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President Obama in Ghana, First Visit to Africa as U.S. Leader; Illinois Cemetery Where Graves Dug Up Now a Crime Scene; Hillary Clinton Softens Language on American Journalists Held in North Korea
Aired July 11, 2009 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: The president is expected to speak a little bit later in the hour, and we hope to bring that to you live. But, let's give you a look at earlier today. The president and Mrs. Obama visited a hospital in Accra and he spoke to the Ghanaian Parliament highlighting Ghana as one the few stable democracies in Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Here in Ghana, you show us a face of Africa that is too often overlooked by a world that sees only tragedy or a need for charity. The people of Ghana have worked hard to put democracy on a firmer footing with repeated peaceful transfers of power even in the wake of closely contested elections. And, by the way, can I say that for that the minority deserves as much credit as the majority. And with improved governance and an emerging civil society, Ghana's economy has shown impressive rates of growth. This progress may lack the drama of 20th century liberation struggles, but make no mistake, you will ultimately be more (INAUDIBLE) for just as it is important to emerge from the control of other nations. It is even more important to build a one-goal nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president in Ghana. She joins us now live. All right Suzanne, so we heard about the president speaking on the issue of democracy. What are some of the other messages that he brought to the lawmakers there?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Betty. As you know, there really is a long relationship with the United States and Ghana because of its peaceful democracy. I was on the Clinton trip when he brought free trade and really promoted trade in this country and also President Bush, it was just a couple of years ago, an unprecedented amount of aid to combat malaria, AIDS and other deadly diseases. There's actually a street that's named after the former President Bush, but this go-round I have to say, when you talk to the Ghanaians it seems that President Obama really brings inspiration to the people here. They have embraced him as one of their own, calling him their son. Many different billboards and newspapers saying welcome home, welcome back.
We saw the president with the first lady at the hospital attending to and looking to the young children, the babies and the mothers who are taking care of them as well as President Obama sitting down with the president of Ghana talking about the similarities and the partnership of these two nations. And one of the things that the president has done today that is quite different than the other leaders is that he does bring a certain credibility when he talks about kind of the tough love message of Africans taking responsibility for themselves. How does he do this? Well, he relates his own personal story about his father from Kenya. About the triumphs as well as the tragedies in his own family's history to make the point that he understands, he gets the situation, that many people in the continent of Africa are dealing with. I want you to take a listen to what he said before the parliament.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's easy to point fingers and to pin the blame of these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict. The west has often approached Africa as a patron or a source of resources rather than a partner. But the west is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwe economy over the last decades or wars in which children are listed as combatants. In my father's life it was partly tribalism and patronage and nepotism in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career. And we know that this kind of corruption is still a daily fact of life for far too many.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Betty, it's one of those reasons why you don't see the president in Kenya, the home country of his father, because in part, because there are so many problems in that country when it comes to corruption, when it comes to tribalism and these kinds of things. And he talks about this in a very personal way, saying that his father started off as a goat herder. He went on to get a good education in the United States, but came back, really, very frustrated with the system in Kenya, and ultimately died a lonely and broken man. This is a very personal story for this president, but he brings up the case of his father and even his grandfather and that scenario because he really does want to connect personally with the people here in Ghana and to make the point that he understands that this is really responsibility on the part of some of those people that he criticized, the strongmen of some of these African nations, and that there is some room for improvement and he has a certain credibility in bringing and making that point. Betty?
NGUYEN: Suzanne, something else that will probably have a personal impact on the president is his tour today of the slave ports in Cape Coast, Ghana. Give us an idea of what's in store today and what's on the agenda?
MALVEAUX: Well certainly this is going to be, probably a very emotional trip for the president and for the first lady, Michelle, being the great-granddaughter of slaves herself and the heritage, the lineage that President Obama has to Africa, directly to Kenya. Both of them going to this castle and they will see literally the dungeons, the rooms where they kept thousands of African slaves before they went to the door of no return it is called, to be shipped off to America, to live in a life of servitude.
This is the kind of thing that we've seen before. Actually, as President Clinton went to Gorier Island, Senegal had a chance to actually see that up close. It is a very emotional experience for everybody who goes there, who actually takes a look at the door of no return and imagines perhaps their own ancestors going through that kind of tragic journey. That is something we're going to see later in the afternoon and obviously the president is going to be making some remarks about that, because we imagine that he's going to have a lot to say and there will be a lot of emotion behind it. Betty?
NGUYEN: No doubt, definitely going to be an emotional, yet possibly even chilling tour. Suzanne Malveaux joining us live, thank you Suzanne. I just want to let you know that we hope to have live pictures of that tour and the remarks afterward. As soon as we do get those we'll bring them to you.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: After decades of political strife, really, Ghana became a durable democracy in the 1990s. Here now CNN's Nkepile Mabuse in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From welcome posters, paintings, t-shirts, trinkets, clocks and flags, Ghana is spellbound by President Barack Obama's visit. His pictures are posted almost everywhere you turn in the capitol Accra. While people here celebrate, others on the continent are asking, why Ghana for Mr. Obama's first presidential trip to sub-Saharan Africa. Former President John Kufour believes it's a fitting privilege.
JOHN KUFOUR, FORMER GHANAIAN PRESIDENT: He wants to use Ghana as a base to address all of Africa, pointing at good governance, pointing at, I presume economic development, pointing at absence of conflict.
MABUSE: When it comes to Africa, Mr. Obama may have a tough act to follow. His predecessor, George W. Bush who visited Ghana in February of last year, poured billions of dollars into the continent and his AIDS relief fund has won praise. And the Clinton administration sought to boost trade with some African countries by choosing Ghana as the country from which he's expected to outline his Africa policy, it's believed Mr. Obama is trying to send a message that under his leadership investment and aid will be linked to good governance.
(On camera): Beside its history of peaceful transfers of power, Ghana also has strong and vibrant pillars of democracy, like a free press and it is the importance of such democratic institutions in ensuring accountability on the continent that President Obama is likely to highlight during his visit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He will deliver a nice policy statement, applause, good with opportunities, then what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a great opportunity for tourism. MABUSE: The debate in Ghana at the moment is not about what Mr. Obama can do for them but how they can use his visit to do for themselves. This man is already cashing in on the euphoria. Nkepile Mabuse, CNN, across Ghana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And CNN's Anderson Cooper is with President Obama on this historic trip to Africa. As we mentioned, the president is due to tour one of the fortresses on Ghana's coast, which is a former slave trading post, and Anderson, in fact, went into one of them last night and talked about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The emotional high point of the trip is when he's going to come here to the Cape Coast where there is a series of fortresses, several hundred years old, each of them, that were used basically as holding cells and trans shipment points for millions of slaves who were then sent to the new world, sent to Europe and all around the world here for hundreds of years. The president's going to tour one of those fortresses with his family, with his kids. There are dungeons in these fortresses where hundreds of slaves were crammed in before they were loaded out onto ships and sent to the Americas, sent to elsewhere in the new world, and in Europe. I can tell you, I was at the fortress today, I was in those dungeons, it is a haunting place to be. It is an emotional trip for anyone who goes there and the president will be there with his family and we'll be there with him as well talking with him about his feelings on the trip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So don't miss a special "AC 360" Monday night at 10:00 eastern when Anderson shares his exclusive access to President Obama on his journey to Africa.
HOLMES: The Illinois cemetery where hundreds of graves were dug up and allegedly resold is now officially a crime scene. Four people charged with felonies. Reporter Cheryl Jackson live at the scene for us. Where do we go from here, Cheryl?
CHERYL JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't know, T.J. the tragedy here grows by the moment. People here are grief stricken. Many of them are angry, and today they have hundreds of people trying to get in here and they're not going to be able to get into the cemetery because you said, it's an expanded crime scene. On Thursday there were hundreds of people here, they were allowed to go around and try to find the tombstones of their family members. Today they won't be able to do that because some of those family members actually ran across human bones. Police say that even the broader part of the cemetery contains human bones.
Now, we at CNN, we had an exclusive look in the back of the cemetery where there were piles and piles of debris and police told us those also contained human bones. Now there's a place here called baby land, where a lot of toddlers and babies were buried. Today police say there is no sign that it ever even existed. So right now police are, FBI people are on the scene. There's going to be an exhumation today. There was a family member that was buried about a few days ago, and one of the family members noticed that the grave didn't go down far enough and assumed that there might be someone underneath. And that is one of the issues here today. Police are worried there are double people in the graves and they're putting people on top of them.
We have FBI people on the scene today. You know Emmett Till, the famous civil rights person that started the civil rights movement, he was buried here. His grave was undisturbed but the casket that he was originally buried in was actually supposed to be saved as part of a museum, they found it, it's trashed in the back of an old shed. We talked to one woman, whose entire family is buried here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER GYMAH, HAS RELATIVES BURIED IN CEMETERY: I know they're in there, but are they a pile of bones? They was living people and we grieved for them and we love them, and we wanted them to have a peaceful, restful life after they died. And I think that's the service that the cemetery should provide for the families, and when you dig them up again, it's like you reliving them. You're bringing back, the spirits are coming back and it's just such a grieving process all over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JACKSON: Now, the people here today will not get any real answers. What they're going to do is they're going to leave their names, their phone numbers and any information they have about the grave sites and the sheriff's department is supposed to get in contact with them within five days. T.J.?
HOLMES: All right. Cheryl Jackson again on the scene for us there in Alsip, right outside Chicago. Thank you so much.
NGUYEN: The Obama administration is suddenly shifting its language on two Americans held by North Korea. Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were arrested back in March if you recall, and they were sentenced to 12 years hard labor just last month for entering the country illegally. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton appears to be softening the U.S. position on their release.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Journalists and their families have expressed great remorse for this incident. And I think everyone is very sorry that it happened. What we hope for now is that these two young women would be granted amnesty through the North Korean system and be allowed to return home to their families as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NGUYEN: Secretary Clinton's use of the word amnesty is widely seen as an implicit concession that the two women did something wrong. Previously the secretary had insisted on a humanitarian release.
We do have some new pictures coming into CNN.
HOLMES: There it is. You'll recognize the first couple of the United States. You see Michelle Obama there, President Obama as well, they're standing around, they just arrived. Cape Coast there in Ghana where they're going to be taking a look at the Cape Coast castle. This is the place that holds the fortresses where a lot of Africans were taken and held until they were then shipped off to be slaves in other parts of the world. There's the president. He's been drawing huge crowds everywhere he's gone in Ghana. This is after he's made a speech earlier today, to the parliament there in Ghana, in the capital of Accra. Made a speech, really some tough love, look at that crowd.
NGUYEN: Look at the crowd.
HOLMES: Just take that in for a second. I think we have the sound on this. Let's take a listen to these folks as they erupt for the American president.
Again, there the president is, we'll get a shot of the first lady. The president's family is along for this trip with him there in Ghana. Had some tough love, really in his speech today for many countries, the whole continent of Africa really saying the future of that continent, the future of Africans is in the hands of Africans. Again, as the president makes his way in shades, looking good. Probably a hot day in Ghana today. Coming down out of the suit, but everybody really excited, even though he has Kenyan blood running through his veins, all of Africa -- there's a look at the little girls. Someone's doing the hair of one -- there's the first mother- in-law. Is that what we call her? Along for the trip as well.
NGUYEN: It's going to be quite an emotional and perhaps even chilling tour, the Cape Coast castle there. As we've been talking about, there are dungeons where hundreds if not thousands were stowed away in there as they were waiting to be boarded on to ships for places around the world, including the United States. And a lot of people talk about these dungeons as being very dark, very little air was allowed in and many stayed there for days if not weeks, perhaps even months at a time, received very little food as well. It's going to be an emotional tour, an educational tour as well for the young children of the Obamas, as they take this tour with their parents and learn the history of what occurred there in the Cape Coast of Ghana.
And as you see right there, the president shaking the hands of some of the dignitaries. And you can hear the drums in the background. We were watching as people were lining the streets, people were walking out of their homes and on to the streets carrying drums, carrying all types of things. Just wanting to be a part of today's tour. Wanting to be a part of what the president was going to experience. And more importantly for them, just to catch a glimpse of President Obama. But as you see him there, standing with his family, you've got Sasha and Malia, then you've got Mrs. Obama and her mother on hand as well.
HOLMES: And something to see you know, he is the leader of the free world, you saw the first lady walking through there and trying to fix her daughter's hair. I mean they are very much a family and the simple things that affect every family around the country, they have to deal with as well. Again, this is a pool camera, pool feed we're watching, so that's why it's kind of jumping around and we have no control over it. But we continue to show you this picture, the president now going in with his family. Only expected to be about a half hour or so tour but we're expecting the president to make some comments when he gets done as well. And then beyond that even, our Anderson Cooper is there in Ghana, going to be talking to the president about his trip. You can see that certainly later on, coming up on Monday, but for now, we're expecting the president to come out and give us some live comments. I believe that was the president of Ghana there who's making his way as well, making his way. The president, yes, that is him, I do believe. He spoke a little earlier today as well right before the president.
But again, as we said, the president chose Ghana. A lot of folks in Kenya hoping the president would make his first trip to Sub Saharan Africa to the place where he has family still, where he has roots, where he has still that Kenyan blood running through his veins. But Kenya is not the place you want to highlight necessarily when you're talking about a beacon of democracy. It's not the place you want to highlight. They've even had a lot of political violence essentially and getting their selves together, like many other countries around Africa. But Ghana was one the president thought was a good example to highlight and showing that they'll be rewarded for their doing the right thing.
NGUYEN: Yes, he summed it up in two words when he was asked why Ghana. He said, democratic commitment. And we've seen Ghana over the years progress with democracy, and as T.J.'s been talking about, there are many countries there in Africa still struggling with their own governments and their own systems. That's something the president spoke about a little bit earlier. Suzanne Malveaux, our correspondent on the ground, has been talking about that speech, and labeling it tough love, because in many ways it was. He was highlighting the problems and saying, Africans are responsible for Africa. We as the United States will be there to help and lend a hand, but ultimately, you are responsible for your own problems. He also highlighted the issue of corruption and took it head-on saying that young people, you have a responsibility to speak out and hold your leaders accountable.
And he was speaking directly to young people for many reasons, and one of them being that over half of the population is made up of young people. So they hold the power to hold their leaders accountable. And he also talked a little bit about the genocide in Darfur, the terrorists in Somalia, saying that we stand ready to partner through diplomacy and also logistical support and stand behind efforts to hold more criminals accountable. He was being very specific when it comes to the problems that many countries in Africa face, but he was also very optimistic saying that, you hold the key to your future, and this can be done. I think he even used the words, yes, you can. HOLMES: Oh, yes, they got a good applause line, one of several that he got there, again, a place that calls him a son of Ghana, a son of Africa. But the phrase he used to play off what you were just talking about there, Betty, was good governance, is what he called it. That your development depends upon good governance. There are a lot of places right now where there is not. Historically, not good governance. A lot of places are still wrapped up in military conflicts, but, again, he wanted to highlight Ghana. And Ghana being rewarded in a lot of ways even with a visit from the president for what they have been able to do, given their -- I mean, they have two political systems, excuse me, two different political parties there as well. So there is some political fighting, but not fighting that involves a gun, or a sword or a bullet. This is what politics, the president says, should be.
Again, if you're just joining us here what you are watching, the president of the United States making his first trip to sub Saharan Africa as president, going through now the fortresses there in Cape Coast. You're getting a close-up picture, can't tell what that says there. But as we watch this feed, there is the president of Ghana. But the president of the United States taking a tour with his family of these fortresses. Again, Cape Coast, Ghana, it really may be the spot for the slave trade where Africans taken and held at this fortress where the president is before they were then shipped off again by the hundreds of thousands and millions over the years where many would say that continent's most precious natural resource were essentially taken from them.
NGUYEN: And in those dungeons specifically, we've talked to several people today who have experienced this tour, and many will tell you they're dark and down below, there's almost this sense of, you can feel the footsteps of those who have come before them. The people who had stayed down in those dungeons, who had suffered in there, and then when they were finally set free from that darkness, they walked through a place that was called the door of no return, and simply put onto a ship and sent out across the world, including the Americas to serve as slaves. It's a very chilling moment. It's an emotional tour that the president will be taking. In fact, is taking at this moment. But as we look at these live pictures, you can see how many have come out by the hundreds and the thousands to just catch a glimpse of this historic moment where the first African-American president, not only speaking in sub-Saharan Africa and specifically in Ghana, rewarding it for its commitment to democracy, but then touring the slave port of Cape Coast and all the history that is there.
HOLMES: And a young lady that we talked to a little earlier, Christa Sanders, going to get her back on the line with us now. She's not there in Cape Coast. Wasn't able, tried, she tried to go in and see the speech there but she's in Ghana but now, Christa, we understand you've made your way over and you're trying to at least get to the airport in Accra and be a part of the farewell ceremony. Do I have that right?
CHRISTA SANDERS, ASSOC. DIR., NYU IN GHANA (via telephone): That's absolutely right. I wanted to make sure that we give President Obama and the first lady and the family a great sendoff, and we hope that they've had a wonderful stay here in our country.
HOLMES: Krista, I know you're not able to see these pictures. We continue to show them to our viewers here in the U.S. but you can at least give us an idea of the flavor on the ground. We're seeing some of these pictures here from Cape Coast of the large crowds gathered, but give our viewers an idea of just what it's been like there as that country receives the first African-American president of the United States?
SANDERS: Well, I think that people are absolutely ecstatic. There's so much enthusiasm all over the place, on the streets of Accra, through Cape Coast and the rest of the country. I think that we feel honored to have him come here and the fact that he is the president who happens to be of African dissent, that's exciting, that's inspiring for so many people. He's a role model that I think Africans and people throughout the Diaspora and world can really look up to, that if we try and dedicate ourselves to whatever work we may be involved in, we can do it. And I also think this morning when he was giving, or afternoon when he was giving his speech, he really inspired Africans that their future is in their own hands and it's about self-reliance, and while the U.S. will continue to provide some source of aid that he really encourages African leaders and especially Ghana being such a model democracy in good government, to take care of their own affairs and deal with the challenges.
I think it's really, really wonderful that he has the opportunity with his family to enter the world heritage site, the Cape Coast capital. I think firstly, as an African-American, it's a journey that every African-American, every person of African descent should take and experience, and I'm sure that he and his family will go through many, many emotions as they go through the castle. I know that for myself, as well as many people of African dissent it is a painful experience, it's also a necessary journey that makes you understand your identity, your past and how fitting to have an African-American president who has the highest position in the world, be able to experience this period of history hands-on.
HOLMES: Christa, were you able to, I don't know how, I think you weren't able to hear the whole speech, but have you been able to get, and we should let our viewers know, no longer live pictures, some new video we're showing you here. The president made a speech a little earlier today there in Ghana. But were you able, Christa to get any kind of instant reaction there on the ground? You kind of mentioned it there in your last statement but just the reaction on the ground there and on the street for those who were able to hear his speech?
SANDERS: Well, you know, let's just say that he did not lay out necessarily a policy for Africa, OK. But at the same time, he celebrated the fact that Ghana is a role model for the entire African continent and that we've had people, elections and we have demonstrated good government, and I think that that is the main aspect that people will really be excited about and run with. Beyond that, you know, he spoke often of his father, on his father's path, and I think that that was very relevant as his father is a man of Kenyan descent, and you know, again, the issue that we will partner in the future but back to the issue of Africa's future being up to itself, and looking to countries like Ghana as a leader in this way.
When you look, of course, across the continent, you see so many challenges, and he mentioned Darfur and mentioned other issues that are affecting the continent and that Ghana, you know, can be a role model. I think that's what most people are going to take away is the focus on Ghana and that Ghana should maximize the benefits of this visit by showing Africa and showing the world that it is possible to have peaceful elections.
NGUYEN: Christa, the president also spoke specifically to young people. As you well know serving as associate director for NYU in Ghana, that over half the population there is made up of young people and his message was you have the power to hold your leaders accountable. Is that a message that you believe is truly resonating not only in Ghana but in other places throughout Africa?
SANDERS: I think that it is. I think that it is, but I still think that we're up against a lot of challenges. Not every country, for example, in the continent really has free press or freedom of speech or true democracy, and only when you have that can, you know, young people, for example, sort of stand up, have an opinion, speak with leaders and sort of get things moving, but, yes. I think it did resonate.
NGUYEN: I just have one last thing to ask you, as we're looking at these live pictures in Cape Coast, where the president is touring at this hour, the dungeons there, that door of no return. All of the different aspects of this historic slave port. You have been there yourself. You have experienced this tour.
SANDERS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Tell us what it is like.
SANDERS: Well, you know, it's a very heavy, emotional experience. I think it's one thing to read about this period of history in books and another thing to actually witness it hands-on, and I've taken a number of groups there. Especially university students, and I think just being in the dungeons, understanding the conditions that people were subjected to, that people were, in a sense had to survive -- survival. I'm sorry. They had to be survivors in order to get across the middle passage.
I had mentioned earlier that it was basic Darwinism, that only the strongest, the most fit survived. You get that feeling when you're in the dungeon, and it's very relevant and I'm sure President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will experience the stench that still exists over hundreds and hundreds of years in those castles of people having, you know -- sweat, blood and tears, and it's a very emotional experience.
Everyone that I've taken there seems to shed a tear or if not shed a tear think about it, you know, quite a lot after leaving the castle, and also to think and sort of come to the resolution that this period of history can never be repeated. Although, of course, we have cases like Darfur and Kosovo that have happened, but to sort of come together after (INAUDIBLE) and agree never again. This can never happen again. And with every group I've gone through, we sort of have come together and echoed that statement, and I'm sure that President Obama and Mrs. Obama will also feel the same way upon leaving the Cape Coast castle today.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Christa Sanders, we appreciate you giving us that insight. Again, flavor from the ground as well, she is there and has been through that. What exactly the president is going through right now. Again, live pictures we're showing you from different spots all around Ghana right now, but specifically, these pictures we're showing to you from Cape Coast, where the president is touring right now. These slave ports we've been talking to you about, he's in there with his family right now going through that experience. When he comes out we are expecting him to make some comments. When he makes those comments you will see them here live on CNN. Stay with us, a quick break but you won't miss anything.
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HOLMES: What you are seeing and what you are hearing. First what you're seeing. The president of the United States along with his family, his wife, his two daughters and his mother-in-law there in Africa at the slave ports in Cape Coast in Ghana. This is where Africans were taken and then shipped off. This is where they were held and then shipped off to be slaves at various points around the world. What you're hearing are the drums that have been playing. It's seemingly at every point during the president's stop in Ghana he got there last night and spent the day today making a speech to political leaders there in Ghana, but then made his way over to the Cape Coast where he is taking this tour. Again, the pictures keep changing here for us. We'll take you for a little listen here.
Again, the president here on his visit, but again, huge crowds have been coming and gathering to see the president of the United States, a man of African descent and the Kenyan blood running through his veins, on his first visit as president to sub-Saharan Africa to Ghana. Our Suzanne Malveaux has been covering the president on his trip, she joins us now on the line from the capital of Ghana, a little ways from where the president is now. Suzanne, an interesting and a pretty poignant speech he made a little earlier, and you've been calling it all morning and maybe rightly so, some tough love he had for the entire continent?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Certainly. And I think the president is very much aware that the personal connection that he has, his father being Kenyan, the connection that he has to Africa, gives him the credibility to say some things that the previous presidents that we saw who visited Ghana did not say. And you know that just talking to people here, they embrace him as one of their own, as their son, and we're seeing, really, this very strong and powerful connection, at least within the Obama family by visiting Cape Coast, it's just 75 miles west of Accra, it's a two-hour drive, but he took a helicopter, which he is with the first family, at this Cape Coast castle. This is a place where the first family was shown the old dungeons, where they kept the slaves, about 1,000 people they held at a time, the male slave quarters. The male slaves shackled and the female slaves in another room and you see the tour guides who pointed that out to the first couple and to their daughters, and this is one of these places it's basically the Atlantic Ocean, the back of the castle, the door of no return where slaves passed through to board these ships on to America.
HOLMES: Excuse me one second here Suzanne. We're going to jump in, we're getting some new live pictures here. We want to listen in to them as well. Don't go too far. Sorry about that. We just lost what we were trying to listen in to. So we're looking at the president here once again actually Suzanne, I don't think you're seeing the pictures we're seeing of the president standing outside speaking with some of the folks there a little bit on the outside. I don't know if he'll make his way back in with the family, but again we're expecting the president to make some comments after he gets done with his tour here in just a second. Making some comments, expected to take maybe five minutes or so, but certainly waiting to hear from the president. Suzanne, if you remember the point you were making there, go ahead and finish what you were saying.
MALVEAUX: Sure. Well T.J., I was just saying that there are many Americans who come here, African-Americans who come here to this very point where the first family is to try to feel and make a connection with their ancestry with this particular place in Ghana, and to a larger extent to Africa, because so many of us don't know exactly where our origins are in Africa. So they make this journey. They either make it here to Cape Coast, the castle here in Ghana. I had, my parents have been to the very place where the Obamas are now to do just that. And I was also fortunate enough to cover President Clinton when he was at the Goree Island Senegal, where he did very much the same thing to pay homage and to take a look at what are many doors of no return, facing the ocean and being that last moment, that last place, that last step that so many slaves took before they were shipped to go to America. So there certainly is a very personal connection and link that many Americans have when they come here to Africa specifically to places like this. And I think that it's particularly important for Michelle Obama, whose a great-great- granddaughter of a slave and for her daughters and for the president as well.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's absolutely an emotional tour that we're watching play out right now. Suzanne, this is Betty Nguyen with T.J. here in Atlanta. We're going to ask to you stand by for just a second as we let our viewers just take in this video right now. We're going to let it breathe for just a moment as we watch and listen to the tour that President Obama is taking right now in Cape Coast Ghana.
All right. There's obviously no audio of this particular tour, at least not at that point. But we heard the drums and the cheering out there. People have come by the hundreds if not thousands to catch a glimpse of President Obama as he takes this historic tour, as the first African-American president there on sub-Saharan Africa and touring a slave port, a place where many African-Americans have their blood lines. We're watching as people have come out to look at this. And we heard Suzanne Malveaux speak earlier about the message that President Obama was sending today. It's one not only of democracy and the importance of that throughout the many different countries and nations that make up Africa, but he also said that it's within the will of the people. That Africa's future is up to Africans saying that the U.S. is there to provide support, but at the same time, you are in control of your destiny.
Something he said earlier that I found quite interesting. He went on, as Suzanne called it, this tough love speech, in which he specifically talked about paying greater attention to the corruption in Africa. And saying specifically that he has directed his administration to pay closer attention to the human rights reports, and noting that people everywhere should have the right to start a business, to get an education without paying a bribe. And as we talked to many of these experts, many of the people who live in Africa, many will tell you that it is very difficult, because of the political systems that are in place. Now, Ghana, in fact, is being highlighted because of its commitment to democracy, but President Obama definitely not mincing words when he's saying that he is going to be paying greater attention to corruption and definitely within those human rights reports, and looking at them with a closer eye so that the people of Africa will be able to get that leg up without having to deal with the corruption that many of the governments there are indeed facing.
HOLMES: And one of those is Kenya. Where he is from, his father is from. Many hoped certainly that he would go there, but he didn't, because you look at their political system right now, there has been violence surrounding. As these pictures jump around let's go ahead and listen in to this one. We have a close up shot and maybe some sound for you we can let you listen to.
Let me explain to you here again, T.J. and Betty still here in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday morning, explain to you what you are seeing and hearing. What you're seeing there is the president of the United States and the first family visiting the castle there of Cape Coast. Where there are dungeons underneath that used to hold Africans before they were then sent off to various places around the world for slavery. Now, the sound you are hearing, this is coming to us from several different live camera feeds. The music you hear playing has essentially been a celebration there in Ghana since the president arrived, even before he arrived, the excitement about the first African-American president coming back to visit Africa.
Now this is not his first trip to Africa as president but the first he has made to a sub-Saharan country. But the president there, like I said, you're hearing and seeing maybe two different things but it's all a part of the same thing that the president of the United States is there in Africa, essentially a celebration. A huge crowd. You'll see some of that in some of the video that's going to come up. The president expected here in the next few minutes to make a few comments about what he and his family just saw at these slave dungeons. NGUYEN: We're very interested to here those comments because as we've been told time and time again by people who have actually taken this exact tour that it is very emotional. He was taken down into the dungeons where slaves were kept crammed into these dungeons for weeks, if not months, at a time. And they would, in fact, have to make their way through a series of dungeons before they even made it to those boats. Before they even passed through that door of no return and were put on boats, sent to various places around the world. And there's even talk as of this day, you can still smell the stench in the air down in those dungeons. There was hundreds of people that were kept down there, not only for long periods of time, but there were people that -- there was human waste down there.
There were people that had all kinds of different cuts and injuries, because many times, some of these Africans were taken from different tribes, and they had to fight. And they were brought to those dungeons, and there was a lot that was going on. In fact, there is some reports saying that there was so much waste on the floor there inside those dungeons that the flooring was, in fact, raised some two inches high. So, that just kind of gives you a little idea of what it was like many, many years ago. But those are the stories that the president and the first family is hearing today as they're taking that tour. It's a very emotional one. And one that really speaks to the history of not only what happened there on the African continent, but also about, you know, the ancestry and what occurred and the bloodlines of many African-Americans here in the U.S.
HOLMES: And emotional for anyone to go through. But here you have a black American president who, of course, has Kenyan blood running through his veins. His wife has slaves in her background, her family as well. Her grandfather, great grandfather, I believe it was a grandfather, but a slave in her family. But now taking their daughters to this place to be a part of. Emotional for anyone to go through, but certainly for a family who has deep ties and background. Emotional for -- this is a place many African-Americans go, this is something they're ports in Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania as well, Zanzibar, the island out there, a place that I have actually visited.
But just an emotional time to be there and to realize what happened at this place and to think that maybe some of their ancestors could have gone through here and headed to a place, maybe to America and then for him to come back as the first black president of the United States, just the symbolism here is unmistakable. And who knows what this emotional experience might have been like for him. But we're expecting to hear from the president and maybe tell us exactly what that experience was like.
The tour itself was only supposed to take about half an hour or so, 45 minutes. And expecting comments from the president. When those happen, we certainly will bring them to you but we continue to follow him along this journey. He's going to be heading back to the U.S. and really wrapping up Betty what has been a long week of travel for the president. It seems so long ago, but he was in Moscow not too long ago.
NGUYEN: Right. HOLMES: Then made his way over to Italy. Had a G-8 summit he had to deal with. He's met with the pope. He's being doing a lot this week.
NGUYEN: He's been a very busy man. And, in fact, coming to Ghana, there was a lot of talk, a lot of people criticized the fact, those from Kenya, many people who said, why not come here, you have Kenyan roots? Why not come to Kenya and speak here, but President Obama said he chose Ghana because of its commitment to democracy. As we heard him speak earlier today to the parliament, he really drove home the point of that democracy and the importance of it on the continent of Africa and urged many of the leaders there to essentially get on board. Suzanne Malveaux, our correspondent on the ground, called it a speech of tough love, where he talked about the fact that Africa's future is up to Africans.
Yes, the United States will be there to lend a hand, but at the end of the day, it is up to Africa to shape its own future. But specifically, he also spoke about young people. And I understand CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us now on the line. I want to ask you about that, that message to young people. We heard President Obama speak to young people during his own campaign here in the U.S., but there in Africa, it's really resonating because I understand that over half of the population, in fact, is made up of young people?
MALVEAUX (via telephone): You're absolutely right. And that really is the future generation of -- of the leadership in Ghana as well as much of the rest of the continent, many other countries as well. It's also a place, as you know, where because of poor health conditions and poverty, the life expectancy of young people, of Africans in general, is very, very low compared to the United States and other industrial countries. I remember in my travels with the President Clinton on his African trip as well as President Bush, a lot of the countries they visited, the average life expectancy was really no more than 35 years old. That's not the case in Ghana. It's a bit higher, in the 50s. But these are folks who are clearly at the prime of their lives, who are listening, who are paying very close attention, and one of the messages that the president said earlier today, he said Africa doesn't need strong men. It needs strong institutions.
So, he was very critical of some of the dictators, the leaders, the strong men, if you will, who have prevented a whole generation of young African men and women of changing their lives, the government and the way that they deal with the rest of the world. He was addressing the young people. He also said no person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. He talked about the corruption and that so many young Africans lived in a world of violence, grow up in violence, grow up in war and have known nothing else but that. So, it was a very powerful message to them. And I also just wanted to bring up too, some of the pictures you were talking about, the crowds of Ghanaians who are outside at this moment at the castle, waiting to get a glimpse of President Obama and the first family.
They don't have any formal, public greetings or anything like that. What we've seen in the past, out of concern because of the weather and also some security issues, so you do see all of these people who are just following the motorcade and just to get a glimpse of where he might be next. And that's why you're seeing just some masses of people who have gathered outside of the capital. Very different than what we saw before. I was on the Clinton trip when he visited Ghana across, he was in independence square. And there were thousands and thousands and thousands of people who gathered and it was a real security problem because what ended up happening, was when he arrived, they were waiting for hours, but many people passed out. They had become dehydrated. He finally emerged and you had a stampede. You had people who were stampeding just to get to him and so out of --
NGUYEN: Suzanne, I'm going to have to interrupt you, because it appears that the president is stepping up to some microphones and going to make a comment right now. Let's listen.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: -- children, my family just got an extraordinary tour of this castle. It is reminiscent of the trip I took to Buchenwald, because it reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil. One of the most striking things that I heard was that right above the dungeons in which male captives were kept was a church. And that reminds us that sometimes we can tolerate and stand by great evil, even as we think that we're doing good. You know, I think it was particularly important for Malia and Sasha, who are growing up in such a blessed way, to be reminded that history can take very cruel turns. And hopefully one of the things that was imparted to them during this trip is their sense of obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears. And that any group of people who are degrading another group of people have to be fought against with whatever tools we have available to us.
So, you know, obviously it's a moving experience, a moving moment. We want to thank those who arranged for the tour and the people of Ghana for preserving this history. As painful as it is I think that it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that, sadly, still exist in our world, not just on this continent but in every corner of the globe.
And I think as Americans, and as African-Americans, obviously, there's a special sense that on the one hand this place was a place of profound sadness. On the other hand, it is here where the journey of much of the African-American experience began.
And symbolically to be able to come back with my family, with Michelle and our children, and see the portal through which the Diaspora began, but also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana, of the extraordinary progress that we've made because of the courage of so many, black and white, to abolish slavery and ultimately win civil rights for all people I think is a source of hope. It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it's also possible to overcome.
Thanks everybody.
