon as I got into the hospital, they were like,
"I think you have COVID."
I first saw Adriana, one of the nurses in the SICU,
she came to me and asked me, she say,
"Marlene, my patient, she speak English,
but she's a little confused
and I know that she speaks Spanish.
Will you come and translate?"
I remember someone telling me,
"You have to breathe. You have to breathe."
Pushing me to breathe, because I didn't want to be put on the ventilator.
I was scared, but I wasn't scared for myself.
I was scared for my family
because I didn't want to leave them without me,
without a mother and without a wife.
Yeah.
DR. DECHERT: We had already lost so many patients.
We got to get her through this somehow.
And not only is she young, but then, "Oh, she's pregnant."
If she dies, we're going to, like, the whole team's
just going to lose it.
But I guess it got to a point where I was so tired
and I haven't slept three, four days,
that I told someone, just do it.
Just put me on the ventilator.
All the doctors was worried about her.
DR. LEE-PARRITZ: Adriana was already in the ICU intubated when I took over.
Things were really going downhill,
and she was really unstable and losing her oxygen levels.
I didn't want her to die.
I did not want her baby to die.
We're kind of running out of ideas of ways
to make her better.
Let's deliver the baby.
The chance of not surviving the surgery is very scary,
and so you have to be balancing these unknown,
dangerous things at the same time.
The decision was made to take her
and do the Cesarean section.
DR. LEE-PARRITZ: We brought her down to the main operating room.
The baby came out crying, looked great.
People were cheering.
It was a moment of joy in a sea of horror.
A new life.
So that was a very good day, of course.
The next thing I remember, seeing Marlene, my nurse.
And now she's waking up
to grab her stomach and start screaming.
She doesn't know if she baby was alive or not.
I was very confused
because the whole time I was on the ventilator,
I was dreaming a lot, and I remember
Marlene just helping me get through everything.
NURSE PUTNAM: I was the nurse who got her out of bed,
made sure that she walked the first step to the door,
to the wheelchair, and go home.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And that was the plan. And she did.
And I was able finally to see him, Lucas,
before I left the hospital that day.
So yeah, he was waiting for me.
He was so little because he was premature,
but I was so happy.
I'll tell him that I fought really hard,
that the doctors fought really hard for him, too,
and he brought hope to a lot of people.
[ Crowd cheering ]
REPORTER: We are seeing displays of appreciation
for healthcare workers all across the country.
HEALTHCARE WORKER: I've never seen anything like it.
HEALTHCARE WORKER: It just melts our heart.
REPORTER: First responders show support
for their brothers and sisters in scrubs.
REPORTER: We cannot thank our medical professionals enough.
REPORTER: We appreciate them today and every day.
REPORTER: Governor Gretchen Whitmer announcing today
that she's extending her stay-at-home order
until the end of the month.
REPORTER: The U.S. Labor Department reports 6.6 million Americans
filed for unemployment for the first time just last week.
REPORTER: 10,000 migrants have been sent back to Mexico
without the chance to apply for asylum.
The Trump Administration shut down the asylum system
citing coronavirus prevention measures.
REPORTER: Bernie Sanders has endorsed Joe Biden
for the presidency of the United States.
He called President Trump dangerous.
REPORTER: Fresh anger rippling across the country
about economic survival in the face of widespread shutdowns.
We want to go back to work.
If I don't make money, my family doesn't eat.
Over the years, we have been losing people out of our middle class.
An economy doesn't work without a middle class.
Middle class is the ballast.
They're the ones that consume products.
They're the ones that fight our wars.
They're the ones that are in the factories
punching things out.
Open America now!
GALLOWAY: When you look at economic history,
when society has reached this level of income inequality,
it's unsustainable.
- Open up business tomorrow! - Lock her up! Lock her up!
REPORTER: Governor Whitmer's stay-at-home order
not going over well.
In 2020, the pandemic
becomes a story of American government.
There has been a political movement since the 1980s
that is determined to get rid of America's active government
that provides a basic social safety net
and regulates business and promotes infrastructure.
No more tyranny!
RICHARDSON: That political movement
sees an opportunity to use the fury
over the shutdown of places, for example, like Michigan,
as a way to fire up its base.
[ Horns honking ]
The President had a very famous tweet
where he talked about calling his supporters to liberate,
all in capital letters, "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!"
"LIBERATE VIRGINIA!"
REPORTER: The governor of Michigan
just announcing that the stay-at-home order
will remain in place despite those protests.
RICHARDSON: After that tweet and the even further shutdown,
a number of White armed men mobilized.
PROTESTORS: Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!
REPORTER: Lawmakers in Michigan are taking extra precautions
after the Capitol Building was overrun by protestors
armed with semi-automatic weapons.
I remember looking at the fact the legislators
were trying to do their jobs,
the jobs they were elected in a democracy to do,
while there were armed men in the State House.
You betrayed us!
Let us in!
The way you get people to radicalize
behind a political movement is to get them to turn violent
against what they see initially as a direct threat,
and I see that event in April of 2020 as a moment that said,
"Democracy is really in trouble."
ANNOUNCER: This is an Arizona's Family news update.
REPORTER: Good morning, Arizona.
Here are the latest stories that we're following for you.
Right now, we're keeping track of coronavirus cases
here in the state.
I remember so clearly.
Oh, my goodness.
Talking to so many friends who were struggling so much
to convince their boomer parents
to take COVID seriously.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
I felt so grateful that I didn't have to deal with that.
We were on the same page.
CREW: Mark.
My name is Kristin Urquiza.
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, born and raised,
just like my parents.
Oh, funny.
Do you remember this?
No.
At the beginning, my mom didn't really leave the house at all.
My dad went to work and would come back home.
I knew my dad was watching the news constantly.
I was really nervous about what information they were getting,
and from what news sources.
I remember talking to my parents,
just trying to educate them on what I knew,
and also was just asking a lot of questions
about what they were hearing.
Then, things started to change.
REPORTER: President Trump is traveling to Arizona today
to visit a Honeywell facility.
I remember May 5th really well.
REPORTER: The President flew into Arizona
to make his visit to a mask factory.
KRISTIN: Watching President Trump's trip
touring the Honeywell facility,
that's where my dad worked for a number of years.
BRENDA: Mark always believed what they told him.
If President Trump said it was okay,
"Okay, then it's okay to go out."
And now we're reopening our country,
and it's going to be something very special.
Not only was the President saying that,
but also the Governor.
And on Friday, May 8th,
will be a full reopening of retail shopping.
REPORTER: This week, the state experienced
its deadliest day for COVID deaths.
REPORTER: Is the state putting your life
or your family's lives on the line
opening too soon?
KRISTIN: Businesses were allowed to open up,
and the Governor would not allow mayors
to pass a mask mandate.
My dad was the kind of guy
that loved going 'out and about.'
He was starting to mimic these new talking points of,
"Oh, it's safe."
I remember trying to reason with my dad,
and him saying to me,
"Well, Kristin, why would the President,
why would the Governor say it's safe if it's not?"
That's when I lost my battle of keeping my parents safe.
How do I protect my parents from disinformation?
I could not compete with the megaphone
that's attached to the White House.
DONOVAN: Early on in the pandemic, nearly every night at 5:00,
the Coronavirus Task Force would get up
and give their press conference.
From my perspective, as somebody who studies media
and is a media historian, I didn't feel as if the country
was getting the right information at the right time.
Call it a germ, you can call it a flu,
you can call it a virus, you can call it many different names.
It will go away, you know it is going away.
It's going to go away, hopefully at the end of the month,
and if not, it hopefully will be soon after that.
I didn't say a date. I said it's going away, and it is going away.
Whatever came out of those press conferences,
the media would seize on,
so when he comes out and says, "Oh, maybe light can cure it."
Supposing you brought the light inside the body.
Maybe put some disinfectant on it.
The disinfectant where it knocks it out
in a minute, one minute,
and is there a way we can do something like that?
If you know what's happening in other spaces online,
people are trying that.
REPORTER: People across the country calling poison control centers.
REPORTER: New York City's Poison Control Center
reporting a higher number of calls in the hours
after Trump's comments.
People are putting bleach in their bath water.
REPORTER: They've washed their bodies with household cleaners
and disinfectant products.
They have inhaled or gargled with bleach.
We're in an era right now that is quite disturbing
where reality and truth doesn't seem to matter at all.
It's particularly problematic when it occurs
when you're trying to contain a historic outbreak.
We are totally ready, willing, and able.
It's going to be very well under control.
If we are complacent and don't do really aggressive containment
and mitigation, the number could go way up,
and be involved in many, many millions.
America will again, and soon, be open for business.
I hope we can do this by Easter.
You don't make the timeline.
The virus makes the timeline.
It is estimated it might not come back at all, Jeff.
It may not come back at all.
It's not going to come back.
We will have coronavirus in the fall.
I am convinced of that.
I didn't like having to correct things
that the President of the United States said,
but I had to because I had to represent the truth as a scientist
and as a physician and as a public health figure,
when you're dealing with a public health crisis.
The big news is that the CDC,
the Centers for Disease Control,
has now issued, and the President made this announcement,
a new recommendation.
The CDC is advising the use
of non-medical cloth face covering.
This is voluntary.
I don't think I'm going to be doing it.
It became clear that there was a tension
between the politics of the Executive Branch
and the public health policies of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are fact-based
and have always been nonpartisan.
REPORTER: The CDC has long been
at the center of the nation's health concerns,
but maybe not so much with this pandemic.
REPORTER: The CDC has not held any briefings since March the 9th.
The President didn't want people to be worried
about this pandemic, because he recognized that
that would hurt the economy, and the economy was his biggest chip
going into the election of 2020.
REPORTER: The Trump Administration
is blocking the release of step-by-step CDC guidance
meant to help states reopen safely.
REPORTER: The agency's scientists were told
the document would, quote, "Never see the light of day."
It was an interesting moment to watch the politicization
of what had always been
sort of our gold-star health system in America.
Many people were starting to worry
about the direction the country was taking.
REPORTER: Now to Georgia,
and the latest developments in a fatal shooting.
Police have arrested and charged two White men
for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
[ Gunshot ]
REPORTER: The McMichaels were arrested more than 10 weeks
after their fatal confrontation.
REPORTER: This morning, the family of a Kentucky woman shot
and killed by police is demanding answers.
Breonna Taylor's family filing a wrongful death lawsuit
against three officers.
The FBI is looking into the death of a Black man
after he was stopped by police in Minneapolis.
REPORTER: George Floyd, unarmed, died in police custody.
BROOKS: I guess we first saw it on Twitter,
and then, like millions of Americans, we saw the video.
REPORTER: Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd's neck
for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
FLOYD: Really, can't breathe!
As someone who's seen many videos of police brutality,
it was still shocking.
You should check on him. He's not responsive right now.
OFFICER: Back off!
BROOKS: It took place in emotional slow motion.
Obscene level of violence.
You're just drawn into it,
and it literally crowds your conscience.
I wasn't sure, when I heard about
how George Floyd had died,
the way that the country would react.
BROOKS: The COVID crisis had millions of Americans at home.
They were at home looking at this video.
They were at home contemplating,
"Why is this happening again and again?"
PROTESTORS: Black Lives Matter!
REPORTER: Thousands took to the streets demanding justice
for George Floyd.
WOODLY: For me, in the midst of massive protests,
I feel a sense of the power of people acting together.
I think the moment of shock and awe happened
when the protests were growing.
They turned out to be the largest uprising
in America's history.
[ Crowd cheering ]
26 million people came into the streets
in defense of Black lives.
McADAM: What we saw in the wake of George Floyd's murder
was like nothing we've ever seen.
By virtue of being as diverse, as extensive as they were,
they marked a moment in American history
where the whole country was attuned to issues
that previously had been
sort of the province of Black activists.
The spread of the movement was extraordinary.
These protests spread around the globe.
[ Crowd chanting ]
We'd never seen a sort of coordinated
global protest movement ever before.
REPORTER: The Frenchman Marcos Thuram showed his solidarity
with the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd.
We're getting these videos of protests
that were happening in defense of Black lives
in New Zealand...
Brazil...
Nigeria.
Enough is enough!
All over the world.
I really do get chills.
In the middle of a pandemic, millions of people turned out
to protest and to demonstrate.
This is a commentary on the degree
to which young people have an appetite for change.
- Hands up! - Don't shoot!
Empirically, 99.9% of protests were entirely peaceful,
but there were a percentage of protests
in which there was property destruction.
REPORTER: Police Precinct Station 3 going up in flames.
PROTESTORS: I can't breathe! I can't breathe!
REPORTER: Looting erupted overnight.
WOODLY: I remember at the time being nervous about that
because I thought that the narrative would turn.
REPORTER: President Trump put out a tweet.
REPORTER: Writing, "When the looting starts,
the shooting starts."
REPORTER: That tweet then flagged by Twitter.
In Washington, we had cases
where you would have peaceful protests during the day
that would then turn into riot-like,
mob-like behavior at night.
And you had people who see these as opportunities to come
and do mischief and come and do violence.
This is bad news for peaceful protestors,
and it's good news for people who want to further divide America.
REPORTER: This is Lafayette Park, where the protestors have been
lined up for days now.
STIREWALT: In Lafayette Park, Trump was playing
into the same thing.
Come on, guys. We're good.
"How do I exploit this moment for my own advantage?"
Trump's supporters thought that was
a really important moment of leadership for Trump.
It played to his base,
while the Left sat there in stunned disbelief.
Typically, presidents at least feel obliged
to rhetorically embrace some of the concerns of the protestors.
Trump did none of that.
You sort of knew that our politics were getting ever more divisive.
REPORTER: Across this country, two crises have converged.
Protests over the death of George Floyd and the pandemic.
REPORTER: Thousands of healthcare workers
taking part in the White Coats for Black Lives March.
Doctors and nurses say they see the racial disparities
in the healthcare system every day.
When George Floyd was murdered,
it brought us back to what I think
is the deadliest public health crisis, which is racism.
It reinforced the horrors of racism
that is deeply rooted in the healthcare system.
And because of that, people mobilized.
As doctors, we needed to show up and stand up in solidarity
with the Black Lives Matter movement
and with our patients.
So while we may stand up and say,
"Don't kill Black men anymore,"
it is just as important to hold
our institutions accountable and say,
"You must accept patients who look a certain way.
You must accept patients who do not have insurance."
"I can't breathe!"
These are three of the most horrifying words.
As an emergency medicine physician,
I spring into action.
Intubation, resuscitation, any lifesaving measure
to save that lifesaving breath.
It's been a long time now that I've been seen
as a voice that is outspoken
when it comes to hospital inequities
and how hospitals perpetuate injustice.
Raise your hands, guys.
Years ago, I founded a coalition called
the New York City Coalition to Dismantle Racism in the Health System.
So, in 2020, we knew from the start
that COVID was going to result in racial inequities.
We were one organization that joined
with many other public health organizations
to call upon our local government,
our federal government, and the public health community to do better.
But what next?
What comes after all of those protests?
We saw a whole different level of unity, comradery,
and I think we moved closer to change like no other.
REPORTER: NASCAR, this week, banned the Confederate flag from its events.
REPORTER: There's been a push to remove Confederate memorials
and monuments all across the country.
REPORTER: It is a cultural turn.
[ Crowd cheering ]
Pressure is mounting for a new investigation
into the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain,
after an encounter with police in Colorado last August.
REPORTER: More than 2 million people
have signed a petition demanding an independent investigation.
His case now is being re-examined
in the wake of other high-profile police killings.
I'm Sergeant [indistinct] Thank you so much for coming over.
- Thank you. - Let's see if we can...
the consult room?
Elijah McClain was this very gentle spirit of a young man
who was known to play his violin
for animals in shelters.
REPORTER: His family says a black ski mask
was normal attire for the 23-year-old.
REPORTER: He had anemia, a blood condition
that can make the person become cold easily.
DISPATCH: [Indistinct] I didn't hear anything like that.
OFFICER: Hey, stop right there.
Stop, stop.
I have a right to stop you because you're being suspicious.
Stop tensing up.
- Stop tensing up. Relax. - Stop, stop.
REPORTER: Several thousand people marching through the streets,
calling for police reform.
REPORTER: Calls for justice for McClain are growing,
and now Colorado Governor Jared Polis
has promised to "examine what the state can do."
- WOMAN: Say his name! - PROTESTORS: Elijah McClain!
Tonight, Colorado's governor is appointing
a special prosecutor in the case of Elijah McClain.
I lack confidence in the decision that was made,
and I'd like to see independent eyes on it.
- Black Lives Matter! - What kind of power?
REPORTER: Many also raising questions about the use
of a powerful sedative, ketamine.
We're going to go ahead and give him some ketamine.
- Yep. - Yep.
Think so.
Yeah.
He really is a good person.
I don't doubt that.
BROOKS: We cannot live with ourselves as moral beings,
as citizens, if we just take this
as the price of policing in this country.
In the case of Elijah McClain, in the case of George Floyd,
and so many others,
you see in these police departments incremental changes.
That's important.
REPORTER: Colorado the first state
to eliminate qualified immunity for police,
allowing families to hold officers personally liable.
REPORTER: The Massachusetts State Senate
passing a police reform bill.
REPORTER: Legislation would ban choke holds,
limit the use of tear gas,
and train officers on the history of racism.
REPORTER: A Minnesota legislature passed historic police reform.
REPORTER: It bans choke holds, neck restraints,
and warrior-style training.
BROOKS: You got to start locally.
But you cannot engage in piecemeal,
incremental reform without paying attention
to what happens systemically and globally.
We have to do both in this moment.
REPORTER: A major police reform bill has passed in the House,
but things look incredibly uncertain in the Senate.
REPORTER: Republicans are working on their own police reform legislation.
We'll see how this might all play out.
There's no question that there are real reforms happening.
I think this is one of those rare instances
where a movement has really set in motion
a sustained period of focused social change
in a particular institutional area.
The 2020 uprisings in the summer
were moments in which people begin to believe,
"I can make a difference,
and I'm a part of what it means to govern."
And that is what a democratic citizen has to believe.
Beach closures for the July 4th holiday
stretching right now coast to coast.
REPORTER: The number of cases in the U.S. continues to rise.
REPORTER: Approaching 3 million.
REPORTER: At least 20 states are now rolling back reopening.
REPORTER: As leaders are trying to get out
in front of the holiday spike.
International students here in the U.S. could be deported
if the university they're attending switches to online classes only.
REPORTER: New regulations represent the latest
in a series of moves by the Trump Administration
to try to restrict legal immigration
and visas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly after Harvard announced
that we would be all remote in the fall,
the government came out with a ruling
which said that foreign students
would have to return home
if the instruction of those universities
was not in-person.
If they're not going to be a student,
or if they're going to be 100% online,
then they don't have a basis to be here.
It was an effort to force institutions to open
for in-person instruction at a time
in which we thought it was not safe for us to do so.
REPORTER: More than 8,000 colleges and universities in the U.S.
who accept foreign students are impacted
by this sudden decision.
My instincts as a lawyer were that we had a good legal case.
My General Counsel, the Dean of the Law School,
and the Senior Fellow agreed.
I then got on the phone to my counterpart at MIT
and asked him whether or not MIT wished to join us.
He called 30 minutes later, and he said, "We're together."
REPORTER: Breaking right now, Harvard and MIT
suing the Trump Administration.
REPORTER: Harvard President Larry Bacow saying the plan's
"cruelty is surpassed only by its recklessness."
BACOW: We filed the suit within 24 hours,
and within the week, the government backed down.
As a result, over a million foreign students
were able to stay in the United States.
For me, some of these issues are personal.
One of the reasons why I took this job
was because I was concerned about how the United States
was turning its back on immigrants,
and also turning its back on refugees.
Both of my parents were immigrants,
they were both refugees coming to this country.
So I have been able to use the bully pulpit
that comes with being President of Harvard to try
and focus attention on the fact that this is a country,
this is a nation that has been built by immigrants.
This country would be significantly impoverished
if we were to turn our backs on those
who want to come here in search of freedom,
economic opportunity, religious liberty.
It is what has traditionally
made this country the place that it is,
and I believe it continues to be deeply embedded in our DNA.
When the Trump Administration
attempted to block foreign students
from coming to the United States,
I remember...
just sort of nodding my head with resignation,
going, "Well, of course that was going to be
the next group to be targeted."
Why?
The largest numbers of international students
coming to the United States these days are from China,
and so this seemed to be a very convenient way
of targeting a group for multiple reasons.
This is very much tying up the Trump Administration's
anti-China and anti-Chinese rhetoric,
associating the coronavirus with China,
with Chinese people, with Asian people in general.
You know, it's very strategically targeted during
times of crisis.
In 2020, reports of people being spat upon, shoved, hit.
- Stupid mother [bleep] - Okay. He just assaulted me.
Xenophobia literally translates
into fear of the stranger or the other.
[Bleep] Asian piece of [bleep]
WOMAN: Oh, my God.
As we, as Americans have identified,
"Who do we welcome?
Who can be a good American,"
we're also simultaneously identifying,
"Who do we not want?
Who is dangerous?"
and, "Who cannot, or should not, be an American?"
- Hey, Asian [bleep] - Oh, my God.
- Get the [bleep] out of here! - We don't want you here!
That's why we elected President Trump!
REPORTER: Since this pandemic has started,
over 2,000 hate crimes and hate incidents
have occurred against Asian Americans.
To be worried about if it was going to happen to me
or my family members...
What are you doing in this country?
- We have enough people. - I'm an American citizen.
As we target one group, our recent history
has shown how easily it is to target the next one,
the next one, and the next one.
We have to see the danger that when something happens
to that group, it's happening to all of us.
REPORTER: We interrupt regular programming to bring you breaking news.
Congressman John Lewis has died.
REPORTER: Known for getting into "good trouble."
REPORTER: A patron saint of voting rights.
REPORTER: They are continuing to emphasize
how important it was to him to fix the Voting Rights Act.
REPORTER: With the Presidential Election nearing
and the pandemic raging,
there are concerns about voting safely and voter suppression.
REPORTER: While some states are racing
to make accommodations for voting by mail,
others are making it more difficult for voters
to cast ballots.
DONOVAN: Over the summer, there was this big push
to allow people to vote by mail
because you want to be able to exercise
your civic duty of voting,
but you do not want to be put at risk for COVID.
REPORTER: Experts are predicting there could be as many
as 80 million mail-in ballots.
Strategic disinformation campaigns
were launched as a way the Trump campaign
could attack the legitimacy of the election itself.
There is a lot of reporting from right-wing outlets...
[ Reporters talking over each other ]
that the ballots are somehow rigged.
It's often coupled with some kind of imagery
like a mailbox, paper on the ground,
and so those images really tell the tale
without any evidence of something bad happening.
The right-wing Heritage Foundation found
that there were fewer than 1,400 instances of voter fraud
that took place in the United States
over several decades.
That's not a ton.
Republicans' traditional concerns about voter fraud
were nothing new.
Trump took those concerns
and fed them a cocktail of steroids and amphetamines
to blow them all over the top.
TRUMP: In California, tens of millions of ballots
being sent to everybody and their dogs.
There's voter fraud that can be perpetrated
with mail-in ballots, there's voter fraud that can be
perpetrated on in-person voting.
These things are true.
It's just not big in the scale that you're talking about.
When you're talking about more than 140 million votes,
voter fraud is not going to occur on such a scale
that it's probably going to be
any kind of determinative factor.
BROOKS: We have misinformation and disinformation
about the integrity of elections.
The President is continuously tweeting,
sowing the seeds of discord.
So there's a rising tide of cynicism and disbelief
when it comes to voter fraud
and confidence in our elections.
What had developed throughout 2020 is the fact that facts
aren't facts anymore, right?
Now it's just opinions,
and a fact should align with your opinion.
This is when, you know, QAnon became mainstream.
QAnon is a virtual cult that casts democratic politicians
and celebrities and other targets as evil child abusers.
That kind of unmooring from truth
really began to be accelerated in 2020,
and so I did a video just saying,
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is garbage.
None of this is true."
QAnon really takes off into the election of 2020.
One of the things that the QAnon conspiracy does
is it ties together a lot of old tropes
in American history,
beginning first of all, of course,
with the idea of danger to children.
And danger to children actually served the Trump campaign
very nicely, because they were in great danger
of losing suburban voters, especially suburban women.
So if you talk about danger to children,
that's a great way to pull voters in that way.
But beyond that, there was also the idea
that somehow there was a Deep State
that was operating against the President,
and the President himself was a superhero within all that.
The people that bought into QAnon or still do...
Q is a bunch of people.
They're on the inside, they're the good guys.
It involves the whole Space Force, possible alien life.
It's not a conspiracy, it's fact.
They've been manipulated,
and the leaders they look to to tell them the truth
have been silent.
Well, I don't know much about the movement other than I understand
they like me very much, which I appreciate.
I think I was the first member of Congress
that I know of to speak out on it.
We're talking about the QAnon conspiracy theory,
which the FBI says is a potential domestic terror threat.
It's essential of members of their own party
to denounce conspiracy theories within their party.
It undermines people's faith in government,
because if there is an underground conspiracy
of Satanist pedophiles that are running the government,
your vote doesn't count.
As a Republican that holds the founding principles
of my party real close,
watching people I respect say nothing
and convince themselves that just surviving this moment
is really the key to making a difference in the country,
instead of seeing that these are the moments
where you're going to make a difference in the country.
KRISTIN: I remember my dad was furloughed in May.
He watched a lot of news all day,
every day when he was home.
FOX News was on, day in and day out,
helping to shape his opinion
of how he should be approaching the virus.
President Trump was saying, "We need to open up.
We need to go out there.
It's our patriotic duty to, like, get the economy going."
It was like him and Governor Doug Ducey
became lockstep.
My dad was getting this message over and over again
that it was safe,
and so he ended up meeting up with friends
at a karaoke bar in early June.
[ Singing indistinctly ]
He loved karaoke,
even though the man could not carry a tune.
[ Laughs ]
Less than a week later, my dad woke up with a fever.
He was coughing, and I'm like, "Oh, my God, Mark,
you need to go get checked for the virus."
Then I took him to the emergency room.
Then I talked to the doctor, and he goes,
"You can't come in." And I said, "Okay."
So I hugged him and I said, "Bye, I'll see you later."
He was texting us about coming home,
and he was worried about me, because I had the virus, too.
But then he stopped texting us.
Nobody could get ahold of him, so I called,
and they said he was in intensive care on a ventilator.
KRISTIN: I didn't get the chance to talk to him before.
Two minutes.
I don't think that's too much to ask.
BRENDA: He just kept getting worse.
I called and I talked to the doctor, and he goes,
"If you want to see him, you better come now."
You know, I turned to my partner Christine
and was like, "I have to go home right now."
I called Kristin because they were on their way, and I said,
"I'm here with your dad, you can talk to him."
So I put the phone up to his ear.
I know he knew it was her because he kept, like,
squinching his eyes.
I got home, and the nurse called me like around 8:30
and she said, "He's going."
And I go, "Can you please go hold his hand
and tell him we love him, and then call me?"
So she did.
She called me like 10 minutes later
and she goes, "He's gone."
That was it.
MARK (voicemail recording): 'Happy birthday, Princess.
I love you. This is Daddy.'
BRENDA: Mark and I met when we were in high school.
There's really no closure.
It's like you're lost in a big forest somewhere,
and you're looking for them, and they're not there.
The first sentences that formed for me were,
"This was preventable."
I'll tell you what. We are in a truth emergency right now.
It's a truth emergency on top of a public health emergency.
REPORTER: A new study details just how bad it is.
79% of Americans say news outlets
they distrust are trying to persuade people
to adopt a certain viewpoint.
FARID: Distrust of media is the gateway
into believing some of the most outrageous things
that are on the Internet today.
Once you are told by the President of the United States
that you can't believe CNN, NPR, New York Times,
or any of the organizations, "What am I going to do?
I'm going to go to the Internet,
and I'm going to do my own research."
And pretty soon, you end up
into this very weird rabbit hole.
When misinformation comes out on FOX News, it's bad.
It's a dumpster fire.
When it gets on Facebook,
it turns into a nuclear mushroom cloud.
It's just much more damaging.
You have to understand how social media works.
It's an advertising business, right?
And at the end of the day,
they profit when there are more eyes on their platform.
So what do they do?
They decide every minute, every second of every day,
what you are going to see.
Everything is being algorithmically curated
based on the criteria of,
"How do I keep this person's eyes on this platform
for as long as possible, so I can deliver ads
and profit to the tune of trillions of dollars?"
GALLOWAY: If I put out content on White Supremacy,
it enrages people, they weigh in, they make comments,
and it creates a lot of activity, a lot of engagement,
which creates more Nissan ads and more profits.
Facebook's own research showed
that people engage with the most controversial,
conspiratorial, vitriolic content.
And so what do they do? They promote that content.
65% of people who joined a hate group on Facebook did
so because Facebook's own algorithms recommended
that you join that Facebook group.
Don't get me wrong, in 2020, the Internet kept us connected
as a society through a global pandemic.
But it's hard to look at the Internet today
and say that "Yeah, the goods are still outweighing the bad."
That scale has probably tipped,
and you can count five companies
that are responsible for that.
You have to ask them to change the nature of the algorithms
because that's bad for society and democracy.
And they can say, "Look, we are going to sacrifice
some of the hundreds of billions of dollars."
It's going to come at a cost to them.
So the scary thing is, should we have
some of the most profitable companies
in the world building shareholder value
based on algorithms that take divisive content
and massively increase its reach?
Do we want polarization and hate to drive
the most powerful business models in history?
REPORTER: We got it. All-time high for the S&P.
REPORTER: Just look at that market. Who would've thought?
Record high for the S&P 500, record high for the NASDAQ.
During the pandemic,
the stock market in the beginning goes down, right?
Stock market does not like uncertainty,
but when it became clear that capital would be fine,
and that government would do the basic necessities
needed to make sure that the economy could continue on,
the stock market did well.
It did really well.
REPORTER: The NASDAQ is up 20% this year.
Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google,
those are rallying despite the pandemic.
During an incredibly hard year,
we've seen billionaires grow their wealth
by tremendous amounts.
REPORTER: Elon Musk adding $6 billion.
Jeff Bezos adding $13 billion to his fortune.
He's up $75 billion just for the year.
And at the same time, we've seen a tremendous loss
among the bottom income earners
as they've had to tap into savings, to deplete savings.
REPORTER: Almost 13 million jobs are gone over the summer.
REPORTER: Between 6 million and 8 million people
have been pushed into poverty
as federal relief has dried up.
I think if you were to look at the underlying incendiary
of whether it's the protests,
whether it's the incredible death and disease
and disability that this pandemic has caused,
it comes down to one central thing,
and I think it's income inequality.
We now have a Congress that ensures one thing,
that the shareholder class is protected, but it's our fault.
If we continue to elect people who pass laws
that lower the taxes on the wealthiest Americans,
then it's not really their fault, it's our fault.
Tonight, America decides 2020
as the Democratic National Convention kicks off virtually.
REPORTER: Democrats are set to make history
as the party nominates Kamala Harris,
the first Black and Indian American woman,
as vice president.
REPORTER: Next up, the RNC.
REPORTER: Republicans do have delegates
gathered in Charlotte.
REPORTER: The GOP will officially nominate
President Trump for a second term.
REPORTER: The Department of Homeland Security says,
"The greatest terror threat to the United States
right now is White Supremacists."
FBI Director Christopher Wray
says that Russia is making, quote,
"very active efforts to interfere
in the 2020 Presidential Election."
Russia was using a variety of tools
like social and state media
to disparage Democratic candidate Joe Biden
and cause division.
The mood in America in the summer of 2020,
I think, was one of fear.
The people that I was hearing from felt unsettled.
They didn't really know what was going on,
and they were frightened by that.
They didn't know what was coming.
Will President Trump accept the election results if he loses?
Do you commit to making sure
that there's a peaceful transferal of power?
We want to get rid of the ballots,
and you'll have a very transfer... we'll have a very peaceful...
There won't be a transfer, frankly.
There'll be a continuation.
REPORTER: And thus, the first Presidential Debate concludes.
REPORTER: One of the biggest and most shocking moments,
President Trump's refusal to denounce White Supremacy.
Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.
REPORTER: That exchange immediately picked up
by the Proud Boys.
There was just so much happening.
There was so much coming at you, and the extraordinary rate
at which we were hit with things during that administration
that we never could get our feet under us.
Now, to another grim milestone...
the world surpassing 1 million deaths from the coronavirus.
REPORTER: The U.S. leads the global death toll with more than 200,000.
REPORTER: 200,000 stories left unfinished.
KRISTIN: The hours after my dad died, when we got home,
I couldn't hug my mom...
because she was sick, as well.
They should have done more research
before they started telling people that they could go out.
KRISTIN: When my dad was admitted,
Arizona cases continued to skyrocket,
and the epicenter was in Maryvale,
and it's specifically our zip code.
This neighborhood is historically underinvested in.
Nearly a third of the people who live here are immigrants.
Seeing the disparities play out
for the Latinx community here, and it hitting home,
I knew that if I didn't do something,
I am going to die of grief.
We're just talking about numbers and cases.
We need to humanize this.
It just became really clear to me that there needed
to be an organization that could share the stories
of the real human impact of our pandemic response.
And that's where my partner, Christine, and I
decided to start a national nonprofit organization.
We came up with the name Marked By COVID.
BRENDA: I go, "Oh, my gosh, that's perfect.
You know, your dad's named Mark. Marked By COVID.
The whole family's marked by COVID.
The whole world's marked by COVID now."
Founded by, led by COVID victims and survivors.
Oh, my God!
Not only helping people showcase their stories
and find community, but what we're demanding
from our elected officials is to ensure that the people
who have been most harmed, that they're not left behind.
REPORTER: We are 32 days away from Election Day,
and the President of the United States and the First Lady
have both tested positive for the coronavirus.
REPORTER: A month before the election,
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is limiting
the number of drop-off locations for mail-in ballots.
REPORTER: The Senate tonight voting to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett
to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat
on the Supreme Court.
REPORTER: Ginsburg dedicated much of her career
to advancing women's rights,
having argued landmark gender discrimination cases.
REPORTER: By confirming Amy Barrett,
they are undermining absolutely everything
Ruth Ginsburg stood for.
REPORTER: A Supreme Court Justice
has never been confirmed this close to an election.
REPORTER: And on this Halloween weekend...
REPORTER: More than 85 million ballots have already been cast.
REPORTER: President Trump keeps insisting
we must know the results of the Presidential Election
by Election Night.
REPORTER: But states, including key battlegrounds,
won't even begin opening mail-in ballots
until Election Day.
REPORTER: Today is the day you get to vote.
REPORTER: Polls opening all across the country
for Election Day.
I would call races for middle school student body president.
I don't care.
It's fun to do, and it's exciting,
and it's made more exciting by the fact
that 140 million of your countrymen and countrywomen
are participating in this cool thing.
REPORTER: Well, the massive voter turnout shows
that everybody believes that their voice matters.
REPORTER: It's the first wave of the exit polls.
REPORTER: We don't know when the outcome will be clear.
It going to take extra hours, maybe days
to count all the votes.
I booked into my hotel room in New York
for a week with the expectation
that the election would not be over in one night.
We certainly knew that this was going to be...
That this... we'd better pack a lunch.
We were going to be there for a minute.
[ Clock ticking ]
ANNOUNCER: Who have they chosen?
REPORTER: And it is 7:00 on the East Coast,
which means polls have just closed in half a dozen states.
STIREWALT: Every state's different.
Some states release their early vote before the polls close,
some states don't count the early vote until after,
so you're getting different inputs from all the states.
REPORTER: Trump will win Florida.
REPORTER: President Trump won Texas.
REPORTER: The race continues to tighten.
REPORTER: Five states that are on a knife's edge.
We're looking at Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona.
Those are the big five that we know,
if Trump loses two of those five, he's done.
What is this happening here?
Why is Arizona blue? Did we just call it?
- This is a big development. - Yeah.
The FOX News decision desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden.
That is a big get.
STIREWALT: It was evident that Donald Trump was not going to win Arizona.
The mathematical models,
your knowledge of Maricopa County, Arizona,
where the votes are out.
I have worried a lot more
about other calls than I did about Arizona.
How can you call Arizona, but we can't call Ohio?
Well, because the races are very different.
We looked at every possible way that this could go,
and if there were some way that it looked like Donald Trump
was going to be able to bring Arizona in,
we wouldn't have called it.
FOX called Arizona that night, and when that happened,
it was very clear that the White House was outraged.
That call stopped the momentum that the Trump machine
was building to argue that they had won.
I remember a friend of mine said, "Hey, Kevin Cramer just went on the radio
and said that you should be fired
for making the call in Arizona."
And I'm like, "Is he on drugs? What's he talking about?
Like, I should get fired for making a correct call in a race?"
And then I sort of dipped my face
into the rancid waters of social media.
[ Tweeting chime ]
I'm just a forecaster.
I'm just telling you, "This is what's happening here.
This is what the polls say there.
Why are you people so furious at me?"
And the answer is, "If you think it's all fake,
then you want people to be fake for you."
I thought that what they wanted was fair media coverage,
but instead, what many of them really wanted
was biased media coverage in their favor.
So, you're watching five states,
among them, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Pennsylvania's a big state.
If you keep Pennsylvania, Joe Biden would win.
REPORTER: Biden has taken the lead in Georgia.
REPORTER: Biden leads in Pennsylvania.
5,587 votes ahead.
REPORTER: Pennsylvania.
REPORTER: Pennsylvania, more than any other state,
is a tipping point.
REPORTER: If Joe Biden wins it, he's the President.
Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States.
[ Crowd cheering ]
PRESIDENT BIDEN: We're seeing all over this nation,
all cities in all parts of the country,
indeed across the world, an outpouring of joy,
of hope, renewed faith in tomorrow.
Bring a better day.
[ Fireworks whizzing ]
REPORTER: Tonight, COVID cases exploding across the country.
Nearly 10 million people infected,
more than a million cases added in just the last 10 days.
REPORTER: Healthcare workers are at a breaking point.
Everyone feels like they ran a marathon
and now are being asked to do Ironman,
and we're just tired.
REPORTER: The politicizing of the virus
has turned health officials into public punching bags.
REPORTER: We have people threatening the lives
of medical experts and their family members
in the middle of a pandemic.
DR. FAUCI: And I have to have federal agents
guarding me all the time because of death threats.
Just think about that. I'm a public health official,
and my family is being harassed
and my life is being threatened
because I'm speaking the truth.
I mean, the number of conspiracy theories
and blatant lies is very disturbing.
We are in the midst of a highly divisive situation
in our country,
like at least I've never seen in my lifetime, you know,
and maybe ever, maybe going back to the Civil War.
PROTESTORS: Stop the steal! Stop the steal!
REPORTER: Across the country, pro-Trump protestors
echoing the President's claims that the election was stolen.
Right after the election,
there was these conspiracy theories of
ballot dumps or ballots stolen.
At that time, I was trying to actively push back
against conspiracy theories,
particularly with regards to the election,
but I would start noticing people believed this.
PROTESTOR: He won them all.
REP. KINZINGER: It wasn't just something they were spreading.
They believed the election was stolen.
That resulted in borderline death threats against me.
Now I make the list of who's going to end up at GITMO hung.
You know, nooses responded to my tweets.
RICHARDSON: While rallying his supporters
through these angry demonstrations,
the President and members of the Executive Branch
were actively working to find ways
to undermine the results of the election,
and so Trump lawyers begin to launch lawsuits.
There was no inspection of a single mail-in ballot.
RICHARDSON: At the end of the day, they launch and lose more
than 60 lawsuits against the outcome of the election.
REPORTER: With courtroom losses piling up,
President Trump is trying a new approach in his fight
to overturn the election.
REPORTER: Mr. Trump met with Michigan legislators
at the White House in hopes of potentially
overturning that state's results.
REPORTER: Election officials in Georgia
have urged the President to speak up
and put a stop to violent rhetoric around the election.
REPORTER: The threats come as state election workers
try to finish a recount.
REPORTER: You have poll workers who are being threatened,
people who have been trying to do their civic duty.
Mr. President, Senators,
all of you who have not said a damn word,
are complicit in this.
Someone's going to get killed.
It has to stop.
I certainly knew that things weren't going the right
direction for me after the election.
I had stopped being on TV and stuff like that.
But it was still surprising when I got fired,
and I knew why.
The experience of losing a job that you loved,
the experience of losing a job
that you love for doing the right thing,
you know, the hardest part is, "How do you tell your kids?"
We tell our children, we tell ourselves,
"The reason to do the right thing is that it will pay off.
Be nice so that you get ahead."
But the reality is that you have to do right
even when it's going to hurt,
and you have to do right even when it will be unpopular.
And the most important time to do right is in fact
when it will cost you and when it will be unpopular.
REPORTER: It's a significant defeat for President Trump.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit
to overturn Joe Biden's election victory.
REPORTER: A dose of good news
amid the horror of the coronavirus crisis.
REPORTER: The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
and the Moderna vaccine are showing efficacy of about 95%.
REPORTER: The speed of the vaccine is unprecedented.
Usually vaccines take years and years to develop.
We had the sequence of the virus
around January 9th or 10th.
Within the same year,
we had vaccines going into the arms of individuals.
REPORTER: The priority list, as designed by the CDC,
those frontline healthcare workers
helping to take care of coronavirus patients
each and every day.
REPORTER: Among the first, Sandra Lindsay,
a critical care nurse in New York.
REPORTER: A nation now hoping two vaccines
will speed a return to normalcy.
[ Audience cheering ]
KRISTIN: I believe in the power of organizing
and the commitment of a small group of people
to change the world.
So, our nonpartisan organization, Marked By COVID,
and activists from all across the country
are coming together to descend upon Washington
and advocate for our loved ones.
Our community of folks, we're calling for a commission
to investigate the federal government's response
to the pandemic so that we impart upon future generations
the unvarnished truth of what happened and why.
We're working to advance policy
by the 5R policy platforms.
There's response.
A huge thing that we see is people who feel ignored.
-I hear you on that.
KRISTIN: There's recovery.
How do we build an equitable economy?
Resiliency... so making sure we have a resilient society
for future pandemics.
And then recognition.
We're calling for a COVID Memorial Day
to gather and grieve and mourn.
My honor to introduce House Resolution 174
to designate the first Monday in March
as COVID-19 Victims and Survivors Memorial Day.
KRISTIN: And restitution.
For the rest of our lives,
all of us are going to be marked by COVID.
We are working to shape our futures despite tragedy.
Oh, he would've been very proud of her.
Wherever he is, he's looking down and smiling.
What 2020 really showed us,
with all the pressures from the pandemic,
from the disinformation, from politics, who mattered?
Our families, our friends, our communities, our neighbors.
And we're going to be facing a long recovery,
but at the end of the day, at the very least,
we'll have learned from it.
DR. DAVIDOFF: There were many lessons that have come out
over the last year.
Going forward, our commitment
is that we never forget what we have learned.
Individual interactions with patients
have a huge impact on our lives.
When I think about Adriana's story,
it's just one of many such stories that happen here
at Boston Medical Center and elsewhere.
We're used to having patients get better, do well, leave,
and then they never knew who you were.
I don't know that she knows what she symbolized
to us during the pandemic...
Oh, my God, look at this.
Of how our team was so invested
and so worried for her.
Oh.
- Hi. - I don't know what to say.
NURSE PUTNAM: I never had this experience before.
A patient is like really sick and so close to death,
and then now she's coming back, and it's so nice.
I mean, it feels really good.
It's really nice to see you again.
It's amazing.
My husband had your phone number,
and he will like tell me,
"Talk to her, talk to Marlene."
And I'll be like, "I can't."
You helped me a lot.
- Thank you. - You did, you did.
You definitely did.
Thank you.
I'm so happy. So happy.
A relationship in the midst of close-to-death experiences
is one of the most intense relationships you can have.
The bond that you create is extremely powerful.
Hi. [ Laughs ]
So after COVID,
I feel like I got another chance of a life.
So I went back to school.
I think this experience made me a better person
because I feel grateful every day.
And let's not forget about the heroes of 2020, 100%,
doctors and nurses.
The long term impact of COVID is still to be determined,
and then the much bigger question
is the recovery of the society
and the healing of the society.
[ Woman singing in native language ]
KAMINI: For us to change the system,
to get to true equity, we must live beyond ourselves.
Amidst the suffering, any simple act was an act
that maybe they wouldn't have done
had there not been a pandemic.
Seeing suffering transforms us in a way
that most other experiences do not,
and that dramatically changed people,
because when you see suffering,
it's a call to action.
REPORTER: This morning, the holiday exodus,
millions on the move.
REPORTER: Marking the busiest travel day
since the pandemic began.
REPORTER: The ball's beginning to sparkle!
REPORTER: The iconic ball drop is ready,
but no crowds this year, capping off 2020.
[ Protestors screaming ]
[ Screaming ]
DONOVAN: The moments leading up to the Capitol Insurrection
felt desperate and they felt overwhelming,
and people were posting online as if they were ready to die.
Today is the day American patriots
start taking down names and kicking ass.
Will you fight for America?
This was literally being driven by QAnon
and lies and conspiracies
and the collaboration of the people
who did this was being done on with technology.
REPORTER: For weeks, right-wing online chatter
had discussed just this scenario.
The President had called for protestors
to march on Capitol Hill.
TRUMP: We're going to walk down to the Capitol.
We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you.
REP. KINZINGER: If you truly believe the election was stolen
and you truly believe January 6th is a day
that that election stealing can be stopped,
there's gonna be violence.
PROTESTORS: USA! USA!
REPORTER: As Congress meets to certify the election -
REPORTER: Donald Trump is demanding
that his own vice president act to overturn the results.
TRUMP: I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,
I have to tell you.
BROOKS: You had a president essentially saying
you can't trust American elections.
And not only can you not trust,
you have every right to violently oppose them.
TRUMP: You fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell,
you're not going to have a country anymore.
REPORTER: Pro-Trump loyalists have stormed the Senate floor now.
REP. McCARTHY: What we're currently watching unfold is un-American.
REPORTER: At least 13 Republican Senators
and dozens of House Republicans
were poised to raise objections to the results.
It was horrifying to see the behind the scenes organization
amongst the Republican Party and senators and lawmakers
to really try and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
WOODLY: They don't believe in democracy itself.
They believe that someone who can serve as the embodiment
of whatever they think "real America" is
should rule by fiat.
This is a deeply, deeply, anti-American sentiment.
STIREWALT: When I walked down to the Capitol,
you could smell tear gas.
There is death in the air,
and there were people there who didn't understand
the gravity of what had just happened.
A woman asked me for a selfie.
BROOKS: What we had in the insurrection
was the convergence of White Supremacy
and The Big Lie.
The Capitol Police are comprised of people
from all kinds of backgrounds.
There were White police officers who were beaten with flag posts.
There were White police officers who were tear gassed.
The point being here is White Supremacy
is not merely a threat against the Black and Brown "they."
It is a threat to the multiracial,
multi-ethnic, multi-generational "us."
And that is a fact, unless we wrap our heads around it,
we literally are far more endangered now
than we were then.
RICHARDSON: When they showed the flag
of the Confederate States of America
in the U.S. Capitol,
the flag of the people who tried to destroy our country,
that moment...
was probably the worst moment of my life.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me,
"I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., do solemnly swear."
I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., do solemnly swear.
We have been reminded that in the same way
that you can't take life for granted
in the midst of a pandemic, you can't take democracy
in the midst of authoritarianism for granted.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Democracy is precious.
Democracy is fragile.
At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
[ Audience cheering ]
When day comes, we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.
We braved the belly of the beast.
After 2020, there's no going back
to whatever was normal before.
There's a lot that has to happen to ensure
we can survive the next crises.
We've really got to be better prepared than we were
for the inevitability of another pandemic.
RICHARDSON: The word "virus" describes 2020.
The coronavirus, of course,
but there was also a virus in the economy,
information, racial conflict,
and the American political system.
Right now, we're still sick,
but at the very end of the day,
we might actually end up stronger.
AMANDA GORMAN: Being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it's the past we step into and how we repair it.
All I have to do is look at the history of this country
to know that we've been in really divided, tough times,
and every time, we've come out.
We got to tell the truth,
and leaders particularly need to take accountability
for telling people the truth.
I think that we as a country have to find a balance
between individual rights, which we seem to go out of our way
to make sure we all have, and social good.
When we help other people, we help ourselves.
DONOVAN: I'm hoping that that civic spirit
about taking care of one another continues to grow
as people realize how much is at stake.
AMANDA GORMAN: We will not march back to what was,
but move to what shall be.
A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold.
You know, there's certain seeds that don't get germinated
unless there's a fire.
We've had a forest fire here in the U.S.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: We have much to do in this winter of peril,
much to repair, much to heal,
much to build, and much to gain.
We are at one of those critical junctures
where so many things are changing at once
and the outcomes of the struggles
are going to set the tone for the rest of the century.
So the stakes are quite high,
but the possibilities are broader
than they will be at any other point.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Once in a lifetime, the tidal wave of justice
can rise up and hope and history rhyme.
AMANDA GORMAN: For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it.