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Small Business Focus of Health Care Reform Debate; Afghanistan War Heats Up; Helping Young African-American Professionals Break the Glass Ceiling; Protestors Gather Across World, President Call Relieves Tensions, Disabled Children Restrained

Aired July 25, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, well, here's a quick look at the rundown for the next hour here in the NEWSROOM. The growing use of restraints for special education students is getting intense federal scrutiny amid reports of serious injury, even death of some special ed students. Abbie Boudreau from CNN's Special Investigations Unit profiles one shocking story.

And breaking barriers for African-Americans in the workplace, how one management training initiative is proving to be a step up for advancing more minorities up the corporate ladder to success.

These stories and much more next in the NEWSROOM.

The fight for Afghanistan heats up. Taliban fighters attack a provincial capital and storm a police station. Gun battles last for hours. It's election day in northern Iraq in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. We'll tell you why it's important.

And a black Harvard professor says he's willing to talk with the white police officer who arrested him in his home. Can a get-together with President Obama cool this heated controversy?

Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin with health care and the end of a frustrating week for the Obama administration. The president appears to be giving up hope that Congress will pass legislation before it adjourns in August. He is now calling for action by the end of the year.

But Republicans are stepping up their attack. They say the Obama health care plan is badly flawed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CATHY MCCMORRIS RODGERS (R), WASHINGTON: The Democrats' health care plan, crafted largely behind closed doors, isn't the right thing. It's a prescription for disaster, one that will put Washington bureaucrats in charge of your family's personal medical decisions, medical decisions that are some of the most personal decisions you will ever make.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: President Obama defended his plan again today during his weekly media address. He says health care reform will help small businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because they lack the bargaining power that large businesses have and face higher administrative costs per person, small businesses pay up to 18 percent more for the very same health insurance plans, costs that eat into their profits and get passed on to their employees.

As a result, small businesses are much less likely to offer health insurance. Those that do tend to have less generous plans. In a recent survey, one third of small businesses reported cutting benefits. Many have dropped coverage altogether. And many have shed jobs or shut their doors entirely. This is unsustainable. It's unacceptable. And it's going to change when I sign health insurance reform into law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So is the president right? Will health care reform really help small businesses? We asked our Kate Bolduan to look into that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama in his weekly address is pitching to small businesses across the country, saying they will only benefit from health care reform.

OBAMA: These are the mom-and-pop stores and restaurants, beauty shops and construction companies that support families and sustain communities. Right now, they are getting crushed by skyrocketing health care costs.

BOLDUAN: We talked to two small business owners who face similar challenges every day. David Guernsey employs 170 people at Guernsey Office Products in Virginia. Brian England has 18 employees at his Maryland auto repair shop. Both small businesses that provide health insurance to their workers, but both admit it's getting harder and harder to keep up.

DAVID GUERNSEY, PRES., GUERNSEY OFFICE PRODUCTS: Top line's not going up. Gross profit's not going up. Expenses in terms of health care will go up. And that affects the bottom line.

BRIAN ENGLAND, OWNER, BRITISH AMERICAN AUTO CARE, INC.: The pay is the number one expense, obviously, to running a business. Next is rent. And then next is health care. So it's third in line, a very large third.

BOLDUAN: These men and their employees are keeping close watch on Washington and the health care debate. One idea England supports, requiring employers to provide coverage. He says it would help level the playing field for him against competitors.

ENGLAND: Every year, it gets worse because the rates go up, more employers stop providing the complete coverage, and then that makes a big problem for the ones left.

BOLDUAN: But Guernsey fears that expanded coverage could come with an expanded price small businesses simply can't afford.

GUERNSEY: If the requirement were such that the kind of coverage we offered were dramatically different, dramatically more comprehensive, and the cost accordingly would go up significantly, that would then be a problem.

BOLDUAN: Instead, Guernsey hopes small businesses will be able to pool their coverage to help drive down prices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Kate Bolduan joining us live now from the White House. So Kate, what is the president's plan for small businesses?

BOLDUAN: Well, Fredricka, the president supports allowing small businesses to buy coverage through what they call an "insurance exchange." The president says that allows them to shop around for different, cheaper plans for their employees. And the president heads to North Carolina and Virginia next week to continue selling the White House reform efforts -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Kate Bolduan, from the White House. Appreciate that.

Let's talk now about Afghanistan and what's taking place there, a pretty dangerous situation for the international, as well as the Afghan troops. More than a half dozen Taliban insurgents attacked government targets in the city of Khost in eastern Afghanistan. The attackers, carrying machine guns and wearing suicide vests, were killed in a battle with Afghan security forces. At least 14 civilians, 3 military service members and a police officer were wounded in the attack.

Everything you want to know about Afghanistan -- the conflict, the history, the people -- it's all just a click away at CNN.com. Giving us a tour, CNN's Josh Levs.

JOSH LEVS, CNN: All right, I want to show you this. It's CNN.com/Afghanistan, and it really is like a one-stop shop to see all of our latest reporting from Afghanistan, including our latest videos and photos, the stories.

Let's zoom right in. I want to trace you through it. Now, once you're at the page -- in fact, I'll scroll down. Take a look at this. Every time you see a new line, that's one of the latest stories that we have added about life in Afghanistan, or in many cases, about the state of the war.

Let's go over here. This is something you don't see often, some of these beautiful shots of what Afghanistan looks like, large parts of it, taken by photojournalists who have been traveling through. These are some from CNN's photojournalist Todd Baxter (ph), and he shows you parts of the areas in Kabul and elsewhere, in some cases, areas ravaged by war, areas that have emptied out, but in some other areas, places where you can see little bits of life and what life is like.

Now, let's piece through some of the major events in the war, all right here. Look at this, year by year. You can click on any year dating back to 2001. It gives you a summary of what happened that year and some photos to go along with it, all the way up to 2006, 2007, 2008, with a basic summary right next to it that helps you show the trajectory, what's happened so far.

Also, this, a look at key players in Afghanistan. When you hear some names in the news, you might want to know who these people are and what their background is, also who they may represent within Afghanistan. Here you've got it right here, key players. You just click along. It traces you through.

One more thing on that front. Take a look here. Let's go back farther in history. Afghanistan, the crossroads of history -- this right here takes you all the way back to Alexander the Great, through various empires. This brings you up to the Soviet invasion and all the way up to the Taliban and then new rule, some of the basic history.

Now, let's do this -- video. You can see all sorts of video. What I found here, again all on the same Web page, some archive video from 2001 -- which I'm trying to get to play. There you go, some archive video from all the way back to 2001. An it continues to trace you through loads of video that CNN has taken from the war, showing you major events there.

And let's end on this, casualties, U.S. and coalition casualties over the year. As you scroll down, you can learn who these individuals are that have given their lives in this war, how they were killed, how old they were, and a little bit of information about them. While you're doing that, we also give you chance to post your iReports or your comments, your thanks to the troops.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, Josh. And of course, all next hour, we're taking an in-depth look at the U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan, the faces of the conflict, the drug trade that's fueling it, and U.S. strategy in what's being dubbed now "Obama's war."

What are your observations and concerns and the questions? Call us. The number is 1-877-742-5760. And we may use your comments next hour. Already, you have been weighing in on Facebook, as well as on my blog. Here's some of what you're saying on my blog. William Grandine (ph) says that, "We should have concentrated our efforts on the Taliban from the outset, rather than gone into Iraq. With an all- volunteer army, we do not have the resources to take on the whole Muslim world, as I am afraid we will have to as the war spreads through Iraq, Pakistan and eventually Iran. With the exception of the British, our so-called Western allies, have basically ran and hid."

And then Angeline (ph) says, "America is losing the war in Afghanistan, and everyone around the world can see it. I would hope that America's leaders learn their history. This land and people do not tolerate foreign presence. No one has been able to occupy that land since Alexander the Great."

Some of your comments that you're sending to us by way of the blog. We want to hear more from you, so you can post your comments on our blog at CNN.com/fredricka or Facebook at Fredricka Whitfield CNN. And of course, we're going to use your comments, most likely, in the next hour.

All right, Iraqis, in the self-ruled Kurdish region are heading to the polls today. They're voting to elect the region's president and parliament. The Kurdish north has had a lot of tension with Baghdad over oil and land disputes that threaten the country's stability.

Meanwhile, U.S. General David Petraeus, who served as the commander in Iraq, is talking about the battle against global terror. He says force alone is not the solution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: This is not the kind of struggle where you kill or capture the bad guys, take the hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade. At the end of the day, it is about education. It is about, in a sense, accepting modernity, pragmatic, progressive leadership of countries. And that's the ultimate solution. And that's why, again, I mentioned this takes a whole of government approach. You just can't kill or capture everybody. You have to kill or capture the condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Even though the U.S. is reducing its combat role in Iraq, General Petraeus says Iraq is still the center of the fight against international terrorism.

All right, moving ahead, but only so far, encountering roadblocks on the highway of success because of the color of your skin and what you can do about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Many middle-class African-Americans can find themselves stagnant and frustrated when it comes to climbing up the corporate ladder. In "Black in America 2," Soledad O'Brien reports on an innovative program that helps America's brightest black professionals shatter glass ceilings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By any measure, Mia Jackson is a success. At 26, she owns a home, a car and earns $77,000 a year as an engineer.

MIA JACKSON, MLT FELLOW: I knew that an engineering degree was going to be financially stable when I got out of college.

Chemical engineering is the most versatile out of all of the engineering disciplines.

O'BRIEN: She's a project manager at Zep, a chemical manufacturing company with half a million dollars in revenue.

Step back!

Working at Zep, I've a lot of great opportunities.

O'BRIEN: But she's also experienced roadblocks and frustration.

JACKSON: I couldn't see what my next step was, and I had no one to help me see it.

O'BRIEN (on camera): You were (ph) worried (ph).

JACKSON: I didn't want to get pigeonholed as "that engineer."

O'BRIEN (voice-over): In taking charge of her own career, she's about to walk away from everything she has for an 18-month program created by this man, John Rice.

JOHN RICE, FOUNDER AND CEO, MLT: We have underrepresentation of minorities in corporate America, in the non-profit world and entrepreneurial ventures. Yes, we do. We need to solve that.

O'BRIEN: Rice was an executive with the NBA but left to serve others in his innovative organization, Management Leadership for Tomorrow. MLT teaches a series of prescribed steps. Step one, know your story.

RICE: Introduce yourself. Talk to us. Who are you? Convince this group that you have the juice.

O'BRIEN: Step two, articulate your goals and passion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am most passionate about empowering others.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- networking opportunity...

O'BRIEN: And step three, build important relationships.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to get to know you.

JACKSON: If you want to be an entrepreneur...

O'BRIEN: That's what Mia Jackson's been doing for the past 18 months in MLT's MBA prep program.

JACKSON: I didn't know the monthly (ph) assignments were going to be grueling and repetitive. It's definitely another full-time job. O'BRIEN: One final challenge before Mia's MLT journey ends, four rigorous days in the rain of 'round-the-clock training, crash courses in consulting, entrepreneurship, and investment banking, where Mia must quickly digest information she's never studied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... after-market liquidity concerns...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... equity capital markets...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... price times volume...

O'BRIEN: Can Mia prove she's got the right stuff for corporate leadership?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And that's the cliffhanger. You'll have to watch the rest this evening in "Black in America 2," the encore presentation this evening.

Meantime, John Rice with MLT, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, joining us, the founder of this organization. All right, good to see you.

RICE: Thank you. How are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing good. So what if I am just like Mia and I want to climb the corporate ladder, but A, I don't have the 18 months to take off from my current job in order to invest in your program, I don't have the means of even going to seek an MBA, what do I do? What's the advice you can give me?

RICE: Well, I think you got to find an opportunity to -- to enhance your skill set, especially in this economy. You got to find an opportunity to be that much more competitive. You have to dig a little deeper and begin to build the relationships that are going to give you a broader set of opportunities in your career.

And then secondly, you have to -- or thirdly, you have to understand what the game you're playing really is. Instead of -- establish a sense of long-term goals and then understand what are the skills, experiences and relationships that you're going to need to achieve those and develop a road map from there starting today.

WHITFIELD: So when you talk about that game playing and the technique for this game playing, you really are talking to people to say, It's something about how you present yourself, how you are presenting your full package, and you've really got to exude that confidence because we heard you all talking about that in the piece with Mia, as you were asking people. How are you going to introduce yourself?

RICE: Yes. Well, it's really about a comprehensive set of key ingredients, Fredricka. You have to understand first -- when we talk about what game you're playing, you have to understand what that road map is to your long-term goals, what's the bar for excellence at each stage. You have to understand and have a sense of what the hard and soft skills are, from presentation skills to relationship management skills to analytical skills.

You have to have an understanding of what those -- those door- opening relationships may be, as well as, you have to have a sense of, you know, who are those individuals who can be mentors, who can help you guide you through along the way and help you avoid opportunity -- potentially career-limiting mistakes and open up doors for you along the way.

WHITFIELD: So where did MLT come from? What were you observing that made you say, You know what? I need to craft this place some where inn between, you know, corporate America and pursuing an MBA, something to help better prepare young people? Because were you not seeing something, or there were some missing links in some of the young people that you were seeing? What happened?

RICE: Yes. I mean, I think it starts -- and interestingly, from some of the -- the great initiatives that "Black in America 2" has highlighted, the work that folks like Steve Perry (ph), Jeff Canada (ph) are doing, and Milott Compton Rock (ph), to break the cycle of poverty and help folks get to college and help improve their communities long-term.

What we find is that if you get to college, you haven't won the war. There's a ton more work that we need to do to enable those folks who come from struggle, who overcome through talent and scrappiness and effort to get to college -- we need to get them to the finish line.

So we try to understand, What were the challenges? And it really is that we need to embolden young people, young African-Americans, with those key ingredients that they need to realize their potential. And we feel that that's the way to, one, address the underrepresentation of minorities in leadership positions, but probably most importantly, if we don't do that, that young people aren't going to realize their career potential and we lose out on the opportunity for those folks to have the capital and the skills and relationships to go back in their communities and really have impact and tackle those problems.

WHITFIELD: And so we know -- everyone knows by now that it's much more competitive in just about any field that you want to pursue. Is the take-away here for a lot of young people who are trying to get started -- you know, they may have felt like, Getting my bachelor's, that's -- that's good enough. Is the take-away here that you've got to have an MBA in order to really scale, climb that corporate ladder?

RICE: An MBA helps, but the take-away really is, is that you have to be playing the game to win. And that calls for a comprehensive approach to developing everyone towards their potential toward a career doing what they're passionate about and to enabling those folks to get to those leadership positions where they can have impact (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: Have you been flooded with resumes and phone calls since the airing of "Black in America" and people now knowing who you are and how you're helping a lot of these young people get there?

RICE: Yes, the response has been tremendous. But I must say, I think what's been most inspirational is the dialogue that we've been having around this issue, which is that there -- within the context of the black community, we need to be focusing on breaking that circle of poverty, but also emboldening a sense of -- a group of young people to go out and realize their potential and then be in a position to give back.

So that's what's most inspiring, and I think -- I think "Black in America" has done a really good job of articulating and illustrating that more comprehensive story that our communities are facing.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Rice of Management Leadership for Tomorrow joining us from Washington, even though we know your business is in Manhattan. So this means you're visiting some family there while in D.C., right?

RICE: You know that, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, good job. Well, hello to the family. All right, John Rice...

RICE: Thanks. I appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

And of course, you want to see the encore presentation of "Black in America 2" and learn more about MLT and other efforts under way. So you can see it again tonight. "Black in America 2" tonight and tomorrow, 8:00 o'clock Eastern time, 5:00 Pacific.

All right, let's check in with Jacqui Jeras. Jackie, what's going on?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've got some incredible pictures we're going to show you coming up, Fredricka, from a tornado that tore through a mobile home park in Florida. Plus severe weather in the forecast today. Watch out for the Ohio Valley. We'll show you where.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, some pretty nasty weather in some parts. Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras.

JERAS: Hey, Fredricka. You know, we've got a lot of storms to talk about. You know, they're kind of scattered across this country, really from West to East Coast, we've been dealing with. And I want to start out, though, actually, by showing you some pictures. This is from last evening. This happened about 6:30, and this is from Volusia County, Florida, an EF-0 tornado. Yes, the lowest on the scale, with estimated winds between 65 to 85 miles per hour, can cause damage like this. Look at how extensive this is.

There were seven mobile homes that were destroyed and more than 100 of them that were significantly damaged. So even a very weak tornado can do stuff like this. So just to put it in perspective how that you always need to be on guard. Whenever those sirens go off, you do want to seek shelter. There was one minor injury in this. Somebody got cut by some flying glass. And it's usually the debris, the things that are flying in the air, and that's why we tell you to get to the lowest level of the building, away from doors and windows, because that's where you're going to be closest to some of that glass.

Now, there are some storms here going on across parts of Florida right now, in the Big Bend area up towards Tallahassee. We have some stronger thunderstorms in the southern parts of Florida. And not really anticipating severe weather here today, but you can't rule out maybe a waterspout or something like that developing.

Now, we do have some severe thunderstorms here in parts of the Ohio River Valley, and a severe thunderstorm watch has just been issued from Louisville down towards the Lexington area. Large hail and damaging winds will be our primary concern. And while this storm is not severe right now, it is awfully intense, moving on the north side of the Louisville area.

And I also just want to mention, just to the north and east of here, in parts of Pennsylvania, down into West Virginia, storm prediction centers monitoring that area for potentially issuing another watch. So we'll keep on top of that for you -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank so much, Jacqui. Appreciate that.

All right, taking on Iran in the streets of New York and other cities around the world. The universal demand: Free those arrested for protesting the outcome of Iran's presidential election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, 30 minutes after the hour, here are some of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM. President Obama trotted out a new argument for health care reform today. He says it will help small businesses, which currently pay more than bigger companies to insure their workers. Republicans call the Obama plan a prescription for disaster.

And a heavy last-minute voter turnout was reported today in Iraq's Kurdish north. The semi-autonomous region is electing a president and a 111-seat parliament. The electoral commission ordered polls to stay open an extra hour to accommodate the last-minute voters.

And round the world today, voice of protest. The target: Iran. United for Iran and several rights groups organized rallies in Washington and 100 cities on six continents. Demanding the release of hundreds of people arrested in Iran for protesting that country's disputed presidential elections.

Protestors also gathering this hour for a protest in San Francisco. California has a substantial population of Iranian- Americans and Iranian whose have fled their homeland.

Another big rally is taking place in New York. And that's where we find Reza Sayah -- Reza.

It looks like a pretty big turnout behind you, actually.

REZA SAYAH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fredricka, the Big Apple seeing a lot of green today for this rally, march, for the opposition movement in Iran. Of course, the official color of the movement has become green. So, we're seeing a lot of it today. Let's ahead and take a look at this crowd in front of the U.N.

An hour ago this crowd this crowd was at Times Square, there was a rally there. And then they started a march, winding their way through the streets of New York and arriving here at the U.N. a few minutes ago.

This rally part of what is called a Global Day for Action. Rallies all across the world in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, and also, Amsterdam and that's where one of our iReporters shot video of human rights activists and Nobel Peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi -- Shirin Ebadi, one of the sponsors of the rally, and like everybody here, and throughout these rallies, she is condemning what she is calling flagrant violations of human rights in Iran. She's also calling for the release of hundreds of detainees taken into custody after the disputed vote on June 12.

Why does all this matter? Why should America care about an election and the unrest that in Iran? Here is pre-eminent historian and an expert on Iran, Professor Hami Deboshi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF HAMI DEBOSHI, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Particularly in the United States, this is a civil rights movement. And look at what happened to Skip Gates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The question of civil liberties continues to be relevant throughout the globe. And what Iranians are doing in 2009 is what Americans did in the 1950s and 1960s which resulted in presidency of Obama in 2009.

So, in my judgment when Americans feel a reflection of their own civil rights movements in other country, which is ideological, and is opening up a new moral map in the region, I think it is something to look at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAYAH: Iran, of course, crucial when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. You have that all-important nuclear issue. Also if the U.S. wants to see stability in Iraq, stability in Afghanistan, and some sort of resolution in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Iran plays a key role.

The Iranian government launched a very fierce crackdown on the protest in Iran. It hasn't stopped Iranians from rallying outside of that country. We're seeing another one today, Fredricka, here in New York city.

WHITFIELD: All right, Reza Sayah, thanks so much, appreciate that.

All right, a brazen suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan. Officials say Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests and armed with AK-47 and rocket-propelled grenades, attacked government buildings in Khost. A police station and government-run bank were among the targets. Afghan security forces battled the militants for hours. At least seven militants were killed, 18 other people were wounded, most of them being civilians.

And all next hour, we're actually taking an in-depth look at the U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan. The faces of the conflict, the drug trade that is fueling it and of course U.S. strategy. What are your observations? Your concerns? Your questions? Post your comments on our blog at CNN.com/Fredricka or Facebook at FredricaWhitfieldCNN or you can also call us, the number is 877-742- 5760. We just might use your comments in the next hour.

All right, she is a soldier in the war against breast cancer and this week's CNN "Hero." We'll tell you how she is helping women improve their chances against this deadly disease.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, time to reveal our hero of the week. As the nation debates health care reform, we focus on the uninsured and horrific killer, breast cancer. Uninsured women are less likely to get annual mammograms and therefore are at greater risk. It's also one of the reasons Black women are 37 percent more likely than whites to die from the disease. This week's hero fighting to better the odd for all women and she's doing it by hitting the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Heroes.

ANDREA IVORY, FLORIDA BREAST HEALTH INITIATIVE FOUNDER: In 2004, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Initially, there's shock, but I realized how blessed I was to have health insurance. It made me think about all the women who didn't have health insurance. I wanted to make a difference in their lives.

I'm Andrea Ivory and I am fighting breast cancer in south Florida one household at a time. The Florida Breast Health Initiative is an outreach organization. We're targeting working class people. We are going to make a difference and save some lives. We have a "take it to the streets" approach.

We feel like little pixies spreading breast cancer awareness.

May I ask you a few questions?

We target women that are 35 years or older and make appointments on the spot for free mammograms.

I look forward to seeing you. I'll be there.

Bringing the mobile mammography vans into the neighborhood is one of the most important facets of the work that we do. We provide a service that is so needed. I know I am saving lives.

You said it was free. So come right over and get it.

Is the lady of the house at home?

(BEGIN GRAPHIC)

Since 2004, Andrea and her volunteers have knocked on nearly 18,000 doors throughout Miami.

Andrea has provided uninsured women with more than 500 free mammograms.

(END GRAPHIC)

We are giving free mammograms on the 25th.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much. Take care.

IVORY: I was saved from breast cancer to serve other women. Every time I knock on the door, it is another opportunity to save a life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, you can find out more about Andrea's work and nominate a CNN "Hero" of your own at CNN.com/heroes. And next week is your last chance to tell us about your hero. Nominations close August 1. So if you know a hero, go to CNN.com/heroes, right now.

All right, children with disabilities, physically restrained at school, the consequences often tragic, sometimes deadly. We'll take a look at one controversial case caught on tape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: "News Across America," now. For some Hawaiians this 27-foot-long hot dog is hard to swallow. A group opposed to outdoor advertising, wants Oscar Meyer to keep its wiener mobile out of Hawaii. The rolling hot dog completed a three-week visit there, but critics say it is a billboard on wheels and it violates a state ban on advertising vehicles. Oscar Mayer says it doesn't think it broke any laws.

The 72nd, all-American Soapbox Derby in Akron, Ohio today. What some fear it could be the last. The race lost its last major corporate sponsor two years ago and could lose 200,000 this year. The competition features kids, ranging in age from eight through 17, racing downhill in motorless vehicles built from kits.

And earlier this year, a scathing government report detailed shocking cases of children getting hurt, even killed, while being physically restrained at school. Almost all of the cases involve children with disabilities. CNNs special investigation unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau reports on an autistic boy in Florida who was repeatedly restrained at school. Now his parents are alleging abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christopher out for a walk. That spin, a sign of autism. No one argues this teenager has been a very difficult child to manage. But, here he is again last October. The abrasions, his parents say, they are signs of abuse.

(on camera): Yes, look at this. This is when he was injured at school, and this ended up being his very last day of school.

(voice-over): The school said the injury happened during a BARR procedure, or brief assisted relaxation restraint. And this is how that relaxation technique looks on school security video. What you are seeing is footage from the Princeton House Charter School for children with autism in Orlando, Florida.

Notes sent home in 2008 by Princeton House show a disturbing escalation of Christopher's disruptive behavior.

ROSEMARIE CASTO, CHRISTOPHER'S MOTHER: He slowly started to become a loner. He started to become really quiet.

BOUDREAU: And his mother says he was becoming increasingly violent, so destructive his parents even had to call the police for help. As things got worse, they started asking questions, which brings us to this tape.

When they got it, they could barely watch.

CASTO: And, every day, he would say, "Mama, no class, no school" and I'd say, "Papa, no, you have to go to school. You have to."

And I am going to have to live with this guilt. And I know everybody says it's not -- you should not feel guilty. This is my boy.

BOUDREAU: The video chronicles two days last October. It was given to Christopher's parents, who showed it to us.

October 2, Christopher flips his desk, not uncommon for children with autism. And then he gets dragged from class repeatedly. At lunch, he is put in a face-down, prone restraint for seven minutes. A short time later, he's restrained another 10 minutes.

Finally, this scene in the library. With a staff member next to him, Christopher upends a table and is once again restrained. Teachers struggle to pin him down.

PROF WANDA MOHR, UMDNJ: This is what disturbs me. These staff members are not in physical control of him. BOUDREAU: For Professor Wanda Moore, a top expert on special needs children, these are precisely the kinds of situations where children have been seriously injured, sometimes fatally.

MOORE: It's one of those things where but for the grace of God go I. This is why we stress that these are interventions or procedures of very last resort, because they are deadly.

BOUDREAU: Florida regulations only allow restraints to "prevent injury to self and/or others," for example, in cases of hitting, kicking, head-butting another person." None of that happened prior to the restraints we saw on the tape.

And while common sense dictates there should be consequences for bad behavior, according to experts, that approach doesn't work well with autism. Princeton House's core staff were trained by the Professional Crisis Management Association in Sunrise, Florida. The director of that program says while he's not seen Christopher in person and doesn't know a lot about the teenager's background, the behavior on tape did not seem to merit the staff's reaction.

MERRILL WINSTON, PCMA: Several things, in my opinion, were not done directly. In several of those instances, it didn't like a crisis to me. It looked like a single episode of table flipping.

BOUDREAU: (on camera): So should he have been put in prone restraint?

WINSTON: From what I could see, I would have to say no.

BOUDREAU: (voice-over): We asked Princeton House, Orange County public schools and the state Department of Education to speak with us on camera about the video, but they all declined because the incidents are now under investigation.

Christopher is now at a new school and is doing much better. His parents say they're wiser for what they went through. And so far, Christopher has not need to be restrained even once.

Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: And if you want to hear more about this case, just log on to Abbie Boudreau's blog at CNN.com/FIU.

All right, new moves are under way to calm the uproar over the arrest of an African-American professor at Harvard by a White police officer. Why did so many Americans see what happened this week so differently. An author, Nathan McCall, who wrote about this kind of disparity, joins me. We'll have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, an update on a story that has stirred a lot of debate across America, the arrest of Black Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates, by a White police officer. Gates is now responding to President Obama's effort to calm the uproar. Gates tells CNN "Yes, I was very pleased that the president called me today, and I'm pleased that he proposed that I meet with Sergeant Crowley at the White House, since I had offered to meet with him last Monday. I am eager for this to be used as a teaching moment to improve racial relations in America. This is certainly not about me."

Gages was arrested about two weeks ago outside his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts after police responded to reports of a possible burglary. Sergeant James Crowley was the arresting officer. Gates and his supporters called the arrest racial profiling, President Obama stirred the debate saying police acted stupidly. Yesterday he spoke out saying his comments were ill-chosen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department, sergeant Crowley specifically, and I could have calibrated those words differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, that was the president yesterday. Well, author Nathan McCall has written several books -- three books on racial issues in America. Well yesterday, he sat down with me to talk about all that transpired over the week and punctuated by the president's comments, yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

All right, Nathan. We heard the president say...

BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Race is still a troubling aspect of our society.

WHITFIELD: It's something you have written about extensively in your three books. Particularly "Makes Me Want to Holler" How do you see it as teaching moment? Or do you see it as a teaching moment as the president does?

NATHAN MCCALL, AUTHOR: Absolutely. Especially since there's been so much talk since the president's election about us now being in a post-racial society, and there are a lot of people have been troubled by that, in the first place, and so the incident with Mr. Gates underscored the fact that we still have issues to deal with.

OBAMA: I continue to believe, based and what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted, as well.

WHITFIELD: So without being in the room, without being in that Cambridge house, do you suppose that an inkling of that happened, that when Professor Gates saw this officer, instead of feeling comforted, perhaps, he was agitated?

MCCALL: Yes. And I think because of the cultural issue.

WHITFIELD: It's part of the agitation, is it something that I remember reading in your book "Makes Me Want to Holler" no matter how high you reach, no matter the equivalency of your success is, for so many Black men they end up being reduced to a perception that someone decides to attach to them.

MCCALL: Well, that's what makes this such a fascinating story and a fascinating issue, because there's the assumption that people, such as Professor Gates, might be above those experiences, but what we saw is that Professor Gates' experienced what many of us regular folk experience every day, and that is that many Whites have difficulty individualizing African-Americans.

They -- one White person can look at another White person and they can look at that person's address and demeanor and make distinction about who that person might be. Quite often with African- Americans you can have on a suit, tie, especially if you're a Black male -- suit, tie, whatever. People don't put together the facts and then make distinctions about you as an individual. You are a Black male and Black male is equivalent of threat.

WHITFIELD: So, what do we do with this? How do we all take away from, here's the latest example, simply because it's high profile. What do we do with this? The president himself said...

OBAMA: Spend a little more time listening to one each other.

WHITFIELD: Do you agree with the president?

MCCALL: I agree with him completely and I'm actually happy that he got involved in this discussion. I mean, he's the perfect person to lead this discussion.

WHITFIELD: Do you see this in any way as a punctuation, an ending or do you see this entire incident as really merely a beginning?

MCCALL: Oh, it's absolutely a beginning. I mean, it has taken 400 years to construct racism in this country. We are not going to get rid of it in a few conversations, in a few weeks or a few months.

WHITFIELD: You wrote your book, 1994 was released, "Make Me Want to Holler" and here it is 2009, we're talking about the very topic that got people talking at that time when you published that book?

MCCALL: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nathan McCall, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

MCCALL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you, too.

MCCALL: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, the Gates arrest story has really gotten the attention of a lot of you. Here's what some of you have been saying on our phone lines.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I'm calling in regards to Professor Gates being harassed by the police. There's definitely an air of bullying and mistrust in this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. This is Wilma from Cambridge, Mass it should have never happened. If he identified himself then that should have been the end of it, and that's all I have to say. Gates should have not said nothing but thank you, and the officer should not have resisted arrested. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, my name is Susan from New York and I want to say about the Professor Gates situation that I'm horrified and ashamed that in 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts, we still have to deal with these issues. He has every right to be indignant and as White American I'm ashamed that this is still going on, and if it can happen in Boston it can happen anywhere and I agree with him, and there's a lot of White Americans that feel the same.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Send in your comments, as you've been calling into us. We're also getting comments from you by way of a blog and even Facebook. On my blog, Parcenia (ph) says, "This is a golden opportunity for Americans to come together and make our country a stronger, more free and a better place for all after the incident resulting in Professor Gates' arrest. We can make this a better place, a friendlier place and wonderful country to live in, accepting and respecting each other's cultures."

And Bill G. writes, "Everyone is asking what is the learning to take away from this? First, focus on what the officer was originally called in for -- an ongoing break-in witnessed by a citizen who called in to 911. That person reported two Black males with backpacks trying to force open the front door. Since all the racism hoopla started, everyone forgot and even the professor that a good citizen called in the situation to protect the homeowner, as well as the home."

So, thanks so much for your comments coming in to us on our blog, there.