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Prince Philip of Britain Hospitalized; Weapons Cache: Florida Man Charged With Making Threats; Forty Years Later: Did Dream Die With Martin Luther King?

Aired April 04, 2008 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Strong storms peel off roofs in Texas and Arkansas. And severe weather could hit the South again today.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A spectacular house fire in Oregon. Did firefighters stand a chance put this one out?

WHITFIELD: And the presidential candidates pay tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. Live coverage 40 years after Memphis -- in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: At the top this hour, just a huge house fire in Oregon. Amazing pictures from our affiliate, KGW, showing the massive flames in Tualatin, Oregon.

The house and an adjoining barn were both on fire. Officials say no one was inside when the fire started. One person was being treated for smoke inhalation. Fire crews say this are no hydrants in the area, complicating efforts to put the flames out.

WHITFIELD: And a deadly storm system hits central Arkansas. At least one fierce tornado ripped through the Little Rock area last night, turning homes into rubble, toppling trees, and, of course, power lines, and tossing small planes around like toys like you see right here.

Just look at what the twister did to the airport in North Little Rock. About 30 single-engine planes destroyed. A hangar left in ruins. And fires broke out as well after the twister ravaged a mobile home park.

CNN affiliate KARK says 50 homes were burned. The Associated Press reports that one person was killed in a traffic accident. At least four people were hurt. The tornado had an emotional impact on so many.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I could see at first was just -- it was on fire. And there were police everywhere. It was crazy.

I couldn't get to my house, but I had to get to my family. So I got out and came in the back way in my trailer park. As soon as I -- as soon as I walked in the -- around the fence, I mean, it was just -- it was a mess. There were roofs off trailers. There was -- whole sheds every -- I mean, pieces of sheds just completely gone. Like, it was just like -- and then the farther I moved in the trailer park to where it landed, there were trailers just like -- just like completely tipped over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was tore up. Bay doors were torn off the buildings. People's houses, their roofs were taken off. I felt the wind literally almost take me off my feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow. The twister caught on tape. Just take a look at this. The dash cam in a police car recorded the tornado as it roared through the parking lot of a car dealership.

And what you're seeing there, the sparks flying after power poles snapped there. Remarkable stuff.

And then in Texas, well, it got hit, too. Thunderstorms from the same system moved through the state, ripping off roofs and toppling trees and power lines in Denton County. The area was also hit by softball-sized hail.

Have you ever seen anything like that in person?

HARRIS: No. No.

WHITFIELD: Softball-sized hail.

HARRIS: Softball hail, right?

WHITFIELD: Yes. Hail -- hard, cold stuff.

HARRIS: Exactly.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Big news out of Britain. Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, has been hospitalized in London.

Let's turn now to CNN International Correspondent Alphonso Van Marsh, who is live at Buckingham Palace.

Alphonso, good to see you. What's the latest?

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we are hearing from Buckingham Palace at this point, as you mentioned, Prince Philip in the hospital. We are understanding from Buckingham Palace that he is being treated for a chest infection, the husband of the queen for some 60 years.

Important to remember, he is 86 years old himself. Yet, he does remain very active.

We had just seen him last month at the launching, the opening of a new terminal at London's Heathrow Airport. He was there with the queen. We also saw him recently out in public, the last time we saw him out in public, at a reception, a state dinner, along with the queen, again, for the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Now, we do understand from Buckingham Palace that he was admitted into hospital last night. He is staying at King Edward VII Hospital. Of course, that is, for lack of a better term, the first port of call, as it were. The late queen mother to the present queen, that's where a lot of the royals get their treatment.

We do understand that all of his formal engagements have been canceled for this weekend. But, Tony, we do understand starting next week, he's back on schedule -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh this morning.

Alphonso, appreciate it. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Then, in this country, enough firepower to take out a plane found in the home of a 20-year-old Florida man. That man, on the Internet, allegedly threatening a Virginia Tech-style massacre.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Miami following the story.

Pretty remarkable stuff, and shocking.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: To say the very least. And, you know, really, police lucked out on this, because this young man first came to their attention when he walked straight into the police department and started to complain to them that he had been ripped off over the Internet about a gun sale.

And so then he started talking about these guns that he owns, that he's in the business of buying and selling guns to make money, et cetera, et cetera. But then time passes.

And it wasn't until over a week ago that the cops in south Florida got a phone call from authorities in Oregon that this same young man had allegedly made a threat over the Internet, threatening violence similar to the Virginia Tech massacre. And we are going to show you a conversation he allegedly had in a chat room.

Here is how it goes. He says in part, "I'm soon to the point to reenact the whole event if this does not get squared away soon. This may not seem to be a threat to you, but I'm sure others don't want to see it occur again."

He goes on to say, "It should have been a wakeup call for all haters out there. You should never make fun of anyone just because they are different than you. I feel there is no choice out of this other than what Cho did." Cho being the name of the Virginia Tech massacre suspect who later killed himself. So, authorities went inside this guy's house and found this incredible cache of weapons -- 13 firearms, including AK-47s; a couple of assault rifles with scopes on them; they found magazines; more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition. But for now -- and this was over a week ago -- he was arrested only on making an Internet threat about that failed gun sale.

He was bonded out the next day on $7,500 bond. But authorities do have all those guns. Obviously, they say they are taking a closer look at that. And further charges involving these guns could be pending.

Needless to say, they are looking at whether this 20-year-old, whose name is Calin Chi Wong, is properly licensed to buy and sell guns. They are looking at whether his father might be involved, whether he is licensed, et cetera, et cetera. So, the story is not done yet -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And I guess, you know, a lot of folks would think, wait a minute, he is walking. You know, because this is pretty remarkable stuff here. But is it in part because the police are saying or investigators are saying, well, he admitted to it, and so, thereby, we are a little less suspicious of his intent? And so that's why...

(CROSSTALK)

CANDIOTTI: No. It has more to do, Fred, with all of these guns that he has purchased. And they have to trace and track each and every one on to see whether they were properly bought and sold, and to check into the licenses. And that's what's taking a lot of time.

WHITFIELD: Interesting.

All right. Susan Candiotti, thank you so much.

HARRIS: Race and civil rights front and center in presidential politics today. All three candidates are marking the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.

This hour, Barack Obama talks about King's legacy during a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Obama was asked whether he was concerned about potential fallout from not taking part in observances in Memphis today. He says he's not and that it's important to spread the message that King's work is unfinished.

Hillary Clinton is taking part in events in Memphis where King was killed. She's trying to shore up support among African-American voters.

Republican nominee to be John McCain also in Memphis today. Next hour, he speaks to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which King helped establish. McCain calls his vote in 1983 against the national King holiday a mistake.

WHITFIELD: Well, it's a moment frozen in time. Where were you? Forty years ago today, Martin Luther King was murdered. A stunned nation shoved even closer to the edge of chaos. The epicenter, the Lorraine Motel.

CNN's Don Lemon is at the Memphis landmark where King was killed -- Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred.

I saw your story about Dr. King's driver. And it's just amazing to be able to talk to people who knew him, the stories that come out of them. I mean, my gosh, right?

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is remarkable.

LEMON: Yes, it is quite remarkable. And I heard Tony mention the -- and I'm just going to get right to it.

Dr. King -- come on in here, Mr. Steele.

Charles Steele, Jr. from the SCLC. He is the president now.

But the Reverend King, Dr. King, co-founded the SCLC. And we're going to be talking about the sanitation workers, the reason he came here.

Do you think these workers' rights, their working conditions, what Dr. King fought for -- 40 years later, what do you think about that?

CHARLES STEELE, SCLC PRESIDENT & CEO: Well, it's sad, Don, that we still have the same conditions here in Memphis, Houston, Texas, and throughout this country. And (INAUDIBLE) than that is the fight that we have (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Yes. And we've been talking about economic conditions.

Right.

LEMON: Politics, what have you. The SCLC really involved in that, and Dr. King involved in that through the SCLC.

STEELE: Most definite. What we are doing now is dealing with (INAUDIBLE), actually teaching the philosophy and mindset, principles of Dr. King. We are going through the schools where you can actually pursue an undergraduate degree.

LEMON: Yes.

STEELE: In terms of what he stood for.

LEMON: Thank you very much for joining us here today.

STEELE: Thank you.

LEMON: Forty years later, he is the president, Charles Steele, Jr., president of the SCLC, something that Dr. King co-founded. But I want to talk now about those sanitation workers and about why Dr. King was here fighting for those people's rights. We talked to two generations -- a father who worked at the sanitation department when Dr. King came to town, and then a son who now works there with him.

Have things changed? That's what we asked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice over): James Manuel has come a long way since the 1960s, when he first became a sanitation worker in segregated Memphis, Tennessee.

JAMES MANUEL, FMR. SANITATION WORKER: You work outside in 100 degrees, 90-some degrees.

LEMON (on camera): It's hot, it's smelly. The garbage is leaking on you.

MANUEL: Right. Well, it's tough. That's all I can say.

LEMON (voice over): And it was dangerous. Back then, Manuel says people didn't put their garbage out on the curb. He and his fellow workers, all black, had to retrieve it from back yards. He said the company didn't provide gloves or uniforms.

(on camera): How much money were you making?

MANUEL: Well, when I started I think I was making $1.33 an hour.

LEMON: $1.33 an hour?

MANUEL: Right.

LEMON: To pick up garbage.

MANUEL: Right.

LEMON: And half of it's leaking on you.

MANUEL: Right.

LEMON (voice over): The "Walking Buzzards," as they were called, had to call the leaking 60-gallon filthy tubs on their shoulders or heads, and then they had to ride in the back of the truck with the garbage to the landfill.

MANUEL: People would sit on top of the rail (ph) to the landfill, whatever.

LEMON (on camera): Really? People did that?

MANUEL: Yes.

LEMON: Sit on top of the garbage? MANUEL: Yes.

LEMON (voice over): That's how two sanitation workers died in February of 1968. To escape a driving rainstorm, they huddled in the back with the putrefying garbage like the workers in this picture. They were accidentally crushed by a malfunctioning trash compressor.

After that, sanitation workers went on strike. And Dr. King came to Memphis.

It was here he gave his last speech on the evening before an assassin's bullet took his life on the balcony now infamous Lorraine Motel.

James Manuel had attended the rally.

MANUEL: I feel bad about that. The whole (INAUDIBLE) feels bad about that.

LEMON: Now, 40 years later, Manuel's son, James Jr., also works for the sanitation department.

JAMES MANUEL, JR., MEMPHIS SANITATION WORKER: I admire and I respect. I mean, my father, he took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself. He taught me right from wrong. I mean, that's one of the goals -- I wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a supervisor.

LEMON: Today, the working conditions, while not perfect, are better. And this time, young and old, black and white, are working together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And you can hear the people in the background, Fredricka, and see the sea of umbrellas. They are all in front of the balcony here at the Lorraine Motel, which is now the National Civil Rights Museum. Room 306 on that balcony.

And the reason that Dr. King came here -- I mentioned -- you saw in the story those two sanitation workers. We don't hear their names very often. I looked for pictures of them. You don't see their pictures.

Echol Cole, that's his name. And Robert Walker. They deserve to be remembered on this commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's death.

WHITFIELD: Yes, a very profound statement.

And Don, you know, who are the majority of people who are there behind you?

LEMON: I'm sorry, say again. It's very loud, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Who are the majority of the people there behind you who have gathered in the rain?

LEMON: Oh, just everyday folks really who have flown in from everywhere. Some of them live here in Memphis, Tennessee. But I've heard people from all over the country, and really people from all over the world.

And it's not just -- you see, you know, umbrellas here. But I don't know if you see people of all races as well. Not just African- Americans.

And earlier on I was doing live shots for the international part of our network, and they were wondering the same thing. They said they are commemorating Dr. King's death overseas as well. So, he touched a lot of. Not just America. He touched the world.

WHITFIELD: Don Lemon, thanks so much, from Memphis, right outside the Lorraine Motel.

HARRIS: Off the job -- tens of thousands of Americans get pink slips. Issue #1 in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Issue #1, your money, your job. New government numbers out this morning. Tens of thousands of workers getting pink slips.

Our Allan Chernoff is at an unemployment office in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Allan, good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

I just spoke with a gentleman who was interviewing for a job yesterday at a pharmaceutical company. In the middle of the interview, the human resources manager got an e-mail saying layoffs across the entire company. That gentleman didn't want to talk on camera, but that really tells you what is going on in the economy.

Eighty thousand jobs lost last month. Nearly a quarter of a million since the beginning of the year. The unemployment rate now all the way up to 5.1 percent.

That's the reason that many people are coming to a facility like this. This is an employment resource office here in Jersey City, New Jersey. People are using the computers, the phones. Just a lot of resources here to try to land jobs.

Here is a list of demand occupations according to the state of New Jersey. On those occupations -- nurses, accountants, teachers. Those are the sorts of jobs that people are hoping to land, and there's some expansion in those areas.

In fact, Charmaine Knight is one of the people who would love to become a nurse. She is not right now.

Charmaine, you have been out of work for a while. What was your last job?

CHARMAINE KNIGHT, JOB HUNTER: Security.

CHERNOFF: And how long has it been that you have been out of work?

KNIGHT: Approximately three months.

CHERNOFF: Now, you told me earlier you've been here four consecutive days. So you are seriously looking.

How tough is it?

KNIGHT: It's tough. Just got to have motivation, got to be empowered. Got to keep moving, keep doing researches, trying to find something new.

CHERNOFF: OK. Well, we wish you the best of luck.

And certainly, Tony, lots of people here hoping that the economy does pick up. But from the numbers we are getting from the government from all those layoffs, it certainly feels like a recession -- Tony.

HARRIS: It sure does.

Allan Chernoff for us in Jersey City, New Jersey, this morning.

Allan, appreciate it. Thanks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Illinois Senator Barack Obama on stage in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in a speech where he will be talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy.

Let's listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... somebody who has not only served this great state well, but the entire country. Please give a big round of applause to Congressman Tim Roemer.

(APPLAUSE)

A couple of wonderful friends, a wonderful labor leader, Connie Thurman is here. And is a great supporter.

Connie -- please give Connie a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

And Wayne Township trustee Richard Stevenson (ph). Give Richard a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

To all the other elected officials who are here, and dignitaries, pastors who have taken the time, wonderful labor leaders who are here, and to our hosts, Principal Whitaker (ph) and Superintendent Robinson (ph), please give them a big round of applause.

Superintendent.

And finally, let me say what an honor it was to have Mike Riley introduce me. You know, he is somebody who, obviously, has been part of history. And for him to take a part in this event here today is just extraordinary.

Please give Mike Riley a big round of applause.

As Mike mentioned, today represents a tragic anniversary for our country. Through his faith, his courage, and his wisdom, Dr. Martin Luther King moved an entire nation. He preached the gospel of brotherhood, of equality and justice. That's the cause for which he lived and for which he died 40 years ago today.

So before we begin, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of this extraordinary man.

I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. King's family this morning, Martin Luther King III. They are in Memphis today honoring Dr. King's life and death. There's been a lot of discussion this week about how Dr. King's life and legacy speaks to us today. It's taking place in our schools, in our churches, on television, and around the dinner table.

And I suspect that much of what folks are talking about centers on the issue of racial justice. Montgomery bus boycott and the march on Washington, on the freedom rides, and the stand at Selma. And that is how it should be, because those were times when ordinary men and women straight-backed, clear-eyed, challenged what they knew was wrong and helped perfect our unit. They did so...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: They did so in large part because Dr. King, like a modern day Moses, pointed the way.

But I also think it's worth reflecting on what Dr. King was doing in Memphis 40 years ago today. He stepped on to that motel balcony on his way out for dinner. What he was doing was standing up for struggling sanitation workers. For years, those workers had served their city without complaint, picking up other people's trash for little pay for even less respect. Passers-by would call them walking buzzards. And in the segregated south most were forced to use separate drinking fountains and separate bathrooms. But in 1968 those workers decided they'd enough. And over 1,000 went on strike. Their demands were modest -- better wages, better benefits, and recognition of their unit. But the opposition was fierce. Their vigils were met with handcuffs. Their protests turned back with mace. And at the end of one march, a 16-year-old boy lay dead.

This is the struggle that brought Dr. King to Memphis. It was a struggle for economic justice, for the opportunity that should be available to people of all races and from all walks of life, because Dr. King understood that the struggle for economic justice and the struggle for racial justice were really one that each was a part of a larger struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity. So long...

(APPPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So long as Americans were trapped in poverty, so long as they were being denied decent wages and benefits and fair treatment, so long as opportunity was being open to some but not all, the dream that he spoke of would remain out of reach.

On the eve of this death, Dr. King gave a sermon in Memphis about what the movement meant to him and to America and in tones that would prove eerily prophetic. Dr. King said that despite the threats that he had received, he didn't fear any man because he had been there when Birmingham aroused this conscience of a nation. He had been there to see the students stand up for freedom by sitting at lunch counters and he'd been there in Memphis when it was dark enough to see the stars, to see the community coming together around the common purpose.

So Dr. King had been to the mountaintop. He had seen the Promised Land. And while he knew...

AUDIENCE: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And while he knew somewhere deep in his bones he would not get there with us, he knew that we would get there. He knew it because he had seen that Americans have the capacity, as he said that night, to project the eye into the (INAUDIBLE), to recognize that no matter what color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have, no matter whether we are a sanitation worker or a United States senator, we all have a stake in one another. We are our brother's keeper. We are our sister's keeper.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We are our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper, and I told him either we go up together or we go down together. And when he was killed the following day, it left a wound on the soul of our nation that has not yet fully healed. In few places was the pain more pronounced than in Indianapolis where Robert Kennedy happened to be campaigning. And as Mike mentioned, it fell to him to inform a crowd in a park that Dr. King had been killed.

Some heard the recordings of the shouts, the pain, that were heard as Robert Kennedy made that statement. And as the shouts turned in anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King's compassion and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis. In...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: In the dark days after Dr. King's death, Coretta Scott King pointed out the stars. She took up her husband's cause and led a march in Memphis and I had a chance to meet Coretta Scott King on several occasions, visited with her in her apartment down in Atlanta. I remember asking her how she was able to manage all those burdens and she would explain that, "It's never about me. It was never about Martin. It is about God's will and God's plan for us."

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Coretta Scott King took up that cause and helped to lead a march in Memphis even though she was still grieving. Those sanitation workers eventually won their contract. However, the struggle for economic justice remains an unfinished part of the King legacy because a dream is still out of reach for too many Americans. Just this morning, it was announced that more Americans are unemployed now than at any time in years. And all across this country, families are facing rising costs, stagnant wages and the terrible burden of losing a home.

Part of the problem is that for a long time we've had a politics that's been too small for the scale of the challenges we face. This something I spoke about a few weeks ago in a speech I gave in Philadelphia. What I said was that instead of having a politics that's lives up -- living up to Dr. King's call for unity, we've had a politics that's used race to drive us apart. When all this does is speed the forces of division and distraction and stop us from solving our problems.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: That is why the great need at this hour is much the same as it was when Dr. King delivered his sermon in Memphis. We have to recognize that while we each have a different path, we all share the same hopes for the future. We all hope we can find a job that pays a decent wage, that there will be affordable health care when we get sick, that we'll be able to send our kids to college, that after a lifetime of hard work, we'll be able to retire with security.

They are common hopes, modest dreams, and they're at the heart of the struggle for freedom and dignity and humanity that Dr. King began and that is our task to complete.

You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice. But here is the thing. It does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice, because we organized and we mobilize, we march, we vote. We parents were active in our community, we're active in our schools. So on this day, of all days, let us each do our part to bend that arc. Let's bend it towards justice. Let's bend that arc towards opportunity. Let's bend that arc towards prosperity for all. And if we can do that and march together, as one nation, and one people, then we won't just be keeping faith with Dr. King's dream, all that he lived and died for, we'll be making real the words of Amos that he invoked so often and said, let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Thank you very much, Fort Wayne.

WHITFIELD: All right. Social and economic justices and injustices, the core of the movement of Dr. Martin Luther King on this anniversary, 40 years ago today, that he was slain, and also the core of the speech there for Democratic contender Barack Obama, there in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Meantime, on the right-hand side of your screen, right outside the Lorraine Motel, where the assassination took place, the Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain, speaking.

Now let's listen in.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These are often the terms implied to men and women of conscience who will not endure cruelty nor abide justice. We hear them. We hear them to this day in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Burma, Tibet, Iran, and other lands, directed at every brave soul who dares to disturb the peace of tyrants.

My friends, sometimes the most radical thing is to be confronted with our own standards, to be asked simply that we live up to the principles we profess. Even in the most idealistic of nations we don't always take kindly to being reminded of what more we can do or how much better we can be, or who else can be induced in the promise and the promise of America included.

We can be slow as well to give greatness its due. A mistake I myself made long ago. I myself made long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in remember of Dr. King. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong and eventually realized than in time, in time to give full support, full support for a state holiday in my home state of Arizona.

I remind you that we can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing. And Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans. But he knew, as well, in the long term, confidence in the reasonability and good heart of America is always well placed. And always, and always that was his method in word and action to remind us of who we are and what we believe.

His...

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: (INAUDIBLE)

MCCAIN: Fine. Fine.

His arguments were unanswerable and they were familiar, a case always resting on the writings of the founders, the teachings of the prophets, and the word of the Lord. Perhaps with more charity than was always deserved he often reminded us that there was moral badness and there was moral blindness and they were not the same. It was this spirit that turned hatred into forgiveness, anger into conviction, and a bitter life into a great one.

He's often honored his country even when he -- when the feeling was unreturned, and counseled others to do the same. He gave his fellow countrymen and his fellow Christians the benefit of the doubt believing, as he wrote, that returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Only light can do that.

I remember -- I remember first learning what had happened here on the 4th of April, 1968, feeling just as everyone else did back home. Only perhaps even more uncertain an alarmed for my country in the darkness that was then enclosed around me and my fellow captives. In our circumstances at the time, good news from America was hard to come by. But the bad news was a different matter and each new report of violence, riding and other tribulations in America was delivered without delay.

The enemy had correctly calculated that the news from Memphis would deeply wound morale and leave us worried and afraid for our country. That was a boost to our captors' morale, confirming their belief that America was a lost cause and that the future belonged to them. Yet, how differently it turned out and if they had been the more reflective kind, our enemies would have understood that the cause of Dr. King was bigger than any one man and could not be stopped by force of violence.

Struggle is rewarded in God's own time. Wrongs are set right and evil is overcome. We know this to be true because it is a story of the man we honor today and because it is the story of our country. And yet, for all of this, for all of this, 40 years and a world away, we look up to that balcony and we remember that night and we are still left with a feeling of loss.

Here was a young man who composed one of literature's finest testimony to the yearning for equality and justice under law, writing on the margins of a newspaper in the confinement of a prison cell. Here was a preacher who endured beatings, survived bombings, suffered knifings abuse and ridicule, and still placed his trust in the Prince of Peace. Here was a husband and father who will stand to children in every generation, who's a model of Christian manhood, but never got to raise his own sons and daughters or to share in the gift of years with his good wife.

All of this was lost on the 4th of April, 1968. And there are no consolations to balance the scale. What remains, however, is the example and witness of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and that is forever.

Thank you and thank you for being here today. Thank you for your honor of being here. Thank you. WHITFIELD: All right. John McCain there right outside the Lorraine Motel, shaking hands now and upholding the legacy and the message of the man, Martin Luther King Jr., on this day 40 years ago where he was assassinated.

And an interesting moment that took place moments ago. You witnessed it here on CNN. He was explaining that he didn't support the King holiday initially. And then he said he supports it now, he made a mistake, quote, unquote, "a little late in doing the right thing. And then from the audience, there were people who were yelling, "We forgive you, we forgive you," and great acknowledgement that he gave to them as well.

So now you're seeing the handshaking there this moment right outside the Lorraine Motel, right outside Room 306.

A little bit later on this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from Democratic contender Hillary Clinton. She, too, is in Memphis, and of course, we're going to monitor the events and bring you her scheduled speech as it happens.

HARRIS: CNN's Soledad O'Brien has been retracing those moments in history 40 years ago. She joins us now from Memphis.

Soledad, good to see you. Before we get to your special this afternoon, give us a bit of a scene center there. Quite a lot going on behind you. We heard from John McCain just moments ago.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In a word, Tony, rain.

HARRIS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Rain, rain, rain is probably the best way to do a scene setter. You know, what's interesting, Fred was talking about the reaction when John McCain said I was wrong, I was wrong. There's some -- a little bit of heckling from the crowd when he was talking about the fact that he did not support the Martin Luther King holiday.

Well, we got some videotape when Senator McCain came out on the balcony. He's sort of had given a tour, impromptu tour by Beverly Robertson, the museum director. You can see him there. He has a slew of people with him that are not in the shot, some press and some aides, et cetera. And there were some cheers from the crowd when he came down the steps to begin his address. But also, I have to tell you, some loud boos as well. It was interesting to hear.

But he is still talking and shaking hands in the downpour and it has been a steady rain. People have come, of course, Tony, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. And the wreath that you could see in that shot with Senator McCain and Beverly Robertson exactly marks the spot where Martin Luther King was shot down by an assassin's bullet, James Earl Ray, as you well known, convicted, captured, spent his life in prison for the crime.

Today you can hear behind a series of meetings and speeches and forums all around the city. This is the National Civil Rights Museum where we are now and where John McCain is standing in that crowd of people. It's really, from our perspective, a sea of umbrellas in this downpour, Tony.

And this museum, of course, was the original Lorraine Motel. They just converted it over to be the National Civil Rights Museum. We've got more speeches starting behind us. They kept the museum intact and it's been a remarkable, remarkable experience to walk through what is truly an incredible museum to see the book of evidence against James Earl Ray and to find out about Dr. King's final days.

HARRIS: I think you just touched on my next question. What has it been like for you -- I'm thinking back to the special last night as well -- to trace the steps of this murder 40 years later?

O'BRIEN: Tony, it's absolutely remarkable. Forgive me while the speakers begin again over my shoulder.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: You know, what's interesting. One of the most remarkable things for me was to go up on the balcony where you saw John McCain just a minute ago. They've had to cut away the cement, cut away the cement, because the bloodstains was so intense. They could not get it out. And when you stand up there, I mean, it really -- it does send chills up your spine. At the same time, walk around Memphis and meet people who are incredibly friendly, but who've been really defines by what happened here.

I mean, the city of Memphis struggled very hard after the assassination of Dr. King because nobody really wanted to invest here, while other cities, other cities like Atlanta, were booming. Memphis was not. In fact, this motel had gone into foreclosure. That's how they were able to get it inexpensively and then turn it into a civil rights museum.

And this motel was basically a motel where prostitutes were working. And people saw it. Well, do we want that to be the legacy...

HARRIS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ...of where Dr. King was assassinated something that has fallen apart. So they stepped in and created - it's been a remarkable experience.

HARRIS: Wow.

O'BRIEN: You know, not -- I'm not on the payroll for the museum. But I'll tell you, it is a beautiful museum. It really is a wonderful experience and captures so well. (INAUDIBLE) for anybody to walk into.

HARRIS: That's a fascinating story. That really is a fascinating story. And I don't want folks to lose sight of what you're doing this afternoon, 1:00 until 4:00. Give folks a bit of a preview.

O'BRIEN: Well, all day they're having marches and symposiums. And then we're going to be talking -- have a discussion, really, a conversation with black America, talking to some of the pre-eminent radio hosts in the country about the issues that affect not only black people in this country, but because of that all people in this country.

So that will be on between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN -- Tony.

HARRIS: Can't wait. Can't wait.

Soledad, great to see you, as always. Soledad O'Brien in Memphis, Tennessee, for us this morning.

Can't wait for 1:00 Eastern Time.

WHITFIELD: All right. Severe weather straight ahead. Hit again. High winds in Texas. Tornadoes in Arkansas. Severe weather all of that in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: More U.S. combat troops heading to Afghanistan next year. The Associated Press reporting that word from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He says the increase will be significant. The AP says President Bush told NATO allies about it yesterday. The president spending the day in Croatia after wrapping up the NATO summit in Romania.

He got a pledge of more NATO troops for Afghanistan and an endorsement for a missile shield program in eastern Europe.

Well that has Russian president, Vladimir Putin, worried. It's on the agenda for his meeting with President Bush in Russia this weekend.

All Right. CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now. Don't want to miss that.

HARRIS: Yes. "ISSUE #1" next with Ali Velshi and Gerri Willis.

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