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American Morning
Extreme Weather: Midwest Airports Still Recovering; Major Tornado Damage in Arkansas; Slavery Connection: Tests in Sharpton- Thurmond Genealogy
Aired February 26, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, actually, here in Chicago, we didn't get the worst of this storm, but here in the city the worst of that storm was right here in this building.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AQUI (voice over): Iowa, ice. Colorado, car pileups. A wintry Minnesota mess. But perhaps the most telling images from this weekend's storm come from Chicago.
At least airport officials kept them warm inside, but for several days it looked like Camp O'Hare. On this night, more than 1,000 passengers who wanted to take to the skies found themselves stuck just a few inches off the ground.
DAWN BECKMAN, STRANDED PASSENGER: We sat on the plane for four and a half hours. We de-iced twice, taxied around a lot, and then I think between the fact that it was still hailing and that the crew had done their 16 hours, back to the gate. And here we are, sleeping on the cots.
AQUI: Cots turned out to be much safer than cars. Parts of the Midwest saw up to two feet of snow, and in Wisconsin a minivan driver lost control of her car, colliding with a county snow plow. A mother, daughter, cousin, and family dog all died in the crash.
In Iowa, it could be a week or more before power customers see the light. At one point, 160,000 people lost electricity.
Meanwhile, back at O'Hare, oh, brother.
PATTY SILVERMAN, STRANDED PASSENGER: And I'm having a heck of a time sleeping.
AQUI (on camera): What do you have?
SILVERMAN: Yes, a little cot here. Not very comfortable.
AQUI (voice over): Patty Silverman and thousands of others just try to get home. After a weekend after this, those cramped seats in coach never looked so good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AQUI: And this line never looked so long. How long have you been in line now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got here about 10 minutes ago.
AQUI: OK. And you've got kind of a ways to go here. Are you going to make that flight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will. It's an hour and a half away. So I'm good.
AQUI: Oh, you're good to go.
OK. So people are at least getting here early this morning, and as I said, really, I'm kind of in the way. And for a second now I don't have people who are trying to climb all over me.
We've got just a ton of people just trying to get out of the city today. The good news is, those flights, most of them, are leaving. Bad news, a lot of them are not on time. So I guess these folks do have a while to stand in line, and they can grab some breakfast, too -- Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they might make their flight because it's delayed.
All right. Reggie Aqui for us this morning at Chicago's O'Hare.
Thanks, Reggie -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning everyone is accounted for in southeastern Arkansas after a powerful tornado left a 17-mile trail of destruction. Homes and businesses in Dumas blown to bits.
Power is out. At least 40 injured. And this morning there are two children age 5 and 7 in critical condition.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Sean Callebs live there. And we have daybreak now, so we really have a sense of the kind of damage that was left behind.
Sean, good morning.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, miles.
Exactly. We know, also, talking about those two children you just mentioned, that was a major concern. It really weighed heavily on a lot of the volunteers and emergency workers this weekend.
Look behind me, though. You can see this is just part of the economic damage to this -- this county. This, one of the area's largest employers, a pet food factory called Our Cat (ph), workers are just now showing up, and people are walking around mingling.
Want to walk over this way and show you just how widespread this devastation is. Look what it did to that massive steel structure up there. And a big question, how long is this area going to suffer?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRANDY LAY, HOME DESTROYED IN TORNADO: Everything that's not broken is wet.
CALLEBS (voice over): In a terrorizing instant, Brandy Lay lost everything -- her home, her job, and perhaps her entire community.
LAY: I think it will devastate it. My place of employment is demolished, and they're one of the biggest employers in this town. I just don't know if it will recover.
CALLEBS: Seconds before two suspected tornadoes did this to her street, Lay, a mother of two, rushed next door to lead an elderly neighbor to safety, just as emergency warnings blared.
LAY: By the time we got to the grass, the sirens went off, and we made it from her driveway to our House, into the hallway, and it happened that quick.
CALLEBS: So quickly and so deafening, Brandy will never forget.
LAY: You hear people say it sounded like a freight train. It sounded like there was a freight train right on top of the house. And it was just like someone took the house and just shook it. And...
CALLEBS (on camera): The roof just blew off?
LAY: ... the roof just blew off.
CALLEBS (voice over): The town's major power substation took a direct hit. Most of the 5,000 residents are without power, and it could be days before it's restored.
SHERIFF JIM SNYDER, DESHA COUNTY, ARKANSAS: It's kind of crippled a small town like this. We probably have -- we're looking at probably 800 people out of work. Probably a third of our businesses are gone.
CALLEBS: Lay lost everything, except her sense of humor, as she tried to calculate the incredible odds of losing both her house and her livelihood.
LAY: It's got to be a million to one, but it happened to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: Boy, you really admire the human spirit at a time like this. So we've seen a sense of humor from some of the people here.
We talked to one plant official just a moment ago and said, "When do you think you're going to reopen?" He said, "Wednesday. We don't know what week, month, or year, but it will be a Wednesday." He went on to say that they fully expect -- or fully plan on reopening this Our Cat (ph) plant at some point in the future.
Also, an individual at the National Weather Service came by, had a map showing exactly where the two tornadoes went through this area of Arkansas. And if you got the city of Dumas and you looked right at the map, that punishing tornado cut right down the heart of this city, Miles. It could not have made a more punishing hit.
M. O'BRIEN: Sean Callebs in Dumas.
Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The vice president is making a couple of surprise visits overseas today. One top in Pakistan, the other in Afghanistan. Take a look at this videotape from his surprise overnight stop in Pakistan, where he met with the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf.
He has been pressing Pakistan to step up against the Taliban in Afghanistan and do more to track down al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. He has also been hinting that aid could be reduced if Pakistan does not act. And it gels with reports from senior administration officials that President Bush warned Musharraf the newly minted Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country.
In London right now, six-country talks about Iran's nuclear program. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany are looking for a unified way to confront Iran. Iran, as you will remember, ignored that U.N. deadline to suspend nuclear activities -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: What a shocker. This morning, the Reverend Al Sharpton says he will OK a DNA test to see if he may, in fact, be related to the Thurmond family of South Carolina. As in the late Senator Strom Thurmond. It turns out his ancestors were owned by Thurmond's ancestors, slaves, and Sharpton says it was the shock of a lifetime for him.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken, more now from Washington. Both families speaking about this amazing twist of fate.
Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's so interesting, Miles, because all Al Sharpton had to do was to look back four generations after the ancestry.com Web site came on to "The Daily News" and they did a search on the background, the family background of Al Sharpton. All he had to do was look back four generations, and the irony was there he was, a great, great grandfather -- Coleman Sharpton (ph) was the slave of a descendent of the senator, Strom Thurmond, who died in 2003 at the age of 100.
What is so ironic about this is that Thurmond was the person who ran in 1948 as a segregationist candidate for president. Sharpton ran in 2004. Definitely not the segregationist.
At a news conference, he could only comment on the shame and the glory. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON: The shame is that people were owned as property, and the shame is that every time I write my name now, I will think about how I got that name. The shame is that I am the heirs of those that were properties to the Thurmond family. But the glory is that Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist ticket. I ran in '04 on a ticket for racial justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And nevertheless, Miles, it's important to note that just a few generations after slavery, there is still a battle in the United States for racial justice.
M. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken from Washington.
Thank you very much.
The Reverend Al Sharpton will join us in just a little bit, later this hour, with more on those revelations about the relationship between the Sharpton and Thurmond families. You won't want to miss that one -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Health news this morning. The governor of Massachusetts is now proposing that girls age 9 and up get vaccinated for free against the sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. The shots would not be mandatory, as they are in the state of Texas.
We've been telling you about the controversy around the vaccine Gardasil. Some people are a little annoyed that a vaccine is required for young girls for a virus that's transmitted sexually.
We're going to take a closer look this morning at the medicine, the marketing, and the outcry on a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING coming up on Wednesday.
(NEWSBREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, there is an Oscar on Martin Scorsese's mantle this morning. The director finally winning the big one. In fact, the movie he made, "The Departed," departed the Kodak Theater with four statues. Besides the best director award, it won best picture, editing, adapted screenplay.
Scorsese clearly savored his moment in the limelight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR: Thank you. Thank you.
Could you double-check the envelope, please?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: It was his sixth nomination, his first win.
Other winners, as predicted, Helen Mirren took home best actress for her role as "The Queen." Best actor went to Forest Whittaker for "The Last King of Scotland." Also predicted.
S. O'BRIEN: His wife looked so fabulous. Did you see her in this yellow dress? She upstaged him because she looked fabulous.
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I wonder how he feels about that.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Sorry. Carry on. He loves her. He feels good about it.
M. O'BRIEN: I hope there's no marital discord over that.
S. O'BRIEN: No. No.
M. O'BRIEN: And a bit of surprise. A win for Alan Arkin. He takes home best supporting actor for his role as the foulmouthed grandfather in "Little Miss Sunshine."
Supporting actress went to Jennifer Hudson for her role in "Dreamgirls".
I know you were rooting for that one.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Fabulous.
M. O'BRIEN: Fabulous.
S. O'BRIEN: And "An Inconvenient Truth." Al Gore's slideshow- turned-film about the perils of global warming won best documentary.
S. O'BRIEN: He was funny too.
M. O'BRIEN: He was. He did that, you know, kind of fake announcement and the music started. It was good.
Comedian Ellen DeGeneres presided over all the self- congratulations there. True to form, she was low key, casual, frequently not on stage. At one point, stopping by Scorsese's seat and pretending to give him a pitch for a script, which he said he virtually would green-light.
Scorsese's first directing nomination was in '81 for "Raging Bull". He should have won for that one.
S. O'BRIEN: Right, finally. Yes. There's a lot he should have won for over the years.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's true. So it's good he got it.
S. O'BRIEN: But now, congratulations, Marty.
I call him Marty.
M. O'BRIEN: Sometimes justice takes time.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, Olympic wrestling champ Rulon Gardner is either the luckiest or unluckiest man alive. We're not sure this morning. He has cheated death for the fourth time now. The last story of survival happening this past weekend.
We'll talk to him about it.
And advice on dealing with those college bills for you and your children.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
A major winter storm and a travel nightmare, especially for these folks here at Chicago's O'Hare. Looking at some live pictures there. Thousands of passengers are waiting for their flights that in some cases have been canceled and in other cases are delayed.
And picking up after a devastating tornado. Dumas, in Arkansas, the southeastern part, loses dozens of homes and also its major employers. Plus, two children are in critical condition.
We'll update you on what's happening there this morning.
A quarter past the hour. Rob Marciano is at the CNN weather center. He's watching all of this for us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, depending on which way you look at it, Greco- Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner is either the luckiest or the unluckiest guy we can think of this morning. The man who won the gold medal in Sydney in 2000 has now avoided getting pinned by the grim reaper no less than four times.
The latest brush with death happening over the weekend, Lake Powell. It's on the Arizona-Utah border.
The plane he was flying in as a passenger got a little too low on a sightseeing mission and ended up in the drink in a place called Good Hope Bay. Water temperature about 44 degrees. And, well, it was quite a harrowing tale for survival, which Rulon himself will finish up for us right now.
He joins us from Salt Lake City.
Rulon, congratulations. We're glad you are with us this morning.
You were there kind of just doing a sightseeing mission. When did you know things were going awry?
RULON GARDNER, CRASH SURVIVOR: Well, you know, we were there -- you know, it was a nice Saturday afternoon plane ride. We went down to look at a houseboat, and we simply took off.
We were going to follow, you know, basically the channel back up and then head back to Salt Lake City, and, you know, it didn't seem like things were bad until we actually kind of dropped down to the deck. And we were just making a slow left-hand turn, and, you know, talking to Randy -- he just said, "Hey, we're just going to go back in here, check the deck, and then we're going to go and kind of just skim the lake is what we're going to do."
Because we started skimming the lake. You know, it was kind of hard because there was a few ripples, and then I think just depth perception wasn't quite with it. And all of a sudden, right before we hit, his brother, Les, who was in the back seat, said, "Hey, you know, watch your wheels." And right as he said that, we kind of, you know, made an impact.
And then after the impact, we skipped once or twice, and then we actually just kind of went. And then finally we just made contact with the water and then just spun. So, within about a half a second is when we knew that things went from a beautiful day, a beautiful afternoon, all the way to a pretty bad situation.
M. O'BRIEN: So there you were in the drink. You were talking about Randy -- that's Randy Brooks (ph), the pilot, his brother Leslie (ph). Are these friends of yours, or did you just meet them and hire them to give you a look?
GARDNER: No, these were people I have known actually for a few weeks now. You know, individuals that I know just from, you know, some of the individuals I know here in Salt Lake.
So, you know, meeting them, they said, "Hey, we have the SR-22. Do you want to come down and take a ride in it?" You know, "We'll just do a little sightseeing, you know, tour today and just kind of look at some of the sights and look at the aircraft."
And so, for me, you know, it's always exciting to go out there and try new things. And there's always different ways to look at new spectacles that you can see. And that's...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, you got a different kind of spectacle.
Now, you're there in the water, it's 44 degrees. We looked it up. You start developing the symptoms of hypothermia fairly quickly, and basically the tables say after about an hour you can lose consciousness in water that cold.
What was it like when you were in the water? Where did you head? How did you -- how did you stay afloat? GARDNER: Well, you know, for me, when I jumped actually in the water, you know, I first, of course, after what happened in 2002, I grabbed my coat and I grabbed some of those things I needed. And I started trying to swim away from the aircraft, and both Les and Randy said, "Hey, get rid of everything you don't need. It's either your stuff or your life. You need to make a choice right now."
And I was really struggling. I said, "Don't leave me. Come back and get me."
And we were trying to figure out which way to go. Do we go for the beach or do we go for, you know, kind of the cliffs and the ledges? And the best option we thought we had was to go to the beach.
And so they said, "Hey, just relax, calm down. We're not leaving you. Get on your back, and start doing basically a backstroke."
And as I got on my back and started doing the backstroke, I just really just started to relax and just focus on, you know, getting from where I was at. The colder -- the temperature of the water wasn't really anything I thought about, because we were safe. We had just survived a plane wreck.
It was now about getting to the shore and hopefully having somebody spot us from the plane wreck to the shore. And hopefully getting rescued in a matter of minutes compared to...
M. O'BRIEN: So, I guess, a combination of adrenaline and the fact that you are a top athlete probably helped you. Are you -- are you a good swimmer, too, or were you just kind of flailing away there?
GARDNER: Well, you know, I'm not really the best of swimmers, you know, but it doesn't, you know, take the best of swimmers to get from a place to a place. You know, slowly but surely.
Because I was just sitting there kicking away, you know, doing the backstroke, watching where I was at in the situation. And just one stroke at a time. You know, I'm going to get from the middle of the channel all the way to the side of the lake just, you know, slowly but surely.
And, you know, the group I was with, you know, Les and Randy, I actually kind of lost separation because they were better swimmers than me, but slowly but surely I pulled up on the beach. And, you know, finally got to the beach, and everything I had was numb.
I couldn't feel. It almost felt like, you know, this is just too surreal. It didn't happen. You know, it's just kind of a bad dream.
And then coming to realize I was still there through the minutes. And it's like, you know what? You need to go find a place and sit down. You need to go find them and you need to try to recoup and think about what you've got to go through if you have to stay out all night.
M. O'BRIEN: Now, you were there -- you were there all night. How did you get warm? Because you didn't -- you couldn't build a fire or anything. How did you get warm overnight? How were you -- and then finally, it must have been nice seeing that fishing boat.
GARDNER: Well, you know, as we went and got to the shoreline, you know, we realized that we had very limited supplies of anything, and all I had on, you know, since I got to the shore was basically a T-shirt and my jeans. And I kicked my shoes off on the swim in to try to make it more aerodynamic.
So when I got to the shoreline, I went and found them, and both of those individuals -- you know, Randy was in really bad shape. He was already, you know, in severe -- you know, basically hypothermia, to where he didn't really rationalize. He was really struggling to have motor function, and actually as we got up there, we came together, and we said, OK, let's try to dry our clothes out before the sun goes down. Nobody is going to see us before sunset because most of the boats had already gone by.
So I said, "Let's dry everything out. Let's get a place and make kind of a rock structure where it protected us from the wind." And at that point those two individuals -- Randy had actually dropped his shirt because it was actually slowing him down, because both of them started to cramp up in the water about 50 yards out. So as we got closer to the beach, you know, we actually pulled in, and then at that point those two individuals actually shared one shirt all night.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow.
GARDNER: And we tried, all three of us, to huddle as close as we could to try to keep as much body mass heat as we could. Instead of fighting three individuals, we wanted try to fight it as one individual.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Final thought here. And we're running out of time, but you have gone through a lot of things in your life.
You were stranded in the wilderness. Got frost bite, lost a toe. When you were young, you were hunting with an arrow, you impaled yourself. You were in a serious motorcycle accident. Now this.
Are you lucky or unlucky?
GARDNER: You know, I think I'm really lucky. You know, after everything I have been through, you know, the good lord, I think, has a plan, and hopefully the plan is to go out and hopefully teach people to be smarter about the choices they make.
M. O'BRIEN: Rulon Gardner, thanks. Stay safe. And we hope not to have you on once again talking about number five on the list.
GARDNER: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Good luck -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Just ahead this morning, it could be the last word for Louis Farrakhan. He is delivering a strong message about the war. And a major piece of (INAUDIBLE) is going to be lost.
We'll tell you about that straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A historic place in the fast-food world about to go into the meat grinder of history. Wendy's says it will close its first-ever restaurant at the end of business this Friday.
Say it ain't so.
The restaurant opened up in downtown Columbus back in 1969. The company says there are poor sales there.
But I have -- you have to ask, Ali Velshi, at 25 minutes past the hour, what would Dave say where he here?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wendy's -- first, Dave opened this restaurant, named it after his daughter Melinda Lou.
I paused, too. Her nickname was Wendy.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, OK.
VELSHI: And Wendy's says that Dave would have supported this decision, which as a journalist, it's a little hard to confirm, but the issue is this has no drive-through, it's got limited parking. It needed improvements. And apparently, they decided it wasn't worth putting that all into this place.
So I sort of thought I would check out where the first McDonald's and Burger King were. McDonald's, you know, that's a tricky one, because it was sort of a copy of someone else's restaurant.
M. O'BRIEN: Started in California, but then moved...
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Right. So the first -- the first McDonald's that was founded by Ray Crock was in Des Plaines, Illinois. It opened in 1955. It's now a McDonald's museum. But if you want a burger, you can go across the road for one.
And Burger King was started outside of Miami, suburban Miami is the first one there.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Is it still there?
VELSHI: It's called Insta Burger King. I'm having trouble finding out whether it was still there. But this is definitely a story that I could go jump into with both feet.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you could. VELSHI: I have been talking about burgers a lot this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: For a month, really, yes. Yes. You were only going to run off the set and go have fast food.
VELSHI: I'm done for a while. I think I might just go eat.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Ali.
The top stories of the morning are coming up next. You're going to be wheeling your luggage through snow and slush this morning. There are lots of floods canceled. We'll tell you where this morning.
Plus, a genuine war hero took more than 70 friends to safety. You'll meet him and see footage of the actual battle straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
M. O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Alan Chernoff has more on the big storm. He joins us live now from Kennedy Airport in New York City.
Alan, we sure hope there aren't going to be any passengers turned hostages today.
ALAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, JetBlue is actually taking a preemptive strike. JetBlue canceled 68 flights actually in and out of JFK this morning. Not all of their flights, though. They are flying to Aruba, but they're not flying to Austin. They're flying to Nassau, but not Nashville. You got the idea. Get those vacation travelers to those warm spots. Don't worry about the business travelers. We have other cancellations as well. Delta Airlines, 27 departing flights canceled. American, seven departures canceled, including San Francisco and London. But the bulk of the flights this morning from JFK are taking off. Some delays.
Miles, back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: Alan Chernoff. Nassau sounds kinds of good, doesn't it? All right, we'll see you in a little bit.
We'll check in with Rob Marciano, who is tracking the storm's path, in just a little bit -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: How's this for a shocker? Revelations this morning that the Reverend Al Sharpton's ancestors were once owned by ancestors of the late Strom Thurmond. It's a finding that the Reverend Sharpton is calling the shock of a lifetime. Reverend Sharpton is in Miami this morning and he joins us live.
Nice to see you, reverend. Thanks for talking with us.
You know, I read an interview where you just sounded completely surprised. Did you have no inkling whatsoever about your family history?
REV. AL SHARPTON, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: No. I only knew back as far as my grandfather and grandmother. When "The Daily News" reporter, a very able reporter, Austin Philly (ph), came to me, and said for black history month, we'd like to work with ancestry.com and just trace your history. I said, fine. And when they came back and said, did you know your great grandfather was, in fact, in South Carolina, a slave owned by Jefferson Sharpton, who was married to Anita Thurmond, who was a direct blood relative of Strom Thurmond, I was absolutely shocked. I assumed that my forefathers were slaves, but the connection to Strom Thurmond is something that I couldn't have imaged in a worst nightmare.
S. O'BRIEN: So now that you have had a couple of days to think about it, what's your reaction? You still think it's a worst- nightmare scenario?
SHARPTON: Well, I think that the whole idea of slavery and that we are only three generations away clearly a nightmare. I think that the outcome, though, is that because people struggled from the abolitionist to the civil rights movement to those that continue to struggle today, the glory is that Thurmond ran in president of '48 preaching segregation. I was able to run because of those struggles in '04, trying to preach racial justice. So the shame of America is that people were property. The glory is that people fought black and white to end that, and are continuing to fight those inequities, and as I talk to my own daughters and explain this and called and talked to Reverend Jesse Jackson, who kind of mentored me in civil rights, who came out of South Carolina, you try to find some sense through all of this pain.
But you know, Soledad, when it really came home to me, when I was coming into Florida last night, a young man stopped me and asked me for an autograph, and for the first time when I was signing my name, I realized how I got that name, because my great granddaddy was property of the Sharptons. So even now you have to every time you write your name think about the only reason you have that name is somebody owned your forefathers. Now you have to make that name stand for more than the shame of property ownership in America. Let it stand for freedom fighting.
S. O'BRIEN: "The Daily News" interviewed some of Strom Thurmond's relatives. One nephew said this, "I have no comment." Another son said this -- oops. I don't have that one. Oh. There was a niece who said -- it's a bunch of baloney, is what one of the sons said. "That's a bunch of baloney." Didn't believe there was actually a link between your two families.
And then, finally, there was a niece of Strom Thurmond's who says, "It's wonderful that Sharpton was able to become what he is in spite of what his forefather was."
What do you make of those reactions and responses?
SHARPTON: Well, "The Daily News" showed a photo yesterday that was chilling to me, of -- in the church cemetery in Edgefield, South Carolina today tombstones of Sharptons and Thurmonds. Of course, the white Sharptons that owned my forefathers. So it's irrefutable. They've given me the documents of where it was filed in county courthouse that they owned my great grandfather, so the baloney thing is just denial.
For her to say, though, that it's great that I have become -- I did not become anything on my own. I became that way because people suffered, died, was ostracized to end slavery, and then for the hundred years since slavery, that struggle continues.
The real story here is that all African-Americans and white Americans have a story. We need to be honest about the story. We need to expose it. You cannot heal unless you're willing to expose the cancer and dig it out. We cannot hide the past. We've got to deal with even the ramifications today of the past, and in glory in the fact that we can go on, but we can't go on by denying what we've got to overcome.
S. O'BRIEN: The Reverend Al Sharpton, a real eye-opener during Black History Month.
Thanks for talking with us. Always nice to see you, reverend.
SHARPTON: Thank you, Soledad.
M. O'BRIEN: What an amazing story.
S. O'BRIEN: You know, people are encouraged to go look back. I mean, that's his great grandfather he's talking about; it's not 20 generations ago.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, they went to, what, ancestry.com and got this information relatively easily.
S. O'BRIEN: Uh-huh. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Later today, President Bush presents the Congressional Medal of Honor -- it's the nation's highest award -- to Bruce Crandall, 40 years after his heroic actions in Vietnam.
Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the amazing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COL. BRUCE CRANDALL (RET.), U.S. ARMY MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT: The top row, and that's a Distinguished Service Cross.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bruce Crandall is already a Hollywood war hero. Greg Kinnear played him in the Mel Gibson Vietnam War film "We Were Soldiers." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG KINNEAR, ACTOR: I don't suppose I have a choice in all this?
MEL GIBSON, ACTOR: You sure don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But Vietnam was agonizingly real for Bruce Crandall. Forty years later his heroics will be recognized by the nation when President Bush awards him the Medal of Honor, the highest military recognition.
It was November 1965, U.S. troops dropped by helicopter into a remote area of South Vietnam. Crandall is in the lead helicopter when hell erupts on the landing zone below.
CRANDALL: I had my crew chief shot through the throat. The radio operator was hit and killed before he could unhook.
STARR: For hours Crandall flew wounded troops out of the killing zone -- 14 times he landed, no matter how heavy the enemy fire became.
CRANDALL: It was the longest day I've ever experienced in any aircraft.
STARR: Crandall and his wingmen saved more than 70 men. Each time his helicopter got too shot up to fly, he switched to a new one, taking troops out, bringing in more ammunition to the stranded troops below.
At a time when the nation is, again, focused on an unpopular war, Crandall speaks to today's young pilots with modesty most of us cannot fathom.
CRANDALL: Most of the young aviators have the question of how they're going to react, and -- if they haven't been in combat yet. I found out I didn't like to be shot at, but it was part of the job.
STARR: Many of Crandall's 18 comrades wrote letters to the Pentagon, detailing their memories of a man who risked his life to make sure no one was left behind. This man, they say, deserves the Medal of Honor.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: And what's amazing about that, that is the actual footage captured of that battle and those helicopters. One of those, obviously, flown by Crandall. You know, the chopper will get shot up, and he would go back to get a new chopper and come back again. I mean, just amazing courage.
The Medal of Honor, by the way, is awarded to those who risk their own lives to save others. Obviously that fits in this case. Of the last ten who have received the Medal of Honor, eight died in battle doing just that.
S. O'BRIEN: Pretty amazing.
M. O'BRIEN: yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, kids in college, yes, can be expensive. Tuition is going to cost an arm and a leg. Today we're going to give you some really good tips for saving for college.
And the morning after Hollywood's golden night. We've got the Oscar winners and the winner wannabes. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
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S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. This morning we begin a weekly look at your money, and how to make the most of it, whether you are in your 30s or 40s or your 50s.
CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis begins with this advice for parents who are worried about the rising cost of college.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the easiest ways to save your child's higher education is through a state-sponsored 529 savings plan. The money grows tax-free and it's free of all taxes if used for qualified education expenses. In some states contributions are also deductible. 529s are accounts managed by professionals that invest mostly in stocks when kids are small, then shift to bonds as they near college age.
Parents getting a later start, in their 30s and 40s, can still take advantage of the tax-free savings plans, but they shouldn't over- invest in their teenager's college fund if it means neglecting their own retirement savings.
Experts point out that college-bound children will have other resources available to them to pay for school, but there are no scholarships for retirement. And since colleges don't factor in retirement savings when figuring out what parents can afford to pay, those savings won't jeopardize getting some financial aid.
By the time your kids are ready to move into the freshman dorm, many parents in their 40s and 50s may still come up short, but don't panic. Financial aid is often available. According to the College Board, more than $152 billion was awarded during the last academic year. Aid packages can include grant and scholarship money, which doesn't have to be paid back, and also low-interest loans and work- study programs. Parents hoping to get financial help should also remember to get those applications in early.
Gerri Willis, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just moments away.
Tony Harris at the CNN Center. He's got a look ahead.
Hello, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you.
We have got these stories on the "NEWSROOM" rundown for you this morning. Vice President Dick Cheney delivering a warning to Pakistan's leader today -- stop the resurgence of al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Heavy snow slowing travelers this morning. Hundreds of flights canceled or delayed at airports in Chicago, New York and Washington.
And Oscar-winning Hollywood filmmakers, well, his improbable claim. James Cameron announcing this morning he's discovered the tomb and DNA of Jesus.
Heidi Collins is with me in the "NEWSROOM." We get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.
Miles, back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: I am going to be watching that one. Thank you very much, Tony.
HARRIS: Sure thing.
M. O'BRIEN: See you then.
Coming up, the red carpets rolled back this morning, but Hollywood is still buzzing over who won what and what they were wearing and all that stuff. We'll get a live report from Los Angeles. Our crew stayed up all night for you. The most news in the morning right here.
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(NEWSBREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: The last of the after-parties wrapping up in Hollywood this morning. The Oscars are now in the hands of the winners, and while the shoo-ins did not disappoint, there were some Kodak moments last night at the Kodak Theater.
CNN's Sibila Vargas was there. Nice work if you can get it. And looking lovely despite no sleep. Thank you for joining us.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Pure adrenaline. Pure adrenaline at this point.
M. O'BRIEN: It's a good thing.
VARGAS: Yes, it is a good thing. Well, it's a night of tears, fears, fashion hits, and of course a few misses. And this year's main event was no exception. But in the end the night belonged to a king, a queen, and finally a bang.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: And the Oscar goes to -- "The Departed."
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: The crime drama "The Departed" stole away with four Oscars, best picture, editing, adapted screenplay, and a long-awaited best director award for Martin Scorsese, who after five previous directing losses couldn't believe his luck.
MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR: Could you double-check the envelope.
VARGAS: In the lead-acting category, Forest Whittaker won for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," while Helen Mirren reigned supreme for playing Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen."
HELEN MIRREN, ACTRESS: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the queen.
VARGAS: As for the supporting actors, veteran Alan Arkin pulled off an upset, winning for his performance in the quirky family road comedy "Little Miss Sunshine," which also won for best original screenplay. And best supporting actress Jennifer Hudson was recognized for her very first film "Dreamgirls".
JENNIFER HUDSON, ACTRESS: I couldn't believe it. I'm still in shock.
VARGAS: The Al Gore global-warming film "An Inconvenient Truth" won for documentary feature, and for a second it looked like Gore might have a big announcement.
AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, I'm going to take this opportunity right here and now to formally announce my intention
VARGAS: Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from the documentary won for best song, beating out three entries from "Dreamgirls," which despite eight nominations, wound up with just two Oscars.
ELLEN DEGENERES, ACTRESS: This is the most international Oscars ever, which is a huge deal, I think.
VARGAS: As "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Babel" won four Oscars between them, and top honors went to a very American version of a Hong Kong film, it proved to be a very small world on Oscar night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VARGAS: Well this year was a banner your for African-American and Hispanic nominees. Eddie Murphy, a strong favorite for the best supporting actor, did not get an Oscar, but his co-star Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whittaker did.
Miles, back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: A lot of people thought Eddie Murphy would win that one.
VARGAS: Yes, they sure did.
M. O'BRIEN: But anyway, Alan Arkin coming through. Whose outfit did you like? That's the most important thing, right, isn't it?
VARGAS: It really is. It sure is Nicole Kidman.
M. O'BRIEN: Nicole, huh? She could wear a burlap sack, what are you talking about?
VARGAS: No burlap sack for her. She's gorgeous.
S. O'BRIEN: Helen Mirren always looks so statuesque.
VARGAS: She does. I mean, she is very Foxy, actually.
S. O'BRIEN: She keeps walking up getting these awards, and every time she's perfect.
M. O'BRIEN: yes, she's got it together, doesn't she?
VARGAS: She makes it look so good, doesn't she?
M. O'BRIEN: Sibila, you look good too.
VARGAS: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Sibila.
VARGAS: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: If you missed a big moment of the show, take a look at this. These guys, Will Ferrell and Jack Black, did a little musical number about the lack of respect that comedies get at Oscar time. Then it kind of became this.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK BLACK, ACTOR: Leo, you think you can date super models and win awards? I'm going to elbow you in the larynx.
WILL FERRELL, ACTOR: Ryan Gosling, you are ALL hip and now, well I'm going to break your hip -- right now! BLACK: Hey, Peter O'Toole, you are all legendary and English. I don't care. I'm going to beat you down with my Nickelodeon Award.
FERRELL: Mark Wahlberg, where are you? I won't mess with you. You're actually kind of bad ass.
Once again, I hope we're cool. You are very talented.
BLACK: And Helen Mirren, you are just hot. What party you going to?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: They are so funny.
M. O'BRIEN: I thought they pulled the punch on Marky Mark. Mark, he said, good idea.
S. O'BRIEN: He goes smart man. You're a smart man.
M. O'BRIEN: Smart man.
I think he's not Marky Mark anymore.
S. O'BRIEN: No, that was many iterations ago.
M. O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact, if I were to call him Marky Mark to his face, he would probably would rearrange mine.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, here's a look at what's coming up on NEWSROOM AT the top of the hour.
See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM."
HARRIS: Vice President Dick Cheney on unannounced visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan. A big snowstorm creating travel problems for the Northeast and beyond.
What to do if you've got tax troubles with the IRS. The postal service set to raise the cost of a stamp three cents this morning.
You're in the NEWSROOM, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
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